Written questions by Cadbury.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of reviewing the taxation paid by employers when they hire additional (a) staff under the age of 21 and (b) other staff.

Businesses are able to claim employer National Insurance Contribution reliefs including those for under-21s and under-25 apprentices on earnings up to £50,270. These reliefs are forecast to be worth around £2.5 billion in 2025/26. The government is committed to providing young people with the support they need to earn or learn. At the last Budget, we committed more than £1.5 billion to back young people through the Youth Guarantee and invest additional funding in the Growth and Skills Levy. We recently went further, announcing around £1 billion more to help unlock up to 200,000 job and apprenticeship opportunities for young people.

What steps her Department is taking to provide financial support to house boat dwellers impacted by the cost of red diesel fuel.

Certain uses, such as non-propulsion use by private pleasure craft, retained the entitlement access to use red diesel after it was withdrawn from most sectors in 2022. In contrast to full duty diesel, taxed at 52.95 pence per litre (ppl), red diesel currently incurs a duty of 10.18 pence per litre. At Budget 2025, the Government extended the temporary 5p fuel duty cut alongside extending the proportionate percentage cut for rebated fuels, which includes red diesel. This maintains the red diesel rate at the levels set in March 2022 at 10.18 peppl until the end of August 2026, with rates then gradually returning to March 2022 levels by March 2027, an increase of less than 1 ppl. The planned inflation increase for 2026-27 has also been cancelled. As the Chancellor has set out, the Government will keep fuel duty under review.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of a cap on the Cycle to Work scheme on a) employees’ ability to access e-bikes and e-cargo bikes and b) disabled employees’ ability to access specially-adapted cycles.

The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process. The Chancellor will announce any changes to the tax system at fiscal events in the usual way.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax scheme on sole traders who are digitally excluded.

The government recognises that not everyone is able to interact with HMRC digitally. Customers that consider themselves digitally excluded will be able to apply for an exemption from Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. HMRC will provide further information about the exemption process later in 2025.

What steps she has taken to help support small businesses to understand the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax scheme.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is designed to help businesses keep on top of their tax affairs and support their wider productivity. The government is undertaking a range of activities to ensure that those needing to use MTD for Income Tax understand the requirements and can do so successfully from April 2026. A communications campaign is underway, raising customer awareness of MTD for Income Tax and encouraging agents and customers to sign up for testing. HMRC are supporting customers and agents with a suite of guidance products, direct communications, webinars, live events and social media activity to help them to prepare.

What progress she has made on developing a central finance facility for credit unions.

The Government has made clear its strong support for the credit union sector, recognising the value that credit unions bring to their members in local communities across the country in providing savings products and affordable credit. On 14 November, the Chancellor announced new measures to support the growth of the credit union and mutuals sector. Following this Mansion House speech, HM Treasury has concluded a call for evidence on potential reforms to credit union common bonds, supported the industry-led Mutual and Co-operative Sector Business Council, and commissioned the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to publish a report on the mutuals landscape by the end of 2025. There are currently no plans to develop a central finance facility for credit unions. The Government continues to engage with the sector and will keep all issues, like central finance functions, under review.

When HMRC plans to respond to the email of 9 December 2024 from the office of the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth.

A response to the member for Brentford and Isleworth regarding their correspondence of 9 December 2024 is being prepared and will be provided by 24 January 2025. I apologise for the delay in responding to the Honourable Member.

What steps she is taking to increase the number of credit unions operating in England.

The Government has made clear its strong support for the credit union sector, recognising the value that credit unions bring to their members in local communities across the country in providing savings products and affordable credit. The Chancellor announced new measures to support the growth of the credit union and mutuals sector in her Mansion House speech on 14 November. This included publishing a call for evidence on the potential to reform common bonds for credit unions in Great Britain, asking the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to produce a report on the mutuals landscape by the end of 2025, and welcoming the establishment of an industry-led Mutual and Co-operative Business Council. Together, these actions reinforce the Government’s commitment to support the credit union and mutuals sector, and help it grow to drive innovation and economic growth across the country. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) publishes quarterly statistics relating to credit unions in the United Kingdom. According to this latest data, there are currently 140 credit unions operating in England. Whilst HM Treasury does not hold data on the number of credit unions operating in London, all registered mutuals are listed publicly on the Mutuals Public Register, which is managed by the Financial Conduct Authority.

What estimate she has made of the number of credit unions operating in (a) London and (b) England.

The Government has made clear its strong support for the credit union sector, recognising the value that credit unions bring to their members in local communities across the country in providing savings products and affordable credit. The Chancellor announced new measures to support the growth of the credit union and mutuals sector in her Mansion House speech on 14 November. This included publishing a call for evidence on the potential to reform common bonds for credit unions in Great Britain, asking the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to produce a report on the mutuals landscape by the end of 2025, and welcoming the establishment of an industry-led Mutual and Co-operative Business Council. Together, these actions reinforce the Government’s commitment to support the credit union and mutuals sector, and help it grow to drive innovation and economic growth across the country. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) publishes quarterly statistics relating to credit unions in the United Kingdom. According to this latest data, there are currently 140 credit unions operating in England. Whilst HM Treasury does not hold data on the number of credit unions operating in London, all registered mutuals are listed publicly on the Mutuals Public Register, which is managed by the Financial Conduct Authority.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of HMRC's processing of refund requests for taxpayers.

HMRC aims to process all refunds and repayments within a reasonable timeframe. The processing of these is recorded as part of HMRC’s post turnaround measure. HMRC’s service standard for post turnaround is 80% of customer correspondence cleared within 15 working days of receipt. HMRC’s performance has been 77% from April to August 2024. Post performance is published monthly and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports#reporting-year-2024-to-2025. To improve their services and meet published standards HMRC have recently deployed additional customer service advisers. They expect to meet their post service standards in the second half of 2024-25 as the new advisers are trained and up to speed.