Adam Dance

All employers must comply with their legal obligations towards those they engage.

The Government is committed to creating of the Fair Work Agency. It will bring existing functions like minimum wage enforcement into one place and it will also enforce rights such as holiday pay and Statutory Sick Pay.

We have committed to consult on moving towards a simpler two-part framework that differentiates between workers and the genuinely self-employed.

If workers believe they are not being afforded the rights they are entitled to, they can contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) for free and impartial advice on employment matters.

HM Treasury (HMT) is responsible for VAT policy. HMT has published its assessment of the impacts of removing the VAT exemption that applied to private school fees, which can be found on here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/ac8c20ce-4824-462d-b206-26a567724643#who-is-likely-to-be-affected.

As this sets out, the government expects the impacts of these changes on the private and state sectors to be small.

The government's costings have been scrutinised by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.

As set out in HMT’s response to the technical consultation in the VAT changes, performing arts schools that offer full-time education to children of compulsory school age and/or 16 to 19-year-olds for a charge will remain in scope of this policy. This is to ensure fairness and consistency across all schools that provide education services and vocational training for a charge. In addition to providing performing arts education, when educating children of compulsory school age, these institutions will also provide academic education. An exemption from the VAT rules would therefore be unfair to other private schools.

The department provides means-tested bursaries for eligible families as part of the Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) if their child has a place at any one of eight performing arts private schools. For the 2024/25 academic year, lower income families will receive additional support to ensure the total cost of their parental contributions do not rise from January 2025 as a result of the VAT change. This will benefit around half of the families with an MDS bursary for their child.

The government predicts that 35,000 pupils will move into UK state schools in the long-term steady state following the removal of the VAT exemption to school fees. The government expects approximately 2,900 pupils will move into state schools in England following the business rates policy taking effect. As such, the impact on the state education system as a whole is expected to be very small.

This increase in the state sector represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over nine million. The number expected to move before the end of the 2024/25 academic year is around 3,000. The government expects the associated revenue costs of pupils entering the state sector to steadily increase to a peak of around £300 million after several years.

Local authorities have statutory duties to ensure that there are sufficient school places for children in their area. They must also, on request, provide information to parents about the availability of places in schools in their area.

Parents that require a state-funded place for their child must apply to the admission authority of the school for which they want to apply. Admission authorities must deal with applications in line with their published admissions policy. Admissions policies can prioritise applicants on a range of factors, including by distance from home. However, no pupil is guaranteed a place at their nearest state-funded school.

The Budget announcement includes £69 million to continue delivery of a network of Family Hubs. The announcement is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-2024.

Decisions on the breakdown of this funding are yet to be taken. The department will provide further details in due course.

The aim of the community mental health hub pilot sites is to be able to support the full range of adults’ needs that are important to recovery, without the need for onward referrals, or for people to navigate the complicated networks of support that they need when experiencing significant challenges to their wellbeing. Each pilot site will work in conjunction with voluntary, community, and social enterprise organisations, as well as other services that provide support to people, such as housing providers and family support services.

We will also roll out Young Futures hubs in every community, providing open access mental health support for children and young people in every community. In addition, there are currently approximately 65 locally funded early support hubs in England open to those aged 25 years old and under. During 2024/25, the Department is running a Shared Outcomes Fund project, backed by £8 million, to boost and evaluate the impact of 24 of these existing early support hubs.

We are currently working with colleagues at the Department for Education and NHS England to consider options to deliver our commitment to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school in England.

NHS England is responsible for issuing guidance to integrated care boards (ICBs) on dental budgets, including ringfencing. NHS England will publish planning guidance in due course.

Responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to ICBs across England. For Yeovil, this is the NHS Somerset ICB.

At the Budget in October, the Government committed to increasing spending on early years and family services to over £8 billion in 2025-26. This includes an additional £1.8 billion which will be paid to early years providers to continue the expansion of government-funded childcare and help more parents, particularly women, stay in and return to work.

Business rates are a broad based tax on the value of non-domestic properties including nurseries.

To protect small businesses, the government announced at the Autumn Budget that it would freeze the small business multiplier next year. Taken together with Small Business Rates Relief, this intervention ensures that over a million properties will be protected from inflationary increases.

In addition to this support, standalone nurseries are also eligible for charitable rate relief where they have a ‘charitable purpose’.

At the Autumn Budget the Chancellor announced a £22.6 billion increase in day to day spending for the Department of Health and Social Care from 2023-24 to 2025-26. This is an average increase of 4% in real terms funding growth for the NHS, the highest since before 2010 excluding COVID-19 years.

The Department of Health and Social Care will set out further details of how detailed allocations will be spent, including pharmacy funding, in due course.

The government has conducted thorough and detailed analysis of the impacts of this policy.

A Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN) has been published which sets out this analysis. This assessment includes exchequer impacts, economic impacts, impacts on individuals and families, business impacts, equalities impacts, and HMRC operational impacts. This was published online and can be found here: Private school fees — VAT measure - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Budget will provide support for government departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer NICs costs only. Pharmacies are independent contractors and therefore will not be exempt from these changes. This is consistent with the approach to previous Employer NICs changes, as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.

At the Budget the Chancellor announced a £22.6 billion increase in day to day spending for the Department of Health and Social Care from 2023-24 to 2025-26. This is an average increase of 4% in real terms funding growth for the NHS, the highest since before 2010 excluding COVID-19 years.

The Department of Health and Social Care will set out further details of how detailed allocations will be spent, including pharmacy funding, in due course.

From 1 April 2025, the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 6.7% to £12.21 per hour for eligible workers aged 21 and over. This represents an increase of £1,400 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW and is expected to benefit over 3 million low-paid workers. In accepting the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations, which balance the impacts on business, competitiveness of the labour market and wider economy, as well as the cost of living, the government is providing support to the lowest-paid workers in the economy whilst ensuring that wider economic conditions remain stable and create the conditions for growth.

We are creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century. To deliver our manifesto pledge, from 2026-27, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including pharmacies, from 2026-27. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support.

Ahead of these changes being made, the Government recognises that businesses will need support in 2025-26. As such, we have prevented the current RHL relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and we have frozen the small business multiplier.

Mobility scooters that are imported into the UK are classified under the description of ‘Vehicles specially designed for travelling on snow, golf cars and similar vehicles’. The commodity code for this classification is 8703101800. There is a customs duty tariff rate of 10% on imports for this commodity code.

Analysis of management information shows around £6m of customs duty liabilities was recorded for commodity code 8703101800 in 2023/24. This estimate applies to all types of vehicles imported under this commodity code and is not specific to Mobility Scooters only.