theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Mr Lee Dillon:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 will be implemented. \p Emma Hardy: The Government is strongly committed to requiring standardised Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in new developments. These should be to designs that cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits, reduce run off and help to improve water quality, amenity and biodiversity. It is also important to ensure appropriate adoption and maintenance arrangements are in place.

We believe that these outcomes can be achieved through either improving the current planning led approach using powers now available or commencing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. A final decision on the way forward will be made in the coming months.

We have made some immediate changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to support increasing SuDS. The NPPF now requires all development to utilise SuDS where they could have drainage impacts. These systems should be appropriate to the nature and scale of the proposed development.

We will review the planning system holistically and consider whether further changes are required to address SuDS when we consult on further planning reform, including national policy related to decision making, in 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Dr Simon Opher:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a regional allocation system similar to flood and coastal management funding to support local authorities and public bodies in implementing the national adaptation plan. \p Emma Hardy: Local authorities have a critical role in responding to the impacts of climate change in their areas. The Government is currently reviewing its approach to Climate Adaptation, including the tools and support we give to Local Authorities.

in terms of finance, the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25. The majority of this funding is un-ringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Alison Taylor:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that private landowners uphold environmental standards on (a) biodiversity protection, (b) water quality and (c) land management responsibilities. \p Emma Hardy: The environment and farming are devolved matters, this response covers England only.

There are a wide range of regulations that protect biodiversity, water and other parts of the environment in England from potential harms caused by land management activities. For example, The Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution (England) Regulations 2018 places restrictions on agricultural practices to reduce and prevent diffuse water pollution. The Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 puts hedgerow management practices into law.

Land management regulations are enforced by a number of authorities, including the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Rural Payments Agency and the Forestry Commission. Defra is taking action to improve regulation that applies to farmers and other land managers, this includes an expanded Farm Advisory Service, better guidance and an increased number of advice-led inspections.

However, we know existing regulation can hold back businesses. We also know farmers do not always understand the purpose of regulation and they find it time consuming, with compliance difficult to demonstrate. This is why I have asked my officials to review farm regulation, focussing on how it can be more coherent, less time consuming and easier to understand. I have also asked all Defra regulators how they are supporting growth.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to help protect homeowners from property devaluations in flood prone areas of South Somerset. \p Emma Hardy: As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, a record £2.65 billion will be invested over two years in better protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026. Around 1,000 projects will receive funding in 24/25 and 25/26.

Property Flood Resilience (PFR) can provide homes and businesses the tools to manage the impact that flooding has on their property, reducing damage and repair costs and enabling quicker recovery.

Working with Defra, the Environment Agency has commissioned an independent review of national Property Level Flood Resilience. This is expected to report in the autumn and will provide an Action Plan, that will enable growth of the PFR market so that individuals and businesses can and will take their own action. It will also include actions that build confidence in the products and installations available and ensure information on PFR measures is reliable and accessible.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of land lost through adverse possession on local flood resilience. \p Emma Hardy: The new National Flood Risk Assessment data published on 28 January 2025 uses the best currently available data to provide a single picture of current and future flood risk from rivers, the sea and surface water for England. The Environment Agency has not undertaken an assessment of the impact of land lost through adverse possession on flood resilience – this would need to be undertaken at a local level by the asset owners or interested parties.

HM Land Registry has operational responsibility for considering land registration applications based on adverse possession and publishes guidance about this at GOV.UK here and here.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of enabling the use of electronic signatures, matched to the DVLA database, for admissions of vehicular offences on S172 forms. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Whilst the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 does not explicitly require wet signatures, the Penalty Notice System for Policing does not currently have the capability to match signatures between DVLA and s.172 forms.

A number of forces have additional software that in some cases allow for online admissions via a public access portal.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of officials in her Department can allocate a proportion of their contracted working hours to diversity network activities; what the names of each of those networks are; and what the average time allocated to those activities was. \p Dame Diana Johnson: I refer the Hon Gentlemen to the answer provided by Lord Hanson to question HL1115 on 30 September 2024.
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Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will formally apologise to Ali Kololo about the Metropolitan Police’s involvement in his overturned conviction. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Metropolitan Police are operationally independent.
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Jayne Kirkham:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to assist applicants who cannot apply online to access temporary visas. \p Seema Malhotra: Where a customer cannot apply online themselves for a visa, they may ask a family member or other appointed representative to assist in completing the application on their behalf. The visa application includes various authorities and declarations, and the customer will be bound by those when using a proxy. To complete the application process customers must provide their biometric data at their chosen Visa Application Centre. Customers who are unable to attend a Visa Application Centre should refer to published guidance for alternative options: Unable to travel to a Visa Application Centre to enrol biometrics (overseas applications) (accessible) - GOV.UK.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average administrative cost was of granting a person British citizenship in the latest period for which data is available. \p Seema Malhotra: The Home Office publishes the fees charged and the estimated unit cost of processing immigration and nationality applications on Gov.UK. This can be reviewed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-fees-transparency-data.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 28425 on Afghanistan: Resettlement, how many and what proportion of Afghan family members who have applied to come to the UK as a dependent under the Afghan Resettlement Programme have failed vetting. \p Seema Malhotra: The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

The Afghan Resettlement Programme, announced by the Defence Secretary on 18 December 2024, is not in itself an immigration scheme, but a single delivery pipeline to improve efficiency in the end to end relocation and in-UK resettlement of those arriving on our Afghan schemes.

The latest published statistics for arrivals under the Afghan schemes can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67bc514298ea2db44faddd4f/asylum-summary-dec-2024-tables.ods.
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Johanna Baxter:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle Serious and Organised Crime linked to Russia. \p Dan Jarvis: The Home Office works across Government to tackle the Serious Organised Crime threat linked to Russia including Russia-linked illicit finance in the UK.

This was recently demonstrated through the NCA’s Operation DESTABILISE which exposed and disrupted Russian money laundering networks supporting serious and organised crime.

In addition to our domestic efforts, we work with like-minded international partners to build capacity in key law enforcement institutions and the judiciary to help tackle, and enhance resilience against, Russia-linked organised crime groups.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were rejected in each of the last four years. \p Dan Jarvis: Between 1 January 2021 and 1 January 2025, one application for a project licence under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 was refused.

The Government publishes extensive guidance for the regulated sector on applying for project licences. Applications are internally reviewed by an establishment’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body before being submitted to the regulator for assessment. Home Office Inspectors in the Regulator will only review applications from establishments that fulfil all requirements of the legislation.

Applications received by the regulator may be returned to the applicant for clarification and/or amendment before being re-assessed. Applicants may also amend or withdraw an application in response to feedback from the regulator.

The structuring of the application process means that the number of applications refused is not an indicator of the robustness of the regulatory regime.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were returned to the applicant with a request for additional information to address (a) errors and (b) the absence of essential information in each of the last four years. \p Dan Jarvis: The Regulator reports that project licence applications for the last four years had a mean number of 2.55 iterations before granting. The Regulator does not collect data on the number of applications withdrawn, but reports that such occurrences are rare.

The Home Office Regulator for animals in science provides comprehensive guidance to project licence applicants and has a thorough and extensive application process; see Guidance at:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6700017e080bdf716392ee63/Guidance_on_the_operation_of_ASPA_-_December_2023.pdf

Applicants may not apply for a licence unless they are doing so under an Establishment licence with all the associated requirements of the legislation, have demonstrable funding and can demonstrate appropriate availability of resources as well as having been through a rigorous process of local checks and balances. First time applications to the Regulator are therefore of general high conformity with legal requirements.
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Robert Jenrick:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been (a) prosecuted and (b) sentenced for a sex offence in their absence in the last 10 years. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions and sentences for sexual and grooming related offences at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, which can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: June 2024.

Data held centrally does not include if the defendant is prosecuted or sentenced in their absence. This information may be held in the court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.

Furthermore, information on whether defendants dealt with are part of ‘grooming gangs’ is not centrally identified in the criminal courts data systems relevant to this question. Therefore, it is not possible to provide the specific information requested.
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Robert Jenrick:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average cost is of a transcript for a (a) court and (b) tribunal hearing. \p Sarah Sackman: HMCTS contracts with external suppliers to provide court transcripts. Management information from these suppliers for the period January to December 2024 was extracted as follows:

Court and tribunal hearings differ significantly in length (from hearings that last less than a day to trials that can last several weeks or months) and transcript costs are in proportion to the volume of audio that must be transcribed and checked on a case-by-case basis. The cost may also vary depending on whether the transcript is new of a copy and the speed of delivery requested.

While costs of shorter hearings may be lower, transcripts of full hearings or trials can incur charges of £25,000 or more. Therefore, the average cost calculated above using supplier data is not reflective of the full range of court and tribunal hearings.

We continue to monitor how AI develops and how it could be used to provide access to court transcripts in future, however, it is important that court transcripts have an extremely high accuracy rate.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of legal aid for irregular migrants in 2024. \p Sarah Sackman: Expenditure data for irregular migrants across all legal aid schemes is not held centrally.

Where proceedings are before a court or tribunal in England or Wales, legal aid is available to individuals who qualify for services irrespective of their immigration status.

The Legal Aid Agency publishes information about case volumes and expenditure data for the immigration and asylum category as part of its official statistics. Please see tables 5.2-5.3 for volume an expenditure data for Legal Help and Controlled Legal Representation – this covers advice and representation before the Immigration Tribunal. Tables 6.1-6.10 set out volume and expenditure date for Civil Representation – this covers representation before the county courts and higher courts including High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
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Mrs Elsie Blundell:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she has taken to reduce the amount of time taken for cases related to perpetrators of domestic abuse to reach court in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) Rochdale Borough. \p Sarah Sackman: Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and our manifesto included the mission to halve levels of these crimes in a decade.

Most domestic abuse cases are heard in magistrates’ courts, where cases move more swiftly than at the Crown Court. The average number of days from charge to completion was 67 days in Q3 2024. However, we recognise that some cases are taking longer to work through the system. This financial year, we have funded 108,500 sitting days at the Crown Court, the highest level in almost 10 years (since FY15/16). The Lord Chancellor has also commissioned an independent review of the Criminal Courts, led by Sir Brian Leveson, which will consider how the criminal courts could operate as efficiently as possible to deliver swifter justice for all victims, including victims of domestic abuse.

We are also working to improve protection for victims. Greater Manchester was one of the first areas in England and Wales to offer greater protection for victims of domestic abuse, through our Domestic Abuse Protection Order pilot, launched last November.

At the national level, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and National Police Chiefs’ Council are working together to transform how cases are investigated and prosecuted. Their Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan, launched last November, is grounded in the recognition that better communication between police and CPS, throughout the life of a case, improves outcomes for victims.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were armed forces veterans on 24 February 2025. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The most recent available data for the veterans prison population is from the 2024 edition of our annual publication on “Ex-service personnel in the prison population”, which is taken from a snapshot of the prison population on 30 June 2024. Any request for information ahead of this would give an indication of data scheduled for future publication, and so we are not able to provide the figures for 24 February 2025 at this time.

As per our 2024 publication, an estimated 3.6% of the prison population declared that they had served in the armed forces (based on 1,810 out of 50,700 prisoners who provided a response to that question at point of reception into prison). The publication can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67218d8d3aa14203d06ef453/Ex-service_personnel_in_the_prison_population_2024.pdf
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Afghans there are within the prison population. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the prison population as part of its Offender Management Statistics Quarterly. The requested data (based on the prison population as at 31 December 2024; latest available published data) can be found at Table 1_Q_12 in the attached link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6799631cd4f0d327e77071ae/prison-population-31-Dec-2024.ods

Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced. Where appropriate, the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. 23% more foreign national offenders were removed during the period July 2024 to January 2025 compared with the equivalent period in 2023-24.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that prisoners are not at risk of harm or violence while serving their sentences. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: Safety in prisons is a key priority and we are working hard to make prisons as safe as possible for those who live and work in them.

Safe prisons are vital to enable prisoners to engage in rehabilitative activities that reduce reoffending.

We are supporting prisons to effectively manage individuals who are violent or at risk of self-harm or suicide and providing prison officers with the right tools to do their jobs.

Prisons have a range of physical security measures to counter the smuggling of contraband such as drugs, mobile phones and weapons – that drive prison violence and undermine safety. We have rolled out over 13,000 Body Worn Video Cameras across adult public sector prisons which means that every Band 3-5 officer has access to a camera whilst on shift.

All new members of staff with prisoner contact receive training on suicide and self-harm prevention, and violence reduction. In addition, a violence reduction, and a gangs and harmful group behaviour training module are available to help staff better understand the drivers of violence and how to mitigate and manage these risks. All staff who undertake key roles relating to risk assessment and case management for those at a raised risk of suicide and self-harm or of being violent also receive specific training relating to these roles.
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Robert Jenrick:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what her planned timetable is for ending the standard determinate sentence (SDS40) release scheme. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: This Government has committed to reviewing the scheme after 18 months of implementation.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to improve working conditions for prison officers. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: Prison officers work in difficult environments every day, with some of the most challenging people in our society and we recognise their critical importance in keeping the public safe. We strive to ensure that they work in safe and decent conditions.

To protect staff from serious assaults, PAVA, a synthetic pepper spray, is available for prison officers to use in the adult male estate. Over 13,000 next generation Body Worn Video Cameras are available across public sector prisons, meaning every Band 3-5 officer can wear a camera whilst on shift. This provides high-quality evidence to support prosecutions against those who commit assaults on staff.

We provide extensive mental health support, including a 24-hour helpline, confidential counselling, and online wellbeing services. Our Trauma Risk Management practitioners and Care Teams provide further support following any incidents while on duty. The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers confidential 24/7 telephone helpline for counselling and provides a range of wellbeing and health promotion workshops. We offer a range of services to support staff wellbeing, which include Care Teams and Mental Health Allies, who are trained to provide support and signposting to any member of staff involved in an incident within the prison or when conducting official duties, present in all public sector prisons.

We recognise prison officers deserve a fair reward for their challenging work. That is why one of the first actions of this Government was accepting the independent pay review body recommendations for 2024/2025, delivering a 5% pay rise, raising officers’ starting salaries to over £34,000. We value the work of our recognised Trade Unions in representing the views of their members, and Ministers will continue to engage with them to improve working conditions going forward.
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Chris Hinchliff:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the Sovereign Grant for the 2026-27 financial year. \p Darren Jones: The rules governing the Sovereign Grant have been set by Parliament in the Sovereign Grant Act 2011.

The Grant will be reviewed again in 2026 and the government is committed to bring forward legislation to reset the Grant to a lower level from 2027-28 once Buckingham Palace reservicing works are completed.
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Priti Patel:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with other Cabinet colleagues on the possibility of front-loading payments to Mauritius as part of the proposed UK-Mauritius Treaty on the future sovereignty of the British India Ocean Territory. \p Darren Jones: HMT has been engaged on the financial mandate for negotiations with Mauritius. Any UK-Mauritius agreement, alongside the structure of any associated financial obligations, remains subject to finalisation and signature. As lead departments, the FCDO and the MOD must balance the commitments of any agreement against wider priorities, as per the Managing Public Money Framework.
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John Glen:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2025 to Question 20947 on First Time Buyers: Stamp Duties, what the average stamp duty paid was by people who claimed first time buyers’ relief in the 2023-24 tax year; how many such payments were made in the same period; and what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) value of those payments in the 2025-26 tax year. \p James Murray: In 2023 to 2024, there were 113,100 transactions above the nil-rate band threshold of £250,000 that claimed First-Time Buyers’ Relief (FTBR) in the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) return. These transactions paid an average of £900 in SDLT.

Estimates for 2025 to 2026 for claimants of FTBR and for the average SDLT paid by FTBR claimants are not available.
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Sir Ashley Fox:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there are any requirements for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person in each of (a) their Department's office workplaces and (b) the arm’s length bodies of their Department. \p James Murray: HM Treasury uses office space in multi-department buildings that are managed by the Government Property Agency, who provide a desk/place booking system for staff in each of our offices.

Responsibility for any desk booking sits with each individual arm's length body, rather than HMT.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answers of 19 December 2024 to Questions 19709 and 19710s on Nurseries: Business Rates and Private Education: Business Rates, whether the inclusion of a nursery in an independent school increases the Rateable Value of that school. \p James Murray: Yes. Where part of the independent school setting includes nursery provision within the same occupation, that accommodation will be included within the valuation and therefore form part of the Rateable Value.
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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2024 to Question xx-xxxx-xxxx on Public Houses: Business Rates and Employer Contributions, what methodology her Department used to estimate that the average pub has a rateable value of £16,800; and how this relates to special category codes used by the Valuation Office Agency. \p James Murray: The Transforming Business Rates consultation notes that the average pub has a rateable value (RV) of £16,800. This is based on the median RV of properties under special category 226: "Public Houses/Pub Restaurants" on the 2023 compiled rating list.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to introduce measures to protect access to essential banking services in rural areas. \p Emma Reynolds: The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities, high streets and rural areas 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, which will provide local residents and businesses up and down the country with critical cash and banking services. Over 200 banking hubs have been announced so far, including two in North Cornwall, and over 100 are already open.

Banking has changed significantly in recent years with many customers benefitting from the ease and convenience of remote banking. While branch closures are commercial decisions for banks and building societies, FCA guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. This seeks to ensure that branch closures are implemented in a way that treats customers fairly.

Alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking and via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has plans to make changes to its policy on sending remittances to Ukraine. \p Emma Reynolds: There are no plans to change the policy on remittances to Ukraine. How remittances are sent to Ukraine is determined by individual UK banks.

We appreciate the hardships citizens face as a result of the ongoing conflict and note that increasing financial regulation from the National Bank of Ukraine has made it difficult to provide remittances to the people of Ukraine, including via UK banks.

The UK reaffirms its unwavering support to Ukraine for as long as it takes. We are facing a once in a generation moment for the collective security of Europe. Securing a lasting peace in Ukraine that safeguards its sovereignty for the long-term is essential if we are to deter Russia from further aggression in the future. Ukraine is paying the ultimate price in Russia’s illegal invasion – with the lives of its citizens – to defend the values and freedoms we hold dear.

The UK has committed £12.8bn in military, humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine since February 2022. The UK will continue to honour the PM’s commitment on 10 July 2024 which provides Ukraine with £3bn of military support per annum until 2030/31 or for as long as needed.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has plans to improve the process for sending remittances to Ukraine. \p Emma Reynolds: His Majesty’s Government has no legislation which blocks the process for sending remittances to Ukraine. How remittances are sent to Ukraine is determined by individual UK banks.

We appreciate the hardships citizens face as a result of the ongoing conflict and note that increasing financial regulation from the National Bank of Ukraine has made it difficult to provide remittances to the people of Ukraine, including via UK banks.

The UK continues to reaffirm its unwavering support to Ukraine. The UK has committed £12.8bn in military, humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine since February 2022. The UK will continue to honour the PM’s commitment on 10 July 2024 which provides Ukraine with £3bn of military support per annum until 2030/31 or for as long as needed.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 30044 on Individual Savings Accounts: Children, if she will change the rules on eligibility for ISAs to permit grandparents to take out ISAs for grandchildren with the consent of parents or guardians. \p Emma Reynolds: To ensure that the ISA regime remains simple and sustainable, placing a restriction on who can open and manage a Junior Individual Savings Account (JISA) prevents more than one JISA of each type (cash or stocks and shares) being opened in error and ensures that there is a single point of contact for the giving of instructions. Given the nature of the role, the ISA rules require this to be someone with parental responsibility for the child. A grandparent who does not have parental responsibility is therefore unable to open or manage a Junior ISA on behalf of their grandchild.

While parents or legal guardians must open a JISA on behalf of their children, grandparents can then add funds to the account, up to the value of £9,000 a year.

As with all aspects of the tax system, the Government keeps the JISA policy under review. Any decisions on future changes will be taken by the Chancellor in the context of the wider fiscal and economic position.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has plans to review the regulatory framework for the qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme including the role of the Financial Conduct Authority. \p Emma Reynolds: A qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme (QROPS) is the name for any pension scheme located outside the UK which meets the criteria to receive transfers of UK tax relieved pension savings. Where the overseas pension scheme has broadly similar tax characteristics to a UK registered pension scheme. QROPS are pension schemes, not products.

Although QROPS can receive UK tax relieved pension savings, this does not mean that the UK has a right to regulate pension schemes in other countries. However, those overseas schemes are required to be regulated by a pensions regulator in the overseas country where they are established in order for them to receive UK tax relieved pensions. HMRC does not impose restrictions on assets a QROPS can invest in that is for the overseas regulator.

There are no plans to make HMRC, or the Pensions Regulator (TPR), or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), regulate QROPS. That would not be appropriate because the UK does not have jurisdiction over overseas pension schemes. HMRC’s primary role is to protect UK tax relief that have been given. HMRC can remove the QROPS status from pension schemes when it is not appropriate for the scheme to continue to be able to receive UK tax relieved pension savings. There are also no plans to introduce an investigation unit into QROPS or review the regulatory framework.

In the UK individuals are free to transfer their pension savings but must get financial advice for larger amounts. The QROPS rules allow individuals to move abroad to live or work to take their pension savings with them. HMRC makes clear that individuals should seek suitable professional advice, including from a regulated financial adviser, when transferring pension savings to a QROPS. A transfer to a QROPS is covered by the requirement to take regulated financial advice if transferring more than £30,000 from a Defined Benefit scheme.

Additionally, pension scheme administrators are responsible for carrying out due diligence on transfers to other pension schemes. They are also responsible for complying with the requirements of TPR and the FCA.

HMRC, TPR and the FCA are part of the Pension Scams Action Group (PSAG) - a multi-agency taskforce of law enforcement, Government and industry working together to tackle pension fraud.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Dave Doogan:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which minister is responsible for overseeing progression of The Payment Services (Contract Terminations Amendment) Regulations 2024. \p Emma Reynolds: I am the minister responsible for the progression of this policy.

The Government is preparing to lay these regulations in Parliament in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Harriet Cross:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to the Energy Profits Levy on inward investment in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf. \p James Murray: At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government confirmed that from 1 November 2024, the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) rate would increase by 3 percentage points to 38%, the EPL investment allowance would be abolished and the EPL decarbonisation allowance rate would be adjusted to 66%. The duration of the levy was extended from 31 March 2029 until 31 March 2030. To support jobs in future and existing industries, including in the supply chain, the Government also decided to make no additional changes to the availability of capital allowances in the EPL. In addition, to support long-term stability and predictability in the oil and gas fiscal regime, the Government has committed to publish a consultation this year on how taxation of oil and gas profits will respond to price shocks after the EPL ends.

The Government has carefully considered the impact of the Autumn Budget changes to the EPL. Treasury publishes impacts in summary form for tax measures in tax information and impact notes (TIINs) alongside the Finance Bill. The summary of impacts from the EPL changes can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-profits-levy-reforms-2024
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Edward Morello:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions her Department has had with farming representatives on the potential impact of the Furnished Holiday Lettings tax scheme on farmers who have diversified into holiday accommodations. \p James Murray: The Government will abolish the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHLs) tax regime from April 2025. This will equalise the tax treatment of FHL and non-FHL landlords’ income and gains.

Draft legislation to abolish the FHL tax regime was published on 29 July 2024, providing farming representatives and other businesses with an opportunity to share their views on the legislation with the Government.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Charlotte Nichols:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of removing VAT for all school uniform sold to primary school-aged children irrespective of whether it is labelled for children under 14. \p James Murray: No VAT is charged on the sale of children’s clothing and footwear designed for children who are less than 14 years of age. This means that school uniform for primary-school aged children is already free from VAT, provided it falls within the tabled measurements of children up to the eve of their 14th birthday, as this is when body dimensions begin to merge with those of the general adult population. The UK is one of only two countries among the 37 OECD member countries to maintain a VAT relief for children’s clothing.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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James Naish:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of making private care costs tax deductible. \p James Murray: The Government keeps all tax reliefs under review. When considering a tax relief for private care costs, a range of factors must be taken into account, including how effective the relief would be at achieving its policy intent, how well-targeted the support would be, whether it adds complexity to the tax system, and overall cost.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Richard Fuller:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) inheritance tax payments on Defined Contribution pensions and (b) the loss of the Residence Nil Rate Band on marginal tax rates. \p James Murray: The Government considers inheritance tax policy carefully and has due regard to several factors, including marginal inheritance tax rates.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Jade Botterill:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to help ensure value for money in public spending. \p Darren Jones: At Autumn Budget, we launched the Office for Value for Money to realise benefits from every pound of public spending. The Chair of the Office for Value for Money will advise the Chancellor and I on decisions for the Spending Review. This will include an assessment of how to root out waste and inefficiency, value for money studies in high‑risk areas of cross‑departmental spending, and scrutiny of investment proposals to ensure they offer value for money.

At launch of Phase 2 of the Spending Review, I asked each department to carry out a line-by-line review of existing day-to-day budgets, last undertaken 17 years ago, to identify where spending is no longer aligned with this government’s priorities or is poor value for money.

Building on the 2% productivity, efficiency, and savings target the government set departments in Phase 1 of the Spending Review, departments are expected to identify a minimum of 5% savings and efficiencies against their current budgets freeing up funding to achieve the government’s priorities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress she has made in (a) identifying and (b) reducing inefficiencies within her Department. \p Darren Jones: HM Treasury has, and continues to, take forward considerable work in identifying and actioning efficiencies in the departmental group. This includes adopting the Government Efficiency Framework, regularly reviewing productivity and efficiency measures to remove inefficiencies on an ongoing basis. Furthermore, HM Treasury is, as required by Spending Review 2025, doing detailed work to identify the efficiencies and savings required by the cross-government process.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-27)

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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to ensure (a) part time and (b) lower earning employees that are exempt from employer National Insurance contributions remain so once the proposed changes to employer National Insurance have been implemented. \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 a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances.

The Government is protecting the lowest paid by increasing the National Living Wage. This limits the ability of employers to pass on increases in costs to those on lower pay. The Government has also introduced important protections for workers as part of the Plan to Make Work Pay.