Written questions by Byrne.

What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the National Employment Savings Trust pilot scheme of autoenrollment savings accounts.

Payroll savings schemes allow employees to save directly from their salary and are a proven way of helping people start and maintain a savings habit. Research from the National Employment Savings Trust demonstrates that payroll savings can effectively help people to save, particularly where behavioural support is put in place.As part of the recently published Financial Inclusion Strategy, the Government has worked with partners to provide the clarity employers need to offer payroll savings options to their workforce. The Government also announced an ambitious National Coalition of Employers, which will further encourage uptake of payroll savings schemes among employers.

With reference to the policy papers entitled Spending Review 2025, published on 30 June 2025, and Budget 2025, published on 28 November 2025, what their Department’s capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be in each year of the Spending Review period; how much capital funding has been allocated to each of their Department’s programmes; and how much and what proportion of the capital DEL allocation remains unallocated in each year.

The capital DEL budget is as published in the Spending Review 2025 documentation. The detailed allocation of the capital DEL budget is still to be finalised in the annual business planning process.

If her Department will publish its response to its consultation on Reforming anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervision, published on 30 June 2023.

The Treasury’s consultation on reforming the UK’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing supervisory regime closed in September 2023. The Department is continuing to analyse responses to this consultation and remains committed to announcing next steps in due course.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a system on universal basic capital based on the universal roll-out of sidecar accounts into which is paid a one off dividend from the National Wealth Fund.

The Government recognises the positive effect that saving can have on financial resilience and is committed to incentivising greater saving and investment. The Government supports people of all incomes and at all stages of life to save and offers a wide range of savings products, including the Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), Junior ISA and Help to Save. We have also committed to consider what more can be done to support household savings as part of the Financial Inclusion Strategy which will be published later this year. The purpose of the National Wealth Fund is to support the delivery of the Government’s industrial strategy, mobilise private capital and make an overall return for the taxpayer. This will support the Government’s clean energy and growth missions.

If she will publish the forecasts of the size of the UK labour force broken down by the net migration forecast by (a) the Office of Budget Responsibility and (b) other bodies for the forecast period used by that Office.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility is responsible for producing forecasts of the UK economy, including the size of the labour force and net migration. The OBR’s latest forecasts, in the October 2024 Economic and fiscal outlook, are available at the OBR’s website.1. The Office for National Statistics publishes National Population Projections. For the purposes of producing these projections, the ONS produces assumptions for the projected growth in population due to net migration. The ONS’s latest projections, published in January 2024, assume long-term net international migration of 315,000 per year from the year ending mid-2028 onwards. The projections are published on the ONS’s website here: National population projections - Office for National Statistics1. https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2024/

What role her Department’s Enterprise and Growth Unit will have in supporting (a) the Government’s Growth Mission and (b) the Spending Review next year.

The growth mission is the government’s central mission. The Enterprise and Growth Unit plays a key role in driving the mission forward. It is focused on policy development, in partnership with business, industry and other stakeholders, across the seven growth mission pillars outlined at the Autumn Budget. It works closely with other groups within HM Treasury, for example the International and Financial Services Groups and the new Growth Delivery Unit which is focused on delivery. At the Spending Review, the Enterprise and Growth Unit is responsible for spending control for several departments and will work closely with departments to ensure spending plans are affordable and support the government’s missions.

What role the Growth Mission Board will have in the Spending Review.

Delivering growth is the government’s number one mission; through the growth mission, the government is restoring stability, increasing investment, and reforming the economy to drive up prosperity and living standards across the UK. This will be reflected in the government’s approach to the Spending Review, as part of which departments will be required to prioritise growth within their spending plans. The Growth Mission Board will continue to drive forward the government’s growth mission to rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the planned £20.4 billion of research and development spending on (a) economic growth, (b) the national investment rate and (c) crowding in of private investment.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the government protected R&D by allocating £20.4bn to support its missions, including the growth mission. Recent Department for Science, Innovation and Technology published research has found an average rate of return to public R&D of 40% after 6 years from when the investment is made [1]. The government’s investment will also boost business investment in R&D. Although estimates of the impact on private investment vary, on average £1 of public R&D investment leverages around £2 of private R&D investment in the long run [2]. The Office for Budget Responsibility is responsible for modelling the impact of government policy on the economy.[1] Returns to Public Research and Development - GOV.UK[2] Research and development: relationship between public and private funding - GOV.UK

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of capital spending on economic growth in the next (a) five and (b) ten years, specifying (i) the fiscal multipliers targeted and (ii) the private sector investment included.

Economic growth is the number one mission of the government. Through the growth mission, the government will deliver a milestone of higher living standards in every part of the United Kingdom by the end of the Parliament. Investment is a vital part of addressing the growth challenge. Autumn Budget began rebuilding Britain by increasing public investment and unlocking private investment. Public sector net investment will average 2.6% of GDP over the Parliament, with over £100 billion of additional capital investment over the next five years. This will strengthen the UK economy over the long term. When making allocation decisions, the Treasury scrutinises individual capital spending proposals in line with the principles set out in the Green Book and Five Case Model, to ensure that they deliver value for money. It also considers these in line with the government’s wider priorities, such as growth, and their overall deliverability and affordability. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility produces regular and comprehensive forecasts on the impact of current government policies, including judgements about fiscal multipliers. The OBR confirms that the Budget will have a positive impact on GDP in the next parliament and into the longer term from additional public investment. If sustained, the OBR judges the higher public capital spending, and the higher private sector investment this incentivises, could increase potential output by 0.4% after 10 years, and 1.4% in the long run.

What (a) metrics and (b) fiscal multipliers she plans to use to take allocation decisions for capital spending to Departments in the next five years.

Economic growth is the number one mission of the government. Through the growth mission, the government will deliver a milestone of higher living standards in every part of the United Kingdom by the end of the Parliament. Investment is a vital part of addressing the growth challenge. Autumn Budget began rebuilding Britain by increasing public investment and unlocking private investment. Public sector net investment will average 2.6% of GDP over the Parliament, with over £100 billion of additional capital investment over the next five years. This will strengthen the UK economy over the long term. When making allocation decisions, the Treasury scrutinises individual capital spending proposals in line with the principles set out in the Green Book and Five Case Model, to ensure that they deliver value for money. It also considers these in line with the government’s wider priorities, such as growth, and their overall deliverability and affordability. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility produces regular and comprehensive forecasts on the impact of current government policies, including judgements about fiscal multipliers. The OBR confirms that the Budget will have a positive impact on GDP in the next parliament and into the longer term from additional public investment. If sustained, the OBR judges the higher public capital spending, and the higher private sector investment this incentivises, could increase potential output by 0.4% after 10 years, and 1.4% in the long run.

What metrics she plans to use to assess the value for money of capital spending allocated over the next five years.

Economic growth is the number one mission of the government. Through the growth mission, the government will deliver a milestone of higher living standards in every part of the United Kingdom by the end of the Parliament. Investment is a vital part of addressing the growth challenge. Autumn Budget began rebuilding Britain by increasing public investment and unlocking private investment. Public sector net investment will average 2.6% of GDP over the Parliament, with over £100 billion of additional capital investment over the next five years. This will strengthen the UK economy over the long term. When making allocation decisions, the Treasury scrutinises individual capital spending proposals in line with the principles set out in the Green Book and Five Case Model, to ensure that they deliver value for money. It also considers these in line with the government’s wider priorities, such as growth, and their overall deliverability and affordability. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility produces regular and comprehensive forecasts on the impact of current government policies, including judgements about fiscal multipliers. The OBR confirms that the Budget will have a positive impact on GDP in the next parliament and into the longer term from additional public investment. If sustained, the OBR judges the higher public capital spending, and the higher private sector investment this incentivises, could increase potential output by 0.4% after 10 years, and 1.4% in the long run.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of R&D tax reliefs on (a) business investment and (b) economic growth.

The Government recognises the important role that research and development (R&D) plays in driving innovation and economic growth as well as the benefits it can bring for society. Overall, R&D reliefs will support an estimated £56 billion of business R&D expenditure in 2029-30, a nearly 20 per cent increase from £47 billion in 2022-23. The latest evaluations (“Evaluation of the research and development tax relief for small and medium-sized enterprises” and “Evaluation of the research and development expenditure credit”) were published in 2020 by HMRC and can be found on the gov.uk website. In the Corporate Tax Roadmap published at Autumn Budget, the government committed to periodically evaluating the R&D reliefs to ensure they are as effective as possible and underpinned by a credible, up to date evidence base.

What her target level of economic growth is from the overall level of capital spending in the next five years.

Economic growth is the number one mission of the government. Through the growth mission, the government will deliver a milestone of higher living standards in every part of the United Kingdom by the end of the Parliament. Investment is a vital part of addressing the growth challenge. Autumn Budget began rebuilding Britain by increasing public investment and unlocking private investment. Public sector net investment will average 2.6% of GDP over the Parliament, with over £100 billion of additional capital investment over the next five years. This will strengthen the UK economy over the long term. When making allocation decisions, the Treasury scrutinises individual capital spending proposals in line with the principles set out in the Green Book and Five Case Model, to ensure that they deliver value for money. It also considers these in line with the government’s wider priorities, such as growth, and their overall deliverability and affordability. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility produces regular and comprehensive forecasts on the impact of current government policies, including judgements about fiscal multipliers. The OBR confirms that the Budget will have a positive impact on GDP in the next parliament and into the longer term from additional public investment. If sustained, the OBR judges the higher public capital spending, and the higher private sector investment this incentivises, could increase potential output by 0.4% after 10 years, and 1.4% in the long run.

What assessment she has made of the (a) economic impact and (b) fiscal multipliers of the corporate tax reliefs implemented by her Department; and what steps she is taking to monitor that impact.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) assesses the economic and fiscal outlook, including the impact of policy decisions made by the Government. The OBR regularly publish reports which include explanations of their methodology. The 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook published alongside the Autumn Budget is published here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2024/ In November 2023, the OBR published an article ‘Dynamic scoring of policy measures in OBR forecasts’ detailing how the fiscal multiplier framework is used to analyse the macroeconomic impacts of policy measures. Appropriate multipliers are applied to corporate tax reliefs and capital spending. More recently, in August 2024, the OBR published a discussion paper ‘Public investment and potential output’ outlining further detail on how public investment, including capital spending, affects the macroeconomic forecast. HMRC delivers proportionate and systematic monitoring and evaluation of tax reliefs to help provide evidence-based policy advice to Ministers. Since 2020 HMRC have published 14 tax relief evaluations covering 19 different reliefs, and some of these evaluations cover economic impacts. On 5th December HMRC published statistics covering the costs of non-structural and structural reliefs, this includes 46 costings that cover corporation tax reliefs.

If she will make an assessment of which corporate tax reliefs have the largest positive impact on economic growth, ranked by scale of impact.

The government has committed to maintaining a range of generous investment incentives, including full expensing, R&D reliefs, and the Audio Visual Expenditure Credit. While the government does not maintain a ranking of economic impact, we seek to regularly monitor and assess economic impacts and the independent OBR also publishes their assessments. For example, the OBR's paper on the economic effects of full expensing sets out that they expect to increase business investment by £14bn over next five years. Since 2020 HMRC have published 14 tax relief evaluations covering 19 different reliefs, and some of these evaluations cover economic impacts. On 5th December HMRC published statistics covering the costs of non-structural and structural reliefs, this includes 46 costings that cover corporation tax reliefs.

What assessment she has made of the fiscal multipliers for (a) corporate tax reliefs and (b) capital spending authorised by her Department.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) assesses the economic and fiscal outlook, including the impact of policy decisions made by the Government. The OBR regularly publish reports which include explanations of their methodology. The 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook published alongside the Autumn Budget is published here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2024/ In November 2023, the OBR published an article ‘Dynamic scoring of policy measures in OBR forecasts’ detailing how the fiscal multiplier framework is used to analyse the macroeconomic impacts of policy measures. Appropriate multipliers are applied to corporate tax reliefs and capital spending. More recently, in August 2024, the OBR published a discussion paper ‘Public investment and potential output’ outlining further detail on how public investment, including capital spending, affects the macroeconomic forecast. HMRC delivers proportionate and systematic monitoring and evaluation of tax reliefs to help provide evidence-based policy advice to Ministers. Since 2020 HMRC have published 14 tax relief evaluations covering 19 different reliefs, and some of these evaluations cover economic impacts. On 5th December HMRC published statistics covering the costs of non-structural and structural reliefs, this includes 46 costings that cover corporation tax reliefs.

If she will publish economic impact assessments for all corporate tax policies.

The Office for Budget Responsibility produces regular and comprehensive forecasts on the fiscal and economic impact of government tax policies, including those relating to corporate tax. HMRC releases a corporation tax statistics publication annually, which provides a thorough breakdown of receipts and liabilities, including by industry sector and company size.

What estimate she has made of the amount of additional business investment due to the capital allowances measures in the corporate tax roadmap.

As a government, we are determined to provide the stability needed by businesses to make investments that are critical to boosting growth in the UK. That is why, in the Corporate Tax Roadmap, the Government has committed to maintaining the fundamental features of our world-leading capital allowances system, for the duration of this Parliament. This includes permanent full expensing system and the £1 million Annual Investment Allowance. As a result of permanent full expensing, the OBR expect business investment to increase by around £3 billion each year, and in the long run GDP will be 0.2% higher each year. With a stable and predictable capital allowances system, businesses will be able to rebuild the confidence they need to make significant long-term investment decisions.