Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, under what terms was Katie Martin appointed.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Katie Martin was appointed as a special adviser to the Chancellor on 5th July 2024. She has now resigned from that position, with her employment formally ending on 17th December 2025. From January 2026, she will become Business Adviser to the Chanceller. Details of that appointment will be made public in due course.Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has her department made of the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2025 on the forecasts for (a) living standards (b) Real Household Disposable Income in Wales, as compared to the pre-Autumn Budget 2025 forecasts.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. Forecasts, including for RHDI per person, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
In their November forecast, after accounting for the effects of policy, the OBR forecasts real household disposable income per person to rise by 2.9% over this Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Hereditament) Regulations 2025, how they expect local billing authorities to interpret "wholly or mainly" when considering the purpose of a hereditament where that hereditament combines publicly accessible cultural use with private studio or workshop space, and what indicators should be taken into account in determining primary use of a hereditament.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is introducing new permanently lower business rates multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties from April 2026, replacing the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.
The scope of the new multipliers broadly reflects the scope of the current RHL relief. The Government has laid legislation defining which RHL properties will be eligible for the new multipliers. To assist Local Authorities (LAs) and businesses in interpreting this legislation, the Government has also published guidance on which properties qualify for the new tax rates. This guidance includes details on how LAs should apply the “wholly or mainly test”, how “visiting members of the public” should be interpreted, and how RHL properties doing a mix of in-person and online sales should be treated.
As administrators of the business rates system, it is the responsibility of LAs to determine whether a hereditament meets the legislative definition of RHL and therefore qualifies for the RHL multipliers. The Government cannot comment on individual ratepayers.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Hereditament) Regulations 2025, whether premises used for community arts activities, educational programmes or public participation workshops qualify as cultural, community or recreational facilities under those Regulations, and whether the presence of private artist workspaces affects eligibility.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is introducing new permanently lower business rates multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties from April 2026, replacing the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.
The scope of the new multipliers broadly reflects the scope of the current RHL relief. The Government has laid legislation defining which RHL properties will be eligible for the new multipliers. To assist Local Authorities (LAs) and businesses in interpreting this legislation, the Government has also published guidance on which properties qualify for the new tax rates. This guidance includes details on how LAs should apply the “wholly or mainly test”, how “visiting members of the public” should be interpreted, and how RHL properties doing a mix of in-person and online sales should be treated.
As administrators of the business rates system, it is the responsibility of LAs to determine whether a hereditament meets the legislative definition of RHL and therefore qualifies for the RHL multipliers. The Government cannot comment on individual ratepayers.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they have issued to local billing authorities about the interpretation of "visiting members of the public" under the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Hereditament) Regulations 2025, particularly in regard to artist studios that provide public exhibitions, open-studio access or workshops.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is introducing new permanently lower business rates multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties from April 2026, replacing the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.
The scope of the new multipliers broadly reflects the scope of the current RHL relief. The Government has laid legislation defining which RHL properties will be eligible for the new multipliers. To assist Local Authorities (LAs) and businesses in interpreting this legislation, the Government has also published guidance on which properties qualify for the new tax rates. This guidance includes details on how LAs should apply the “wholly or mainly test”, how “visiting members of the public” should be interpreted, and how RHL properties doing a mix of in-person and online sales should be treated.
As administrators of the business rates system, it is the responsibility of LAs to determine whether a hereditament meets the legislative definition of RHL and therefore qualifies for the RHL multipliers. The Government cannot comment on individual ratepayers.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they expect paragraph 4(a) of Schedule 1 to the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Hereditament) Regulations 2025 to be interpreted for artist studios or galleries that sell work online and provide physical access for exhibition or sale to members of the public.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is introducing new permanently lower business rates multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties from April 2026, replacing the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID.
The scope of the new multipliers broadly reflects the scope of the current RHL relief. The Government has laid legislation defining which RHL properties will be eligible for the new multipliers. To assist Local Authorities (LAs) and businesses in interpreting this legislation, the Government has also published guidance on which properties qualify for the new tax rates. This guidance includes details on how LAs should apply the “wholly or mainly test”, how “visiting members of the public” should be interpreted, and how RHL properties doing a mix of in-person and online sales should be treated.
As administrators of the business rates system, it is the responsibility of LAs to determine whether a hereditament meets the legislative definition of RHL and therefore qualifies for the RHL multipliers. The Government cannot comment on individual ratepayers.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that UK inflation slowed to 3.6 per cent in October, and what the implications are for policies aimed at reducing cost-of-living pressures for households and businesses.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The OBR expects inflation to have peaked in Q3 2025, and that it will fall progressively to the Bank of England’s 2% target in Q1 2027. The Bank of England has overall responsibility for controlling inflation and beyond this, the government is targeting inflation at its source, by bearing down on everyday expenses such as energy bills, transport and childcare costs to ease cost of living pressures.
Taken together the OBR’s forecast shows government policy will reduce CPI inflation by 0.4 percentage points in 2026/27. This is the biggest near-term reduction in inflation due to government policy ever forecast by the OBR at a single fiscal event, outside of a crisis.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will the 10% increase in the size of the Welsh Government's (a) annual capital borrowing limit (b) cumulative capital borrowing (c) overall limit on the size of the Wales Reserve, (d) annual limit for drawing down from the Wales reserve for day-to-day spending and (e) annual limit for drawing down from the Wales reserve for capital spending, as announced in the Autumn Budget 2025, fully restore the real terms value losses that these limits have experienced to due inflation since they were initially fixed in cash terms.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The updates to the Welsh Government’s Fiscal Framework announced at Autumn Budget 2025 increase the real value of the Welsh Government’s budget management tools.
The annual uprating of the limits from 2027-28 will maintain the real value of the Welsh Government’s capital borrowing and Wales Reserve.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2025 to Question 85352 on Airports: Business Rates, what the rateable value is for each civil airport in England and Wales.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The VOA published the draft 2026 Rating List valuations on 26 November 2025; the compiled list will come into effect on 1 April 2026.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the confidence of financial technology company founders in the UK economy.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK has a long history as a powerhouse of financial services innovation, which has made the UK one of the most attractive locations worldwide to establish Fintechs. The Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy set out a comprehensive package of reforms to maintain the UK’s global leadership in Fintech.
The Government is committed to making the UK the best place to start and grow a business, recognising the importance of a competitive investment environment for economic growth. The UK is already the best place in Europe to establish a business, and, to make it even easier for entrepreneurs to scale and stay in the UK, the most recent Budget set out a series of measures which will help unlock billions in investment, expand tax reliefs, and make government a better customer for innovative businesses.