Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has undertaken modelling on the potential impact of a lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax on (a) businesses and (b) individuals.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax purposes. Information on the rules is available at www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer makes tax policy decisions at fiscal events and the Government does not comment on speculation around future changes to tax policy.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of a potential lifetime gift cap on (a) family (i) farm and (ii) business viability between generations, (b) productivity, (c) food security and (d) job numbers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax purposes. Information on the rules is available at www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer makes tax policy decisions at fiscal events and the Government does not comment on speculation around future changes to tax policy.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has considered introducing a lifetime cap on gifts for Inheritance Tax purposes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no lifetime cap on gifts for inheritance tax purposes. Information on the rules is available at www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/gifts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer makes tax policy decisions at fiscal events and the Government does not comment on speculation around future changes to tax policy.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the £8.3 billion allocated to Great British Energy and its nuclear body will be classified separately from defence expenditure in meeting the Government's commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2027.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The £8.3bn allocated to Great British Energy and its nuclear body is not included in the Government's commitment announced in February to spend 2.6% of GDP on NATO qualifying defence expenditure by 2027.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many farms in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland will become liable for inheritance tax based on current agricultural land values from April 2026.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
I refer the Honourable Member to the PQ referenced UIN 32333 published on 3rd March 2025 at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-02-21/32333.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she plans to publish a response to the oil and gas price mechanism consultation, published on 5 March 2025.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The consultation was open for 12 weeks and closed on 28 May.
The government is now analysing stakeholder responses and will publish a summary of those responses in due course.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes to employers' National Insurance contributions on (a) small and mid-sized quoted companies and (b) the (i) staffing costs and (ii) long-term investment decisions made by those companies.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Chancellor and I regularly meet and engage with senior figures from across the financial services sector and have, in recent months, hosted a series of forums, including with small to mid-sized quoted companies, as the government works towards developing the first Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, which forms part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy.
Through the British Business Bank and its programmes, the government is investing over £1 billion into UK small and medium sized companies in 2025-26; these programmes are expected to crowd-in as much from private sector investors. The BBB is also delivering the British Growth Partnership, a novel initiative to crowd-in pension investment in UK VC and innovative companies.
The government is protecting the smallest businesses from changes to Employer NICs by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that in 2025-26, 865,000 employers (43%) will pay no NICs at all, more than half of employers see no change or gain overall from this package and employers can employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to encourage UK investors to invest in small and mid-sized companies.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Chancellor and I regularly meet and engage with senior figures from across the financial services sector and have, in recent months, hosted a series of forums, including with small to mid-sized quoted companies, as the government works towards developing the first Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, which forms part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy.
Through the British Business Bank and its programmes, the government is investing over £1 billion into UK small and medium sized companies in 2025-26; these programmes are expected to crowd-in as much from private sector investors. The BBB is also delivering the British Growth Partnership, a novel initiative to crowd-in pension investment in UK VC and innovative companies.
The government is protecting the smallest businesses from changes to Employer NICs by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that in 2025-26, 865,000 employers (43%) will pay no NICs at all, more than half of employers see no change or gain overall from this package and employers can employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings her Department has had with industry stakeholders on supporting the long-term growth of small and mid-sized quoted companies.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Chancellor and I regularly meet and engage with senior figures from across the financial services sector and have, in recent months, hosted a series of forums, including with small to mid-sized quoted companies, as the government works towards developing the first Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, which forms part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy.
Through the British Business Bank and its programmes, the government is investing over £1 billion into UK small and medium sized companies in 2025-26; these programmes are expected to crowd-in as much from private sector investors. The BBB is also delivering the British Growth Partnership, a novel initiative to crowd-in pension investment in UK VC and innovative companies.
The government is protecting the smallest businesses from changes to Employer NICs by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that in 2025-26, 865,000 employers (43%) will pay no NICs at all, more than half of employers see no change or gain overall from this package and employers can employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to prevent companies from de-listing from the London Stock Exchange.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The government is committed to reinvigorating our capital markets to deliver growth, supporting firms to start, scale, list and stay in the UK.
We have already delivered an ambitious set of reforms including overhauling the Prospectus regime and Listing Rules, providing more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital on UK markets. To create a stable regulatory environment, and complementing these reforms, the government is also establishing a 10-year strategy for financial services, with capital markets as a core pillar.