Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) her Department and (b) its agencies has made representations to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the proposed Chinese Embassy at the Royal Mint site in London.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Royal Mint site near the Tower of London was sold by the Crown Estate in 2010 and, as such, there is no residual financial interest to the Exchequer from The Crown Estate.
HM Treasury has not made specific representations to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the proposed Chinese Embassy at the Royal Mint site in London. Information relating to HMT agencies is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has a residual financial interest in the Royal Mint site near the Tower of London.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Royal Mint site near the Tower of London was sold by the Crown Estate in 2010 and, as such, there is no residual financial interest to the Exchequer from The Crown Estate.
HM Treasury has not made specific representations to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the proposed Chinese Embassy at the Royal Mint site in London. Information relating to HMT agencies is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
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 12 December 2024 to Question 17827 on Private Education: Business Rates, what estimate she has made of the number of independent schools which receive discretionary business rate relief from their local authority to top up the 80% mandatory charitable rate relief; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the removal of mandatory charitable relief on funding by local authorities of discretionary rate relief for independent schools.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Under the existing discretionary relief powers provided by the Local Government Finance Act 1988 local authorities are permitted to award relief of any level to any ratepayers, where they feel it reasonable to do so and it is in the interest of local council taxpayers.
Existing discretionary relief powers are provided by the Local Government Finance Act 1988 and will be unaffected by the ending of charitable rate relief for private schools
Central Government does not collect data on specific recipients of discretionary relief.
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 27 November 2024 to Question 15198 on Business Rates, what estimates her Department has made of business rate receipts in England in each financial year from 2024-25 onwards.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) publish non-domestic ratings receipts data and forecasts for the financial year ahead in England. As such, projections for non-domestic rates income for 2025-26 will be published in due course by MHCLG.
For 2024-25, local authorities estimate the non-domestic rating income to be £26.3 billion: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-forecast-2024-to-2025/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-forecast-for-2024-to-2025
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department has taken to change to the valuation of airports for business rates in the last two years; and what representations (a) the Valuation Office Agency and (b) her Department have received on the issue.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the member to the answer given to UIN 19700.
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 27 November 2024 to Question 15199 on Council Tax: Wales, if he will list each individual value significant code that is utilised in the Automated Valuation Model.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The subsidised housing indicator is the only value significant code used in the Automated Valuation Model, as detailed in the response to UIN 16941.
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 27 November 2024 to Question 14949 on Property: Valuation, who recommended the use of Gaussian Markov Random Fields in the Automated Valuation Model.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The approach has been endorsed in reviews by both the Centre for Appraisal Research and Technology and the International Association of Assessing Officers.
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 12 December 2024, to Question 17827 on Private Education: Business Rates, what estimate she has made of (a) how many independent schools will lose their 80 per cent charitable rate relief and (b) the average annual business rates bill for independent schools in 2025-26.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the Government’s impact note, using Department for Education data the Government has identified 2,444 private schools in England, of which 1,139 are charities.
Private schools that are wholly concerned with the training or welfare of disabled people will be exempt from business rates under existing provision. Private schools that are wholly or mainly concerned with providing education for pupils with an EHCP will also retain their charitable rate relief. Taken together, the Government expects the number of private schools that will lose business rates charitable relief to be 1,040.
Government analysis also shows the average increase in business rates per pupil to be £308 in the financial year 2025-26. This note can be found here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0129/ImpactNote.pdf
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 27 November 2024 to Question 14995 on Business Rates: Tax Allowances, if she will publish a breakdown of the £1.6 billion.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Autumn Budget 2024 announced the extension of Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and the freezing of the small business multiplier for 2025-26. This is a package worth over £1.6 billion in 2025-26.
For both business rates measures, the breakdown of costings over the scorecard period can be found on page 120 (lines 47-48) in ‘Chapter 5: Policy decisions’ of Autumn Budget 2024: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b9695fbd69e1861921c63/Autumn_Budget_2024_Accessible.pdf
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the policy paper entitled Plan for Change, published on 5 December 2024, CP1210, whether (a) council tax and (b) other local taxes will be included in the target of higher Real Household Disposable Income per person.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Real Household Disposable Income (RHDI) is reported by the ONS as part of the UK Economic Accounts.
RHDI represents the total income of households in a given period after direct taxes have been accounted for, with an adjustment for inflation. RHDI per person is calculated as aggregate RHDI divided by the estimated population.
As council tax is a direct tax faced by households, it is accounted for in the measurement of RHDI per person. Where other local taxes directly affect household income, they will also be accounted for in the measurement of RHDI per person.