Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to Inheritance Tax at the Autumn Budget 2024 on costs to pension scheme administrators.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Most unused pension funds and death benefits will be included within the value of a person’s estate for inheritance tax purposes from 6 April 2027.
A technical consultation was published at Autumn Budget 2024 on the proposal for pension scheme administrators to become liable for reporting and paying any inheritance tax due on pensions. The consultation concluded on 22 January 2025 and the responses are being considered. In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing tax relief for companies that employ young people who are not in (a) education, (b) employment or (c) training.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
There are existing reliefs available to support and encourage youth employment.
This includes the employer National Insurance contribution (NICs) relief for employers who provide apprenticeships to young people under 25 and employers who employ individuals under the age of 21.
These reliefs remove the requirement for employers to pay secondary Class 1 NICs on earnings up to the Upper Earnings Limit for eligible employees.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of reducing the ISA allowance on pensioner savings.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is committed to incentivising saving and investment, helping people to save for their future goals and build greater financial resilience. Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) support people of all incomes and at all stages of life to save, and the flexibility of the existing ISA framework allows older individuals to save for future life events such as retirement or care needs.
The Government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has considered merging employee National Insurance Contributions and Income Tax.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Merging income tax and National Insurance contributions would be a major upheaval in the tax system with consequences for the labour market and impacts for a large number of individuals and businesses.
As such, the Government has no plans to combine income tax and NICs.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans she has to reduce (a) headcount and (a) payroll costs in her Department, in the context of Cabinet Office guidance on this matter.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Spending Review 2025 Phase 2 will set the future budgets for HM Treasury. The Spending Review has not yet concluded, so it is not possible to say what the specific headcount and payroll plans are for the department.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department is using AI software in responding to written parliamentary questions.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In HM Treasury, written parliamentary questions are drafted by civil servants and answered by ministers.
For information on the use of AI in HM Treasury, I refer the member to the answer given to UIN 23715 on 22 January 2025.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress she has made in (a) identifying and (b) reducing inefficiencies within her Department.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
HM Treasury has, and continues to, take forward considerable work in identifying and actioning efficiencies in the departmental group. This includes adopting the Government Efficiency Framework, regularly reviewing productivity and efficiency measures to remove inefficiencies on an ongoing basis. Furthermore, HM Treasury is, as required by Spending Review 2025, doing detailed work to identify the efficiencies and savings required by the cross-government process.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to business property relief on the (a) construction and (b) plant-hire sector in (i) the UK, (ii) Leicestershire and (iii) Mid Leicestershire constituency.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government has received representations, including from the construction and plant hire sector, about the reforms to both agricultural property relief and business property relief.
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 and fixing the public finances. 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.
Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. However, the Government has set out that around 1,500 estates across the UK only claiming business property relief are expected to be affected in 2026-27, with around 1,000 of these expected to only hold shares designated as “not listed” on the markets of recognised stock exchanges, such as the Alternative Investment Market. The remaining 500 estates will include business assets from sectors across the economy that are eligible for business property relief. These reforms mean that around three-quarters of estates claiming business property relief in 2026-27 (excluding those only relating to holding shares designated as “not listed”) will not pay any more inheritance tax in 2026-27.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has had recent discussions with stakeholders in the (a) construction and (b) plant-hire sector on the potential impact of changes to business property relief on those sectors.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government has received representations, including from the construction and plant hire sector, about the reforms to both agricultural property relief and business property relief.
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 and fixing the public finances. 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.
Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. However, the Government has set out that around 1,500 estates across the UK only claiming business property relief are expected to be affected in 2026-27, with around 1,000 of these expected to only hold shares designated as “not listed” on the markets of recognised stock exchanges, such as the Alternative Investment Market. The remaining 500 estates will include business assets from sectors across the economy that are eligible for business property relief. These reforms mean that around three-quarters of estates claiming business property relief in 2026-27 (excluding those only relating to holding shares designated as “not listed”) will not pay any more inheritance tax in 2026-27.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed increase in employer National Insurance contributions on recent trends in employment numbers on the high street.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
An assessment of the changes to Employers’ National Insurance has been published by HMRC in their Tax Information and Impact Note, including impacts on the exchequer, the economy, individuals, households and families, equalities, and businesses including civil society organisations, alongside details on monitoring and evaluation.
After accounting for the Autumn Budget 2024, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility expect the employment level will increase from 33.1 million in 2024 to 34.3 million in 2029.