Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) projects and (b) programmes have been added to the Government Major Projects Portfolio since 5 July 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Projects and programmes joining after 5th July 2024 and before end of March 2025 are included in the annual report 24/25. Any projects and programmes joining after March 2025 will be published in Summer 2026 in the annual report 25/26.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress she has made on making the UK the world’s most innovative full-service financial centre.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy on 15 July, which sets out the Government’s ten-year plan to make the UK the global location of choice for financial services firms to invest, grow and sell their services throughout the UK and to the world. As part of this, the Government announced the most wide-ranging package of reforms to financial services regulation in over a decade.
Following publication, HM Treasury has been working with partners to deliver the reforms at pace. The Department for Business and Trade has published its first quarterly update on delivery of the Industrial Strategy. In relation to financial services, it confirms that the Office for Investment: Financial Services announced in the Strategy has now been launched to guide and support international investors looking to establish or grow a presence in the UK’s financial services sector. In September, the Chancellor and US Secretary to the Treasury established the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future, to drive innovation and growth in global markets including capital markets digital assets and other innovative financial activities.
Working with industry and the regulators, the government will continue to prioritise delivery of the wide-ranging reform programme set out in the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress she has made on reducing regulation for FinTech firms.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, part of the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, delivers on the Government’s mission to shape a regulatory environment for financial services that is proportionate, predictable and internationally competitive, embracing innovation and leveraging the UK’s Fintech leadership.
For example, the Strategy committed to make it quicker and easier for new firms to achieve regulatory authorisation, allowing them to conduct limited regulated activities with streamlined conditions, as well as the launch of the FCA and PRA’s Scale-Up Unit to enhance engagement with fast-growing, innovative regulated firms.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress she has made on enabling FinTechs to list on the stock market.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has delivered an ambitious programme of reforms to make it easier for all firms, including fintechs, to list and raise capital on UK markets. This includes overhauling the Prospectus regime and Listing Rules, providing more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital on UK markets.
At Mansion House 2025, the Government published its Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, setting out our ten-year plan for the UK to be the world’s centre of choice for financial services investment now and in 2035, with capital markets and fintech as core pillars of the strategy.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the UK listing regime on the number of listings.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has delivered an ambitious programme of reforms to make it easier for all firms, including fintechs, to list and raise capital on UK markets. This includes overhauling the Prospectus regime and Listing Rules, providing more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital on UK markets.
At Mansion House 2025, the Government published its Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, setting out our ten-year plan for the UK to be the world’s centre of choice for financial services investment now and in 2035, with capital markets and fintech as core pillars of the strategy.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 72563 on Sanctions, which company received a penalty of £1.1 million in May 2025.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is unable to disclose this information due to its taxpayer confidentiality obligations. The Department for Business and Trade, on behalf of HMRC, publishes a notice every quarter in respect of the number of businesses and individuals that may have been prosecuted or received a compound settlement. This data is anonymised but allows exporters to remain aware of any enforcement outcomes. These updates can be found in Notices to exporters - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 72563 on Sanctions, which company received a monetary penalty of £465,000 in March 2025.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 20th March 2025, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) imposed on Herbert Smith Freehills CIS LLPP (“HSF Moscow”) a monetary penalty for the sum of £465,000. HSF Moscow was the subsidiary office to the UK registered Herbert Smith Freehills LLP (“HSF London”) until its closure by HSF London on 31 May 2022 as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The reason for the penalty was the breach of financial sanctions imposed on Russia by providing payments to designated persons without a licence. The full penalty notice can be found here.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the introduction of CBAM in January 2027 on defence imports.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK government is introducing a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) on 1 January 2027 to address the risk of carbon leakage. The UK CBAM is a new tax which will ensure that highly traded, carbon intensive goods which are imported from overseas face a comparable carbon price to what is paid by manufacturers producing the same goods in the UK.
The CBAM will only initially be applied to specific imports from a small number of production sectors (aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen and iron & steel) at risk of carbon leakage. This encompasses less than 3% of total UK imports.
A draft tax information and impact note is publicly available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/draft-legislation-carbon-border-adjustment-mechanism/draft-tax-information-and-impact-note
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury complies with the Cabinet Office’s sickness absence collection quarterly process. All submissions of details relating to his question can be found through this cross-government designed process.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her definition of NATO-qualifying defence expenditure is.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
NATO has a common definition of defence expenditure which is agreed by all NATO Allies.
A full definition can be found here:
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49198.htm