Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has assessed the risks associated with holdings of United States Treasury securities; and what steps she is taking to manage prudential financial risk in relation to those holdings.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury works closely with the UK’s independent financial regulators, including the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority, to monitor risks to the UK financial system.
The results from the latest Bank of England Bank Capital Stress Tests from December 2025, indicate that major UK banks have the capacity to continue to support the economy through a stress scenario that incorporated a severe global aggregate supply shock, high advanced-economy inflation, higher global interest rates, deep and simultaneous recessions in the UK and global economies, with materially higher unemployment, and sharp falls in asset prices.
These results support the FPC’s judgement that banks’ current levels of capital are sufficient to support the real economy, even if economic, financial and business conditions became substantially worse than expected.
The Bank of England’s 2024 System Wide Exploratory Scenario also showed the system has an improved ability to absorb large price swings in assets, including sovereign bonds.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how government departments, regulators and local authorities are coordinating to help tackle the mental health impacts of debt, including monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of initiatives such as Breathing Space.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting people experiencing financial difficulties and help them get their finances back on track. Through the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), which is based in Bedford, we fund a range of national and community-based debt advice services in England, so that people can get the support they need.
In recognition of the link between mental health and financial difficulty, the Government’s recently published Financial Inclusion Strategy considered mental health as a core theme across its interventions. The Strategy sets out a package of measures to improve access to financial services, including a dedicated focus on tackling problem debt which can be a particular challenge for those experiencing mental health difficulties. As part of the Strategy, over £100 million has been allocated to MaPS for 2025-26 to expand access to high-quality debt advice, an increase of over 10%.
Through the Strategy, the Government also announced that HM Treasury will work with the Department for Communities to explore options for extending the Breathing Space Scheme to Northern Ireland. The Scheme provides a 60-day respite from creditor enforcement action to allow people to engage with debt advice. Eligible debtors who are receiving mental health crisis treatment can also access a Mental Health Crisis Breathing Space (MHCBS) which lasts for the duration of their crisis treatment. The Scheme provides valuable support to individuals in problem debt, and the Government continues to monitor its operation to ensure it remains a useful and effective tool.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to improve public awareness of and regulate high-cost credit.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Lenders offering high-cost credit are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This oversight ensures that lending practices are fair and that consumers are protected.
In 2013 the Government placed a duty on the FCA to implement a price cap for high-cost short-term credit products. The price cap came into force in 2015 and ensures that consumers using these products will never repay more than 100% of the principal in interest, fees, and other charges.
Lenders are also required to follow the FCA’s rules on promotions and adverts, where non-compliance could lead to fines. The FCA requires that all adverts and other promotions must be clear, fair, and not misleading.
The Government is also taking steps to improve financial literacy and awareness across the population... As part of the Financial Inclusion Strategy, the Government announced plans to make financial education compulsory in primary schools in England through a new statutory requirement to teach citizenship, alongside a renewed emphasis on the subject in secondary schools in the subjects of mathematics and citizenship. These measures aim to equip young people with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate an increasingly complex financial landscape and make informed decisions throughout their lives.
More widely, the Financial Inclusion Strategy recognises the useful role of responsible credit in helping households manage their cashflow and meet unexpected costs. The Strategy includes measures to support people’s access to responsible credit, including support for community finance providers, like credit unions.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority on the regulation of financial promotion content on social media linked to so-called pump-and-dump investment schemes; and what steps her Department is taking to protect consumers from misleading online investment advice.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK has a robust regime for identifying and tackling market abuse. It provides the FCA the ability to impose both criminal and regulatory sanctions against perpetrators of market manipulation and insider dealing.
The UK’s financial promotions regime is designed to ensure that consumers are provided with clear and accurate information that enables them to make appropriate decisions for their individual circumstances. As a technology-neutral framework, the regime holds financial promotions on social media to the same standards as those on any other channel. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are responsible for enforcing against any financial promotions that are illegal or which do not comply with its rules.
The provision of financial advice is an FCA regulated activity and those who provide financial advice need to be authorised by the FCA and have the appropriate qualifications. The FCA can take action against firms or individuals who carry out regulated activity without authorisation. Earlier this year, the FCA led a global week of action against unlawful finfluencers resulting in 650 take down requests on social media platforms in the UK.
The government is committed to ensuring that all consumers can access regulated and high-quality sources of advice and support. That is why, together with the FCA, we are developing a new regime called targeted support. This will enable regulated financial services firms to provide more support to give people the confidence to invest.
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), an arm’s length body of the government, also provides comprehensive guidance to support consumers at every stage of their financial lives. Its MoneyHelper website offers information on a wide range of financial topics, including how to assess online and app-based investments, whether to trust investment recommendations on social media, and the risks of following unauthorised financial advice found online.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) the Financial Conduct Authority and (b) representatives of the insurance industry on the (i) availability and (ii) affordability of home insurance policies that provide cover for domestic air-to-water heat pumps; and what steps she is taking to ensure that households adopting low-carbon heating technologies have access to adequate insurance protection.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury Ministers and officials have regular meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors on an ongoing basis.
Insurers make commercial decisions about the terms on which they will offer cover following an assessment of the relevant risks. This is usually informed by the insurer’s claims experience and other industry-wide statistics. The Government does not usually intervene in these decisions.
However, the Government is committed to ensuring that insurers treat their customers fairly and insurance companies are required to do so under the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) rules.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an estimate of the potential revenue raised by removing the 2 percent NI on earnings over the threshold and charging a flat rate of 8 percent.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The impact of raising the additional rate of employee National Insurance Contributions (NICs) by 6 percentage points to 8 percent has not been directly evaluated.
The impact of a 1 percentage point increase in the additional rate of employee NICs has been published. HMRC regularly publish statistics relating to the direct effects of illustrative tax changes, including changes to NICs rates in section 9. The most recent version of this publication can be found on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/direct-effects-of-illustrative-tax-changes
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of developing an investment programme in cryptocurrency.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The UK’s foreign currency assets are held in the Exchange Equalisation Account. These assets are managed in line with the following investment principles:
More detail on how the official reserves are managed can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/management-of-the-official-reserves--2
Given this, HM Treasury has no plans to adopt an investment programme in crypto assets.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of changing the terms of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to (a) protect savers when (i) banks and (ii) building societies merge and (b) increase the level of protection for accounts that originated under separate banking licences.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) carries out its deposit protection function within rules set by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). Under PRA rules, customer deposits held by authorised banks, building societies and credit unions in UK establishments are protected by the FSCS up to £85,000 per person, per banking licence. Under PRA rules, if there is a merger, the relevant firm must normally inform depositors at least one month before it takes effect. They must then give depositors three months to withdraw or transfer any deposit balances above the FSCS compensation limit without incurring penalties.
The PRA is required to review the deposit protection limit every five years, with the next review due to occur by 2025.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the waiting time for HMRC complaints.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC is committed to delivering performance improvements to complaints handling and response times for its customers. The number of new complaints awaiting response is at its lowest level since May 2021. Average response times remain higher than HMRC would like, but long-term measures are being put in place to address this.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to reform the funding of the free-to-use ATM network..
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The government recognises that while the transition towards digital payments brings many opportunities, cash continues to be used by many people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.
The government is currently legislating to protect access to cash across the UK as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill 2022. The Bill establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities. As amended, the Bill requires the FCA to seek to ensure that there is reasonable provision of free withdrawal and deposit facilities for personal current accounts with relevant providers.
ATMs play an important role in the availability of cash withdrawal facilities. Decisions regarding the operation and funding arrangements of an ATM network are taken by the parties involved. LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has made commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK publishes information on the number of protected ATMs monthly, and ATMs can be suggested for protected status via LINK’s website: https://www.link.co.uk/consumers/request-access-to-cash/suggest-an-atm-for-protected-status/
According to LINK data for March 2023, there were around 39,000 free-to-use ATMs across the UK, including 87 free-to-use ATMs in the constituency of Bedford. Further information is available at: https://www.link.co.uk/initiatives/financial-inclusion-monthly-report/