theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Sarah Olney:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that eligible voters are on the electoral register. \p Rushanara Ali: The electoral register is the foundation of our democratic processes, showing who is eligible to vote in which elections. The Government is committed to improving how registration works, including the use of data and online services to help increase registration levels so that everyone who is eligible to vote can vote.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-22)

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Rachel Gilmour:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of (a) support for homeless people and (b) the criteria by which those at risk of homelessness are deemed vulnerable. \p Rushanara Ali: Homelessness levels are far too high and this Government is taking action to deliver long term solutions. As announced at the Budget, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25), bringing total spend to nearly £1 billion in 25/26.

We are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness, including:

Regarding the criteria by which those at risk of homelessness are deemed vulnerable, the Homelessness Reduction Act places duties on local housing authorities to take reasonable steps to try to prevent and relieve a person’s homelessness. If a housing authority is unable to prevent an applicant from becoming homeless, or to help them to secure accommodation within the ‘relief’ stage, they are required to reach a decision as to whether the applicant has a priority need for accommodation. Priority need primarily includes pregnant women or those with dependent children, people who are vulnerable due to old age, mental illness, physical disability or other special needs, people who are at risk of harm, such as those feeling domestic violence or other threats to their safety, people who are homeless due to an emergency, such as fire or flood and people who have been in care or under supervision (such as leaving the care of local authorities, prison, or other institutions).
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-22)

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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of using alternative voting systems to first past the post for new local authorities. \p Rushanara Ali: The Government has no plans to change the voting system for local council elections.
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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many construction businesses the Minister of State for Industry has visited since 4 July 2024. \p Sarah Jones: Details of the meetings held by Ministers of the Department for Business and Trade are available on transparency pages of gov.uk and are released as part of the Government’s transparency agenda.

However, I have attended events such as AtkinsRealis and Screwfix Live and also met with multiple Trade Associations and companies across the sector through my role as Co-Chair of the Construction Leadership Council, including Build UK, The Civil Engineering Contractors Association, The Builders Merchants Federation and Mace.
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David Simmonds:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of repealing the Trade Union Act 2016 on the use of leverage campaigns in industrial disputes. \p Justin Madders: The Government published an impact assessment on 21 October 2024, setting out its assessment of the expected impacts of the repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016 via the Employment Rights Bill.
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Sarah Owen:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to encourage investment from (a) OpenAI, (b) Google, (c) Anthropic and (d) Meta in local communities. \p Sarah Jones: The Department for Business and Trade will continue to work with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Office for Investment to support significant overseas companies to invest and expand their footprint in the UK, and ensure that local communities benefit from the digital industrial revolution. As set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan presented earlier this month, AI Growth Zones will be established across the UK. Government will support these dedicated hotbeds of development to build the infrastructure needed to power and train cutting-edge AI. By partnering with the private sector, we will create vibrant hubs that attract investment, support new jobs, and rejuvenate communities.
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Anna Sabine:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with Royal Mail on achieving delivery targets for (a) first and (b) second class mail. \p Justin Madders: In November I met with Royal Mail’s CEO and stressed the importance of a reliable postal service including for first and second class mail.

As the independent regulator for the postal sector, it is for Ofcom to oversee Royal Mail’s delivery of the universal service obligation and decide how to respond should Royal Mail fail to meet its obligations. While the government does not have a role in Ofcom’s regulatory decisions, I also recently met with representatives from Ofcom who reasserted their commitment to ensuring that the universal postal service meets the reasonable needs of users.
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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, on what dates he has met with the Head of Business Engagement to the Chancellor of the Exchequer since 14 October 2024. \p Justin Madders: The Secretary of State for Business and Trade has met the Chancellor's Head of Business Engagement in the course of his ministerial role. The Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury work closely together on delivering this Government's Growth agenda.
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Sarah Owen:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what representations his Department has made to industry on investment in towns historically impacted by de-industrialisation. \p Sarah Jones: The Department works across the UK, including towns impacted by deindustrialisation, to showcase strong commercial investment opportunities to potential investors and support business to grow, and provides extensive support to small businesses through the network of Growth Hubs. The government’s Industrial Strategy will focus on tackling barriers to growth in highest potential growth-driving sectors and places, creating the right conditions for increased investment, high-quality jobs and ensuring tangible impact in communities right across the UK. The National Wealth Fund will support its delivery and mobilise billions of pounds of investment. Through the Government owned British Business Bank, we are also investing over £1billion through their regional Investment Fund programmes.
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Matt Bishop:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure more (a) reliable and (b) timely delivery of first-class mail in rural areas. \p Justin Madders: The government is committed to a sustainable universal service for users throughout the UK, including those in remote and rural areas.

It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, to set and monitor Royal Mail’s service standards and to decide how to use its powers to investigate and take enforcement action should Royal Mail fail to achieve its obligations without good justification.
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Alice Macdonald:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what data his Department holds on the number of women seeking fertility treatment whilst at work (a) nationally and (b) by region. \p Justin Madders: Data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) states that around 52,500 patients had in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and 3,000 had donor insemination (DI) treatment, at HFEA licensed fertility centres in the UK in 2022. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) does not hold any additional data on how many of those individuals were working, either nationally or by region.

DBT has not specifically assessed the potential impacts on women in the workplace of seeking fertility treatment, however, the Government recognises how important that treatment is to individuals and couples undertaking it. We have set out our immediate priorities for reforming employment law in the Plan to Make Work Pay, and while the Plan does not include any specific measures on fertility treatment, our plan aims to deliver change so that people are more able to balance working life with their personal circumstances.
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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2024 to Question 19443 on British Business Bank: Finance, when he plans to begin publishing data on the British Business Bank's Start Up Loans programme. \p Gareth Thomas: Data on Start Up Loans will be publicly available on the British Business Bank website by the end of Q1 2025.
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Dame Harriett Baldwin:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2024 to Question 20202 on Small Business, if he will publish the Small Business Strategy by Summer Recess 2025. \p Gareth Thomas: The Government will publish the Small Business Strategy later this year and will provide further updates in the coming weeks. We will ensure the publication timing aligns with the Spending Review process and the Government’s wider plans on delivering our Growth Mission, including the launch of a new Industrial Strategy and Trade Strategy.
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Alex Easton:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many officials are in the team supporting the Windsor Framework Review; what their roles and responsibilities are; what criteria were used to select that team; what the composition is of the selection panel for the Second Permanent Secretary for EU and International Economic Affairs; how that panel was appointed; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the Windsor Framework Review is (a) transparent and (b) independent. \p Nick Thomas-Symonds: Support arrangements for the Independent Review of the Windsor Framework are being put in place. Those arrangements will reflect routine Government practice for providing appropriate support to a panel or review. The Review will operate under the leadership of the Rt Hon the Lord Murphy of Torfaen and in line with the Terms of Reference which have been published by the Government.

The selection process for the Second Permanent Secretary for EU and International Economic Affairs was overseen by the First Civil Service Commissioner. She was joined on the selection panel by the Cabinet Secretary and the HM Treasury Permanent Secretary.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what criteria was used to allocate locations for test-and-learn pilots; and how much funding will be allocated to each local authority. \p Georgia Gould: The pilots were selected due to their potential impact and alignment with a new way of working (Test, Learn and Grow). No funding has been allocated in this initial phase but there is in kind resource from the Government complementing local teams. The Cabinet Office and MHCLG will be working across government and with local partners to co-design the detailed approach to the allocation of the Public Service Reform and Innovation Fund for next financial year. We will partner with the Local Government Association (LGA) on this process.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse was of repainting the Downing Street media room. \p Georgia Gould: Information will be published in due course in the Cabinet Office’s dataset detailing expenditure above £25,000, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) internal policy reviews, (b) independent reviews, (c) external reviews, (d) taskforces, (e) public consultations, (f) investigations and (g) other reviews their Department launched between 5 July 2024 and 5 January 2025; what the titles were of those reviews; and how many of those reviews have been (i) completed and (ii) published. \p Georgia Gould: This Government has outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out an ambitious set of milestones - across the missions - for this Parliament.

As the House would expect, Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer.

Information on public reviews, consultations and investigations is available on Gov.uk, although there will always be internal work in government departments which we would not ordinarily or routinely publish.
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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what representations 10 Downing Street has received from (a) Global Counsel and (b) Lord Mandelson on (i) the European Union and (ii) China since 4 July 2024. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk as part of the government’s transparency agenda.
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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list each (a) external organisation and (b) individual that Morgan McSweeney has met in a government capacity since July 2024. \p Georgia Gould: In line with longstanding process, relevant meetings are declared in the Special Advisor transparency publications.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2024 to Question 14636, on Prime Minister: Tiktok, what meetings Downing Street special advisers have had with (a) senior media executives and (b) other executives from Tiktok that are not due to be routinely published on gov.uk transparency returns. \p Georgia Gould: In line with longstanding process, relevant meetings are declared in the Special Advisor transparency publications.
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Lee Barron:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many suicides there were in Northamptonshire in each year since 2020; and how many of these were men. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 14 January is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 114.4KB)
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Lauren Edwards:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to support good mental health among civil servants. \p Georgia Gould: The Civil Service provides its employees with a comprehensive range of health and wellbeing tools and policies to ensure that employees remain in work or return to work as quickly as possible following absence due to ill health.

The Cabinet Office is fully committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of its civil servants, and has introduced a range of initiatives aimed at promoting good mental health.

Managers within the Cabinet Office are provided with training to identify early signs of mental health issues and offer appropriate support. Cabinet Office employees also have access to a confidential employee assistance programme (EAP), which offers mental health support, including counselling services.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies, published on 15 March 2018, which of the three tests in Chapter 2 the Regulatory Innovation Office meets. \p Georgia Gould: The Regulatory Innovation Office is not an arm’s length body. On 8 October 2024, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology announced that the Regulatory Innovation Office would be set up as an office within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2024 to Question 15191 on Prime Minister: Anacta, where on gov.uk his Department publishes details of special advisers' meetings. \p Georgia Gould: As was the case under the previous administration, details of Cabinet Office special advisers’ meetings with senior media figures are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/special-advisers-transparency-publications

Data for the period of July to September 2024 will be published shortly.
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Wendy Chamberlain:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a list of Parliamentary Private Secretaries. \p Georgia Gould: A list of Parliamentary Private Secretaries was published by the Cabinet Office in September 2024 on gov.uk and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-parliamentary-private-secretaries-pps-september-2024. It will be updated periodically.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to the public purse of the proposed increase in employer National Insurance contributions on the Duchy of Lancaster. \p Georgia Gould: Information about the Duchy of Lancaster's accounts will be published by the Duchy in the usual way.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 12 April 2024 to Question HL3689 on EU Budget: Contributions, if she will make an estimate of the impact of the UK's withdrawal from the EU on the public finances in financial years (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26. \p Darren Jones: Since the previous response on 12 April 2024 to Question HL3689 on EU Budget Contributions, the UK has received two invoices from the EU relating to the Financial Settlement under the Withdrawal Agreement, which was agreed by the then previous government in 2020 . The April invoice, paid between June 2024 and September 2024, was a €1,413,436,944 receipt to the UK. The September invoice, paid between October 2024 and May 2025, was a €1,791,580,305 payment from the UK to the EU. Each invoice is paid in equal monthly instalments. In the next iteration of the EU Finances Statement, expected in Spring 2025, HM Treasury will publish details of UK payments under the Financial Settlement in 2024 and its latest estimate for outstanding UK liabilities as at 31st December 2024.
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James Wild:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) strategic (b) outline and (c) final business cases were submitted to her Department in each of the last three years. \p Darren Jones: The Treasury Approvals Process requires departments and their arm's length bodies to submit business cases to HM Treasury for scrutiny when spending meets specific criteria. These criteria are detailed in Treasury Approvals Process guidance. The Treasury typically receives hundreds of different business cases for approval each year.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.52 of the Autumn Budget 2024, what the aggregate capital cost before subsidy is of the 11 projects. \p Darren Jones: Approximately £413 million of capital will be invested in these projects, across the UK, between 2024-2026, in addition to over £90m of grant funding from the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund. This information is available on gov.uk via the following link:

Hydrogen Production Business Model / Net Zero Hydrogen Fund: HAR1 successful projects (published December 2023) - GOV.UK

The LCCC register includes details of every project which has signed a Low Carbon Hydrogen Agreement and can be found here: https://register.lowcarboncontracts.uk/?allocation_round=%7B%22operator%22%3A%22is%22%2C%22value%22%3A%22Hydrogen+Allocation+Round+1%22%7D
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent trends in the rate of inflation on (a) consumers and (b) businesses. \p Emma Reynolds: Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation has normalised after an inflationary shock resulted in it peaking at 11.1% in October 2022. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility say that they expect inflation to remain close to the 2% target throughout the forecast period. The Government fully supports the independent Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England in maintaining price stability sustainably in the medium term.

Inflation creates uncertainty for consumers and businesses. Which is why we are putting the public finances on a sustainable path and investing in the future. That is the most important thing to support working people and create a stable environment for growth.
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Callum Anderson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent trends in the level of retail investment on economic (a) growth and (b) resilience. \p Emma Reynolds: The Government wants to see more consumers participate in capital markets and benefit from the long-term financial security and returns that investing can provide.

The Financial Services Growth & Competitiveness Strategy call for evidence, which closed on 12 December, identified that increasing retail participation in capital markets could support long-term sustainable growth within the sector and the wider economy. The call for evidence welcomed further evidence on how to improve consumer engagement with investing, and the Government is considering the feedback provided.

The Government is already taking forward work to improve the information available to retail investors to help with their decision-making. This includes reforms to the UK’s retail disclosure regime and exploring options to expand the availability of support through the joint Government and FCA review of the boundary between financial advice and guidance.
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Mr Luke Charters:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reforming mortgage regulation. \p Emma Reynolds: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who are operationally independent of Government, are responsible for the regulation and conduct of financial services and markets, including the residential mortgage market.

In 2014, the FCA put in place new regulation for mortgages in the UK, known as the ‘Mortgage Market Review’. This was based on the principle that mortgages should only be advanced where there is a reasonable expectation that they could be repaid by borrowers.

However, this Government welcomes innovation in the mortgage market, particularly where this provides borrowers with the greatest choice possible about the level of interest rate risk that they are willing to take on.
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Liam Conlon:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help increase access to high street banking services in Beckenham and Penge constituency. \p Emma Reynolds: The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets in Beckenham and Penge, and across the UK, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with banks to roll out 350 banking hubs by the end of this Parliament. These will provide individuals and businesses up and down the country with critical cash and banking services. Over 100 banking hubs are already open.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to allow Hartley pension holders to transfer their pensions funds to other administrators. \p Emma Reynolds: The Government is actively monitoring the situation of Hartley Pensions and offers our sympathies to the affected customers. Hartley Pensions is a self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) provider and is therefore the responsibility of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to regulate. The FCA are working with the administrators to ensure the affected customers achieve the best possible outcome and the Government is working with the FCA as part of this process. Unfortunately, the Government cannot comment on any issues relating to an ongoing administration or court case.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) internal policy reviews, (b) independent reviews, (c) external reviews, (d) taskforces, (e) public consultations, (f) investigations and (g) other reviews their Department launched between 5 July 2024 and 5 January 2025; what the titles were of those reviews; and how many of those reviews have been (i) completed and (ii) published. \p James Murray: This Government has outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out a set of milestones, across the missions, for this Parliament.

The Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer. Public reviews will be available on Gov.uk as they are published.
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Alicia Kearns:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting fire services from business rates at the next fiscal event. \p James Murray: Certain properties are exempt from business rates. Details on exemptions can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-business-rate-relief/exempt-properties.

Any decisions on future tax policy will be announced by the Chancellor at a fiscal event.
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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps she is taking to support rural businesses. \p James Murray: Prosperous rural businesses will be underpinned by improvements to rural connectivity and productivity, access to public services and a thriving farming sector.

To this end, we are restoring stability and investment in our public services as the best way to support growth across the country, including in rural areas. We are investing £5 billion in broadband connectivity which will support growth in rural areas across the UK. We confirmed over £650 million of funding for local transport beyond City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements in 2025-26 to ensure that transport connections improve in our towns, villages and rural areas.

We have also committed £5 billion for the farming budget over two years – which includes the largest ever amount of funding directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.
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David Simmonds:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14995 on Business Rates: Tax Allowances, if she will publish a breakdown of the £1.6 billion. \p James Murray: Autumn Budget 2024 announced the extension of Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and the freezing of the small business multiplier for 2025-26. This is a package worth over £1.6 billion in 2025-26.

For both business rates measures, the breakdown of costings over the scorecard period can be found on page 120 (lines 47-48) in ‘Chapter 5: Policy decisions’ of Autumn Budget 2024: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b9695fbd69e1861921c63/Autumn_Budget_2024_Accessible.pdf
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David Simmonds:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2024, to Question 17827 on Private Education: Business Rates, what estimate she has made of (a) how many independent schools will lose their 80 per cent charitable rate relief and (b) the average annual business rates bill for independent schools in 2025-26. \p James Murray: As set out in the Government’s impact note, using Department for Education data the Government has identified 2,444 private schools in England, of which 1,139 are charities.

Private schools that are wholly concerned with the training or welfare of disabled people will be exempt from business rates under existing provision. Private schools that are wholly or mainly concerned with providing education for pupils with an EHCP will also retain their charitable rate relief. Taken together, the Government expects the number of private schools that will lose business rates charitable relief to be 1,040.

Government analysis also shows the average increase in business rates per pupil to be £308 in the financial year 2025-26. This note can be found here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0129/ImpactNote.pdf
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Mr Joshua Reynolds:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people HMRC has identified as being liable for the Loan Charge who have not yet (a) paid and (b) settled to avoid it (i) in total and (ii) by Parliamentary constituency. \p James Murray: HMRC has previously estimated that around 40,000 individuals and 5,000 employers were liable to the Loan Charge and were yet to settle with HMRC, including those who had settled some but not all of their liabilities. This information is not available at parliamentary constituency level.

Between Budget 2016 and 31 March 2024, HMRC agreed just over 25,000 settlements with employers and individuals of their disguised remuneration schemes, bringing into charge around £4.2 billion in revenue.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-22)

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Liam Conlon:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to help improve living standards for low-paid workers. \p James Murray: The Government has set out a Plan for Change, outlining our ambitious yet achievable milestones, including raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom to ensure working people have more money in their pockets and delivering the highest sustained economic growth in the G7.

Specific actions already taken by the Government to support low paid workers include: increasing to the National Living Wage from April 2025; extending the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales in 2025-26; and introducing a new Fair Repayment Rate from April 2025 to cap debt repayments made through Universal Credit.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-01-22)

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David Simmonds:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14949 on Property: Valuation, who recommended the use of Gaussian Markov Random Fields in the Automated Valuation Model. \p James Murray: The approach has been endorsed in reviews by both the Centre for Appraisal Research and Technology and the International Association of Assessing Officers.
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Alison Taylor:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made on the number of family owned businesses who will be impacted by the proposed changes to (a) Business Property Relief and (b) Agricultural Property Relief in Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituency. \p James Murray: The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms. The Chancellor also recently wrote to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee about the reforms to Agricultural Property Relief: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/45691/documents/226235/default/.

It is expected that up to around 2,000 estates across the UK will be affected by the changes to APR and BPR in 2026-27, with around half of those being claims that involve AIM shares. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.

In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

The number of affected estates, meaning how many estates making relief claims that would pay more inheritance tax as a result of the change, is affected by who the owners of any businesses are, how many owners there are, any borrowing they have, and how they plan their affairs. Without such information, which the Government does not hold at the UK Parliamentary Constituency level, area level assessments cannot be made.
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Charlotte Cane:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps she is taking to support family farmers. \p James Murray: The Government is investing £5bn across this year and next to support the transition to a more sustainable and productive sector which will help ensure its long-term profitability. This includes a £60m payment to help farmers deal with the devastating impact flooding has had across the country.
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Susan Murray:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the VAT (a) threshold and (b) rates on the (i) growth and (ii) financial sustainability of small businesses. \p James Murray: At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This keeps the majority of businesses out of the VAT regime altogether.

The Government’s approach to the VAT threshold and applicable rates aims to balance potential impacts on small businesses, including their growth and financial sustainability, the economy as a whole, and tax revenues. Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer.
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Charlotte Cane:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the increase in the rate of employers' National Insurance contributions on trends in the level of economic growth. \p James Murray: A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer; the economic impacts of the policy; and the impacts on individuals, businesses, civil society organisations and an overview of the equality impacts.

The Office for Budget Responsibility also published the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), which sets out in detail their assessment of the impact of the policy on the economy and public finances.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will have discussions with the Royal Household on (a) transparency and (b) accountability of money provided from the public purse. \p James Murray: Since 2012, the Monarch has received the Sovereign Grant to fund their official duties as Head of State and maintain the Occupied Royal Palaces. No member of the Royal family receives a private income from the Sovereign Grant or any other public funds.

The rules governing the Sovereign Grant have been set by Parliament in the Sovereign Grant Act 2011. The Act provides for oversight and accountability arrangements which subject the funding for the Monarch’s official duties to the same audit scrutiny as other government expenditure. The Sovereign Grant accounts are audited by the National Audit Office and laid before Parliament every year.
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Mr Louie French:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the VAT exemption for disability-adapted motor vehicles. \p James Murray: Wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) are subject to a zero rate of VAT when purchased by a disabled person for their personal use, or by a charity that will make the vehicle available to disabled people.

The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events in the context of the overall public finances.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what purposes (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have used AI in the last 12 months. \p James Murray: AI has transformative potential, with the ability to drive growth, raise living standards, transform public services, and improve the lives of working people across the UK.

In HM Treasury, we are using AI to build tools that support policy makers, including our bespoke HMT-GPT system and email triaging solution for managing correspondence.

The award-winning Hawkeye service enables the Treasury to automatically combine key data on the UK economy and provide valuable insights for analysts.

We are also adopting this modern, digital approach for the upcoming Spending Review.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the uptake in cyber security jobs over the last five years. \p Feryal Clark: The Government has published the ‘Cyber security skills in the UK labour market’ report annually since 2018. These reports show an increasing demand for cyber security jobs, but also a skills shortage that increases the difficulty of filling these jobs.

The 2024 report, published in September, showed a reduction in the annual shortfall of individuals in the cyber security workforce from 11,200 in 2022 to 3,500 in 2023. Despite this reduction 44% of businesses still report a basic skills gap. The Government will continue to work with industry and academic networks to champion efforts to reduce these skills gaps. This work includes supporting the UK Cyber Security Council, the professional body for the cyber workforce, the CyberFirst inspiration programme and the Cyber Local regional funding initiative.The CyberFirst girls competition is in Northern Ireland.
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Euan Stainbank:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to (a) promote and (b) support animal-free research; and what initiatives the Government provides to help increase funding for animal-free research research methods. \p Feryal Clark: The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science and we are engaging with the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory authorities on how to take this commitment forward.

A significant part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding supports the development of alternative methods such as microphysiological systems, (eg.organ-on-a-chip and organoid platforms) and in silico models, eg. artificial intelligence (AI). The Government also currently invests £10m annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to accelerate the development and adoption of non-animal approaches.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with Ofcom on (a) the prevention of and (b) the number of instances of online bullying. \p Feryal Clark: Government is committed to working with Ofcom to ensure the Online Safety Act is implemented quickly and effectively. Under the Act, platforms will need to remove illegal abusive content and, if children can access their site, protect children from harmful content, including abusive content.

Where anonymous abuse does not meet the criminal threshold, adult users of Category 1 services can choose to use user empowerment tools, which, when applied, will reduce the likelihood that they are exposed to certain legal content, including abusive content. Adults will also have the choice to filter out content from non-verified users.
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Chi Onwurah:To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Intellectual Property Office publication entitled Standard Essential Patents: 2024 forward look, published on 27 February 2024, what his planned timetable is for the launch of the public technical consultation. \p Feryal Clark: The Government recognises the importance of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) to the UK economy and the objectives published in February 2024 continue to underpin the Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) work. Delivering against those objectives, the IPO launched its SEPs Resource Hub on 22 July 2024 to help UK small and medium enterprises navigate the SEPs ecosystem.

The IPO continues to consider options that could help improve the functioning of the SEPs ecosystem. Any options requiring regulatory change would be part of a full, formal consultation. A final decision on holding a consultation would rest with Ministers.