Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to introduce a permanent reduction in business rates for pubs.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

We intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, including pubs, with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026-27, and fund this by introducing a higher multiplier on properties with rateable values of £500,000 or more. The multiplier rates will be confirmed at Autumn Budget 2025.

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. Under the previous government, RHL relief was due to end entirely in April 2025, and so by extending it, the Government has saved the average pub, with a ratable value of £16,800, over £3,300.

The Government has also published a Discussion Paper setting out priority areas for business rates reform and inviting industry to co-design a fairer business rates system.

In summer, the Government will publish an interim report that sets out a clear direction of travel for the business rates system, with further policy detail to follow at Autumn Budget 2025.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to extend the freeze on beer duty.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor cut alcohol duty on qualifying draught products, including mostly draught beer – 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% came into effect on 1 February 2025. Other alcohol duties were increased in line with inflation.

As with all taxes, the Government keeps alcohol duty under review as part of its Budget process.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how she determines which state benefits are (a) subject to and (b) exempt from tax.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The tax treatment of social security benefits depends on their purpose. Generally, benefits that replace income are subject to tax, while those intended to support specific needs are exempt.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will undertake a health impact assessment of proposed changes to health and disability benefits in her Department's Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the Office for Students registered theological colleges’ compliance with academic freedom and freedom of speech obligations.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

I refer the hon. Member for Poole to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question HL6374.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) part-time and (b) full-time employment opportunities that will be available by 2029-30 for those disabled people and people with health conditions as outlined in the Green Paper: Pathways to Work, published on 18 March 2025.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

No such estimate has been made.

However, we have evidence that delivering better and more tailored employment support can get more people off welfare, and into work - alongside a higher expectation to engage with that support. Therefore, we are investing £1 billion a year by the end of the decade in new employment, health and skills support – one of the biggest packages of new employment support for sick and disabled people ever.

In addition, corrective action is needed after the value of the basic unemployment benefit was run down to a 40-year low, while incapacity benefits continued to rise. This means that the rate of Universal Credit for those on the health element is now double that for those on the standard allowance. As a result, all the incentives are to claim incapacity benefits and define yourself as incapable of work, with both the OBR and IFS suggesting this has been a factor in driving higher incapacity benefit claims.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with disabilities and long-term health conditions will be supported by the £1bn a year funding outlined in the Green Paper: Pathways to Work, published on 18 March 2025.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1 billion of new funding across Great Britain.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information already published alongside the Spring Statement. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, on people in receipt of carer's allowance.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This government is committed to supporting unpaid carers, who provide invaluable support to elderly or disabled people.

As the Green Paper sets out, we will consider the impacts on benefits for unpaid carers as part of our wider considerations of responses to the consultation as we develop our detailed proposals for change.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what steps she plans to take to help support people with severe lifelong conditions.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The social security system will always be there for those who can’t work. As part of making changes to the payment rates in Universal Credit, we will protect the incomes of those with the most severe, lifelong conditions who will never be able to work.

For those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who have no prospect of improvement and will never be able to work, will see their incomes protected. We will also guarantee that for both new and existing claims, those in this group who have no prospect of improvement will not need to be reassessed in future.

We also want to improve peoples’ experience of the health and disability benefits system, as set out in the Green Paper. This includes exploring ways to improve PIP assessments through using recording of assessments as a lever for improvement, digitalising transfer of medical information, using evidence from eligibility for other services to reduce the need for people with very severe health conditions to undergo functional assessments and improving communication with people receiving awards who are expected to remain on disability benefits for life.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the level of saving from freezing the health element of Universal Credit in cash terms at £97 per week until 2029-30 for existing recipients.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The table below breaks down the overall savings into the static savings of the two policies and the impact of the expected behavioural changes. The behavioural changes are the expected impact of both policies on claimant behaviour.

DWP costings are produced at a GB level. The final line aligns the DWP estimates to the Spring Statement 2025 policy costing document which includes the impact of the Scotland Block Grant Adjustment and Northern Ireland.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the level of saving from reducing the health element of Universal Credit in cash terms to £50 per week in 2026-27 for new claimants.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The table below breaks down the overall savings into the static savings of the two policies and the impact of the expected behavioural changes. The behavioural changes are the expected impact of both policies on claimant behaviour.

DWP costings are produced at a GB level. The final line aligns the DWP estimates to the Spring Statement 2025 policy costing document which includes the impact of the Scotland Block Grant Adjustment and Northern Ireland.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, when she plans to publish further information on how her Department plans to use the £1 billion a year funding to help more disabled people and people with health conditions into employment.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

As the Green Paper notes, we are keen to engage widely on the design of this guarantee and the components needed to deliver it. To get this right, we will be seeking input from people who are out of work on health and disability grounds and their representative organisations, and from a wide range of other stakeholders including devolved governments, local health systems, local government and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, private and voluntary sector providers, and employers. We will confirm further details in due course after we have completed our consultation process.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) children and (b) adults who will be in relative poverty after housing costs in each region in the 2029-30 financial year.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

An assessment on this basis is not available. The government's impact assessment regarding Health and Disability Reform is available at Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans she has to review cross-Government spending on tackling homelessness, in the context of the Spending Review.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

As part of the current Spending Review, the government will be reviewing all spending across government, including spend on tackling homelessness. The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long-term strategy.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper: Pathways to Work, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed changes to (a) health and (b) disability benefits on health inequalities.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to building a fairer Britain, to ensure people can live well for longer, and spend less time in ill health, regardless of where they are born or their financial circumstances. We are working with the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure that health is built into our policies, including those outlined in the Pathways to Work Green Paper.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the welfare reforms proposed in her Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, last updated 28 March 2025, on (a) reducing levels of and (b) preventing homelessness among disabled people.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

No assessment has yet been made.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made in the Pathways to Work Green Paper of the adequacy of (a) ill health and (b) disability benefits.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides a contribution to the extra costs that may arise from a disability or health condition. DWP pays close attention to estimates of the extra costs faced by disabled people; including academic research, analysis by Scope, and DWP’s own commissioned research on the Uses of Health and Disability Benefits from 2019.

In order to improve the evidence in this area, DWP is now undertaking a new survey of Personal Independence Payment customers to understand more about their disability related needs. It is expected to produce findings in Autumn 2025.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of children who are not receiving their free milk entitlement; and if she will take steps to monitor compliance with school food standards.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Under the School Food Standards, schools must ensure milk is available to all pupils who want it during school hours, which includes any time during a school session or a break between sessions. Section 512ZB (3) of the Education Act 1996 sets out the requirement that milk must be provided free of charge to pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM). The department does not hold data on the number of children who are not receiving their free milk entitlement through FSM.

Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools.  Governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should appropriately challenge the headteacher and the senior leadership team to ensure the school is meeting its obligations. The department is keeping our approach to school food compliance under review.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure schools fulfil their legal obligations under school food standards to provide free milk for students with their free school (a) breakfast and (b) meal.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Under the School Food Standards, schools must ensure milk is available to all pupils who want it during school hours, which includes any time during a school session or a break between sessions. Section 512ZB (3) of the Education Act 1996 sets out the requirement that milk must be provided free of charge to pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM). The department does not hold data on the number of children who are not receiving their free milk entitlement through FSM.

Compliance with the School Food Standards is mandatory for maintained schools, academies and free schools.  Governors have a responsibility to ensure compliance and should appropriately challenge the headteacher and the senior leadership team to ensure the school is meeting its obligations. The department is keeping our approach to school food compliance under review.

47th anniversary of the murder of Altab Ali

Launch of The Rational Policy-Maker’s Guide to Rebuilding the NHS report

Foster Care Fortnight

Black Maternal Health Awareness Week 2025

War Widows/Widowers Pension compensation and medical discharge

Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week

Spring Statement 2025 and young disabled people

Travel-related restrictions and haemoglobin tests for blood donations

Second state visit by Donald Trump

Restless legs syndrome

Close season for hare shooting

NHS parking charges

Practical driving tests in the South West

Anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence

Collapse of Rana Plaza, Bangladesh

Securing habitat for endangered swifts and other cavity nesting birds

International Day of the Midwife

British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme

Found: _8 Paula Barker Siân Berry Neil Duncan-Jordan Alex Sobel Marsha De Cordova David Davis .

Found: _8 Paula Barker Siân Berry Neil Duncan-Jordan .