Written questions by Fox.

What estimate her Department has made of the cost to an average self-employed person of the reduction in the self-reporting threshold in the rollout of Making Tax Digital to £20,000 by 2028.

Awaiting answer.

What estimate her Department has made of the average annual vehicle downtime and associated productivity loss per fleet vehicle arising from the mileage estimation, reporting and reconciliation requirements of the proposed eVED framework; and what assessment she has made of the cumulative financial impact on the vehicle rental and leasing sector.

Awaiting answer.

What recent progress she has made on establishing the future entity for open banking.

The government committed has committed to bring forward a statutory instrument this year to support the delivery of a long-term regulatory framework for Open Banking, ensuring continued growth and innovation in the sector. The Future Entity will be an important part of this framework and act as the standards-setting body for UK open banking. The FCA has commissioned a consultancy to assess proposals from organisations proposing to lead the establishment a body that is capable of becoming the Future Entity. The process will finish in April.

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.

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.

What proportion of staff in her Department have flexible working arrangements; and how many of those work compressed hours.

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.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of raising the personal tax-free allowance in line with the state pension on public finances.

The Personal Allowance - the amount an individual can earn before paying tax - will continue to exceed the basic and full new State Pension this tax year. 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. This Government is committed to keeping people’s taxes as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility and so, at our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds.

Whether there are any requirements for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person in each of (a) their Department's office workplaces and (b) the arm’s length bodies of their Department.

HM Treasury uses office space in multi-department buildings that are managed by the Government Property Agency, who provide a desk/place booking system for staff in each of our offices. Responsibility for any desk booking sits with each individual arm's length body, rather than HMT.

How many cases of mis-sold Equity Release schemes have been referred to the Financial Ombudsmen in the last two years.

This is a matter for the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which is an independent, non-governmental body. The FOS will respond to the Honourable Member by letter, and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.

How many and what proportion of desks were occupied in each of her Department’s offices in the most recent four weeks for which figures are available; and how many staff attended each office in person in the same period.

HM Treasury operates a hybrid working policy, in line with other Government departments and cabinet office guidance. Employees are expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working hours in their contractual work location and work from home for the remaining time. As of September 2024, HM Treasury had 1610 staff in London (1HGR),79 staff in Norwich (Rosebery Court), 312 staff in Darlington (Feethams House). HMT has 1030 desks in London (1HGR) and 52 desks in Norwich (Rosebery Court). In Darlington (Feethams House), a building which operates a fully shared campus model, HMT has a proportional equivalent of 85 workspaces. On average HMT data indicates our offices were attended 3909 times a week in the last four weeks that we hold full data for. Based on the above figures, an average of 781 workspaces were occupied daily in the four most recent weeks we hold full data, and with 1167 workspaces, this means on average 67% of workspaces were filled daily in these four weeks.

How many civil servants are assigned to work in each of her Department's offices; and how many desks are available in each office.

HM Treasury operates a hybrid working policy, in line with other Government departments and cabinet office guidance. Employees are expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working hours in their contractual work location and work from home for the remaining time. As of September 2024, HM Treasury had 1610 staff in London (1HGR),79 staff in Norwich (Rosebery Court), 312 staff in Darlington (Feethams House). HMT has 1030 desks in London (1HGR) and 52 desks in Norwich (Rosebery Court). In Darlington (Feethams House), a building which operates a fully shared campus model, HMT has a proportional equivalent of 85 workspaces. On average HMT data indicates our offices were attended 3909 times a week in the last four weeks that we hold full data for. Based on the above figures, an average of 781 workspaces were occupied daily in the four most recent weeks we hold full data, and with 1167 workspaces, this means on average 67% of workspaces were filled daily in these four weeks.

How many and what proportion of desks were occupied in each of (a) HMRC’s and (b) the Valuation Office Agency's offices in the most recent four weeks for which figures are available; and how many staff attended each office in person in the same period.

Heads of Department have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. Office occupancy data for the period July - September has been published, with further publications to now happen on a quarterly basis. The data is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data

How much was spent on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in her Department since the dissolution of the last Parliament; and on what items this was spent.

The department has spent £2.6k on new furniture, fittings, and other refurbishment since the dissolution of the last Parliament. This spending includes the installation of an exhibition in Number 11 Downing Street from the National Maritime Museum, office furniture, fittings and maintenance.

How many civil servants are assigned to work in each of (a) HMRC’s and (b) the Valuation Office Agency offices; and how many desks are available in each office.

The table below sets out HMRC’s headcount and workspaces by location for September 2024. Table 1: HMRC Locations – Headcount and workspaces for September 2024LocationHeadcountWorkspaces100PS955516Belfast2,2081,030Birmingham3,3721,610Bradford1,193804Bristol1,262820Cardiff4,2082,281Croydon2,5551,469Dover196155East Kilbride1,9111,269Edinburgh1,9401,426Gartcosh283238Glasgow2,8721,447Ipswich451268Leeds3,7821,817Liverpool5,5962,753Manchester6,0143,214Newcastle8,0565,565Nottingham4,0611,855Portsmouth994913Preston1,419804Reading10178Stratford5,1122,717Swansea127140Telford1,059565Washington2,1351,944Worthing587712Total62,44936,410 The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is an executive agency of HMRC and has 35 offices nationally (England, Scotland and Wales). Table 2 shows VOA’s Headcount and workspaces for September 2024 Table 2 VOA Locations – Headcount and workspaces for September 2024Location HeadcountWorkspacesAberdeen45Birmingham17084Bristol10260Cambridge3830Canary Wharf Hub325212Cardiff11160Carmarthen2214Colchester5654Croydon17786Durham409360Eastbourne4242Edinburgh208Exeter4430Folkestone2632Glasgow1815Hull5450Inverness56Lancaster1416Leeds273162Liverpool15070Manchester18084Newcastle233104Norwich4152Nottingham12780Oxford3424Plymouth437322Preston5330Sheffield5330Southampton5860St Austell1724Stoke-On-Trent6752Swansea7124Wembley11367Worthing Digital Centre23Wrexham5124Total3,5972,376 Our offices have different types of workspaces which allow people to match the task to the most suitable space. We therefore use workspaces rather than the number of desks.

What fiscal steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to make efficiency savings in the welfare system.

In the July Statement, the Chancellor set out that all departments will find a 2% saving against their administration budgets so that we can improve the efficiency of the public sector, and prioritise frontline services. This government is also committed to bringing down rates of fraud and error in the welfare system, ensuring support is targeted to those who need it.