Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her department has made of the potential impact of (a) business rates, (b) VAT thresholds (c) Employer National Insurance Contributions and (d) other employer costs on non-alcoholic drink price inflation.

Forecasting the economy, including the impact of Government policy decisions on inflation, is the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The OBR set out its assessment of policy measures in its Autumn Budget 2025 published on the 26^th of November. In their assessment, the OBR forecast that inflation had passed its peak and measures taken by the government at Budget will reduce Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation by 0.4 percentage points in 2026-27. This is the biggest near-term reduction in inflation due to Government policy ever forecast by the OBR at a single fiscal event, outside of a crisis, the OBR does not include a separate forecast for non-alcoholic drink price inflation