Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 6 November 2024 to Questions 11930 and 11931 on Business Rates: Tax Yields, whether the real terms monetary value of the tax reduction from the new Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multiplier from the 2026-27 financial year is intended to be the same as the real terms monetary value of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure rate relief provided to qualifying hereditaments in the 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The existing retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) relief has been repeatedly extended year-by-year as a temporary stopgap measure. The Government recognises that this creates cliff-edges and uncertainty for businesses, as well as significant fiscal pressure.
That is why, from 2026-27 the Government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for RHL properties, including those on the high street. There will be two lower RHL multipliers, with the lowest rates paid on smaller RHL properties with a rateable value under £51,000.
This permanent tax cut for RHL properties must be sustainably funded, and so the Government intends to apply a higher rate from 2026-27 on the most valuable properties - those with a Rateable Value of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but include the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants.
The exact rates for all new business rate multipliers will not be set until Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context.
However, the Government recognise that RHL businesses will need support during the interim period for 2025-26, and so we are providing 40 per cent relief to RHL properties up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. Alongside freezing the small business multiplier, this is a support package worth more than £1.6 billion in 2025-26.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will publish (a) the contract, (b) the agreed programme of work and (c) other side documentation for the Valuation Office Agency's agreement with Cognizant; and what the (i) value and (ii) length of that contract is.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Details of the contract can be found on Contracts Finder: Valuations Office Agency Programme - Valuations Cloud App - Contracts Finder. The published contract covers new services developed through the Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) transformation programmes. It includes the call off capacity for these programmes to deliver transformation through new technology solutions, and additional capacity to support live operations for new VOA services.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Valuation Office Agency's NextGen Rating (NGR) programme will include (a) business rate and (b) council tax valuations.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency’s NextGen Rating Programme includes the upgrade of its internal operational technology for business rates valuations and the reforms legislated for in the Non-Domestic Rating Act 2023. It does not cover council tax valuations.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 8 November 2024 to Question 11936 on Public Sector: Finance, how local authorities will bid to receive funding from the Public Sector Reform and Innovation Fund.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 11936 on 8 November 2024.
The Public Sector Reform and Innovation Fund allocates £165 million to a range of projects in 2025-26, including support for foster care, delivering apprenticeships and planning reforms.
Partnering with local leaders, the Budget allocates a further £100 million over the next three years to reform public services with a focus on experimentation and learning. We will announce more details on this in due course.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.99 of Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, which public bodies can apply for funding from the new Public Sector Reform and Innovation Fund; whether public bodies will bid for those funds competitively; and if she will publish the terms of reference for that Fund.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Public Sector Reform and Innovation Fund allocates £165 million to a range of projects in 2025-26, including support for foster care, delivering apprenticeships and planning reforms.
In addition, the Budget allocates a further £100 million over the next three years to trial new and innovative projects, partnering with Mayors and local leaders, and focused on developing new approaches to public services with a focus on experimenting and learning. We will announce more details on this in due course.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.81 of Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, what the assumed local government core spending power in cash figures is in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26: and what the assumed respective cash figures within that are for (i) council tax, (ii) business rates and (iii) central government grants in each year.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Local government core spending power (CSP) is £64,786m in 2024-25, and is forecast to be £68,459m in 2025-26. These figures for CSP are estimates and subject to data changes. Final figures will be published as part of the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS). Components of CSP will be confirmed in the 2025-26 LGFS.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.69 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, what estimate her Department has made of the yearly change in business rates receipts from private schools in each of the next five financial years; and whether (a) her Department and (b) the Valuation Office Agency has made an estimate of the number of hereditaments that are expected to become liable to pay higher business rates.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government reconfirmed that it will remove private schools’ eligibility for charitable rates relief under business rates in England from April 2025. This intervention will raise around £140 million per year.
Business rates retention means that local authorities retain a proportion of all business rates revenue. As such, the increase in rates receipts due to the reduction in charitable rates relief for private schools will be shared between central and local government.
There are approximately 2,440 private schools in England, of which around 1,140 are charities. The business rates system already provides an exemption for certain properties being used for disabled people. Additionally, the government will legislate to ensure that private schools providing “wholly or mainly” for pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will retain their relief. Taken together, the Government expects that around 1,040 private schools will lose their charitable rate relief.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.8 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, if she will publish the methodology used to forecast the delivery of savings of (a) £2.2 billion and (b) £4 billion on asylum in those years.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
This government has already ended the Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership and is reforming the asylum system by streamlining capacity to process asylum seekers and returning those that do not have the right to stay in the UK. This will start the process if ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers and deliver over £4 billion in savings in the next two years.
This is based on Home Office modelling projecting the costs of the asylum support system following the measures taken since July. The savings are generated against the Home Office’s forecasts of the costs of the asylum support system under the previous Government’s policies.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data the Valuation Office Agency holds on the rateable value of (a) farms and (b) farmland.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Farms and farmland, if used by the occupier for agricultural purposes, are exempt from non-domestic rating under Schedule 5 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988. Consequently, agricultural land and buildings are not included in rating lists and no rateable values are shown, so the Valuation Office Agency does not hold any relevant information.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department's discussion paper entitled Transforming Business Rates, published on 30 October 2024, what the estimated yearly increase is in business rate receipts from the higher multiplier on hereditaments with a Rateable Value of above £50,000 from 2026-27.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
To protect the high street, the government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street Retail, Hospitality and Leisure properties from 2026-27. This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and the government intends to introduce a Large Business Multiplier from 2026-27, which will apply a higher rate on the most valuable properties (with rateable values of £500,000 and above). The rates for new multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the government can factor into its decision-making the next revaluation outcomes and the broader economic and fiscal context.