Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Secretary of State for Transport's Oral Statement of 24 March 2025 on Road Maintenance, whether she has made an estimate of the Barnett consequential funding for Wales of the additional £500 million highway maintenance funding.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
At Phase 1 of the 2025 Spending Review, an additional £500 million was allocated to the Department for Transport to fund local highways maintenance in 2025-26. The Barnett formula was applied in the usual way to changes in the Department for Transport’s Delegated Expenditure Limit (DEL) budget.
At Spending Reviews, the Barnett formula is applied to changes to each UK Government department’s overall DEL budget, rather than to individual programmes.
The Welsh Government’s Spending Review settlement for 2025-26 is the largest in real terms of any Welsh Government settlement since devolution. The Welsh Government is receiving at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in England. That translates into over £4 billion more in 2025-26 and includes £1.7 billion through the operation of the Barnett formula.
The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24. The most recent report was published in July 2023. An update to Block Grant Transparency to include Autumn Budget 2024 changes will be published in due course:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2023
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will bring forward proposals for a furlough scheme for parents of chronically ill children.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government recognises the important role parents and carers play in looking after disabled people and people with health conditions, including chronically ill children. Significant support is available to support disabled people and their families and carers, such as Disability Living Allowance for children worth up to £184.30 per week, and Carer’s Allowance worth up to £81.90 per week.
This Government is going further to give carers greater flexibility to work and increase their financial security by raising the Carer’s Allowance Weekly Earnings Limit to the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Living Wage from 6th April 2025. This will be the largest increase to the earnings limit since Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976.
We are also strengthening the right to request flexible working arrangements through the Employment Rights Bill, enabling parents and carers to better balance work around their caring commitments.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure (a) that the rollout of digital quarterly submissions for tax returns under MTD for ITSA does not lead to penalties for non-compliance and increased stress for vulnerable groups who do not have the digital skills or digital access to meet the new requirements and (b) that measures are in place for people without digital access or digital skills to continue to submit manual books where necessary.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is designed to make it easier for users to get their tax right and keep on top of their affairs. Taxpayers will use software to keep digital records and send simple quarterly updates to HMRC; in turn, this will help to finalise their Income Tax position after the year end.
A new fairer penalty regime will also be introduced to support taxpayers submitting more frequent updates under MTD. They will not be penalised for occasionally missing a deadline. Instead, they will receive a penalty point towards a points threshold. They will only receive a financial penalty once that threshold is met.
The government recognises that not everyone is able to interact with HMRC digitally. Digitally excluded taxpayers will be able to apply for an exemption from MTD and will continue to file using existing processes. HMRC will set out further information on the exemption process when it opens later in 2025.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) raising the annual capital borrowing cap for the Welsh Government and (b) introducing a mechanism where it rises with inflation.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
We remain committed to working in partnership with the Welsh Government to ensure the Fiscal Framework continues to deliver value for money while upholding our shared commitment to fiscal responsibility. Discussions regarding the Welsh Government’s request to amend the budget management tools outlined in the Framework are ongoing.
As set out in the Welsh Government Fiscal Framework agreed in 2016, a full review is triggered if the Welsh Government’s relative funding falls below 115% of equivalent UK Government spending per head in the rest of the UK.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to employer National Insurance contributions on levels of unemployment.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which takes into account tax measures announced in the Budget, expects the unemployment rate will fall to 4.1% next year and remain low until 2029.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to work with the (a) CLA, (b) NFU, (c) FUW and (d) other industry bodies to protect working farms in the context of the proposed changes to APR and BPR.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As the Minister responsible for the UK tax system, I have participated in several meetings with agricultural organisations since Autumn Budget 2024 to listen to their views. Most recently, the Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs and I met with representatives from various agricultural organisations, including all those highlighted, on 18 February 2025.
As the Government has outlined, the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to ensure the accessibility of touch screens for (a) card payment machines and (b) other services for people with visual impairments.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The government is committed to ensuring high standards of financial inclusion across the financial services sector.
The Treasury continues to engage with UK Finance, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and other Government departments on the issue of accessibility of card payment terminals.
UK Finance, the leading trade association for the banking sector, maintains voluntary standards to help ensure point-of-sale technology remains accessible for those who are visually impaired. UK Finance will soon be assessing potential initiatives to drive improvements and adoption. The Government continues to closely monitor progress in this important area.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2024 to Question 210 on Development Aid, what fiscal circumstances are required for the restoration of the Official Development Assistance budget to 0.7% of gross national income.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Government remains committed to international development and restoring Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending to the level of 0.7 percent of GNI as soon as the fiscal circumstances allow. The ODA fiscal tests determine that a return to 0.7 percent of GNI is possible when the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s fiscal forecast confirms that, on a sustainable basis, we are not borrowing for day-to-day spending and underlying debt is falling. Each year, the Government will review and confirm, in accordance with the International Development (ODA Target) Act 2015, whether a return to spending 0.7% GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecast. In the meantime, the UK remains one of the most generous donors of development assistance amongst the G7.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of how many farms in Wales will be affected by the changes to agricultural property relief in each of the next five years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms, and further explanatory information at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief. Around 500 estates across the UK are expected to be affected each year from 2026-27.
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses in Wales will benefit from changes to employment allowance.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Estimates of the number of businesses in Wales that will benefit from changes to the Employment Allowance announced at Autumn Budget 2024 are not available.