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Written Question
Mortgages: Reviews
Monday 5th September 2022

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is responsible for the comprehensive review of the mortgage market announced by the Prime Minister on 9 June; and when that review will be published.

Answered by Richard Fuller

The Government is committed to helping as many first-time buyers as possible onto the housing ladder, and we continue to work to understand what more can be done in this area.

The Prime Minister announced in June a package of policy measures designed to boost home ownership, which included looking at the mortgage market to understand its role in supporting first-time buyers. Working jointly with the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, we are examining how to take this work forward.


Written Question
Net Zero Review
Monday 28th June 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2021 to Question 3084 on Net Zero Review, when he plans to publish the final report of his Department’s Net Zero Review.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

HM Treasury’s Net Zero Review final report will be published in due course, and in advance of COP26.

It will be an analytical report that uses existing data to explore the key issues and trade-offs as the UK decarbonises. Against a backdrop of significant uncertainty on technology and costs, as well as changes to the economy over the next 30 years, it focuses on the potential exposure of households and sectors to the transition, and highlights factors to be taken into account in designing policy that will allocate costs over this time horizon. In line with the Review’s terms of reference, the report will not include policy recommendations.

The Review forms part of a cross-government effort to support the UK’s transition to net zero. The government’s Net Zero Strategy will be published later this year.


Written Question
Financial Services: Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Monday 21st June 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with representatives of financial services companies on reducing global greenhouse gas emissions from projects and companies financed and underwritten by those companies in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Input from stakeholders is a valuable part of the policy making process, ensuring government and the private sector can work together to effectively address challenges such as net zero and driving economic growth across the UK. HMT is keen to engage with industry on the Chancellor’s vision for the future of financial services, of which green finance is a key pillar. The Chancellor holds regular discussions with industry to discuss this. For example, recently the Prime Minister alongside the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England hosted a virtual roundtable with financial services leaders in advance of the Chancellor’s annual Mansion House speech.


Written Question
Fossil Fuels: Insurance
Monday 21st June 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with representatives of (a) insurers in the Lloyd’s of London market and (b) other insurers on insuring fossil fuel projects in the UK and overseas that do not support the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Input from stakeholders is a valuable part of the policy making process, ensuring government and the private sector can work together to effectively address challenges such as net zero and driving economic growth across the UK. HMT is keen to engage with industry on the Chancellor’s vision for the future of financial services, of which green finance is a key pillar. The Chancellor holds regular discussions with industry to discuss this. For example, recently the Prime Minister alongside the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England hosted a virtual roundtable with financial services leaders in advance of the Chancellor’s annual Mansion House speech.


Written Question
Business: Carbon Emissions
Monday 21st June 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of (a) insurers in the Lloyd’s of London market and (b) other insurers on aligning their business objectives with the UK’s net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target in the Climate Change Act 2008.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Input from stakeholders is a valuable part of the policy making process, ensuring government and the private sector can work together to effectively address challenges such as net zero and driving economic growth across the UK. HMT is keen to engage with industry on the Chancellor’s vision for the future of financial services, of which green finance is a key pillar. The Chancellor holds regular discussions with industry to discuss this. For example, recently the Prime Minister alongside the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England hosted a virtual roundtable with financial services leaders in advance of the Chancellor’s annual Mansion House speech.


Written Question
Financial Services: Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Friday 28th May 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the global emissions footprint of the UK financial sector.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The UK follows the agreed international approach for estimating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is for countries to report emissions produced within their territories. All UK domestic and international GHG emissions reductions targets, including our Net Zero commitment, are based on these territorial emissions.

The UK was the first major economy to commit to Net Zero by 2050, and to achieve that ambition, we want to ensure that every financial decision takes climate change into account. This will require a drastic increase in the quantity, quality and comparability of climate-related disclosures.

That is why, in November 2020, the Chancellor announced the UK’s intention to make disclosures in line with the recommendations of the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures mandatory in the UK across the economy, including the financial services sector, by 2025. This commitment is world-leading and significant progress towards achieving our ambition, including new requirements for premium-listed firms to disclose their Greenhouse Gas emissions, has already been made.

We have also committed to implementing a green taxonomy that will establish a common definition for ’sustainable economic activities’ and improve understanding around the impact of firms’ activities and investments on the environment.

Together, these measures will ensure that firms across the whole economy are disclosing robust and comparable climate and sustainability-related information that is decision-useful for investors. This will help close the sustainability data gap, as well as preventing greenwashing and supporting the greening of the UK economy.


Written Question
Net Zero Review
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish the final report of his Department’s Net Zero Review.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

HM Treasury’s Net Zero Review final report will be published this spring.


Written Question
Climate Change Convention: Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to direct the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority to discharge their functions consistently with the goals of the (a) Paris Agreement and (b) global greenhouse gas emissions reductions required to meet those goals.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Chancellor sent letters of recommendations to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Committee on 23 March 2021. These letters make recommendations about aspects of the government’s economic policy that the two organisations should have regard to when considering how to advance their objectives and discharge their duties. For the first time, these letters specified that the regulators should have regard to the government’s commitment to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050 under the Climate Change Act 2008 (Order 2019).

However, it is important to note that both the FCA and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are operationally independent, non-governmental bodies. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, it has strictly limited powers in relation to the FCA and PRA. In particular, the Treasury has no general power of direction over the FCA and PRA.


Written Question
Climate Change Convention: Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is Government policy for the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority to discharge their functions consistently with the goals of the (a) Paris Agreement and (b) global greenhouse gas emissions reductions required to meet those goals.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Chancellor sent letters of recommendations to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Committee on 23 March 2021. These letters make recommendations about aspects of the government’s economic policy that the two organisations should have regard to when considering how to advance their objectives and discharge their duties. For the first time, these letters specified that the regulators should have regard to the government’s commitment to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050 under the Climate Change Act 2008 (Order 2019).

However, it is important to note that both the FCA and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are operationally independent, non-governmental bodies. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, it has strictly limited powers in relation to the FCA and PRA. In particular, the Treasury has no general power of direction over the FCA and PRA.


Written Question
Financial Institutions: Carbon Emissions
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the report by the Advisory Group on Finance for the Climate Change Committee entitled The road to net-zero finance, published in December 2020, whether he plans to take steps to implement the recommendation in that report that net-zero greenhouse gas targets should be made mandatory for financial institutions.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

In a Statement to the House of Commons in November 2020, the Chancellor set out his vision for the financial services sector for an open, green, and technologically advanced sector acting in the interests of communities and citizens across the UK, creating jobs, supporting businesses, and powering growth as we direct all our energies towards economic recovery.

In November 2020 we became the first country in the world to announce our intention to make TCFD-aligned disclosures fully mandatory across the UK economy. Concurrently, the Chancellor announced that the UK would create a green taxonomy to help companies and investors determine which activities are sustainable. Both policies will facilitate transition finance and prevent greenwashing.