Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many traders are registered on the Trader Support Service.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Over 60,000 businesses have registered with the Trader Support Service to date.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of high net worth individuals who have left the UK since the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Taxpayers are not always required to inform HM Revenue and Customs when they leave the UK. Some taxpayers outside of Self Assessment might file a P85 form after leaving the UK, but only where they are seeking to claim a repayment of income tax.
Taxpayers in Self Assessment can indicate that they have become non-resident after leaving the UK, but tax returns for the 2024 to 2025 and the 2025 to 2026 tax years are not due to be received by HMRC until 31 January of 2026 and 2027 respectively.
HMRC does not produce statistics on high-net-worth individuals, but does, however, produce statistics on a subset of these individuals in the Non-domiciled taxpayers in the UK statistical release.[1]
[1] The latest release of the Non-domiciled taxpayers in the UK statistics can be found here for the 2022/23 tax year: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-non-domiciled-taxpayers-in-the-uk/statistical-commentary-on-non-domiciled-taxpayers-in-the-uk--2
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of their policy of inheritance taxation for agricultural land on (1) family farms in Northern Ireland, and (2) the United Kingdom's food security.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. 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.
Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional or national breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. However, the Government has set out that the reforms are expected to result in up to around 520 estates across the UK claiming agricultural property relief paying more inheritance tax in 2026-27. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data.
The Government’s decisions at Autumn Budget 2024 provided £5 billion over two years for farming and land management in England, which will restore stability and confidence in the sector, strengthening food security alongside nature’s recovery. This is the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they expect to contribute to the European Union under the trade agreement reached on 19 May.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
There will be implementation costs associated with the UK-EU reset agreement, which will be confirmed in due course once we have negotiated the details of the agreement. This will include proportionate contributions in specific and limited areas, such as where access to specific IT systems will help to remove trade barriers for UK firms or manage biosecurity risks. The UK will also negotiate fair financial contributions to the Erasmus+ programme which will reflect the benefits of participation. We will not be making general contributions to the EU budget.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Chancellor of Exchequer has made representations to the European Union to remove trade barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland during her recent visit to Brussels.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 9 December the Chancellor visited Brussels to attend Eurogroup, a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers, discussing the mutual economic benefit of the Government's EU Reset. The full speech can be found on gov.uk.
The Government is committed to the Windsor Framework and to protecting the UK internal market. The UK Internal Market Scheme already enables businesses to move goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without being subject to customs duties. Additional changes will be introduced in the coming months which will further simplify the movement of goods for businesses.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the National Farmers Union prior to or since the changes to inheritance tax announced in the Autumn Budget in relation to family farms.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government takes into account all representations made ahead of the Budget, and meets with stakeholders on a regular basis.
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.
Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) each year are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many family farms in Northern Ireland will be affected by the changes to inheritance tax announced in the Autumn Budget.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information on how many estates in Northern Ireland will be affected by the changes is not centrally held.
The Government has published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief(opens in a new tab).
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they still intend to introduce the British ISA.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government will provide further information on its plans for the British ISA in due course.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have sole responsibility for regulating Northern Ireland VAT or whether the EU has any authority relating to VAT matters in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The arrangements in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework guarantee Northern Ireland’s position within the UK’s VAT area. The freedoms secured under the Windsor Framework have already delivered benefits for NI people and businesses, including the application of zero rates on the installation of energy-saving materials and the UK-wide application of the changes agreed at Autumn Statement 2023, such as the removal of VAT on period underwear. All the VAT and excise measures announced at Spring Budget 2024 apply UK-wide.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much was collected in (1) road and (2) petrol, tax during the last two years for which information is available; and how much of that was invested in roads.
Answered by Baroness Penn
Receipts for Vehicle Excise Duty (‘road tax’) and fuel duties, which incorporate various types of fuel including petrol (‘petrol tax’) for the last two available years were set out by the Office of Budget Responsibility in March 2022 and March 2023, and are as follows:
Vehicle Excise Duty, 2021-22: £7.1bn
Fuel duties, 2021-22: £25.9bn
Vehicle Excise Duty, 2020-21: £6.9bn
Fuel duties, 2020-21: £27.6bn
Income raised by the government, including tax receipts but also income from fees, charges or borrowing, is centralised in the Consolidated Fund - from which government expenditure, including on roads, is funded.
Government spending on roads in the same time period is set out by the Department for Transport on gov.uk, and is as follows:
Strategic road network in England, 2021/22: £5.6bn
Capital funding for local roads maintenance in England (outside London), 2021/22: £1.4bn
Strategic road network in England 2020/21: £5bn
Capital funding for local roads maintenance in England (outside London), 2020/21: £1.8bn