Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has issued new impact assessments on (a) Agricultural Property Relief and (b) Business Property Relief since Autumn Budget 2024; what schedule her Department has for publishing future impact assessments; and what data sources her Department used to determine the estimate of 2,000 affected estates per year.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.

Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. However, the reforms are expected to result in up to 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those also claiming business property relief, in 2026-27 paying more inheritance tax. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data.

The Government has also set out that around 1,500 estates across the UK only claiming business property relief are expected to be affected in 2026-27, with around 1,000 of these expected to only hold shares designated as “not listed” on the markets of recognised stock exchanges, such as the Alternative Investment Market. The remaining 500 estates will include business assets from sectors across the economy that are eligible for business property relief. Around three-quarters of estates claiming business property relief in 2026-27 (excluding those only relating to holding shares designated as “not listed”) will not pay any more inheritance tax in 2026-27.

The tax base consists of all estates subject to inheritance tax that are projected to claim agricultural property relief or business property relief across the scorecard period. The tax base is estimated using HMRC administrative data, and is grown over the forecast in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast for inheritance tax receipts. More detail on the Government’s estimates, including why these projections should be viewed as a maximum, are also available in a letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee in November 2024, which is available at committees.parliament.uk/publications/45691/documents/226235/default/.

In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to (a) Agricultural Property Relief and (b) Business Property Relief on trends in (a) employment levels, (b) business succession arrangements and (c) gross value added in (i) Scotland and (ii) the United Kingdom.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.

Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. However, the reforms are expected to result in up to 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those also claiming business property relief, in 2026-27 paying more inheritance tax. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data.

The Government has also set out that around 1,500 estates across the UK only claiming business property relief are expected to be affected in 2026-27, with around 1,000 of these expected to only hold shares designated as “not listed” on the markets of recognised stock exchanges, such as the Alternative Investment Market. The remaining 500 estates will include business assets from sectors across the economy that are eligible for business property relief. Around three-quarters of estates claiming business property relief in 2026-27 (excluding those only relating to holding shares designated as “not listed”) will not pay any more inheritance tax in 2026-27.

The tax base consists of all estates subject to inheritance tax that are projected to claim agricultural property relief or business property relief across the scorecard period. The tax base is estimated using HMRC administrative data, and is grown over the forecast in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast for inheritance tax receipts. More detail on the Government’s estimates, including why these projections should be viewed as a maximum, are also available in a letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee in November 2024, which is available at committees.parliament.uk/publications/45691/documents/226235/default/.

In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she plans to take to communicate with people affected by the McCloud remedy to ensure that they are (a) informed of changes to their pensions and (b) provided with regular updates on when they will receive any monies owed.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to improve communications with people affected by the McCloud remedy; and what further steps she plans to take to ensure transparency.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the total cost of implementing the McCloud remedy; and how she plans to fund this.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress she has made on implementing the McCloud remedy since July 2024; and what steps she is taking to ensure (a) full and (b) timely delivery.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that people impacted by the McCloud remedy receive their entitlements promptly.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the planned funding allocations for International Climate Finance in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26; and via which Departmental budgets will this be distributed.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Prime Minister has confirmed that Official Development Assistance (ODA) is being reduced to 0.3% of GNI by 2027 to support increases to defence and security spending. Implications of the planned ODA reduction will be determined through Phase 2 of the Spending Review.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent analysis her Department has undertaken on the regional distribution of revenues from the abolition of the Furnished Holiday Lettings tax regime; and what proportion of this revenue is expected to be raised in Scotland.’

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government will abolish the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) tax regime from April 2025.

The abolition of the FHL regime will raise £190m by 2029-30, which will help support public services across the United Kingdom, including in Scotland.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to bring forward secondary legislation to permit gene editing by the end of March 2025.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

On 25 February 2025, the secondary legislation needed to implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 for plants was laid in Parliament. If passed, the legislation will come into force in Autumn 2025.

This is a devolved matter, and the legislation is England only.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Chapter three of the Government's Get Britain Working White Paper, published on 26 November 2024, if she will publish an outline of the scope of the Government's planned health and disability benefit reforms; what her planned timetable is implementing the reforms; and whether she has plans to consult (a) affected individuals and (b) relevant stakeholders on the proposals before the publication of the Spring 2025 Green Paper.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are working to develop proposals for health and disability reform in the months ahead and will set them out in a Green Paper in Spring. This will launch a consultation on the proposals, with a conclusion to be set out in a white paper later this year.

This Government is committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of all that we do, so we will consult on these proposals, where appropriate, with disabled people and representative organisations.

Ahead of the formal consultation for the Green Paper, we have already started to explore ways of engaging with disabled people and their representatives, including through stakeholder roundtables and public visits. We look forward to progressing these initiatives over the coming months.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Patricia Ferguson (Chair); Maureen Burke; Harriet Cross; Stephen

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Patricia Ferguson (Chair); Maureen Burke; Harriet Cross; Stephen