Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the OBR has cost the public purse for each year since it was established.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was established by the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011. Its annual report and accounts, which are laid before Parliament and published on its website, set out in detail the OBR’s expenditure and funding for each year since its establishment.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Budget 2025 on (a) investment and (b) hiring decisions by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are cutting borrowing and debt, and supporting the Bank of England by tackling the persistent high inflation that dampens investment in the UK and slows economic growth. The Government set out its overall approach for supporting SMEs in the Small Business Strategy published in July 2025 and built on this with targeted reforms to support small businesses at Autumn Budget 2025. We are supporting employment and skills by changing the rules to fully fund SME apprenticeships training costs for eligible people under the age of 25. At the Budget we announced an Entrepreneurship which includes the largest ever injection of capital into the British Business Bank. Over the next five years, the British Business Bank will enable up to an additional £10 billion in small business lending through guarantees. We are also doubling the eligibility of our enterprise tax incentives to boost scale-ups and consulting on plans to reduce business energy prices.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many visas a) her Department, b) the Government Actuary's Department, c) the UK Debt Management Office, d) the National Wealth Fund, e) the Crown Estate, f) the Financial Conduct Authority, g) UK Government Investments, and h) HM Revenue & Customs have sponsored since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We do not disclose the exact number of visas sponsored due to GDPR, but can confirm that fewer than five visas have been sponsored since 4 July 2024. Information requested on arm’s length bodies is not held centrally.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on future VCT fundraising by reducing upfront VCT Income Tax relief from 30% to 20% from April 2026; and when her Department will publish that impact assessment.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Budget, the government announced a comprehensive package of entrepreneurship tax measures designed to provide substantially enhanced support for scaling businesses across the UK. This includes doubling the maximum amount that a company can raise through the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) scheme. These increases will lead to around £100 million per year of extra investment into the most successful scaling companies, supporting their further growth and development.
The Government recognises that there may be other ways we could support companies to scale in the UK. We have therefore launched a Call for Evidence on tax policy support for investment in high-growth UK companies to gather views and evidence from founders, entrepreneurs, scaling companies and investors. This will assess the impact, accessibility, and generosity of existing schemes, and explore potential policy options to go-further.
A Tax Information and Impact Note published at Budget outlines the policy rationale and impacts of these measures. It can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/enterprise-investment-scheme-eis-and-venture-capital-trusts-vct-changes/venture-capital-trusts-enterprise-investment-scheme-investment-limit-increase-and-restructure
The Policy Costings document contains further information on the costing methodology. This can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692872fd2a37784b16ecf676/Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of raising taxes on property income on the private rented sector, including supply and rent levels.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility does not expect that the reform to property income tax will have a significant impact on rental prices.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she is considering additional fiscal support for (a) small business and (b) hospitality.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The hospitality sector and small businesses make significant contributions to the exchequer, the UK economy, and society.
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties, including those in the hospitality sector as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto.
The Government is doing this by introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, including pubs. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since Covid. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.
Furthermore, we have worked with the hospitality sector to announce the first National Licensing Policy Framework which sets a new strategic direction for licensing authorities and encourages them to have more regard to growth when reviewing licensing applications and decisions. Responding to sector asks, we will also explore further planning reforms to make it easier for hospitality and high-street businesses to expand and grow. To help drive these reforms, we will appoint a new Retail and Hospitality Envoy to champion these sectors across government.
This is on top of measures we have already announced, such as:
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what engagement she undertook with the pub and hospitality sector ahead of the 2025 Budget, particularly in the context of Business Rates.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury Ministers and officials engaged with a wide range of stakeholders across the pub and hospitality sector ahead of the Budget to discuss business rates.
We continue to engage with the hospitality sector to understand the pressures they face.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of coordinating place-based (a) Government funding and (b) philanthropic, institutional and private sector investment on regional growth.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Following a review of the Green Book, the government has announced the introduction of place-based business cases. This new approach will highlight the reinforcing effects of different investments within an area and better coordinate both public sector funding decisions and non-public sector investments in specific places to support growth. Liverpool, Plymouth, Port Talbot and Birmingham will be the first adopters of place-based business cases. The government will set out plans to rollout place-based business cases further in due course.
More widely, Government is giving local leaders and communtiies the power and resources to make decisions for their places.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2025, published on 26 November, HC 1492, on what evidential basis she estimated the saving arising from the abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners and re-organising local government structures.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to cutting the cost of politics.
The figures were calculated based on estimated savings from the potential reduction in local councillors through local government reorganisation and from the abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners.
These estimates are built from a range of sources including Local Government Boundary Commission data; salaries; office costs; election costs; sampling of councillor expenditure data from current authorities.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Budget on self-employed workers, including freelancers and contractors.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to a fair tax system that supports small firms and the self-employed, while ensuring the ongoing funding of essential public services and economic stability. The Budget raises revenue in a fair and progressive way, and the Government is sticking to its manifesto pledge not to increase the headline rates of income tax, National Insurance and VAT and its commitments in the Corporate Tax Roadmap.
We are providing support for small businesses and the self-employed in a number of areas. We are introducing the toughest late payment laws in the G7. Through the new Business Growth Service, small businesses will be able to access support with skills training, recruitment, or accessing Start Up Loans and Export Finance.
We are taking wider measures to ensure the wider economic environment is conducive to growth. We are cutting borrowing and debt, and supporting the Bank of England by tackling the persistent high inflation that dampens investment in the UK and slows economic growth. Government took measures at Budget to reduce consumer price inflation by 0.4pp in 2026/27.