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Select committee: Treasury Committee

National Wealth Fund

Closed Opened 20 Mar 2025 Closed 15 Jan 2026 4 recommendations 6 conclusions

Treasury Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
In October 2024, the Treasury announced the creation of a new National Wealth Fund with the aim of mobilising investment and unlocking growth opportunities across the UK. On the 19 March, the Chancellor issued the Statement of Strategic Priorities to the National Wealth Fund, setting its strategic direction and priorities for this Parliament. In this inquiry, the Treasury Committee will look at how best the National Wealth Fund can achieve its aims and how likely it is to achieve those aims. Read the call for evidence to find out more about this inquiry.

Where it stands

The inquiry is closed, opened 20 March 2025.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 12th Report - National Wealth Fund on 28 October 2025.

The government's response

Published 15 January 2026. The deadline was 28 December 2025.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government's response says it agrees with the Committee on strategy and reporting, alignment with government strategies and operational independence, and has "no current plans" to let the National Wealth Fund borrow directly from private markets.

  • On Recommendation 1, the government "agrees" and says a new Strategic Plan will be published in January 2026, to include performance metrics, risk appetite, use of financial instruments, evaluation processes and its approach to crowding out. It will share the plan with the Committee on publication.
  • On Recommendation 3, the government "strongly agrees" that public financial institutions must work together. It says its review of the landscape "concluded the landscape is well-positioned to deliver government priorities", after examining the merits of merging institutions.
  • On Recommendation 5, the government "strongly agrees" the NWF must remain operationally independent. HM Treasury will issue strategic steers "judiciously", with updates "only in exceptional circumstances" and published online.
  • On Recommendation 6, it states it has "no current plans" to enable direct market borrowing, saying the NWF has "sufficient unused capital" for this Parliament. Once existing capacity is exhausted, HM Treasury "will assess" the most value-for-money approach to further capitalisation.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Recommendations and conclusions

All 10 recommendations and conclusions

Reports

All reports

Evidence

  • 3 oral evidence sessionsLatest 1 July 2025
  • 16 witnesses
All evidence

Recent activity

Recommendations and conclusions 10 shown

1: NWF requires significant risk appetite to create new markets and boost economic growth.

Conclusion · 12th Report - National Wealth Fund · Addressed to HM Treasury

Concluded (the committee's words)
The NWF making an overall positive rate of return is key to its success and sustainability. To achieve its objectives of boosting economic growth and clean energy, however, the NWF must have the risk appetite to invest in projects that the private sector regards as too risky. Risk appetite is also required for the NWF to be catalytic, because the NWF must create new markets in, for example, hydrogen both to make a real difference to economic growth in the UK and to enable the UK to meet its targets to help tackle climate change. (Conclusion, Paragraph 24)

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2: Acknowledge expected investment failures as a sign of appropriate National Wealth Fund risk appetite.

Conclusion · 12th Report - National Wealth Fund · Addressed to HM Treasury

Concluded (the committee's words)
It is important to understand that some companies that the NWF invests in will fail, and the NWF will lose the value of some of its investments. This, in itself, cannot be a cause of criticism of the NWF, because it should have a higher risk appetite. Indeed, if none of its investments fail that suggests that it does not have a sufficiently high-risk appetite. (Conclusion, Paragraph 25)

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3: Outline comprehensive performance metrics, risk appetite, evaluation methods, and taxpayer benefit in the new NWF Strategy.

Conclusion · 12th Report - National Wealth Fund · Addressed to HM Treasury

Concluded (the committee's words)
The new NWF Strategy must outline: a. its performance metrics, including its risk appetite; b. how it will use equity and a range of financial instruments to ensure that the taxpayer shares in the upside of any risks it takes; c. how the NWF will be evaluated, how often and by whom; d. how the NWF would respond to any feedback that it is crowding out private investment. (Recommendation, Paragraph 26)

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4: National Wealth Fund's name is misleading; its limited size may hinder strategic economic impact.

Conclusion · 12th Report - National Wealth Fund · Addressed to HM Treasury

Concluded (the committee's words)
The NWF is not a conventional sovereign wealth fund that invests wealth generated from natural resources to benefit future generations. Therefore its name, the National Wealth Fund, could be misleading. The NWF is financed by the Government from taxation and borrowing, which means that its investments are likely to attract public, political and media scrutiny and that the Government may face pressure to privatise it. Despite those challenges, the success of the NWF’s forerunner, the Green Investment Bank, in stimulating the offshore wind market while generating returns provides 20 a reason for cautious optimism that the NWF will deliver its investment priorities in relation to clean energy. However, the current NWF’s size could limit its strategic impact on economic growth. (Conclusion, Paragraph 31)

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6: Co-ordinate NWF liaison with British Business Bank and Innovate UK to support scaling businesses.

Conclusion · 12th Report - National Wealth Fund · Addressed to HM Treasury

Concluded (the committee's words)
The NWF will need to liaise effectively with other public financial institutions to facilitate growth. In particular, it will have to co-ordinate with the British Business Bank and Innovate UK to support businesses that are scaling up. (Conclusion, Paragraph 41)

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7: Outline collaboration among public financial institutions and re-examine merging British Business Bank and NWF.

Recommendation · 12th Report - National Wealth Fund · Addressed to HM Treasury

Recommended (the committee's words)
The new NWF strategy must explicitly state how those public financial institutions will work together to ensure that businesses that are scaling up can seamlessly obtain support without gaps or duplication. The Treasury should re-examine the potential merits of merging the British Business Bank and the National Wealth Fund. The Treasury must also better publicise the Office for Investment to ensure that it works effectively as a one-stop advice shop for businesses. (Recommendation, Paragraph 42)

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9: Maintain approach preventing political interference in the National Wealth Fund's operations.

Recommendation · 12th Report - National Wealth Fund · Addressed to HM Treasury

Recommended (the committee's words)
Political interference would create a climate of uncertainty for investors and ultimately reduce the NWF’s capacity to attract private capital and promote growth. We were therefore reassured to hear from the former NWF Chief Executive that the NWF has not been subject to political interference. The Treasury must maintain that approach. (Recommendation, Paragraph 48)

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Reports

1 report

Oral evidence sessions

3 sessions

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Date Session and witnesses Source
1 Jul 2025
Oral evidence session
John Flint · National Wealth Fund, Neeraj Patel · HM Treasury, The Lord Livermore · HM Treasury 		View ↗
18 Jun 2025
Oral evidence session
Chaitanya Kumar · New Economics Foundation, Darren Davidson · Siemens Energy UK&I and Siemens Gamesa UK, Dr Martin Turner · UK BioIndustry Association, James Earl · Future Energy Networks, Mark Thomas · First Light Fusion, Phil Chambers · Orbex, Pranesh Narayanan · Institute for Public Policy Research, Professor Neil Lee · London School of Economics, Shaun Spiers · Green Alliance 		View ↗
14 May 2025
Oral evidence session
Chris Cummings · The Investment Association, Joe Dharampal-Hornby · Impact Investing Institute, Richard Threlfall · Institution of Civil Engineers, Signe Norberg · Aldersgate Group 		View ↗

Who gave evidence

16 witnesses

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WitnessOrganisationSessions
Chaitanya Kumar · Acting Head of Economic and Environmental Policy New Economics Foundation 1
Chris Cummings · Chief Executive Officer The Investment Association 1
Darren Davidson · Vice President Siemens Energy UK&I and Siemens Gamesa UK 1
Dr Martin Turner · Director of Policy and External Affairs UK BioIndustry Association 1
James Earl · Chief Executive Future Energy Networks 1
Joe Dharampal-Hornby · Public Affairs Manager Impact Investing Institute 1
John Flint · Chief Executive Officer National Wealth Fund 1
Mark Thomas · Chief Executive Officer First Light Fusion 1
Neeraj Patel · Deputy Director HM Treasury 1
Phil Chambers · Chief Executive Officer Orbex 1
Pranesh Narayanan · Research fellow, Economy & Environment Institute for Public Policy Research 1
Professor Neil Lee · Professor of Economic Geography London School of Economics 1
Richard Threlfall · Policy Fellow Institution of Civil Engineers 1
Shaun Spiers · Executive Director Green Alliance 1
Signe Norberg · Head of Public Affairs and Communications Aldersgate Group 1
The Lord Livermore · Financial Secretary to the Treasury HM Treasury 1

Correspondence

4 letters

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PublishedDirectionLetter
2 Sep 2025 Not recorded Correspondence to the NWF on follow-up to evidence session on 1 July 2025, dated 22 July 2025
2 Sep 2025 Not recorded Correspondence from CEO of the NWF on follow-up to evidence session on 1 July 2025, dated 8 August 2025
1 Jul 2025 Not recorded Correspondence from Siemens Energy following oral evidence on our inquiry into the National Wealth Fund, dated 30 June 2025
18 Jun 2025 Not recorded Correspondence from ICE following oral evidence on our inquiry into the National Wealth Fund