Written questions by Stride.

In which financial year the current budget was last in surplus.

The last financial year for which the current budget was in surplus was 2018-19, when there was a surplus of £0.8 billion. This was the only surplus since 2001-02, when the current budget was in surplus by £6.9 billion. The OBR has today forecast that the current budget will be in surplus by £6.0 billion in 2027-28, £7.1 billion in 2028-29, and £9.9 billion in 2029-30. This information is available in the Public Sector Finances publication, published by the Office for National Statistics and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March Economic and Fiscal Outlook published on 26 March.

With reference to the Prime Minister’s oral statement on Defence and Security of 25 February 2025, Official Report, column 631, what the level of defence spending was due to be in the 2027-28 financial year prior to that announcement.

Departmental budgets from 2026-27 to 2028-29 will be determined as part of the ongoing Spending Review, details of which will be announced on 11 June 2025.

Whether the Overseas Development Assistance budget will remain the only funding source for the increase in defence spending throughout this Parliament.

On 25 February 2025 the Prime Minister announced that NATO qualifying defence spending will increase to 2.5% GDP by 2027-28, with Official Development Assistance reducing from 0.5% GNI to 0.3% GNI by the same time point, meaning the uplift is fully funded and that additional funding will be sourced by a reduction in ODA. The final budgets for departments will be announced when the Spending Review concludes on 11 June 2025

What assessment her Department has made of whether real-terms or nominal figures provide the most accurate metric for evaluating an increase in defence spending.

£13.4bn represents the increase in total NATO qualifying defence spending from 2024-25 to 2027-28 based on OBR forecasts. As the Prime Minister has announced, defence spending will reach 2.5% GDP in 2027-28. Our GDP percentage spent on defence is the key metric used in reference to defence spending, in line with our NATO commitments.

With reference to the Prime Minister’s oral statement on Defence and Security of 25 February 2025, Official Report, column 631, how much and what proportion of the £13.4 billion increase in defence spending is new money.

£13.4bn represents the forecast increase in total NATO qualifying defence spending between 2024-25 to 2027-28. This increase comprises the reallocated ODA funding, as well as forecast increases to existing NATO qualifying spend based on OBR forecasts, over that timeframe.

Whether the estimated economic impact of additional public investment within the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts reflects the composition of that investment spending in each year of the forecast period.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility produces comprehensive economic and fiscal forecasts twice a year. This includes a judgement on how public investment levels impact the economy. This judgement is based on the Public Investment and Potential Output framework the OBR published in the summer of 2024, with the OBR providing further information on how it assessed the Autumn Budget 2024 increase in public investment in Chapter 3 of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook. In both, the OBR outline how they use impacts of aggregate measures of investment, rather than the decomposition of investment spending. The OBR makes this assessment on the basis of the government’s headline capital spending plans. The government has allocated capital budgets by department up to 2025-26. Allocations for future years will be published as part of the ongoing Spending Review, set to conclude in June 2025.

If she will provide a breakdown by department of the additional capital expenditure announced at the October Budget for each financial year up to 2029-30.

At Autumn Budget 2024 the government announced over £100 billion of additional capital investment over the next five years compared to the plans the government inherited. In 2025-26, this amounts a £13 billion increase compared to Spring Budget 2024 plans. Allocations of departmental capital spending in 2025-26 can be found in Table C.4 of the Autumn Budget Document. Allocations from 2026-27 to 2029-30 will be announced at the conclusion of the ongoing Spending Review in June 2025.

What the forecast level of (a) public sector net debt, (b) public sector net debt excluding Bank of England and (c) public sector net financial liabilities was at the time of the Autumn Budget 2024 in (i) cash terms, (ii) real terms and (iii) as a proportion of GDP on a (A) pre and (B) post measures basis in each financial year to 2029-30.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the government put the public finances on a sustainable path by strengthening the fiscal framework, including announcing new fiscal rules, and taking difficult decisions on tax, welfare and spending. The information requested is all published explicitly, or calculable from information published, in the AB24 Economic and Fiscal Outlook and the OBR’s Public Sector Finances aggregates databank , with the exception of the information related to public sector net debt excluding Bank of England on a pre-measures basis, which is not published by the OBR.

With reference to page 3 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, whether self-employed people are classed as working.

A working person is someone who goes out to work and works for their income. The government has committed to not increase taxes on working people, which is why it is not increasing the basic, higher or additional rates of Income Tax, National Insurance contributions or VATWorking people will not see an increase in the taxes they pay on their payslip due to the tax changes announced at Budget.

With reference to page 3 of the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October, what her definition is of working people.

A working person is someone who goes out to work and works for their income. The government has committed to not increase taxes on working people, which is why it is not increasing the basic, higher or additional rates of Income Tax, National Insurance contributions or VATWorking people will not see an increase in the taxes they pay on their payslip due to the tax changes announced at Budget.