Every parliamentary written question tabled by Scott Arthur this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 21–40 of 46 · Treasury
What steps she is taking to help increase the return on investment from pension savings.
This house legislated to auto-enrol millions of employees into pension saving and the onus is on us to ensure they get the best possible returns.The Pension Schemes Bill will do exactly that, via bigger, better pension schemes, a value for money framework and tackling small pots.Average earner savings over their working life could have their pension pot boosted by £29,000.
What assessment she has made of the impact of wealth taxes on national economies in countries where they exist.
The Government is committed to making sure the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share of tax. That is why the Chancellor announced a series of reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 to help fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible. These and other decisions announced at the Budget will help repair the public finances and fund public services such as the NHS and education. According to the latest OECD data, the UK raises more from taxing wealth both in revenue, and as a proportion of its tax base, than Spain, Switzerland, and Norway.
What the estimated cost of maintaining the freeze on fuel duty is in (a) 2024-2025 and (b) the five-year Parliamentary term.
At Autumn Budget 2024, fuel duty was frozen at the current rate of 52.95 pence per litre for 2025/26, at a projected cost of £3,015m in 2025/26. The OBR estimated in its March 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook that if the duty rate were to remain unchanged at its current level throughout the forecast period it would reduce receipts, on average, by £3.8 billion a year between 2026/27 and 2029/30. Fuel duty was also frozen for 2024/25 by the previous government at Spring Budget 2024, at a projected cost of £3,090m in 2024/25.
What plans she has to replace fuel duty.
Fuel duty is projected to raise £24.4bn in 2025/26 and will continue to remain in place. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced continued support for people and businesses by extending the temporary 5p fuel duty cut and cancelling the planned increase in line with inflation for 2025/26.
Whether she plans to increase the tax threshold to accommodate future increases in state pension.
This Government remains committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. Through our commitment to protect the Triple Lock, over 12 million pensioners benefitted from a 4.1% increase to their basic or new State Pension in April 2025. Over the course of this Parliament, the full yearly rate of the new State Pension is expected to increase by around £1,900 based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast. The Personal Allowance - the amount an individual can earn before paying tax - will continue to exceed the basic and full new State Pension in 2025/26. This means pensioners whose sole income is the full new State Pension or basic State Pension without any increments will not pay any income tax. The previous Government made the decision to freeze the income tax Personal Allowance at its current level of £12,570 until April 2028. The current Government is committed to keeping people’s taxes as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility and so, at our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds.
Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of not increasing the tax threshold to accommodate future increases in state pension on levels of pensioner poverty.
The Government is committed to making sure older people can live with the dignity and respect they deserve in retirement. The State Pension is the foundation of the support available to them. Over the course of this Parliament, the yearly amount of the full new State Pension is currently projected to go up by around £1,900 based on the Office for Budget Responsibility's latest forecast. The Government is also committed to keeping people’s taxes as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility, and so, at our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds.
What estimate she has made of the net fiscal impact of changes to inheritance tax for family owned businesses in each year to 2029-30.
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.This measure is forecast to raise an additional £230m in 2026-27, £495m in 2027-28, £520m in 2028-29, and £520m in 2029-30. The OBR does not expect the reforms to have a significant macroeconomic impact. Additional information is also published in the OBR Economic and Fiscal Outlook, from paragraph 3.20 to 3.23:https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/OBR_Economic_and_fiscal_outlook_Oct_2024.pdf.
What steps she is taking to support family owned businesses with annual turnover above £100 million.
Government Ministers and Senior Officials regularly meet with businesses of all sizes, from large corporations to SMEs, including family-owned businesses with an annual turnover of above £100 million. These meetings afford an opportunity for the Government to hear the views of the business community to aid in the formation of policy, including fiscal policy. These engagements are ongoing and will continue to be so.Further information on previous meetings held by HM Treasury Ministers and can be found on the gov.uk website via this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
What steps she is taking to consult family-owned businesses with annual turnover above £100 million on potential fiscal policies.
Government Ministers and Senior Officials regularly meet with businesses of all sizes, from large corporations to SMEs, including family-owned businesses with an annual turnover of above £100 million. These meetings afford an opportunity for the Government to hear the views of the business community to aid in the formation of policy, including fiscal policy. These engagements are ongoing and will continue to be so.Further information on previous meetings held by HM Treasury Ministers and can be found on the gov.uk website via this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
What steps she is taking to reduce the tax gap.
A key part of restoring economic stability and fiscal responsibility is closing the tax gap. Unpaid tax deprives UK public services of vital funding and puts businesses who pay the right tax at a competitive disadvantage.At the Budget last autumn, the Government introduced the most ambitious package ever to close the tax gap, ensuring more individuals and businesses pay the taxes they owe and raising £6.5 bn in additional tax revenue per year by 2029-2030. At the Spring Statement, the Government built on this and announced a package of measures to further close the tax gap and raise over £1 billion more.The announcements since the start of this Government will see 5,500 more compliance officers, alongside 2400 staff in HMRC's debt management teams to ensure those who can afford to pay their tax debts do so.The Government is also delivering on its commitments to prosecute more tax fraudsters, to introduce a new HMRC reward scheme for informants, to tackle 'phoenixism', and to overhaul HMRC's approach to offshore tax non-compliance. The Government has also set out its plans to go further in the future to make it easier for taxpayers to pay the right tax through a modern and digital tax system.
Whether she has made an assessment of trends in the level of students not reclaiming overpaid income tax.
The amount of income tax a student pays depends upon their total taxable income, including employment income. The standard income tax personal allowance for the 2025 to 2026 tax year is £12,570, which means that most students do not pay tax on the first £12,570 of their total taxable income.HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold data in its income tax accounting systems that identifies students.Students pay income tax through the PAYE system or through a Self Assessment tax return. After the end of the tax year, HMRC carry out an end of year reconciliation on all customers in PAYE in order to identify any overpayments or underpayments. Where tax has been overpaid, this will be automatically repaid to individuals, including students.For individuals, including students, who submit a Self Assessment tax return, HMRC will process the return and any overpaid tax will automatically be repaid to the individual. Where an individual files their Self Assessment return online, they can request a repayment through their HMRC online account.
Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of increases in benefit in kind rates for used electric vehicle leasing via salary sacrifice schemes on levels of electric vehicle sales.
At Autumn Budget, the Government announced new Company Car Tax rates for the years 2028-29 and 2029-30, which increase for both electric vehicles (EVs) and petrol/diesel vehicles, while still maintaining generous incentives to support EV take-up.The Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) published alongside Budget set out the expected economic, equalities and other impacts, and highlighted that overall the measure was expected to encourage the take-up of zero emission vehicles.The Government recognises that the Company Car Tax regime and the salary sacrifice exemption for ultra-low and zero emission vehicles continues to play an important role in the EV transition. The Government needs to balance these incentives against responsible management of public finances to ensure we have sufficient revenue to fund essential public services. A company car is a valuable benefit and therefore needs to be taxed appropriately.
Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the benefit in kind rates for new electric vehicles on sales of new electric vehicles.
At Autumn Budget, the Government announced new Company Car Tax rates for the years 2028-29 and 2029-30, which increase for both electric vehicles (EVs) and petrol/diesel vehicles, while still maintaining generous incentives to support EV take-up.The Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) published alongside Budget set out the expected economic, equalities and other impacts, and highlighted that overall the measure was expected to encourage the take-up of zero emission vehicles.The Government recognises that the Company Car Tax regime and the salary sacrifice exemption for ultra-low and zero emission vehicles continues to play an important role in the EV transition. The Government needs to balance these incentives against responsible management of public finances to ensure we have sufficient revenue to fund essential public services. A company car is a valuable benefit and therefore needs to be taxed appropriately.
What assessment she has made of the economic benefits generated by the (a) Video Games Tax Relief and (b) Video Games Expenditure Credit; and if she will take steps to reform tax incentives.
Video games companies benefit from the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC), which provides a generous tax credit of 34 per cent on UK video games development costs.A report published by the BFI in 2021 found that VGEC, previously known as the Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR), supported increased spend in the UK by 22.8% between 2017-2019.
Whether she has made an assessment of trends in the level of tax avoidance associated with the Overseas Territories.
The inhabited Overseas Territories (OTs) are largely self-governing jurisdictions with democratically elected governments. In many OTs, responsibility for fiscal matters is devolved, including the determination of tax rates in line with international standards.The Crown Dependencies (CDs) and all OTs with financial centres have committed to upholding international tax standards, including the tax transparency framework and the BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Framework. HMRC can access relevant information from the OTs, through both the automatic exchange of information (AEOI), and exchange on request, for tax investigations. The Government has announced a record package to close the tax gap, including a commitment to grow HMRC’s compliance workforce by 5,500 people over the next five years. The Government has also published its approach to tacking offshore tax non-compliance, and announced an increase in HMRC’s resource assigned to tackling wealthy offshore non-compliance by around 400 people. Accessible registers of beneficial ownership provide support in tackling illicit finance and corruption, and in exposing tax and sanctions evasion. The OTs have already made commitments to establish accessible registers. It remains our expectation that the CDs and OTs will ultimately implement fully public registers.
What steps she is taking to reduce tax avoidance associated with the Overseas Territories.
The inhabited Overseas Territories (OTs) are largely self-governing jurisdictions with democratically elected governments. In many OTs, responsibility for fiscal matters is devolved, including the determination of tax rates in line with international standards.The Crown Dependencies (CDs) and all OTs with financial centres have committed to upholding international tax standards, including the tax transparency framework and the BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Framework. HMRC can access relevant information from the OTs, through both the automatic exchange of information (AEOI), and exchange on request, for tax investigations. The Government has announced a record package to close the tax gap, including a commitment to grow HMRC’s compliance workforce by 5,500 people over the next five years. The Government has also published its approach to tacking offshore tax non-compliance, and announced an increase in HMRC’s resource assigned to tackling wealthy offshore non-compliance by around 400 people. Accessible registers of beneficial ownership provide support in tackling illicit finance and corruption, and in exposing tax and sanctions evasion. The OTs have already made commitments to establish accessible registers. It remains our expectation that the CDs and OTs will ultimately implement fully public registers.
Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of staff cuts at Dundee University on economic growth.
The Government recognises the crucial role of universities in the UK’s innovation ecosystem and in delivering the skills needed to drive growth as part of the Industrial Strategy. Education policy is however devolved in Scotland. It is for the Scottish Government to consider the broader impact of developments in the education sector in Scotland, including of any potential staff cuts in Scottish universities.
Whether she plans to provide additional funding to the Scottish Government for the cost of additional National Insurance contributions in the public sector from the 2025-26 financial year.
The Scottish Government will receive funding through the Barnett formula in the usual way in 2025-26, including for any support provided to UK Government departments for employer National Insurance contributions. This is the normal operation of the funding arrangements as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.
Whether she has made an assessment of the impact of scrapping Multiple Dwellings Relief in March 2024 on the economy.
The previous Government announced the abolition of Multiple Dwellings Relief following an external evaluation which found no strong evidence the relief was meeting its original objectives of supporting investment in the private rented sector. In addition, and as highlighted in the November 2021 consultation on reforms to MDR, the relief was subject to high levels of abuse. Larger investors who purchase six or more properties in a singletransaction can still continue to benefit from the non-residential rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax. The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders in the build to rent sector to understand any concerns. On housing more broadly, the Government has committed to delivering 1.5 million new homes and is reforming the National Planning Policy Framework to get Britain building, including by reintroducing mandatory housing targets.
Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reintroducing Multiple Dwellings Relief.
The previous Government announced the abolition of Multiple Dwellings Relief following an external evaluation which found no strong evidence the relief was meeting its original objectives of supporting investment in the private rented sector. In addition, and as highlighted in the November 2021 consultation on reforms to MDR, the relief was subject to high levels of abuse. Larger investors who purchase six or more properties in a singletransaction can still continue to benefit from the non-residential rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax. The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders in the build to rent sector to understand any concerns. On housing more broadly, the Government has committed to delivering 1.5 million new homes and is reforming the National Planning Policy Framework to get Britain building, including by reintroducing mandatory housing targets.