Written questions by Pochin.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of tax, regulatory and carbon‑related costs on the long‑term capital investment in energy‑intensive manufacturing.

Carbon-related costs deliver long-term investment signals to deliver energy security for UK businesses and reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuels. However, we understand that some energy-intensive industries (EII) are facing high industrial electricity costs affecting their competitiveness, which is why we deliver the British Industry Supercharger and EII Compensation Scheme to provide carbon-leakage prone businesses relief from carbon costs and electricity network charges. The Government keeps all policy measures, including tax, carbon costs and regulation, under review.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential cumulative impact on public houses of business rates, employer National Insurance contributions and recent increases in the National Living Wage.

The Government has assessed the cumulative impacts of measures announced over recent Budgets on businesses and households. Taken together, these measures raise revenue to support the public finances in a fair way, whilst providing targeted support. The Government recognises that recent policy changes will have combined effects on some businesses. Where changes are made, relevant assessments and impact notes are published to inform stakeholders. The Treasury continues to engage with affected sectors to understand the challenges they face and to ensure the UK remains a competitive place to do business. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and keep our policy approach under review, with future tax decisions taken at fiscal events under the normal process.

What estimate her Department has made of the average annual business rates bill for a public house in England in 2025 to 26, and how that compares with 2023 to 24.

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down next year. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest. Without this support, pubs would have faced a 45% increase in the total bills they pay next year. However, because of the support the Government has put in place, this has fallen to just 4%. More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

How many public houses have closed in England in each year since 2019, and what proportion of those closures her Department attributes primarily to business rates liabilities.

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down next year. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest. Without this support, pubs would have faced a 45% increase in the total bills they pay next year. However, because of the support the Government has put in place, this has fallen to just 4%. More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

Whether her Department has considered introducing a sector specific business rates valuation approach for public houses.

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down next year. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest. Without this support, pubs would have faced a 45% increase in the total bills they pay next year. However, because of the support the Government has put in place, this has fallen to just 4%. More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

What modelling her Department has undertaken of the potential impact of the removal or reduction of business rates relief on hospitality businesses employing fewer than 50 staff.

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down next year. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest. Without this support, pubs would have faced a 45% increase in the total bills they pay next year. However, because of the support the Government has put in place, this has fallen to just 4%. More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent changes to business rates policy on the financial viability of public houses in England.

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down next year. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest. Without this support, pubs would have faced a 45% increase in the total bills they pay next year. However, because of the support the Government has put in place, this has fallen to just 4%. More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

How many public houses in England received discretionary business rates relief in 2024 to 25, and what the total value of that relief was.

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down next year. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest. Without this support, pubs would have faced a 45% increase in the total bills they pay next year. However, because of the support the Government has put in place, this has fallen to just 4%. More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of public sector pay awards agreed since July 2024 on expenditure over the Spending Review period.

No additional central funding has been given to Departments for the 2025/26 pay awards beyond their existing funding allocations, and this will be the case for the remainder of the Spending Review period. This means we will not be borrowing more or raising taxes to fund higher pay awards, nor will there be an impact on the fiscal rules.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent public sector pay settlements on forecast productivity growth in relevant sectors.

No additional central funding has been given to Departments for the 2025/26 pay awards beyond their existing funding allocations, and this will be the case for the remainder of the Spending Review period. This means we will not be borrowing more or raising taxes to fund higher pay awards, nor will there be an impact on the fiscal rules.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the long term affordability of public sector pay settlements agreed outside the recommendations of independent pay review bodies.

No additional central funding has been given to Departments for the 2025/26 pay awards beyond their existing funding allocations, and this will be the case for the remainder of the Spending Review period. This means we will not be borrowing more or raising taxes to fund higher pay awards, nor will there be an impact on the fiscal rules.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent public sector pay settlements on trends in the level of public sector net borrowing in future financial years.

No additional central funding has been given to Departments for the 2025/26 pay awards beyond their existing funding allocations, and this will be the case for the remainder of the Spending Review period. This means we will not be borrowing more or raising taxes to fund higher pay awards, nor will there be an impact on the fiscal rules.

What analysis her Department has undertaken of the distributional impact of recent public sector pay awards across income deciles.

No additional central funding has been given to Departments for the 2025/26 pay awards beyond their existing funding allocations, and this will be the case for the remainder of the Spending Review period. This means we will not be borrowing more or raising taxes to fund higher pay awards, nor will there be an impact on the fiscal rules.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of taking fiscal steps to offset the potential impact of recent public sector pay agreements on the public finances.

No additional central funding has been given to Departments for the 2025/26 pay awards beyond their existing funding allocations, and this will be the case for the remainder of the Spending Review period. This means we will not be borrowing more or raising taxes to fund higher pay awards, nor will there be an impact on the fiscal rules.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent public sector pay settlements on the fiscal rules.

No additional central funding has been given to Departments for the 2025/26 pay awards beyond their existing funding allocations, and this will be the case for the remainder of the Spending Review period. This means we will not be borrowing more or raising taxes to fund higher pay awards, nor will there be an impact on the fiscal rules.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent public sector pay settlements on departmental budgetary flexibility in future financial years.

No additional central funding has been given to Departments for the 2025/26 pay awards beyond their existing funding allocations, and this will be the case for the remainder of the Spending Review period. This means we will not be borrowing more or raising taxes to fund higher pay awards, nor will there be an impact on the fiscal rules.

If she will publish a list of businesses that have committed furlough fraud but have not yet repaid the money.

HMRC has a “Publishing Details of Deliberate Tax Defaulters” programme which publishes details of deliberate tax defaulters on Gov.uk for a period of 12 months. Since HMRC began compliance on the COVID-19 support schemes, details of 195 people have been published for deliberately overclaiming CJRS and/or Eat Out to Help Out. The latest publication was in November 2025: Details of deliberate tax defaulters - GOV.UK

Of the firms reported to HM Revenue and Customs for furlough fraud, how many (a) have been investigated and (b) remain to be investigated.

HMRC’s Fraud Reporting Gateway receives Human Intelligence reports on a variety of topics, including COVID-19 error and fraud, that are of interest to HMRC. This Fraud Reporting Gateway has resulted in 23,000 intelligence reports relating to the COVID schemes to assess, and a further 900 reports received from the Public Sector Fraud Authority. Due to firewalls in place to protect human sources of information, the recipients of the intelligence do not know its origin. Therefore, once the intelligence is circulated, we are unable to directly identify and attribute yield generated from the Fraud Reporting Gateway contacts, or why an investigation was or was not started.

How many compliance inspections of money service businesses have been carried out by HM Revenue and Customs in the last twelve months.

HMRC does not record ‘Money Service Businesses’ (MSBs) as a category in its compliance data across all tax regimes. It is therefore not possible to accurately identify the total number of compliance checks in this area of business without manually reviewing case records. Available figures cover compliance checks under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR). As a statutory supervisor under the MLR, HMRC has carried out 1,008 compliance checks of supervised businesses across all supervised sectors in the period from 1 December 2024 to 30 November 2025. These interventions form part of the responsibility to protect the UK from money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation, which includes providing guidance and education to support legitimate businesses, fit and proper operating checks, and desk-based and onsite interventions. Further details on HMRC’s inspection processes are available on GOV.UK: Money laundering regulations: business inspections.

What estimate she has made of the future annual revenues from pay per mile vehicle tax schemes over the next five years.

As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that EVs contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty.The Government has set out the expected impacts, including Exchequer impacts and behavioural changes, from eVED and other Budget measures in the Budget 2025 Policy Costings document at GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692872fd2a37784b16ecf676/Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf