Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she received representations from Anas Sarwar MSP between 1 July 2025 and 27 November 2025 on the windfall tax on oil and gas companies.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government receives representations from a wide range of stakeholders on the budget, including those from Scottish Labour.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what correspondence she has received from Anas Sarwar MSP between 1 July 2025 and 26 November 2025 on (a) the Budget and (b) the decision to allocate £820 million to the Scottish Government over the Spending review period through the Barnett formula.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government listens to a wide range of representations to help shape the Budget, including those from Scottish Labour.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Budget Statement of 26 November 2025, what was the evidential basis for the decision to allocate £820 million to the Scottish Government over the Spending review period through the Barnett formula.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The additional funding referenced is a result of the operation of the Barnett formula based on the decisions taken at the Autumn Budget.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when her Department plans to bring forward the secondary legislation required under the Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 to enact provisions around further alignment with Companies Law on execution of documents and use of common seals.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to supporting the growth of building societies in line with the manifesto commitment to double the size of the mutual and co-operative sector. As part of this, the government is committed to ensuring that building societies can operate in a modern and supportive legislative environment.
On 14 October 2024, the government introduced two statutory instruments to modernise the 1986 Act. The Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment of Small Business Turnover Limit) Order 2024 came into force on 4 November 2024 and the Building Societies Act 1986 (Modifications) Order 2024 came into force on 6 January 2025.
The government will look to give effect to the powers enabled through the Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 in due course.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when her Department plans to bring forward the secondary legislation required under the Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 to enact provisions around the disapplication of the wholesale funding limit for funds held for prudential purposes.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to supporting the growth of building societies in line with the manifesto commitment to double the size of the mutual and co-operative sector. As part of this, the government is committed to ensuring that building societies can operate in a modern and supportive legislative environment.
On 14 October 2024, the government introduced two statutory instruments to modernise the 1986 Act. The Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment of Small Business Turnover Limit) Order 2024 came into force on 4 November 2024 and the Building Societies Act 1986 (Modifications) Order 2024 came into force on 6 January 2025.
The government will look to give effect to the powers enabled through the Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 in due course.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the impact of fully implementing the provisions of the Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 via secondary legislation on (a) new lending capacity and (b) economic growth.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to supporting the growth of building societies in line with the manifesto commitment to double the size of the mutual and co-operative sector. As part of this, the government is committed to ensuring that building societies can operate in a modern and supportive legislative environment.
On 14 October 2024, the government introduced two statutory instruments to modernise the 1986 Act. The Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment of Small Business Turnover Limit) Order 2024 came into force on 4 November 2024 and the Building Societies Act 1986 (Modifications) Order 2024 came into force on 6 January 2025.
The government will look to give effect to the powers enabled through the Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Act 2024 in due course.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when her Department plans to respond to the consultation on the Oil and gas price mechanism, which closed on 28 May 2025.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government is committed to providing long-term certainty to the oil and gas sector over the future fiscal regime. That is why the Oil and Gas Price Mechanism consultation, published on 5 March 2025, explored proposals for how the tax system should respond to unusually high prices after the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) ends in March 2030 (or sooner if the Energy Security Investment Mechanism or ESIM is triggered).
As the consultation window is now closed, responses from stakeholders are being reviewed. Next steps will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications posts there are in her Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In the central HM Treasury communications team, there are a total of 40.9 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.
Of this total, 19 work in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities.
This is the latest available centrally collected data from June 2024.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish a list of all media publishers that received funding from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC’s legal duty of confidentiality applies to information about specific Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) claims.
A Ministerial Direction allowed HMRC to publish information about employer furlough claims from December 2020.
The Ministerial Direction only allowed HMRC to have this data published for a length of 12 months, so HMRC can no longer publish information on employers who received funding from the CJRS from December 2020 to September 2021, when the scheme closed.