Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will list all Barnett consequentials that her Department plans to allocate to the Northern Ireland Executive that include additional funding to reflect the public sector cost of increased Employer NIC contributions.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor agreed to provide funding to the public sector to support them with the additional cost associated with changes to employer National Insurance Contributions policy.
The Northern Ireland Executive will receive funding through the Barnett formula for any changes to UK Government department budgets, including on this support, in the usual way at Main Estimates 2025-26. This is the normal operation of the funding arrangements as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.
This funding will be in addition to the Northern Ireland Executive’s record Spending Review settlements for 2025-26, which are the largest in real terms of any settlements since devolution. The Northern Ireland Executive are funded above their independently assessed level of relative need in 2024-25 and 2025-26 when including funding from the 2024 restoration financial package.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Barnet consequentials for Northern Ireland will be in relation to the Local Government Finance Settlement.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have announced final allocations for the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26. Part of this funding comes from Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) agreed at the Phase 1 of the Spending Review 2025.
The Barnett formula applies to all increases or decreases to UK Government department DEL, including at the Spending Review, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.
The Barnett formula does not apply to spending financed by council tax.
The Northern Ireland Executive’s Spending Review settlement for 2025-26 is the largest in real terms of any settlements since devolution. It is for the Northern Ireland Executive to allocate their funding in devolved areas as they see fit.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will have discussions with (a) HMRC, (b) the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, (c) the Secretary of State for Transport, (d) Transport Scotland and (e) the Welsh Government on people excluded from the Cycle to Work Scheme.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Cycle to Work scheme is a benefit-in-kind provided by employers to their employees. A benefit-in-kind is a form of non-cash remuneration provided by employers to their employees. Income tax and National Insurance contribution relief is provided on the scheme to both employers and their employees via salary sacrifice arrangements. The scheme is accessed via salary sacrifice, meaning that those not in employment are not able to access the scheme.
Employees earning at or near the National Minimum Wage (NMW) cannot access salary sacrifice if the arrangement will take their contractual salary below the relevant NMW rate. The Government is not currently considering changing the NMW legislation to apply to an employee’s salary after deductions have been made for salary sacrifice. Although employees on or near the NMW cannot access the tax deduction on the price of a bike via salary sacrifice, they can still lease a bike from their employer and repay the value of the bike from their net pay over many months, interest-free.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to revise the upper purchase price on help to buy ISAs in line with the housing market.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
This Government is committed to helping first time buyers own their own home, and will do this by building 1.5 million more homes.
The Government keeps savings policy under review, any changes of this kind would be made at a relevant fiscal event.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress she is making on returning the level of the aid budget to 0.7% of gross national income.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Government remains committed to restoring Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending to 0.7% of GNI as soon as fiscal circumstances allow, but this isn’t currently affordable. The OBR’s latest forecast shows that the ODA fiscal tests are not due to be met within the Parliament. The Government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely, and each year will review and confirm, in accordance with the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, whether a return to spending 0.7% GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecast.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of eligible households in Belfast South and Mid Down constituency are availing of the Tax Free Childcare scheme.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Data on Tax-Free Childcare users for 2024 parliamentary constituencies will not be published until May 2025. However, the number of families who used Tax-Free Childcare in 2023/24 in the three former constituencies that predominantly make up Belfast South and Mid Down was as follows:
Belfast South - 1435
Lagan Valley - 1580
Strangford - 930
This data was published in table 11 of the Tax-Free Childcare Official Statistics in August 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-free-childcare-statistics-june-2024
The number of families eligible for Tax-Free Childcare is not available by parliamentary constituency and so it is not possible to calculate the proportion that are using the scheme.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what Barnett Consequential have been calculated for the Northern Ireland Executive following the recent announcement of additional rates support for (a) retail, (b) hospitality and (c) leisure in the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
As a result of decisions taken at the Autumn Budget, the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) is receiving £18.2 billion in 2025-26, including an additional £1.5 billion Barnett consequentials.
The NIE’s settlement for 2025-26 delivers a real-terms increase and is the largest in real terms of any settlement since devolution. The NIE is funded above its independently assessed relative level of need of 124% in both 2024-25 and 2025-26, including the 2024 restoration financial package.
The Block Grant Transparency publication, which sets out changes to devolved government funding in detail, will shortly be updated with changes made at Autumn Budget 2024. The most recent document was published in July 2023:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2023
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will release funding to enable payment for the Pay Review Body recommendation for a 5.5% pay uplift for health workers in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) is being funded above its independently assessed relative need level of 124% in 2024-25 and 2025-26, including the 2024 restoration financial package. As a result of decisions taken at the Autumn Budget and Phase 1 of the Spending Review, the Northern Ireland Executive is receiving £18.2 billion in 2025-26. This represents the largest real-terms settlement since devolution.
The NIE is responsible for deciding how to allocate their funding across their devolved responsibilities, including the provision of pay awards for health workers.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made a comparative assessment of (a) boarding departments in state schools in England and (b) grant aided schools in Northern Ireland, in the context of the introduction of VAT on independent schools.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent. This will also apply to boarding services provided by private schools.
Boarding at state schools is provided to parents at cost and is closely related to the supply of state education. The government therefore believes it is right that state boarding should continue to be exempt.
To ensure consistency in the VAT treatment of schools across the UK, as set out in the draft legislation published in July, where a school charges for the full-time education of children of compulsory school age and/or full-time education suitable for the requirements of 16-19 year olds, it will be within scope of this policy. All education, vocational training and boarding services provided by schools within scope of this policy will be subject to 20% VAT from January 2025. This is in line with the principles set out in the technical note published in July. The draft legislation and technical note can be found online here:
HM Treasury have been engaging closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to understand how different schools in Northern Ireland will be impacted by this policy.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications for funding from the UK Infrastructure Bank for schemes in Northern Ireland were (a) awarded and (b) rejected.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The National Wealth Fund (NWF), formerly the UK Infrastructure Bank, has committed funding to three transactions that have benefited Northern Ireland (NI) with a total of £71m invested to date. Two of these deals are debt investments in the digital sector, supporting Fibrus and Netomnia, and the other is a guarantee deal for retrofitting social housing with Barclays.
Due to commercial confidentiality, the NWF does not disclose details of deals that were not completed. However, it has a robust process in place to assess the suitability of deal enquires in line with its strategy.
Further details on how NWF assess deals and additionality can be found in their Strategic Plan, and details on deals signed can be found in their Factsheets.