Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Chancellor's written statement of 5 January 2026, UIN HCWS1219, whether she plans to respond to the OBR's Spring forecast in an oral statement.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As set out in a written statement to Parliament last week, the Chancellor has asked the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to prepare an economic and fiscal forecast for publication on 3 March 2026. The Chancellor will deliver an oral statement to the House in response.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of estates subject to paying Inheritance Tax in (a) the most recent year for which data is available and (b) each year up to 2030-31.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The statistics for the number of estates subject to paying inheritance tax (IHT) are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-liabilities-statistics.
The statistics for the number of estates forecast to pay inheritance tax are available at https://obr.uk/download/november-2025-economic-and-fiscal-outlook-detailed-forecast-tables-receipts/?tmstv=1766066728.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Item 13 of Table 4.1 in the Budget Document, published 26 November 2025, if she will provide a breakdown of the fiscal impacts in each financial year for each of the operational changes included in the costing.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government set out further details on the relevant operational changes in its press release of 18 December.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the OBR's fiscal forecasts included the costs of the Erasmus scheme.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As usual, any changes since the last forecasts will be included in a future forecast.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether 2026-27 business rate transitional reliefs should be calculated using base liabilities which include the application of Retail, Hospitality and Leisure rate relief in 2025-26.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has announced support for those losing RHL relief through an expanded Support Small Business scheme which caps bill increases at the higher of £800 or the relevant TR cap. The SSB cap applies to the ratepayers’ current bill, including the 40% RHL relief they are currently receiving, before changes in other reliefs and local supplements.
This is part of a generous support package worth £4.3 billion over the next 3 years, including support to help ratepayers to transition to their new bill.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there will be a Spring Statement in 2026 to accompany the OBR's Spring Forecast 2026; and whether the OBR's Spring Forecast 2026 will include the scoring of new measures announced since Autumn Budget 2025.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chancellor will set out her plans for the Spring forecast in due course.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of businesses currently eligible for retail, hospitality and leisure relief have a normal business rates liability of £110,000 or less.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties benefit from 40 per cent business rates relief up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business in 2025/26.
MHCLG publish data on the number of properties benefitting from RHL relief.
As business rates are administered by individual Local Authorities on a per-property basis, the Government does not hold data on how many and what proportion of businesses currently eligible for RHL relief have a total business rates liability of £110,000 or less.
In April 2026, the Government is introducing permanently lower business rates multipliers for RHL properties with rateable values below £500,000.
Unlike the current RHL business rates relief, there will be no cash cap, meaning that all eligible RHL properties in a chain will qualify for the lower multipliers.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) welfare payments and (b) other services paid to people with indefinite leave to remain in each financial year since 2019-20 onwards.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Oral Statement of 30 October 2024 on Financial Statement and Budget Report, Official Report, column 821, whether it remains her policy not to extend the freeze on income tax thresholds.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to keeping taxes for working people as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility. That is why, at our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the G7 agreement on global minimum tax on additional revenue to the public purse in each of the next five financial years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chancellor, alongside her G7 counterparts, has reached an understanding on a proposed path forward for the global minimum tax, Pillar 2 of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).The G7 published a statement last week that set out our commitment to the core objectives of Pillar 2: tackling multinational tax avoidance and promoting a stable global tax environment that supports fair competition.
Recent discussions have taken into account concerns raised by the US Treasury regarding the interaction of the Pillar 2 rules with the US minimum tax system, and have focused on developing a side-by-side approach that maintains a level playing field.
Importantly, this agreement includes the removal of the retaliatory tax provision (Section 899) in the US’s legislative proposals, which would have imposed a significant additional tax burden on British businesses.
The understanding reached by the G7, and the principles underpinning it, will now be developed in detail and need to be agreed within the wider OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework, which comprises over 140 countries and jurisdictions.
Any changes to UK policy resulting from the final, negotiated solution, will be fully costed by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).