Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her department plans to review the Small Business Rates Relief threshold in line with inflation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) is available to businesses with a single property below a set RV. Eligible property under £12,000 will receive 100 per cent relief, which means around a third of properties in England pay no business rates at all. There is also tapered support available to properties valued between £12,000 and £15,000.The Government is supporting small businesses to grow. At Budget, the Government announced the extension of SBRR so that businesses opening second premises after Budget day can retain their SBRR for three years, tripling the current allowance.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the impact of changes to employer National Insurance Contributions on pubs in South Suffolk.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) which set out the impact of the changes, including for businesses, to employer NICs alongside the introduction of the Bill.
The Government decided to protect the smallest businesses from these changes by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change. It means employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage without paying employer NICs. Businesses will still be able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under-21s and under-25 apprentices.
At Budget 2025, the government asked licensing authorities in England and Wales to explicitly consider the need to promote growth and deliver economic benefits in their decisions and set this out in the first National Licensing Policy Framework.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she has made an assessment of the impact of reducing beer duty by 5% across (a) draught, (b) packaged and (c) lower-strength beer on (i) growth and (ii) investment in the sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Budget 2025 the Chancellor confirmed that alcohol duty will be uprated by Retail Price Index (RPI) on 1 February 2026 to main its current real-terms value.
The government considers uprating to be a prudent decision for the public finances that balances the important contribution of alcohol producers, pubs and the wider hospitality sector, with the tax’s role in supporting public health.
The Chancellor heard a range of perspectives ahead of the Budget, including from beer producers, and considered the impact of alcohol duty rates on all affected groups. An assessment of these impacts is published within the Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN), available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-duty-rates-change/alcohol-duty-uprating#summary-of-impacts
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Oral Statement on 26 March 2025 entitled Spring Statement, Official Report, whether it remains government policy to spend 3% of GDP on defence in the next Parliament.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government’s ambition remains to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence when economic and fiscal conditions allow.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2025, published on 26 November, HC 1492, what her proposed timetable is for spending 3% of GDP on defence.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government’s ambition remains to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence when economic and fiscal conditions allow.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the increase in employers National Insurance Contributions on small pubs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) which set out the impact of the changes, including for businesses, to employer NICs alongside the introduction of the Bill.
The Government decided to protect the smallest businesses from these changes by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers are paying no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers are either gaining or seeing no change. Businesses are still be able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under-21s and under-25 apprentices.
At Budget 2025, the government asked licensing authorities in England and Wales to explicitly consider the need to promote growth and deliver economic benefits in their decisions and set this out in the first National Licensing Policy Framework.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July to Question 66215 on Defence: Finance, what is the total financial quantum of the amount of money which will count towards Defence spending in 2027 as a result of the inclusion of the Single Intelligence Account in the Defence budget from 2027.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Government has committed to spending 2.6% GDP on NATO qualifying defence spending by 2027.
By 2027, the full Single Intelligence Account (SIA) budget will count towards NATO qualifying defence spending. Details of the SIA budget from 2026 to 2030 can be found in the Spending Review 2025 document, available here:
Spending Review 2025 (HTML) - GOV.UK
Annual NATO expenditure by country is reported to NATO and published on the NATO website.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July to Question 66218 on Defence: Finance, whether all of the £5.1 billion stated under the column for 2027/28 as the Single Intelligence Account budget, in Table 5.1 of the document referred to, will be included in the defence budget from 2027.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
I direct the Hon. Member to my answer to question 66218, which sets out that the Single Intelligence Account budget is not being added to the defence budget.
However in 2027/28, the Single Intelligence Account budget will counted as NATO qualifying defence spending.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2025 to Question 65293 on Defence: Finance, if she will publish the percentage of GDP spent on defence for each financial year since 2018/2019.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
Historic NATO qualifying defence spend as a percentage of GDP is published on the NATO website:
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 25 February 2025 on Defence and Security, Official Report, column 633, referencing spending 2.6% on defence from 2027, how much will be spent out of the defence budget on increasing capacity in the intelligence and security services from 2027.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Intelligence and Security Services are funded through the Single Intelligence Account (SIA), which is separate from the Ministry of Defence's budget.
The budget for the SIA from 2027 onwards is set out in the Spending Review 2025 document - GOV.UK.