Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Overseas Development Assistance budget will remain the only funding source for the increase in defence spending throughout this Parliament.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

On 25 February 2025 the Prime Minister announced that NATO qualifying defence spending will increase to 2.5% GDP by 2027-28, with Official Development Assistance reducing from 0.5% GNI to 0.3% GNI by the same time point, meaning the uplift is fully funded and that additional funding will be sourced by a reduction in ODA. The final budgets for departments will be announced when the Spending Review concludes on 11 June 2025

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of whether real-terms or nominal figures provide the most accurate metric for evaluating an increase in defence spending.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

£13.4bn represents the increase in total NATO qualifying defence spending from 2024-25 to 2027-28 based on OBR forecasts. As the Prime Minister has announced, defence spending will reach 2.5% GDP in 2027-28. Our GDP percentage spent on defence is the key metric used in reference to defence spending, in line with our NATO commitments.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Prime Minister’s oral statement on Defence and Security of 25 February 2025, Official Report, column 631, how much and what proportion of the £13.4 billion increase in defence spending is new money.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

£13.4bn represents the forecast increase in total NATO qualifying defence spending between 2024-25 to 2027-28. This increase comprises the reallocated ODA funding, as well as forecast increases to existing NATO qualifying spend based on OBR forecasts, over that timeframe.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Prime Minister’s oral statement on Defence and Security of 25 February 2025, Official Report, column 631, what the level of defence spending was due to be in the 2027-28 financial year prior to that announcement.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Departmental budgets from 2026-27 to 2028-29 will be determined as part of the ongoing Spending Review, details of which will be announced on 11 June 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Tables in the document entitled Work Capability Assessment Reform: update to estimated number of claimants affected, dated 18 April 2024, what her Department's estimate is of the number of claimants moved into each of those categories in the 2029-30 financial year.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The figures requested can be found in the table below:

Note – This reform was planned and made by the previous Government, but the figures reflect the latest OBR forecasts and assumptions.

Number of claimants affected by Work Capability Assessment Reform, Great Britain

Source: Internal Work Capability Assessment Reform Policy Costing model

Notes to tables:

• LCWRA, LCW and IWS are three groups within Universal Credit with different levels of labour market conditionality
• LCWRA refers to the ‘limited capability for work and work-related activity’ group. LCW refers to the ‘limited capability for work’ group. IWS refers to the ‘intensive work search’ group
• the number of claimants is rounded to the nearest 1,000. Figures may not sum due to rounding

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the estimated economic impact of additional public investment within the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts reflects the composition of that investment spending in each year of the forecast period.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility produces comprehensive economic and fiscal forecasts twice a year. This includes a judgement on how public investment levels impact the economy.

This judgement is based on the Public Investment and Potential Output framework the OBR published in the summer of 2024, with the OBR providing further information on how it assessed the Autumn Budget 2024 increase in public investment in Chapter 3 of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

In both, the OBR outline how they use impacts of aggregate measures of investment, rather than the decomposition of investment spending. The OBR makes this assessment on the basis of the government’s headline capital spending plans.

The government has allocated capital budgets by department up to 2025-26. Allocations for future years will be published as part of the ongoing Spending Review, set to conclude in June 2025.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the forecast level of (a) public sector net debt, (b) public sector net debt excluding Bank of England and (c) public sector net financial liabilities was at the time of the Autumn Budget 2024 in (i) cash terms, (ii) real terms and (iii) as a proportion of GDP on a (A) pre and (B) post measures basis in each financial year to 2029-30.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

At Autumn Budget 2024, the government put the public finances on a sustainable path by strengthening the fiscal framework, including announcing new fiscal rules, and taking difficult decisions on tax, welfare and spending.

The information requested is all publicly available in the AB24 Economic and Fiscal Outlook and the OBR’s Public Sector Finances aggregates databank

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will provide a breakdown by department of the additional capital expenditure announced at the October Budget for each financial year up to 2029-30.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

At Autumn Budget 2024 the government announced over £100 billion of additional capital investment over the next five years compared to the plans the government inherited. In 2025-26, this amounts a £13 billion increase compared to Spring Budget 2024 plans.

Allocations of departmental capital spending in 2025-26 can be found in Table C.4 of the Autumn Budget Document. Allocations from 2026-27 to 2029-30 will be announced at the conclusion of the ongoing Spending Review in June 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it remains her Department's policy to begin the rollout of the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the categories of Limited Capability for Work and Limited Capability for Work Related Activity from April 2026.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We’ve been clear that WCA isn’t working and needs to be reformed or replaced.

We are working to develop proposals for reform to the system of health and disability benefits and will set them out in a green paper in the spring.

As part of the Get Britain Working plan, we will support more disabled people and those with health conditions to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the £13.4 billion for the armed forces was calculated based on NATO-qualifying spending; and what his Departmental budget will be in the 2027-28 financial year.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The £13.4 billion increase relates to total NATO qualifying defence spend. This is the increase in cash terms between defence spending in 2027-28 and what the UK spends today.

HMT is currently undertaking the second phase of the Spending Review, which will be announced on 11 June 2025. This will set Departmental budgets for three years from 2026-27 for RDEL and four years for CDEL, including for the Ministry of Defence.

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