Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the revenue (a) raised by changes to employee national insurance contributions and (b) announced for the NHS at Autumn Budget 2024 will be allocated to fund non employee national insurance contribution related NHS activity.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Statement, the Chancellor outlined the Government’s commitment to ensuring the sustainability and productivity of the NHS. As part of this, HM Treasury have allocated £22.6 billion to the NHS to support productivity improvements, upgrade IT systems, enhance working conditions for staff, and address the maintenance backlog.
The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance Contributions cost, in line with the approach taken under the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy. The Government will update Parliament on allocations in due course.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what account she took of (a) numbers of claimants of Business Property Relief and (b) reasons for Business Property Relief claims in the introduction of a £1m threshold to (a) Agricultural and (b) Business Property Relief.
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.
It is expected that up to around 2,000 estates will be affected by the changes to APR and BPR in 2026-27, with around half of those being claims that involve AIM shares. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of changes to National Insurance contributions on (a) hospices, (b) GPs and (c) care homes.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Resource spending for the Department of Health and Social Care is set to increase by £22.6 billion in 2025-26 compared to 2023-24 outturn, providing a real-terms growth rate of 4% for the NHS, the largest since before 2010 excluding Covid-19 years. 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.
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 businesses with NICs liabilities either gain or see no change next year. Our tax regime for charities, including exemption from paying business rates, is among the most generous of anywhere in the world with tax reliefs for charities and their donors worth just over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2024.
The Budget will provide support for government departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer NICs costs only. Private sector firms or charities including hospices or social care providers that are contracted by central or local Government will not be exempt from these changes. General Practitioners are independent contractors and therefore 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.
DHSC will confirm funding for General Practice for 25/26 as part of the usual GP contract process later in the year, including through consultation with the sector.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, HC 295, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to (a) agricultural property relief and (b) business rate relief on long-term food security.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief#:~:text=From%206%20April%202026%2C%20the,rather%20than%20the%20standard%2040%25. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief in 2026-27 are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
Agricultural land and associated buildings are exempt from business rates.
The Government made announcements at Autumn Budget 2024 to support and improve food security. The Government has provided £5 billion across this year and next to support the ongoing transition towards a more productive and environmentally sustainable agricultural sector in England. This will strengthen the domestic sector and improve food security.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of terminating the furnished holiday lettings tax regime on the tourism sector.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government will abolish the Furnished Holiday Lets (FHLs) tax regime from April 2025. This will equalise the tax treatment of FHL and non-FHL landlords’ income and gains.
The Government wants to support visitor accommodation alongside housing for longer-term residents to rent or buy. Achieving this balance is crucial in supporting the tourism sector, and many of the people that who work in the sector need access to local housing.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact on growth and investment of changes in levels of the number of people with non-domiciled tax status resident in the UK.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has published a policy note setting out its plan to remove the concept of domicile status from the tax system, and to implement a new residence-based regime which is internationally competitive and focused on attracting the best talent and investment to the UK. The details of this plan can be found on gov.uk at the link below:
Full details of the reform will be provided at the Budget, including a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN), as is routine for tax policy.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution of 12 September 2024 from the Leader of the House in response to the Question asked by the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth, if she will publish the Government’s impact assessment of VAT being charged on public school fees.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent.
This was a tough but necessary decision that will secure additional funding to help deliver the Government’s commitments relating to education and young people, including opening 3,000 new nurseries, rolling out breakfast clubs to all primary schools, and recruiting 6,500 new teachers.
The Government has carefully considered the impact that this policy will have on pupils and their families across both the state and private sector. Following scrutiny of the Government's costings by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), details of the Government’s assessment of the expected impacts of these policy changes will be published at the Budget on 30 October in a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN).
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the report entitled UK Payment Markets Report, published by UK Finance in July 2024, what discussions she has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues, (b) financial institutions and (c) business groups on (i) trends in the numbers of and (ii) support for UK adults who mainly use cash for transactions.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
While the ongoing trend in payments in the UK has been away from cash and towards digital payment methods, the government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups or who otherwise rely mainly on cash. In May 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Financial Lives Survey estimated that 3.1 million people paid for everything in cash over the previous year.
In recognition of the importance of cash access, it has been protected in UK law. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 provides the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities, with reference to the government’s stated objectives for protecting cash access as set out in a government Policy Statement. The FCA must also seek to ensure that there is reasonable provision of free withdrawal and deposit facilities in relation to personal current accounts, so that those who rely on cash are protected.
In July 2024, the FCA published its final rules setting out its approach to regulating access to cash, which come into force on 18 September.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with HMRC on improving customer service in response to queries on self-assessment paperwork.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Treasury Ministers meet with HMRC officials on a regular basis to discuss HMRC’s performance.
HMRC publishes its performance on a monthly and quarterly basis:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to support future funding of county councils.
Answered by John Glen
At Spending Review 2021, the Government provided councils in England with £4.8 billion of new grant funding between 2022-23 and 2024-25.
Recognising that inflation is higher than it was when these budgets were set, at Autumn Statement 2022, the Chancellor announced that local authorities will have access to up to an additional £2.8 billion in 2023-24 and £4.7 billion in 2024-25 for social care and other services, which is of particular benefit to county councils.
The 2023-24 Local Government Finance Settlement confirmed an increase in total Core Spending Power for local authorities of 9.4%.
Decisions on spending beyond 2024-25 will be taken at the next Spending Review.