Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of not implementing the proposed changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief for farmers in the Autumn Budget 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, fixing the public finances, and funding public services. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.
The Government will invest more than £2.7 billion a year in sustainable farming and nature recovery from 2026-27 until 2028-29. This includes the largest financial investment into nature-friendly farming ever.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of increases in employers' National Insurance contributions on the natural stone industry.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) announced at Autumn Budget 2024. 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 Government decided to protect the smallest businesses from these changes by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change.
Asked by: Warinder Juss (Labour - Wolverhampton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of including the music industry in the creative industries tax reliefs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government supports the creative industries, including orchestras, through funding and through the tax system. Specifically in respect of orchestras, Orchestra Tax Relief provides tax relief on production costs and provided £33 million of support in 2022-23.
When considering changes to tax reliefs, the Government takes into account a wide range of factors including costs, complexity, and fairness.
Announcements on tax are made at fiscal events in the context of the overall public finances.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2025 to Question 85917 on Lobbying: Official Hospitality, if she will list (a) the receptions her Department has held in the offices of consultant lobbying firms since 4 July 2024 and (b) the rationale in each case.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the department have not held any receptions in the offices of consultant lobbying firms since 4 July 2024.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to extend eligibility to Help to Save to people of pension age and in receipt of (a) carers allowance, (b) pension credit and (c) housing benefit after 2027.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Help to Save scheme supports financial resilience for working people on low incomes by encouraging consistent, long-term saving and helping them build a financial buffer to plan and prepare for the future.
In April 2025, the government widened the eligibility criteria for the Help to Save scheme to all Universal Credit claimants in work, rather than only those earning above a specified threshold. This expansion means around 550,000 additional people can benefit from the scheme, increasing the eligible population to approximately 3 million.
The government recognises that further groups may also benefit from Help to Save. Any future changes would need to be carefully assessed to ensure the scheme continues to be well targeted and deliverable.
The government has recently consulted on reforms to the delivery of Help to Save after 2027 and we continue to engage with a range of third-party financial institutions, including credit unions, as part of this process.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether credit unions will be allowed to offer Help to Save accounts from 2027.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Help to Save scheme supports financial resilience for working people on low incomes by encouraging consistent, long-term saving and helping them build a financial buffer to plan and prepare for the future.
In April 2025, the government widened the eligibility criteria for the Help to Save scheme to all Universal Credit claimants in work, rather than only those earning above a specified threshold. This expansion means around 550,000 additional people can benefit from the scheme, increasing the eligible population to approximately 3 million.
The government recognises that further groups may also benefit from Help to Save. Any future changes would need to be carefully assessed to ensure the scheme continues to be well targeted and deliverable.
The government has recently consulted on reforms to the delivery of Help to Save after 2027 and we continue to engage with a range of third-party financial institutions, including credit unions, as part of this process.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will ask the Prudential Regulation Authority to ease the rules on credit unions being able to lend to other credit unions.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
According to Section 11 of the Credit Unions Act 1979, credit unions are able to lend to other credit unions.
Credit unions are regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in a way that ensures the stability and soundness of the sector. The PRA and FCA are independent regulators and take decisions on the regulation of credit unions in line with their statutory objectives.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to reflect the costs of (a) digital connectivity and (b) public transport in (i) rural and (ii) urban areas in funding formulas.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government recognises that areas with different characteristics incur different local costs and considers this when making policy decisions.
The government has recently consulted on proposals to allocate local government funding more fairly through the Local Government Finance Settlement. This included consideration of how to effectively account for variations in relative cost and demand between local authorities, including differences between rural and urban areas.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will request that the Financial Conduct Authority assess whether people living in the 244 neighbourhoods experiencing the highest levels of deprivation are paying above average rates for (a) home, (b) car and (c) travel insurance.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government expects that insurers deliver good outcomes to consumers and firms are required to do so under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules. These rules require firms to ensure their products offer fair value. This means the price paid by consumers must be reasonable compared to the benefits they receive. The FCA monitors firms and has robust powers to act against firms that breach its rules.
The government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy, published on 5 November 2025, recognises that insurance has an important part to play in financial resilience and wellbeing, and sets out a range of interventions to improve access. This includes a total signposting initiative which will help underserved consumers find insurance policies which meet their needs.
The government also plans to publish the final report of the cross-government Motor Insurance Taskforce in the autumn. As part of the taskforce’s work to understand how the cost of motor insurance impacts on particular groups of customers, the FCA is conducting statistical analysis to evaluate the impacts on different age groups and consumers living in areas with a higher proportion of minority ethnic residents. The FCA will publish its findings later this year.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of abolishing business rates for pubs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In April 2026, the Government will introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with ratable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that eligible hospitality businesses, including pubs, benefit from much-needed certainty and support.
Ahead of the new multipliers being introduced, the Government prevented RHL business rates relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business.
Business rates are a vital source of Local Government funding and support critical local services, including children's and adult social care. As such, the Government has no plans to abolish business rates for pubs.