Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to communicate the implications of inheritance tax reforms to business and agricultural property relief to family business owners.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, the government will reform Inheritance Tax agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026.
The government has published several documents setting out further detail on how these changes will work in practice, including a policy paper at Autumn Budget 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reforms-to-agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief
A detailed explainer of the reforms, including case study examples, was published 5 November 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief
On 21 July 2025, the government published draft legislation, an Explanatory Note and a Tax Information and Impact Note for the changes, alongside its response to the technical consultation on the changes: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reforms-to-agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief
Final legislation for this measure will be included in the upcoming Finance Bill 2025-26, which will be published shortly after the Budget on 26 November. HMRC will publish full guidance and explain the changes through their communications channels, as appropriate, in due course for the changes coming into effect on 6 April 2026.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance her Department plans to issue to family business owners on inheritance tax reforms to agricultural and business property relief from April 2026.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, the government will reform Inheritance Tax agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026.
The government has published several documents setting out further detail on how these changes will work in practice, including a policy paper at Autumn Budget 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reforms-to-agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief
A detailed explainer of the reforms, including case study examples, was published 5 November 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief
On 21 July 2025, the government published draft legislation, an Explanatory Note and a Tax Information and Impact Note for the changes, alongside its response to the technical consultation on the changes: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reforms-to-agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief
Final legislation for this measure will be included in the upcoming Finance Bill 2025-26, which will be published shortly after the Budget on 26 November. HMRC will publish full guidance and explain the changes through their communications channels, as appropriate, in due course for the changes coming into effect on 6 April 2026.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Purposeful Finance Commission’s report entitled Reservoir underdogs: unlocking regulatory challenges to delivering new reservoirs, published in September 2025, whether she has made an assessment of that report's recommendation to reform the five-year price review cycle to allow mid-cycle adjustments for strategic water infrastructure, including reservoirs.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s Water Delivery Taskforce is working across Government, water regulators and stakeholders to deliver planned water infrastructure that is essential to growth.
A dedicated team is focused on identifying and resolving blockers for the nine new reservoirs in England and is considering the recommendations from the Purposeful Finance Commission’s report and its alignment with the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission, which also examined some of these areas within its remit.
A full response to the Independent Water Commission’s recommendations will be outlined later this year through a White Paper and a new water reform bill. These will set out the Government’s vision for a new partnership based on effective regulation – bringing forward root and branch reform to secure better outcomes for customers, investors, and the environment.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Purposeful Finance Commission’s report entitled Reservoir underdogs: unlocking regulatory challenges to delivering new reservoirs, published in September 2025, whether she has made an assessment of that report's recommendation on empowering the proposed new water regulator to be a statutory reservoir champion.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s Water Delivery Taskforce is working across Government, water regulators and stakeholders to deliver planned water infrastructure that is essential to growth.
A dedicated team is focused on identifying and resolving blockers for the nine new reservoirs in England and is considering the recommendations from the Purposeful Finance Commission’s report and its alignment with the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission, which also examined some of these areas within its remit.
A full response to the Independent Water Commission’s recommendations will be outlined later this year through a White Paper and a new water reform bill. These will set out the Government’s vision for a new partnership based on effective regulation – bringing forward root and branch reform to secure better outcomes for customers, investors, and the environment.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Purposeful Finance Commission’s report entitled Reservoir underdogs: unlocking regulatory challenges to delivering new reservoirs, published in September 2025, whether she has made an assessment of that report's recommendation to establish an Olympic-style delivery body for reservoirs.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s Water Delivery Taskforce is working across Government, water regulators and stakeholders to deliver planned water infrastructure that is essential to growth.
A dedicated team is focused on identifying and resolving blockers for the nine new reservoirs in England and is considering the recommendations from the Purposeful Finance Commission’s report and its alignment with the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission, which also examined some of these areas within its remit.
A full response to the Independent Water Commission’s recommendations will be outlined later this year through a White Paper and a new water reform bill. These will set out the Government’s vision for a new partnership based on effective regulation – bringing forward root and branch reform to secure better outcomes for customers, investors, and the environment.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77118 on Lord Mandelson, if he will place in the Library a copy of the due diligence undertaken by his Department on Lord Mandelson before his appointment.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Due diligence was undertaken prior to the appointment of the former Ambassador to the United States, and was part of an established process to collate relevant information as part of the identification and selection of the appointee.
In line with the practice across multiple administrations, the government does not publish such material.
I refer the Hon. Member to the Cabinet Secretary’s letter of 30 October 2025 to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, which sets out the process and information contained in the due diligence report: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/50019/documents/269409/default/
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of regenerative agriculture.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. We are targeting public money where it delivers most value – supporting nature, because all farms need healthy soils, abundant pollinators, and clean water to produce good food.
This includes the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). Many SFI actions follow the regenerative farming approach. This includes actions on soil health, integrated pest management, farmland wildlife, hedgerows, buffer strips, agroforestry, precision farming, grassland, and moorland. We will publish information on the next iteration of the scheme in due course.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 67 of the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2024-25, published on 23 October 2025, if he will list the venues that Cabinet away days took place in 2024-25.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Cabinet away days taking place in 2024-2025 have been located at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Lancaster House and Chequers.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the (a) governance structure, (b) terms of reference for the (i) Senior Steering Group, (ii) Champions Network and (iii) Expert Advisory Group, (c) minutes, (d) declared interests and (e) any recorded conflicts of interest and information on how these were managed for One Big Thing 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The following sets out the key individuals and groups that made up the governance structure for One Big Thing 2024, including their roles:
Group/Individual | Membership | Role |
Sponsor for One Big Thing 2024 | Jo Shanmugalingam, 2nd Permanent Secretary, DfT (at the time) | Responsible for advocacy/ championing One Big Thing 2024 and encouraging participation across the Civil Service. |
Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) | Sapana Agrawal, Director for Civil Service Strategy Unit | Day-to-day leadership of One Big Thing, responsible for ensuring the project meets its objectives. |
Senior Steering Group | Sponsor, SRO, and other senior civil servants (SCS) with responsibility for relevant areas such as Civil Service Communications, Government People Group, and Government Digital Service. | This group acted as a review and challenge function and assured that the design aligned with the needs of the Civil Service. It was responsible for signing off on the approach and products. |
Departmental Champions | SCS departmental champions, nominated by permanent secretaries. | Responsible for ensuring successful delivery and participation in their departments and feeding into overall initiative design and plan via monthly Champion Network meetings. |
Expert Advisory Group | Internal and external innovation experts | This group provided advice to inform the design and development of the One Big Thing 2024 learning offer. |
Central working group | The central project management team in the Cabinet Office’s Civil Service Strategy Unit and delivery partners. | Day-to-day delivery across workstreams, including training products, comms and engagement, platform, data collection, and evaluation. |
No conflicts of interest were recorded. The Expert Advisory Group had representation from external experts from the private sector and academia. Their role was limited to providing subject matter expertise, with no decision-making/ sign-off authority or involvement with delivery.
We are unable to publish the minutes of meetings, as requested, as the effective design of One Big Thing is reliant upon these being internal forums for free and frank discussions, with attendees often providing informal opinions or preliminary views.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, pursuant to the Answer of 28 July 2025 to Question 68480 on Government Legal Service, if she will publish that guidance.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government Legal Department (GLD) received a request in July 2025 made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the guidance listed in the Answer to Question 68480. The GLD’s response to that request, which includes extracts of some of the guidance requested, is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68f9fca6e200d653d8b636eb/FOI_25_159_Response_07-10-25_Redacted.pdf. The appendices to the response are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gld-policy-foi-releases.
The Attorney General’s Guidance on Legal Risk, published in November 2024, is publicly available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-attorney-generals-guidance-on-legal-risk.