Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with police forces on antisemitism at universities.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling antisemitic hate crimes and supports the police in taking robust action, wherever those crimes occur and whoever is responsible.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms have applied for grants under the Environmental Land Management Scheme in the last 12 months.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency published their Annual Report and Accounts for 2024-25 on 17 July 2025, which includes the most recent verifiable summary of Environmental Land Management scheme uptake.
Following the success of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 23 scheme, the SFI 24 Expanded Offer was launched in June 2024 where customers were invited to apply via an Expressions of Interest exercise similar to its predecessor. Once the scheme was opened to the wider public, 18,080 applications were submitted by 11 March 2025 when the scheme was closed to further applications.
12,081 livestock farmers applied for agreements worth £4.6 million for a vet to visit their farm for an Animal Health and Welfare review.
As of January 2025, there were approximately 45,000 live Countryside Stewardship agreements. This total includes over 13,500 Capital only agreements and around 31,500 Revenue agreements, of which just over 20,000 also include Capital options. This figure includes approximately 7,948 new Capital agreements received for the 2024 scheme year.
** Farm Businesses can apply for multiple Grants under the Environmental Land Management Scheme. The RPA ARA includes information up to 31 March 2025.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made as assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the non-domiciled tax regime.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has removed the outdated concept of domicile status from the tax system and implemented a new residence-based regime from 6 April 2025.
The new residence-based regime is more competitive for new arrivals than the previous rules.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to support regional economic growth across the UK.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Kick starting economic growth and ensuring that growth is felt in all regions of the UK is the number one mission of this Government. The government’s approach to regional growth will drive growth in city regions, towns and communities and make the most of the opportunities in each part of the country, to make everyone better off. There is excellence right across the country and this government is backing it: lifting living standards and putting more money in people’s pockets.
The recent Spending Review set out £15.6bn for some of our largest city-regions via the Transport for City Region settlements, with Tees Valley Combined Authority receiving £1bn funding improvements to Middlesbrough station and other local priorities. For places outside city-regions, the Local Transport Grant is receiving a fourfold increase in funding by 2029-30 compared to 2024-35. The new £410m Local Innovation Partnerships Fund will drive innovation excellence across the country, delivering R&D co-creation between local leaders and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Our new long-term local growth programmes which will invest in 350 deprived communities across the UK, funding interventions across community cohesion, regeneration and improving the public realm. We are also funding at least £725 billion of economic and social infrastructure across the country over the next decade, as set out in our new Infrastructure Strategy.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had recent discussions with police forces on expressions of support for (a) Hamas and (b) Hezbollah at universities.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, including determining whether an offence has been committed or not, is a matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service, which are operationally independent.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of simplifying the tax code.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out at Autumn Budget 2024 and Spring Statement 2025, the government is committed to simplifying the tax and customs systems to help support economic growth. In April, the government announced a package of measures to reduce administrative burdens, so businesses and individual taxpayers can spend less time on tax and customs administration and more time adding value to the economy. These changes were developed through close engagement with stakeholders and the government will bring forward further simplification proposals in the future.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of the changes to business rates relief on (a) leisure, (b) hospitality and (c) retail businesses.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) business rates relief has been extended year-by-year by previous governments since the pandemic, creating uncertainty for businesses and an unsustainable fiscal pressure for Government.
Without any Government intervention, RHL relief would have ended entirely in April 2025, creating a cliff-edge for businesses. Instead, the Government decided to provide a 40 per cent discount to RHL properties up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business in 2025/26, ahead of intending to introduce permanently lower rates for RHL properties with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026/27. This permanent tax cut will ensure that RHL businesses benefit from much-needed certainty and support.
The rates for these new RHL multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes, as well as the economic and fiscal context. When the new multipliers are set, HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the expected effects of the new multiplier arrangements.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Bank of England's decision to retain interest rates at 4.25 per cent on the cost of public sector borrowing.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Treasury does not publish forecasts of the economy or public finances; the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the UK’s official forecaster and provides independent analysis of the UK’s public finances.
In March 2025 it was forecast by the OBR that debt interest spending would reach £111.2bn in 2025-26.
At the Budget last Autumn, the government set out a clear fiscal strategy to stabilise the public finances and underpin growth. The fiscal rules, which provide stability, help to keep interest rates low and prioritise investment to support long-term growth, are non-negotiable. This is the responsible choice – to reduce our levels of borrowing in the years ahead, so we can spend more on our public services, more on the priorities of working people and less on servicing debt.
The OBR will publish an updated forecast later this year.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans her Department has to review tax reliefs and their effectiveness.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Tax reliefs are an important feature of the UK tax system. Many tax reliefs help to define the scope of the tax and make sure that the tax system operates fairly while simplifying and reducing administrative burdens for businesses and individuals (structural reliefs). Others are aimed at encouraging certain behaviours or activities to support economic or social objectives (non-structural reliefs).
HMRC has invested significant resources in improving understanding of the cost and effectiveness of tax reliefs. Since 2019 it has produced:
In addition, 24 evaluations covering 27 unique reliefs have been published since 2020.
HMRC’s approach to improving transparency around reliefs is proportionate, making the best use of resources.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information her Department holds on the number of (a) millionaires and (b) ultra-high-net-worth people who have relocated to other countries since 2020.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has removed the outdated concept of domicile states from the tax system and implemented a new residence-based regime from 6 April 2025. The new residence-based regime is more compatible for new arrivals than the previous rules.
The Government published a Tax Information and Impact Note for this policy on 30 October. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-changes-for-non-uk-domiciled-individuals/reforming-the-taxation-of-non-uk-domiciled-individuals.
There have always been relatively large flows of non-doms in and out of the UK every year. The latest HMRC statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-non-domiciled-taxpayers-in-the-uk/statistical-commentary-on-non-domiciled-taxpayers-in-the-uk--2. These show the number of non-domiciled taxpayers in each tax year up to 2023/24.
We anticipate that some non-doms ineligible for the new regime will exit the UK in response to the changes. Taking this migration response into account, the OBR expects the non-dom reforms to raise £33.8 billion over the next five years to help fund the public services and investment projects needed to drive growth.