Written questions by Vaughan.

What steps she is taking to financially support hospitality businesses that are dealing with the loss of business rates relief and an increase in their rateable value at the same time.

At the Budget, the Valuation Office announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation, which came into effect on 1 April. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills. This includes an expanded Supporting Small Business scheme, which caps the bill increases of ratepayers who previously received retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) relief. The Government has also introduced new permanently lower multipliers for eligible RHL properties. These new multipliers are worth nearly £1 billion per year and benefit over 750,000 properties. Unlike RHL relief, the new multipliers are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there is no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England benefit. The RHL multipliers are set 5 pence below their national equivalents. As they are funded by a high-value multiplier on the top one per cent of properties, making them even lower would have led to a higher multiplier for high-value properties, including high-value RHL properties and those used by Industrial Strategy sectors. As a result of these measures, most properties seeing increases have them capped at 15 per cent or less in 2026/27, or £800 for the smallest.

Whether she has made an assessment of the merits of increasing the Business Rates discount to twenty percent for hospitality venues.

At the Budget, the Valuation Office announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation, which came into effect on 1 April. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills. This includes an expanded Supporting Small Business scheme, which caps the bill increases of ratepayers who previously received retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) relief. The Government has also introduced new permanently lower multipliers for eligible RHL properties. These new multipliers are worth nearly £1 billion per year and benefit over 750,000 properties. Unlike RHL relief, the new multipliers are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there is no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England benefit. The RHL multipliers are set 5 pence below their national equivalents. As they are funded by a high-value multiplier on the top one per cent of properties, making them even lower would have led to a higher multiplier for high-value properties, including high-value RHL properties and those used by Industrial Strategy sectors. As a result of these measures, most properties seeing increases have them capped at 15 per cent or less in 2026/27, or £800 for the smallest.

Whether she has made an assessment of the merits of delaying the Business Rates revaluation for hospitality businesses.

At the Budget, the Valuation Office announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation, which came into effect on 1 April. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills. This includes an expanded Supporting Small Business scheme, which caps the bill increases of ratepayers who previously received retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) relief. The Government has also introduced new permanently lower multipliers for eligible RHL properties. These new multipliers are worth nearly £1 billion per year and benefit over 750,000 properties. Unlike RHL relief, the new multipliers are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there is no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England benefit. The RHL multipliers are set 5 pence below their national equivalents. As they are funded by a high-value multiplier on the top one per cent of properties, making them even lower would have led to a higher multiplier for high-value properties, including high-value RHL properties and those used by Industrial Strategy sectors. As a result of these measures, most properties seeing increases have them capped at 15 per cent or less in 2026/27, or £800 for the smallest.

What steps she is taking to increase the number of private jet passengers paying the higher rate of Air Passenger Duty.

The Government is ensuring all private jets are taxed fairly. Currently, only 36% of private jet passengers pay the higher APD rate, while most pay the same as those on commercial flights, despite using a more premium service with far higher emissions per passenger. Building on the 50% rate increase announced at Autumn Budget 2024, at Budget 2025, the government announced that it would extend the higher rate to all private jets over 5.7 tonnes from April 2027. This change ensures that private jet passengers pay higher rates of APD compared to commercial flyers and ensures fair and consistent taxation across private aviation.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of compensation for HMRC staff due to the late award of the Flexibility Payment.

HMRC has considered the appropriateness and potential merits of compensation and reflected on the factors set out below: The new Flexibility rates required complex payroll system design, build and testing to ensure the 3,000 eligible staff would be paid correctly for their various working patterns. Throughout the relevant period between June 2025 – November 2025, HMRC frequently updated staff and Departmental Trade Union representatives on progress and timings. For clarity, the late award of the Flexibility Payment, refers to the new June 2025 rates. As standard practice, staff had continued to receive the pre-2025 Flexibility Payment rates to ensure they received their regular income. Staff received the new June 2025 Flexibility Payment rates in December 2025, which included backdated arrears. The arrears reflected the difference between the new June 2025 rate, and the pre-June 2025 rate that individuals had continued to receive between June 2025 – November 2025. HMRC is acutely aware of its additional role as the UK Tax Authority to ensure that public funds are managed with propriety, regularity, and value for money. On conclusion of the assessment, HMRC does not believe that the delayed payment of the 2025 Flexibility Payment rates, while staff continued to be paid the former rates are sufficiently exceptional, sustained, or significant to require compensation.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the level of taxation on online gambling.

The Government is currently consulting on proposals to simplify the gambling tax system by merging the three current taxes that cover remote (including online) gambling into one.