Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks to financial stability arising from increased equity valuations linked to artificial-intelligence companies.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government does not comment on individual market moves.
The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) is responsible for identifying and monitoring risks to UK financial stability. Their latest Record (October 2025) sets out their views on the financial stability outlook, including their assessment of risks related to artificial-intelligence company valuations.
HM Treasury continues to work closely with the FPC and UK financial regulators to assess risks to financial stability, including those relating to financial markets.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on the current real terms value of their capital borrowing powers as compared with their real terms value when they were introduced.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury ministers regularly engage with their Welsh Government counterparts, including through forums such as the Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee (F:ISC), to discuss a range of issues affecting Wales.
We remain committed to working in partnership with the Welsh Government to ensure the smooth delivery of their funding settlement.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposal from The Share Foundation for automatic release of Child Trust Funds at 21 years old.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is aware of suggestions that a system could be developed for paying out the savings held in matured Child Trust Fund (CTF) accounts that have not been accessed by the account owners by the age of 21.
The savings in these accounts belong to the account owners and are held by private sector CTF providers. The government does not have authority to close the accounts or to access and transfer the savings in them. The infrastructure required to implement the proposal does not currently exist within government departments or CTF providers.
The Government is committed to reuniting all young adults with their CTFs. HMRC works with CTF providers, industry representatives and others such as the University and Colleges Admissions service, to explore ways of enabling account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts.
Asked by: Llinos Medi (Plaid Cymru - Ynys Môn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 28 March 2025 to question 41189, how many private businesses based in Wales paid (a) lease and (b) royalties fees to the Crown Estate in 2024-25.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
This information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The Crown Estate will provide separate reporting for Wales in its 2025-26 annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Llinos Medi (Plaid Cymru - Ynys Môn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate she has made of the number of jobs to be created through the first phase of the Floating Offshore Wind Programme in the Celtic Sea; and how many of these will be in Wales.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As part of the tender process for Offshore Wind Leasing Round 5, bidders were required to set out plans for creating onshore benefits from the development of the new wind farms. This included committing to creating new apprenticeships, and supporting those currently not in education, employment or training.
Research commissioned by The Crown Estate found that across the UK up to 5,300 new jobs and up to £1.4 billion could be generated for the economy by galvanising the supply chain and infrastructure opportunities arising from the development of these new floating wind farms off the coast of South Wales and Southwest England.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the (a) volume and (b) value of goods imported to the UK from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the last 12 months.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government’s position is that Israeli settlements in Palestine (formerly referred to as the Occupied Palestinian Territories) are illegal under international law. For trade statistics purposes Palestine consists of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as an accredited official statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (https://www.uktradeinfo.com/).
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Treasury has estimated the economic cost of outages on hyperscale cloud providers, and whether such risks are factored into national digital resilience planning.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government monitors systemic risks to UK critical national infrastructure, including resilience measures and contingency planning, including cloud providers.
The Government recognises the importance of robust protections for the services essential to our society and economy. That is why we introduced the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill on 12 November. The Bill will make sure more types of essential and digital services adhere to robust cyber security practices.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions has a Director for Northern Ireland of the National Wealth Fund met with the NI Executive in the past twelve months to discuss how the fund can help promote economic growth in Northern Ireland.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The National Wealth Fund works collaboratively with the Northern Ireland Executive to identify investment opportunities in Northern Ireland. It has a dedicated director based in Northern Ireland and opened a Belfast office in December 2024.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department was involved in the development of the Electric Car Grant.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Government policy is developed and agreed through the collective agreement process, with His Majesty’s Treasury responsible for scrutinising public spending to ensure value for money.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of businesses closing and vanishing from high streets on councils seeking payment of business rate liabilities.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Business rates are an important source of funding for services local Government provides. A fair business rates system is one in which everyone pays their share
As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, the Government will introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026/27. This permanent tax cut will ensure that eligible RHL properties benefit from much-needed certainty and support.
Ahead of the new multipliers being introduced, the Government prevented RHL business rates relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business.