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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much he plans to allocate to the Farming in Protected Landscapes Fund in (a) 2025/26 and (b) 2026/27.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We will confirm plans for Farming in Protected Landscapes in 2025/26 in due course. The budget beyond 2025/26 is to be settled in phase 2 of the Spending Review.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much he plans to allocate to the Rural England Prosperity Fund in (a) 2025/26 and (b) 2026/27.

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

The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes for the next financial year will be determined in upcoming months through the department’s business planning exercise.

The department is working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and will update on the Rural England Prosperity Fund in due course.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2024 on the (a) number of family businesses and (b) employment levels within those businesses.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government inherited a difficult fiscal situation and so we are asking businesses to contribute to fixing the foundations and our public services. As part of the decisions made at Budget, the Government assessed the impact of measures introduced on businesses, including by size of business.

The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to Employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500.

The Government also announced changes to inheritance tax, including reforms to business property relief (BPR). The Government has protected smaller family businesses from BPR changes, providing a very significant level of relief with the first £1 million of business assets continuing to receive 100% relief and then 50% thereafter. In 2021-22, the median value of assets qualifying for business property relief was £200,000, and 87 per cent of estates claimed for business property below £1 million.

The Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2024 forecast, which takes into account impacts from policy measures announced in the Budget, expects the employment level to increase from 33.1 million in 2024 to 34.3 million in 2029.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill on the advanced manufacturing sector.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill [http://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments].

The majority of employees will benefit from new protections in the Bill, however, our assessment finds that workers in the low-paying sectors including social care, hospitality, retail, and some manufacturing sectors such as the manufacture of food-items will benefit the most from the Bill.

The Bill will also deliver wider benefits for the business environment by improving wellbeing, incentivising higher productivity, and creating a more level playing field for good employers. This could have a positive knock-on impact on productivity and growth.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill on the (a) chemicals and (b) plastics sector.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill [http://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments].

The majority of employees will benefit from new protections in the Bill, however, our assessment finds that workers in the low-paying sectors including social care, hospitality, retail, and some manufacturing sectors such as the manufacture of food-items will benefit the most from the Bill.

The Bill will also deliver wider benefits for the business environment by improving wellbeing, incentivising higher productivity, and creating a more level playing field for good employers. This could have a positive knock-on impact on productivity and growth.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill on the automotive sector.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill [http://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments].

The majority of employees will benefit from new protections in the Bill, however, our assessment finds that workers in the low-paying sectors including social care, hospitality, retail, and some manufacturing sectors such as the manufacture of food-items will benefit the most from the Bill.

The Bill will also deliver wider benefits for the business environment by improving wellbeing, incentivising higher productivity, and creating a more level playing field for good employers. This could have a positive knock-on impact on productivity and growth.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill on the aerospace sector.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill [http://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments].

The majority of employees will benefit from new protections in the Bill, however, our assessment finds that workers in the low-paying sectors including social care, hospitality, retail, and some manufacturing sectors such as the manufacture of food-items will benefit the most from the Bill.

The Bill will also deliver wider benefits for the business environment by improving wellbeing, incentivising higher productivity, and creating a more level playing field for good employers. This could have a positive knock-on impact on productivity and growth.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Autumn Budget 2024 on the aerospace sector.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Budget confirmed £975m over 5 years to the Aerospace sector. This provides continued stability and confidence for industry to invest in long-term R&D projects – delivering economic growth, supporting high skilled jobs across all parts of the UK, and advancing aviation’s net zero transition. Between 2013 and 2030, industry and government will invest over £5bn developing transformational aircraft technology. Long-term R&D co-investment is a core pillar of the Aerospace Growth Partnership’s 2022 strategy, where the UK sector committed to invest at least £20bn of further private investment to 2040 and abate 125 MtCO2 of UK attributable global aviation CO2 emissions.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2024 on the advanced manufacturing sector.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Advanced Manufacturing is vital to UK prosperity. The Autumn Budget awarded over £2.5bn towards advanced manufacturing, including £16m to continue the Made Smarter digitalisation programme for SMEs, £2bn towards the automotive sector, £975m to aerospace, and £520m for Life Sciences.

Shortly before the budget, Advanced Manufacturing was announced as one of eight growth-driving sectors that will feature in Invest 2035: the UK’s modern industrial strategy. A targeted Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan is currently being developed in partnership with business, devolved governments, regions, experts and a range of stakeholders. The Industrial Strategy will be published in spring 2025, aligned with the multi-year Spending Review.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what new financial support is available to local authorities affected by Storm Bert.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The impact of flooding, wherever it occurs, is traumatic for the communities impacted and I have great sympathy for all those affected. The government is ready to consider local authority requests for Bellwin Scheme support which can help with the reimbursement of immediate eligible costs for the local authorities affected by the recent storms, including storm Bert.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Autumn Budget 2024 on the automotive sector.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Budget’s announcements represent a vote of confidence in our automotive industry, enabling future jobs and growth.

Over £2bn of capital and R&D funding to 2030 will support the latest research and development, accelerate commercial scale up, and unlock capital investment in zero emission vehicles, batteries and the wider supply chain.

In addition, Government is investing £200m in 2025-26 to expand electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints, £120m for new electric van grants, and strengthening consumer incentives by widening the differentials in Vehicle Excise Duty First Year Rates between EVs and hybrids vs. internal combustion engine cars.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, on what dates the (a) Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets and (b) Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security has met with representatives from Stellantis.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

My Department has had regular engagement with representatives of the automotive industry and automotive companies covering a wide range of automotive issues. I along with Secretary of State for Business and Trade have engaged with representatives from Stellantis.

Neither the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets nor the Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security have met with representatives from Stellantis since 5 July 2024.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with representatives of hospices since the Autumn Budget 2024.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

At the Autumn Budget 2024, we took necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances, enabling the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26. These changes will be implemented in April 2025.

The Department will set out further details on the allocation of funding for hospices in England for next year in due course.

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