Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has undertaken on how the tax reduction for individuals associated with increasing the higher rate tax level threshold will be distributed between the UK's constituent nations.

The government has committed to increasing the personal allowance to £12,500 and the higher rate threshold to £50,000 by the end of the parliament. The Summer Budget announcement set out the first steps the government will take to reach these commitments.

The personal allowance will increase from £10,600 in 2015-16 to £11,000 in 2016-17, and £11,200 in 2017-18. The higher rate threshold will increase from £42,385 to £43,000 and £43,600 respectively.

These changes will cut income tax for over 29 million taxpayers across the UK between now and 16-17. At the constituent nation level, 24.4 million individuals in England, 1.4 million individuals in Wales, 2.5 million individuals in Scotland and nearly 710,000 individuals in Northern Ireland will see a reduction in the amount of income tax paid

By 2016-17, 130,000 individuals will have been taken out of the higher rate of tax, since the start of this parliament. However, it is not possible to produce reliable estimates of income taxpayer numbers taken out of the higher rate tax at the regional level due to greater uncertainties in making these projections.