Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their fiscal policies on the United Kingdom's economic growth potential.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for preparing forecasts for the UK economy and public finances. This includes an assessment of the impact of the Government’s policies.
The OBR publish their judgements in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The OBR’s latest EFO can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility. This includes the OBR’s assessment of government policies announced at Spring Statement 2025.
The OBR’s assessment of the Government’s policies at the Budget in October can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the latest consumer price index figures; and what plans they have to address these figures.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The OBR, in their Spring forecast, expect inflation to fall back towards the Bank of England's 2% target in 2026.
The Bank of England has the responsibility of controlling inflation and the Government fully supports them as they take action to sustainably return inflation to the 2% target. The independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at the Bank of England has cut Bank Rate four times since August as underlying inflationary pressure has eased.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answers by Lord Livermore on 13 March (HL Deb cols 813–14), who sits on the British Infrastructure Taskforce; and what are its terms of reference.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Meetings of the British Infrastructure Taskforce are convened by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to help boost investment in infrastructure and drive growth nationwide. The Taskforce is attended by some of the UK’s largest financial services companies.
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is the government’s centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects. The IPA leads the project delivery and project finance professions across government. The IPA supports the successful delivery of all types of major projects; ranging from railways, schools, hospitals and housing, to defence, IT and major transformation programmes. These functions, along with those of the National Infrastructure Commission, will move to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) on 1 April 2025.
NISTA will bring oversight of strategy and delivery into one organisation, developing and implementing our ten-year infrastructure strategy in conjunction with industry, while driving more effective delivery of infrastructure across the country. Alongside existing assurance mechanisms, NISTA will have an enhanced role in supporting major projects, including validating business cases prior to HM Treasury funding approval.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the British Infrastructure Taskforce and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority interact and ensure that government infrastructure projects (1) are delivered on time, and (2) provide value for money.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Meetings of the British Infrastructure Taskforce are convened by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to help boost investment in infrastructure and drive growth nationwide. The Taskforce is attended by some of the UK’s largest financial services companies.
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is the government’s centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects. The IPA leads the project delivery and project finance professions across government. The IPA supports the successful delivery of all types of major projects; ranging from railways, schools, hospitals and housing, to defence, IT and major transformation programmes. These functions, along with those of the National Infrastructure Commission, will move to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) on 1 April 2025.
NISTA will bring oversight of strategy and delivery into one organisation, developing and implementing our ten-year infrastructure strategy in conjunction with industry, while driving more effective delivery of infrastructure across the country. Alongside existing assurance mechanisms, NISTA will have an enhanced role in supporting major projects, including validating business cases prior to HM Treasury funding approval.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answers by Lord Livermore on 13 March (HL Deb cols 812–13), who leads the Infrastructure and Projects Authority; and what is its remit.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is currently led by Nick Smallwood. Nick Smallwood will be stepping down at the end of March 2025.
The IPA works across Government to support the successful delivery of all types of major projects, ranging from railways, roads, schools, hospitals and housing, to energy, telecommunications, defence, IT and major transformation programmes. The IPA’s Mandate can be found on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infrastructure-and-projects-authority-mandate.
On the 1 April 2025, the functions of the IPA will be taken over by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), which will combine the functions of the IPA and the National Infrastructure Commission. NISTA will be led by Jean-Christophe Gray until a permanent CEO is appointed.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that 300,000 small businesses are planning job cuts in response to the planned rise in employer national insurance contributions.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
An assessment of this policy has been published by HMRC in their Tax Information and Impact Note. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook set out the expected economic impacts of this change.
Once the impact of all Budget measures are taken into consideration, the OBR expect the employment level to increase from 33.1 million in 2024 to 34.3 million in 2029.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s speech to the Confederation of British Industry Conference on 25 November 2024, whether it remains their policy that there will be no further tax rises or borrowing, beyond those in the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the Chancellor has said, the commitment to our fiscal rules is non-negotiable, and we will meet them at all times.
The Chancellor has asked the OBR to produce an economic and fiscal forecast on the 26 March. This will provide a clear assessment of our performance against the fiscal rules. We will not give a running commentary on economic developments.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Exchequer Secretary on 30 January (HC26469), whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the representations they received from TheCityUK on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not intend to place a copy of the representations in the House of Commons library as these are considered confidential and disclosure may prejudice the exchange of information in the policy development process.Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the rise in the yields on 30-year gilts to 5.38 per cent on whether they will be able to meet their fiscal rules in future.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government does not comment on specific financial market movements. Gilt yields are determined by a wide range of international and domestic factors, and it is normal for the yields of gilts to fluctuate when there are wider movements in the global financial markets.
The Chancellor has commissioned the Office for Budget Responsibility for an updated economic and fiscal forecast for the 26th of March, which will incorporate the latest data.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the rise in the yields on 30-year gilts to 5.38 per cent on future changes to taxation and public expenditure.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government does not comment on specific financial market movements. Gilt yields are determined by a wide range of international and domestic factors, and it is normal for the yields of gilts to fluctuate when there are wider movements in the global financial markets.
The Chancellor has commissioned the Office for Budget Responsibility for an updated economic and fiscal forecast for the 26th of March, which will incorporate the latest data.