Written questions by Pochin.

What discussions she had with the former Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility on his giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee following the Budget before his resignation; and if she will publish all written correspondence between them on this issue.

Richard Hughes resigned as Chair of the OBR on 1 December and the Chancellor wrote to thank him for his dedicated public service and leadership of the OBR over the last 5 years.These letters are published on the OBR website and on gov.uk, respectively.

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of anti money laundering controls in bureaux de change and money service businesses.

The latest National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, published in July 2025, confirms that Money Service Businesses (MSBs) remain high risk for both money laundering and terrorist financing, unchanged from the 2020 rating. The report can be found here: National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2025 - GOV.UK The Government recognises the importance of targeting anti-money laundering (AML) activity at the highest-risk sectors as part of a risk-based approach. That is why the latest amendments to the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs), due to be laid in 2026, will make the MLRs more proportionate and effective by ensuring that so-called ‘Know Your Customer’ requirements on regulated businesses such as MSBs are clearer and more targeted at high-risk activity. HMRC is the AML supervisor for MSBs. While we cannot comment on individual cases, HMRC provides HM Treasury with data on the number and risk profile of MSBs operating in the UK, as well as information on how it assesses and responds to MSB-related risks. This information is published in HM Treasury’s annual anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing supervision report, the latest version of which is available here: Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: Supervision Report 2023-24 - GOV.UK HMRC also publishes details of penalties it has issued to businesses for non-compliance with the MLRs. The information for the 2024-25 financial year can be found here: Businesses that have not complied with the money laundering regulations (2024 to 2025) - GOV.UK According to this data, in 2024-25 16 MSBs were fined a total of £50,276 for failures in: the provision of registration information; notifying HMRC of material change; having the correct policies, controls and procedures; conducting due diligence; record keeping; and providing requested information or documents. HMRC also applies a range of non-financial penalties, including preventing businesses from trading through suspension or cancellation of their supervisory registration, to address risks in its supervised sectors.

What assessment she has made of revenue lost to furlough fraud committed during the pandemic.

The Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner Tom Hayhoe’s final report to Parliament found many schemes - including Bounce Back Loans - were rolled out with huge fraud risks and no early safeguards – costing the taxpayer millions. Weak accountability, bad quality data and poor contracting were identified as the primary causes of the £10.9 billion pound losses – which were enough to fund daily free school meals for the UK’s 2.7 million eligible children for eight years.This government has already recouped almost £400m of Covid support cash. The government has already actioned many of the Commissioner’s early proposals. These include:A voluntary repayment scheme, launched in September, giving claimants until 31 December to pay up.Tougher sanctions powers through the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, which became law on 2 December.Specialist fraud recovery teams to track down suspected fraudsters and recover taxpayer cash, from 2026.Estimates of error and fraud for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) are published at: Error and fraud in the COVID-19 schemes: methodology and approach (an update for 2023) - GOV.UK

If she will publish a list of businesses that have been required to repay fraudulently claimed furlough money.

The Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner Tom Hayhoe’s final report to Parliament found many schemes were rolled out with huge fraud risks and no early safeguards – costing the taxpayer millions. Weak accountability, bad quality data and poor contracting were identified as the primary causes of the £10.9 billion pound losses – which were enough to fund daily free school meals for the UK’s 2.7 million eligible children for eight years.This government has already recouped almost £400m of Covid support cash. The government has already actioned many of the Commissioner’s early proposals. These include:A voluntary repayment scheme, launched in September, giving claimants until 31 December to pay up.Tougher sanctions powers through the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, which became law on 2 December.Specialist fraud recovery teams to track down suspected fraudsters and recover taxpayer cash, from 2026. HMRC has a “Publishing Details of Deliberate Tax Defaulters” programme which publishes details of deliberate tax defaulters on Gov.uk, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Eat Out to Help Out.

If she will publish all correspondence between herself and the Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility between 1 October and 1 December.

The Chancellor engages regularly with the OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee (BRC), including its Chair, in preparation for fiscal events. The OBR publishes a log of its contact, including with the Chancellor, in the Foreword of the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO).On Wednesday 26 November, Richard Hughes wrote to the Chancellor to apologise for the early release of the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook and to announce an investigation into the incident.Richard Hughes resigned as Chair of the OBR on 1 December and the Chancellor wrote to thank him for his dedicated public service and leadership of the OBR over the last 5 years.These letters are published on the OBR website and on gov.uk, respectively.

What steps she is taking to strengthen enforcement action against money service businesses that breach anti money laundering regulations.

The latest National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, published in July 2025, confirms that Money Service Businesses (MSBs) remain high risk for both money laundering and terrorist financing, unchanged from the 2020 rating. The report can be found here: National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2025 - GOV.UK The Government recognises the importance of targeting anti-money laundering (AML) activity at the highest-risk sectors as part of a risk-based approach. That is why the latest amendments to the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs), due to be laid in 2026, will make the MLRs more proportionate and effective by ensuring that so-called ‘Know Your Customer’ requirements on regulated businesses such as MSBs are clearer and more targeted at high-risk activity. HMRC is the AML supervisor for MSBs. While we cannot comment on individual cases, HMRC provides HM Treasury with data on the number and risk profile of MSBs operating in the UK, as well as information on how it assesses and responds to MSB-related risks. This information is published in HM Treasury’s annual anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing supervision report, the latest version of which is available here: Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: Supervision Report 2023-24 - GOV.UK HMRC also publishes details of penalties it has issued to businesses for non-compliance with the MLRs. The information for the 2024-25 financial year can be found here: Businesses that have not complied with the money laundering regulations (2024 to 2025) - GOV.UK According to this data, in 2024-25 16 MSBs were fined a total of £50,276 for failures in: the provision of registration information; notifying HMRC of material change; having the correct policies, controls and procedures; conducting due diligence; record keeping; and providing requested information or documents. HMRC also applies a range of non-financial penalties, including preventing businesses from trading through suspension or cancellation of their supervisory registration, to address risks in its supervised sectors.

What estimate she has made of tax revenues from the new tax on electric vehicles announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 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

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the new taxation of electric vehicles on consumer uptake of electric vehicles.

The Government intends to create a fair tax system whilst ensuring that driving an electric vehicle (EV) remains an attractive choice for consumers; the transition to EVs is essential to meeting Net Zero targets. As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028. The rate of eVED for EVs will be half of the equivalent fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel driver, ensuring that EVs are cheaper to own and run for the majority of EV drivers. The Government is also providing generous additional support to incentivise the use of electric vehicles, including £1.3 billion of additional funding for the Electric Car Grant (ECG) and increasing the VED Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) threshold to £50,000 for EVs. As set out by the OBR, the estimated net impact of eVED and other Budget measures, including the ECG and ECS, is 120,000 fewer new EV sales across the forecast period. This is against a baseline which assumes EV sales more than triple from 2025-26 levels by 2030-31, which means the net impact of eVED represents only 2% of total new EV sales in the period. The Government has set out expected impacts 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

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the new taxation of electric vehicles on reaching the UK's net zero targets.

The Government intends to create a fair tax system whilst ensuring that driving an electric vehicle (EV) remains an attractive choice for consumers; the transition to EVs is essential to meeting Net Zero targets. As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028. The rate of eVED for EVs will be half of the equivalent fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel driver, ensuring that EVs are cheaper to own and run for the majority of EV drivers. The Government is also providing generous additional support to incentivise the use of electric vehicles, including £1.3 billion of additional funding for the Electric Car Grant (ECG) and increasing the VED Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) threshold to £50,000 for EVs. As set out by the OBR, the estimated net impact of eVED and other Budget measures, including the ECG and ECS, is 120,000 fewer new EV sales across the forecast period. This is against a baseline which assumes EV sales more than triple from 2025-26 levels by 2030-31, which means the net impact of eVED represents only 2% of total new EV sales in the period. The Government has set out expected impacts 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

How much has been recovered by HM Revenue and Customs from furlough fraud to date.

HMRC’s latest fully assured figures, covering up to the end of March 2025, have been published in the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025 Across the three HMRC-administered COVID-19 support schemes Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO), up to the end of March 2025, HMRC’s compliance effort on the COVID-19 schemes has prevented the payment of or recovered the overpayment of over £1.7 billion worth of grants, which is made up of £430 million prevented from being paid out and £1.3 billion recovered from overpayments. Of the overall £1.3 billion recovered from overpayments, £920 million relates to CJRS. HMRC identifies claims for compliance checks where the amount of the claim is out of step with other information. The risk that the claim is incorrect may be due to a range of reasons from an honest mistake through to fraud, therefore our data does not distinguish between error and fraud. HMRC also introduced dedicated voluntary disclosure portals where claimants can voluntarily repay a COVID-19 support scheme grant, either because they have identified an overpayment of a grant or if they no longer require it. These repayment facilities have so far resulted in unprompted disclosures and voluntary repayments of over £1 billion for CJRS, £51 million for SEISS, and £2 million for EOHO.CJRS: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-grants-backSEISS: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tell-hmrc-and-pay-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme-grant-backEOHO: Eat Out to Help Out Scheme (email eohovoluntaryrepayments@hmrc.gov.uk)

What assessment she has made of the potential distributional impact of the new taxation of electric vehicles on households with lower incomes.

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 set out estimated impacts on household incomes from tax, welfare and public service spending decisions taken at Budget 2025, including eVED. These impacts are available at GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69269c6222424e25e6bc31bb/Impact_on_households.pdf The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will be responsible for delivering and administering eVED, so HM Revenue and Customs will not incur additional administrative costs.

What estimate she has made of the number of unregistered money service businesses currently operating in the United Kingdom.

The latest National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, published in July 2025, confirms that Money Service Businesses (MSBs) remain high risk for both money laundering and terrorist financing, unchanged from the 2020 rating. The report can be found here: National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2025 - GOV.UK The Government recognises the importance of targeting anti-money laundering (AML) activity at the highest-risk sectors as part of a risk-based approach. That is why the latest amendments to the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs), due to be laid in 2026, will make the MLRs more proportionate and effective by ensuring that so-called ‘Know Your Customer’ requirements on regulated businesses such as MSBs are clearer and more targeted at high-risk activity. HMRC is the AML supervisor for MSBs. While we cannot comment on individual cases, HMRC provides HM Treasury with data on the number and risk profile of MSBs operating in the UK, as well as information on how it assesses and responds to MSB-related risks. This information is published in HM Treasury’s annual anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing supervision report, the latest version of which is available here: Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: Supervision Report 2023-24 - GOV.UK HMRC also publishes details of penalties it has issued to businesses for non-compliance with the MLRs. The information for the 2024-25 financial year can be found here: Businesses that have not complied with the money laundering regulations (2024 to 2025) - GOV.UK According to this data, in 2024-25 16 MSBs were fined a total of £50,276 for failures in: the provision of registration information; notifying HMRC of material change; having the correct policies, controls and procedures; conducting due diligence; record keeping; and providing requested information or documents. HMRC also applies a range of non-financial penalties, including preventing businesses from trading through suspension or cancellation of their supervisory registration, to address risks in its supervised sectors.

How much HM Revenue and Customs expects to recover from outstanding furlough fraud investigations.

The Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner Tom Hayhoe’s final report to Parliament found many schemes were rolled out with huge fraud risks and no early safeguards – costing the taxpayer millions. Weak accountability, bad quality data and poor contracting were identified as the primary causes of the £10.9 billion pound losses – which were enough to fund daily free school meals for the UK’s 2.7 million eligible children for eight years.This government has already recouped almost £400m of Covid support cash. The government has already actioned many of the Commissioner’s early proposals. These include:A voluntary repayment scheme, launched in September, giving claimants until 31 December to pay up.Tougher sanctions powers through the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, which became law on 2 December.Specialist fraud recovery teams to track down suspected fraudsters and recover taxpayer cash, from 2026.

What estimate she has made of the administrative costs to HM Revenue and Customs of implementing the new taxation of electric vehicles.

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 set out estimated impacts on household incomes from tax, welfare and public service spending decisions taken at Budget 2025, including eVED. These impacts are available at GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69269c6222424e25e6bc31bb/Impact_on_households.pdf The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will be responsible for delivering and administering eVED, so HM Revenue and Customs will not incur additional administrative costs.

What assessment she has made of the level of financial crime linked to non compliant money service businesses.

The latest National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, published in July 2025, confirms that Money Service Businesses (MSBs) remain high risk for both money laundering and terrorist financing, unchanged from the 2020 rating. The report can be found here: National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2025 - GOV.UK The Government recognises the importance of targeting anti-money laundering (AML) activity at the highest-risk sectors as part of a risk-based approach. That is why the latest amendments to the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs), due to be laid in 2026, will make the MLRs more proportionate and effective by ensuring that so-called ‘Know Your Customer’ requirements on regulated businesses such as MSBs are clearer and more targeted at high-risk activity. HMRC is the AML supervisor for MSBs. While we cannot comment on individual cases, HMRC provides HM Treasury with data on the number and risk profile of MSBs operating in the UK, as well as information on how it assesses and responds to MSB-related risks. This information is published in HM Treasury’s annual anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing supervision report, the latest version of which is available here: Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: Supervision Report 2023-24 - GOV.UK HMRC also publishes details of penalties it has issued to businesses for non-compliance with the MLRs. The information for the 2024-25 financial year can be found here: Businesses that have not complied with the money laundering regulations (2024 to 2025) - GOV.UK According to this data, in 2024-25 16 MSBs were fined a total of £50,276 for failures in: the provision of registration information; notifying HMRC of material change; having the correct policies, controls and procedures; conducting due diligence; record keeping; and providing requested information or documents. HMRC also applies a range of non-financial penalties, including preventing businesses from trading through suspension or cancellation of their supervisory registration, to address risks in its supervised sectors.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of record keeping requirements for foreign exchange and money remittance transactions.

The latest National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, published in July 2025, confirms that Money Service Businesses (MSBs) remain high risk for both money laundering and terrorist financing, unchanged from the 2020 rating. The report can be found here: National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2025 - GOV.UK The Government recognises the importance of targeting anti-money laundering (AML) activity at the highest-risk sectors as part of a risk-based approach. That is why the latest amendments to the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs), due to be laid in 2026, will make the MLRs more proportionate and effective by ensuring that so-called ‘Know Your Customer’ requirements on regulated businesses such as MSBs are clearer and more targeted at high-risk activity. HMRC is the AML supervisor for MSBs. While we cannot comment on individual cases, HMRC provides HM Treasury with data on the number and risk profile of MSBs operating in the UK, as well as information on how it assesses and responds to MSB-related risks. This information is published in HM Treasury’s annual anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing supervision report, the latest version of which is available here: Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: Supervision Report 2023-24 - GOV.UK HMRC also publishes details of penalties it has issued to businesses for non-compliance with the MLRs. The information for the 2024-25 financial year can be found here: Businesses that have not complied with the money laundering regulations (2024 to 2025) - GOV.UK According to this data, in 2024-25 16 MSBs were fined a total of £50,276 for failures in: the provision of registration information; notifying HMRC of material change; having the correct policies, controls and procedures; conducting due diligence; record keeping; and providing requested information or documents. HMRC also applies a range of non-financial penalties, including preventing businesses from trading through suspension or cancellation of their supervisory registration, to address risks in its supervised sectors.

With reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the increase in employers' National Insurance contributions on levels of private sector (a) jobs and (b) vacancies.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the 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, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts. The Office for Budget Responsibility publishes the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), which sets out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances. With all policies considered, the OBR's March 2025 EFO forecasts the employment level to increase from 33.6 million in 2024 to 34.8 million in 2029.

How many additional rate taxpayers there were in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22, (c) 2022-23, (d) 2023-24 and (e) 2024-25 financial years.

Estimates of the number of additional rate taxpayers for the financial years 2020-21 to 2024-25 are published by HMRC in the Income Tax Liabilities Statistics. The latest available figures can be found in Table 2.1 of HMRC’s Income Tax Liabilities Statistics, available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/number-of-individual-income-taxpayers-by-marginal-rate-gender-and-age