Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the British Business Bank's publication Small Business Equity Tracker 2024, if she will make a comparative assessment of (a) venture capital investment in the life sciences in the UK and the US and (b) the implications for companies in each jurisdiction seeking to scale-up.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK remains Europe’s leading destination for life sciences venture capital (VC) investment, according to the British Business Bank’s Small Business Equity Tracker 2024.
The US market is larger in scale, supporting late-stage growth with deeper capital pools and larger fund sizes. While the UK VC market is competitive with the US at the seed stage, UK companies face a widening funding gap as they scale.
At the recent Spending Review, the Government increased the British Business Bank’s financial capacity to £25.6 billion, a two-thirds increase in investment activity. Alongside reforms to give the British Business Bank greater flexibility to deploy funding responsively, this expanded capacity will enable more substantial support for SMEs and scale-ups, including life sciences companies, and move the UK market closer to the scale of late-stage financing seen in the US.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spending Review 2025, published on 11 June 2025, how much and what proportion of the additional British Business Bank funding will be allocated to the life sciences sector.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to ensuring high-potential life sciences businesses can access the finance they need to innovate, grow, and boost the UK economy.
As part of the Industrial Strategy, the British Business Bank will invest £4 billion across key sectors, including life sciences, supporting both the expansion of the Life Sciences Investment Programme and direct investment in R&D-intensive companies.
This funding is not hypothecated by sector, allowing the Bank to back the most promising opportunities, including through specialist fund managers.
The percentage of Bank supported deals in life sciences was 7.2%, compared to 4.9% for the overall equity market and 6.1% for the wider PE/VC market from 2022-2024.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that consumers are made aware that some forms of buy now, pay later will remain unregulated when BNPL regulation is in force.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Regulating the Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) sector is a government priority. On 19 May, the government introduced legislation to bring BNPL products into regulation. Our legislative approach will disapply the elements of the consumer credit regulatory regime that were originally designed for interest-bearing loans. This will enable the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to create a proportionate information disclosure regime tailored specifically to BNPL products.
At this stage, the government considers that BNPL agreements provided directly by merchants should remain exempt from regulation. Including merchant-provided BNPL in the regime would disproportionately impact small businesses offering low-risk agreements such as gym memberships and instalment plans for invoices.
Consumers using merchant-provided BNPL will remain protected by wider consumer protection laws, including strict rules on advertising and financial promotions; and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, which prohibit unfair commercial practices such as misleading consumers.
The government has not seen evidence that merchants are seeking to offer BNPL agreements on a scale similar to third-party lenders. However, my officials and I will continue to monitor the merchant-provided BNPL market closely, working with the FCA and industry. If we see clear evidence of significant market expansion or large-scale consumer harm, we will intervene swiftly to address these risks.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to require merchants that might offer unregulated Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) once BNPL regulation is in force to provide clear information to consumers to make it clear that certain consumer protections will not apply to their credit agreements.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Regulating the Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) sector is a government priority. On 19 May, the government introduced legislation to bring BNPL products into regulation. Our legislative approach will disapply the elements of the consumer credit regulatory regime that were originally designed for interest-bearing loans. This will enable the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to create a proportionate information disclosure regime tailored specifically to BNPL products.
At this stage, the government considers that BNPL agreements provided directly by merchants should remain exempt from regulation. Including merchant-provided BNPL in the regime would disproportionately impact small businesses offering low-risk agreements such as gym memberships and instalment plans for invoices.
Consumers using merchant-provided BNPL will remain protected by wider consumer protection laws, including strict rules on advertising and financial promotions; and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, which prohibit unfair commercial practices such as misleading consumers.
The government has not seen evidence that merchants are seeking to offer BNPL agreements on a scale similar to third-party lenders. However, my officials and I will continue to monitor the merchant-provided BNPL market closely, working with the FCA and industry. If we see clear evidence of significant market expansion or large-scale consumer harm, we will intervene swiftly to address these risks.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Financial Conduct Authority is able to deliver final rules for Buy Now, Pay Later regulation that are proportionate to the product.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Regulating the Buy-Now, Pay-Later (BNPL) sector is a government priority. On 19 May, the government introduced legislation to bring BNPL products into regulation. Our legislative approach will disapply the elements of the consumer credit regulatory regime that were originally designed for interest-bearing loans. This will enable the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to create a proportionate information disclosure regime tailored specifically to BNPL products.
At this stage, the government considers that BNPL agreements provided directly by merchants should remain exempt from regulation. Including merchant-provided BNPL in the regime would disproportionately impact small businesses offering low-risk agreements such as gym memberships and instalment plans for invoices.
Consumers using merchant-provided BNPL will remain protected by wider consumer protection laws, including strict rules on advertising and financial promotions; and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, which prohibit unfair commercial practices such as misleading consumers.
The government has not seen evidence that merchants are seeking to offer BNPL agreements on a scale similar to third-party lenders. However, my officials and I will continue to monitor the merchant-provided BNPL market closely, working with the FCA and industry. If we see clear evidence of significant market expansion or large-scale consumer harm, we will intervene swiftly to address these risks.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43043 on Environment Protection: Finance, if she will make it her policy to remove the provisions in the (a) UK Climate Transition Benchmarks and (b) UK Paris-aligned Benchmarks on the requirements affecting UK weapons manufacturers.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the Honourable Member to the answers given to his questions in PQ UIN 48396 on 1 May 2025, PQ UIN 43043 and 43449 on 9 April 2025, PQ UIN 47194 on 28 April, and PQ 47196 on 30 April 2025.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 33375 on Environment Protection: Finance, whether the defence sector will be included in the UK Green Taxonomy.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has set out its ambition for the UK to be the world leader in sustainable finance. This includes delivering a regulatory framework to support sustainable growth and enable the private sector to realise the opportunities of the transition. Through the consultation, the government was keen to explore whether a UK Green Taxonomy can be a useful tool in contributing to this ambition.
The government is reviewing and analysing the consultation responses, this includes considering the potential costs and how it fits in with existing regulation and regimes. We will publish a formal consultation response in due course which will set out next steps.
At this stage in the consultation process, the government was not seeking feedback on the detail of the sectors for inclusion. Instead, the government are focused on the bigger picture of whether and how this can be a useful tool for companies and investors. Therefore, at this stage issues around activities and sectors, such as defence, are out of scope.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of EU green finance regulations on levels of investment from Europe into UK defence (a) firms and (b) shares.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government does not see a conflict in green and sustainable investment contributing to our world-leading defence sector. There is considerable work to support the sector ongoing across government, including through the Chancellor’s growth mission and in the development of a new Defence Industrial Strategy.
In a time of increasing geopolitical instability, maintaining a robust and thriving defence sector is essential to our national security. The government is committed to supporting the defence sector and supporting investment opportunities in it. Private investment in the defence sector is crucial for fostering innovation, boosting economic growth and enhancing national security.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43449 on Trident Submarines: Procurement, if she will make it her policy to amend assimilated EU law under the UK Benchmarks Regulation to remove the EU legacy law references to controversial weapons; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on levels of investment by companies which provide (a) goods and (b) services relating to Trident renewal.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the recent Call for Evidence on the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy, having an effective regulatory environment is key to maintaining and enhancing our position as a global financial centre so that it can support growth across the wider UK economy. That includes regulations inherited from the European Union, such as the Benchmarks regulation.
The government remains open to views from industry on how we can continue to progress reforms to assimilated law as part of this work creating an effective regulatory environment.
More broadly, the government does not see a conflict between sustainable investment and investment in the defence sector.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 33375 on Environment Protection: Finance, whether the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures rules for listed companies to refer to the new International Sustainability Standards Board standards will allow for investments in (a) defence companies and (b) companies supporting Trident nuclear deterrent renewal.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Standards, so called S1 and S2, are designed to replace the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) framework.
These are disclosure standards that ask firms to disclose financially material climate related risks to their business. The objective of these is to provide investors with consistent, comparable and reliable information about companies' sustainability-related risks and opportunities. These standards are designed to enhance transparency and do not dictate how a company should invest. They do not prevent or impose restrictions on investment in specific sectors, including defence or the Trident nuclear deterrent.
The previous government committed to establishing a framework to assess the suitability of ISSB Standards for endorsement in the UK. A Technical Advisory Committee of external experts have conducted a detailed assessment of the ISSB’s inaugural standards, and this process has now concluded. The government aims to consult on the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS) shortly, after which point they will be made available for use later in 2025.