Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department considered instructing the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate Safe Hands Funeral Plans in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

The Treasury and FCA have worked closely throughout the process of bringing the funeral plans sector into regulation, as well as during the implementation and onset of the new regulatory framework.

However, the FCA is one of the independent regulators responsible for supervising the financial services industry. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, it has strictly limited powers in relation to the FCA.

In particular, the Treasury has no general power of direction over the FCA and cannot intervene in individual cases.