Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to Agricultural and Business Property Relief on levels on investment on farms in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As agriculture is a devolved policy, this response only covers England.
In England, no assessment has been made of the potential impact of changes to Agricultural and Business Property Relief on levels of investment on farms. Data on farm investment income is available in the table 5 series of Farm Accounts in England – but these tables only show data for 2022/23 and 2023/24.
Defra are currently collecting the 2024/25 data; data on English farm investment income for 2024/25 will be published in January 2026.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether Scottish (a) venison and (b) venison products are eligible for the Brand Scotland initiative; and what process exists for (i) producers and (ii) sellers to engage with the Department on this matter.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
The Brand Scotland programme supports Scottish industry to export to international markets across the world. This includes the food and drink industry. Available support includes conducting trade missions overseas and supporting projects to promote exports, inward investment and Scottish soft power. Scottish businesses can contact the Scotland Office, British diplomatic posts overseas and the Department of Business and Trade for more details.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of a lifetime gift cap on the ability of family (a) farms and (b) businesses to mitigate changes to (i) Agricultural and (ii) Business Property Relief.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax purposes. Information on the rules is available at www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer makes tax policy decisions at fiscal events and the Government does not comment on speculation around future changes to tax policy.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether organisations representing the (a) agricultural and (b) small business sectors have been consulted on the potential introduction of a lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax purposes. Information on the rules is available at www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer makes tax policy decisions at fiscal events and the Government does not comment on speculation around future changes to tax policy.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has undertaken modelling on the potential impact of a lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax on (a) businesses and (b) individuals.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax purposes. Information on the rules is available at www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer makes tax policy decisions at fiscal events and the Government does not comment on speculation around future changes to tax policy.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of a potential lifetime gift cap on (a) family (i) farm and (ii) business viability between generations, (b) productivity, (c) food security and (d) job numbers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax purposes. Information on the rules is available at www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer makes tax policy decisions at fiscal events and the Government does not comment on speculation around future changes to tax policy.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has considered introducing a lifetime cap on gifts for Inheritance Tax purposes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax purposes. Information on the rules is available at www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer makes tax policy decisions at fiscal events and the Government does not comment on speculation around future changes to tax policy.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the £8.3 billion allocated to Great British Energy and its nuclear body will be classified separately from defence expenditure in meeting the Government's commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2027.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The £8.3bn allocated to Great British Energy and its nuclear body is not included in the Government's commitment announced in February to spend 2.6% of GDP on NATO qualifying defence expenditure by 2027.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department's assessment of what constitutes NATO qualifying defence expenditure includes investment in (a) energy infrastructure and (b) energy security projects such as Great British Energy.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Spend on energy infrastructure and energy security projects does not constitute NATO qualifying core defence spend.
The Government has long argued that investment in things like energy security is vital to national security and this will be considered for inclusion under NATO's new 1.5% definition on resilience.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on mitigating potential risks to (a) food production and (b) the internal market posed by water scarcity in North East Scotland.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As you will be aware, I speak regularly with the Deputy First Minister, and my officials frequently engage with their Scottish Government counterparts.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) are keeping the weather situation under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG), which was set up by DEFRA and the Devolved Governments to monitor the UK market situation across all key agricultural commodities.