Written questions by Reynolds.

To which categories of medicines supplied free of charge HM Revenue and Customs has applied VAT, and for which periods assessments have been issued.

Awaiting answer.

What consideration her Department is giving to the treatment of VAT assessments already issued in respect of medicines supplied free of charge under early access schemes.

Awaiting answer.

What steps her Department is taking to review the VAT treatment of medicines supplied free of charge to patients under early access schemes.

Awaiting answer.

Whether the Government has considered allowing Child Benefit to be split between two parents in cases where there are established shared care arrangements.

Awaiting answer.

Whether the Government has undertaken a review of the legislation governing Child Benefit payments to assess its adequacy in the context of modern family structures, including separated parents who share the day to day care of their children.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing alternative financial support or tax relief for parents who provide substantial shared care for their children but are not the recipient of Child Benefit.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Child Benefit system in the context of modern shared parenting arrangements where a child spends substantial time living with both parents.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment she has made of the safeguards within the Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space) available to creditors, including private landlords, whose debts are subject to a moratorium.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment her Department has made of how the age of policyholders is reflected in motor insurance premiums; and whether she has had discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority on the transparency of age-b

Insurers make commercial decisions about the terms on which they will offer cover following an assessment of the relevant risks. This is usually informed by the insurer’s claims experience and other industry-wide statistics The Equality Act 2010 generally...

What assessment her Department has made of the impact of the cumulative costs of VAT and associated handling fees applied to parcels sent from distribution centres in Great Britain to customers in the European Union

VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and is normally due in the country where the consumer of the goods or services is located. The application of this destination principle in VAT achieves neutrality in international trade. The VAT rate applied is a m...

What assessment her Department has made of the impact of EU de minimis charges and associated handling fees on UK retailers fulfilling consumer orders to customers in the Republic of Ireland from distribution sites

The Government have been following the development of the EU’s customs reforms closely, including the removal of the €150 customs duty relief for imports into the EU (including from the UK). These changes do not impact the rules for claiming preferential ...

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that all material information held by HM Treasury on in-year departmental spending pressures is disclosed to the Office for Budget Responsibility in a timely manner ahea

The Review of the March 2024 forecast for departmental expenditure limits, published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in 2024 made ten recommendations to deliver enhanced transparency, visibility and data reporting between HM Treasury and the...

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent changes to mortgage rates, including those influenced by recent global economic conditions, on housing market activity.

The Government keeps the economic outlook, including the housing market, under close review. The path to lower interest rates is through low inflation, and the government is fully committed to supporting the Bank of England get inflation back down to the 2% target. The pricing and availability of mortgages is ultimately a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene. Despite recent global developments, the mortgage market remains open, resilient, and competitive across all major product types and segments, and the average offered mortgage rates on 2-year, and 5-year fixed rates remain below their peaks in 2023. The Government remains committed to addressing the cost of living and helping more people to own their own home. We do not yet have official data on housing market activity covering the period following the start of the conflict in Iran. The latest HMRC statistics on the number of UK property transactions covering up to and including February 2026 show that transactions increased by 6% compared to January 2026.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact on Stamp Duty Land Tax receipts when local authorities are unable to process land charges searches due to IT system failures.

The government does not hold this data. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and HM Land Registry (HMLR) are actively transforming the way Local Land charge data is held and searched through HMLR’s Local Land Charges Programme.

Whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the potential impact of local authority land charges register failures for residential property transactions on the Exchequer.

The government does not hold this data. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and HM Land Registry (HMLR) are actively transforming the way Local Land charge data is held and searched through HMLR’s Local Land Charges Programme.

If her Department will take steps to ensure that independent gyms and leisure businesses are provided with comparable business rates relief to pubs and other hospitality sectors.

The Government has defined in guidance which properties will be eligible for the relief announced on 27th January 2026 based on definitions used previously in the business rates system. Individual Local Authorities will need to determine which properties meet these definitions. Some comedy clubs may be eligible for the relief, depending on their specific circumstances. Properties that are not eligible for this support will still benefit from the wider business rate support package announced at the Budget, worth £4.3 billion over the next three years. The Government is also introducing new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties, which includes comedy venues, gyms and leisure businesses open to the public and with rateable values below £500,000. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down next year. This also means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

For each financial year since 2020-21, how many officials in HM Treasury have held a professional accountancy qualification.

We hold the below information on officials holding professional accountancy qualifications. In each of the below years, there were at least: 2022 – 28 officials2023 – 42 officials2024 – 38 officials2025 – 43 officials holding professional accountancy qualifications. Currently, there are 53 officials in the department holding a professional accountancy qualification.

How many officials in her Department hold a professional accountancy qualification.

53 officials in the department hold a professional accountancy qualification.

How many directors with responsibility for human resources are employed in her Department and its executive agencies; and how many of those directors hold professional HR qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent professional bodies.

Across HMT Treasury and its agencies there are two directors with responsibility for human resources, and they are both Chartered Fellows of CIPD.

What the (a) total number of full-time equivalent customer service staff employed by HM Revenue and Customs was in each of the last ten financial years and (b) number of these positions that were based in (i) call centres, (ii) face-to-face service locations and (iii) digital support teams.

HMRC operates a flexible resourcing model, meaning staff are deployed across different types of customer service work throughout the year. This approach allows the department to direct people to the areas of highest demand, whether that is helplines, post correspondence, webchat, or other customer contact channels. Because staff move between these activities as demand changes, HMRC does not separate out staffing into specific categories. However, HMRC can provide overall full‑time equivalent figures for Customer Services from 2019-20 to 2024-25, noting that these staff may work across several frontline customer service functions depending on business need. HMRC is unable to provide figures prior to 2019-20 because doing so would exceed the cost threshold for answering written parliamentary questions. This is due to the information, where it is available, being held across multiple systems that do not align with current reporting definitions, and producing the data would require significant separate interrogation and analysis. Average number of frontline customer service staff (000):2019-20: 20.02020-21: 19.62021-22: 19.22022-23: 19.42023-24: 18.22024-25: 17.4 Most customers are satisfied with the service they are receiving from HMRC. Satisfaction with phone, webchat and digital services was 80.0% to the end of November 2025-26, meeting their 80% customer satisfaction target. Customer satisfaction with digital services is consistently above 80% (82.9% up to the end of November 2025-26). Notes:Staff numbers represent averages of monthly data.Numbers include permanent and temporary staff for HMRC Customer Services Group. Numbers are for full-time equivalents.