Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor for the Exchequer, whether the Office for Investment is taking to update its infrastructure pipeline portal; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential lessons learned from the (a) Australian, (b) New Zealand and (c) other international models of infrastructure pipeline portals.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The NISTA Infrastructure Pipeline was launched in July and plans to update the pipeline are outlined here: https://pipeline.nista.grid.civilservice.gov.uk/future. In developing the design of the Pipeline, NISTA drew on a broad range of industry feedback and examples, including from those outside the UK such as Australia and New Zealand. The Pipeline team will continue its active engagement of users to steer its design and ensure it improves through forthcoming iterations.
Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increasing pension fund investment in private markets and infrastructure on the economy.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
In May, 17 of the largest workplace pension providers signed the Mansion House Accord and voluntarily committed to invest at least 10 per cent of their defined contribution main default funds in private markets by 2030, with at least half of that invested in the UK.
This is expected to unlock £50 billion of additional private market investment by 2030, including £25 billion in the UK. As providers work towards meeting these commitments, they will be investing more in private assets such as infrastructure projects.
Additionally, the measures in the Pension Schemes Bill, introduced in July, will ensure pension schemes have the scale and expertise to access these types of investment.
Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending VAT relief to (a) heat batteries and (b) other new energy saving technologies that can help decarbonise homes when a heat pump cannot be installed.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The installation of qualifying energy-saving materials in residential accommodation and buildings used solely for a relevant charitable purpose benefits from a temporary VAT zero rate until March 2027.
Last year, a Call for Evidence (CfE) seeking views on additional technologies to potentially include within this relief was run. Heat batteries were one of the technologies put forwards by respondents. As set out in the Government response to the CfE, at that time, the Government was unable to identify sufficient independent data regarding the efficiency of heat batteries, making it difficult to assess the technology’s energy-saving properties objectively.
The Government currently has no plans to add further technologies to this VAT relief. Nevertheless, the Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process. Changes to the tax system are announced at fiscal events in the usual way.