Written questions by Glen.

If she will publish a list of the number of hereditaments in each local authority in Greater London categorised by Special Category Code (a) 303 Bars (Valued on Floor Space), (b) 199 Night Clubs and Discotheques and (c) 226 Public Houses/Pub Restaurants (National Scheme) in each of the last 10 years.

As part of its official statistics, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) publishes the number of hereditaments by Special Category Code and local authority. This is published for England and Wales between 2020 and 2024 within the stock of non-domestic properties collection: www.gov.uk/government/collections/non-domestic-rating-stock-of-properties-collection. The requested information can be found under ‘Stock SCat Tables by region, county, local authority district and rateable value band’. Prior to 2020, the official statistics did not separate the data at local authority level. There are no current plans to revisit previous publications of official statistics.

What assessment has been made of the potential impact of proposed changes to Agricultural Property Relief on net carbon emissions.

The government is extending the existing scope of agricultural property relief from 6 April 2025 to land managed under certain environmental agreements. The expectation is that some individuals will now choose to enter into agreements who would not otherwise have done so and this will have a positive environmental impact. The government has also announced it will reform agricultural property relief and business property relief further from 6 April 2026 as it is not fair or sustainable for a very small number of claimants each year to claim such a significant amount of relief. In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill. Defra has a farm support budget of £2.4 billion for the next financial year and support for Environmental Land Management schemes will rise to the highest funding levels ever by 2025-26. Through this investment, the government is helping to secure a healthy and resilient future for English farming and restore our natural landscapes for generations to come whilst continuing to support farmers and landowners in their low-carbon, nature friendly practices.

What estimate she has made of the number of first-time buyers paying stamp duty in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26; and what the average amount of stamp duty a first time buyer will pay in each year is.

An estimate of the number of first-time buyers paying Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and average amount of SDLT paid by first-time buyers is not available because there is limited information on first-time buyers. HMRC can only identify First Time Buyers that are claiming First Time Buyers’ Relief in the SDLT return. First Time Buyers purchasing a property for less than £250,000 do not need to claim First Time Buyers’ Relief under current SDLT rates and those purchasing a property for more than £625,000 are not eligible to claim the relief.

Pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2024 to Question 16761 on Employers’ Contributions: Public Sector, if she will publish the methodology used to draw up the estimates of support.

The Government plans to update Parliament on the allocations of support by department in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 12 November 2024 to Question 12389 on Pensions: Inheritance Tax, whether the (a) partner and (b) dependent's scheme pension for the (i) Civil Service Alpha scheme and (ii) Ministerial Pension Scheme will be included in the value of the estate for inheritance tax for (A) married couples, (B) unmarried couples and (C) couples in a civil partnership.

Dependant scheme pensions, including partner pensions, are not subject to Inheritance Tax. This is the same for registered and unregistered UK schemes, and will not be impacted by the changes announced at Autumn Budget 2024.

With reference to page 21 of the Plan for Change document, CP1210, published on 5 December 2024, what estimate she has been made of the potential impact of (a) changes to the level of employer National Insurance contributions and (b) the freezing of income tax thresholds on Real Household Disposable Income per person.

The Office for Budget Responsibility's October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) contains forecasts and assessments of government policy. The OBR’s forecast does not decompose policy impacts on Real Household Disposable Income (RHDI) per capita by individual policies. Accounting for the total impact of Budget measures including employer NICs, the OBR forecast RHDI per capita to rise at an annual average rate of 0.5% per year over the parliament. The OBR sets out in detail the impact of the employer NICs changes on wages in paragraph 3.11 of the EFO. The OBR have assessed the impacts of fiscal drag from freezing Income Tax thresholds in their March 2024 EFO.

With reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, whether the (a) pension and (b) associated pension benefits under the tax-unregistered Judicial Pension Scheme will be liable for inheritance tax.

There are three different types of UK statutory defined benefit judicial pension schemes. As defined benefit schemes, none of these have a dedicated fund which can be inherited as defined contribution schemes do.Schemes established under the Judicial Pensions and Retirement Act 1993 (JUPRA) (unregistered). Any lump sum death benefits under JUPRA received after the member is no longer in service are already subject to Inheritance Tax.The New Judicial Pension Scheme (NJPS) (registered) established under the Judicial Pensions Regulations 2015. Any lump sum death benefits payable under the NJPS are already subject to Inheritance Tax.The Judicial Pension Scheme 2022 (JPS 2022) (unregistered) established under the Judicial Pensions Regulations 2022. Any lump sum death benefits payable under JPS 2022 are already subject to Inheritance Tax.Dependant scheme pensions, including partner pensions, are not subject to Inheritance Tax. This is the same for registered and unregistered UK schemes, and will not be impacted by the changes announced at Autumn Budget 2024.

Pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2024 to Question 16761 on Employers’ Contributions: Public Sector, what the assumed unit cost per (a) headcount and (b) FTE employee of the estimated increase in National Insurance contributions on employers in the public sector was for the estimate.

The Government plans to update Parliament on the allocations of support by department in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2024 to Question 10442 on Government departments: communication and public consultation, what non-essential spending in each Department has been stopped to deliver the £50 million of savings in (a) 2024-24 and (b) 2025-26.

To identify savings in Communications spending for 2024-25 and 2025-26, the UK Government conducted a comprehensive review of communications campaigns through the Spending Review. This review looked at the strategic logic, join-up, role for communications and value for money of each campaign. This led to 39 campaigns being cancelled, 46 continuing with reduced budgets and 46 aiming to reduce their expenditure by 25%. As a result, Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed an £85 million saving from reducing unnecessary communications spend in 2024-25 and up to £96m in 2025-26 – exceeding the £50 million target set out in the Chancellor’s July 2024 Inheritance speech.

Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 8809 on 11 Downing Street: Art Works, what was the cost to the public purse of removing the artworks.

It is standard practice, as followed by the previous government, of which he was a member, for new ministers to select works from the Government Art Collection for their ministerial offices. All such changes of displays of works from the Government Art Collection constitute 'business as usual' for the Collection, so all costs are met from within existing budgets. All the newly installed artworks are part of the Government Art Collection, and no works have been acquired or procured for this new display. The whole collection, which is about to celebrate its 125th anniversary, shows great British art at its best in ministerial offices, departments, museums, galleries, embassies and consulates. Its diversity is a key part of its appeal and its championing of British art at home and abroad.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the ban on retail derivatives for crypto.

Whether to allow the sale of cryptoasset derivatives to retail consumers is a matter for the independent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA has stated that it considers these products to be ill-suited for retail consumers because they cannot be reliably valued and therefore risk posing harm. The Government has confirmed its intention to proceed with creating a financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets. Once in place, this regime will help ensure appropriate protections for customers wishing to invest in cryptoassets, and associated products.

Which Department is responsible for (a) leading on and (b) delivering blockchain technology.

The primary existing use-case for blockchain technology is in cryptoassets. The Treasury has confirmed government’s intention to proceed with a financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets, which will provide valuable protections for consumers and give firms regulatory certainty along with the flexibility to innovate. Blockchain technology has broader use-cases, which are addressed by responsible departments.

Whether she attends meetings of the Mission Boards.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the Chair of the Growth Mission Board and attends other mission boards as and when appropriate. Beyond this, it is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees - including mission boards - including their attendance, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.

Whether she plans to publish the declaration of interests of (a) public appointments, (b) special advisers and (c) direct ministerial appointments.

HM Treasury follows relevant central guidance on handling declarations of interest for special advisers, public appointments and direct ministerial appointments. Any relevant interests of special advisers are published in the Treasury’s Annual Report and Accounts.

What estimate she has made of the revenue generated by proposed changes to the non-domiciled tax regime in the next five financial years.

The further reforms to the non-domiciled tax regime announced at Autumn Budget are estimated to raise £12.7bn over the next five financial years. We published costings for these further reforms on 30th October. Page 32 of the Autumn Budget Policy Costings Publication

Pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 8813 on Government Departments: Communications and Consultants, what the baseline figures on expenditure on (a) communications and (b) consultants are in each Department in 2024-25 or the closest year for which data is available.

Cabinet Office provided estimates of communications spending during the Public Spending Audit in July 2024. Estimates were based on internal Government Communication Service data on campaigns planned by Departments and arm's length bodies at the time of commissioning. These indicate that the UK Government was expected to spend £449m on communications campaigns during 2024-25. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced that the Government Communications Service is expecting to save £85 million from reducing unnecessary communications spend – exceeding the £50 million target set out in her July 2024 Inheritance speech. Communications and marketing spend above £100,000 is subject to central spending control and, as such, is published by each government department alongside other spend control data on a quarterly basis on gov.uk. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/search/all?keywords=spend+control+data&order=relevance. In July 2024, the government committed to stop non-essential government consultancy spend in 2024-25 and halve government spending on consultancy in future years. This will save £550 million in 2024-25 and £680 million in 2025-26. To help departments do this and make value for money decisions about how to resource work the civil service headcount cap announced by the previous administration will be lifted. Individual departments publish different categories of spending on external resource including consultancy in their Annual Reports and Accounts. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-reports-and-accounts-for-central-government-departments

Pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024, to Question 8196 on Business Rates and Council Tax: Valuation, whether the Automated Valuation Model for Wales is adaptable to be used in England.

The Automated Valuation Model for Wales approach may be adaptable for use in other locations. However, as with Wales, this would require further investigation and significant preparatory work.

Pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 8950 on Office for Value for Money, whether the Chair is a regulated public appointment; and whether he was selected via open and fair competition.

The appointment of the independent Chair of the Office for Value for Money is a Direct Ministerial Appointment, which is not a regulated appointment.

What type of regression model is used in the Automated Valuation Model of the Valuation Office Agency.

The Automated Valuation Model uses multiple regression with an advanced spatial modelling technique called Gaussian Markov Random Fields to better reflect the impact of location.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 2.81 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, what assumption her Department has made of the level of council tax receipts to be raised in England in 2025-26.

Decisions on council tax levels are for individual local authorities. In line with OBR forecasts made under the previous government, the government will maintain a core 3% referendum principle and a 2% adult social care precept.