Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of exempting (a) parish councils and (b) town councils from the planned rise in employer National Insurance contributions.

The Government has taken a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the public finances and fund public services.

One of the toughest decisions the Government took was to raise employer National Insurance contributions.

The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance costs only.

The Government has no direct role in funding parish and town councils and therefore does not intend to provide further support for the employer National Insurance changes.

This is the usual approach Government takes to supporting the public sector with additional employer NICs costs, as was the case with the previous government’s Health and Social Care Levy.