Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent companies de-listing in London.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We have already delivered an ambitious set of reforms to boost the competitiveness of UK markets including overhauling the Listing Rules, providing more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital. To create a stable regulatory environment, and complementing these reforms, the government is also establishing a 10-year strategy for financial services, with capital markets as a core pillar, which will be published at Mansion House on 15 July 2025.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to increase public and investor confidence in small and mid-sized quoted companies listed in the UK.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We have already delivered an ambitious set of reforms to boost the competitiveness of UK markets, including for small and mid-sized quoted companies. This includes overhauling the Listing Rules, reforming the Prospectus regime to provide more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital and reducing reporting requirements for the smallest companies.
The government also maintains generous tax reliefs for small and mid-sized quoted companies including the Growth Market Exemption which provides relief from Stamp Taxes on Shares for companies on Recognised Growth Markets.
To create a stable regulatory environment, and complementing these reforms, the government is also establishing a 10-year strategy for financial services, which will be published at Mansion House on 15 July 2025.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to implement regulation that increases risk appetite among investors.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We have already delivered an ambitious set of reforms to boost the competitiveness of UK markets, including for small and mid-sized quoted companies. This includes overhauling the Listing Rules, reforming the Prospectus regime to provide more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital and reducing reporting requirements for the smallest companies.
The government also maintains generous tax reliefs for small and mid-sized quoted companies including the Growth Market Exemption which provides relief from Stamp Taxes on Shares for companies on Recognised Growth Markets.
To create a stable regulatory environment, and complementing these reforms, the government is also establishing a 10-year strategy for financial services, which will be published at Mansion House on 15 July 2025.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to recognise the economic contributions of small and mid-sized quoted companies.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We have already delivered an ambitious set of reforms to boost the competitiveness of UK markets, including for small and mid-sized quoted companies. This includes overhauling the Listing Rules, reforming the Prospectus regime to provide more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital and reducing reporting requirements for the smallest companies.
The government also maintains generous tax reliefs for small and mid-sized quoted companies including the Growth Market Exemption which provides relief from Stamp Taxes on Shares for companies on Recognised Growth Markets.
To create a stable regulatory environment, and complementing these reforms, the government is also establishing a 10-year strategy for financial services, which will be published at Mansion House on 15 July 2025.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to incentivise investment in small and mid-sized companies.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government believes that small businesses are vital to the UK’s high streets and communities, and essential to the success of the government’s growth mission.
To support small businesses, the Government announced generous tax reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 including, most notably, more than doubling the employment allowance to £10,500; commitments in the Corporate Tax Roadmap to maintain the Small Profits Rate and marginal relief at their current rates and thresholds; and freezing the small businesses multiplier for 2025/26.
At the Spending Review, we have increased the financial capacity of the British Business Bank to £25.6bn, which will enable a two-thirds increase in support for SMEs across the UK. This investment is expected to crowd in tens of billions of pounds of private capital and will support innovative businesses to start, scale and stay in the UK.
We are also continuing to take measures to tackle late payments, which severely impact the cash flow of small businesses. This year we will be laying requirements for large companies to include information about their payment performance in their Annual Reports and launched the Fair Payment Code. We will also soon be launching a consultation on additional legislative measures to address late payments and long payment terms.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to increase liquidity for small and mid-sized companies.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government believes that small businesses are vital to the UK’s high streets and communities, and essential to the success of the government’s growth mission.
To support small businesses, the Government announced generous tax reforms at Autumn Budget 2024 including, most notably, more than doubling the employment allowance to £10,500; commitments in the Corporate Tax Roadmap to maintain the Small Profits Rate and marginal relief at their current rates and thresholds; and freezing the small businesses multiplier for 2025/26.
At the Spending Review, we have increased the financial capacity of the British Business Bank to £25.6bn, which will enable a two-thirds increase in support for SMEs across the UK. This investment is expected to crowd in tens of billions of pounds of private capital and will support innovative businesses to start, scale and stay in the UK.
We are also continuing to take measures to tackle late payments, which severely impact the cash flow of small businesses. This year we will be laying requirements for large companies to include information about their payment performance in their Annual Reports and launched the Fair Payment Code. We will also soon be launching a consultation on additional legislative measures to address late payments and long payment terms.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the consultation entitled Boiler Upgrade Scheme and certification requirements for clean heat schemes, published on 30 April 2025, whether her Department plans to update the list of Energy Saving Materials to include heat batteries for space heating.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to improving the quality and sustainability of our housing stock. This will be vital to making the UK more energy resilient and meeting our 2050 Net Zero commitment.
Between 30 April and 11 June 2025, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) consulted on changes to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and proposals to mandate the Microgeneration Certification Scheme as the sole certification scheme for all DESNZ clean heat schemes. DESNZ will respond to the consultation in due course.
Installations of qualifying energy-saving materials (ESMs) in residential accommodation and buildings used solely for a charitable purpose benefit from a temporary VAT zero rate until March 2027, after which they will revert to the reduced rate of VAT at five per cent. This support – worth over £1 billion – will aid households and charities in improving the energy efficiency of their buildings.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the time taken for the Financial Ombudsman Service to make final decisions on fractional timeshare finance products on consumers.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. Tackling fraud requires a unified and coordinated response from government, regulators, law enforcement and the private sector to better protect the public and businesses from fraud.
The legislation surrounding the sale of timeshares and credit agreements relating to timeshares provide routes of redress where consumers have been misled.
Firstly, it is an offence under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 for traders to engage in unfair commercial practices which mislead consumers, and it is punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to two years. The Act will also afford rights of redress for consumers.
Regarding the timeshare market specifically, the Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Regulations 2010 provide protections for consumers buying and selling timeshares and other long-term “holiday club” memberships, including provision for consumers to withdraw from their contract.
Consumers are protected from fraud in consumer law. Consumers that believe they have been fraudulently sold timeshare products should raise their concerns with the relevant enforcement authorities.
In cases where a consumer took out a regulated financial product to purchase a timeshare, they may have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if that product was mis-sold.
When complaints are made to the FOS, these should be dealt with in a timely manner. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook, which sets out the rules on how the FOS should handle complaints, states that ‘the ombudsman will attempt to resolve complaints at the earliest possible stage’. Ensuring timely outcomes is one of the FOS’s main priorities for 2025-26 and it has set itself a target to resolve 85 per cent of cases received in the year within 6 months.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to support consumers who have experienced potential (a) mis-selling and (b) fraud on fractional timeshare finance products.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. Tackling fraud requires a unified and coordinated response from government, regulators, law enforcement and the private sector to better protect the public and businesses from fraud.
The legislation surrounding the sale of timeshares and credit agreements relating to timeshares provide routes of redress where consumers have been misled.
Firstly, it is an offence under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 for traders to engage in unfair commercial practices which mislead consumers, and it is punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to two years. The Act will also afford rights of redress for consumers.
Regarding the timeshare market specifically, the Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Regulations 2010 provide protections for consumers buying and selling timeshares and other long-term “holiday club” memberships, including provision for consumers to withdraw from their contract.
Consumers are protected from fraud in consumer law. Consumers that believe they have been fraudulently sold timeshare products should raise their concerns with the relevant enforcement authorities.
In cases where a consumer took out a regulated financial product to purchase a timeshare, they may have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if that product was mis-sold.
When complaints are made to the FOS, these should be dealt with in a timely manner. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook, which sets out the rules on how the FOS should handle complaints, states that ‘the ombudsman will attempt to resolve complaints at the earliest possible stage’. Ensuring timely outcomes is one of the FOS’s main priorities for 2025-26 and it has set itself a target to resolve 85 per cent of cases received in the year within 6 months.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the introduction of low benefit-in-kind rates for electric vehicles on job creation since 2020-21.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Company cars in the UK are subject to an emissions-based regime, which taxes vehicles based on their list price as well as their CO2 emission level. The Government recognises that this regime plays an important role in the electric vehicle transition.
In July 2019, the Government announced new company car tax rates for the tax years 2020 to 2025, which included generous incentives for electric vehicles. These were legislated for as part of the Finance Act 2020. The Government subsequently announced rates for 2025 to 2028 at Autumn Statement 2022, and rates for 2028 to 2030 at Autumn Budget 2024.
Alongside each fiscal event where the changes were announced, an accompanying Tax Information and Impact Note was published setting out expected economic, equalities and other impacts of the new rates. In each of these notes, the rates were not expected to have any significant macroeconomic impacts, such as impacts on GDP and job creation.
At Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced £2 billion of funding to 2030 to support the zero emissions vehicle manufacturing base and supply chain, recognising the value that the industry delivers for the UK and its ongoing transition.