Asked by: Lord Eatwell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportions of UK national debt were owned by (1) UK households, (2) the Bank of England, (3) overseas purchasers, (4) banks and financial houses, and (5) insurance and pension funds, in (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019, (d) 2020, and (e) 2021.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Most of the Government’s debt is in the form of publicly traded bonds (‘gilts’). The data most recently published on the website of the Debt Management Office (DMO) covering the distribution of gilt holdings are set out in the table below:
| UK households | The Bank of England | Overseas holdings | Banks and other financial institutions | Insurance and pension funds |
End-2017 | 0.2% | 24.4% | 27.9% | 16.0% | 31.2% |
End-2018 | 0.2% | 23.8% | 28.3% | 15.8% | 31.5% |
End-2019 | 0.2% | 23.4% | 30.1% | 13.3% | 32.8% |
End-2020 | 0.2% | 31.6% | 28.2% | 12.0% | 27.9% |
Q1 2021 | 0.2% | 32.5% | 27.6% | 11.1% | 28.4% |
Asked by: Lord Eatwell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average duration of UK national debt in (1) 2017, (2) 2018, (3) 2019, (4) 2020, and (5) 2021.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Most of the Government’s debt is in the form of publicly traded bonds (‘gilts’). The average maturity of the stock of total gilts was 15.8 years at both end-December 2017 and end-December 2018, 15.9 years at end-December 2019, and 15.3 years at end-December 2020. By end-July 2021, the average maturity of the stock of total gilts had fallen to 15.2 years.