Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the (a) higher value surcharge in 2025-26 on hereditaments valued at £500,000 and (b) withdrawal of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multiplier at £500,000 on the economy.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook sets out the forecast for the economy over a five-year horizon. For more information, please visit https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/OBR_Economic_and_fiscal_outlook_November_2025.pdf
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle sex-selective abortion and infanticide.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to work with providers to ensure abortions are only performed in accordance with the legal grounds set out by the Abortion Act. Sex is not itself a lawful ground for termination of pregnancy in England and Wales and it is illegal for a practitioner to carry out an abortion for that reason alone.
Under section 1 of the Infanticide Act 1938, it is infanticide rather than murder if a woman causes the death of her child under 12 months in age and at the time of the act the balance of her mind was disturbed by not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth. The infanticide offence is currently being considered by the Law Commission as part of their review of homicide offences and sentencing for murder.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 11 November 2025 to Question 87636 on Independent Review into Civil Unrest in Leicester, on what date the panel's report was received by his Department.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The panel submitted their findings to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 1 July 2025.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Qualifying Retail, Hospitality or Leisure Hereditament) Regulations 2025, for what reason casinos and gambling clubs are eligible for the new business rate relief but betting shops are not.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In October 2024, the Government laid a statutory instrument defining the retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties that will be eligible for new, lower business rates multipliers from April 2026.
Since they were announced at Budget 2024, the Government has been clear that scope of the RHL multipliers would broadly reflect the scope of the current RHL relief. The previous Government made the decision to exclude betting shops from the relief. This Government considered the issue in the round, and decided to continue the treatment the previous Government chose to ensure the tax cut is appropriately targeted.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will set out how the uplift in rateable values in 2026 affects the calculation of funding of individual local authorities in the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2026-27; and whether council areas with an above-average increase in rateable values will receive additional net funding relative to the previous year from business rate revenue.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the Rt. hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 107993 on 28 January 2026.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts, Data for July to September 2025, published on 25 December 2025, for what reason ensuring that each Paper produced by a Crown body includes the most up-to-date Crown copyright statement issued by the Controller is a key performance indicator in the MHCLG Corporate Print Management Service contact with ALLIED PUBLICITY SERVICES (MANCHESTER) LIMITED.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This is included as one of several performance indicators, to ensure our supplier uses accurate, up-to-date Crown copyright statements across all government publications it produces for the department and MHCLG’s Arm’s Length Bodies, helping maintain legal compliance and public trust.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what analysis the Valuation Office Agency provided to government departments on the potential distributional consequences of the 2026 business rates revaluation before the Budget 2025, including the potential impact on the pub sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) provides valuation data and analysis on the property market to MHCLG and HMT.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost to (a) central and (b) local government of the cost of translation and interpretation services.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As under the previous government, this information is not held centrally. The department does not hold this data for other departments or local authorities.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the 2026 business rates revaluation was subject to a Cabinet Committee write-round.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency is responsible for maintaining an accurate rating list in England independently of central government.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will set out the criteria used by the Valuation Office Agency to determine whether a gastro-pub is assigned a special category code of a pub or restaurant.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are a broad range of considerations when determining if a property is a restaurant or a pub including. All valuations are carried out by experienced professionals in accordance with industry best practice and legal requirements.
From April, every pub and live music venue will get 15% off its new business rates bill on top of the support announced at Budget, and then bills will be frozen in real terms for a further two years.
This relief will be awarded to pubs and live music venues at the discretion of Local Authorities, who will determine eligibility using guidance published by the Government and based on existing definitions.