Written questions by Stephenson.

What individual investments have been made by the National Wealth Fund since July 2024; and how many jobs each investment is expected to support.

The National Wealth Fund and its predecessor the UK Infrastructure Bank have announced 19 deals since July 2024, committing nearly £3bn, and estimate creating or supporting over 12,400 jobs. The National Wealth Fund sets out details of the investments which it makes, including estimate jobs created, on its website at https://www.nationalwealthfund.org.uk/. The following list provides the project client, the amount committed by the National Wealth Fund and the estimated number of jobs created or supported by those commitments at the time of their announcement. Scottish Power/Iberdrola - £600m - 57 jobsAESC - £272m - 176 jobsNatWest plc - £400m - 2,207 jobsThe Housing Finance Corp Ltd - £150m - 1,226 jobsSolihull Metropolitan Borough Council - £10m - 3 jobsPulpex - £42m - 29 jobsCornish Metals - £29m - 35 jobsConnected Kerb - £55m – 48 jobsDenbighshire County Council - £92m - 76 jobsNetomnia - £25m - 61 jobsLloyds Social Housing - £400m - 3,489 jobsBarclays - £350m - 3,053 jobsXLCC Ltd - £20m - 10 jobsFibrus - £55m - 129 jobsCeredigion County Council - £25m - 20 jobsWest Suffolk Council - £17m - 54 jobsQuickline - £225m - 121 jobsWildanet - £35m – 171 jobsHyperoptic - £150m - 1,445 jobs

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increased employer National Insurance contributions on the British vehicle manufacturing industry.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of a 10% tariff on UK exports to the US on her Department's fiscal headroom.

On 8 May 2025, the government concluded a landmark economic deal with the United States. The Economic Prosperity Deal will reduce tariffs for UK exporters in critical sectors, will protect thousands of jobs in key British industries, and help drive economic growth. This is just the beginning of the process – with the US agreeing to deepen transatlantic trade and investment further. The Chancellor has always been clear that the fiscal rules are non-negotiable and the OBR confirmed in their March forecast that the government is on track to meet them.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reducing VAT on US firms exporting to the UK.

In line with international guidelines, VAT is charged equally on goods and services consumed in the UK whether they are produced domestically or imported. VAT is ultimately paid by the final consumer, similar to US sales taxes. Businesses in the supply chain can typically reclaim the VAT they pay, including import VAT.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of future rates of Air Passenger Duty on levels of economic growth.

The Government published Tax Impact and Information Notes (TIINs) assessing the impacts of the 2025/26 and 2026/27 APD rates, which can be found at GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-air-passenger-duty-rates-from-1-april-2025/air-passenger-duty-rates-from-1-april-2025-to-31-march-2026 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-air-passenger-duty-rates-from-1-april-2026/air-passenger-duty-rates-from-1-april-2026-to-31-march-2027 These measures are not expected to have any significant macroeconomic impact.

Pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 36886 on Personal Income: Expenditure, if she will publish the assessment of behavioural changes referenced in that Answer.

The Office for Budget Responsibility reports on the impact of the government’s policy announcements, including behavioural impacts where relevant. The impact of policies announced at Autumn Budget 2024 can be found in its published document Economic and Fiscal Outlook, October 2024. Additionally, Tax Information and Impact Notes, published on gov.uk, describe the 'economic impact' and 'impact on individuals, households and families'.

What estimate she has made of the expected return on investment for investments in the National Wealth Fund.

The National Wealth Fund will seek to make positive returns for the Exchequer across its whole portfolio, covering at least the government’s cost of borrowing and institutional overheads, in line with its Financial Framework.This will take time to achieve and should be balanced with the National Wealth Fund’s increased risk appetite.

What assessment she has made of (a) trends in the level of financial literacy in the UK and (b) the potential impact of improving young people's financial literacy on economic growth.

The Government is committed to ensuring that individuals have the financial capability to manage their money well. While the Government does not hold specific data quantifying the economic benefits of this, we recognise the importance of financial literacy in people’s economic participation and have taken a number of steps to promote this, including among young people. Financial education is currently incorporated into the national curriculum in England through mathematics at key stages 1 to 4 and citizenship at key stages 3 and 4, which together cover personal budgeting, saving for the future, managing credit and debt and calculating interest. The Government has established an independent, expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review to ensure it is fit for purpose and meeting the needs of children and young people. In addition, the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) is supported by the Government to provide comprehensive guidance for each stage of consumers’ financial lives. It’s MoneyHelper website offers a range of tools and calculators to help consumers with issues around benefits, everyday money, family and care, home finance, money troubles, pensions and retirement, savings and work (https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/tools-and-calculators). The Government recognises that there is still more that can be done to further improve financial literacy. That is why Financial Education and Capability has been made an area of focus within the Financial Inclusion Strategy. The strategy will aim to tackle barriers to individual and households’ ability to access affordable and appropriate financial products and services, including financial literacy. The Financial Conduct Authority’s nationally representative Financial Lives Survey gathers insights into the financial behaviour, attitudes and experiences of adults aged 18 and over across the UK. The survey covers a wide range of topics, including financial capability.

If she will make an estimate of the number of pensioners who paid income tax in the 2024-25 financial year.

HMRC publishes the number of income tax payers by age. An estimate of the number of individuals of state pension age who are income taxpayers in financial year 2024/25 can be found in Table 2.1 of the income tax statistics and distributions collection published on 27 June 2024. This document is available here:Table 2.1 Number of individual Income Tax payers - GOV.UKFrom the above an estimated 8.51 million state pension age individuals paid tax in financial year 2024/25.Data on individuals paying income tax in future years will be published in the usual way.

If she will make an estimate of the number of pensioners who will be paying income tax in the 2029-30 financial year.

HMRC publishes the number of income tax payers by age. An estimate of the number of individuals of state pension age who are income taxpayers in financial year 2024/25 can be found in Table 2.1 of the income tax statistics and distributions collection published on 27 June 2024. This document is available here:Table 2.1 Number of individual Income Tax payers - GOV.UKFrom the above an estimated 8.51 million state pension age individuals paid tax in financial year 2024/25.Data on individuals paying income tax in future years will be published in the usual way.

With reference to line items 24 and 25 on p.33 of the Spring Statement, for what reason the levy revenue used is greater than the levy revenue generated.

As set out in the Policy Costings document, published at Spring Statement, the costing is calculated by applying the levy rates to forecasted leviable Gross Gambling Yields for each licence type using data from the Gambling Commission Industry Statistics. This gives the total yield from the Gambling Levy itself; all of which goes directly to the Gambling Commission. However, the costing also accounts for a behavioural response to the measure whereby the Levy is expected to slightly reduce betting and gaming duty receipts; as is standard, the costing for the Gambling Levy shows the net impact on overall government receipts, including this behavioural adjustment. Because of this behavioural impact on betting and gaming duty receipts, the total additional funding forecast to be received by the Gambling Commission in the forecast period is slightly larger than the net revenue figure resulting from the announcement of the Gambling Levy.

What discussions she has had with the Governor of the Bank of England on her economic growth policies.

The Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England meet regularly to discuss economic developments and the outlook for the economy. Growth is the number one mission of this government and is how we will get people into good jobs, drive higher living standards, and increase productivity across the country. At Mansion House in November 2024 the Chancellor issued new growth-focused remit letters to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Policy Committee, and Prudential Regulation Committee. These letters made clear that the Chancellor expects them to fully support this government’s ambitions on economic growth.

Whether she will take steps to amend Gift Aid regulations to allow charitable (a) zoos and (b) aquariums to claim on the price of admission.

The Government recognises the important work the charity sector does in the UK, which is why we currently provide tax reliefs to charities and their donors worth over £6 billion per year, including over £1.6 billion in Gift Aid.Gift Aid is intended to be claimed only on freely given donations rather than on payments for goods or services such as admission fees. This is why charitable zoos or aquariums may not claim gift aid on the price of a single admission. However, they can claim gift aid on donations that go beyond the 'goods and services' element of a single admission and are given freely to support the charity's purpose. Such charities may claim Gift Aid on the sale of a ticket where either: the ticket gives the buyer access to view charity property (which by definition includes plants and animals) for a full year; or the buyer pays a freely given 10% Gift Aid ‘premium’ on top of the standard admission price.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 35858 on Banks: closures, whether she has had discussions with retail banks on keeping high street bank branches open since 5 July 2024.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer meets regularly with all major banks to discuss a wide variety of topics. Banking has changed significantly in recent years with many customers benefiting from the ease and convenience of remote banking. While branch closures are commercial decisions for banks, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. This seeks to ensure that branch closures are implemented in a way that treats customers fairly. The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets across the UK, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 220 hubs have been announced so far, and over 140 are already open.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29188 on Agriculture and Business: Inheritance Tax, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing her Department's data collection methods to enable the collection of data on the number of estates containing woodlands impacted in the 2026-27 financial year.

HMRC guidance sets out that woodland is only agricultural property, and therefore qualifies for agricultural property relief, if it is occupied with, and that occupation is ancillary to, agricultural land or pasture. It will include woodland shelter belts, game coverts, fox coverts, coppices grown for fencing materials and clumps of amenity trees or spinneys. Woodlands occupied for purposes that are not agricultural, such as amenity woodland or woodland used for the production of commercial timber, are not agricultural property. However, they may be eligible for woodlands relief or business property relief. Executors must include the value of any timber and woodland owned by the deceased that is not part of a farm in box 69 of the IHT400 form, alongside the value of the deceased’s other interests in any business or partnership (which may or may not be related to woodlands). Some farms may also include coppices, small woods and belts of trees that shelter the land, and the value of these should be included in the value of any farm, farmhouses and farmland owned by the deceased in box 68 of the IHT400 form. However, as stated in our answer to UIN 29188, while estates include supporting documentation about the type of assets on which they claim agricultural and business property reliefs when submitting their claims, only the value of eligible assets is digitally captured in a format available for further analysis. It is also combined with the value of other assets in the boxes mentioned above, and these may or may not be related to woodlands. As such, any further level of detail is not readily available from historic claims to estimate how many future estates might contain woodland. It would be disproportionately costly for HMRC to manually review historic claims to digitally capture this information. As detailed in my recent letter to the Chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, Inheritance Tax is currently operated by HMRC using a predominantly paper-based system. As part of my work to modernise HMRC, we plan to move to a digital system.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2025 to Question 35444 on London Stock Exchange, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the 6.6% reduction in the number of firms listed on the London Stock Exchange between July 2024 to March 2025.

The UK has recently attracted several high-profile listings from firms taking advantage of our reforms to make it easier to raise capital and fund growth on UK markets. This includes IPOs from high-growth UK firms such as Applied Nutrition, as well as listings from prominent international firms such as Canal+ and CK Infrastructure. More broadly, in 2024, London raised over £25bn equity capital, which is more capital than the next three European exchanges combined.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of business rates on the rate at which new (a) 5G and (b) 5GSA infrastructure is being rolled out.

Digital infrastructure will play a key role in the Government’s forthcoming 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy, which will set out the long-term ambitions for rollout of 5G and Standalone 5G. Eligible plant and machinery used on 5G are exempt from business rates from 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2035. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government 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.

Whether she has made a recent assessment of the international competitiveness of Air Passenger Duty rates.

Air Passenger Duty (APD) applies to airlines and is the principal tax on the aviation sector. It is expected to raise £4.2 billion in 2024-25. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced APD rates for 2026-27, including a partial adjustment to help compensate for two recent years of inflation that was higher than expected. APD rates are set in advance using forecasts of inflation, and so with actual inflation being significantly greater than forecast in 2022 and 2023, APD rates fell in real terms. The Government is clear that APD is an appropriate tax that ensures airlines make a fair contribution to the public finances, particularly given that tickets are VAT free and aviation fuel incurs no duty. Other countries also have different forms of aviation taxes. The Government keeps all taxes under review.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Aggregates levy on the marine environment.

Aggregates Levy is an environmental tax which aims to encourage the more efficient extraction and use of all aggregates. There are no current plans to undertake a specific assessment of its impact on the marine environment, but the government keeps all taxes under review.

What steps the Government has taken to achieve the target of 350 banking hubs since 5 July 2024.

The Government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups or face challenges using alternative payment methods. The Government is committed to maintaining the viability of cash as a payment method for those who choose to use it. The Government also understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets across the UK, including those in rural communities, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. In September 2024, The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced regulatory rules for access to cash. Its rules require the reasonable provision of free cash withdrawal and deposit facilities for personal current accounts. Where a branch closure is announced or a community has submitted a cash access assessment request, LINK, the independent industry coordinating body responsible for making access to cash assessments, assesses a community’s access to cash needs, and will recommend appropriate solutions where it considers that a community requires additional cash services. Any decisions on changes to LINK’s independent assessment criteria are a matter for LINK, the financial services sector, and for the FCA, which oversees the access to cash regime. Under the framework provided by this regime, the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK which will provide individuals up and down the country with critical cash and banking services. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 220 hubs have been announced so far, and over 135 are already open.