Written questions by Hayes.

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.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increases in employer National Insurance contributions on agricultural businesses.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of Bill containing the changes to employer 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, civil society organisations and an overview of the equality impacts. The Chancellor has decided to protect the smallest employers by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500, and removing the £100,000 eligibility threshold, meaning all eligible employers benefit. This means that next year, 865,000 employers – including small farms who employ staff - will pay no NICs at all. More than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package.

If she will introduce an exemption from changes to employer National Insurance contributions for (a) small and (b) local charities.

The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to Employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all next year, more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package, and all eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs. All charities are eligible for the Employment Allowance, even if they are wholly or mainly carrying out functions of a public nature.The UK tax regime for charities, including an exemption from paying business rates, is among the most generous of anywhere in the world with tax reliefs for charities and their donors, worth just over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2024.

What steps she is taking to help prevent people from fraudulently claiming child benefit.

HMRC estimated the 2023-24 Child Benefit Error and Fraud (E&F) rate to be 1.6% (£200m) of total Child Benefit expenditure.Child Benefit has strong pre-award controls. The emphasis of HMRC’s compliance strategy remains on unreported changes in circumst...

What information her Department holds on how many high-street branches of (a) banks and (b) building societies have closed in (i) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (ii) Lincolnshire in the last 10 year

The Government does not hold bank branch closure data. However, according to consumer website Which?, South Holland and The Deepings constituency lost just over 60% of its branch network between January 2015 and November 2024, and has six branches remaini...

What estimate her Department has made of the number of farmers who will be affected by changes to business property relief in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

I refer the Honourable Member to the PQ referenced 12250 published on 11th November 2024 at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-11-01/12250. The Chancellor also recently wrote to the Chair of the Treasury Select Commi...

What estimate her Department has made of the value of the counterfeit cigarette market.

HMRC estimated that the illicit tobacco market cost £2.2bn in lost excise duty and VAT for the year 2022/23. Cigarettes account for £0.7bn of this amount. We do not have an estimate relating to specifically counterfeit cigarettes. Further details can be f...

Whether her Department conducted an impact assessment on the proposed change on inheritance tax for agricultural properties.

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms, and further explanatory informatio...

If she will list which external organisations her Department consulted before the change in policy on inheritance tax for agricultural properties.

The Government has published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms. The Government takes into acco...

What estimate her Department has made of the number of farmers who will be affected by the withdrawal of agricultural property relief in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) South Holland and the Deepings constituency.

The Government has published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief. Around 500 estates across the UK are expect...

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of bank closures in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire on (i) pensioners and (ii) small business owners.

The Government understands the impact of bank branch closures on communities and the importance of face-to-face banking. It is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to...

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the introduction of VAT on private school fees on faith schools.

On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent. This will also apply to boardin...