Tag: Treasury

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 10 December 1997.

Private sector bidders are being invited to provide in-depth training in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project management, project finance and negotiating skills for civil servants, Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson announced today.

In the the third Public/Private Partnership (PPP) of its own, the Treasury’s Private Finance Taskforce is seeking tenders for a partner to re-focus Civil Service training and help create PFI experts in the public sector.

Commenting on the announcement, made in response to a recommendation of the Bates Review of PFI, Mr Robinson said :

“In the past, a good job has been done training civil servants in the basics of PFI. But it is essential that Government Departments build on that to train and create their own specialists to ensure the best performance and value for money from PFI projects.

“With a growing number of PFI projects signed or close to signature, Departments are keen to benefit from training events delivered by PFI practitioners with real and extensive experience in the field. The Treasury Taskforce has worked together with other Departments to identify specific training requirements, which we are now seeking a partner to help deliver.

This is a welcome step forward which will help to ensure that high quality PFI projects are delivered efficiently and effectively.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 8 December 1997.

The Treasury today published the principles which will govern changes to the Block budgets for the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales after devolution. The Government set out its position clearly in the White Papers and what is published today follows on from that.  Chief Secretary, Alistair Darling, said:

“The paper published today follows the principles which the Government set out in the devolution White Papers.

“The Government’s decision to publish these principles now shows our commitment to openness.  The Block arrangements and’ Barnett’ formula have operated for almost 20 years, but the principles underpinning them have never been spelt out in public before.

“We are publishing these principles now to inform debate during the passage of the Scotland and Wales Bills.”

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PRINCIPLES TO GOVERN DETERMINATION OF THE BLOCK BUDGETS FOR THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES

1.  The Government set out its position on the Block and formula arrangements in its White Papers on Scottish and Welsh devolution published in July (Cm 3658 and Cm 3718 respectively).  The Scottish White Paper, Scotland’s Parliament, said:

“In practice these arrangements, based on the Block and formula, have produced fair settlements for Scotland in annual public expenditure rounds and have allowed the Secretary of State for Scotland to determine his spending decisions in accordance with Scottish needs and priorities.  They have largely removed the need for annual negotiation between the Scottish Office and the Treasury.  The Government have therefore concluded that the financial framework for the Scottish Parliament should be based on these existing arrangements with, in future, the Scottish Parliament determining Scottish spending priorities.”

The Wales White Paper, A Voice for Wales, said:

“The Government proposes that the financial arrangements for the Assembly will largely replicate the existing system.

Annual changes to the Welsh Block will be calculated by the population-based formula used at the moment.  These arrangements based on the Block and formula have worked in practice, producing fair settlements for Wales in annual public expenditure rounds.”

2.  The Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales will therefore have block budgets, which they will be free to allocate in response to local priorities among the functions under their control and for which they will be accountable to local people.  This note outlines the principles set out in the White Papers and describes how they will govern changes made to these block budgets under devolution.

Settling Scotland’s and Wales’ shares of UK public expenditure: the “Barnett” formula

Existing position

3.  All UK tax revenues are pooled.  Decisions about the allocation of UK public expenditure are made in the light of the Government’s judgement of relative priorities and relative needs.  Changes to the shares of public expenditure available to the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales are determined by a formula linked to changes in provision for equivalent spending programmes in England.

4.  This formula, which has operated for almost 20 years, is known as the “Barnett” formula.  It provides that, in settling new plans for public expenditure, Scotland and Wales should receive a share of the planned cash changes in provision for equivalent public services in England which is proportionate to their population. In other words, Scotland’s and Wales’ shares of changes in relevant planned spending in England are the same proportions as their populations represent of England’s population.  The formula applies only to changes in spending plans, not to the underlying baselines which remain unaffected.  The formula also applies only to changes in the block budgets: expenditure on agriculture in Scotland and Wales, and expenditure on nationalised industries in Scotland, is outside the block budgets at present and is settled separately.

After devolution

5.  These arrangements will continue under devolution, with only minor adjustments.  Changes to the block budgets for which the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales will become responsible will continue to be determined by a formula linked to changes in provision for the equivalent spending programmes in England.  The formula will continue to be based on relative populations.  The spending for which the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales will assume responsibility is set out in the annexes to this note.

6.  The Government intends that these population shares will be re-calculated annually on the basis of the latest population estimates for England, Scotland and Wales published each year by the Office of National Statistics.  The population ratios will next be updated for the purpose of determining changes in the Scottish and Welsh block budgets for 1999-2000.

7.  The Government intends that this population-based formula will apply to changes in almost all the expenditure under the control of the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales.  It will not apply to changes in agriculture programmes 100% funded by the EU.   The Government will also want to consider whether this approach or another formula is appropriate in relation to provision for Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit which will both come within the Scottish Block for the first time after devolution; Housing Benefit is already within the Welsh Block, but, as in Scotland, Council Tax Benefit will come within the Block for the first time.  Adjustments to the Scottish and Welsh block budgets not determined by the Barnett formula

8.  There are a number of circumstances in which the block budgets under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland and Wales are open to adjustment other than on the basis of the Barnett formula.  These exceptions will continue to apply under devolution.
Adjustments may be made where:

a.  the UK Government decides to make a uniform general adjustment to public expenditure programmes;

b.  action taken by the Scottish or Welsh administrations in a devolved area has knock-on costs for the UK Government or vice versa.  The block budgets may be adjusted downwards to for costs incurred by the UK Government as a result of the actions of the devolved administrations, or upwards to compensate the devolved administrations for costs which they incur as a result of actions by the UK Government and are not allowed for through the operation of the Barnett formula.  The block budgets will not however be adjusted upwards by reason of additional costs incurred as a result of actions by the UK Government which the UK Government is expecting English departments with parallel responsibilities to absorb within existing spending plans;

c.  the devolved administrations receive capital receipts as a result of a privatisation or major change in the role of the public sectors in Scotland or Wales.  In these circumstances, the block budgets may be adjusted downwards in the year in which the receipts occur to reflect the continuing interest in these receipts of UK taxpayers as a whole who financed the underlying capital assets in the past.  Proceeds from the sales of other capital assets under the control of the Scottish Parliament or National Assembly for Wales will be available to be re-cycled within Scotland or Wales;

d.  the devolved administrations receive significant trading surpluses from the commercial exploitation of publicly-funded  assets: the UK Government may take these surpluses into account settling block budgets;

e.  local authority self-financed expenditure grows more rapidly than equivalent expenditure in England over a period and in such a way as to threaten targets set for public expenditure as part of the management of the UK economy.  In such circumstances it will be open to the UK Government to take the excess into account in  considering the level of the block budgets.

9.  These principles concern the determination of changes to the block budgets under the control of the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales,  not the level of Westminster grant to support these budgets.  The latter may also be affected by changes in the level of self-financed items of expenditure – local authority capital expenditure funded by borrowing, for example – which currently count towards the lock Budgets.

In-year changes to the block budgets for Scotland and Wales

10. The arrangements outlined above apply to changes in the plans for expenditure in future years in Scotland and Wales.  These paragraphs deal with changes in-year to the budgets arrived at under the arrangements outlined above and in particular with access to the UK Reserve for the devolved Scottish and Welsh administrations.

11. The general presumption, as at present, is that the Scottish and Welsh administrations will contain in-year pressures on their budgets by re-allocating priorities within their Blocks, not through access to the UK Reserve. Access to the Reserve may however be considered at the discretion of the UK Government in exceptional circumstances and specifically where:

a.  the Government is making available additional provision in-year for equivalent services in England in order to cope with exceptional circumstances affecting  the UK as a whole unforeseen at the time spending plans for the year concerned were settled; and

b.  Scotland or Wales face exceptional and unforeseen domestic costs – arising, for example, from a natural disaster – which cannot be reasonably absorbed within the planned block budgets without major dislocation to existing services.

Revising these principles

12. As noted above, the formula will be updated annually to take account of population changes and from to time to take account of other technical changes.  Any more substantial revision would need to be preceded by an in-depth study of relative spending requirements and would be the subject of full consultation between the devolved administrations and the UK Government.

The press release issued by the Treasury on 5 December 1997.

Business readiness for trading in the single currency after 1 January 1999 will be boosted by a new Euro Preparations Unit (EPU) within the Treasury, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced today.

Announcing the setting up of the EPU, which will also involve the Department of Trade and Industry, he said :

“Both Government and business must prepare intensively for EMU. The changes affecting British business within its largest export market are just thirteen months away. Together, we must be ready to take advantage of the opportunities and prepare for the challenges which lie ahead.

“The Government is committed to help business prepare to compete successfully against other firms using the euro from January 1999. We will also be working with business on what must be done to prepare for the option of joining the single currency  ourselves in the next Parliament.

“To achieve these aims we need resources dedicated to the task. The new Euro Preparations Unit I am announcing today marks a significant step forwards towards providing the assistance business requires.”

Building on work already in progress, the EPU is intended to be fully operational early in the New Year. The Unit will include around 15 members drawn from the Treasury, DTI and other Government Departments and business.

Reporting in first instance to Lord Simon,  it will support the existing Standing Committee on preparations for EMU and stimulate and steer business and public authority  preparations.

The press release issued by the Treasury on 3 December 1997.

“We want to encourage people to save and invest. We want to build the savings culture. That is good for individuals. It is good for businesses and it is therefore good for the country as a whole,” the Chief Secretary Alistair Darling said at the Proshare Annual Awards dinner in London tonight.

Highlighting the new Individual Savings Account he said:

“Everyone should have the opportunity to provide for themselves – whether they are saving for their future, for their retirement or simply for a rainy day.

ISAs are aimed at encouraging everyone to save. They will be simple, flexible and accessible – something everyone wants and will get.

Our objective is to develop a tax system for savings which benefits the many and not just the few. Half the adult population don’t save. So everyone should have the opportunity to save in a tax-favoured environment, however small the amounts they are able to put aside.

As we promised in our manifesto the ISA builds on the experience of PEPs and TESSAs. That is why investments in ISAs will be tax-free.

We spend 1.3 billion Pounds on tax relief under the present system – rising to 1.7 billion Pounds in 2001-02. Much of this goes to those who can already afford to save significant amounts and to tie their savings up for long periods of time. That isn’t an efficient use of public money. Our objective is to bring in new savers.

Far better and fairer to use the existing provision to bring the benefits of ISAs to a much wider population of savers – possibly encouraging 6 million new savers. That is right in principle and it is fair.”

On investment, he added:

“We must expand our economic capacity and create the right climate for high levels of investment. That is why we have reformed the corporation tax system, removing the distortions that hinder long term, high quality investment. In the last Budget we cut
corporation tax to the lowest level ever. And we intend to cut the main rate again when ACT is abolished in 1999. This further enhances our position as the country with the lowest rate of corporation tax of any major industrialised country and one of the lowest tax burdens on business.”

The press release issued by the Treasury on 3 December 1997.

The UK Government fully supports the programme of economic and financial reform announced today by Korea in agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Chancellor Gordon Brown said today.

The Chancellor said :

“The UK Government fully supports the IMF programme which has been agreed by  Korea. This programme will involve approximately $21 billion of IMF finance, along with financing from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

“In addition, the UK, together with a number of other countries, has agreed to consider the provision of further financial support for Korea.  This will be made available only  if unanticipated circumstances create the need to supplement resources provided by the International Financial Institutions, while Korea remains in compliance with the IMF arrangements. The UK is willing to consider a contribution of up to $1.25 billion.

“Agreement with the IMF on Korea’s programme of reform marks an important step in restoring confidence in Asia, and in helping safeguard the stability of the world financial system.

“As a major IMF shareholder, the UK believes that acting with the support of the IMF is the right way for the Korean authorities to have handled their financial situation. And as a major World Bank shareholder we support its crucial role in restructuring the
financial sector of the Korean economy.

“As an open economy, the UK benefits from substantial trade and investment flows with Asia and the rest of the world. Global financial stability is crucial if we are to deliver sustained economic prosperity and job creation at home.

“We have a strong national interest in working with our international partners and the IMF to help Korea reform its economy and overcome its present financial difficulties. I welcome today’s announcement.”

The press release issued by the Treasury on 3 December 1997.

The membership and terms of reference of the committee which will consider possible memorials to Diana, Princess of Wales, was announced today by the Chancellor, Gordon Brown.

The Chancellor, who is to chair the Committee, said:

“Diana, Princess of Wales was greatly loved, and I consider it an honour to have been asked by the Prime Minister to chair this important committee. The  public have responded magnificently to my request for proposals for commemorating the work of the  Princess of Wales.  Every one of the 7,000 proposals so far has been carefully read and every one will be taken into account.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The Prime Minister asked the Chancellor to chair a committee To consider possible memorials to Diana, Princess of Wales.   The Chancellor’s new committee is to be made up of:

• the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Airlie, representing the
  Royal Household;
• Lady Sarah McCorquodale, representing Earl Spencer
  (who will also attend meetings when he is in the
  country) and the Princess’s family;
• Lord Attenborough;
• Mr Paul Burrell;
• Baroness Chalker;
• Diane Louise Jordan;
• Mr Anthony Julius;
• The Hon Rosa Monckton;
• Jane Tewson.

Its terms of reference are:

“To advise HM Government as to how the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, can best be commemorated, complementing the work of the Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial  Fund. In taking forward this work, the Committee will take into account the views of   members of the public, and have regard to the charities and causes which the Princess supported.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 2 December 1997.

The first edition of a new quarterly report providing greater detail of the UK’s holdings of foreign currency and gold was published jointly today by the Treasury and the Bank of England.

The report shows for the first time the size of the UK’s forward foreign exchange position and the currency composition of the UK’s foreign currency assets.

On publication of the report the Economic Secretary, Helen Liddell said:

“This report is another key step in the Government’s drive towards greater transparency in economic policy making.

“Greater openness improves the quality of economic decisions, strengthens their legitimacy and credibility, and reduces the likelihood of unpredictable and counterproductive reactions in financial markets.”

The report shows that the level of the Government’s reserves, including the forward book was $42.3 billion at end-September, an underlying increase of $50 million on end-June. Net forward holdings of foreign currency were $1.24 billion at end-September.

The level of the Bank of England’s holdings of foreign currency and gold was $1.98 billion at end-September.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 December 2022.

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt heard directly from oil and gas companies in a Fiscal Forum meeting in Edinburgh this morning (9 December).

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 9 December 2022.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt today unveiled the “Edinburgh Reforms” of UK financial services – over 30 regulatory reforms to unlock investment and turbocharge growth in towns and cities across the UK.

• Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt unveils new “Edinburgh Reforms” of financial services, to help turbocharge growth and deliver a smarter and home-grown regulatory framework for the UK – that is both agile and proportionate.
• Speaking at an industry roundtable in Edinburgh today, the Chancellor will announce new plans to seize the benefits of Brexit by setting out a detailed timeline establishing the government’s approach to repealing burdensome pieces of retained EU law.
• Reforms deliver the next chapter of the government’s vision for UK financial services, set out at Mansion House 2021.

The Chancellor will set out plans to repeal, and replace, hundreds of pages of burdensome EU retained laws governing financial services. This will establish a smarter regulatory framework for the UK that, is agile, less costly and more responsive to emerging trends.

These plans included a commitment to make substantial legislative progress over the course of 2023 on repealing and replacing EU-era Solvency II – the rules governing insurers balance sheets which is expected to unlock over £100 billion of private investment for productive assets such as UK infrastructure.

The financial services sector is vital for Britain’s economic strength, contributing £216 billion a year to the UK economy. This includes £76 billion in tax revenue, enough to fund the entire police force and state school system, while employing over 2.3 million people – with 1.4 million outside London.

As announced in the Autumn Statement, the government will look to announce changes to EU regulations in four other high growth industries by the end of next year, including digital technology, life sciences, green industries and advanced manufacturing.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt said:

We are committed to securing the UK’s status as one of the most open, dynamic and competitive financial services hubs in the world.

The Edinburgh Reforms seize on our Brexit freedoms to deliver an agile and home-grown regulatory regime that works in the interest of British people and our businesses.

And we will go further – delivering reform of burdensome EU laws that choke off growth in other industries such as digital technology and life sciences.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffith said:

The UK is a financial services superpower – and we have long benefited from, and are committed to, high quality regulatory standards.

Scotland’s role in maintaining our status as the global benchmark for regulation is crucial – with Edinburgh and Glasgow the two largest UK hubs outside of London.

Our reforms deliver smarter regulation of financial services that will unlock growth and opportunity in towns and cities across the UK.

The work to repeal, and where appropriate replace, retained EU law governing the sector has been guided by industry – and split into two initial tranches. These will focus on delivering reform to areas which provide the most significant boost to UK growth and competitiveness, and we will set out further detail on future tranches over time.

Today’s announcement delivers the next chapter in the roadmap for UK announced at Mansion House 2021 for a UK financial services sector that is open, sustainable, and technologically advanced – one that is globally competitive and acts in the interests of communities and citizens. This vision will create jobs, support businesses, and power growth across all four parts of the UK.

A competitive marketplace promoting the effective use of capital

The Edinburgh Reforms ensure that the UK’s financial markets are among the most open and attractive in the world. They deliver this by overhauling the UK prospectus regime to make it more attractive for firms to list and raise capital here; reforming the rules governing Real Estate Investment Trusts, to reduce friction and allow savers to more easily access higher returns; formally reviewing the provision of investment research in the UK, including the effects of the EU’s MiFID unbundling rules, which aren’t applied in leading markets such as the US; and working with the regulators and companies to trial a new class of wholesale market venue that operates on an intermittent basis – improving companies access to capital before they publicly list.

The government has also announced that the ring-fencing regime will be reformed in response to the recommendations of the Skeoch Review – including by freeing retail focussed banks from the regime – easing unnecessary regulatory burdens on firms while maintaining protections for depositors.

The Chancellor has also issued new remit letters to the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority emphasising the new secondary competitiveness objectives. Regulators will have a duty to facilitate, subject to aligning with relevant international standards, the international competitiveness of the UK economy and its growth in the medium to long term.

We are committed to seeing financial service firms deploy more capital in productive assets such as UK infrastructure and low carbon and clean energy. This will be facilitated by Long-Term Asset Funds – a new type of fund structure tailored to the UK market, replacing the EU’s ineffective European Long Term Investment Fund regime, which will be repealed from the UK rulebook. The LTAF regime has recently seen its first application from an issuer of this new type of fund.

Delivering for consumers

The government is committed to enabling consumers to access the benefits of new products and technologies, while ensuring they remain protected. To support this, the government is today publishing its first consultation on proposals to modernise the Consumer Credit Act – simplifying the regime to encourage innovation in the credit sector and cutting costs for consumers and businesses.

A sector at the forefront of innovation and technology

The reforms build on the UK’s desire to harness the benefits of emerging technologies, including committing to shortly publish a consultation on proposals to establish a UK Central Bank Digital Currency– which could one day see Brits using a digital pound, capturing the benefits of the underlying blockchain technologies. Other measures will see the Investment Management Exemption extended to cryptoassets, ensuring more overseas investment can flow into the sector – and the government has recommitted to establishing the Financial Markets Infrastructure Sandbox in 2023, allowing firms and regulators to safely test, adopt and scale new technologies that could transform financial markets.

A world leader in sustainable finance

The UK is working to become the world’s first net-zero aligned financial centre, and today’s measures will further deliver on this ambition, including by committing to publish a new green finance strategy in early 2023, and to consult on bringing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings providers into the City Watchdog’s regulatory perimeter, to ensure these products are transparent and use consistent standards. Achieving this ambition will see more investment in sustainable energy supplies such as nuclear, hydrogen and offshore wind – delivering new opportunities and well-paying jobs.

More broadly, the government’s Financial Services and Markets Bill successfully completed its remaining stages in the Commons on Wednesday and is expected to receive Royal Assent by Spring 2023. This further delivers on the government’s vision for financial services, including by bringing certain types of stablecoins within the payments regulatory perimeter; protecting access to cash for millions of people that reply on it; and enabling the Payments Systems Regulator to force banks to reimburse the victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud.

The press release issued by the Treasury on 8 December 2022.

Exchequer Secretary James Cartlidge hails power of future green technologies in strengthening UK’s energy security.

Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak Upgrade (MAST-U) machine tackles further technical challenges for long-term viability of future fusion powerplants

Experiments test the integration of a high-performance core plasma with strong dissipation in the Super-X divertor configuration

A fusion energy machine vital for the delivery of the UK’s first prototype powerplant has started a crucial second round of experiments to help make ‘star power’ part of the world’s future energy mix.

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak-Upgrade (MAST-U) will run the experiments until the end of January 2023.

Following a visit to UKAEA in Culham, Oxfordshire, earlier this week, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Cartlidge, said:

“It was an inspiring tour of UKAEA where I was able to see how the UK is developing fusion energy, the process that powers the sun, to generate carbon-free electricity.

“The visit reinforced our commitment to increasing public R&D spending to record levels of £20 billion a year by 2024/25, which includes funding for green tech of the future, like this.”

MAST-U resembles the shape of a cored apple, in contrast to the ring-shaped record-breaking JET (Joint European Torus). This configuration is currently the preferred design for the UK’s prototype fusion plant, STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production).

Fusion energy offers the potential of an abundant, inherently safe low-carbon electricity supply. It involves fusing hydrogen particles in a hot gas known as a ‘plasma’ to unlock large amounts of energy.

Operating fusion technologies requires a careful balancing act of controlling extreme heat, gas and magnetic fields, amongst other complex systems.

Last year, MAST-U’s novel exhaust system, Super-X, successfully demonstrated its effectiveness by generating a tenfold reduction in the energy fluxes of the plasma channelled out of the machine, which would allow components in future commercial tokamaks to last longer.

The current run of experiments will seek to investigate how the compact tokamak can combine the benefits from this exhaust using different parameters – higher temperature and pressure, and increased performance caused by operating within a stronger magnetic field – as well as improving shape control of the plasma within the machine.

The core plasma shape will be controlled in real-time and in collaboration with General Atomics.

MAST-U’s experiments will also support the study of detachment physics – reduction of pollution of the core plasma by impurities coming from the wall – for EUROfusion, a consortium of national research institutions located in the EU, Switzerland, UK and Ukraine.

The phased work will investigate how plasma confinement can be optimised for future powerplant conditions.

Commenting on the new experiments, Professor Fulvio Militello, Director of Tokamak Science, UKAEA, said:

“To create fusion in a powerplant, a plasma must be sustained inside a tokamak whilst optimising three conditions: temperature, density and confinement time.

“The new round of experiments conducted by MAST-U will test the integration of a high-performance core plasma with strong dissipation in the Super-X divertor configuration.”

Results from the experiments will contribute to the success of the government-funded STEP programme, which is aiming to demonstrate the feasibility of putting fusion energy on the grid, targeting operations by 2040.

MAST-U achieved its first plasma in 2020 after it was rebuilt to enable higher performance, including longer times plasmas are held in confinement, increased heating power and a stronger magnetic field, alongside its innovative plasma exhaust system.

“UKAEA is exploring pathways to compact and affordable fusion machines and believes the apple-core design holds real promise” continued Professor Militello.

As well as STEP, MAST-U will also aid preparations for ITER – the world’s largest science megaproject, now being built in the South of France, which intends to demonstrate the viability of fusion on an industrial scale.