Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Making Tax Digital; and what steps she is taking to improve customer service for businesses.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC’s published evaluation of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT, introduced in 2019, shows that MTD is effective with additional tax revenue raised in line with HMRC’s original forecast. MTD reduces error and provides wider benefits, including time saved, increased tax confidence, greater accuracy and improved business operations.
The Government expects that businesses and landlords using MTD for Income Tax from April 2026 will experience similar benefits.
HMRC’s move towards being a digital first tax administration system supports the commitment to better customer service. Improved online digital services will handle routine functions and enquiries, supported by accessible online content such as recorded webinars and YouTube videos.
This will free up phone lines to support customers with more complex queries.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 42281 on Defence Equipment: Technology, what percentage of his Department's equipment procurement budget was spent on novel technology (a) as of 22 April 2025 and (b) in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence continues to invest significant funding into novel technologies such as various uncrewed systems and our cutting edge Directed Energy Weapons. Further detail on the novel technologies ringfence will be finalised through the Spending Review.
Asked by: Gareth Davies (Conservative - Grantham and Bourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department’s policies of section 7.6 of the Climate Change Committee's Seventh Carbon Budget on aviation, published on 26 February 2025.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In line with the Climate Change Act 2008, the Government will respond to the Climate Change Committee’s Seventh Carbon Budget Advice and set the seventh carbon budget in law by 30 June 2026.
The Government will set out policies to support delivery of the seventh carbon budget as soon as reasonably practicable after this.
Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to replace the Multi-role Electronically Scanned-Array radar on the E-7A Wedgetail fleet with a US-developed replacement.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There are no plans to replace the existing Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array radar currently fitted on the UK E-7 Wedgetail Fleet.
Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to respond to Question 41390 on British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty tabled by the hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford on 26 March 2025.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I responded to the right hon. Member on 23 April 2025.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43516: Maternity Services, whether he has set a deadline for (a) outcome and (b) progress measures in the three year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s three year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal care services was published on 31 March 2023 and implementation of the objectives is due to run for three years until March 2026. Progress is monitored through the plan’s technical guidance, which sets out how progress will be tracked at a national level against the four key themes of the plan.
Due to the complexity of maternity and neonatal care and the need for robust validation, some of the outcome data is significantly lagged and will not be fully available within the lifetime of the plan. Much of this data is published by external organisations beyond NHS England.
Although the delivery plan spans three years, its objectives are intended to enable services to deliver improvements in care that will lead to sustained, long-term improvements in outcomes and experiences for women, babies, and families.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the average time taken for Serco to tag (a) priority one critical offenders and (b) people classified as likely to offend.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Serco’s performance has been unacceptable, and we will not hesitate to impose further penalties if our high-performance targets are not met and performance does not improve. There are regular meetings between the Minister for Prisons and Probation and the CEO of Serco to impress upon him the need for improvement.
The contract contains strict time bound service levels within which all equipment installations for all electronic monitoring orders must take place. In addition, the small number of national security cases and those requiring more intensive monitoring plus Domestic Abuse Perpetrators on Licence and those with Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPO) are prioritised. Electronic monitoring orders are identified by order type and terms such as priority one critical offenders and people classified as likely to offend are not used.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she had made of the adequacy of Serco's performance; and if she will undertake a review of it's electronic tagging contract.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Serco’s performance has been unacceptable, and we will not hesitate to impose further penalties if our high-performance targets are not met and performance does not improve. There are regular meetings between the Minister for Prisons and Probation and the CEO of Serco to impress upon him the need for improvement.
The contract contains strict time bound service levels within which all equipment installations for all electronic monitoring orders must take place. In addition, the small number of national security cases and those requiring more intensive monitoring plus Domestic Abuse Perpetrators on Licence and those with Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPO) are prioritised. Electronic monitoring orders are identified by order type and terms such as priority one critical offenders and people classified as likely to offend are not used.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the number of TV license payers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The BBC is responsible for collection of the TV licence via TV Licensing. TV Licensing publishes the number of licences in force in its Annual Review, which can be found here: https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/our-performance-AB6
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to consult on reforms to press regulation.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government currently has no plans to consult on reforms to press regulation.