Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what proportion of households will be affected as a result of the abolition of gas standing charges and increase in unit rate in Scotland.
Answered by Polly Billington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Removing the gas standing charge will make energy bills fairer, giving households more control over their bills. This will give around 81% of Scottish households (meaning around 2.1 million households) who use gas heating more control over their bills. (Scottish House Condition Survey, 2024)
The Government has committed to implementing this fairly, including considering how targeted mitigation can help low-income households with unavoidably high gas usage.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the report entitled Impact at the National Wealth Fund: Investing across the nations and regions of the UK, published on 21October 2026, how many National Wealth Fund investments have been approved in each nation since the fund's establishment.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The National Wealth Fund (NWF) has a mandate to invest across the UK, ensuring the benefits of its investments are felt in all four nations. It has dedicated directors based in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support the NWF's view of markets across each nation.
Based on closed and announced transactions up to and including 5 October, the NWF's portfolio comprised 90 investments across the UK, of which 71 investments are expected to impact England, 28 Scotland, 23 Wales and 8 Northern Ireland. Individual investments can impact more than one nation or region and therefore may be represented in more than one of these figures. Across all four regions, the NWF's investments to date are expected to create or support more than 83,000 jobs.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the National Wealth Fund Impact Report 2026, how many jobs have been (a) created and (b) supported by National Wealth Fund investments in each UK nation since the fund's establishment.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The National Wealth Fund (NWF) has a mandate to invest across the UK, ensuring the benefits of its investments are felt in all four nations. It has dedicated directors based in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support the NWF's view of markets across each nation.
Based on closed and announced transactions up to and including 5 October, the NWF's portfolio comprised 90 investments across the UK, of which 71 investments are expected to impact England, 28 Scotland, 23 Wales and 8 Northern Ireland. Individual investments can impact more than one nation or region and therefore may be represented in more than one of these figures. Across all four regions, the NWF's investments to date are expected to create or support more than 83,000 jobs.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the National Wealth Fund Impact Report 2026, what estimate he has made of the amount of public and private finance mobilised in each UK nation since the fund’s establishment.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The NWF has a mandate to invest across the UK, ensuring the benefits of its investments are felt in all four nations. Since its inception in July 2024, the NWF has committed £10.9bn, mobilising £21bn of private finance across the UK. The NWF’s investments include £6.1bn for England, £2.9bn for Scotland, £441m for Wales and £85m for Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the publication entitled Impact at the National Wealth Fund: Investing across the nations and regions of the UK, published on 21 October 2026, how much investment has been committed by the Fund in each nation since the fund's establishment.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The NWF has a mandate to invest across the UK, ensuring the benefits of its investments are felt in all four nations. Since its inception in July 2024, the NWF has committed £10.9bn, mobilising £21bn of private finance across the UK. The NWF’s investments include £6.1bn for England, £2.9bn for Scotland, £441m for Wales and £85m for Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which polling organisations her Department commissioned since 5 July 2024 to present day; and how much her Department has paid to each of those organisations for each service.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
To provide this information would exceed the threshold and incur a disproportionate cost to the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the total value paid by Police Scotland in employer’s National Insurance contributions in the financial year 2025-26.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
HMRC has a statutory duty of confidentiality to protect information held about taxpayers. HMRC's ability to disclose taxpayer information is restricted by the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (CRCA).
The information requested relates to named organisations and is therefore taxpayer information protected by the CRCA. As such, HMRC is unable to disclose the employer National Insurance contributions paid by these organisations.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the total value paid by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in employer’s National Insurance contributions in the financial year 2025-26.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
HMRC has a statutory duty of confidentiality to protect information held about taxpayers. HMRC's ability to disclose taxpayer information is restricted by the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (CRCA).
The information requested relates to named organisations and is therefore taxpayer information protected by the CRCA. As such, HMRC is unable to disclose the employer National Insurance contributions paid by these organisations.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the total value paid by the Scottish Prison Service in employer’s National Insurance contributions in the financial year 2025-26.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
HMRC has a statutory duty of confidentiality to protect information held about taxpayers. HMRC's ability to disclose taxpayer information is restricted by the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (CRCA).
The information requested relates to named organisations and is therefore taxpayer information protected by the CRCA. As such, HMRC is unable to disclose the employer National Insurance contributions paid by these organisations.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment HM Treasury has made on the potential economic impact of the 2024 increase in spirits duty on the Scotch Whisky sector.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Government set out the impacts of changes to alcohol duty announced at Autumn Budgets 2024 and 2025 in Tax Information and Impact Notes (TIINs). They can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-the-rates-of-alcohol-duty/alcohol-duty-uprating and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-duty-rates-change/alcohol-duty-uprating.