Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2024 to Question 1248 on Military Aircraft: Helicopters, whether the Prime Minister’s Office plans to use insourced armed forces’ helicopters for official travel after December 2024.

Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

No. Routine helicopter transport will be sourced through the Ministerial Transport Office, not from Military helicopters.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister is responsible for ethics and integrity in government.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the answer given to PQ6394.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of processes for providing access to the civil service prior to the 2024 general election; if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of those processes on the efficiency of Government since the general election; and if he will take steps to publish guidance on best practice for access talks between the civil service and official opposition at the next general election.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Pre-election contacts are an established part of the pre-election process. They are designed to allow the Opposition Parties to ask questions about departmental organisation and to inform civil servants of any organisational changes likely to take place.

Guidance on access talks is included in paragraph 2.21 of the Cabinet Manual. The meetings are confidential on both sides.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has had discussions with His Majesty's household on potential steps to support His Majesty in maintaining the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

We do not routinely comment on discussions between the Government and the Royal Household.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Cabinet Office: Government Procurement Card spend over £500, August 2024, (a) who and (b) what the payment to the Chief of Staff Association was for.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The payment made on 29 August 2024 to the Chief of Staff Association was for membership of the association, for a permanent civil servant below senior civil servant (SCS) level. It is standard practice to not publicly reference civil servants by name below SCS. The relevant process for approvals was followed before the payment was made.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether diversity content has been standardised in civil service job adverts.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The text on diversity in Civil Service Job adverts has not changed since it was standardised under the previous administration, of which the Rt Hon Gentleman was a member.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether machinery of Government changes have been made to the AI and data science capability functions in the Prime Minister's Office since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

As my Right Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced in a Written Statement, HCWS19, the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI) will move from the Cabinet Office to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The data science capabilities in the Prime Minister’s Office remain the same.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people, other than special advisers, have been appointed to civil service posts in (a) his Department, (b) the Government Equalities Office and (c) 10 Downing Street without open competition since 4 July 2024; what their (a) job titles and (b) salary bands are; and on what basis each was appointed.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) requires that departments provide a quarterly return on their use of Exceptions at SCS2 and above. This information can be found on the CSC website.

Details of appointments below SCS2 are not published.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the (a) Prime Minster, (b) Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff and (c) No10 appointments team played a role in decisions relating to the departure of (i) non-executive directors and (ii) chairs of public bodies since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

As was the case under previous administrations, in order to ensure effective oversight and scrutiny of public bodies central to delivering government objectives, the Prime Minister's Office is consulted by the relevant departments on some appointments, as is normal practice for high profile issues.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether there is a (a) staff and (b) budget allocation for the Deputy Prime Minister other than those allocated to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Deputy Prime Minister’s core staff and budget allocation is assigned to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Deputy Prime Minister is also supported by staff in other Government Departments where relevant.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many senior civil servants in the Prime Minister's office have (a) left and (b)announced their intention to leave since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

3 Senior Civil Servants have left the Prime Minister’s Office since 4th July 2024.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12457 on Music Venues: Business Rates, what the cost of Retail, Hospitality and Leisure business rate relief was in 2024-25.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Discretionary relief is given to Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) properties at 75% for 2024-25, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. Based on local authorities’ Non-Domestic Rates form (NNDR1) returns, RHL relief is forecast to cost £2.4bn in 2024-25. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will subsequently publish outturn figures, based on data collected by local authorities, which set out the final amount of business rate relief which has been given to businesses over the 2024-25 financial year.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her policy is on (a) the level of the pension annual allowance and (b) the application of a lifetime allowance to pensions.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government wishes to encourage pension saving, to help ensure that people have an income, or funds on which they can draw, throughout retirement. There is no limit to the total amount you can build up in your lifetime pension savings without incurring a tax charge. Additionally, the £60,000 annual allowance ensures that saving into a pension is rewarding for everyone.

HMRC provided an update in its August newsletter that it will proceed with finalising changes to the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance for pensions and we have since laid the relevant legislation to do so. This came into force on 18 November and will have retrospective effect from 6 April 2024. There are no plans to reintroduce the lifetime allowance.

All taxes are kept under review as part of the Budget process.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her planned timetable is for publishing tax information and impact notes for tax measures announced in the Autumn Budget 2024.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government publishes tax information and impact notes (TIINs) for tax policy changes when the policy design is final or near final.

TIINS for tax measures with legislation published at Autumn Budget 2024 have been published and can be found here: Tax information and impact notes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

TIINS for other announcements made at Autumn Budget 2024 will be published at the appropriate time when the policy design is final or near final.

This has been successive Government’s policy since the introduction of TIINS in 2011.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to allocate additional funding to social care organisations outside the NHS to cover proposed increases in employers national insurance contributions.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Budget will provide support for government departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer NICs costs. Private sector firms or charities, including social care providers, that are contracted by central or local Government will not be exempt from these changes.

This is consistent with the approach to previous Employer NICs changes, as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.

The government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employers’ National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year.
The government will support local authority services through a real terms increase in core local government spending power of around 3.2%, including at least £600 million of new grant funding to support social care.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to publish an impact assessment which has been assessed by the Regulatory Policy Committee on the potential impact of the changes to National Insurance contributions announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 on employers.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the employer NICs changes was published by HMRC on 13 November.

It has not been successive Government’s policy since 2010 for tax policy changes to be assessed by the Regulatory Policy Committee.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will list each (a) saving and (b) efficiency planned by her Department for the 2024-25 financial year to help meet the Government's overall savings target.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Through Spending Review 2025 Phase 1 HM Treasury received funding in 2024-25 for discrete, new pressures that have arisen since the previous Spending Review, such as the Post Office Enquiry and Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration funding for Ukraine. No additional funding beyond that was requested for pay uplifts, inflation, financial pressures in the departments Arms-Length bodies, or to support work on the new priorities of the government, for example for the establishment of the Office for Value for Money. These financial pressures have instead been managed within the department, including through the re-prioritisation of staff.

In accordance with the published Government Efficiency Framework (GEF), the department has a programme of efficiency initiatives which it monitors centrally and will continue to do so into the next Spending Review period. This includes pursuing tech solutions including the use of AI, standardising processes and reviewing delivery models. Information on the individual workstreams is not published publicly.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2024 to Question 10443 on Civil Servants, what data her Department holds on the estimated financial impact of previously planned reductions in the size of the civil service in (a) 2024-25, (b) 2025-26 and (c) 2026-27.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

In a public statement on 2 October 2023, the previous Chancellor announced a cap on civil service numbers. This statement includes data on the estimated financial impacts of this policy for the remainder of the SR21 Spending Review period, ending in March 2025. It can be accessed online.

This government lifted the headcount cap announced by the previous administration in July. At Autumn Budget, the government committed to developing a strategic plan for a more efficient and effective civil service through phase two of the multi-year spending review.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.146 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, what estimate her Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse for changes to the High Income Child Benefit Charge in each of the next five financial years.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

It is estimated that reforming the High Income Child Benefit Charge to be charged on a household income basis, with thresholds set to £120,000-£160,000 so that no families lose out, would cost £1.4 billion in 2029-30. This is an internal HM Treasury estimate provided by HM Revenue and Customs and based on Spring 2024 assumptions. The government has announced that it will not proceed with this reform.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Item 26 of Table 5.1 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, HC 295, whether the funding includes monies to devolved administrations under the Barnett formula.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The allowance for the impact on public sector organisations in item 26 of Table 5.1 of the Autumn Budget 2024 does include funding for the devolved governments, which will be provided via the Barnett formula.

The UK Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance contribution costs only. This funding will be allocated to UK Government departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way. Given the impacts of this policy change will need to be worked through in further detail, this additional support has not yet been included in departmental or devolved government settlements in 2025-26.

The overall outcome of the Barnett formula on devolved government funding is that they all receive at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the UK.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will place in the House of Commons Library a copy of the equality impact assessments for each of the tax measures in the Autumn Budget 2024.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Treasury carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing protected characteristics in line with both legal obligations and with our strong commitment to promoting fairness.

In the interests of transparency HM Treasury and HMRC already publish summaries of equality impacts for tax measures being legislated for in the Finance Bill in tax information and impact notes (TIINs).

These can be found under the Autumn Budget 2024 subheading here: Tax information and impact notes - GOV.UK.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether special advisers in her Department have met representatives of Anacta since the general election.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

All relevant meetings attended by special advisers are declared in the normal way in the department’s quarterly transparency releases.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is the latest estimate by HM Treasury of the total revenue from business rates in England in each year from 2023-24 for which projections are available.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office for Budget’s Responsibility’s (OBR) October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook includes forecasts for UK business rates receipts. This is available online: https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/OBR_Economic_and_fiscal_outlook_Oct_2024.pdf.

Additionally, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) publish non-domestic ratings receipts data and forecasts for the financial year ahead in England. Local authorities reported that the non-domestic rates income for 2023-24 was £25.1 billion. This is the amount that authorities collected after all reliefs, accounting adjustments and sums retained outside the rates retention scheme are taken into consideration. This is available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-2023-to-2024/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-local-authorities-in-england-2023-to-2024.

For 2024-25, local authorities estimate the non-domestic rating income is forecast to be £26.3 billion: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-forecast-2024-to-2025/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-forecast-for-2024-to-2025

At the Autumn Budget, the government announced business rates policy for the 2025-26 period. The small business multiplier has been frozen at 49.9p and the standard multiplier has been uprated by CPI inflation from 54.6p to 55.5p. The Government also announced 40 per cent relief to Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) properties up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. This package is worth more than £1.6 billion in 2025-26. Projections for non-domestic rates income for this period will be published subsequently by MHCLG. Business rates policy for 2026-27 will be announced at Autumn Budget 2025.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to publish an impact assessment which has been assessed by the Regulatory Policy Committee on the potential impact of the changes to agricultural and business property relief announced in the Autumn Budget 2024.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms, and further explanatory information at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief.

It has not been successive governments’ policy since 2010 for tax policy changes to be assessed by the Regulatory Policy Committee. In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to replace the business rates system.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Over this Parliament, we will create a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century.

Fulfilling all our manifesto objectives on business rates is a multi-year process. The 2024 Autumn Budget began that work of levelling the playing field for high streets by announcing permanently lower business tax rates for RHL properties, including those on the high street, with rateable values below £500,000.

The Discussion Paper published at Budget, Transforming Business Rates, sets out the Government’s areas of focus for broader reforms to the system and invites stakeholders to have a say in wider reforms.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.51 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC295, whether an (a) equality impact assessment, (b) family test assessment, (c) regulatory impact assessment, (d) rural impact assessment, and (e) environmental principles assessment were produced for the changes to Agricultural Property Relief on family farms.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government publishes tax information and impact notes (TIINs) for tax policy changes when the policy design is final or near final.

TIINS for tax measures with legislation published at Autumn Budget 2024 have been published and can be found here: Tax information and impact notes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

TIINS for other announcements made at Autumn Budget 2024 will be published at the appropriate time when the policy design is final or near final.

This has been successive Government’s policy since the introduction of TIINS in 2011.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.52 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, whether the application of inheritance tax to unused pension funds and death benefits will apply to the pension scheme established under The Pensions Increase (Pension Scheme for Keir Starmer QC) Regulations 2013.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, from 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds and death benefits will be included within the value of a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax purposes

This change will apply to all UK registered pension schemes

The impact this will have on specific schemes depends on their scheme rules.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answers of 1 November 2024 to Question 10988 on Treasury: recruitment, of 14 October 2024 to Question 6117 on Department for Transport: Civil Servants and of 4 October 2024 to Question 2937 on Department of Health and Social Care: Civil Servants, how many of the civil servants appointed under exception 1 worked in their previous role for (a) the Labour Party, (b) Labour Together and (c) a Labour Parliamentarian.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

As is the case here, where the number of individuals is fewer than 5, we consider that to provide an exact figure would constitute the disclosure of personal data.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.52 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, whether the application of inheritance tax to unused pension funds and death benefits will apply to the (a) BBC and (b) Channel 4 defined benefit pension scheme.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, from 6 April 2027 most unused pension funds and death benefits will be included within the value of a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax purposes

This change will apply to all UK registered pension schemes

The impact this will have on specific schemes depends on their scheme rules.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will publish her Department's contingent liability database.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The government recognises the importance of monitoring and managing contingent liabilities, as these are fiscal obligations we need to ensure are consistent with the sustainability of the public finances. The government has taken steps to ensure this by publishing the Contingent Liability Approval Framework (CLAF) to provide a clear policy framework for approving and managing contingent liabilities, as well as establishing the Contingent Liability Central Capability (CLCC) within UK Government Investments (UKGI) to offer expert advisory support to departments to ensure contingent liabilities are priced and structured to get the best value for money results for taxpayers.

The Charter for Budget Responsibility, published alongside the Autumn Budget, commits the government to publish an annual report on central government’s material contingent liabilities, financial guarantees, insurance contracts, and provisions. The CLCC first published an annual comprehensive assessment of government exposure to contingent liabilities in November 2023 and will continue to do so annually, with the next report due by the end of the financial year. This level of transparency goes beyond accounting requirements to provide the public and parliament with detailed information on the government’s risk exposure.

In addition, as set out in Managing Public Money (MPM) government reports new contingent liabilities not taken on in the normal course of business, to parliament. Finally, to ensure transparency in line with the Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM), departments disclose information on their contingent liabilities annually through their annual report and accounts, specifically within the Notes to the Accounts. These notes provide a clear explanation of the circumstances under which the liabilities may arise, estimated financial effects, and any uncertainties involved.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate she has made of the total revenue from (a) central government and (b) local government taxation in each year from 2023-24 for which projections are available.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Treasury does not publish forecasts of the economy or public finances; the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the UK’s official forecaster and provides independent analysis of the UK’s public finances.

The forecast breakdown of current receipts for central government and local government can be found in the OBR’s October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook detailed forecast tables (aggregates) – Table 6.2.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to reform the law on super-injunctions; and whether she has had discussions with the Law Officers on super-injunctions.

Answered by Heidi Alexander - Secretary of State for Transport

There are no plans to reform the law. The courts determine individual applications for interim injunctions to restrain publication of confidential information (and the existence of the injunction) on the merits of each case, and in accordance with the law and specific Practice Guidance.

The Practice Guidance on Interim Non-Disclosure Orders was issued by the then-Master of the Rolls as part of the implementation of the Superinjunctions Committee’s recommendations, which he chaired and whose final report was published in 2011. It provides detailed guidance on the law, principle of open justice and model court orders.

The Ministry of Justice has had no recent discussions with the Law Officers on this topic.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2024, to Question 4663, on 70 Whitehall, how many work desks are available for civil servants in 70 Whitehall as a percentage of the staff assigned to work in that building.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

It has been the practice of successive governments not to comment, on grounds of both national security and staff safety, on the physical capacity or staffing numbers for individual buildings of the government estate.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to make a submission to the Civil Service Commission review of appointments made by exception at delegated grades.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Cabinet Office has provided the information requested by the Civil Service Commission regarding their review of appointments made by exception at delegated grades.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many receptions have taken place in Downing Street since the general election which were (a) funded by the taxpayer and (b) funded through political donations.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

As under previous Governments, party political receptions are not a matter for the Government. Details of official receptions are published in quarterly transparency returns on gov.uk.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the (a) terms of reference and (b) rules of procedure for the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations, and Medals.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

I refer the Right Hon. Member to the answer of 10 October 2024, Official Report, PQ 7430.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to fill vacancies on the Honours committees.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

There is currently ongoing activity to fill vacancies on 7 of the independent Honours Committees. New roles are advertised on the Public Appointments website and new appointments to the Honours Committees can be found on gov.uk.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to end the use of pagers in the NHS.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are taking steps to improve our NHS through the development of a 10-year plan. One of the big shifts for this plan is transforming the NHS from analogue to digital.

NHS staff should have access to the right technology to enable them to do their job to the best of their ability. Technology moves on and older equipment such as fax machines and pagers must be replaced with tech that is fit for purpose. However, some pagers will remain as NHS trusts are allowed to keep some pagers for emergency situations, such as when Wi-Fi fails or when other forms of communication are unavailable.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the published correspondence from the Office for Budget Responsibility of 27 October 2024 to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place in the Library a copy of the advice provided by the Cabinet Office to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

It is a longstanding principle, maintained across multiple administrations, that official advice remains confidential. As such I do not intend to publish any official advice in relation to this matter.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the number of estates that will be eligible to pay inheritance tax for each year till 2028.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The OBR has published Table 3.13 as a part of the detailed forecast tables from the October 2024 Economic and fiscal outlook at https://obr.uk/download/october-2024-economic-and-fiscal-outlook-detailed-forecast-tables-receipts/?tmstv=1732014425. Table 3.13 has the estimated outturn of the number of deaths subject to inheritance tax for 2022-23 and 2023-24, and the forecasted number of deaths subject to inheritance tax for 2024-25 up until 2029-30. A simplified version of the table is below which has the number of estates that will be eligible to pay inheritance tax till 2028.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will reimburse women’s domestic violence refuges from the higher cost of employers national insurance contributions.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

To repair the public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance.

The Government recognises the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning more than half of employers with NICs liabilities either gain or see no change next year. Charities will still be able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under 21s and under 25 apprentices, where eligible.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12552 on Employers’ Contributions: Hospices, what definition of the public sector her Department plans to use to decide whether to allocate funding for the cost of higher National Insurance; and how funding will be allocated to devolved public bodies in (a) Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) Northern Ireland.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The UK Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance contributions costs. This funding will be allocated to UK Government departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way for the devolved governments.

For the purposes of defining support for Employer NICs costs, the Government has used the Office for National Statistics (ONS) classification of the public sector boundary. This is the usual approach for classification of the public sector boundary, for example in relation to public sector spending, public sector borrowing and public sector debt.

This funding will be in addition to the devolved governments’ record Spending Review settlements for 2025-26, which are the largest in real terms of any settlements since devolution.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 October 2024 to Question 4696 on Government Department: Cost Effectiveness, if she will list each efficiency saving and its value for the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

In July the Government published a list of immediate savings for both 2024-25 and 2025-26 within the Fixing the foundations: public spending audit 2024-25. These savings included reducing spending on consultancy, administration budgets, communications, and public sector estates.

At the recent Spending Review for 2025-26 the government set a 2% target for efficiency, productivity and savings for all departments. Departments are responsible for managing their budgets and delivering efficiency savings. Departments are not currently mandated to publish their efficiency savings.

The Government will set out its further plans on efficiencies in the multi-year Spending Review that will conclude Spring 2025.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12848, on Employers’ Contributions: GP’s, what (a) assessment she has made of the impact of changes to National Insurance contributions on social care providers and (b) estimate she has made of how much and what proportion of local authorities' social care budgets will be spent on increases to social care costs.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care and wider local government spending as part of the Spending Review process.

The government is providing a real-terms uplift to core local government spending power of around 3.2% which includes £1.3bn of new grant funding for 2025-26 – at least £600 million of which is new grant funding to support social care.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 8130 on Public Sector: Pay, what the gross cost was of the pay mandates for rail staff.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Indicative DfT analysis estimates that the pay award mandates issued since July 2024 for rail staff could cost approximately £135m in FY 24/25. These estimates reflect the cost above prior TOC and Network Rail budgets. Rail strikes under the last government have cost the taxpayer £850m since July 2022.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what type of regression model is used in the Automated Valuation Model of the Valuation Office Agency.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Automated Valuation Model uses multiple regression with an advanced spatial modelling technique called Gaussian Markov Random Fields to better reflect the impact of location.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the revenue generated by proposed changes to the non-domiciled tax regime in the next five financial years.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The further reforms to the non-domiciled tax regime announced at Autumn Budget are estimated to raise £12.7bn over the next five financial years.

We published costings for these further reforms on 30^th October.

Page 32 of the Autumn Budget Policy Costings Publication

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024, to Question 8196 on Business Rates and Council Tax: Valuation, whether the Automated Valuation Model for Wales is adaptable to be used in England.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Automated Valuation Model for Wales approach may be adaptable for use in other locations. However, as with Wales, this would require further investigation and significant preparatory work.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 17 September 2024 to Question 4655 on Public Sector: Directors, which Non-Executive Board Members have left which Departments since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The list of Non-Executive Board Members who have left government departments since 4 July 2024 was provided in my previous answer of 13th November, PQ 9162.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answers of 27 September 2024 to Questions 4998 and 4988 on Prime Minister: Communication, on which page of the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2022-23 is the information on (a) spending and (b) staff working on digital communications in Downing Street listed.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Information about overall departmental resourcing is set out in relevant annual reports (or published elsewhere in the relevant document). Annual reports do not include a breakdown by individual teams. This remains unchanged in size since the election.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department issues on the conduct of meetings between Ministers and business representatives where such business representatives have paid money to the governing party to facilitate the meeting.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

There is longstanding guidance on meetings between ministers and external organisations which is set out in the Ministerial Code.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she attends meetings of the Mission Boards.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Chair of the Growth Mission Board and attends other mission boards as and when appropriate. Beyond this, it is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees - including mission boards - including their attendance, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 8950 on Office for Value for Money, whether the Chair is a regulated public appointment; and whether he was selected via open and fair competition.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The appointment of the independent Chair of the Office for Value for Money is a Direct Ministerial Appointment, which is not a regulated appointment.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to publish the declaration of interests of (a) public appointments, (b) special advisers and (c) direct ministerial appointments.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

HM Treasury follows relevant central guidance on handling declarations of interest for special advisers, public appointments and direct ministerial appointments. Any relevant interests of special advisers are published in the Treasury’s Annual Report and Accounts.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 8813 on Government Departments: Communications and Consultants, what the baseline figures on expenditure on (a) communications and (b) consultants are in each Department in 2024-25 or the closest year for which data is available.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Cabinet Office provided estimates of communications spending during the Public Spending Audit in July 2024. Estimates were based on internal Government Communication Service data on campaigns planned by Departments and arm's length bodies at the time of commissioning.

These indicate that the UK Government was expected to spend £449m on communications campaigns during 2024-25. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced that the Government Communications Service is expecting to save £85 million from reducing unnecessary communications spend – exceeding the £50 million target set out in her July 2024 Inheritance speech.

Communications and marketing spend above £100,000 is subject to central spending control and, as such, is published by each government department alongside other spend control data on a quarterly basis on gov.uk. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/search/all?keywords=spend+control+data&order=relevance.

In July 2024, the government committed to stop non-essential government consultancy spend in 2024-25 and halve government spending on consultancy in future years. This will save £550 million in 2024-25 and £680 million in 2025-26. To help departments do this and make value for money decisions about how to resource work the civil service headcount cap announced by the previous administration will be lifted. Individual departments publish different categories of spending on external resource including consultancy in their Annual Reports and Accounts. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-reports-and-accounts-for-central-government-departments

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 paragraph 2.81 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, what assumption her Department has made of the level of council tax receipts to be raised in England in 2025-26.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Decisions on council tax levels are for individual local authorities. In line with OBR forecasts made under the previous government, the government will maintain a core 3% referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 8130 on Public Sector: Pay, what the gross cost was of the doctors pay deal.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The resident doctors accepted the Government’s pay offer to provide an additional pay uplift worth an average of 4.05% on top of their existing pay award for 2023/24, which has an estimated gross cost to the Department of approximately £350 million per year.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of job vacancies at 10 Downing Street were externally advertised in the period since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

For management and staffing purposes the Prime Minister’s Office is a business unit of the Cabinet Office and consistently follows the same principles, protocols and approvals to recruitment as all other areas of the Department.

Since the General Election there have been 20 job vacancies at 10 Downing Street. Of these 8 were advertised externally. The 12 vacancies that were not advertised externally were either for short term cover (3-6 months and one was a slightly longer maternity cover) or for roles that required extensive and specific Civil Service knowledge and experience. This approach is in keeping with practice in previous administrations.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the three entries totalling £189,870 for Fujitsu Services Ltd under the GPG - Interoperability One Data Programme, in his Department's transparency data entitled Cabinet Office: spend data over £25,000 - July 2024, published on 29 August 2024, what other suppliers were considered for those software services.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

In January 2024, Fujitsu said it would withdraw from bidding for contracts with new Government customers until the Post Office Horizon inquiry concludes – it would only bid for work with existing Government customers where it already has a contract with them, or where there is an agreed need for Fujitsu’s skills and capabilities. Fujitsu's bid approach is detailed in this letter, deposited in Parliament.

The spend published on 29 August 2024 relates to work done on an existing contract awarded to Fujitsu in March 2023 under the previous administration.

In selecting the supplier in March 2023, the Tech Services 3 framework was employed. This was chosen as other frameworks did not have the quantity of suppliers needed to attract adequately competitive bids or would lead to direct awards. 125 companies were invited to bid, of which 3 did, including Fujitsu. Following an evaluation, which assessed technical ability to meet the requirements, how well they understood these by developing a proof of concept, social value and costs, Fujitsu were successful.

Found: Q6 John Glen: Can we focus in on the growth and competitiveness objective?

Found: Q6 John Glen: Can we focus in on the growth and competitiveness objective?

Found: Q16 John Glen: Okay.

Found: the previous Committee—it seems an age ago now—the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Mr John Glen

Found: Q21 John Glen: I think that you can influence things significantly.

Found: John Glen: You can be forgiven for that.