Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to support (a) entrepreneurs and (b) new business starters.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At Autumn Budget 2025, the Government published the Entrepreneurship in the UK Prospectus which emphasises the Government’s commitment to supporting start‑ups and scaling firms through improved access to capital, R&D support, regulatory reform, and procurement changes.
The Government also conducted a Call for Evidence on Tax Support for Entrepreneurs, which closed recently.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to support older people in financial difficulties.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are committed to helping pensioners with the cost of living and ensuring financial security in retirement. The State Pension will remain the foundation of retirement income and, in line with the government’s commitment to the Triple Lock for the duration of this parliament, over 12 million pensioners will benefit from a 4.8% increase to their basic or new State Pension in April 2026, worth up to £575 a year. This follows a substantial increase in 2025/26, when those on the full new State Pension received a £360 boost.
The Government provides Pension Credit for pensioners with low incomes. Pension Credit is an income-related benefit which targets help at the poorest pensioners. The amount a person gets depends on how much income they have each week and how much they have saved or invested.
The Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee will also increase by 4.8% in April 2026, from £227.10 to £238 a week for single pensioners and from £346.60 to £363.25 for couples, protecting the poorest pensioners. Over three quarters of pensioners will benefit from the Winter Fuel Payment for the duration of this Parliament, targeting help at those on lower and middle incomes while ensuring fairness for taxpayers.
Pensioners also benefit from free eye tests, NHS prescriptions and bus passes, and some may qualify for means tested benefits such as Housing Benefit and Cold Weather Payments.
To help with ongoing cost of living pressures, the government will remove around £150 on average off household energy bills across Great Britain from April 2026 and the government is expanding the Warm Home Discount to an additional 2.7 million households, meaning around 6 million low-income households will receive £150 support with their energy bills.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are considering to support the responsible deployment of AI across UK financial services.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, it is our ambition to make the UK ”the world’s most technologically advanced global financial sector”, leveraging our dual strengths in financial services and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive growth, productivity, and deliver consumer benefits, including steps to support safe AI deployment across the sector.
As committed to in the Strategy, the Government has appointed Financial Services AI Champions, Harriet Rees and Rohit Dhawan, who will focus on helping firms seize opportunities of AI while protecting consumers and financial stability.
As part of their work, the AI Champions will engage with stakeholders across the industry, with the regulators and with government to develop recommendations on areas of potential growth for AI in financial services and what action could be taken to seize the opportunities that AI brings.
The Government will carefully consider any recommendations before setting out its next steps, taking into account the benefits of innovation and also ensuring that risks are appropriately considered.
The Government will continue working closely with industry and the regulators to safely capitalise on the opportunities AI presents while protecting consumers and financial stability.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the threats to financial services presented by the cutting of subsea cables or the monitoring of information carried by them.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Strengthening the financial sector’s resilience to threats and hazards of all origins is a key priority for HM Treasury and the financial regulators.
While individual subsea cables are vulnerable to damage, the UK’s international connectivity is resilient, supported by 45 international cables and high‑capacity fibre cables through the Channel tunnel.
However, critical sectors must be prepared for reasonable worst-case disruption. HM Treasury is working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to update the Government’s assessment of how disruption or monitoring of subsea cables could affect financial services. This work will inform response planning and further support a secure, resilient financial sector.
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 of the increased use of AI to drive cost efficiencies in banking for financial stability, competition and consumer outcomes in the financial services sector.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government’s ambition is to make the UK a global leader in AI, leveraging our dual strength in financial services and AI to drive growth, productivity, and consumer benefits. Encouraging safe adoption is an essential part of realising that ambition.
The treatment of customers by UK banks and building societies is governed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), whose independent regulatory powers ensure consumer protection in the financial services sector. The FCA’s Principles for Businesses require firms to provide prompt, efficient, and fair service to all their customers. The FCA’s Consumer Duty requires firms to act in good faith, prevent foreseeable harm, and act in the best interests of consumers.
UK banks are required to comply with relevant laws and regulations that are fundamental to consumer protection. In April 2024, the FCA published an update on its regulatory approach to AI, making it clear that where firms use AI as part of their business operations, they remain responsible for meeting FCA rules. Firms remain fully accountable for outcomes delivered by AI systems.
The FCA is also the regulator responsible for promoting effective competition in the interests of consumers in financial services. The FCA’s 2024 update on its regulatory approach to AI also considers competition risks and the impacts of beneficial innovation on competition in financial services. The FCA also works alongside the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part of the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF), including conducting joint consumer research on generative AI with the CMA.
The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) is responsible for identifying and monitoring risks to UK financial stability. In their April 2025 Financial Stability in Focus publication, they set out the potential benefits and risks to financial stability that could result from AI use in the financial system, HM Treasury continues to work closely with the FPC and UK financial regulators to assess risks to financial stability.
The Government will continue to work with regulators and industry to ensure innovation proceeds safely and responsibly.
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 recent trends in UK tech and fintech investment, and how this is informing their strategy to maintain competitiveness in emerging financial technologies.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In 2025, the sector attracted $3.6 billion of investment - second only to the US. As set out in the Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy (“the Strategy”), the UK aims to be the world’s most technologically advanced global financial centre, and to remain a leading jurisdiction for Fintech firms to start-up, scale and list.
The UK has a long history as a powerhouse of financial services innovation. The Strategy set out a comprehensive package of reforms to maintain the UK’s global leadership in Fintech.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 11 February on the Double Contributions Convention with the Republic of India, HCWS1327, if he will commission an an economic impact assessment on the Double Contributions Convention.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility will certify the impact of the Double Contributions Convention in the usual way at a fiscal event, once it has been ratified.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Explanatory Memorandum on the Double Contributions Convention with the Republic of India, Command Paper No 1513, how much public funding will be required to meet the obligations for managing the treaty.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The project to implement the Double Contributions Convention, including work required by Article 20 to scope and implement a system of electronic information exchange between the UK and India, is still on-going. A full estimate is therefore not available. The system under development will be a step towards the modernisation of international social security processes in HMRC.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many enquiries were opened as a result of data-sharing between HMRC and the DWP to identify when older children claim benefits in their own right; over what timeframe they were opened; and what the outcomes were.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
DWP has long provided HMRC with information where older children receive benefits in their own right. Since 2024, this has been done through notifications of Universal Credit claims, replacing the previous approach which relied on Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support data.
HMRC uses these notifications to stop Child Benefit awards in cases where a young person is receiving benefit in their own right. This prevents dual provision of government support for the same individual. Because the DWP data is notifying HMRC of clear evidence of a benefit award, rather than indicating a risk of this potential, it is approaching 100% effective for addressing this type of error and fraud.
Based on operational management information, which is subject to change, over the last two years HMRC has closed around 3,000 Child Benefit awards following notifications from DWP that the young person was in receipt of Universal Credit.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing businesses to continue paying rates based on the previous year's valuation where a newly determined business rates valuation is under appeal with additional liability payable only if the appeal is unsuccessful.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
If customers disagree with their Rateable Value (as published in the Rating Lists), there is a three-stage process run by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) known as Check, Challenge, Appeal to challenge this.
Ratepayers are required to continue paying business rates based on the current valuation while a case is ongoing.