Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Public Works Loan Board borrowing rates on the capital investment capacity of locally led development corporations.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Public Works Loan Board lending facility provides cost-effective lending to local authorities to support local investment and service delivery. Locally-led development corporations cannot directly access lending from the PWLB though local authorities may on-lend to them. Locally-led development corporations must ensure that borrowing is prudent, affordable and sustainable, including that interest costs can be managed, under the oversight of the local authority.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to integrate a distributional analysis of essential household expenditure into the formal Autumn Budget Tax Impact Assessments.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government has no current plans to integrate a distributional analysis of essential household expenditure into the formal Autumn Budget Tax Impact Assessments.

HM Treasury routinely publishes distributional analysis of the impact of government policy across the household income distribution alongside fiscal events. The most recent published analysis, accompanying Budget 2025, set out estimates of the impact of tax, welfare and public service spending decisions on household incomes across the household income distribution. The focus is on policy choices, including those made in fiscal events.

The analysis showed that, on average, households in the lowest income deciles will benefit the most from policy decisions as a percentage of net income and that increases in tax will be concentrated on the highest income households. On average, all but the richest 10 per cent of households in 2028-29 will benefit from policy decisions.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Company Share Option Plans in incentivising workforce retention in the manufacturing sector.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

The Government offers four tax-advantaged employee share schemes. These support business growth by aligning employee and shareholder interests, incentivising employee productivity and supporting recruitment and retention.

HMRC publishes annual statistics on the uptake and use of tax-advantaged employee share schemes, including the Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) scheme.

In addition, qualitative research into three of the tax-advantaged share schemes was published in 2023, which included consideration of CSOP uptake with different sectors. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/share-schemes-evaluation

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the £100,000 adjusted net income threshold for childcare support on Effective Marginal Tax Rates.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

The Government recognises that childcare is a significant expense for many families, and we remain committed to ensuring that parents can access affordable, high‑quality provision that supports them to work and provide for their children.

At Autumn Budget 2025, the Government announced that the Department for Education will lead a review of childcare provision. The aim of this review is to simplify the system for both providers and families, making it easier to access support and enhancing the overall impact of the Government’s childcare offer.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of common bond geographic restrictions on the asset scaling capability of credit unions.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government is committed to supporting the growth of credit unions, recognising the important role they play in promoting financial inclusion, providing affordable credit and supporting regional economic growth.

To support this, the Government has committed to increasing the cap on the maximum potential size of credit unions with a locality based common bond from 3 million to 10 million people. This change will be delivered through secondary legislation, alongside further changes being made through the Financial Services and Markets Bill to modernise the common bond framework and support credit union growth.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the feasibility of publishing an annual report on the net fiscal contribution of migration.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the Government's official forecaster responsible for assessing the UK economic and fiscal outlook.

In producing their economic and fiscal forecasts they consider migration levels amongst a wide range of factors.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential long-term fiscal impact of social housing construction on Universal Credit housing element expenditure.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Government is providing the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation through a £39 billion successor to the Social and Affordable Homes Programme. On 25 August, the Government confirmed initial allocations of £9.58 billion to support the delivery of more than 73,000 social and affordable homes across England, with nearly two-thirds of those homes for Social Rent.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many small boat arrivals were recorded in each year between 2016 and 2024.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

Small boat arrival figures are published on .GOV.UK. The following table details small boat arrivals between 2018 – 2024.

In relation to pre-2018 figures, the Home Office does not hold sufficiently complete or quality-assured data on small boat crossings. Small boat crossings were not recorded as a significant route of entry before this point, and recording arrangements were not designed to support the reporting and analysis undertaken today. Published small boat arrivals data therefore begins in 2018.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the trends in the operational costs of processing small boat arrivals since July 2024.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

We are committed to making irregular migration to the UK via small boats untenable, and arrivals are 43% lower this year. Since the election we have reduced ongoing operational costs of processing small boat arrivals through delivering efficiencies in our capabilities, including through delivering better value for money contracts supporting day to day operations.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the expenditure on asylum accommodation contracts was between the 2016–17 and 2023–24 financial years.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

Expenditure on asylum accommodation contracts is not published separately within the Home Office’s accounts. However, asylum accommodation contract costs are included within the published asylum costs in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts, set out below.

• 2016/17: £283.4m - Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2016-17 – page 115
• 2017/18: £312.0m - Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2017-18 – page 124
• 2018/19: £349.2m - Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19 – page 135
• 2019/20: £470.2m - Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 – page 150
• 2020/21: £814.4m - Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21 – page 159
• 2021/22: £1.5bn - Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 – page 171
• 2022/23: £3.0bn - Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 – page 244
• 2023/24: £4.0bn - Home Office Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24 – page 243

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of hotels used for contingency asylum accommodation since July 2024.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

This government committed to end the use of asylum hotels this parliament and we are on track to deliver just that. We have brought the number of hotels down from 213 in July 2024 to fewer than 160 today, meaning almost 1 in 3 hotels open at the election are closed now.

The Asylum Hotel population peaked courtesy of the actions from the previous Government. As we started to grip the crisis, this has led to the population in asylum hotels falling by 50% in the last year and by 71% since the peak under the previous government.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to introduce a statutory consultation duty with local authorities prior to establishing asylum accommodation sites.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2022, the Home Office has adopted a policy of Full Dispersal, which works to ensure that Asylum accommodation is equitably distributed across the country and that a small number of Local Authorities are not unduly burdened. The Asylum Accommodation plans were developed in an evidence based and deliverable manner and are underpinned by an indexing model which considers several social factors, including crime rates, levels of homelessness and availability of GPs and Dentists.

Development of the plans was informed by feedback provided by local authorities, Strategic Migration Partners (SMPs) the Local Government Association as well as other Government Departments. Details of the Asylum Accommodation Plans are shared with nominated local authority officials and progress is routinely monitored within regular official forums jointly attended by Local Authority, Home Office, accommodation providers and SMPs colleagues.

The Home Office and its accommodation providers operate a robust consultation process, which not only ensures that local authorities are aware of all ongoing procurement activity of Dispersed Accommodation in their respective areas, but also allows them to share local expertise and intelligence, including information from statutory partners such as police, at the earliest opportunity to inform procurement.

Our accommodation providers ensure that consultation with local authorities is carried out in accordance with the requirements and standards set out in the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts. At all times, the Home Office maintains oversight of procurement and consultation to ensure effective and appropriate delivery, in line with expected standards and requirements.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms her Department utilises to coordinate refugee transition policy with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

We have worked, and continue to work, with colleagues at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), including through ongoing cross-government discussions, to understand rough sleeping and homelessness pressures within local authorities in England. We are also working closely with MHCLG on the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness strategy and as part of this work we have committed to ensuring councils receive information from asylum accommodation providers for 100% of newly granted refugees at risk of homelessness within two days of an asylum discontinuation of support notification.

Following a time-limited pilot, the Home Office has introduced a 42-day end-of-support policy for newly granted refugees, providing additional time to support a successful move from asylum accommodation. Newly granted refugees can access Positive Move On advice from Migrant Help on accommodation, finances, benefits and employment. In selected areas, Asylum Move On Liaison Officers provide additional support to help support newly granted asylum seekers to successfully move on from asylum accommodation and access relevant services.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of extending official fiscal forecast horizons beyond five years on long-term capital investment planning.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The government updated the Charter for Budget Responsibility in 2024 to require that where capital investment, or other new policies, may have material impacts beyond the forecast horizon, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) should, where appropriate and subject to receiving sufficient information from the Treasury to do so, analyse and report on these at the relevant forecast. The OBR estimates that the combined supply-side effects of policy announced across the Parliament will raise the level of GDP by over 0.6% after 10 years.

The government has taken a long-term approach to capital investment in the 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy, published in 2025. The Strategy set out the UK government’s long-term plan to provide greater certainty for infrastructure investment to support growth, resilience and high-quality public services.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to protect public sector net investment allocations from short-term spending adjustments during fiscal consolidations.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Government’s new investment fiscal rule has supported a sustained increase in investment while maintaining sound public finances. This change has enabled over £120 billion of additional capital investment over the Parliament compared with previous plans. At Spending Review 2025, the Government also set departmental budgets for capital investment to 2029-30, giving departments greater certainty to plan effectively, secure value for money and deliver long-term projects and public services successfully.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the structural alignment between his Department's budgeting frameworks and the delivery goals of the Modern Industrial Strategy.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Modern Industrial Strategy is the Government’s long-term framework to increase business investment, unlock productivity growth, support high-quality jobs and drive economic growth across the UK.

The 2025 Spending Review allocated multiyear resource and capital budgets to align with the Government’s growth priorities. For instance, the Industrial Strategy is underpinned by billions of public investment in innovation and access to finance, including public R&D funding rising to £22.6bn by 2029-30, an increase in British Business Bank capacity to £25.6bn, targeted support for priority sectors including advanced manufacturing with £4bn and £2.3bn provided over ten years for Drive 35 and the Aerospace Technology Institute, respectively, and a £400m UK Defence Innovation programme.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average annual full-time equivalent headcount of asylum processing caseworkers was in each year between 2016 and 2024.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ and in the ‘Migration transparency data’.

Data on asylum claims awaiting an initial decision at the end of each quarter is published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’.

Data on the number of asylum caseworking staff per month from 2020 onwards is published in table ASY_05(M) of the ‘Immigration and Protection data’.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the number of unprocessed initial asylum applications was as of 1 July 2024.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ and in the ‘Migration transparency data’.

Data on asylum claims awaiting an initial decision at the end of each quarter is published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’.

Data on the number of asylum caseworking staff per month from 2020 onwards is published in table ASY_05(M) of the ‘Immigration and Protection data’.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what value for money reviews her Department has commissioned into asylum procurement contracts awarded prior to July 2024.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2021, the Home Office has carried out two financial audits into its existing Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC).

The Home Office has a rigorous regime of oversight of its asylum contracts, including delivery performance, finance performance and of value for money. This includes continued negotiation of rates paid for services at contracted hotels, with ongoing work to end the use of hotels across the UK. This work has delivered significant cost reductions to date across the asylum portfolio.

All procurements carried out by the Home Office follow Cabinet Office guidance on protecting Value for Money for the taxpayer.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of allowing the National Wealth Fund to issue independent debt instruments.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)

The National Wealth Fund (NWF) currently has £27.8bn of financial capacity and is focused on deploying this existing capitalisation.

There are no current plans to allow the National Wealth Fund to issue independent debt instruments. Once the NWF exhausts its existing financial capacity, HM Treasury will assess the most value-for-money approach for further capitalising the NWF.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the average time taken for newly recognised refugees to secure accommodation following the issuance of a biometric residence permit.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

We continue to work closely with local authorities to improve housing outcomes for newly recognised refugees leaving asylum accommodation.

In March this year, the Home Office decided to set the notice period for all individuals granted leave exiting the asylum accommodation estate to 42 days, following an extensive 56-day pilot and evaluation. In reaching the decision, we considered a wide range of evidence, including key findings from the evaluation of the 56-day pilot. The full evaluation can be found on gov.uk: www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-initiatives-to-enhance-the-move-on-process/evaluation-of-the-initiatives-to-enhance-the-move-on-process.

It is important that individuals initiate plans to move on from asylum support as soon as they are served their asylum decision in order to maximise the time they have to make move on arrangements, regardless of when their eVisa (which replaced biometric residence permits in for newly recognised refugees leaving asylum accommodation in 2024) is issued. Support is available to all individuals through Migrant Help in order to do this, which includes advice on how to access Universal Credit, the labour market and where to get assistance with housing.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase HMRC compliance and enforcement capacity regarding ultra-high-net-worth individual tax liabilities.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

HMRC’s compliance approach focuses on preventing non-compliance, promoting good compliance and responding to those who choose not to pay what they legally owe, including wealthy individuals. HMRC is increasing activity to tackle offshore tax evasion, including that carried out by the wealthy. This includes recruiting and redeploying 400 additional staff by 2030 to tackle wealthy offshore non-compliance.

As part of that commitment, in 2025-2026 HMRC recruited and redeployed over 200 staff across compliance teams to manage the risk. That includes 20 external experts with specific commercial or sectoral knowledge. The majority of these have been placed in the Complex Cross Tax and Offshore team (CCTO). The team takes a holistic view of wealthy individuals and their structures, targeting cross-tax risks among customers with the highest wealth, risk and complexity.

HMRC has also allocated a Customer Compliance Manager (CCM) to every billionaire with a UK tax footprint over the summer. CCMs are allocated to customers according to wealth, complexity and risk.

For more information, visit HMRC Transformation Roadmap: update 2026 - GOV.UK. HMRC will also publish its plan for tackling wealthy non-compliance by the end of 2026.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of expanding local business rates retention flexibilities for non-devolved local authorities.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

The Government’s vision for devolution in England was set out in the joint cabinet statement, ‘Rewiring the state’ published in July. This committed to greater retention of business rates revenue for both strategic authorities and local councils. The long-term certainty of funding via taxation will provide more flexibility and enable greater investment to fund interventions that will deliver a return. The Government will consider how these growth incentives can be balanced with the need for fairness between places, recognising that there will be different starting points across the country.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of Capital Gains Tax annual exempt allowance tapers on private equity investment in early-stage businesses.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

The government sets out the impacts of specific policies in the Tax Impact and Information Notes which are published alongside tax policy changes at each Budget.

The TIIN for the exempt amount changes is set out here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reducing-the-annual-exempt-amount-for-capital-gains-tax

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the VAT registration threshold on the net revenue growth of SMEs.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are not in the VAT system at all.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the total fiscal yield generated by the Energy Profits Levy.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

The Office for National Statistics publishes monthly updates on public sector current receipts. Since its introduction in 2022 until July 2026, the Energy Profits Levy has raised £13.5bn on an accruals basis.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the average administrative compliance costs incurred by a business when transitioning across the VAT registration threshold.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

The Government set out the impacts, including administrative impacts, of specific policies in the Tax Impact and Info notes which are published alongside tax policy changes at each Budget.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of targeted employer National Insurance contributions relief in supporting youth employment.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

The Government recognises the important role that employers play in providing young people with their first step into work. Businesses can therefore claim employer National Insurance contributions reliefs for employees under 21 and apprentices under 25, meaning no employer NICs are paid on their earnings up to £50,270.

HMRC published an evaluation of these measures in October 2023. It found that they reduce employment costs for employers and identified some evidence of a positive impact on youth employment, while noting that recruitment decisions are influenced by wider factors.

The Government has also announced £2.5 billion of investment in the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy over the next three years, supporting almost one million young people and helping to deliver up to 500,000 opportunities to earn or learn.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the fiscal effectiveness of land value taxation mechanisms in disincentivising the holding of undeveloped commercial sites.

Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General

The Chancellor takes decisions on tax at fiscal events and does not routinely comment on proposals.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what anti-money laundering due diligence protocols are utilised when evaluating high-net-worth business investment visa applications.

Answered by Jo White - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The UK closed its Investor Visa to new applications in February 2022 due to the illicit finance risks and poor economic value. At present, the UK does not have an investor visa that is open to new applications and applications for extensions of existing leave closed on 17 February 2026. We continue to process applications for indefinite leave to remain for those on existing leave and this will continue until 17^th February 2028.

The Immigration Rules require that funds be held in FCA regulated financial institutions with funds subject to those companies ongoing due diligence obligations. All cases are also subject to the Home Office’s visa security checks.

Reflecting the governments concern over the elevated risk of investment migration generally, The UKs Money Laundering Regulations (The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017), creates an explicit expectation (section 33 para 6a Viii) for banks to regard clients use of investment migration programmes in any country, including the UK as a risk factor. Banks must also consider in applying Enhanced Due Diligence considerations to clients. These regulations are owned by Treasury but applicable to the Immigration system.

The relevant extract is below;

(6) When assessing whether there is a high risk of money laundering or terrorist financing in a particular situation, and the extent of the measures which should be taken to manage and mitigate that risk, relevant persons must take account of risk factors including, among other things—

(a)customer risk factors, including whether—

…

(viii)the customer is a third country national who is applying for residence rights in or citizenship of a state in exchange for transfers of capital, purchase of a property, government bonds or investment in corporate entities in that state;

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential fiscal yield from asylum accommodation cost reductions.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is delivering a more affordable and sustainable asylum system. It has already reduced asylum spending by around £1 billion since 2023-24. It plans to deliver a further £1 billion of savings by 2028-29. These savings are expected to arise from a number of initiatives, including the commitment to end the use of asylum hotels during this Parliament.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to improve data-sharing protocols between the Home Office and local authorities regarding individuals leaving asylum accommodation.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office continues to share information to support effective transitions from asylum accommodation. This includes the weekly Discontinuation Prediction Tool, which provides a real-time view of cases entering the discontinuation process and a four-week forward look at the likely volumes of individuals who may seek local authority assistance following a positive decision.

Under the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness strategy the Home Office has made a commitment to ensure all local authorities receive information from asylum accommodation providers for 100% of newly granted refugees at risk of homelessness. We are working closely with partners across the asylum accommodation system to achieve this commitment and improve the timely sharing of information. This will enable local authorities to commence a homelessness assessment which will be received within 2 days of an asylum discontinuation and within 14 days of family reunion visa issuance.

To support this commitment, the Home Office is working with asylum accommodation providers and reviewing its data-sharing arrangements to improve the quality and timeliness of information provided to local authorities, including more consistent and actionable information at the point asylum support is discontinued.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Value for Money Government Procurement framework in prioritising bids that include capital investment guarantees.

Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Government is committed to achieving value for money across all public procurement. There is no single document titled the 'Value for Money Government Procurement framework’.

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