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: 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: 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 areas with lower average incomes in each region.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury’s ‘Impact on households’ publication, produced alongside Budget 2025, shows that the impact of government tax, welfare and public service spending decisions from Autumn Budget 2024 onwards are benefit households in the lowest income deciles the most, on average HM Treasury does not produce a distributional assessment of policy decisions at a subnational level.
Asked by: Kenneth Stevenson (Labour - Airdrie and Shotts)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has considered publishing separate figures for the amount raised in each nation and region, including Scotland, from the apprenticeship levy collected via HMRC.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HMRC does not require or collect data on where in the UK the economic activities occurs in order to collect the Apprenticeship Levy.
Receipts data based on company registered addresses do not necessarily reflect where liabilities are accrued.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the Air Passenger Duty in the Autumn Budget 2025 on the competitiveness of the UK aviation sector compared to other European countries.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to the long-term future of the aviation sector in the UK and recognises the benefits of the connectivity it creates between the UK and the rest of the world. The government remains committed to maintaining a competitive and dynamic aviation sector that supports jobs, skills, and innovation across the UK.
Following previous increases to Air Passenger Duty (APD) rates to account for below inflation rates, the government will uprate APD rates in line with RPI from 1 April 2027 and rounded to the nearest penny. This constitutes a real terms freeze.
This will continue to ensure that airlines make a fair contribution to the public finances, particularly given that tickets are VAT free, and aviation fuel incurs no duty.
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: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff have been employed by the OBR in 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 detail on the number of staff employed at the end of March in each year.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of of 7 May 2025 to question 48538, what the timetable is for the Crown Estate negotiating a Partnership Agreement with GB Energy.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Great British Energy's Strategic plan, published on 4 December 2025, sets out detail regarding arrangements between the two organisations.
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: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the policy papers entitled Spending Review 2025, published on 30 June 2025, and Budget 2025, published on 28 November 2025, what their Department’s capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be in each year of the Spending Review period; how much capital funding has been allocated to each of their Department’s programmes; and how much and what proportion of the capital DEL allocation remains unallocated in each year.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The capital DEL budget is as published in the Spending Review 2025 documentation. The detailed allocation of the capital DEL budget is still to be finalised in the annual business planning process.