Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of reducing VAT on cultural ticketing in Grassroots Music Venues.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)

VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK’s third largest tax, forecast to raise £180 billion in 2025/26.

Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support grassroot music venues.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

Grassroots music venues are vital to the UK’s music culture, offering emerging artists a platform, supporting local economies and jobs, and giving thousands the joy of live music up close. We are committed to supporting the sustainability of the entire live music ecosystem and will soon publish a Music Plan, drawing together all that the government is doing to support the music industry.

The Government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan announced our Music Growth Package to strengthen grassroots infrastructure (including grassroots music venues), support emerging artists and music professionals, and boost exports, breaking down barriers to success at home and abroad. In addition, since April every pub and live music venue has received 15% off its new business rates bill on top of the support announced at Budget, and bills will be frozen in real terms for a further two years.

The Government also supports the live music industry’s work to introduce a voluntary £1 contribution on tickets for stadium and arena shows, to help safeguard the future of the grassroots music sector. We welcome steps taken by industry to set up the LIVE Trust to distribute funds from the ticket levy, and commitments made by artists to support grassroots music. The trust has distributed over £500k levy funding to industry programmes and is projected to receive a total of £10m in 2026.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the disparity in support available to people with equivalent mobility needs who develop those needs before reaching State Pension Age and qualify for Personal Independence Payment, compared with those who develop the same needs after reaching State Pension Age and are only eligible for Attendance Allowance.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)

It is normal for social security schemes to contain different provisions for people at different stages of their lives, which reflect varying priorities and circumstances.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants continue to receive the benefit after they reach State Pension age, if they continue to fulfil the eligibility requirements, but claimants cannot establish a new entitlement to the mobility component or receive a higher award of the mobility component if they were receiving the standard rate.

These longstanding rules recognise that changing mobility needs as a pensioner is a common and foreseeable feature of the ageing process. It puts PIP recipients in the same position as someone newly disabled of State Pension age where they are required to claim Attendance Allowance, which does not have a mobility component.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has considered transitional protection arrangements for recipients of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) enhanced mobility component who reach State Pension Age before the implementation of any future reforms, while aligning future pension-age claimants with the Attendance Allowance system.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)

It is normal for social security schemes to contain different provisions for people at different stages of their lives, which reflect varying priorities and circumstances.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants continue to receive the benefit after they reach State Pension age, if they continue to fulfil the eligibility requirements, but claimants cannot establish a new entitlement to the mobility component or receive a higher award of the mobility component if they were receiving the standard rate.

These longstanding rules recognise that changing mobility needs as a pensioner is a common and foreseeable feature of the ageing process. It puts PIP recipients in the same position as someone newly disabled of State Pension age where they are required to claim Attendance Allowance, which does not have a mobility component.

Found: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) Jesse Norman (Conservative; Hereford and South Herefordshire) Jo Platt

Found: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) Jesse Norman (Conservative; Hereford and South Herefordshire) Jo Platt

Found: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) Jesse Norman (Conservative; Hereford and South Herefordshire) Jo Platt

Found: Labour; Croydon East) Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat; Eastleigh) Anneliese Midgley (Labour; Knowsley) Jo Platt

Found: Jo Platt: We did! Q623 Chair: He gets around.

Found: Labour; Croydon East) Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat; Eastleigh) Anneliese Midgley (Labour; Knowsley) Jo Platt

Found: and Lincolnshire Constellia Limited London W1W 5AB Other Committed London Constituency office of Jo Platt

Found: safetyEmployerYorkshire and LincolnshireConstellia LimitedLondonW1W 5ABOtherCommittedLondonConstituency office of Jo Platt