Written questions by Wilson.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations outlined in the Fairness Foundation's report entitled Wealth Gap Risk Register, published on 15 October 2024.

While income and wealth are not always directly correlated, distributional analysis shows that Government decisions at Autumn Budget 2024 and Spending Review 2025, Phase 1 are progressive and benefit households in the lowest income deciles the most, on average as a percentage of income in 2025-26. The Government is committed to making sure the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share of tax. That is why the Chancellor announced a series of reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 to help fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible. The increases in tax are concentrated on the highest income households. Overall, on average, all but the richest 10% of households will benefit from policy decisions in 2025-26.

With reference to Fairness Foundation and King's College's report Identifying and mitigating the risks of wealth inequality in the UK, published on 26 January 2025, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of the findings of that report.

While income and wealth are not always directly correlated, distributional analysis shows that Government decisions at Autumn Budget 2024 and Spending Review 2025, Phase 1 are progressive and benefit households in the lowest income deciles the most, on average as a percentage of income in 2025-26. The Government is committed to making sure the wealthiest in our society pay their fair share of tax. That is why the Chancellor announced a series of reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 to help fix the public finances in as fair a way as possible. The increases in tax are concentrated on the highest income households. Overall, on average, all but the richest 10% of households will benefit from policy decisions in 2025-26.

What steps her Department plans to take to support family owned small and medium sized enterprises with changes in the level of (a) the National Living Wage and (b) Business Property Relief.

At Autumn Budget, the Government took a number of difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to restore economic stability, fix the public finances, and support public services. These were tough decisions given the situation we inherited from the previous administration, but the Government has done so in a way that makes the tax system fairer and more sustainable.Specifically to support small and medium businesses, including family businesses, the Budget announced generous tax reforms including more than doubling the employment allowance to £10,500, maintaining the Small Profits Rate and marginal relief at their current rates and thresholds, maintaining the Annual Investment Allowance, and freezing the small businesses multiplier for 2025-26.The government has protected smaller family businesses from BPR changes, providing a very significant level of relief with the first £1 million of business assets continuing to receive 100% relief and then 50% thereafter.Each year, the independent Low Pay Commission produces recommendations to the Government on the National Living Wage rates. At Autumn Budget, the Government accepted the LPC’s recommendations on the rates in full, meaning that NLW rate will rise to £12.21 per hour from April 2025.

If she will update the Green Book to allow for the valuation of the reduced carbon footprint of UK produced materials as opposed to imported ones.

The Green Book has supplementary guidance on the valuation of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. This is found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65aadd020ff90c000f955f17/valuation-of-energy-use-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions-for-appraisal.pdf That supplementary guidance notes that appraisals should consider the greenhouse gas emissions content of all of the materials that are used to implement a proposal. This applies both to materials produced in the UK, as well as those imported from abroad.

How many people were in receipt of (a) Statutory Maternity Pay, (b) Statutory Paternity Pay, (c) Statutory Adoption Pay and (d) Statutory Shared Parental Pay in the 2023-24 financial year.

Data for number of people in receipt of Statutory Maternity pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, and Statutory Shared Parental Pay is provided in the table below. Totals for 2023-24Statutory Maternity Pay623,100Statutory Paternity Pay207,...

Whether independent school fees for people over the age of 18 who are (a) in education and (b) have an Education Health and Care Plan will by exempt from VAT.

As set out in our manifesto and confirmed in the Chancellor’s July statement, we are ending the VAT break for private schools. The government will introduce 20% VAT on education and boarding services provided for a charge from 1 January 2025. As per the d...

Whether independent education settings for people over the age of 19 will be VAT-exempt.

As set out in our manifesto and confirmed in the Chancellor’s July statement, we are ending the VAT break for private schools. The government will introduce 20% VAT on education and boarding services provided for a charge from 1 January 2025. As per the d...

What information her Department holds on how much debt relief Chad has received from external private creditors through the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments.

Chad agreed a debt treatment with its official bilateral creditors and its main private creditor, Glencore, in November 2022. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the treatment is consistent with the commitments made by Chad and parameters ...