theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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Jess Brown-Fuller:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce delays in processing times for deputyship applications by the Court of Protection. \p Sarah Sackman: HMCTS is working to increase overall system capacity to decrease processing times across all types of applications. Measures taken include a targeted action plan to allocate additional administrative resources in response to higher demand, as well as training and upskilling new staff. Additional judicial sitting days have been added to support performance improvement. HMCTS has also adopted new digital systems, including an updated case management system, to help reduce overall end-to-end processing times.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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Ayoub Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has considered the potential merits of introducing an independent regulator to oversee the commercial agencies it appoints for the provision of interpreting and translation services. \p Sarah Sackman: The Ministry of Justice does not require the introduction of an independent regulator due to the existing, robust assurance procedures in place.

All interpreters under the Ministry of Justice contracts are subject to a quality assurance regime, which is independent of the suppliers that provide our interpreters. The Department has a dedicated Commercial and Contract Management team that oversees the quality assurance provider and the suppliers of interpreters. Their work includes conducting audits to ensure that data is reliable and reviewing quality and complaints data to ensure that the service is delivering for the taxpayer.

Performance data for the language interpreter and translation services is published on the GOV.UK website.
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Ayoub Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has set a deadline for introducing a comprehensive remuneration and conditions framework set for implementation from October 2026 for public service interpreters. \p Sarah Sackman: The Ministry of Justice has provided a comprehensive response to the Public Services Committee inquiry and report into interpreter and translation services in the courts, published in June 2025, which covers this topic.

The Ministry of Justice is procuring new interpreter contracts to commence in October 2026, which include improvements to the service, interpreter remuneration, and conditions.

The Department considered mandating payment rates for interpreters during market engagement but concluded that suppliers (as experts in the market) are best placed to set payment rates. The Ministry of Justice’s role, as the commissioning body, is to ensure that these rates are fair and deliver value for money to the taxpayer.

The Ministry of Justice has already taken steps to improve interpreter remuneration, such as increasing the minimum face to face booking duration to two hours in October 2024, which has led to improved contract fulfilment rates and a reduction in off contract requests.

From October 2026, the new contracts will introduce improvements to interpreter remuneration and conditions. This includes:

Strengthening safeguarding provisions to support interpreter wellbeing

Changing the cancellation cut-off time meaning more cancellations will fall into the ‘short notice’ category and attract a fee payable to interpreters

Maintaining the two-hour minimum booking duration
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Ayoub Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the recruitment and retention of sufficient numbers of interpreters with a Level 6 Diploma in Public Service Interpreting by October 2026. \p Sarah Sackman: The Ministry of Justice is committed to maintaining both the quality and capacity of the future supply chain of qualified court interpreters.

The Department and its suppliers regularly review fulfilment data to inform and adapt recruitment strategies, and our suppliers ensure that there are, and will be, sufficient interpreters with the required qualifications to meet our demand. The new contracts will improve this further by including steps to support interpreters in attaining Level 6 Diploma in Public Service Interpreting, through expanding the Trainee Scheme managed by the quality and assurance provider and providing more support for qualification costs.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions she has had with the (a) Law Society and (b) Solicitors Regulation Authority on the consequences of legal advice that may contribute to the suppression of evidence during police interviews. \p Sarah Sackman: The legal profession in England and Wales operates independently of government. This framework is set out in the Legal Services Act 2007. Regulation of the sector is carried out by the approved regulators, overseen by the Legal Services Board. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is responsible for regulating the professional conduct of solicitors and law firms, while the Law Society represents solicitors in England and Wales.

An independent legal services sector is a key pillar of the rule of law, and it is therefore important to maintain this regulatory independence. Accordingly, it would not be appropriate for ministers or their officials to seek to influence how solicitors are regulated.

Solicitors advising clients during interviews are bound by professional duties, as set out in the SRA’s Code of Conduct. Where necessary, the SRA has a duty to investigate allegations of professional misconduct by solicitors. It has a range of disciplinary powers available at its disposal, including the ability to impose fines and refer matters to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which can suspend or strike a solicitor off the roll. Complaints about a solicitor’s conduct can be made directly to the SRA at: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/.

The Ministry of Justice will continue to engage with legal regulators to ensure that consumers are protected and public confidence in the justice system is maintained.
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Connor Naismith:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help prevent inheritance fraud. \p Sarah Sackman: The legal framework in England and Wales provides a wide range of measures to help protect the public from inheritance fraud, with longstanding legal requirements to be satisfied before a will is executed so it is valid in law. There are a range of legal tests to be satisfied in areas such as the capacity of a person to make a will.

When wills are submitted for proof as part of the process of applying for grants of probate (to administer the deceased person’s estate) a number of checks are undertaken. In the light of recent allegations of fraudulent activity in respect of some probate applications the Government is reviewing the preventative steps taken, involving all relevant departments and agencies.

The law also provides the means for challenges to be made against the validity of a will by interested parties, including on the grounds of forgery, fraud, undue influence and testamentary capacity.

The Government is currently considering reforms to the law of wills recommended by the Law Commission and a number of these proposals relate to measures to improve safeguards and protections to testators and beneficiaries.
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James MacCleary:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many super-injunctions were in place on 15 August 2025. \p Sarah Sackman: The Government does not routinely publish or hold centralised data on the number of super-injunctions currently in place, due to the sensitive and often confidential nature of such orders.

Where such orders are made, they are typically issued by the High Court under strict judicial oversight and may include provisions that prevent disclosure of their very existence.
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Sarah Hall:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to expand (a) literacy and (b) numeracy support for prisoners who enter custody with low basic skills. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: Too many prisoners enter into custody with significant gaps in their education and low levels of literacy and numeracy. Improving prisoners' functional skills is a key priority for both HMPPS and the Ministry of Justice as strong foundational skills are vital for rehabilitation.

HMPPS has introduced whole-prison strategies to strengthen literacy and numeracy, and this is supported by Heads of Education, Skills and Work who bring expertise of education into prisons. Participation in English and maths functional skills has increased across public prisons and the number of prisoners achieving a full or partial grade in functional skills courses increased by 21% in the year to 31 March 2024.
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Sarah Hall:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of prison education contracts in reducing reoffending rates. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Ministry of Justice recognises the vital role prison education plays in reducing reoffending. Evidence shows that prisoners who engage in any form of education while in custody are up to nine percentage points less likely to reoffend.

To strengthen outcomes, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service will soon launch new Prisoner Education Service contracts which will have clearer specification of high-quality delivery, screening and assessment and providing support for additional learning needs.

An evaluation and monitoring strategy is being developed to assess the effectiveness of these contracts, including their impact on reoffending. This will help build a robust evidence base to inform future improvements and ensure the service delivers on its rehabilitative aims.
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Sarah Hall:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of property condition on the (a) capacity and (b) safety of the (i) prison and (ii) courts estate. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Ministry of Justice prioritises maintenance funding for both the HMCTS and HMPPS estates to make sure buildings are safe, secure, meet statutory requirements and protect continuity of service.

The condition of HMCTS and HMPPS properties is routinely monitored and any faults or safety concerns are resolved as soon as practicable.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what support is available to help ex-offenders reintegrate into communities in high deprivation areas. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: Effective resettlement of prison leavers is crucial to reduce reoffending. This includes making sure someone has a home, family links where appropriate, access to healthcare, a job or education, and timely access to benefits where needed.

Community probation practitioners coordinate each individual’s rehabilitation, taking an individualised approach to ensure all prison leavers are connected with the right local support. They work closely with pre-release teams and local services, including through prison-based and commissioned rehabilitative services, to enable effective reintegration back into the community.

To support this, the Government is committed to ensuring robust pre-release plans are in place, identifying and putting support in place to address individuals’ needs before release.

This support includes HMPPS’s Community Accommodation Service Tier 3, which provides up to 12 weeks of temporary housing for those at risk of homelessness on release, offering a stable base to support reintegration. Additionally, we’ve launched regional Employment Councils that bring together businesses, probation, and the Department for Work and Pensions to help prison leavers into work - a key factor in reducing reoffending by up to nine percentage points.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of community sentencing in reducing reoffending. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: There is evidence that community orders and suspended sentence orders are more effective at reducing reoffending than sentences of immediate custody in certain circumstances.

Robust analysis (using a matched comparison group to account for cohort differences such as drug use and unemployment), found that custodial sentences of less than 12 months were associated with higher reoffending rates (4 percentage points difference) compared to court orders (community or suspended sentence): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d1c732ee5274a08cdbe45c4/impact-short-custodial-sentences.pdf.

The Department’s latest published reoffending data (July to September 2023) shows that the one year proven reoffending rate for those on a court order was 34% and 62% for those released from a determinant sentence of less than 12 months: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/proven-reoffending-statistics-july-and-september-2023.

Ministry of Justice research findings indicate that individuals sentenced with a Community Sentence Treatment Requirement reoffend less often compared with those given a short custodial sentence. For example, Mental Health Treatment Requirements recipients had a lower reoffending rate than those on a short custodial sentence recipients by 9 percentage points.

We welcome the Independent Sentencing Review’s emphasis on increasing the use of community sentences for lower-level offenders, ensuring that prisons are focused on locking up the most dangerous offenders.

In the Sentencing Bill, we have introduced new powers to allow the courts to have greater flexibility than ever before to tailor punishments to offenders and ensure sentences served in the community are not a “soft option” but represent a genuine punishment by restricting offenders’ freedoms.

These new powers will include banning offenders from driving, from attending pubs and bars, as well as public events such as sports and concerts. We are also introducing tough new restriction zones that will limit offenders to a specific geographical area.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 29554 on Prison Accommodation, how many prison places were created as a result of crowding between (a) May 1997 and (b) 2010. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. It is therefore not possible to provide the number of places created through crowding.

Prison crowding data is published annually in Annex 2 of the HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK. This publication provides the percentage of prisoners held in crowded accommodation in each year in each prison since 1999. There is no earlier information on crowding available.

This Government is delivering the largest expansion of prison places since the Victorian era – with 2,500 new spaces already delivered and 14,000 on track for delivery by 2031.
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Ian Sollom:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) median, (b) mean and (c) 90th percentile for time on electronically-monitored remand by magistrates' courts was for people found guilty and sentenced to immediate custody in each year between 2018 and 2024. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of those remanded in custody and bailed together with details of the final sentence at criminal courts in England and Wales in the remands data tool. This can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.

However, data held centrally does not include information on the time a person spent on remand in prison.

Data on the number of remand prisoners in each prison in the HMPPS estate is routinely published within the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly (OMSQ): Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she is taking steps to reduce the use of short custodial sentences for non-violent offences. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: In line with the Independent Sentencing Review’s recommendation on reducing the use of short custodial sentences, the Sentencing Bill 2025 introduces a presumption to suspend short custodial sentences of 12 months or less, including for non-violent offences. We are not abolishing short sentences - judges will always have the power to send offenders to prison where they have breached a court order, where there is a significant risk of physical or psychological harm to a particular individual, or in exceptional circumstances.

Evidence shows community orders and suspended sentences can be more effective at reducing reoffending than short custodial sentences. Around 60% of adults jailed for under a year reoffend within 12 months. Ministry of Justice matched cohort research shows offenders released from short prison sentences of less than 12 months reoffend at a higher rate (up to 4pp) than similar offenders given a community or suspended sentence.

Limiting the use of short sentences will not only help offenders to leave the merry-go-round of re-offending but reduce crime, leading to fewer victims and safer communities.
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Jack Rankin:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to establish a multi-year recruitment and retention strategy for the magistracy. \p Sarah Sackman: In light of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts and the Sentencing Review, Ministers are considering the implications for the magistracy, including how best to ensure sufficient capacity in magistrates’ courts to meet both current and future demand and how we can best give deserved recognition to the long term service that many of our existing magistrates provide.

We will set out further details of our approach following the publication of the Government response to the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts.
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Mr Alex Barros-Curtis:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to prevent people who have committed sexual offences from obtaining parental responsibility or contact orders for children conceived as a result of their crimes; and whether she plans to introduce amendments to the Children Act to close this loophole. \p Sarah Sackman: The Government has included a measure in the Victim and Courts Bill which will restrict the exercise of an offender’s parental responsibility where they are sentenced to four or more years imprisonment for a serious child sexual abuse offence against a child for whom they hold parental responsibility. Given these changes are untested, the Government has chosen to focus on the cases involving the highest degree of direct risk to children first.

However, the Government recognises the discussions around the appropriate scope of the measure, including whether to extend it to offenders convicted of rape where a child has been conceived as a result. We are looking at this closely and will continue to work across Parliament as the Bill progresses.

The welfare of a child must be the court’s paramount consideration when making decisions about that child’s life. Courts already have powers under the Children Act 1989 to restrict the exercise of parental responsibility and to control who the child should live or spend time with, if it is in the child’s best interest to do so. When considering arrangements to be made for a child, including the extent to which parental responsibility should be exercisable and who exactly the child should live or spent time with, the court must have particular regard to a list of welfare factors, including any harm the child has suffered or is at risk of suffering.
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James MacCleary:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the threshold is for the number of appeals that can be made in a family court hearing. \p Sarah Sackman: There is no statutory limit on the number of oral requests that a party can make at any hearing for permission to appeal.

Appeals of family decisions to the family court and the High Court are governed by Part 30 of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 and Practice Directions 30A and 30B, which set out the legal and procedural requirements. This includes a clear process that must be followed if a party wishes to appeal a decision and sets out that most decisions will need permission to be appealed.

Part 30 and the relevant Practice Directions ensure that only appeals with a real prospect of success, or other compelling reasons, are given permission to appeal.
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Gideon Amos:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications to the Court of Protection for statutory wills were made in each of the last five years; and how many applications were granted in each of the last five years. \p Sarah Sackman: The latest published Court of Protection (COP) statistics on application and order volumes by type, are all available in the Family Court Statistics 2025 published quarterly in tables 20 and 21.

Volumes of applications and orders relating to wills (applications to execute wills) are grouped together currently with applications for gifts and orders for settlement due to the low volumes and their paths through the court being similar with Official Solicitor involvement.
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James MacCleary:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will review (a) legal protections for victims of fraud in civil courts and (b) the effectiveness of those protections against defendants who do not engage with court. \p Sarah Sackman: A range of legal protections are available for victims of fraud in the civil courts. These include the ability to bring claims for misrepresentation, fraudulent representation/deceit, unlawful means conspiracy, unjust enrichment, dishonest assistance, knowing receipt, breach of trust, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation of funds.

Where defendants do not engage with the court, a range of options are available to claimants. These include the ability to apply to the court for a freezing order, which may also be served on a third party to prevent assets being dissipated. Claimants can also seek an order for defendants to attend court to provide information to assist enforcement, or a receivership order to manage the respondent’s assets. Committal proceedings can be initiated for deliberate breaches of an injunction.

The Government has asked Jonathan Fisher KC to undertake work on Part Two of the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences. The terms of reference for this review include considering whether there should be a greater role for civil penalties in tackling fraud committed against individuals and businesses. This review has been asked to report by December 2025 and the Government will respond thereafter.
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James MacCleary:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of enforcement mechanisms for small claim judgements. \p Sarah Sackman: The civil courts offer several different enforcement methods that a judgment creditor may apply for to recover money owed on a court judgment. The Government is committed to ensuring that these processes are effective and fair. The Government welcomes the Civil Justice Council’s report about enforcement processes, which made a number of recommendations to make them more accessible and streamlined. The Government is considering these findings and will respond in due course.
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Melanie Ward:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of jury service on people employed on zero hour contracts. \p Sarah Sackman: Jury service is an important civic duty, and we want to help jurors feel supported as they undertake this important role. The Government has not made any specific assessment of the impact of jury service on people employed on zero-hour contracts. However, all employees including those employed on zero-hour contracts are legally protected from dismissal or unfair treatment due to jury service under the Employment Rights Act 1996.

All employees who are summoned for jury service are entitled to renumerations for travel, subsistence and loss of earnings expenses, including those on zero-hour contracts. They can also apply for a deferral or excusal based upon financial hardship. The Government keeps all support provided to jurors throughout their service under review.
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Sir Ashley Fox:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of staff in her Department did not meet the minimum office attendance target in the latest period for which data is available; and what sanctions her Department issues to staff who do not meet this target. \p Dan Tomlinson: The department collects data via an access control system to allow monitoring of office attendance. This system does not provide this data at individual level.

Managers are required to ensure employees meet the minimum office attendance targets and they have a number of management tools at their disposal to ensure compliance including both our formal and informal disciplinary procedures. We do not hold central records on the usage of such procedures.
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James MacCleary:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the digital tax system on small businesses. \p Dan Tomlinson: Making Tax Digital (MTD) modernises the tax system and will help businesses and landlords keep on top of their tax affairs. It places small businesses on a more digital footing, with digital tools helping to reduce errors and making annual tax returns easier.

Through a diverse market of accessible, intuitive software, MTD encourages businesses to embrace digital solutions boosting productivity, streamlining operations, and supporting sustainable growth.

The latest published assessment of MTD for Income Tax impacts is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/extension-of-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-self-assessment-to-sole-traders-and-landlords
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) digitising and (b) streamlining the HMRC process for issuing (i) VAT registration numbers and (ii) corporation tax authentication codes. \p Dan Tomlinson: As part of the Government’s commitment to improve customer experience through reform and modernisation of tax and customs administration, HMRC recently published the Transformation Roadmap. As part of this plan, HMRC will continue to explore opportunities to digitise their services where it is right to do so. This includes the development of a secure and GDPR compliant digital method to communicate VAT registration details with customers. Until this is developed, VAT registration numbers are sent by physical post which minimises the risk of fraud by preventing the interception of VAT numbers by fraudsters.

Similarly, the activation code for a customer to add corporation tax (CT) services to their business tax account must be delivered by a secure process. HMRC are investing in their legacy corporation tax system in order to provide the foundation for future improvements and will work with customers to ensure that they meet the needs of the diverse CT population.
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Suella Braverman:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent comparative assessment her Department has made on the levels of VAT charged to (a) small hospitality businesses, (b) supermarkets, (c) national chains and (d) delivery platforms. \p Dan Tomlinson: The level of the charge depends on the good or service being supplied. VAT only needs to be accounted for by VAT-registered businesses, and at £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This keeps the majority of businesses out of the VAT regime altogether.
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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to reduce the time taken for council tax re-bandings by the Valuations Board. \p Dan Tomlinson: The VOA is working as quickly as possible to clear cases, and moving staff to where there is the greatest customer demand. The VOA is focusing on the oldest cases first, and where customers are facing financial hardship.

The VOA is replacing IT systems with modern cloud-based platforms that will deliver significant efficiencies. It is also upskilling its workforce to ensure there is flexibility in managing a wide range of cases and improving its digital services to make it easier for customers to self-serve.
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Mike Wood:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department provides an annual allowance for works on the Chancellor’s flat in Downing Street. \p Dan Tomlinson: HMT does not provide an annual allowance for works to be undertaken on the Chancellor’s flat in Downing Street.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had recent discussions with her international counterparts on establishing a UN Tax Framework Convention. \p Dan Tomlinson: The UK is committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure inclusive and effective international tax cooperation, and has been actively engaging in negotiations at the UN over a future Framework Convention, including the recent informal sessions for the technical workstreams.

The UK believes that a UN Tax Framework Convention has the potential to further advance international tax cooperation, but to be successful, it needs to be clear in its aims, avoid duplicating initiatives, and seek to secure the broad support and participation of members.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the press release entitled Senior business leaders bolster Treasury board of 13 August 2025, whether the three new Board members had declarable political activity. \p Dan Tomlinson: Appointments to the HMT Board are regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Sir Charlie Mayfield, Edward Twiddy and Jenny Scott have not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
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Sir Ashley Fox:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of staff in her Department have flexible working arrangements; and how many of those work compressed hours. \p Dan Tomlinson: HMT is committed to enhancing the working lives of all employees by supporting a healthy balance between professional responsibilities and personal commitments. To support this, HMT offers a Flexible Working Hours Scheme (FWHS), which allows employees to vary their start and finish times across the working week to achieve a balance between the demands of their jobs and personal commitments.

As at the end of financial quarter 1 for 2025/26 (30th June 2025), there were 160 active staff at HMT working full-time compressed hours.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much additional income was raised from the (a) increase in the National Insurance rate in April 2025 and (b) lowering of the National Insurance threshold. \p Dan Tomlinson: Estimates for the additional static revenue expected to be raised from the employer NICs changes, announced at Autumn Budget 2024 and which came into force in April 2025, can be found in the OBR Supplementary forecast information on static costing of changes to Employer National Insurance Contributions.

Further information, including on behavioural impacts can be found in Chapter 3.8 of the OBR Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make a comparative assessment of the average processing times for (a) VAT and (b) Corporation Tax registration by (i) HMRC and (ii) other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. \p Dan Tomlinson: HMRC is not able to provide a comparative assessment of the average processing times for (a) VAT and (b) Corporation Tax registration by (i) HMRC and (ii) other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The OECD do not publish information of this nature.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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Bobby Dean:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data her Department holds on (a) employer uptake of the Trivial Benefit Allowance and (b) the frequency of its use in employee reward schemes. \p Dan Tomlinson: The requested data is not available. There is no tax paid on employee benefits covered by the Trivial Benefit Allowance and as such they are not required to be reported to HMRC.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring equitable taxation of (a) income derived from assets and (b) other passive income. \p Dan Tomlinson: The Government is committed to making sure the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share of tax. That is why the Chancellor announced a series of reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 to help fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible.  These and other decisions announced at the Budget will help repair the public finances and fund public services such as the NHS and education.

The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the tax policy making process. Any tax changes are generally announced at Budget where decisions are taken in the round.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the eligibility rules for child benefit on high earning single parents. \p Dan Tomlinson: The Government understands the concerns that have been raised about the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC), including its potential impact on high earning single parents. However, introducing a threshold for single parents, or basing the charge on household rather than individual incomes, would come at a significant fiscal cost if we were to ensure that no families lose out. By withdrawing Child Benefit from high-income parents where the higher earner earns £60,000 or more, the HICBC helps to ensure the sustainability of the public finances and protect our vital public services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-05 conversation_83

Sir Oliver Dowden:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to (a) Business Property Relief and (b) Agricultural Property Relief on the level of resources required at HMRC. \p Dan Tomlinson: On 21 July 2025 HMRC published a policy paper on the agricultural property relief and business property relief reforms for Inheritance Tax. The summary of impacts includes an estimate of HMRC’s costs to deliver the measure. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reforms-to-agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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Jess Brown-Fuller:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting infected blood scandal compensation payments from Inheritance Tax when such payments are transferred to the next of kin of deceased victims. \p Dan Tomlinson: Infected Blood compensation payments are relieved from inheritance tax under Schedule 15 of the Finance Act 2020. This is applied to the estate of the recipient of the compensation payment. Where these payments are subsequently inherited, they become part of the beneficiary’s estate and are subject to standard inheritance tax rules, in line with normal practice for compensation schemes.

This ensures victims receive full compensation without tax burdens whilst maintaining fairness in the tax system and protecting the public finances.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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Matt Vickers:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on ensuring that pensioners with no other income do not pay income tax on the state pension. \p Dan Tomlinson: This Government remains committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement.

The commitment to protect the Triple Lock saw over 12 million pensioners benefit from a 4.1% increase to their basic or new State Pension in April 2025. Over the course of this Parliament, the full yearly rate of the new State Pension is expected to increase by around £1,900 based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast.

The Personal Allowance will continue to exceed the basic and full new State Pension in 2025/26. This means pensioners whose sole income is the full new State Pension or basic State Pension without any increments will not pay any income tax.

The previous Government made the decision to freeze the income tax Personal Allowance at its current level of £12,570 until April 2028. The current Government is committed to keeping people’s taxes as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility and so decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds at Budget 2025.

From this winter pensioners with incomes below or equal to £35,000 will benefit from Winter Fuel Payments from this winter. This threshold is broadly in line with average earnings. It ensures the vast majority of pensioners – over three quarters, and around 9 million individuals in England and Wales - will receive support. It also ensures the means testing of Winter Fuel Payments has no effect on pensioner poverty. The relevant impact assessments are available on gov.uk:

Equality Impact Assessments produced for targeting Winter Fuel Payment - GOV.UK

Winter Fuel Payments eligibility change - internal modelling on pensioner poverty levels - GOV.UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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David Chadwick:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has conducted an impact assessment of the potential impact of changes to inheritance tax relief for farmers on the Welsh language. \p Dan Tomlinson: The Government is not under an obligation to carry out or publish a specific Welsh language impact assessment of tax policies. However, it is not expected there will be any material impact on the opportunities of individuals to use the Welsh language following these reforms.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

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Paul Holmes:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) changes to employer National Insurance contributions and (b) other recent fiscal measures on (i) employment, (ii) investment and (iii) business closures in hospitality; and what steps she is taking to support the hospitality sector. \p Dan Tomlinson: A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs). The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.

The Office for Budget Responsibility also published the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), which sets out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances. With all policies considered, the OBR's March 2025 EFO forecasts the employment level to increase from 33.6 million in 2024 to 34.8 million in 2029.

The hospitality sector is predominately made up of smaller businesses. The Government decided to protect the smallest businesses from these changes by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change.

From 2026-27, the Government intends to introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for RHL properties with an RV below £500,000. Ahead of then, the Government has prevented RHL business rates relief from ending, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and frozen the small business multiplier.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-05 conversation_88

Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the impact of wealth taxes on national economies in countries where they exist. \p Dan Tomlinson: The Government is committed to making sure the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share of tax. That is why the Chancellor announced a series of reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 to help fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible.  These and other decisions announced at the Budget will help repair the public finances and fund public services such as the NHS and education.

According to the latest OECD data, the UK raises more from taxing wealth both in revenue, and as a proportion of its tax base, than Spain, Switzerland, and Norway.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-05 conversation_89

Jess Brown-Fuller:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of HMRC developing Making Tax Digital software without using third-party providers. \p Dan Tomlinson: HMRC has always maintained that it would not offer its own software products for Making Tax Digital. This helps to ensure a competitive market which will better support taxpayers with a flexible and tailored range of software that integrates with other business management tools. This includes free and low-cost options, which would be undermined by an HMRC produced solution. Third party developers are also well placed to build the necessary help and support within their products that is particularly important for unrepresented customers or those who do not already use digital tools to manage their affairs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-05)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-05 conversation_90

Bobby Dean:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to review the Trivial Benefit Allowance in advance of the Autumn Budget 2025. \p Dan Tomlinson: There are a wide range of factors to take into consideration when introducing or widening a tax relief or exemption. These include how effective the exemption would be at achieving the policy intent, how targeted support would be and the cost.

The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process. The Chancellor will announce any changes to the tax system at fiscal events in the usual way.