Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of customers accessing pensions prior to the Autumn Budget 2025; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of media coverage of the Budget on pension adequacy throughout retirement.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not comment on media speculation ahead of Budgets nor collect real-time data on the number of individuals accessing their pensions.
Taking unplanned steps in respect of an individual’s pension may not be in their long-term financial interest. Individuals should get suitable professional advice, including from a regulated financial adviser.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is her policy to protect accrued pension rights when changing the tax treatment of pensions.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not comment on media speculation ahead of Budgets nor collect real-time data on the number of individuals accessing their pensions.
Taking unplanned steps in respect of an individual’s pension may not be in their long-term financial interest. Individuals should get suitable professional advice, including from a regulated financial adviser.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her department has made an assessment of the benefits of tokenised financial infrastructure.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Using distributed ledger technology to tokenise assets could deliver a step change in financial market efficiency, particularly by enabling more efficient, real-time data sharing which could lower operational costs and enhance resilience.
It is important that the government works with the financial services regulators and the sector to understand and deliver these benefits. That is why the government has published its Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy and why it has taken forward the Digital Securities Sandbox which will facilitate the issuance, trading and settlement of tokenised securities in the UK on distributed ledgers. It is also taking forward other initiatives such as the Digital Gilt Instrument, or ‘DIGIT’, which will help demonstrate the benefits of these new technologies.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it will be a formal requirement for the Digital Markets Champion to have a strong proficiency in (a) blockchain and (b) digital assets.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
On July 15th the government published the Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy. The strategy announced that the government will appointing an industry expert as Digital Markets Champion, who will provide leadership from, and for, the sector on wholesale market digitalisation. The government is working at pace to identify and appoint a suitable candidate for the role and will provide an update in due course.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that stablecoin issuers maintain sufficient backing assets to protect consumers and financial stability.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
On 29 April, HM Treasury published draft legislation for the future financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets.
The draft legislation includes a new regulated activity for stablecoin issuance in the UK, meaning firms carrying on this activity will need to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The Government is seeking to bring forward final legislation before the end of this year.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of individuals who intend to leave the UK following the ending of Business Asset Disposal Relief.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
No estimate of the number of individuals who would leave the UK if Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR) were to be abolished has been made.
The government recognises the important role that small businesses and entrepreneurs will play in boosting Britain’s growth. That’s why BADR has been maintained with a generous lifetime limit of £1 million, and BADR rates increases have been phased in over 18 months to give business owners time to adjust.
You can find statistics on the number of claimants, amounts of qualifying gains and tax charged at the BADR rate in table 4 of the Capital Gains Tax accredited official statistics.
Capital Gains Tax statistics - GOV.UK
You can also find an estimate for the cost of BADR in the cost of non-structural tax reliefs statistics:
Tax relief statistics - GOV.UK
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, on the potential impact of changes to cash ISAs on mortgage costs.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. These forecasts, including assessments of the impact of policy decisions on the macroeconomy, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR does not typically publish estimates of the impact of individual policies. Instead, the net effect of the government’s policy package is assessed by the OBR.
The Government is looking at options for reforms to ISAs that get the balance right between cash and equities to earn better return for savers, boost the culture of retail investment, and support the growth mission. The Government recognises that cash savings play an important role in helping households build a financial buffer for a rainy day.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to cash ISAs on (a) house prices and (b) mortgage costs.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy. These forecasts, including assessments of the impact of policy decisions on the macroeconomy, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR does not typically publish estimates of the impact of individual policies. Instead, the net effect of the government’s policy package is assessed by the OBR.
The Government is looking at options for reforms to ISAs that get the balance right between cash and equities to earn better return for savers, boost the culture of retail investment, and support the growth mission. The Government recognises that cash savings play an important role in helping households build a financial buffer for a rainy day.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the (a) development and (b) delivery of the Digital Gilt Instrument programme supports UK-based firms; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of that programme on (i) domestic innovation and (ii) sovereign capability in digital financial infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is taking forward its digital gilt instrument (DIGIT) pilot which will be issued onto a platform within the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS). Eligibility for the DSS requires that firms must be legally established in the UK, and therefore DIGIT will be issued onto a UK based DLT platform.
With this pilot, the Government has two key aims: to explore how distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be applied across the lifecycle of the debt issuance process; and catalyse the development of DLT in UK financial markets. The department is making ongoing assessments to design and deliver DIGIT in support of these aims.
In April the government issued a market engagement notice for the pilot digital gilt instrument (DIGIT) to understand both the current landscape of services available or in development in the UK and what potential investors want to see from a DIGIT issuance. This included questions for industry as to how DIGIT could be developed and delivered in such a way as to meet these objectives, which the department is currently analysing and incorporating into its ongoing assessments.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of adopting the common domain model standard in the Digital Gilt Instrument programme; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on the (a) interoperability, (b) automation and (c) transparency of that programme.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In April the government issued a market engagement notice for the pilot digital gilt instrument (DIGIT) to understand both the current landscape of services available or in development in the UK and what potential investors want to see from a DIGIT issuance. This included questions aimed at understanding how important interoperability and other design features would be for meeting the project’s objective to catalyse the growth and adoption of DLT in UK financial markets.
The department is in the process of analysing responses to inform the design of DIGIT ahead of issuing an invitation to tender in the coming months.