Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will withdraw the planned changes to (a) Agricultural Property Relief and (b) Business Property Relief.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM 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, fixing the public finances, and funding public services. 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. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will commit not to introduce any new taxes which increase the cost of doing business.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget on 26 November, the government will continue to deliver on the priorities of the British people: cutting NHS waiting lists, cutting the national debt and cutting the cost of living. There will be no return to austerity and we will end the unfairness and low growth that squeezes living standards for working people: that is the path to national renewal.
The Chancellor’s decisions on tax will be announced in the usual way at the Budget.
I do note that the 2023 budget under the Conservative government increased corporation tax on businesses from 19% to 25%.
We do not comment on tax speculation ahead of fiscal events.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will lower business rates for (a) high street businesses, (b) businesses without a physical storefront on a street and (c) other small and medium sized businesses.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century.
As set out at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government will introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with ratable values (RVs) below £500,000 from 2026/27. This permanent tax cut will ensure they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. The Government is sustainably funding this by introducing a higher tax rate on properties with RVs of £500,000 and above.
The final design, including the rates, for the new business rates multipliers will be announced at Budget 2025, so that the Government can factor the revaluation outcomes and broader economic and fiscal context into decision-making. When the new multipliers are set, HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.
The Transforming Business Rates: Interim Report, published on 11 September, sets out the Government’s next steps to deliver a fairer business rates system. The Government is exploring enhancing Small Business Rates Relief to more effectively support investment and expansion among small businesses.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps with the Royal Household to establish an inventory of (a) publicly and (b) privately owned items in royal residences.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Royal Collection Trust is responsible for the care and conservation of the Royal Collection and there is already a publicly available inventory of object records held by the Royal Collection Trust on the rct.uk website.
Separately, the Royal Household maintains fixed asset registers, which are audited annually by the National Audit Office, for items funded by the Sovereign Grant.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will have discussions with the Royal Household on (a) publishing data and (b) promoting access to published data on Royal Household finances to ensure (i) accessibility and (ii) transparency for the public.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The rules governing the Sovereign Grant were set by Parliament in the Sovereign Grant Act 2011. No member of the Royal family receives a private income from the Sovereign Grant or any other public funds.
The Sovereign Grant accounts are audited by the National Audit Office and laid before Parliament every year. Those accounts are also published on the official website of the Royal Family, along with other information regarding the finances of the Royal Household, and are available here: https://www.royal.uk/royal-finances.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to encourage communities to purchase public houses through the tax system.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government recognises the important role that pubs play in supporting high streets and local communities.
At the Autumn Budget the Chancellor introduced a range of measures that support pubs. These included doubling the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means more than half of businesses with NICs liabilities will either gain or will see no change this year.
The Chancellor also cut alcohol duty on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This represents an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year and is equivalent to a 1p duty reduction on a typical pint. This reduction increased the relief available on draught products to 13.9%.
We intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality & leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values under £500,000, including those on the high street, from April 2026.
During the interim period, for 2025-26, RHL businesses will receive a 40 per cent relief on their business rates up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and the tax multiplier applied to small properties will be frozen. RHL relief was due to end entirely in April 2025. By extending it, the Government has saved the average pub, with a ratable value of £16,800, over £3,300.
There are no current plans to introduce a tax measure to support communities purchasing public houses, but the Government keeps all areas of the tax system under review. Any changes to the tax system are announced as part of the annual Budget process.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that officials in her Department are adequately trained on potential economic statecraft mechanisms that could be deployed against the UK.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government possesses a range of diplomatic, economic, trade and other tools to respond to economic statecraft mechanisms if they are deployed against the UK. We work with the G7 and a range of other close partners to strengthen our joint resilience in ways that uphold the rules-based international economic system.
The UK Government continues to invest in training and capability building for officials in His Majesty’s Treasury to ensure economic security preparedness, including via the College for National Security. The Integrated Security Fund's Economic Deterrence Initiative has funded training and tailored analysis to improve economic security resilience and preparedness across HM Treasury.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing Business Rates relief to nurseries.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The early years system has a central role to play in driving economic growth and breaking down barriers to opportunity, which is why the Government wants to make childcare more affordable and accessible.
At the Budget in October, the Government committed to increasing spending on early years and family services to over £8 billion in 2025-26. This includes an additional £1.8 billion which will be paid to early years providers to continue the expansion of government-funded childcare and help more parents, particularly women, stay in and return to work.
Business rates are a broad-based tax on the value of non-domestic properties including nurseries. To protect small businesses, the government announced at the Autumn Budget that it would freeze the small business multiplier for 2025-26. Taken together with Small Business Rates Relief, this intervention ensures that over a million properties will be protected from inflationary increases.
In addition to this support, standalone nurseries are also eligible for charitable rate relief where they have a ‘charitable purpose’.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to ensure Inheritance Tax is not charged on death in service payments paid to relatives of armed forces personnel.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Members of the armed forces deserve our gratitude for their service and a pension that ensures dignity in retirement.
The Government will bring most unused pension funds and death benefits payable from a pension into a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027. Inheritance tax is already applied to death in service benefits for some pension schemes.
Estates of service personnel will benefit from the normal nil-rate bands, reliefs, and exemptions available. For example, the nil-rate bands mean an estate can pass on up to £1 million with no inheritance tax liability and the general rules mean any transfers, including the payment of death benefits, to a spouse or civil partner are exempt fully from inheritance tax. There is also a full exemption from inheritance tax when a member of the armed forces dies from a wound inflicted, accident occurring, or disease contracted on active service.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will review the Sovereign Grant annually on audited and published Crown Estate profits.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The rules governing the Sovereign Grant are set out in the Sovereign Grant Act 2011. This Act requires a review following every five-year period to ensure the percentage of Crown Estate profits used in the calculation of the Grant remains appropriate.
In addition, any unspent surplus from the Sovereign Grant goes into a reserve fund. If this reserve fund goes above 50 per cent of annual expenditure, the level of the Sovereign Grant can be reduced, requiring the Household to draw down this reserve rather than receive excessive additional funding.