Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how her Department will allocate the £1 billion additional funding for HMRC across tax gap initiatives.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC will allocate the additional funding at Autumn Budget 2024 and Spring Statement 2025 to close the tax gap predominately to frontline staff and digital services, including:
As well as these investments, we introduced measures to:
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum’s role in supporting cross-border investment between the UK and EU financial markets.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Financial regulatory dialogues, including the Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum, are important in supporting cross-border trade in financial services and managing financial stability in the global financial system. They form a core part of the government’s approach to strengthening international partnerships, as set out in the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy published in July.
Dialogues feed into HM Treasury’s development of international financial services policy and joint statements are typically published after meetings.
The most recent Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum was held in Brussels on Wednesday 1 October, where officials discussed bilateral cooperation on financial regulatory issues including capital market reforms, where the government’s long-term vision for the UK’s world-leading markets is to encourage more retail investment to benefit our citizens, support British businesses to grow and position ourselves for the future. Further details of the discussion can be found in the Joint Statement.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of discussions at the Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum on UK capital markets reform.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Financial regulatory dialogues, including the Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum, are important in supporting cross-border trade in financial services and managing financial stability in the global financial system. They form a core part of the government’s approach to strengthening international partnerships, as set out in the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy published in July.
Dialogues feed into HM Treasury’s development of international financial services policy and joint statements are typically published after meetings.
The most recent Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum was held in Brussels on Wednesday 1 October, where officials discussed bilateral cooperation on financial regulatory issues including capital market reforms, where the government’s long-term vision for the UK’s world-leading markets is to encourage more retail investment to benefit our citizens, support British businesses to grow and position ourselves for the future. Further details of the discussion can be found in the Joint Statement.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she plans to to take to monitor the outcomes of the Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Financial regulatory dialogues, including the Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum, are important in supporting cross-border trade in financial services and managing financial stability in the global financial system. They form a core part of the government’s approach to strengthening international partnerships, as set out in the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy published in July.
Dialogues feed into HM Treasury’s development of international financial services policy and joint statements are typically published after meetings.
The most recent Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum was held in Brussels on Wednesday 1 October, where officials discussed bilateral cooperation on financial regulatory issues including capital market reforms, where the government’s long-term vision for the UK’s world-leading markets is to encourage more retail investment to benefit our citizens, support British businesses to grow and position ourselves for the future. Further details of the discussion can be found in the Joint Statement.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of dematerialisation on retail investor participation in UK capital markets.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
In July, the Digitisation Taskforce published its final report. The Taskforce, chaired by Sir Douglas Flint, assessed how the UK can eliminate the use of paper share certificates for traded companies, which create inefficiencies and costs for companies and investors, and improve the intermediated system of share ownership so that investors are better able to exercise rights associated with shares which intermediaries hold on their behalf.
These are important steps as part of the government’s Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy to make UK capital markets more efficient, resilient and competitive.
The government has recently established the Dematerialisation Market Action Taskforce, led by Mark Austin, to take forward the recommended reforms.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to align dematerialisation reforms with other financial market infrastructure initiatives.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
In July, the Digitisation Taskforce published its final report. The Taskforce, chaired by Sir Douglas Flint, assessed how the UK can eliminate the use of paper share certificates for traded companies, which create inefficiencies and costs for companies and investors, and improve the intermediated system of share ownership so that investors are better able to exercise rights associated with shares which intermediaries hold on their behalf.
These are important steps as part of the government’s Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy to make UK capital markets more efficient, resilient and competitive.
The government has recently established the Dematerialisation Market Action Taskforce, led by Mark Austin, to take forward the recommended reforms.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the UK–Switzerland financial dialogue on the UK’s wider financial diplomacy strategy.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Financial regulatory dialogues, including the UK-Switzerland Financial Dialogue, are important to supporting cross-border trade in financial services and managing financial stability in the global financial system. They form a core part of the government’s approach to strengthening international partnerships, as set out in the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy published in July. Dialogues feed into HM Treasury’s development of international financial services policy and joint statements are typically published after meetings.
The most recent UK-Switzerland Financial Dialogue was held on Thursday 9 October in Bern, where officials discussed bilateral cooperation on financial regulatory issues. Further details of the discussion can be found in the Joint Statement. Participants also discussed future opportunities to further develop the Berne Financial Services Agreement, noting that Article 12 of the Agreement commits the UK and Switzerland to enter into negotiations with a view to potentially expanding the Agreement to include sustainable finance at the appropriate time.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the potential value of financial services trade as a result of the UK–Switzerland financial dialogue.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Financial regulatory dialogues, including the UK-Switzerland Financial Dialogue, are important to supporting cross-border trade in financial services and managing financial stability in the global financial system. They form a core part of the government’s approach to strengthening international partnerships, as set out in the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy published in July. Dialogues feed into HM Treasury’s development of international financial services policy and joint statements are typically published after meetings.
The most recent UK-Switzerland Financial Dialogue was held on Thursday 9 October in Bern, where officials discussed bilateral cooperation on financial regulatory issues. Further details of the discussion can be found in the Joint Statement. Participants also discussed future opportunities to further develop the Berne Financial Services Agreement, noting that Article 12 of the Agreement commits the UK and Switzerland to enter into negotiations with a view to potentially expanding the Agreement to include sustainable finance at the appropriate time.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has identified any new areas of regulatory co-operation with Switzerland following the most recent financial dialogue.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Financial regulatory dialogues, including the UK-Switzerland Financial Dialogue, are important to supporting cross-border trade in financial services and managing financial stability in the global financial system. They form a core part of the government’s approach to strengthening international partnerships, as set out in the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy published in July. Dialogues feed into HM Treasury’s development of international financial services policy and joint statements are typically published after meetings.
The most recent UK-Switzerland Financial Dialogue was held on Thursday 9 October in Bern, where officials discussed bilateral cooperation on financial regulatory issues. Further details of the discussion can be found in the Joint Statement. Participants also discussed future opportunities to further develop the Berne Financial Services Agreement, noting that Article 12 of the Agreement commits the UK and Switzerland to enter into negotiations with a view to potentially expanding the Agreement to include sustainable finance at the appropriate time.
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 UK–Switzerland financial dialogue on financial services exports.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Financial regulatory dialogues, including the UK-Switzerland Financial Dialogue, are important to supporting cross-border trade in financial services and managing financial stability in the global financial system. They form a core part of the government’s approach to strengthening international partnerships, as set out in the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy published in July. Dialogues feed into HM Treasury’s development of international financial services policy and joint statements are typically published after meetings.
The most recent UK-Switzerland Financial Dialogue was held on Thursday 9 October in Bern, where officials discussed bilateral cooperation on financial regulatory issues. Further details of the discussion can be found in the Joint Statement. Participants also discussed future opportunities to further develop the Berne Financial Services Agreement, noting that Article 12 of the Agreement commits the UK and Switzerland to enter into negotiations with a view to potentially expanding the Agreement to include sustainable finance at the appropriate time.