Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure small and mid-sized quoted companies (a) invest in and (b) are listed in the UK.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK’s capital markets play a key role in delivering on the government’s growth mission. We have already delivered an ambitious set of reforms to make it easier for firms to start, scale, list and stay on UK markets, and capital markets are a core pillar of the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, launched at Mansion House.
The UK is also a hub for growth capital, with UK growth markets providing funding to growing companies from across the world. Over the last 10 years, over half of all capital raised on European growth markets was raised on AIM.
The government maintains a range of targeted tax reliefs for growth market shares, supporting capital raising for listed businesses, and investors in those shares. This supports growth in the broader UK economy.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress of the Financial Conduct Authority in its secondary international competitiveness and growth objective.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since the introduction of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) secondary international competitiveness and growth objective in 2023, the FCA has made meaningful progress in working to further the objective. For example, last year, the FCA consulted on proposals that will reduce reporting requirements for more than 36,000 firms, with expected annual savings of over £28 million. The FCA also recently launched the Scale-Up Unit jointly with the Prudential Regulation Authority, which will make it simpler for scaling firms to get timely responses to regulatory queries and access expert support. This will support entrepreneurs to focus on developing new products, hiring staff, and bringing investment into local economies.
The Government welcomes the two reports the FCA published in 2024 and 2025, and the accompanying metrics, outlining the FCA’s performance against the objective, as well as the letters from the FCA Chief Executive to the Prime Minister in January 2025 and December 2025 to outline progress on almost 50 measures to support growth through financial services regulation.
The Treasury continues to work closely with the FCA to hold it to account and challenge it to go further to support the government’s growth mission while furthering its objectives. This includes through the regular performance reviews the Economic Secretary holds with the FCA Chief Executive, introduced in 2025 as part of the government’s wider Regulation Action Plan.
Asked by: Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of increases in the Economic Crime Levy on not-for-profit housing associations.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published its summary of the impacts of the increases to the Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy in the policy paper titled "Economic Crime Levy – changes to bands and charges”. [1]
The Levy was designed with simplicity and proportionality at its core, to limit the administrative burden on regulated entities. Accordingly, it applies to any entity that carries out activity regulated by the Money Laundering Regulations and no entity pays more than 0.1% of its revenue in charges.
A full review of the Levy will be undertaken in 2027.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-levy-changes-to-bands-and-charges/economic-crime-levy-changes-to-bands-and-charges
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to limit the period of the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System Sandbox to less than five years.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) Sandbox is due to last five years, until 5 June 2030, with the possibility of extension.
The Treasury is working with the Financial Conduct Authority to monitor outcomes during the lifetime of the sandbox and retains the ability to terminate or make the sandbox arrangements permanent at an earlier stage if appropriate, subject to Parliamentary approval.
In any case, the Treasury is committed to providing transparency, certainty and clear communications to PISCES operators and market participants.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the refining sector not being included in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism or a similar support measure on trends in the level of growth of that sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the role that refineries play in energy security and the UK’s industrial base. The Government published a call for evidence (https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/future-of-the-uk-downstream-oil-sector/future-of-the-uk-downstream-oil-sector-call-for-evidence) on the future of the fuel sector on 23rd February 2026 in order to help understand the current state of the refining sector.
As announced at Budget 2025, the government is considering the feasibility and impacts of including refined products in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in future.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2026 to Question 107755 on Hospitality Industry VAT, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of lessons learned from (a) France, (b) Germany, (c) Italy and (d) the Republic of Ireland on introducing hospitality VAT rates.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is aware that some European countries apply reduced VAT rates to hospitality, reflecting different tax systems, policy choices and wider fiscal contexts.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Reduced rates of VAT come at a significant cost to the Exchequer, reduce the revenue available for vital public services, and must represent value for money for the taxpayer.
The Government keeps all taxes under review, with decisions on VAT rates taken by the Chancellor at fiscal events.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of disapplying VAT for the conversion of non-residential buildings into accommodation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
To support the delivery of new homes, conversions of buildings from a commercial to a residential use are subject to a reduced rate of VAT at 5%. The reduced 5% rate also applies to conversions of buildings from one residential use to another and to renovations of residential buildings that have been empty for at least two years.
Further information on VAT on building works can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buildings-and-construction-vat-notice-708
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what modelling (a) she and (b) the OBR has carried out on the distributional impact of measures on salary sacrifice for pensions in the Autumn Budget 2025.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice.
Almost all – 95% - of those earning £30,000 or less who use salary sacrifice will be entirely unaffected by the changes. 74% of basic rate taxpayers using salary sacrifice will be protected by the cap.
Everyone using salary sacrifice will still benefit from the NICs advantages available up to the £2,000 cap.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of extending VAT exemption on defibrillators to include purchases of units installed in private homes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government currently provides VAT reliefs to aid the purchase of defibrillators. For example, when an Automated External Defibrillator is purchased with funds provided by a charity and then donated to an eligible body, no VAT is charged. Furthermore, all state schools in England have been fitted with AEDs.
Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.
A key consideration for any potential new VAT relief is whether savings would be passed on to the consumer. Evidence suggests that businesses only partially pass on any savings from lower VAT rates.
Asked by: Lizzi Collinge (Labour - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of abolishing VAT on defibrillators.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government currently provides VAT reliefs to aid the purchase of defibrillators. For example, when an Automated External Defibrillator is purchased with funds provided by a charity and then donated to an eligible body, no VAT is charged. Furthermore, all state schools in England have been fitted with AEDs.
Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.
A key consideration for any potential new VAT relief is whether savings would be passed on to the consumer. Evidence suggests that businesses only partially pass on any savings from lower VAT rates.