Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with his USA counterpart under the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future on mutual recognition of UK and US cryptoasset firms, aligned disclosure standards, and ensuring that decentralised protocols are not regulated as financial infrastructure.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future was established by HM Treasury and the US Treasury on 22 September.
Its purpose is to bring the world’s leading financial centres together to develop concrete policy options and recommendations on further financial market innovation, with a particular focus on digital assets and capital markets. Innovation in these industries will be central to the government’s mission for economic growth.
Further details can be found here: Boosting collaboration between UK and US financial systems to drive innovation and growth in global markets - GOV.UK
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to use the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future to deepen engagement with United States’ regulators following the finalisation of the GENIUS Act, to support regulatory alignment on cross border stablecoins.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future was established by HM Treasury and the US Treasury on 22 September.
Its purpose is to bring the world’s leading financial centres together to develop concrete policy options and recommendations on further financial market innovation, with a particular focus on digital assets and capital markets. Innovation in these industries will be central to the government’s mission for economic growth.
Further details can be found here: Boosting collaboration between UK and US financial systems to drive innovation and growth in global markets - GOV.UK
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future is being used to develop a joint UK-US approach to tokenisation, including cross-border access to tokenised securities and aligned rules for capital, disclosure and decentralised wallets.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future was established by HM Treasury and the US Treasury on 22 September.
Its purpose is to bring the world’s leading financial centres together to develop concrete policy options and recommendations on further financial market innovation, with a particular focus on digital assets and capital markets. Innovation in these industries will be central to the government’s mission for economic growth.
Further details can be found here: Boosting collaboration between UK and US financial systems to drive innovation and growth in global markets - GOV.UK
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2025 to Question 61158, whether she plans to publish the statutory instrument on open banking in the first quarter of 2026.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The National Payments Vision, published in November, set out the government’s ambitious plans for the next phase of Open Banking, building on the UK’s leadership in this area. This includes steps towards delivering seamless, Open Banking enabled, account-to-account payments.
The government intends to use powers in the ‘Data (Use and Access) Act’ to put in place a long-term regulatory framework for Open Banking and is working at pace to deliver this.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Oral Statement on 11 November 2025 entitled Pensions, if he will publish the research findings from the Department's 2007 evaluation on the effectiveness of automatic pension forecast letters.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Report no.447 “Evaluation of Automatic State Pension Forecasts” is publicly available and can be accessed at:
As confirmed in the Written Statement made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 11 November, a copy of DWP Research Report no.447 “Evaluation of Automatic State Pension Forecasts” has also been deposited in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Oral Statement on 11 November 2025 entitled Pensions, whether the 2007 report on the effectiveness of automatic pension forecast letters is the one referenced in the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report entitled Women's State Pension Age: our findings on the Department for Work and Pension's communication of changes.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s reports titled “Women’s State Pension age: our findings on the Department for Work and Pensions’ communication of changes”, published 19 July 2021, and “Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues”, published 21 March 2024, both refer to findings from DWP’s ‘Evaluation of Automatic Pension Forecast’ research.
In retaking the decision, we will review the evidence from DWP’s ‘Evaluation of Automatic Pension Forecasts’ Research Report, no.447 alongside evidence previously considered. The process to retake the decision has already begun.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the 2007 report on the effectiveness of automatic pension forecast letters is the one referenced in the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report entitled Women's State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s reports titled “Women’s State Pension age: our findings on the Department for Work and Pensions’ communication of changes”, published 19 July 2021, and “Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues”, published 21 March 2024, both refer to findings from DWP’s ‘Evaluation of Automatic Pension Forecast’ research.
In retaking the decision, we will review the evidence from DWP’s ‘Evaluation of Automatic Pension Forecasts’ Research Report, no.447 alongside evidence previously considered. The process to retake the decision has already begun.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners receive the full state pension as their only income.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department does not hold readily available information to identify how many pensioners receive the full State Pension as their only income. Information is, however, available from Departmental survey data which shows, in 2023/24, around 1.1m pensioner families in the UK received the State Pension and other state benefits as their only source of income. This information is published in the Pensioner Incomes series.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she considered including an assessment of the potential impact of paragraph 4.167 State Pension and Simple Assessment of the Budget 2025, published in November 2025, on costs to the public purse within the Budget 2025 document.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the Chancellor has said, over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.
As announced at the Budget, the government will ease the administrative burden for pensioners whose sole income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments so that they do not have to pay small amounts of tax via Simple Assessment from 2027-28.
The government will set out more detail next year.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Section 4.167 of the Autumn Budget 2025, when her Department plans to publish the solution ensuring that pensioners who only receive the state pension will not (a) have to fill out a tax return and (b) pay income tax.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the Chancellor has said, over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.
As announced at the Budget, the government will ease the administrative burden for pensioners whose sole income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments so that they do not have to pay small amounts of tax via Simple Assessment from 2027-28.
The government will set out more detail next year.