Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the £1.8 billion allocated in the National Wealth Fund for the upgrade of port infrastructure and supply chain facilities will be open for applications.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The National Wealth Fund has financial capacity totaling £27.8 billion, of which at least £5.8 billion will be committed over this Parliament to the five priority sectors that the Chancellor announced at the International Investment Summit, including ports.
There are no unique or additional criteria for accessing this funding as it will be deployed in line with the National Wealth Fund’s standard approach, an overview of which can be found here: https://www.nationalwealthfund.org.uk/how-we-invest-principles-and-approach.
This capital is available now - and will be targeted into investable projects that meet the National Wealth Fund’s investment criteria and mandate – driving growth, clean energy and creating the jobs of the future.
Anyone with a potentially investable project can contact the National Wealth Fund via its website.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how companies can access the £1.8 billion allocated in the National Wealth Fund for the upgrade of port infrastructure and supply chain facilities.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The National Wealth Fund has financial capacity totaling £27.8 billion, of which at least £5.8 billion will be committed over this Parliament to the five priority sectors that the Chancellor announced at the International Investment Summit, including ports.
There are no unique or additional criteria for accessing this funding as it will be deployed in line with the National Wealth Fund’s standard approach, an overview of which can be found here: https://www.nationalwealthfund.org.uk/how-we-invest-principles-and-approach.
This capital is available now - and will be targeted into investable projects that meet the National Wealth Fund’s investment criteria and mandate – driving growth, clean energy and creating the jobs of the future.
Anyone with a potentially investable project can contact the National Wealth Fund via its website.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent analysis her Department has undertaken on the regional distribution of revenues from the abolition of the Furnished Holiday Lettings tax regime; and what proportion of this revenue is expected to be raised in Scotland.’
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government will abolish the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) tax regime from April 2025.
The abolition of the FHL regime will raise £190m by 2029-30, which will help support public services across the United Kingdom, including in Scotland.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has issued new impact assessments on (a) Agricultural Property Relief and (b) Business Property Relief since Autumn Budget 2024; what schedule her Department has for publishing future impact assessments; and what data sources her Department used to determine the estimate of 2,000 affected estates per year.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government believes its 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.
Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. However, the reforms are expected to result in up to 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those also claiming business property relief, in 2026-27 paying more inheritance tax. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data.
The Government has also set out that around 1,500 estates across the UK only claiming business property relief are expected to be affected in 2026-27, with around 1,000 of these expected to only hold shares designated as “not listed” on the markets of recognised stock exchanges, such as the Alternative Investment Market. The remaining 500 estates will include business assets from sectors across the economy that are eligible for business property relief. Around three-quarters of estates claiming business property relief in 2026-27 (excluding those only relating to holding shares designated as “not listed”) will not pay any more inheritance tax in 2026-27.
The tax base consists of all estates subject to inheritance tax that are projected to claim agricultural property relief or business property relief across the scorecard period. The tax base is estimated using HMRC administrative data, and is grown over the forecast in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast for inheritance tax receipts. More detail on the Government’s estimates, including why these projections should be viewed as a maximum, are also available in a letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee in November 2024, which is available at committees.parliament.uk/publications/45691/documents/226235/default/.
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: 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 changes to (a) Agricultural Property Relief and (b) Business Property Relief on trends in (a) employment levels, (b) business succession arrangements and (c) gross value added in (i) Scotland and (ii) the United Kingdom.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government believes its 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.
Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. However, the reforms are expected to result in up to 520 estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those also claiming business property relief, in 2026-27 paying more inheritance tax. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data.
The Government has also set out that around 1,500 estates across the UK only claiming business property relief are expected to be affected in 2026-27, with around 1,000 of these expected to only hold shares designated as “not listed” on the markets of recognised stock exchanges, such as the Alternative Investment Market. The remaining 500 estates will include business assets from sectors across the economy that are eligible for business property relief. Around three-quarters of estates claiming business property relief in 2026-27 (excluding those only relating to holding shares designated as “not listed”) will not pay any more inheritance tax in 2026-27.
The tax base consists of all estates subject to inheritance tax that are projected to claim agricultural property relief or business property relief across the scorecard period. The tax base is estimated using HMRC administrative data, and is grown over the forecast in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast for inheritance tax receipts. More detail on the Government’s estimates, including why these projections should be viewed as a maximum, are also available in a letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee in November 2024, which is available at committees.parliament.uk/publications/45691/documents/226235/default/.
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: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she plans to take to communicate with people affected by the McCloud remedy to ensure that they are (a) informed of changes to their pensions and (b) provided with regular updates on when they will receive any monies owed.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to improve communications with people affected by the McCloud remedy; and what further steps she plans to take to ensure transparency.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the total cost of implementing the McCloud remedy; and how she plans to fund this.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress she has made on implementing the McCloud remedy since July 2024; and what steps she is taking to ensure (a) full and (b) timely delivery.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).
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 ensure that people impacted by the McCloud remedy receive their entitlements promptly.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).