Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of UK spirits duty rates for the on-trade compared to equivalent rates in (a) Ireland, (b) France, (c) Germany, and (d) other EU member states.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK’s alcohol duty system balances protecting the public finances and promoting health.
There is significant variation in alcohol taxation policy amongst European countries. The World Health Organization recently published a comparison of alcohol taxes across the WHO European Region, which can be found here.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief on Scottish family farms.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
We are striking a fair balance between supporting farmers and fixing the public services on which our rural communities rely.
Our reforms to the Agricultural Property Relief means that the majority of those claiming relief, three quarters, will not be affected. The vast majority of farmers will not be affected at all. They will be able to pass the family farm down to their children just as previous generations have always done.
This is a fair and balanced approach that protects the family farm while also fixing the public services that we all rely on.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of spirits duty, business rates, VAT, and employer National Insurance contributions paid by pubs in the last 12 months.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not hold readily available data on revenue from spirits duty, VAT, and employer National Insurance contributions paid by pubs.
HMRC does not hold information on business rates which are administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate she has made of the revenue generated from spirits duty paid by on-trade premises compared to off-trade retailers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not hold data on alcohol duty paid on alcohol sold in pubs. Alcohol duty is paid at the point of production or import and would not generally be paid directly by pubs.
Statistics on alcohol duty are published in the Alcohol Bulletin - GOV.UK.
Estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics for the period 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2025 indicate around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade and around 85% off-trade.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data her Department holds on the proportion of spirits duty revenue generated from UK-produced spirits sold in pubs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not hold data on alcohol duty paid on alcohol sold in pubs. Alcohol duty is paid at the point of production or import and would not generally be paid directly by pubs.
Statistics on alcohol duty are published in the Alcohol Bulletin - GOV.UK.
Estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics for the period 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2025 indicate around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade and around 85% off-trade.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate her Department has made of the spirits duty revenue at risk from pub closures.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not hold data on alcohol duty paid on alcohol sold in pubs. Alcohol duty is paid at the point of production or import and would not generally be paid directly by pubs.
Statistics on alcohol duty are published in the Alcohol Bulletin - GOV.UK.
Estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics for the period 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2025 indicate around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade and around 85% off-trade.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to reduce the time taken to replenish UK munitions stockpiles.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As announced in the Strategic Defence Review, we our investing £6 billion this Parliament in munitions to replenish our stockpiles. This investment includes £1.5 billion specifically to develop an “always on” munitions pipeline, building six new munitions and energetics factories to ensure we increase the capacity and resilience of our domestic munitions production.
I look forward to meeting the hon. Member to discuss her perspectives in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of further permitted development protections for registered historic battlefields in England.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to the protection of the historic environment.
We consider new permitted development rights, and amendments to existing ones, on a case-by-case basis.
Changes to permitted development rights are generally made following public consultation, including consideration of any impacts on the historic environment.
Local planning authorities can also remove national permitted development rights where it is necessary to protect local amenity or the well-being of an area by introducing an ‘Article 4’ direction.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many appointments to ministerial private office have been made by exceptions to the civil service recruitment principles since July 2024; and how many transfers of civil servants from other departments by exceptions there have been since that date.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Between July 2024 and 03 November 2025 there were no appointments made by exception to Ministerial Private Offices among the delegated grades (below Senior Civil Servant (SCS) level). However, during this period there was one direct Ministerial appointment at SCS level, this was the Strategic Advisor to the Secretary of State and Head of Review and Challenge.
Asked by: Sarah Bool (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the meal rate for Universal Free School Meals to cover the costs school face in providing them.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department spends around £600 million annually supporting the provision of free and nutritious meals to around 1.3 million infants and almost £1 billion supporting around 2.2 million of the most disadvantaged pupils. In addition to this, we have set aside over £1 billion over the multiyear spending review period to back our significant expansion of free meals support to all households on Universal Credit, taking effect from September 2026. This will benefit over half a million children.
For the 2025/26 academic year, we have allocated a meal rate of £2.61 for universal infant free school meals. As with all policies, we continue to keep free meals policy, including funding, under review to ensure that nutritious meals continue to be deliverable. Departmental officials meet regularly with the sector, including the school catering industry, and use these insights to inform our work.