Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure small and mid-sized quoted companies (a) invest in and (b) are listed in the UK.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK’s capital markets play a key role in delivering on the government’s growth mission. We have already delivered an ambitious set of reforms to make it easier for firms to start, scale, list and stay on UK markets, and capital markets are a core pillar of the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, launched at Mansion House.
The UK is also a hub for growth capital, with UK growth markets providing funding to growing companies from across the world. Over the last 10 years, over half of all capital raised on European growth markets was raised on AIM.
The government maintains a range of targeted tax reliefs for growth market shares, supporting capital raising for listed businesses, and investors in those shares. This supports growth in the broader UK economy.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress of the Financial Conduct Authority in its secondary international competitiveness and growth objective.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since the introduction of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) secondary international competitiveness and growth objective in 2023, the FCA has made meaningful progress in working to further the objective. For example, last year, the FCA consulted on proposals that will reduce reporting requirements for more than 36,000 firms, with expected annual savings of over £28 million. The FCA also recently launched the Scale-Up Unit jointly with the Prudential Regulation Authority, which will make it simpler for scaling firms to get timely responses to regulatory queries and access expert support. This will support entrepreneurs to focus on developing new products, hiring staff, and bringing investment into local economies.
The Government welcomes the two reports the FCA published in 2024 and 2025, and the accompanying metrics, outlining the FCA’s performance against the objective, as well as the letters from the FCA Chief Executive to the Prime Minister in January 2025 and December 2025 to outline progress on almost 50 measures to support growth through financial services regulation.
The Treasury continues to work closely with the FCA to hold it to account and challenge it to go further to support the government’s growth mission while furthering its objectives. This includes through the regular performance reviews the Economic Secretary holds with the FCA Chief Executive, introduced in 2025 as part of the government’s wider Regulation Action Plan.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to limit the period of the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System Sandbox to less than five years.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) Sandbox is due to last five years, until 5 June 2030, with the possibility of extension.
The Treasury is working with the Financial Conduct Authority to monitor outcomes during the lifetime of the sandbox and retains the ability to terminate or make the sandbox arrangements permanent at an earlier stage if appropriate, subject to Parliamentary approval.
In any case, the Treasury is committed to providing transparency, certainty and clear communications to PISCES operators and market participants.
Asked by: Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of increases in the Economic Crime Levy on not-for-profit housing associations.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published its summary of the impacts of the increases to the Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy in the policy paper titled "Economic Crime Levy – changes to bands and charges”. [1]
The Levy was designed with simplicity and proportionality at its core, to limit the administrative burden on regulated entities. Accordingly, it applies to any entity that carries out activity regulated by the Money Laundering Regulations and no entity pays more than 0.1% of its revenue in charges.
A full review of the Levy will be undertaken in 2027.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-levy-changes-to-bands-and-charges/economic-crime-levy-changes-to-bands-and-charges
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data her Department holds on the volumes of imported single-life budget tyres for heavy good vehicles from 1 August 2025 through to 31 December 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK.
Heavy goods vehicle tyres for buses or lorries are classified under commodity code 401120. 401190 would be used for other tyres in this subheading for example motor cars, agricultural and forestry vehicles. However, we are not able to distinguish between single-life budget tyres, and other kinds of tyres within these commodity codes.
HMRC releases imports and exports information monthly, as an Accredited Official Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com).
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what comparative analysis they have undertaken of total visitor costs in the UK versus competitor destinations; and what assessment they have made of the potential impact of an overnight visitor levy on the UK’s relative attractiveness to international tourists.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Visitor levies are common in Europe and the rest of the world. All other G7 countries already have some form of tourism or overnight accommodation levy in place.
On the 26th of November 2025, the Government opened a consultation seeking views on the design of a new Mayoral power to create visitor levies on overnight stays in England. It contained questions on who will be granted this power, which powers will be devolved, the allocation and use of revenue funds, consultation and consent requirements, administration of the levy, its scope and the rate structure. The consultation closed on the 18th of February 2026.
The Government has engaged with the tourism sector through the consultation process. Evidence from international and domestic schemes suggested modest rates have minimal impact on visitor numbers. Mayors will need to decide whether to implement a levy, and, if so, consult on specific proposals. This will inform their decisions regarding whether and how a levy will be applied and how any revenue is invested.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of long-term asset funds (LTAFs) that were available to consumers before the announcement that LTAFs can be held in stocks and shares individual savings accounts from 2026.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants to make sure that those who have the ability to put away money for the long-term can do so, and enabling Long-Term Asset Funds (LTAFs) to be held in Stocks & Shares ISAs aims to enable more people to have access to longer-term investment options.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) publishes details of authorised funds on its website.
Asked by: Lord Altrincham (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill on pension saving behaviour in the private sector; and whether they expect the measures to have a disproportionate effect compared to the public sector.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The OBR set out in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook that they do not expect a material impact on savings behaviour as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes.
This change applies to all employers who use salary sacrifice for pensions, regardless of whether they are public sector or private sector. Many public sector employers are already prohibited from using salary sacrifice for pensions under government rules of "managing Public Money".
Saving into a pension, including through salary sacrifice, remains highly tax advantageous. The Government continues to provide over £70bn of income tax and NICs relief on pension contributions each year.
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice and is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/salary-sacrifice-reform-for-pension-contributions-effective-from-6-april-2029
Asked by: Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have benchmarked the UK’s overall tax burden on visitors against that of other major international tourism markets prior to considering the introduction of an overnight visitor levy.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Visitor levies are common in Europe and the rest of the world. All other G7 countries already have some form of tourism or overnight accommodation levy in place.
On the 26th of November 2025, the Government opened a consultation seeking views on the design of a new Mayoral power to create visitor levies on overnight stays in England. It contained questions on who will be granted this power, which powers will be devolved, the allocation and use of revenue funds, consultation and consent requirements, administration of the levy, its scope and the rate structure. The consultation closed on the 18th of February 2026.
The Government has engaged with the tourism sector through the consultation process. Evidence from international and domestic schemes suggested modest rates have minimal impact on visitor numbers. Mayors will need to decide whether to implement a levy, and, if so, consult on specific proposals. This will inform their decisions regarding whether and how a levy will be applied and how any revenue is invested.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an estimate of the level of import of single-life budget tyres for 2026.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. However, due to the commodity codes used to identify goods being imported or exported, we are not able to distinguish between single-life budget tyres, and other kinds of tyres.
Tyres are classified to several commodity codes within Heading 4011 of the UK Tariff. It is not possible to identify single-life budget tyres within any of the commodity codes found within Heading 4011.
HMRC releases imports and exports information monthly, as an Accredited Official Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com) .
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk