Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help mitigate the potential impact of moving the Valuation Office Agency into HMRC on the timely processing of cases.

The VOA is meeting the majority of its performance targets. In the areas where it isn’t, it has robust service recovery plans in place. These include moving staff to where there is the greatest customer demand and upskilling its workforce in a wider range of casework, to ensure greater flexibility. It continues to prioritise any cases where a customer is facing financial hardship.

The VOA proactively contacts customers, through direct email or automated updates sent as cases progress through a service.

The VOA reports monthly on performance to the HMRC Executive Committee and Board. The decision to move the VOA’s functions into HMRC next year will strengthen direct accountability to ministers.

Integration is being carefully managed by a joint HMRC and VOA team, with detailed transition plans in place and appropriate oversight from my department.