Every parliamentary written question tabled by John Hayes this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 21–40 of 91 · Treasury
How many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Information on the number of staff in HM Treasury that are (a) on temporary contracts and (b) consultants, is published annually through the HM Treasury annual report and accounts at the following web address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-treasury-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025 on pages 95 and 103, respectively.
How many (1) individuals and (2) organisations have been (a) investigated and (b) prosecuted for fraud in relation to COVID-19 funds since 2020.
HMRC have interpreted ‘COVID-19 funds’ as the ‘HMRC administered COVID-19 support schemes’, including Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO), the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) (previously the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy until 2023) administered Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS). Although you have requested the data be broken down into individuals and organisations, HMRC do not hold the data at that level of detail. SEISS claims relate to individuals, whereas CJRS involves payroll, however, CJRS may also fall within the Income Tax (IT) or Corporation Tax (CT) regime. To add complexity, all charges for recovery of overpayments on the HMRC schemes are raised under IT legislation. By the end of March 2025, HMRC had opened 53 criminal investigations into suspected fraud within the schemes and made a total of 99 arrests. There have been 4 convictions so far. Further ongoing criminal investigation activity has yet to be concluded within the criminal justice system and is subject to those timescales. In this timeframe, HMRC also carried out more than 47,000 compliance checks using civil powers, where the amount claimed was out of step with other information. The risk that the claim was incorrect may have been due to a range of reasons from an honest mistake through to fraud.DBT has worked with enforcement partners to tackle fraud linked to COVID-19 loan schemes. This includes the National Investigation Service (NATIS) and the Insolvency Service (INSS). To date, the Insolvency Service has obtained disqualifications against 2,595 directors, bankruptcy restrictions against 381 individuals and 82 successful criminal convictions in respect of COVID-19 financial support scheme misconduct. The Agency has also helped to secure more than £6 million in compensation related to COVID-19 financial support scheme abuse. Since 2020, NATIS has opened a total of 254 investigations covering both individuals and organisations. NATIS has secured 14 convictions up to November 2025.
How much HM Revenue and Customs has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.
HMRC spend on a) Translation and b) Interpretation for the last 5 years is set out below:2020/2021 – a) £0.32m b) £0.50m2021/2022 – a) £0.29m b) £0.53m2022/2023 – a) £0.45m b) £0.63m2023/2024 – a) £0.59m b) £0.59m2024/2025 – a) £0.83m b) £0.30m
If she will list the titles of all the events organised by Civil Service networks in her Department since 2017.
HM Treasury does not hold historical records for staff network events, including those organised by cross-Civil Service networks. 2025 records show that Civil Service network events are circulated to HMT staff but none have been organised by Civil Service networks and hosted in the department.
How many (a) single sex and (b) gender neutral bathroom facilities her Department provides in its main Whitehall building.
HM Treasury's offices are within multi-department buildings managed by the Government Property Agency, who will hold information on bathroom facilities.
What measures HMRC has in place to continue to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.
HMRC services are designed with resilience and continuity in mind. While some services rely on internet connectivity—for example, digital access for citizens and connections to certain Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms—the majority of HMRC’s core systems will continue to operate during an internet outage.Internal connectivity between HMRC sites and hosted services is maintained through private, dedicated links that do not depend on the public internet. This ensures that critical processing and internal operations can continue without interruption.For citizen-facing services that require internet access, HMRC has established Business Continuity plans. These include alternative communication channels, prioritisation of essential services, and manual fallback processes where appropriate, to minimise disruption and maintain service availability.
With reference to the policy paper entitled UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy, published on 19 June 2025, how much funding her Department plans to provide for infrastructure projects in Lincolnshire in each of the next ten years.
UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy is core to delivering the government’s growth mission to boost living standards in every nation and region of the UK. The Strategy will fund at least £725 billion for infrastructure nationally over the next decade and transform how projects are planned and delivered. For example, the Strategy outlined how the Lincolnshire Reservoir has now been awarded ‘nationally significant’ status to accelerate the planning process.The Infrastructure Pipeline provides a forward look of infrastructure projects that are being progressed over the next decade, broken down by region. It will be updated regularly, initially every six months.
What fiscal steps she is taking to help improve small business confidence in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
The government recommitted to the devolution agreement with Greater Lincolnshire in September 2024, meaning that Greater Lincolnshire is now receiving £24 million as Mayoral Investment Funding each year as per their devolution agreement.Through the Levelling Up Fund, the government is providing £10 million for ‘Thriving Gainsborough’, improving the marketplace and increasing footfall, investment and employment.More generally, the government recently published ‘Backing your business: our plan for small and medium-sized businesses’ which set out a long-term direction for the Government’s support for smaller firms across the country. This included going further than any previous government with the most significant package of legislative reforms in 25 years to tackle late payments, unlocking billions of pounds in finance to support businesses to invest, removing unnecessary red tape, revitalising the high street as a place to do business, and delivering growth boosting support with a new Business Growth Service to unlock business potential.
On how many days the Union Flag was flown on her Department's main buildings in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.
The Government Property Agency (GPA) manages the flying of flags above 1 Horse Guards Road (1HGR), Feethams House and other HM Treasury buildings. Under instructions from Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), the Union Flag is always flown unless instructed otherwise by DCMS.
Whether her Department has spent money on promotion through social media influencers since July 2024.
The Treasury has not made any payments to social media influencers for promotional activity since July 2024.
How much National Savings and Investments has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) is an office-based organisation with a UK presence across London, Lytham, Glasgow and Durham.The table below shows NS&I’s spending on home working equipment for each of the three previous financial years. NS&I provides this equipment in line with its regulatory duty to minimise the risk of preventable health issues during home working. YearSpend2022–23£6,312.792023–24£6,995.282024–25£4,291.95
If her Department will take (a) fiscal and (b) legislative steps to help prevent repeat offenders in the illicit tobacco market operating through high street retailers.
HMRC has a robust strategy to tackle the illicit tobacco trade. In July 2023, HMRC introduced a strengthened sanctions regime for breaches of the UK Tobacco Track and Trace System to combat illicit tobacco sales, particularly targeting repeat offenders operating through high street retailers. Powers introduced under the Finance Act 2022 enable HMRC to apply an escalating sanctions model based on both the frequency and severity of offences. Penalties include fines of up to £10,000, seizure of illicit products, and exclusion from the UK Tobacco Track and Trace system. New powers were also given to Trading Standards to make referrals to HMRC where they find evidence of high street retailers selling tobacco products that do not comply with the UK Tobacco Track and Trace System. HMRC is then able to apply the sanctions model as appropriate to tackle the non-compliance.
What assessment she has made of the potential impact of tobacco excise duty policy on the size of the illicit tobacco market.
Tobacco duty aims to both raise revenue and reduce harm to public health by discouraging smoking. In 2024/25 tobacco duty raised almost £8 billion. High duty rates, making tobacco less affordable, have helped reduce smoking prevalence with the percentage of adult smokers in the UK decreasing from 26% in 2000 to 11.9% in 2024. Strong enforcement is essential in tackling the illicit tobacco market. HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force have had illicit tobacco strategies in place since 2000. Whilst tobacco duty has been progressively increased over time, successive illicit tobacco strategies have proven effective in tackling the size of the illicit tobacco market, reducing the tobacco duty tax gap from 21.7% in 2005/6 to 13.8% in 2023/24.
How much the Government Internal Audit Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) staff are provided with IT equipment to enable them to work across multiple locations. This is a managed service provided by HM Treasury, who manage this contract on behalf of GIAA. GIAA staff can request “Work from home IT kits” (e.g., screens, headsets, keyboards, and mice) through HM Treasury. GIAA does not hold information on the expenditure for these requests, and HM Treasury does not disaggregate their information on total IT spend to identify spend on GIAA staff requests. The total spend for HM Treasury Group on these work from home IT kits is noted in HM Treasury’s response to PQ 63519 GIAA provides additional IT equipment outside the managed service to support hybrid or home working, such as to support reasonable adjustments. Details of GIAA’s recorded IT expenditure for this purpose are listed below 2022-23: £10,105 2023-24: £2,474 2024-25: £1,779
How much the Government Actuary’s Department has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) is an office (or workplace) based organisation with a solely UK presence. In line with Cabinet Office policy, GAD expects a 60% minimum office attendance for all staff. To enable hybrid working and to meet requirements for workplace adjustments (DSE), GAD has spent: 2021/222022/232023/24Hybrid working Equipment£6,748.90£5,093.56£7,148.37DSE Equipment£0.00£30.05£677.81Total spend£6,748.90£5,123.61£7,826.18 GAD has no home working contracts in place.
How much the UK Debt Management Office has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) is an office-based organisation with a solely UK presence. In line with Cabinet Office policy, the DMO expects a 60% minimum office attendance for most staff which continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service. The table below shows the DMO’s spending on home working equipment for each of the three previous financial years. The higher spend in 2022-23 and 2024-25 was for updated equipment to enable essential software upgrades (87% and 97% respectively of the total spend). YearSpend2022-23£25,0002023-24£4,0002024-25£49,000
How much the National Infrastructure Commission has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
As equipment costs to enable working from home were processed as expenses, and are approved on an individual basis, the information is not readily available and providing it would incur a disproportionate cost to the organization.
How much her Department spent on equipment for civil servants to work from home in each of the last three years.
HMT only has the ability to track and report the following totals for each of the last 3 financial years on WFH IT kits (screens, headsets, keyboard and mouse); (i) 2024/25 - £ 218,486(ii) 2023/24 - £ 87,024(iii) 2022/23 - £ 36,222 The 24/25 WFH kits shown above were a value for money expenditure where kits were bought in bulk to reduce expenditure in future years. No further purchases have been made in the current financial year.
What recent assessment has she made of the potential merits of increasing the level of taxation on social media firms.
The UK is already levying the Digital Services Tax (DST), a 2 per cent tax to ensure that providers of search engines, social media platforms, and online marketplaces pay UK tax on digital services that reflects the value they derive from UK users. The DST is an interim solution to widely held concerns with international corporate tax, and the UK remains committed to remove it once a global solution on the taxation of the digital economy through Pillar 1 of the G20-OECD Inclusive Framework project is in place.
If she will meet with private sector cash machine operator Link to discuss additional face to face banking services for rural areas.
Banking has changed significantly in recent years with many customers benefitting from the ease and convenience of digital banking. The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets across the UK, 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 220 hubs have been announced so far, and over 160 are already open.Where a branch closure is announced or a community has submitted a cash access assessment request, LINK, the independent industry coordinating body responsible for making access to cash assessments, assesses a community’s access to cash needs, and will recommend appropriate solutions where it considers that a community requires additional cash services, such as a banking hub or deposit service.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules require designated firms to consider a range of factors in their assessments which will account for challenges in cash access faced in rural areas. For example, firms are required to consider the actual travel times and costs to reach cash access facilities and identify gaps in provision where these are unreasonable, which may be particularly the case in rural areas.Whilst the Government meets with LINK to discuss a variety of matters, any decisions on changes to LINK’s independent assessment criteria are a matter for LINK and the financial services sector. The Government works closely with the FCA, the independent regulator of the UK’s financial services sector, to ensure that all customers get the right support with their financial products and services. The FCA requires firms to provide a prompt, efficient, and fair service to all of their customers. This includes special considerations for vulnerable customers, including the elderly and disabled customers. Furthermore, under the Equality Act 2010, banks must make reasonable adjustments to ensure their services are accessible to all. Alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking, and via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.