Written questions by Hatton.

What plans he has to assess the impact of benefit overpayments on the public purse.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment he has made of the potential merits of conducting a public consultation and review of whistleblowing law as part of the measures announced in the UK anti-corruption strategy 2025.

On 15 April the government announced its intention to consult on the whistleblowing framework in the Employment Rights Act 1996 in the Summer. The government wants to seek views on the operation of the framework to ensure it is working effectively.

When the Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences will be completed and published.

The Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences has now concluded. Part One of the Review, Disclosure in the Digital Age, was published in March 2025, and the Government expects to publish its formal response shortly.Part Two of the Review, Fraud in the Digital Age, was received by the Department in December 2025 and will be published in due course.

What steps he is taking to increase the number of GP services in South Dorset constituency.

We promised to improve access to GPs, and that’s exactly what we are doing. This year we have invested an additional £601m in the GP contract and we’ve delivered 8 million more appointments than last year, with South Dorset seeing an increase of 27,000. We have 2,000 more fully-qualified GPs than in July 2024, which includes 12 extra GPs in Dorset ICB, an increase of 3% and from this year we're enabling PCNs to recruit a broader range of roles to improve access to services. At a local level, NHS Dorset ICB has the responsibility for commissioning services to meet the needs of my honourable friend’s constituency.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many farmers received payments under the Sustainable Farming Incentive for buffer strip actions in the previous scheme year.

In the 2025 scheme year a total of 4,894 farm businesses received at least one payment for buffer strip actions delivered under the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

What steps he is taking to tackle backlogs in the courts.

Sir Brian’s report set out a blueprint for pragmatic structural reform in our criminal courts and made clear that action across the process is essential.The Courts and Tribunals Bill is the first step to putting that blueprint into law. Coupled with record investment in sitting days and criminal legal aid and modernisation of listing practices and use of case coordinators and blitz courts to boost efficiencies, we are taking a neglected service and bringing it, finally, into the 21st century.

What steps she is taking to help ensure the accuracy of information provided by tax advisers.

HMRC’s standard for agents sets the minimum expectations for all tax advisers and is regularly reviewed by HMRC. While the vast majority of tax advisers support taxpayers to pay the right amount of tax, the government is legislating in this year’s Finance Bill to give HMRC the powers to better tackle tax advisers who facilitate non-compliance.

What steps she is taking to improve Weymouth train station.

Southwestern Railway is empowered to make sure its stations are well-maintained and meet customer expectations. Southwestern Railway must prioritise urgent and safety related maintenance, but there are some improvements at Weymouth Station in the pipeline, such as netting and spiking to deter seagulls.

What steps he is taking to help support offshore wind supply chains in South Dorset constituency.

The Government set out a £1b support package with Great British Energy, The Crown Estate and industry supporting new infrastructure, including ports and manufacturing across the UK. GBE recently opened its £300m fund, to support manufacturing investment and deployment.

To please provide staff turnover figures for the Wealthy Team in HMRC for each financial year 2017/18 to 2024/25.

The table below provides the turnover rate, based on average Full Time Equivalent (FTE), for each year from 2021/22. Staff data is retained only for as long as it is required to meet its intended business purpose, after which it is securely deleted in line with HMRC’s data retention policy. The number of leavers includes staff leaving HMRC, moves to other Customer Compliance Group (CCG) directorates, moves outside of CCG and leavers within Wealthy and Mid-sized Business Compliance (WMBC). Tax year 21/22 includes moves to COVID schemes, whilst 24/25 included moves to other teams in Wealthy and Mid-sized Business Compliance, working on wealthy related risk. Tax YearTotal LeaversAverage FTE over yearTurnover rate2021/2225885630%2022/2315695116%2023/2413198813%2024/2516689818%

Whether the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has any formal policies or guidance aimed at preventing potential retaliation against whistleblowers who report wrongdoing to the SFO; and whether consideration has been given to developing structural protections against retaliation for whistleblowers following the government's Anti-Corruption Strategy launch event in December 2025.

The SFO has well established formal policies and guidance aimed at protecting whistleblowers who report allegations of criminality. All whistleblowers who report to the SFO are dealt with by appropriately trained, nationally NPCC accredited members of staff whose role is to engage with whistleblowers and understand what is required to protect these people from retaliation or harm of any kind. The SFOs whistleblowing handling processes have also been fully reviewed and strengthened over the past year to ensure that all reports continue to be handled in accordance with national guidance.The Government’s recently published Anti-Corruption Strategy commits to explore opportunities to reform the UK’s approach to whistleblowing in the employment context.

What steps HMRC plans to take to increase the recruitment of compliance and debt management staff.

The Government announced investment at the Budget in October 2024 and the Spring Statement in March 2025 to enable HMRC to recruit and retain 2,400 debt management officers in addition to growing by 5,500 compliance officers by 2029-30, with further funding for the former announced at the Budget in November 2025. This funding means that HMRC will retain 1,200 current Debt Management staff, who would have moved onto other roles, to focus on debt collection activity until the end of 2029-30 and will grow its workforce by 1,200 more people over this period. The majority of new recruits are funded from 2026-27, and all additional staff will be in position by 2028-29. HMRC is already well underway in recruiting 5,500 additional compliance officers who will join by the end of the decade. HMRC is welcoming around 2,000 total compliance officers each financial year, which includes baseline recruitment, an approximate 1,000 additional compliance officers funded by Government investment, and also accounts for anticipated attrition. Since November 2024, over 1,500 additional compliance officers have joined HMRC’s Customer Compliance Group (CCG).

What the total compliance yield generated by HMRC’s Wealthy Team was in each financial year between 2017-18 and 2024-25.

The table below shows the compliance yield attributed to the wealthy customer group, which includes yield generated by HMRCs Wealthy Team. HMRC does not hold the figures for 2017-18. We have provided details from the earliest period available in the table below:- Annual Report figures2018-192019-202020-212021-222022-232023-242024-25Compliance Yield (£m)1,8002,2003,0002,5004,0005,2003,700 Compliance yield for the wealthy population can fluctuate year on year because it can be impacted by the nature of the work and risks being settled as well as the settlement of a small number of complex, high value cases and litigation outcomes. Complex cases can take time to work through which can lead to yearly fluctuations.

How many additional HMRC debt management staff she plans to recruit in each of the next five years.

The Government announced investment at the Budget in October 2024 and the Spring Statement in March 2025 to enable HMRC to recruit and retain 2,400 debt management officers in addition to growing by 5,500 compliance officers by 2029-30, with further funding for the former announced at the Budget in November 2025. This funding means that HMRC will retain 1,200 current Debt Management staff, who would have moved onto other roles, to focus on debt collection activity until the end of 2029-30 and will grow its workforce by 1,200 more people over this period. The majority of new recruits are funded from 2026-27, and all additional staff will be in position by 2028-29. HMRC is already well underway in recruiting 5,500 additional compliance officers who will join by the end of the decade. HMRC is welcoming around 2,000 total compliance officers each financial year, which includes baseline recruitment, an approximate 1,000 additional compliance officers funded by Government investment, and also accounts for anticipated attrition. Since November 2024, over 1,500 additional compliance officers have joined HMRC’s Customer Compliance Group (CCG).

How much and what proportion of the wealthy tax gap HMRC attributes to (a) Capital Gains Tax and (b) Inheritance Tax for each financial year from 2017-18 to 2024-25.

Wealthy tax gap estimates are published in Measuring the Tax Gap 2025 for 2005-06 to 2023-24. There are no estimates for 2024-25 at this time, these will be published in future tax gap publications. We use Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) data in our estimate of the Self-Assessment (SA) wealthy tax gap. It is not possible to separately estimate the CGT share within this tax gap. We are therefore unable to provide the details for CGT. The overall wealthy tax gap, detailed in Chapter 1 Figure 1.4 of MTG25 and Table 1.4 of the online tables, breaks down as follows: (£ billion)2017/182018/192019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24Self-Assessment1.431.351.341.231.671.781.95Inheritance Tax0.200.190.190.100.200.120.15Stamp Duties0.020.050.050.040.040.050.04Net Gap1.651.591.581.371.921.952.13 Or as a percentage share of the overall wealthy tax gap: (£ billion)2017/182018/192019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24Self-Assessment86.7%85.0%84.7%90.0%87.2%91.6%91.3%Inheritance Tax11.9%12.1%12.1%7.1%10.5%6.0%6.9%Stamp Duties1.4%2.9%3.2%2.9%2.3%2.4%1.7%

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of low-cost imported stone on the competitiveness of UK natural stone producers; and what steps he is taking to help support the natural stone industry.

The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) is the UK’s investigatory body that exists to defend the UK against unfair international trade practices, including foreign subsidies. I encourage UK industry to engage directly with the TRA if they believe they are being injured by unfair trading practices as it will be for the TRA to decide whether evidentiary thresholds to initiate a trade remedies investigation are met. The Department remains vigilant to any reports of potential injury to industries from unfair trading practices and regularly engages with the natural stone sector.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to expand the Bathing Water (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2025 to apply to all recreational water users.

Bathing waters are one of the most visible ways in which the public interacts with the water environment, and so it is critical that appropriate regulations meet the needs of water users and those involved with managing bathing water sites. In the November – December 2024 consultation on bathing water reforms, we asked respondents about wider reforms including the expansion of the definition of ‘bathers’ to include other water users and introducing multiple monitoring points at sites. The Government response to the consultation, published in March 2025, outlined that a clear majority of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with this proposal and many offered suggestions of what water users should be included. The Department is now exploring how evidence to support the delivery of these wider reforms, including expanding the definition of a bather might be developed. The timeline for detailed policy development and research will depend on the outcome of initial scoping work. Defra will engage with local and national stakeholders as this work progresses.

Whether the Treasury plans to introduce additional protections for individuals who face retaliation as a result of engaging with the HMRC whistleblowing reward scheme; and whether HMRC will be required to provide support to whistleblowers involved in employment disputes or SLAPP-type legal proceedings arising from their disclosures.

HMRC treats all informants with the highest levels of confidentiality and security in line with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000 and the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) Codes of Practice. There is no legal obligation on HMRC to participate in an employment tribunal of an informant. However, if requested, HMRC can provide a disclosure to the informant or their legal representative to support any employment tribunal under Sec 18 (2)(c) Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.

What steps her Department will take to ensure transparency in the operation of HMRC's proposed whistleblowing reward scheme; and whether she plans to publish (a) eligibility criteria and award thresholds for applicants, and (b) data on the number and value of awards granted.

At Autumn Budget on 26 November 2025 the Government launched the Rewards for informants of high value tax fraud. This scheme is designed to target serious non-compliance involving large corporates, wealthy individuals, offshore and avoidance schemes. Informants can receive a reward of between 15 and 30% when they provide information which leads directly to HMRC collecting more than £1.5M tax. HMRC have published eligibility criteria for the scheme at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reporting-serious-tax-avoidance-and-evasion. HMRC has previously published data on the total amount of rewards paid annually through the standard informants reward scheme and will continue to do so. To protect the confidentiality of informants we do not publish the number of rewards or size of individual rewards.

How many of the 74 HMRC engagement forums are involved in developing tax policy; and what is the composition of those stakeholder groups, including the proportion of tax practitioners compared to academics or independent experts.

The majority of HMRC’s engagement forums play a role in contributing to the development of tax policy, as well as addressing other key areas such as operations, compliance and communications. These forums bring together a diverse mix of representatives from professional bodies, other representative organisations, tax practitioners and independent experts.