Written questions by Riddell-Carpenter.

Whether she plans to equalise the VAT treatment of Further Education colleges and school sixth forms.

Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers. For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate VAT refund schemes for schools and academies which are designed variously to ensure that VAT is not a burden on local taxation, and that academies are not disincentivised to leave LA control. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme. In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students but cannot recover it either.

What assessment she has made of the contribution of regional brewers on local economies and tourism.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the beer and pub sector remains diverse, competitive and rooted in local communities, supporting investment and growth across towns and villages. The manufacture of alcoholic beverages supports jobs across the country with over 75% of employees working outside of London and the South East in 2024. Small Producer Relief (SPR) supports SMEs and new entrants by permitting smaller producers who make 4,500 hectolitres or fewer of alcohol per year to pay reduced duty rates on all products below 8.5% ABV. At Budget 2025, the government increased the cash discount provided to small producers, maintaining the relative value of SPR compared to the main duty rates. In addition, the Government has conducted a review of the beer market to determine whether there are any structural barriers preventing small breweries from accessing pubs, the findings from which are currently being reviewed. We will be announcing the outcome of the review in due course. More broadly, we are keen to ensure that Britain’s coastline – including the Suffolk coast – remain an attraction to domestic and international visitors. The Government has set an ambitious goal to grow annual inbound tourism to 50 million visitors by 2030. To help achieve this, we have established a new Visitor Economy Advisory Council, which is currently helping to co-create a Visitor Economy Growth Strategy. The Strategy endeavours to share the benefits of tourism across every nation and region, including coastal and seaside areas.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of Business Rates policy on employment in hospitality-dependent areas.

The Government has announced a £4.3 billion business rates support package to protect ratepayers from large overnight increases in bills.In addition, the Government is introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible RHL properties. These are worth almost £1 billion per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties.On top of this, pubs and live music venues will also benefit from 15% off their new business rates bills, ahead of their bills being frozen in real terms for a further two years.As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases next year, including 23% seeing their bills go down. Government support also means that most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of irrecoverable VAT on Further Education colleges’ ability to invest in teaching facilities, specialist equipment and skills provision.

Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers. For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate several VAT refund schemes for schools and academies which are designed variously to ensure that VAT is not a burden on local taxation, and that academies are not disincentivised to leave LA control. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme. In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students but cannot recover it either.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the VAT treatment of Further Education colleges on learners from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers. For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate several VAT refund schemes for schools and academies which are designed variously to ensure that VAT is not a burden on local taxation, and that academies are not disincentivised to leave LA control. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme. In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students but cannot recover it either.

Whether her Department has considered extending Section 33 VAT refunds to Further Education colleges.

Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers. For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate several VAT refund schemes for schools and academies which are designed variously to ensure that VAT is not a burden on local taxation, and that academies are not disincentivised to leave LA control. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme. In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students but cannot recover it either.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed reforms to Landfill Tax on the competitiveness and viability of the UK foundry sector; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure that any changes do not disproportionately affect small and medium-sized foundries.

The Government recognises the importance of businesses in the foundry sector, which employ thousands of people across the UK and support critical supply chains. The Government has listened to concerns from businesses and announced at Budget 2025 that it will not proceed with the plan to converge towards a single rate of Landfill Tax. Instead, the Government intends to prevent the gap between the two rates from widening further over the coming years. The Government has also decided not to remove key exemptions to Landfill Tax including the water discounting scheme and Qualifying Fines regime, and is committed to continuing to work with businesses to develop new solutions that enable them to recycle more of the waste they produce.

What support is available to small businesses affected by changes in Small Business Rate Relief.

Every three years, all commercial properties are revalued by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The 2026 revaluation, which will take effect from April 2026, will update RVs and may, therefore, affect businesses’ eligibility for SBRR. The revaluation process is ongoing and the VOA are required to publish a draft of all properties’ new RVs this year. Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) is available to businesses with a single property below a set rateable value. Eligible properties under £12,000 will receive 100 per cent relief, which means over a third of properties in England (more than 700,000) pay no business rates at all. There is also tapered support available to properties valued between £12,000 and £15,000, benefitting an additional c.60,000 properties. The government is committed to retaining SBRR, which is a permanent relief set down in legislation. As highlighted in the Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper, the Government is interested in hearing stakeholders’ views on the extent to which the current system acts as a barrier to investment and specifically, whether the current eligibility criteria for SBRR impacts businesses' incentives to invest and expand into a second property. 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 Budget 2025.

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of legislation on the inheritance of Individual Savings Account allowances from a deceased (a) spouse and (b) civil partner.

The Individual Savings Account (ISA) regulations allow the surviving spouse or civil partner of a deceased ISA saver an additional ISA allowance, equal to the value of the deceased saver’s ISA holdings on their date of death, subject to certain conditions. These are referred to as ‘Additional Permitted Subscriptions’ To ensure these rules are as simple as possible, surviving spouses and civil partners can benefit from this allowance, up to 3 years after the death of the spouse or 180 days after the completion of the estate administration, whichever is later, and irrespective of who inherits the former ISA assets. This means individuals are free to make any bequests they wish in their will, for example by leaving some or all their ISA assets to children of their current or former marriage or civil partnership, without affecting the additional ISA allowance that will be available to the person who was their spouse or civil partner at the time of death. Further detailed information on Additional Permitted Subscriptions is available at www.gov.uk/guidance/manage-additional-permitted-subscriptions-into-an-isa

Whether she has considered amending the eligibility criteria for the Employment Allowance to include pre-schools.

As set out in the response to your written question on 26 February 2025, eligibility for the Employment Allowance (EA) is dependent on individual circumstances, in line with HMRC guidance. However, most private childcare providers, including pre-schools, are eligible for the EA. The Government currently has no plans to change the EA eligibility criteria for private childcare providers. Further guidance on EA eligibility is available on https://www.gov.uk/claim-employment-allowance/eligibility

Whether pre-schools can receive the same (a) National Insurance and (b) Employment Allowance benefits as nurseries.

Most businesses and all charities can claim the EA (subject to the connected persons rules); where an organisation is conducting work of a public nature, they need to consider HMRC’s guidance in more detail. This is dependent on individual circumstances in line with the guidance, though most private childcare providers will be eligible for the EA. Further guidance on Employment Allowance eligibility is available on https://www.gov.uk/claim-employment-allowance/eligibility

What steps she is taking to support public bodies that are ineligible for the Employment Allowance.

The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer NICs costs, i.e., central government, public corporations and local government, not including self-financed organisations. This is the usual approach the Government takes to supporting the public sector with additional Employer NICs costs, as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.

Whether business rates apply to onshore converter stations that connect offshore energy to the National Grid.

The Valuation Office Agency assesses onshore converter stations and the cables which transmit the power for non-domestic rating purposes. The cables are rateable between low water mark and the point the cable connects with the National Grid transmission system.