Written questions by Campbell.

If she will review eligibility rules to allow grandparents to take out share based ISAs for grandchildren.

To ensure that the Junior Individual Savings Accounts (JISA) regime remains simple and sustainable, HMRC specify who can open and manage an account to prevent more than one JISA of each type (cash or stocks and shares) being opened in error. It also ensures that there is a single point of contact for the giving of instructions. Given the nature of the role, the ISA rules require this to be someone with parental responsibility for the child. A grandparent who does not have parental responsibility is therefore unable to open or manage a Junior ISA on behalf of their grandchild but can add funds to the account, up to the value of £9,000 a year. The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2024 to Question 18292 on Income Tax: Tax Rates and Bands, what estimate she has made of additional tax revenue raised by freezing the (a) standard and (b) higher rate income tax thresholds (i) for each financial year and (ii) in total to 2029-30.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) routinely publish this information in their Economic and Fiscal Outlooks (EFO). The table below is extracted from the OBR’s most recent EFO, from October 2024 (Table 3.9, available here: https://obr.uk/economic-and-fiscal-outlooks/). This shows the per annum reduction in government borrowing arising from the freeze in both the Personal Allowance and the Higher Rate Threshold up to 2027-28. From 2023-24 to 2029-30, these measures raise a total of £207.9bn. £ billion Forecast 2023-242024-252025-262026-272027-282028-292029-30PA and HRT freezes-13.2-23.3-27.6-31.8-36.0-37.5-38.6 The current Government is committed to keeping taxes for working people 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. As a result, they will rise with inflation from April 2028, meaning working people will keep more of their earnings.

With reference to the Answer of 12 December 2023 to Question 5762 on World Economy, what recent discussions she has had with international partners on strengthening the international debt architecture.

The Government is committed to tackling unsustainable debt and the Chancellor has called for international partners to work together on this, including through enhancing debt transparency and promoting adoption of Climate Resilient Debt Clauses (CRDCs). HM Treasury continues to engage regularly with international partners, including the IMF, World Bank, borrower countries, other official creditors, private sector, and civil society organisations, on strengthening the international debt architecture. These discussions take place through various international fora, including the G7, G20, Paris Club and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable.

If she will make an assessment of trends in the level of consumer credit debt relating to car purchases in the last five years.

The Government regularly engages with the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to monitor personal finances and debt levels. According to the FCA, 2 million cars were bought on finance in the 12 months to October 2024, with a total of £38.7 billion being borrowed. HMT does not hold data for the last 5 years.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 23717 on Income Tax: Tax Allowances, if she will make an estimate of the number of full time employees not paying income tax due to their salary being below £13,000 in April 2028.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 January 2025 to Question 23717.

If she will have discussions with the credit union movement on expanding their role in offering financial services to individuals.

The Government has made clear its strong support for the credit union sector, recognising the value that credit unions bring to their members in local communities across the country in providing products and affordable credit. It continues to engage regularly with this sector to understand the current barriers they face and consider further opportunities for growth. The Chancellor announced new measures to support the growth of the credit union and mutuals sector in her Mansion House speech on 14 November. This included publishing a call for evidence on the potential to reform common bonds for credit unions in Great Britain, asking the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to produce a report on the mutuals landscape by the end of 2025, and welcoming the establishment of an industry-led Mutual and Co-operative Business Council. Responsibility for credit unions in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Executive. Treasury officials engage with their counterparts in the Department for the Economy.

What estimate she has made of how many full time employees will not be paying income tax when the freeze on personal tax thresholds ends in April 2028.

At the National Minimum Wage rates effective from April 2025 and working 35 hours per week a full-time employee over 21 would earn £22,222.22 –which is above the Personal Allowance of £12,570. Therefore, when the freeze on personal tax thresholds ends in April 2028 a full-time employee earning at least the minimum wage would have pay more than the personal allowance and thus would be expected to pay Income Tax. This government is committed to keeping taxes as low as possible for working people while ensuring fiscal responsibility, which is why it will not extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds, allowing them to rise with inflation the following year.

Whether she has plans for a comprehensive financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets in the UK.

On 21 November 2024, the Government confirmed that it will proceed with creating a new financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets. This regime will be in line with the proposals published by HM Treasury in October 2023.

If she will have discussions with financial institutions to establish which additional banks will participate in the roll out of banking hubs.

Banking hubs are a voluntary service developed by the financial services sector in the context of legislation to protect access to cash under the Financial Services Act 2023. Their rollout is overseen by Cash Access UK, a not-for-profit company set up and funded by industry for the purpose of delivering shared access to cash solutions. Membership of Cash Access UK and involvement in banking hubs is voluntary, and it is possible for banks and building societies in scope of the FCA’s access to cash regime to choose to meet their cash access obligations through other methods, for example their branch network. However, the Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this parliament. Over 175 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.

What recent estimate she has made of the change in GDP per capita by 2030.

GDP per capita is projected by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to grow by an annual average of 1.1% over this parliament. The government, as set out in the Plan for Change, is committed to kickstarting economic growth. This will fund our public services, lead to more people in good jobs, higher living standards and productivity growth in every part of the United Kingdom. As set out at the Autumn Budget 2024, through the seven pillars of the growth mission, the Government is restoring stability, increasing investment, and reforming the economy. Growth can only be achieved in partnership with business, so we will develop and deliver these policies together.

Pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2024 to Question 17516 on Royal Mint: Fraud, whether any of the fraudulent transactions were traceable to (a) people and (b) agencies based outside the United Kingdom.

The Royal Mint engaged the relevant law enforcement agencies as part of the fraud incident detailed in their Annual Report and Accounts for 2022-23. These investigations are confidential and as such, we cannot comment on whether the transactions were traceable or the location of the perpetrators of the fraud.

How many non-domestic politically exposed persons have been prosecuted since the amendment to the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017 became operational in January 2024.

The Ministry of Justice holds prosecution statistics; however, these statistics are not separated by the status of individuals as politically exposed persons (PEPs). The enforcement of the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017, as amended, is carried out by various supervisory authorities such as the FCA. This includes actions in relation to regulatory failings involving non-domestic PEPs where applicable. The FCA is in the process of updating its guidance on PEPs to reflect the changes made by The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2023. The FCA’s revised guidance will be published in due course.

When the Office of Budget Responsibility is next due to have an external review.

The Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011 states that the Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR's) Non-executive committee must appoint a person or body at least once in every 5-year period to review and report on the OBR. The Chair of the Oversight Board for the OBR formally commissioned the third external review on 24 May 2024 which is published on the OBR’s website: https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/Third-OBR-external-review_commissioning-letter_24-May-2024.pdf. Previous external reviews are published on the OBR’s website. https://obr.uk/about-the-obr/external-reviews/

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2024 to Question 4181 on Banking Hubs, when she expects the 350 banking hubs to be operational.

The Government is working closely with banks to roll out 350 banking hubs, which will provide individuals and businesses up and down the country with critical cash and banking services. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this parliament.

What plans she has to help increase investment in the UK by UK-based pension funds.

The Government published the Interim Report of its Pensions Investment Review at the Mansion House event on 14 November. This Report puts forward ambitious proposals to reform the UK pension system which could unlock around £80 billion of productive investment while boosting savers’ pension pots. The consultations on the proposed measures will close on 16 January. The review will use its next stage to consider whether further interventions may be needed by the government to ensure that these reforms are benefiting UK growth. The final Pensions Investment Review report, including the final proposals to be legislated for, will be published in the Spring ahead of the introduction of the Pension Schemes Bill.

With reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) the increase in the rate of employers' National Insurance Contributions and (b) the VAT rate on the viability of businesses in the hospitality sector.

The Government recognises that the significant contribution made by hospitality businesses to economic growth. At Autumn Budget 2024, the government took tough decisions on tax, spending and welfare to restore economic stability and invest in public services. A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the employer NICs changes was published by HMRC on 13 November, outlining the impact on business, that can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-the-class-1-national-insurance-contributions-secondary-threshold-the-secondary-class-1-national-insurance-contributions-rate-and-the-empl/changes-to-the-class-1-national-insurance-contributions-secondary-threshold-the-secondary-class-1-national-insurance-contributions-rate-and-the-empl.VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. The Government currently has no plans to introduce a different VAT rate for the hospitality sector.However, the Government keeps all taxes under review, including consideration of impacts.

What changes to procedures she has made following the investigation by law enforcement agencies into fraudulent transactions made on the Royal Mint website since 2022.

As outlined in The Royal Mint Trading Fund’s Annual Reports and Accounts for 2022-23, an external fraud incident occurred impacting The Royal Mint. A small number of fraudulent transactions were made on the Royal Mint’s website. The incident did not impact Royal Mint customers details and there was no risk to customer data. The Royal Mint continually make changes to their anti-fraud procedures, reflecting the dynamic nature of the external fraud landscape. As shareholder of The Royal Mint, HM Treasury are regularly updated on risk controls and have been supporting the strengthening of these processes and procedures.

With reference to the keynote address made by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury at the Tokenisation Summit on 25 November 2024, what her timetable is for implementing the proposals on (a) cryptoassets and (b) stablecoins published by her Department in October 2023.

The Government has signalled its intention to engage firms on draft legal provisions for the cryptoasset financial services regulatory regime as early as possible next year.

What estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2024 on productivity in each year between 2024 and 2028.

Delivering economic growth and improving productivity is the government's central mission. Since 2010, productivity growth has been less than a third of the productivity growth in the decade prior to the financial crisis. If productivity growth had remained at the previous rate of 2.1% per annum, then GDP per capita would be £12,500 higher in today’s prices.This is why the government is making further reforms to deliver long-term growth, including: ambitious planning reforms; a modern Industrial Strategy; the development of a 10-year infrastructure strategy; and the publication of the Get Britain Working White Paper. The government expects these measures collectively to have a positive impact on growth. For example, the OBR recognised that proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework “may enable greater delivery of new housing and infrastructure projects, which would boost the associated investment flows, as well as increasing productivity over the longer term”.In their Economic and Fiscal Outlook, published alongside the Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility evaluated the government’s announced Budget package on public investment as increasing the level of GDP by 1.4% in the long-term.

What estimate she has made of the the amount of increased taxation generated by the increase in the National Living Wage in 2025-26.

The latest forecasts for tax revenues were published alongside the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) October Economic and Fiscal Outlook. These forecasts are based on economic determinants, including wage growth and employment levels. Detailed tax receipts forecasts can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility