Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including logistics transport infrastructure in the National Wealth Fund’s five-year strategic plan.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Transport is one of the National Wealth Fund’s priority sectors.
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 contribution of fintech lending platforms to improving access to working capital for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is a world leader in Fintech, and attracted $3.6 billion of investment in 2025, second only to the US. The Government is committed to making the UK the world’s most technologically advanced global financial centre, and remaining a leading jurisdiction for fintech firms to start-up, scale and list.
Fintechs and specialist banks are an essential part of the UK's credit landscape, including access to working capital. The share of total nominal gross bank lending to SMEs by challenger and specialist banks in 2024 was 60 per cent.
Business models and financial technology have also evolved substantially, with more competition both for business banking and credit provision, increasing the options available to small and medium-sized enterprises to invest in and grow their businesses.
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 implications for employment law, taxation and consumer protection of workers being paid in stablecoins or other digital assets.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Income Tax, National Insurance Contributions and PAYE rules for non-money earnings apply to stablecoins and other cryptoassets in the same way as other assets. HMRC has set out guidance explaining how tax rules apply to employment earnings in the form of cryptoassets.
As the market for cryptoassets evolves, the Government will continue to keep the tax framework under review.
The Government has also introduced a new financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets which will raise standards, strengthen consumer protection, and address market abuse.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 20 February 2026 to Question 111691 on Valuation Office Agency: Conference, what the cost was of Valuation Office Agency attendance at each of those international conferences.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The VOA attends a small number of overseas conferences which are an important part of sharing expertise, innovation and best practice.
The cost of Valuation Office Agency attendance at the five international conferences is set out in the table below. This includes the cost of tickets, flights, accommodation and other travel expenses.
Event | Number of attendees | Total |
Aug 2024 IAAO Conference, Denver | 3 | £7,655 |
Oct 2024 COVA Conference, Dublin | 25 | £25,329 |
Dec 2024, International Research Symposium, IAAO, Amsterdam | 2 | £1,402 |
Mar 2025, IAAO GIS Valuation Technologies Conference, Columbus, Ohio | 1 | £425 |
Sep 2025 IPTI Halifax, Nova Scotia | 10 | £11,743 |
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the level of international competitiveness of the Video Games Expenditure Credit; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the (a) tax credit and (b) cap of total core expenditure to 100%.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of the creative industries, including the contribution made by the UK’s video games sector to growth and innovation. We support the sector through the tax system and through funding, and this is a very competitive offer internationally.
Video games companies benefit from the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC), which provides a generous tax credit of 34 per cent on UK video games development costs. Some countries offering higher refundable rates but with tighter caps or narrower qualifying expenditure, while the UK’s approach provides a predictable and scalable form of support across a broad base of development costs.
Tax support sits alongside the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s new £30 million Games Growth package, designed to back the next generation of start‑up studios and talent and attract further inward investment.
The Government keeps the whole tax system under review to ensure it remains effective, targeted and delivers value for money.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to monitor the proposed involvement of UK listed firms in a takeover of Eurasian Resources Group to ensure no benefit to sanctioned Russian entities.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Russia regulations prohibit the making available of funds or economic resources to a designated person without a licence. They also prohibit the provision of certain services to designated persons and persons connected with Russia.
UK financial sanctions apply to all persons within the territory and territorial sea of the UK and to all UK persons, wherever they are in the world.
OFSI assesses every instance of reported non-compliance and takes action in all cases where we conclude a breach has occurred.
For serious breaches, OFSI may impose a civil monetary penalty. OFSI may also refer suspected criminal activities to law enforcement partners for investigation.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed reforms on consumers in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
On Monday 16 March, the government published a response to its consultation on reforming the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), confirming that the government will legislate to stop the FOS acting as a quasi-regulator and provide greater coherence with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The reforms will return the FOS to its original role as a simple, impartial dispute resolution service which will enable it to focus on its core purpose of dealing with individual complaints against financial services firms quickly and effectively. The introduction of an absolute time limit and changes to the handling of mass redress events will reduce the number of cases the FOS considers and ensure that complex cross-cutting or historic issues are dealt with appropriately. Together, these reforms should improve complaint resolution times for cases handled by the FOS.
The reforms will benefit both consumers and firms by improving the consistency and predictability of FOS determinations and providing greater certainty for consumers and financial services firms.
This is expected to particularly support small financial services firms who have complaints against them referred to the FOS. The new thematic reports being introduced will make it easier for firms to draw relevant lessons from FOS determinations, which should support improved complaint handling and result in fewer complaints being referred to the FOS. And the new absolute time limit from bringing complaints to the FOS will benefit by being better able to assess potential historic liabilities. Some smaller financial services firms may also be eligible to bring complaints to the FOS themselves, and would also benefit as a complainant.
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 level of competition within the UK’s retail payments market, particularly in relation to international card schemes; and what steps they are taking to support the development of competitive domestic payment infrastructure.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK has a diverse and competitive retail payments ecosystem, with a significant number of entrants into the sector in recent years.
The UK nonetheless remains a heavily card-based market. The Government recognises that greater choice in how to make and receive payments is likely to increase innovation and downward competitive pressure on the cost of payments.
In the National Payments Vision the government set out its ambition for account-to-account payments to be developed as a ubiquitous payment method – enabling consumers to pay digitally for goods and services in shops and online, without using a card. A new Retail Payments Infrastructure Board, chaired by the Bank of England and with representation from across the payments ecosystem, is currently working to design the UK’s future retail payments infrastructure in line with the government’s vision.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the customs delays affecting the export consignments from Magload Ltd with (a) DHL tracking number 6480575743 and (b) UPS tracking number 1ZE461190495384661; and whether she plans to take steps to ensure these consignments are reviewed and processed.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information relating to identifiable taxpayers is protected by taxpayer confidentiality under the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005, and HMRC is therefore unable to disclose it. HMRC does not provide specific details regarding checks as to do so could undermine compliance activity.
HMRC takes a risk-based and intelligence-led approach to customs enforcement. HMRC understands the importance of consumers receiving their consignments on time and has robust procedures alongside Border Force to help maintain the flow, whilst ensuring risks are managed.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Reform UK - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC has identified any outstanding documentation, compliance concerns, or risk‑based triggers relating to the export consignments from Magload Ltd with (a) DHL tracking number 6480575743 and (b) UPS tracking number 1ZE461190495384661.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information relating to identifiable taxpayers is protected by taxpayer confidentiality under the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005, and HMRC is therefore unable to disclose it. HMRC does not provide specific details regarding checks as to do so could undermine compliance activity.
HMRC takes a risk-based and intelligence-led approach to customs enforcement. HMRC understands the importance of consumers receiving their consignments on time and has robust procedures alongside Border Force to help maintain the flow, whilst ensuring risks are managed.