Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the difference is between the 250,000 retail, hospitality and leisure businesses benefitting from business rates relief, as cited in answer to question UIN 904249, and the 750,000 businesses benefitting from the lower multiplier, as cited in answer to question UIN 111573.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
More properties will benefit from the new retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) multipliers because there is no cash cap, meaning all qualifying properties in an RHL chain will benefit.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding is allocated to the National Wealth Fund for each financial year from 2024-25 onward, broken down by capital spending allocations and financial transactions.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The National Wealth Fund (NWF) is capitalised with £27.8bn to make investments in support of the growth and clean energy missions. £10 billion of its capital is allocated for guarantees, £4 billion for local authority lending, and the rest is split between debt and equity.
HM Treasury has not made specific allocations of this capital to each financial year. The NWF has the target of committing all its capital by 2029/30.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the policy to write off 90% of local authority SEND debs will be funded.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
This funding relates to money that has already been spent by local authorities. The effect of the decision referred to is to transfer the accounting for that historic spending from local to central government. Any impact will be reflected in the OBR’s upcoming forecast.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the cost of the additional business rates support for pubs will be funded.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
From April, every pub and live music venue will get 15% off its new business rates bill on top of the support announced at Budget, ahead of their bills being frozen in real terms for a further two years. The cost of this support will not impact other sectors’ bills.
Final costings will be confirmed at a fiscal event in the usual way.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any of the spending included by the government in its calculation of spending 2.6% of GDP on NATO qualifying defence spending by 2027 includes financial transactions.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence's financial transactions support the retention of critical sovereign manufacturing capabilities and support our strategic objectives. As an integral part of the UK's national security they are included in the NATO qualifying defence spending figures.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to publish the total business rates receipts from all pubs for each financial year from 2023-24 to 2029-30.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Local Authorities do not report to Central Government how much business rates revenue they raise from different types of businesses. The Government therefore does not have this data to publish and nor did the previous Government.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to answer Question 107979 on Defence: Expenditure tabled by the Rt hon. Member for Central Devon on 23 January 2026.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I will respond to the right hon. Member shortly.
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.