Written questions by Lockhart.

How much revenue she expects to raise from changes to Agricultural Property Relief in Northern Ireland; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of those changes on farming families in Northern Ireland.

The overall changes to both agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 are expected to raise £520 million in 2029-30, based on the latest available data. This is the total UK revenue expected to be raised from estates with relevant assets across all types of businesses. Up to around 520 estates making claims for agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, across the UK are expected to be affected by this policy in 2026-27. This means almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of these changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data. The Government is aware of the concerns from the farming industry in Northern Ireland. Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional or national breakdowns of the revenue or number of estates expected to be affected. For more information, please see my recent letter to the Chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/46267/documents/232537/default/.

What discussions she has had with her counterpart in Northern Ireland on ensuring that businesses in Northern Ireland that pay into the Apprenticeship Levy receive direct funding from the levy.

HMT ministers engage regularly with the Northern Ireland Finance Minister through the Finance Inter-Ministerial Committee. While the Apprenticeship Levy is UK wide, apprenticeship policy and spending is devolved. This means that the devolved governments receive funding through the Barnett formula in relation to English apprenticeship spending as part of their block grant. The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24. The most recent report was published in July 2023. It is for the devolved governments to allocate their funding in devolved areas as they see fit, including investing in their skills programmes.

What assessment she has made of the long-term sustainability of the financial settlement provided to Northern Ireland under the Barnett formula.

The independent Northern Ireland Fiscal Council calculated that the relative need in Northern Ireland is 24% more per head than the rest of the UK for equivalent spending. As part of the 2024 restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) the UK Government and Northern Ireland Executive agreed to add a 24% needs-based factor into the Barnett Formula from 2024-25. This is part of a financial package worth over £3.3 billion. Including this additional funding, the Northern Ireland Executive is being funded above its relative need in 2024-25. The UK Government will continue to work with the Northern Ireland Executive to agree a final Fiscal Framework.