Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2025 to Question 64049 on Alcoholic Drinks, what the evidential basis is that the exclusion of the direct manufacture of alcohol beverages is in line with international conventions for green bond frameworks.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The twenty largest sovereign green bond issuers to date are: Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Japan, Ireland, Spain, Canada, India, Hungary, Chile, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Poland and Denmark. This is according to the International Capital Markets Association sustainable bond issuers database.
The following issuers explicitly exclude the financing of alcohol-related spending in their green bond frameworks: Germany, the UK, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Spain, Canada, India, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Poland and Denmark.
France’s green bond framework excludes “Production or trading of alcoholic beverages (excluding beer and wine)”. Indonesia does not refer explicitly to excluding alcohol but issues green Sukuk (Sharia-compliant bonds). The other countries’ frameworks do not include alcohol-related spending in their eligible or ineligible criteria.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether transitional relief in the 2026 business rates revaluation will be funded by (a) the Exchequer, (b) higher multipliers, and (c) downward phasing.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government provides transitional relief to support ratepayers seeing large bill increases as a result of revaluations.
Only once we understand the complete 2026 revaluation picture will the Government be in a position to make final decisions, at Budget 2025, on the transitional relief scheme.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to retain Small Business Rates Relief at its current level for the duration of this Parliament.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) is available to businesses with a single property with a rateable value (RV) below the threshold of £15,000. If a business expands to a second property, it retains SBRR on the first property for 12 months. Following that, the business is not eligible for SBRR unless additional properties have an RV below £2,899 and their total property portfolio has an RV below £20,000 (£28,000 in London). Currently, over a third of properties (more than 700,000) pay no business rates as they receive 100 per cent SBRR, with an additional c.60,000 benefiting from reduced bills as this relief tapers.
The Government is committed to retaining SBRR, which is a permanent relief set down in legislation. As highlighted in the Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper published at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government is interested in hearing stakeholders’ views on the extent to which the current system acts as a barrier to investment and specifically, whether the current eligibility criteria for SBRR impacts businesses' incentives to invest and expand into a second property.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 60137 on Council tax and Police: Finance, what her Department's assumption is of the amount that will be raised in council tax from police precepts in England only in each year of the Spending Review period.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
As set out in the Spending Review (SR) 2025 document, published 11 June 2025, the Phase 2 settlement provides an average 1.7% real terms increase per year in police spending power. Over the SR period, police spending power is projected to increase by an average 2.3% per year in real terms.
Police spending power includes projected spending from additional income, including estimated funding from the police council tax precept.
However, this remains subject to final decision on precept levels and individual police and crime commissioner decisions. The final police precept level and core government funding will be set out in the annual police funding settlement in the usual way.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Valuation Office Agency: May 2025 transparency data, published on 30 June 2025, what the spending on consultancy by (a) Eunoia Consulting Ltd and (b) Posterity Milestone Consortium was for.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Details of these contracts are available on Contracts Finder at the following links:
· Professional Services: Client Side Delivery Partner to Support Initial Beta Stage, NDR Reforms Programme - Contracts FinderAsked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate the Valuation Office Agency has made of the (a) percentage and (b) cash terms monetary change in average private sector rents for dwellings in (i) London and (ii) England since July 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) publishes this information monthly, based on information collected by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The latest publication was released on 18 June 2025 at: Private rent and house prices, UK - Office for National Statistics and includes the 12 months leading up to May 2025.
As of May 2025:
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2025 to Question 60486 on Chinese Embassy, whether her discussions with the Chinese during her visit included that of the proposed Chinese Embassy in London.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As stated in my Answer of 25 June, the Chancellor discussed a range of economic and financial issues during her visit to China for the 2025 UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue. The Chancellor published a written ministerial statement about her visit on the morning of Monday 13 January (found here) and delivered an oral statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday 14 January (found here).
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to increase £500,000 threshold for the new surcharge on business rates in line with the increase in aggregate rateable values from the 2026 business rates revaluation.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government intends to introduce a higher business rates multiplier for all properties with a rateable value (RV) of £500,000 or above in April 2026 to fund permanently lower multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with RVs below £500,000.
The final details of the higher multiplier will be announced at Autumn Budget 2025 in light of the outcomes of the 2026 revaluation, which is currently ongoing.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Table 5.8 of the Spending Review 2025, published on 11 June 2025, how much of the spending line Memo: Police Core Spending is made up of (a) government grant and (b) council tax receipts in each year.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
As set out in the Spending Review 2025 document, published 11 June 2025, the Phase 2 settlement provides an average 1.7% real terms increase per year in police spending power. Over the SR period, police spending power is projected to increase by an average 2.3% per year in real terms.
Police core spending power includes projected spending from a mix of central government funding and local taxation through the police council tax precept. This 2.3% projection is therefore premised on the police being funded through increases to both. However, this remains subject to final decisions on precept levels and individual police and crime commissioner decisions. The government will set out spending plans for police forces in England and Wales, including the final precept level and core government funding, at the annual police funding settlement in the usual way.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2025 to Question 54290 on Chinese Embassy, whether the Bank of England has any role in relation to the cyber-security of financial institutions in and near the City of London.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is the UK's technical authority for cyber security, including helping to protect the UK's critical infrastructure and services from cyber-attacks. The Bank of England, through the Prudential Regulation Authority and working closely with the NCSC, requires PRA-regulated financial institutions to have rigorous cyber-security frameworks in place and requires regular assessment of financial institutions’ cyber security measures.