Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of employers' National Insurance contribution rates on the financial viability of (a) pubs and (b) breweries in Surrey Heath constituency.

The Government closely monitors the health of different sectors across the UK economy and regularly engages with the hospitality sector.

The Government protected the smallest hospitality businesses from the recent changes to employer National Insurance through increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500.

We have also taken a number of other steps to support the hospitality industry. This includes:

• Introducing a permanently lower business rates multiplier for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026-27. Ahead of the new multipliers being introduced, the government extended the RHL relief for 2025-26 at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier.
• Responding to the recommendations of the Licensing Taskforce, including developing a National Licensing Policy Framework that will set out national direction for licensing authorities to consider economic growth and cultural value;
• Protecting hospitality businesses from upward only rent clauses through the English Devolution Bill, and;
• Introducing a strong new ‘Community Right to Buy’ to help communities safeguard valued community assets – such as pubs.