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 impact of changes to retail, hospitality and leisure relief announced in the Budget on small businesses.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values (i.e. the tax base) of properties remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.
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. To support with bill increases, at the Budget in November 2025, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect 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.
This support package includes capping bill increases for the smallest businesses losing some or all of their small business rates relief or rural rate relief worth over £500 million. The Government has gone further by expanding this to ratepayers losing retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) relief to offer further support worth an additional £1.3 billion as they transition to permanently lower tax rates.
More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in the manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible RHL properties. 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.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to define 'cash-like investments' in relation to stocks and shares Individual Savings Accounts, and how charges on cash holdings in those accounts will be applied.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget in November 2025, the government announced that from 6 April 2027, the annual Cash ISA limit will be set at £12,000 within the overall ISA limit of £20,000. This is part of our wider strategy aimed at supporting people to get into investing, including Targeted Support, which will be available from April 2026.
Rules will be introduced to avoid circumvention of the lower limit for cash ISAs where an individual is under the age of 65. The ISA industry will be consulted on the draft legislation, which will be made by amendments to the ISA Regulations, and laid before Parliament well ahead of April 2027.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the impact of the introduction of the high level council tax surcharge on the number of valuation challenges to the Valuations Office Agency.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognise the importance of the right to appeal, and will consult on the details of this in the new year.
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 impact of extending the income tax threshold freeze on the number of people paying income tax, in particular the number of higher rate and additional rate taxpayers.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government assesses every measure in the Budget and has published a tax information and impact note (TIIN) outlining our assessment of the policy. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maintaining-income-tax-and-equivalent-national-insurance-contributions-thresholds-until-5-april-2031/income-tax-maintaining-the-personal-allowance-and-the-basic-rate-limit-for-income-tax-and-equivalent-national-insurance-contributions-thresholds-unt.
The number of people forecast to pay tax by marginal rate can also be found in Table 3.19 in the OBR’s November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which is available here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-november-2025/
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 impact of the £2,000 cap on national insurance-free salary sacrifice pension contributions on costs for (1) employees, and (2) employers.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice. The TIIN sets out the impact on employees and employers and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/salary-sacrifice-reform-for-pension-contributions-effective-from-6-april-2029/salary-sacrifice-reform-for-pension-contributions
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 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Economic Outlook for the United Kingdom, published on 2 December.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an independent international organisation. The OECD’s forecast following the Budget has upgraded UK growth and reduced inflation for 2026. This follows stronger than expected growth this year, though there is much more to do.
The Budget is boosting economic growth and delivers on the country’s priorities of cutting the cost of living, reducing NHS waiting lists, and driving down our borrowing and debt.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of AI to generate planning objections to energy infrastructure proposals, and the implications for the operation of the planning system.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Representations on major infrastructure projects, such as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects are designed to support the Examining Authority to identify and understand relevant matters in an application. Providing a representation is received within the allotted timeframe, is from a real person, includes a reason or reasons for that person's position and is not vexatious, it will be accepted. Once accepted, the topic(s) raised will be factored into the examination preparation and design. Submissions which simply repeat generic elements add less value and repetitive submissions, however produced, could be disregarded under the legal rules.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of employers adopting AI systems on the labour market, and what steps they are taking to ensure workers are equipped with the skills required by the labour market.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Get Britain Working White Paper sets out how we will address key labour market challenges and spread opportunity in order to fix the foundations of our economy so we can make the most of the opportunities AI presents. The Government is supporting workforce readiness for AI through a range of initiatives.
The new AI Skills Hub, developed by Innovate UK and PwC, provides streamlined access to digital training. This will support government priorities through tackling critical skills gaps and improving workforce readiness. We are also partnering with 11 major companies to train 7.5 million UK workers in essential AI skills by 2030 and expanding AI education in universities, by launching Pioneer Fellowships for cross-disciplinary upskilling.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage professional services firms to adopt artificial intelligence productivity tools.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to driving AI adoption across the economy, including professional services. Through the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we are tackling barriers such as lack of awareness, trust, and technical capability. This includes expanding the BridgeAI programme (which supports organisation adopt AI with funding and hands-on support), announcing an AI champion for professional business services, and training 7.5 million workers across the economy in essential AI skills by 2030. We are also investing £11 million to grow the UK’s AI assurance market, ensuring firms can adopt tools confidently and responsibly. These measures will help businesses harness AI to boost productivity and maintain the UK’s global competitiveness.
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 impact of rising input costs, labour costs and taxes on small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government continues to monitor the business environment in the UK, including SMEs, using official data and engaging with firms and business groups to inform policy decisions.
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 the Budget in November 2025.
Through our changes to Employer National Insurance Contributions, the threshold at which business start paying Employer NICs has doubled to £10,500.
We are providing support for small businesses in a number of other areas. We are introducing the toughest late payment laws in the G7. We are changing the rules to fully fund SME apprenticeships training costs for eligible people under the age of 25, providing the skills that both workers and businesses need. 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.