Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure mortgage availability for people wishing to purchase residential properties that were converted from office space.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The availability and pricing of mortgages is a commercial decision for firms in which the Government does not intervene.
However, the UK benefits from a competitive mortgage market; prospective buyers are encouraged to shop around and speak to a mortgage broker to find the best possible product for their circumstances.
We are also helping buyers who may struggle to save for a large deposit by delivering on our manifesto commitment to a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme. The scheme is permanently available and will help to ensure mortgages are available for first-time buyers and home movers with small deposits across the UK, supporting our mission to boost economic growth across the country and make sure people are better off.
More broadly, in response to the Prime Minister’s and Chancellor’s request for reforms to support growth, the Financial Conduct Authority have launched a major programme of work to refresh its mortgage lending rules, including to support first-time buyers’ access to mortgages. We welcome the actions that the Financial Conduct Authority have already taken as part of this work, including reminding firms of the flexibility available within the stress testing rules which allows lender to offer larger loans to customers, and its Discussion Paper, which is an important step towards putting home ownership within reach of many more.
The Government also welcomes the recent decision of the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England to reform the flow limit, enabling lenders to offer more mortgages at over 4.5 times buyers’ income - helping up to 36,000 more first-time buyers own their own home in the first year.
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 - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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 - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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 - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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 - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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 - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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 - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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 - Chief Secretary to the 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 - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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 - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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.