Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
We are carefully considering the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy programme in the context of the new Government’s trade objectives. We will update the house in due course on the programme’s future.
The requested information is in the table below. The data presentation is consistent with PQ HL3608 that was tabled in November 2022.
| 1996-97 | 2009-10 | 2024-25 |
(1) National insurance-funded pensions (£billion) (1) | 32.0 | 66.8 | 136.4 |
as a percentage of Total Managed Expenditure | 9.75% | 9.28% | 10.56% |
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(2) UK Health Expenditure (£billion) (2) | 42.8 | 116.9 | 242.5 |
as a percentage of Total Managed Expenditure | 13.04% | 16.23% | 18.77% |
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Total Managed Expenditure (£billion) (3) | 328.2 | 720.3 | 1,291.8 |
Data Sources:
(1) Figures taken from benefit expenditure and caseload tables published by the Department of Work and Pensions. Figures for National insurance-funded pensions are in line with data provided in a similar PQ from November 2022.
(2) Data from 2009-10 onwards taken from Table 10 of the Public Spending Statistics (PSS) release of February 2026. Data for 1996-97 are taken from Table 4.2 of PESA 2020.
(3) Data originally published by the Office for National Statistics consistent with the February 2026 PSS release from HM Treasury.
The government is undertaking a range of activities to ensure those needing to use Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax from April 2026 are ready and able to do so successfully.
This includes media campaigns, awareness letters, developing guidance, and working with the software industry to ensure a broad range of MTD‑compatible products is available, including free options.
MTD quarterly updates are not like making a tax return each quarter. Software will manage much of the process, creating simple summaries of income and expenses from the taxpayer’s digital records ready for submission.
Information provided within the quarterly updates will be carried forward to the tax return, helping to reduce errors and make the end of year process faster and easier.