Written questions by Glen.

With reference to Item 26 of Table 5.1 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, HC 295, whether the funding includes monies to devolved administrations under the Barnett formula.

The allowance for the impact on public sector organisations in item 26 of Table 5.1 of the Autumn Budget 2024 does include funding for the devolved governments, which will be provided via the Barnett formula.The UK Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance contribution costs only. This funding will be allocated to UK Government departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way. Given the impacts of this policy change will need to be worked through in further detail, this additional support has not yet been included in departmental or devolved government settlements in 2025-26.The overall outcome of the Barnett formula on devolved government funding is that they all receive at least 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in the rest of the UK.

With reference to paragraph 5.146 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, what estimate her Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse for changes to the High Income Child Benefit Charge in each of the next five financial years.

It is estimated that reforming the High Income Child Benefit Charge to be charged on a household income basis, with thresholds set to £120,000-£160,000 so that no families lose out, would cost £1.4 billion in 2029-30. This is an internal HM Treasury estimate provided by HM Revenue and Customs and based on Spring 2024 assumptions. The government has announced that it will not proceed with this reform.

Whether special advisers in her Department have met representatives of Anacta since the general election.

All relevant meetings attended by special advisers are declared in the normal way in the department’s quarterly transparency releases.

If she will list each (a) saving and (b) efficiency planned by her Department for the 2024-25 financial year to help meet the Government's overall savings target.

Through Spending Review 2025 Phase 1 HM Treasury received funding in 2024-25 for discrete, new pressures that have arisen since the previous Spending Review, such as the Post Office Enquiry and Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration funding for Ukraine. No additional funding beyond that was requested for pay uplifts, inflation, financial pressures in the departments Arms-Length bodies, or to support work on the new priorities of the government, for example for the establishment of the Office for Value for Money. These financial pressures have instead been managed within the department, including through the re-prioritisation of staff.In accordance with the published Government Efficiency Framework (GEF), the department has a programme of efficiency initiatives which it monitors centrally and will continue to do so into the next Spending Review period. This includes pursuing tech solutions including the use of AI, standardising processes and reviewing delivery models. Information on the individual workstreams is not published publicly.

If she will make it her policy to publish an impact assessment which has been assessed by the Regulatory Policy Committee on the potential impact of the changes to National Insurance contributions announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 on employers.

A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the employer NICs changes was published by HMRC on 13 November.It has not been successive Government’s policy since 2010 for tax policy changes to be assessed by the Regulatory Policy Committee.

If she will place in the House of Commons Library a copy of the equality impact assessments for each of the tax measures in the Autumn Budget 2024.

The Treasury carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing protected characteristics in line with both legal obligations and with our strong commitment to promoting fairness.In the interests of transparency HM Treasury and HMRC already publish summaries of equality impacts for tax measures being legislated for in the Finance Bill in tax information and impact notes (TIINs).These can be found under the Autumn Budget 2024 subheading here: Tax information and impact notes - GOV.UK.

If she will make it her policy to publish an impact assessment which has been assessed by the Regulatory Policy Committee on the potential impact of the changes to agricultural and business property relief announced in the Autumn Budget 2024.

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms, and further explanatory information at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief.It has not been successive governments’ policy since 2010 for tax policy changes to be assessed by the Regulatory Policy Committee. In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.

Whether the Government plans to allocate additional funding to social care organisations outside the NHS to cover proposed increases in employers national insurance contributions.

The Budget will provide support for government departments and other public sector employers for additional Employer NICs costs. Private sector firms or charities, including social care providers, that are contracted by central or local Government will not be exempt from these changes.This is consistent with the approach to previous Employer NICs changes, as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy. The government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employers’ National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year. The government will support local authority services through a real terms increase in core local government spending power of around 3.2%, including at least £600 million of new grant funding to support social care.

What guidance his Department issues on the conduct of meetings between Ministers and business representatives where such business representatives have paid money to the governing party to facilitate the meeting.

There is longstanding guidance on meetings between ministers and external organisations which is set out in the Ministerial Code.

Whether he is taking steps to end the use of pagers in the NHS.

We are taking steps to improve our NHS through the development of a 10-year plan. One of the big shifts for this plan is transforming the NHS from analogue to digital.NHS staff should have access to the right technology to enable them to do their job to the best of their ability. Technology moves on and older equipment such as fax machines and pagers must be replaced with tech that is fit for purpose. However, some pagers will remain as NHS trusts are allowed to keep some pagers for emergency situations, such as when Wi-Fi fails or when other forms of communication are unavailable.

Whether she plans to reform the law on super-injunctions; and whether she has had discussions with the Law Officers on super-injunctions.

There are no plans to reform the law. The courts determine individual applications for interim injunctions to restrain publication of confidential information (and the existence of the injunction) on the merits of each case, and in accordance with the law and specific Practice Guidance. The Practice Guidance on Interim Non-Disclosure Orders was issued by the then-Master of the Rolls as part of the implementation of the Superinjunctions Committee’s recommendations, which he chaired and whose final report was published in 2011. It provides detailed guidance on the law, principle of open justice and model court orders. The Ministry of Justice has had no recent discussions with the Law Officers on this topic.

Whether the Prime Minister has had discussions with His Majesty's household on potential steps to support His Majesty in maintaining the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law.

We do not routinely comment on discussions between the Government and the Royal Household.

If he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of processes for providing access to the civil service prior to the 2024 general election; if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of those processes on the efficiency of Government since the general election; and if he will take steps to publish guidance on best practice for access talks between the civil service and official opposition at the next general election.

Pre-election contacts are an established part of the pre-election process. They are designed to allow the Opposition Parties to ask questions about departmental organisation and to inform civil servants of any organisational changes likely to take place. Guidance on access talks is included in paragraph 2.21 of the Cabinet Manual. The meetings are confidential on both sides.

With reference to his Department's publication entitled Cabinet Office: Government Procurement Card spend over £500, August 2024, (a) who and (b) what the payment to the Chief of Staff Association was for.

The payment made on 29 August 2024 to the Chief of Staff Association was for membership of the association, for a permanent civil servant below senior civil servant (SCS) level. It is standard practice to not publicly reference civil servants by name below SCS. The relevant process for approvals was followed before the payment was made.

What steps he is taking to fill vacancies on the Honours committees.

There is currently ongoing activity to fill vacancies on 7 of the independent Honours Committees. New roles are advertised on the Public Appointments website and new appointments to the Honours Committees can be found on gov.uk.

Pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2024 to Question 1248 on Military Aircraft: Helicopters, whether the Prime Minister’s Office plans to use insourced armed forces’ helicopters for official travel after December 2024.

No. Routine helicopter transport will be sourced through the Ministerial Transport Office, not from Military helicopters.

If he will publish the (a) terms of reference and (b) rules of procedure for the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations, and Medals.

I refer the Right Hon. Member to the answer of 10 October 2024, Official Report, PQ 7430.

How many receptions have taken place in Downing Street since the general election which were (a) funded by the taxpayer and (b) funded through political donations.

As under previous Governments, party political receptions are not a matter for the Government. Details of official receptions are published in quarterly transparency returns on gov.uk.

Whether machinery of Government changes have been made to the AI and data science capability functions in the Prime Minister's Office since 4 July 2024.

As my Right Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced in a Written Statement, HCWS19, the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI) will move from the Cabinet Office to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The data science capabilities in the Prime Minister’s Office remain the same.

Whether diversity content has been standardised in civil service job adverts.

The text on diversity in Civil Service Job adverts has not changed since it was standardised under the previous administration, of which the Rt Hon Gentleman was a member.