Asked by: Baroness Moyo (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development growth forecast, what steps they are taking to balance tax and regulatory policies to promote investment while meeting fiscal responsibilities.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Economic growth is the Government's number one mission and our strategy has consistently set out to grow the supply-side of our economy, including through reforms to skills, planning, and regulation, establishing the National Wealth Fund to unlock £70 billion of private investment, and signing new trade deals with the EU, US, and India to increase opportunities for exporters.
The IMF have said our fiscal strategy is striking “a good balance between supporting growth and safeguarding fiscal sustainability” and that our growth mission “focuses on the right areas to lift productivity”, while on spending they conclude our plans are “credible and growth-friendly” and are “expected to provide an economic boost over the medium term”.
At the Spring Statement, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility upgraded our growth forecast and confirmed we are on track to meet our fiscal rules two years ahead of target.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the propriety of Fujitsu's bid for the Trader Support Service contract in the light of the fact that the company has not yet contributed to compensation for victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
All of our contract opportunities are publicly available through Contracts Finder and/or Find A Tender Service and are available to any economic operator that is able to meet the requirements of the procurement in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 or The Procurement Regulations 2024, as applicable.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of police funding increases being delivered primarily through rises in council tax precepts on local taxpayers.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government believes in empowering local decision-makers, including by ensuring they have the flexibility to generate their own income through council tax, while protecting residents from excessive increases.
Police precept levels for 2026/27 onwards remains subject to final decisions on precept which will be set out in the annual police funding settlement in the usual way. It will then be for individual police and crime commissioners to decide whether to use their full flexibility, balancing the extra spending with the tax burden on residents.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether funding decisions through the National Wealth Fund consider food supply chain resilience.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The National Wealth Fund does not provide grant funding, it invests in capital intensive projects and companies by offering financing in the form of debt, equity and guarantees.
The Statement of Strategic Priorities to the National Wealth Fund, issued by the Chancellor on 19 March 2025, sets out that the National Wealth Fund will prioritise investment into the Industrial Strategy sectors of clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, and transport, and support supply chain resilience across these priority sectors. The NWF remains flexible to invest in support of emerging government priorities and in response to changing market conditions.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Growth Mission Fund will include eligibility criteria for (a) rural job creation and (b) the farming supply chain.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Growth Mission Fund will invest £240 million of capital from 2026/27 to 2029/30 in projects that enable local job creation and the economic regeneration of local communities. Further detail on this fund and the criteria that will be applied for project selection will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 57308, on Chagos Islands: Sovereignty, if she will place in the Library a copy of the (a) calculations and (b) analysis produced by the Government Actuary’s Department.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Details of the calculations have been agreed by the Government Actuary’s Department and are in the Explanatory Memorandum laid alongside the Treaty. However, it is not normal practice for government departments to release details of corresponding financial analysis. Any financial obligations, including departmental budgetary responsibilities, will be managed responsibly within the government’s fiscal framework. No payments will be made until the Treaty is legally binding.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the document entitled UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy, CP 1344, published on 19 June 2025, if he will publish the Barnett consequential for Northern Ireland for each new item of funding announced in that strategy.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Barnett formula is applied when departmental budgets change – not when departments announce how they are spending their budgets.
When changes to UK Government departments’ budgets were confirmed at Spending Review 2025 on 11 June, the Barnett formula was applied in the usual way, providing Barnett consequentials to the Northern Ireland Executive. The devolved governments are receiving the largest Spending Review settlements, in real terms, since devolution in 1998.
The published Block Grant Transparency document provides a detailed breakdown of how the block grants are calculated and the next version will be published in due course.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department plans to take to reduce regulations on financial service businesses.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
In the March Regulation Action Plan, the government committed to cutting the administrative costs of regulation for business by 25% by the end of the Parliament. This will take a whole-of-government approach to establish a baseline for the administrative costs of regulation and deliver an ambitious programme of reforms that remove or streamline administrative processes.
The Action Plan also announced that it will consolidate the Payments Systems Regulator into the Financial Conduct Authority, to provide a more streamlined approach to regulation for businesses. It also confirmed that the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority are taking steps to review and streamline reporting requirements for financial services firms.
The Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, part of the Industrial Strategy, will set out the government’s next steps to ensure that the UK’s financial services regulatory environment is proportionate, predictable and internationally competitive. This will be published on 15 July .
Asked by: Helen Grant (Conservative - Maidstone and Malling)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the taxable turnover SMEs can earn in a12-month period before registering for VAT.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This keeps the majority of businesses out of the VAT regime altogether.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance she is providing to sweetshop businesses on VAT applied to freeze-dried products.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Guidance on which types of food are zero-rated and which are standard-rated for VAT purposes can be found in VAT Notice 701/14 Food products on GOV.UK. Confectionery is covered at paragraph 3.6.
Businesses which have read the guidance and are still unsure of the correct VAT treatment of their product can contact HMRC for further support.