Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an estimate of the value of increased national insurance contributions from public sector organisations included within the StatsWales definition of public sector but omitted from the definition used by the Office of National Statistics.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Treasury routinely uses the Office for National Statistics (ONS) classification of the public sector boundary, for example in relation to public sector spending, public sector borrowing and public sector debt.
The latest forecasts for tax revenues were published alongside the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) October Economic and Fiscal Outlook. These forecasts are based on economic determinants, including wage growth and employment levels. Detailed tax receipts forecasts can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility.
A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the employer NICs changes was published by HMRC on 13 November.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using the StatsWales definition of public sector workers for determining exemptions.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Treasury routinely uses the Office for National Statistics (ONS) classification of the public sector boundary, for example in relation to public sector spending, public sector borrowing and public sector debt.
The latest forecasts for tax revenues were published alongside the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) October Economic and Fiscal Outlook. These forecasts are based on economic determinants, including wage growth and employment levels. Detailed tax receipts forecasts can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility.
A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the employer NICs changes was published by HMRC on 13 November.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2024 to Question 11940 on Employers' Contributions: Wales, whether the referenced support will be provided annually; and over what duration that support will be provided.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance Contribution costs only. This funding will be allocated to departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way. Given the impacts of this policy change need to be worked through in further detail, this additional support has not yet been included in departmental or devolved government settlements for 2025-26. However, the Government will make these allocations as soon as possible to inform planning for 2025-26.
The overall outcome of the Barnett formula is that devolved governments all receive at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the UK.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the value of increased national insurance contributions from (a) GP surgeries, (b) higher education institutions and (c) care facilities (i) in Wales and (ii) nationally.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The latest forecasts for tax revenues were published alongside the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) October Economic and Fiscal Outlook. These forecasts are based on economic determinants, including wage growth and employment levels. Detailed tax receipts forecasts can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility.
A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the employer NICs changes was published by HMRC on 13 November.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.19 of Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, what amount of consequential funding the Welsh Government will receive from the money allocated to local roads maintenance in England in 2025-26; and what comparability factor was used to calculate this level of consequentials.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Welsh Government’s Spending Review settlement for 2025-26 is the largest in real terms of any Welsh Government settlement since devolution. The Welsh Government is receiving at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in England. That translates into over £4 billion more in 2025-26 and includes £1.7 billion through the operation of the Barnett formula.
At Spending Reviews, the Barnett formula is applied to changes to each UK Government department’s overall DEL budget, rather than to individual programmes.
As set out in the addendum to the Statement of Funding Policy published on 30 October, a comparability factor of 33.5% was applied to changes to the Department for Transport’s budget to calculate Barnett consequential funding for the Welsh Government in 2025-26.
The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24. The most recent report was published in July 2023. An update to Block Grant Transparency to include Autumn Budget 2024 changes will be published in due course:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2023
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, HC 295, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of changes to (a) inheritance tax, (b) agricultural property relief and (c) business property relief on the number of agricultural tenancies in Wales.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
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.
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
The Government takes into account all representations made ahead of the Budget, and meets with stakeholders on a regular basis.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, HC 295, what estimate she has made of the number of owners of working farms in Wales by (a) marital and (b) residency status who will be liable to pay inheritance tax following changes to (i) inheritance tax, (ii) agricultural property relief and (iii) business property relief.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
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.
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
The Government takes into account all representations made ahead of the Budget, and meets with stakeholders on a regular basis.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 7336 on Israel: Palestinians, what criteria his Department uses to assess the UK's funding for UNRWA following the resumption of funding in July 2024.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Minister for Development reiterated in the House on 29 October, we expect UNRWA to uphold the highest standards of neutrality. We are providing £1 million of the UK's funding support for UNRWA to implement the recommendations of Catherine Colonna's Independent Review of Mechanisms and Procedures to Ensure Adherence by UNRWA to the Humanitarian Principle of Neutrality. Separately, a Memorandum of Understanding governs UK financial support to UNRWA. We continue to monitor UNRWA's activity through due diligence and annual assessments.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much and what proportion of the allowance to public sector organisations for changes to employer national insurance contributions has been allocated to the Welsh Government.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Funding will be provided to the public sector to support them with the additional cost associated with changes to Employer National Insurance Contributions policy. Given the impacts of the policy change are complex, the UK Government departmental and devolved government settlements for 2025-26 announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 do not reflect this additional support.
Ahead of Main Estimates 2025-26, HM Treasury will lead a technical process to understand UK Government departments’ requirements and will engage with the devolved governments on the implications for their budgets in the usual way.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 8 February 2024 to Question 13004 on Western Sahara: Politics and Government and pursuant to the Answers of 5 August 2024 to Question 1972 on Western Sahara: Self-determination of States, and of 12 September 2024 to Question 4190 on Western Sahara: Politics and Government, what steps he is taking at the UN to help ensure the people of Western Sahara are able to exercise their right to self-determination in line with the UN Charter.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK supports UN-led efforts to reach a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, based on compromise, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. The UK continues to support the UN-led efforts and the work of Staffan de Mistura as Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, who I met with on 18 September. Officials regularly discuss Western Sahara with international partners, and we continue to encourage constructive engagement with the political process.