Written questions by Hayes.

If she will make an estimate of the amount of money lost by people in the UK to cryptocurrency fraud since 2019.

The Financial Conduct Authority’s most recent consumer research publication provides indications of the levels of cryptoasset related fraud in the UK. This research is available online at: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/research-notes/cryptoasset-consumer-research-2024-wave-5.pdf. The Government take these fraud risks very seriously, and that is why it is proceeding with proposals to introduce a comprehensive UK financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets.

What proportion of Enterprise Investment Scheme funding was provided to companies in Lincolnshire in each of the last ten years.

% of EIS Investment2017/182018/192019/202020/212021/222022/230.1%0.2%0.2%0.2%0.1%0.2% It is not possible to provide this information for the last 10 years as administrative data is not available.

How many businesses in South Holland and the Deepings constituency applied to use the Enterprise Investment Scheme in each of the last ten years.

The information cannot be provided as it could lead to a breach of taxpayer’s confidentiality.

What estimate she has made of the potential savings to the public purse for abolishing the Payment Systems Regulator.

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has carried out important work to support the UK’s world leading payments sector. However, moving forward, the Government wishes to see a more streamlined regulatory environment with minimal overlap between regulators’ responsibilities. That is why the Government has announced its intentions to consolidate the PSR and its functions primarily within the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Government will consult on the detail of this proposal in the summer and legislate as soon as possible. The Payment Systems Regulator is funded by fees levied on industry.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 32918 on Agriculture and Business: Inheritance Tax, how much revenue the Treasury has modelled a clawback mechanism for agricultural property relief and business property relief would raise if it was implemented (a) seven, (b) 10 and (c) 15 years after death.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has not certified costings for the revenue that would be raised by a clawback mechanism since it is not Government policy. However, a clawback mechanism would raise significantly less than the reforms announced by the Government at Autumn Budget 2024 for the reasons outlined in the previous answer.

What proportion of food procured by her Department is sourced in the UK.

To date the Government has not held information on where publicly procured food is sourced from. For the first time ever, this government will review the food currently bought in the public sector to determine the standards that it is meeting, where it is bought from, and look to introduce monitoring for transparency and accountability within those supply chains to ultimately get the best food for the consumer. This work will be a significant first step to inform any future changes to public sector food procurement policies as we want to help make it an equal playing field for British producers to bid into the £5 billion spent each year on public sector catering contracts.

What steps her Department is taking to support small businesses impacted by a reduction in in-person banking services in Lincolnshire.

The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to constituents and businesses in Lincolnshire and across the UK and is committed to championing sufficient access for all. 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 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open. FCA guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. This seeks to ensure that branch closures are implemented in a way that treats customers fairly. 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. The Government protects the Post Office network by setting minimum access criteria. These include ensuring that 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a Post Office and 90% of the population within one mile. To stimulate local economic growth the Government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with rateable values below half a million pounds from 2026 – 2027 and later this year, the Government will publish a Small Business Strategy, setting out our vision for small businesses. Taken together, these actions will support businesses in Lincolnshire and across the country to drive local economic growth.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a clawback mechanism into proposed changes to (a) agricultural property relief and (b) business property relief.

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. A “clawback” would mean inheritance tax would only be due if the relevant assets are sold within a specified time period after a death. Introducing this mechanism, as some have suggested, could mean some of the wealthiest estates pay less inheritance tax compared to the proposed reforms. The Government disagrees with suggestions that a clawback would raise the same revenue as the reforms being introduced from 6 April 2026; it would raise much less, which would mean raising taxes elsewhere or lowering public spending. It would also add complexity to the tax system and continue to attract the very wealthiest to tax plan since beneficiaries could hold onto the assets over the specified clawback period just to escape the tax.

What steps she is taking to increase access to banking hubs in rural and remote communities.

The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities, high streets, and rural areas across the UK, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to delivering these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.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.Some banks also provide their own community banking services via pop-ups in community centres and libraries or operate mobile banking vans to serve more remote areas, and the Government supports these initiatives.

How many officials from her Department attended the World Economic Forum 2025.

It is commonplace for key officials to travel with the Chancellor in order to support her at events and visits.Five officials from HM Treasury accompanied the Chancellor to the 2025 World Economic Forum annual meeting.

For what purposes the Government Actuary’s Department has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

The Government Actuary’s Department has made use of artificial intelligence in the last twelve months primarily by focusing on internal efficiencies and department wide communications and team meetings. Where appropriate the Government Actuary’s Department has also used AI to help provide more value to clients, for example by summarising responses to technical consultations. This is compliant with Central Digital and Data Office guidance. The department continues to seek opportunities where the innovative use of artificial intelligence can drive efficiency and add value to clients within Government, whilst safeguarding public data and information.

For what purposes National Savings and Investments has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

NS&I is currently making use of artificial intelligence (AI) across its business.NS&I has used AI in the last 12 months for its customer service chatbot, a tool used by NS&I customers to obtain answers to product and service queries that they may have. NS&I has also used AI for a digital voice assistant tool for its telephone serviceIn addition, NS&I has been piloting the use of the Government Communications Service generative AI tool called ‘Assist’, developed to support people working across government in communications roles. NS&I has also used AI to support its coding activities, researching publicly available economic data, and there is an AI component in the wider ongoing work by its operational partners to modernise NS&I's service delivery to customersFurther details about NS&I’s chatbot service will be published in due course online, as part of the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.

For what purposes the Government Internal Audit Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

The Government Internal Audit Agency has made advancements with the development of three innovative AI-powered engines: the Writing Engine, Risk Engine, and Insights Engine. These engines have been utilised to draft audit reports, identify and express potential risks, and analyse document collections to perceive themes within the collection. The systems have been crucial in significantly reducing the time spent on planning and researching audit activities and writing reports. The Writing Engine has reduced the time taken to produce a first draft from two days to 20 seconds.

For what purposes the UK Debt Management Office has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

The UK Debt Management Office (“DMO”) has not used artificial intelligence (“AI”) functionality in the past 12 months. However, the DMO continues to explore the potential use of AI to support its core objectives, whilst taking account of issues including its security and resilience, as well as its overall suitability to support aspects of the DMO’s critical mission to deliver government financing.

For what purposes the Valuation Office Agency has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country. The VOA is conducting initial discovery work to identify where Generative AI tools might improve productivity and quality, including through trialling Microsoft’s Copilot tools.

For what purposes the National Infrastructure Commission has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

The National Infrastructure Commission have used AI as a tool to improve the efficiency of their analysis and modelling, which has reduced the need for external contractors.

For what purposes HM Revenue and Customs has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.

As a department, over the last 12 months, HMRC has made use of more ‘traditional’ AI techniques to improve operations and drive productivity. HMRC’s current applications of the technology can be divided broadly into supporting compliance, customer service and wider operations: In compliance, HMRC uses tools to predict debt risk and likelihood to pay, identifying the customers we need to give more support to. HMRC uses predictive analytics to identify taxpayers most likely to be non-compliant and document analysis to identify cases of potential fraud. All tools maintain a ‘human in the loop’ to take decisions.In customer services, HMRC uses machine learning techniques to understand, categorise and search customer contact data for identifying sentiment and satisfaction rates. HMRC also use these tools to categorise and group feedback which it can use to improve customer journeys and improve services.In its wider operations, HMRC uses machine learning tools to route inbound correspondence to the right teams and summarise and categorise consultation responses. HMRC also uses recommender systems to identify the most appropriate next action for debt recovery and management and using image detection tools to identify websites making fraudulent use of the HMRC logo.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of bank branches on rural communities in (a) towns and (b) villages.

The Government understands the impact of bank branch closures on rural communities and the importance of face-to-face banking 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 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open. Furthermore, FCA guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. As well as banking hubs, 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.

For what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months.

AI has transformative potential, with the ability to drive growth, raise living standards, transform public services, and improve the lives of working people across the UK. In HM Treasury, we are using AI to build tools that support policy makers, including our bespoke HMT-GPT system and email triaging solution for managing correspondence. The award-winning Hawkeye service enables the Treasury to automatically combine key data on the UK economy and provide valuable insights for analysts. We are also adopting this modern, digital approach for the upcoming Spending Review.

How many farms were subject to inheritance tax in South Holland and the Deepings constituency in the last five financial years.

I refer the Honourable Member to the PQ referenced 17853 published on 12th December 2024 at https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-12-04/17853.