Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of pension scheme consolidation on investment in UK private markets.

DWP’s Pension Fund Investment and the UK Economy Report, and the Impact Assessment that supports The Pension Schemes Act 2026, evidence the benefits of how consolidation and scale may be expected to increase investment in UK private markets. These reports evidence how larger pension schemes with over £25bn in assets are best placed to access private markets and that these assets naturally tend to be more UK-focussed, with over a 40% home bias, so have the potential to directly impact the UK economy. The evidence report can be found here: Pension fund investment and the UK economy - GOV.UK and the Impact Assessment here: Impact Assessment.