Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department made a formal response to the Treasury's consultation on reforms to (a) inheritance tax and (b) the application of inheritance tax on Death in Service payments for armed forces personnel.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence has not made a formal response to HM Revenue and Customs’ technical consultation. The Ministry of Defence regularly engages with the Treasury on a range of matters, it is not practice to make a formal response to public consultations from other Government Departments.
Armed Forces personnel whose death is attributable to active Service are exempt from inheritance tax.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the contractual end date is for the principle members of the Strategic Defence Review team.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Reviewers will make their final report to the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Defence Secretary in the Spring of 2025. The Defence Secretary will then publish a version of that report to Parliament. It will then be implemented by the Department.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will hold discussions with the Prime Minister on sending British troops to Ukraine in peacekeeping roles.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Defence Secretary has regular discussions with the Prime Minister about UK support to Ukraine.
It would be inappropriate to comment further on speculation about the future. Our focus is on putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position in 2025 and supporting Ukraine's defence against Putin’s full scale invasion. It would be inappropriate to speculate about the content of those discussions. However, the Prime Minister remains committed to putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position through 2025.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) in-year savings measures and (b) stockpile depletion on the delivery of live fire training in the Army.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
There have been no specific in-year financial constraints imposed on the consumption of ammunition and therefore no impact on the delivery of live fire training.
As the hon. Member will understand from his time in the Ministry of Defence, for reasons of operational security, details of replenishment and stockpiles are highly classified, and I am withholding this information.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December to Question 20237 on Ministry of Defence: Employers’ Contributions, whether the additional money provided to cover the cost of increased employer National Insurance Contributions will be included in the figure the Department uses to confirm the percentage of UK GDP spent on Defence.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Treasury has confirmed they will provide funding for the increased cost of National Insurance Contributions for the department. GDP percentage spent on defence will be calculated in the usual way.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will improve the training estate to support Operation Interflex.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence works continuously to improve the Defence Training Estate on a capability and training needs basis. Work addressing areas of improvement highlighted by Operation Interflex, which stands to benefit the Defence Land Environment Training Function, is underway.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of extending the out-of-service date of the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 January 2024 to Question 25025 to the hon. Member for North Devon (Ian Roome).
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an estimate of the number of farms affected by changes to (a) Inheritance Tax, (b) Agricultural Property Relief and (c) Business Property Relief in South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Assessing the impact of the new Inheritance Tax policy, which comes into force from 6 April 2026, relies on a number of factors such as ownership structure and debt levels. Without such information, which the Government does not hold at that level, area level assessments cannot be made.
Around 500 claims for Agricultural Property Relief will be affected. Our figures are based on the latest available information from HMRC on actual claims for Agricultural Property Relief, which show that 73% of claims are expected to be unaffected by the changes: Summary of reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief - GOV.UK
This Government is aware that each farm is different, and so we encourage farmers to speak to their tax advisors and agents to understand how these changes may impact their specific situation and how to plan for the future.
As an outcome of the recent Spending Review, we have committed £5 billion in the agricultural budget over the next two years – the biggest ever budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in this country’s history. This enables us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is his formal target to procure RCH 155 within the 5-year limit for hardware platforms.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 December 2024 to Question 16467 to the right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mark Francois). I explained that whilst the Mobile Fires Platform aims to achieve Minimum Deployable Capability (MDC) within this decade, a timeline or definition of MDC is yet to be determined, both of which will be guided by the outcome of the Strategic Defence Review.
Whilst the MDC is not yet defined, the target for delivery of the RCH 155 is in line with the Defence Command Paper and the Integrated Procurement Model’s five-year target.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December to Question 18985 on Army, whether the Departmental priority to double the lethality of the British Army by 2027 includes the acceleration beyond current plans of any current armoured vehicle programmes as a metric of measuring whether that target has been achieved.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The ambition set by the Chief of the General Staff to double the fighting power of the British Army by 2027 and treble it by 2030 exists within the Army as a principle to guide Army modernisation. It is not tied to specific programmes or procurements, but will incorporate the outcomes of the Strategic Defence Review.