Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what provision she has made for the costs associated with the proposed Treaty with Mauritius on the future sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory in her Departmental Budget; and from which Departmental budget will the settlement be paid.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The FCDO and the MOD are the lead departments for this agreement. Any financial obligations, including departmental budgetary responsibilities, will be managed responsibly within the government’s fiscal framework, including through the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the Married Couple's Allowance.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Married Couple’s Allowance allows married couples and civil partners to reduce their tax bill by 10 per cent of the allowance amount, provided that at least one partner was born before 6 April 1935.
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government uprated the Married Couple’s Allowance in line with inflation, as is default policy, so that it is valued to be between £4,280 and £11,080 in 2024-25.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of business rate reform to incentivise retail business investment in (a) Bromsgrove constituency and (b) across the United Kingdom.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century.
At Autumn Budget 2024, we made the first step with the announcement of permanently lower tax rates for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure properties with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026-27.
The Discussion Paper published at Budget sets out priority areas for reform and invites businesses to have a conversation with government about transforming the business rates system over the course of this Parliament, including how to incentivise investment.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to increase the Income Tax Personal Allowance.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze - implemented by the previous Government - on the Personal Allowance. As a result, the Personal Allowance will rise with inflation from April 2028.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes made to the level of employer National Insurance contributions at the Autumn Budget 2024 on hospitality businesses in Bromsgrove.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
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, and civil society organisations as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
Estimates of the impact on businesses in Bromsgrove from changes to Employer NICs announced at Autumn Budget 2024 are not available.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to change the historic vehicle tax exemption threshold to 30 years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At Budget 2014 the previous Government announced that it would introduce a rolling 40-year VED exemption for classic cars. This means that currently vehicles constructed before 1 January 1984 are exempt from paying VED.
The law does not specifically define a vehicle as historic or classic for registration purposes, and it is widely recognised that there are many factors other than age which influence whether a car is considered as classic. The previous Government therefore set 40 years as being a fair cut-off date to distinguish classic cars from older cars.
While there are no plans to reduce the tax exemption age for classic cars from 40 years, the Government keeps all taxes under review, and welcomes representations from the public about how the tax system could be improved.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of retail businesses operating as a front for money laundering.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The 2020 National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing found that cash-based money laundering risks remain high, often involving cash-intensive businesses such as retail used to mask criminal sources of wealth.
The Treasury collaborates closely with law enforcement to track criminal trends and allocate resources to address the most significant threats. An updated National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, covering cash-based money laundering risks, will be published later this year.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she made of the potential impact of increases in employer National Insurance contributions on charities prior the the announcement of the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In order to repair the public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the Government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance.
HMRC has published a Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the impact of employer NICs changes.
The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to Employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all next year; more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package, and all eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.
More broadly, within the tax system, we provide support to charities through a range of reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs for charitable giving, with more than £6 billion in charitable reliefs provided to charities, CASCs and their donors in 2023 to 2024.