4. What representations has the Welsh Government made to the UK Government regarding the provision of self-assessment, VAT and PAYE helplines for members of the public? OQ60928

While the provision of UK-wide tax helplines is an operational matter for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, my officials and I regularly raise, with HM Treasury and HMRC, the importance of taxpayers in Wales having support to navigate complex tax matters and enable them to pay the right tax at the right time.

Diolch. Thank you for the response. May I also welcome you to your Cabinet Secretary role? From the wholescale closing, though, of many of our high-street banks to conglomerate supermarkets prioritising machine self-service over staffing checkouts, it is a fact that the capitalist obsession with cutting the physical employment of actual human beings in the name of profit just shows no sign of ceasing. So, Cabinet Secretary, will you reassure me that the Welsh Government will continue to call on the UK Government to properly staff HMRC with human beings so that our citizens can seek advice from an actual human being also?

I'm very grateful for the question, and I was pleased to see that very rapid u-turn from HMRC in relation to the decision to close the self-assessment helpline. I thought the public outcry spoke very loudly, and I do welcome that particular u-turn. From a Welsh Government perspective, we do recognise that the provision of these helplines is solely the responsibility of HMRC, but I think that we do have a really good model here in Wales for engaging with the public on tax matters, and that's the Welsh Revenue Authority. So, the Welsh Revenue Authority, of course, is responsible for administration of our land transaction tax and our landfill disposals tax, and I think both of those perform extremely well in terms of being able to provide a robust and accessible service to members of the public. Part of, I think, its success is the determination of the WRA to support people to pay the right amount of tax the first time, rather than to spend time pursuing those people who haven't paid the right amount of tax, and I think that's a model that I know that we're keen to share with others. I do know that the WRA does have a good working relationship with HMRC and that they're able to share those areas of good practice.

There are currently record-high waiting times to speak to an HMRC adviser on the phone, which currently sits at an average of 25 minutes, with complaints submitted to HMRC also creeping upwards. Of course, HMRC is the responsibility of the UK Government, but the Welsh Government has some tax-setting powers, and Welsh taxpayers have to communicate with HMRC, so it's important that the Welsh Government makes necessary representations to Whitehall regarding how the service should operate for the people of Wales. Concerns regarding increased wait times and complaints have centred around the fact that half of civil servants working in HMRC's headquarters are still working from home, and this is reflected by the poorer productivity. Your own Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, also argued last week that all HMRC staff should be back in the office to boost customer service. Also, as a matter of fairness, the vast Majority of the private sector is not afforded this luxury, so could the Cabinet Secretary outline what representations the Welsh Government has made to the UK Government to aid efforts to get civil servants within HMRC back at their desks to provide a better service for taxpayers, and would the Welsh Government be prepared to set a good example by also getting civil servants back at their desks?

Well, that is an operational matter that you describe, really, for the UK Government, and we're not generally in the position of commenting on operational matters for UK Government departments. But with a view to trying to be helpful, we do have a service level agreement with HMRC on the operation of Welsh rates of income tax, and I think that that's really important. We do publish that—I publish it with a written statement every year, and it's reviewed annually to ensure that it is relevant and up to date, and then HMRC does publish an annual report on the operation of Welsh rates of income tax. There's also a requirement under the legislation for the National Audit Office to conduct an annual audit of HMRC's collection of Welsh rates of income tax as well, so I think that insofar as HMRC has responsibilities in that kind of WRIT space, we do have a good working relationship, and we're satisfied with the service that we receive.