Written questions by Davies.

What (a) in-person meeting, (b) virtual meeting and (c) other outreach work the UK Infrastructure Bank undertook between 17 June 2021 and 4 July 2024.

The National Wealth Fund (NWF) and formerly the UK Infrastructure Bank, actively engages with various stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness and impact of its deals and local authority advisory services. By collaborating with a variety of stakeholders, the NWF ensures that its initiatives are well-informed and supported. This engagement is done through a variety of methods, including bilateral meetings, publications, consultations, and external events (including those hosted by the NWF). The mission of the NWF requires it to support rather than compete with the market and as such, they seek to engage openly with stakeholders.More information about the engagement NWF undertakes with its stakeholders is set out on pages 73 to 75 of the Annual Report and Accounts National Wealth Fund Limited Annual report and accounts 2023-2024

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled National Wealth Fund: Mobilising Private Investment, published on 14 October 2024, what outreach work the National Wealth Fund has undertaken including but not limited to in-person and virtual meetings since 4 July 2024.

The National Wealth Fund (NWF) and formerly the UK Infrastructure Bank, actively engages with various stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness and impact of its deals and local authority advisory services. By collaborating with a variety of stakeholders, the NWF ensures that its initiatives are well-informed and supported. This engagement is done through a variety of methods, including bilateral meetings, publications, consultations, and external events (including those hosted by the NWF). The mission of the NWF requires it to support rather than compete with the market and as such, they seek to engage openly with stakeholders.More information about the engagement NWF undertakes with its stakeholders is set out on pages 73 to 75 of the Annual Report and Accounts National Wealth Fund Limited Annual report and accounts 2023-2024

With reference to Q110 of the oral evidence given by the Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury Select Committee on 12 February 2025, which financial instruments will be available to the National Wealth Fund which were not already available to the UK Infrastructure Bank.

The Chancellor announced at the International Investment Summit on 14th October 2024 that the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) would be transformed into the National Wealth Fund (NWF), building on UKIB’s expertise and leadership. To empower the NWF to maximise mobilisation of private investment, the Chancellor committed to expanding the suite of financial instruments available to the NWF over time. Legislation enabling the NWF to issue the first of these new instruments, performance guarantees, will be laid for consideration by Parliament in this Financial Year. The NWF is also collaborating with Government departments on new blended finance solutions which take on additional risk, crowd in private capital and support the most effective and catalytic use of public funds.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled National Wealth Fund: Mobilising Private Investment, published on 14 October 2024, what were the previous constraints in relation to the amount of economic risk capital of the UK Infrastructure Bank.

The most important constraint on the National Wealth Fund’s risk appetite is its economic capital risk budget, which limits the total risk exposure it can hold. The UK Infrastructure Bank had £22 billion of notional financial capacity and an economic risk capital budget of £4.5 billion. This was set by HM Treasury when UKIB was established. As part of UKIB's transformation into the National Wealth Fund, HM Treasury will agree a larger amount of economic risk capital, the details of which will be published in due course.

What estimate her Department has made of the revenues to the Exchequer (a) in total and (b) from each form of tax in (i) 2024-25 and (ii) 2025-26.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) publish tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK each month. This information is publicly available and currently presenting outturn up to January 2025. The OBR publish forecasts for receipts and public spending in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook. The OBR are due to publish their latest outlook for the economy and public finances on 26 March 2025.

With reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, if she will list the tax changes that will come into effect on 6 April 2025.

A full list of the tax measures announced at Autumn Budget 2024, including when the measures take effect, can be found in the Overview Of Tax Legislation And Rates on the gov.uk website.

What estimate she has made of future trends in the level of the (a) State Pension and (b) Income tax personal allowance threshold; and whether her Department forecasts the State Pension to exceed the income tax personal allowance.

The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve, and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people. The Government is committed to the Triple Lock for the duration of this parliament, and in April 2025, the basic and new State Pension will increase by 4.1%. This means that pensioners on a full new State Pension will get a boost of £470 to their incomes from April this year. Over the course of this Parliament, the yearly amount of the full new State Pension is currently forecast to go up by around £1,900, based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast. The previous Government made the decision to freeze the income tax Personal Allowance at its current level of £12,570 until April 2028. At our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds, meaning they will rise with inflation from April 2028.

What fiscal steps she is taking to support the purchase of zero-emission and low-emission vehicles.

The Government is fully committed to the transition to electric vehicles. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced £2.3bn of funding for the automotive sector up to 2030 to support the transition to Zero Emission Vehicles. The Government also announced £120m of funding in 2025-26 to support the purchase of new electric vans via the plug-in vehicle grant and to support the manufacture of wheelchair accessible ZEV vehicles. The Government also provides favourable taxation rates. At Autumn Budget the Government announced new Company Car Tax rates for 2028-29 and 2029-30 which will maintain generous incentives to support electric vehicle take-up. More widely, HMG provides a range of measures to support people to transition to Zero Emission Vehicles. For instance, over £200 million for 2025-26 was announced at Budget to accelerate EV chargepoint rollout, including funding to support local authorities to install on-street chargepoints across England.

Whether her Department has plans to create a business tax roadmap including taxes such as secondary Class 1 National Insurance Contributions.

The Government published the Corporate Tax Roadmap at Autumn Budget 2024. This Roadmap confirms the major features of the Corporation Tax regime for the duration of this Parliament. The Roadmap reflects the particular importance of Corporation Tax to significant business investment decisions. It also reflects the high appetite for policy stability on Corporation Tax following the considerable changes of approach in recent years. Raising the revenue required to fund public services and restore economic stability meant the Government has had to take difficult decisions on tax, which is why we asked employers to contribute more. The Government recognises the need to protect the smallest employers which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning more than half of businesses with NICs liabilities either gain or see no change next year. Businesses will still be able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under 21s and under 25 apprentices, where eligible.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release entitled New partnerships with financial sector to unlock growth in UK and overseas, published on 3 February 2025, what role British International Investment will have in these partnerships; and how the scheme's funding will be (a) monitored and (b) measured.

British Investment International (BII) is a core part of the Government's partnership with private finance to mobilise investment into emerging markets, unlocking economic growth and sustainable development. A central component of their role is a new £100m Mobilisation Facility announced by the Prime Minister at the UN General Assembly in October. As the press release describes, BII launched a Call for Proposals in January to partner with investors in the City of London to source the strongest concepts into which this Facility will invest to enable commercial investment to flow at scale into developing countries.As the Prime Minister said in October, BII expects that the Mobilisation Facility will mobilise hundreds of millions of pounds into emerging markets. The Facility is monitored through Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) regular governance arrangements with BII, as its sole shareholder. These arrangements require BII to report to FCDO regularly, including through a formal annual report. In addition, the performance of the facility will be monitored and measured through an annual review process that FCDO conducts on all of its programmes. This annual review will further assess the progress, effectiveness, and value for money of the facility.

Whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had discussions with (i) Dale Vince and (ii) representatives of Ecotricity since 5 July 2024.

Details of Ministers’ and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Published declarations include the purpose of the meeting and the names of any additional external organisations or individuals in attendance.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of Heckington Fen Solar Park on future trends in the level of energy bills for (a) domestic and (b) commercial consumers in Lincolnshire.

Decarbonising the power system by building more solar will increase energy security by reducing the UK’s dependence on imported oil and gas, which will in turn reduce the exposure of consumer bills to volatile international prices. Currently the cost of electricity tracks the cost of gas because gas generation sets the marginal wholesale price. Decarbonising the power system would break this link and in turn the exposure of UK electricity prices to global gas prices. Through the Clean Power Action Plan, the Government has made clear that where communities host clean energy infrastructure, it will ensure they benefit from it.

Whether her Department has plans to align the British Business Bank under the National Wealth Fund.

The National Wealth Fund (NWF) is the UK’s impact investor, mobilising billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s world-leading clean energy and growth industries. The British Business Bank (BBB) continues to be responsible for improving access to finance for SMEs, including new programmes to channel venture investment into the UK’s fastest growing, most innovative companies and closing the scaleup capital gap.The NWF and the BBB work in close partnership to deliver the government’s industrial strategy in line with their respective mandates, maintaining a coordinated and complementary approach to tackling finance gaps and boosting economic growth. The government will continue to review how these institutions operate and interact with the market, government departments and each other to ensure that they are as effective as possible in mobilising private investment and delivering economic growth.

If she will make an estimate of the number of people employed by the National Wealth Fund that previously worked for the UK Infrastructure Bank.

The Chancellor announced at the International Investment Summit on 14th October 2024 that the UK Infrastructure Bank would be transformed into the National Wealth Fund (NWF), This change took effect on that day. All UKIB staff were retained as part of the NWF.To realise its ambition to catalyse more private investment and accelerate investable projects coming to market across the UK, the NWF will be expanding its team based at its headquarters in Leeds.The number of roles at the NWF will be published in the “Staff Report” within the NWF’s Annual Report of Accounts, published following the end of this financial year.

If she will make an estimate of the number of staff within the National Wealth Fund that did not previously work for the UK Infrastructure Bank.

The Chancellor announced at the International Investment Summit on 14th October 2024 that the UK Infrastructure Bank would be transformed into the National Wealth Fund (NWF), This change took effect on that day. All UKIB staff were retained as part of the NWF.To realise its ambition to catalyse more private investment and accelerate investable projects coming to market across the UK, the NWF will be expanding its team based at its headquarters in Leeds.The number of roles at the NWF will be published in the “Staff Report” within the NWF’s Annual Report of Accounts, published following the end of this financial year.

What information her Department holds on the total cost of the rebranding of the National Wealth Fund.

The Chancellor announced at the International Investment Summit on 14th October 2024 that the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) would be transformed into the National Wealth Fund (NWF), building on UKIB’s expertise and leadership to go further to catalyse more private investment.Processes relating to the rebranding to the NWF were managed and carried out by the NWF and were conducted within the NWF’s existing departmental budgets.

Which news services her Department holds subscriptions to.

The Department holds subscriptions to the following news services:Dow Jones FactivaTimesTelegraphThe IndependentThe GuardianThe SunDaily ExpressDaily Mail/Mail on Sunday + Daily Mail PlusDaily MirrorDaily StarFinancial TimesPoliticsHomeBloomberg OnlineBloomberg Tax OnlineThe EconomistThe SpectatorNew StatesmanReutersYorkshire PostPress Association MediapointCision (press cuttings company)

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to activate the Flood Recovery Framework in response to flooding (a) in Lincolnshire and (b) elsewhere in January 2025.

My thoughts remain with householders and business owners impacted by flooding after the recent heavy rainfall, flooding is a devastating experience for all those affected.Government support in the aftermath of flooding is only provided in exceptional circumstances and at present, overall, the scale of impacts is not sufficiently significant for the Flood Recovery Framework to be activated in any area. However, my officials continue to review impacts data and stand ready to support as appropriate.

With reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Capital Gains Tax: Rates of tax — carried interest, published on 30 October 2024, what the evidential basis is for the cost of implementing a one year increase to Capital Gains Tax.

The published operational costs represent a high-level cost estimate for the changes required to HMRC IT systems to deliver this policy change which follow a recognised standard methodology. HMRC do not provide detailed costs related to policy changes. Separately, the revenue impacts of the changes to the rates of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on carried interest from 6 April 2025 are included in the costings published in the main Autumn Budget 2024 document. The CGT changes are the first step of a reform package that will put the tax treatment of carried interest on a fairer and sustainable footing, while preserving the competitiveness of the UK as a fund management fund. From 6 April 2026, the carried interest tax regime will move fully across to the Income Tax framework; this will be legislated in a future Finance Bill, which the House will have the opportunity to consider.

With reference to paragraph 5.76 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, when the next bi-annual fiscal forum with the Oil and Gas sector will take place; where that forum will take place; and who will attend on behalf of the Government.

The government is committed to maintaining an open and constructive dialogue with the oil and gas sector to support our energy security and ensure the sector plays its role in our clean energy ambitions. In line with this I will chair the next Oil and Gas Fiscal Forum in the first quarter of next year. The date and location of the forum has not yet been confirmed.