Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions has he had with the London Stock Exchange on the qualification criteria for the FTSE 100 (a) before and (b) after Unilever's announcement that it would seek to unify its headquarters outside of the UK.

Criteria for inclusion within an index are a matter for the benchmark administrator, rather than for the government or regulator. It is therefore FTSE Russell’s decision as a private company and not for HM Treasury to comment on an ongoing decision. FTSE’s methodology is made publicly available at (http://www.ftse.com/products/downloads/FTSE_UK_Index_Series.pdf) and discretion is available within this framework.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors, including the London Stock Exchange, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-giftsand-overseas-travel