Written questions by Bennett.

If she will take steps to remove VAT from defibrillator sales to help improve the levels of affordability for (a) community groups and (b) small businesses.

VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations. The Government currently provides VAT reliefs to aid the purchase of defibrillators. For example, when an Automated External Defibrillator is purchased with funds provided by a charity and then donated to an eligible body, no VAT is charged. Furthermore, all state schools in England have been fitted with AEDs.

When her Department plans to (a) conclude its review of salary sacrifice schemes in the public sector and (b) make decisions on their future.

Public sector employers should consider the use of salary sacrifice schemes carefully. HM Treasury approval is generally required before new schemes are established, and we will consider carefully all requests which are made for scheme expansion.

Whether she plans to make changes to draft duty relief for (a) consumers, (b) pubs and (c) breweries in Mid Sussex constituency.

The Chancellor’s draught rate cut at Autumn Budget 2024 applied to approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This took a penny of duty off a typical strength pint at a cost to the Exchequer of over £85m a year.  Draught beer and cider now pay 13.9% less in duty than their packaged equivalents – an increase of over 50% on the previous draught discount of 9.2%.The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events. The Government welcomes representations from the beer and pub sectors in advance of the Budget.

Whether she plans to review the increase to the normal minimum pension age for accessing private pensions from April 2028.

The normal minimum pension age is the lowest age at which the majority of members can take benefits from a registered pension scheme without incurring tax charges, except in cases of ill-health. It will increase from age 55 to age 57 in April 2028. The Government keeps all tax rules under review.

Whether she plans to review the commodity code classification for mobility scooters.

There are no plans to review the classification of mobility scooters. HMRC classify mobility scooters under the description of ‘Vehicles specially designed for travelling on snow, golf cars and similar vehicles’ under tariff heading 8703, which is in line with classification decisions issued in 2001 by the World Customs Organization.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of exempting the transfer of property between co-habiting siblings from inheritance tax.

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given to UIN 3433.

Whether she plans to take steps to support the used electric vehicle market.

The Government is fully committed to the transition to electric vehicles and a strong second-hand market for EVs plays an important role in this.The Company Car Tax regime helps support the used electric vehicle markets, where electric company cars are sold after the end of their lease. The majority of cars are bought in the UK’s second hand markets. At Autumn Budget the Government announced new Company Car Tax rates for 2028-29 and 2029-30 which will maintain very generous incentives to support electric vehicle take-up, and therefore the entry of electric vehicles into the second-hand market.More widely, the UK has a range of measures to support people to transition to zero emission vehicles. At Autumn Budget we announced £2.3bn of funding for the automotive sector up to 2030 to support the transition. We also announced support including investment in the plug-in grant for vans, favourable taxation rates, and funding for charging infrastructure across all of England. The UK’s charging network continues to grow at pace – there are now over 73,000 public chargepoints - a year on year increase of over 37%.

What estimate her Department has made of how much businesses in the social care sector will pay as a result of the increase in employers National Insurance contributions (a) nationally and (b) in each constituency.

A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the Employer National Insurance changes was published by HMRC on 13 November. The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance costs. This does not include support for the private sector, including private sector firms contracted by central or local government. This is the usual approach Government takes to supporting the public sector with additional Employer National Insurance contributions as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy. The government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care and wider local government spending as part of the Budget process in the usual way. The government is providing a real-terms increase in core local government spending power of around 3.2% in 2025-26, including at least £600m of new grant funding provided to social care, which can be used to address the range of pressures facing the sector.

Whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of social care providers affected by the increase in employers National Insurance contributions.

A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the Employer National Insurance changes was published by HMRC on 13 November. The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance costs. This does not include support for the private sector, including private sector firms contracted by central or local government. This is the usual approach Government takes to supporting the public sector with additional Employer National Insurance contributions as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy. The government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care and wider local government spending as part of the Budget process in the usual way. The government is providing a real-terms increase in core local government spending power of around 3.2% in 2025-26, including at least £600m of new grant funding provided to social care, which can be used to address the range of pressures facing the sector.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of businesses in the social care sector that will pay the increase in employers National Insurance contributions (a) nationally and (b) in each constituency.

A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the Employer National Insurance changes was published by HMRC on 13 November. The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance costs. This does not include support for the private sector, including private sector firms contracted by central or local government. This is the usual approach Government takes to supporting the public sector with additional Employer National Insurance contributions as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy. The government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care and wider local government spending as part of the Budget process in the usual way. The government is providing a real-terms increase in core local government spending power of around 3.2% in 2025-26, including at least £600m of new grant funding provided to social care, which can be used to address the range of pressures facing the sector.

What estimate her Department has made of the (a) overall cost to businesses in the social care sector of the increase in employers National Insurance contributions and (b) average cost to each business in this sector.

A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the Employer National Insurance changes was published by HMRC on 13 November. The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer National Insurance costs. This does not include support for the private sector, including private sector firms contracted by central or local government. This is the usual approach Government takes to supporting the public sector with additional Employer National Insurance contributions as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy. The government considered the cost pressures facing adult social care and wider local government spending as part of the Budget process in the usual way. The government is providing a real-terms increase in core local government spending power of around 3.2% in 2025-26, including at least £600m of new grant funding provided to social care, which can be used to address the range of pressures facing the sector.

When she plans to publish guidance for the Transitional Tax Free Allowance Certificate.

Legislation concerning the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) was included in Finance Act 2024. The legislation introduced transitional arrangements including Transitional Tax-Free Amount Certificates (TTFACs). Guidance was published alongside the legislation. Further regulations to address some discrete technical areas were laid on 7th and 9th of October 2024, with effect from 18th November (subject to parliamentary process). Once effective, they will apply retrospectively from 6th April 2024 onwards. Further information will be provided in HMRC’s November newsletter and HMRC’s existing guidance will be updated in due course.

What recent assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of trends in the level of economic inactivity owing to ill-health.

There are 9.4 million working age people who are economically inactive in the UK, an increase of 860,000 since the start of the pandemic. Inactivity due to ill health is a major reason for economic inactivity and stands at a near-record high of 2.8 million people. To tackle economic inactivity, we will publish a White Paper to Get Britain Working.