Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department is taking steps to align the Digital Gilt Instrument programme with (a) the common domain model and (b) other international standards.
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 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.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions her Department has had with institutional market participants on the adoption of (a) tokenised sovereign instruments and (b) associated standards.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
My team regularly engages with the sector on issues relating to tokenisation in UK financial markets. In addition, we have had further discussions with participants in relation to our digital gilt instrument (DIGIT) pilot.
The Government is taking forward its DIGIT pilot which will be issued onto a digital securities platform within the digital securities sandbox (DSS). In April, the government issued a market engagement notice and is currently analysing responses ahead of launching an invitation to tender in the coming months.
Following the deadline for responses, my team has held constructive discussions with a range of industry groups and participants who responded and attended an industry roundtable hosted by UK Finance. This engagement with the market has provided valuable information to inform how a DIGIT pilot can help catalyse the adoption of DLT across UK financial markets.
The Government remains committed to working with the sector on tokenisation and the pilot DIGIT issuance, to effectively catalyse the adoption of DLT in UK financial markets.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to regulate open banking under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The National Payments Vision, published in November, set out the government’s ambitious plans for the next phase of Open Banking, building on the UK’s leadership in this area. This includes steps towards delivering seamless, Open Banking enabled, account-to-account payments.
The government intends to use powers in the ‘Data (Use and Access) Act’ to put in place a long-term regulatory framework for Open Banking. This will also secure the foundations for Open Finance, by establishing the necessary oversight functions within the FCA to regulate ‘Smart Data’ schemes.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to consult on bringing forward legislative proposals to introduce open finance under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The National Payments Vision, published in November, set out the government’s ambitious plans for the next phase of Open Banking, building on the UK’s leadership in this area. This includes steps towards delivering seamless, Open Banking enabled, account-to-account payments.
The government intends to use powers in the ‘Data (Use and Access) Act’ to put in place a long-term regulatory framework for Open Banking. This will also secure the foundations for Open Finance, by establishing the necessary oversight functions within the FCA to regulate ‘Smart Data’ schemes.
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 Business and Trade on (a) potential changes to the threshold at which the Soft Drinks Industry Levy starts and (b) the potential impact of that levy on (i) the economy and (ii) her fiscal policy.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
His Majesty’s Treasury engages with the Department for Business and Trade at ministerial and official level on a range of issues.
The Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) is central to the Government’s strategy for reducing rates of obesity, and helping to secure the fit and healthy population that is essential for a thriving economy.
After SDIL was announced, the average sugar content of soft drinks in scope of the levy fell 46% between 2015 and 2020. These positive health outcomes have been achieved without a negative impact on soft drink sales, with sales of drinks subject to the levy increasing by 21% over the same period.
The Government is currently consulting on proposals to strengthen SDIL.
Any changes to the levy will be announced at a future fiscal event, with costings certified by the Office of Budget Responsibility as standard.
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 with the Financial Conduct Authority to help ensure that digital sovereign instruments issued by the Digital Securities Sandbox are fully interoperable with existing (a) financial infrastructure and (b) secondary markets.
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 digital securities platform within the Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS). With this pilot, the Government is seeking 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.
In April the government issued a market engagement notice, 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 both secondary market trading and interoperability with existing market infrastructure were for the sector. The department is currently analysing responses ahead of launching an invitation to tender in the coming months.
The department is working closely with regulators, including the FCA, to ensure that DIGIT is successful in meeting its objective to catalyse the growth and adoption of DLT in UK financial markets.
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 Fujitsu’s suitability to bid for the Trader Support Service, in the context of the failures of the Horizon system.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
All of our contract opportunities are publicly available through Contracts Finder and/or Find A Tender Service and are available to any economic operator that is able to meet the requirements of the procurement in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information her Department holds on usage of the Lifetime ISA by region; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Lifetime ISA price cap on prospective first-time buyers in each region.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
At the request of the Treasury Select Committee, HMRC recently released regional data on the Lifetime ISA.
HMRC Letter to Treasury Select Committee
Data from the latest UK House Price Index shows that while the average price paid by first-time buyers has increased, it is still below the LISA property price cap in all regions of the UK except for London, where the average price paid is affected by boroughs with very high property values.
The Government keeps all aspects of savings tax policy under review.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the readiness of the Financial Conduct Authority to (a) implement and (b) enforce the proposed regulatory regime for cryptoassets by the proposed commencement date.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury has engaged closely with the Financial Conduct Authority in developing the future financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets and the FCA published its discussion paper shortly after HM Treasury published its draft legislation. The FCA has also published a roadmap setting out their preparation in advance of the regime going live.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to make an assessment of the potential impact of new regulated activities for cryptoassets on (a) UK-based and (b) overseas firms offering services to UK consumers.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury will publish a full impact assessment alongside its final legislation.