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Select committee: Treasury Committee

Conclusion 8

2nd Report – Financial Inclusion Strategy Published 14 Jul 2026 Addressed to HM Treasury

Treasury Committee Financial Inclusion Strategy All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Conclusion (the committee's words)
The government may be right to begin with partnerships pilots and working groups, but it should be clear from the outset what would count as insufficient progress and what further action it would then take. It should not wait until the two-year review to decide what happens next if pilots succeed or if voluntary action is insufficient. (Conclusion, Paragraph 35)

From: Treasury Committee, 2nd Report – Financial Inclusion Strategy (HC 13), 14 July 2026

Government response

The government responded to the whole report on 18 September 2026 (deadline 14 September 2026).

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

The Government shares the Committee's aims on evidence, accountability and delivery, but does not take forward several specific recommendations, relying instead on the planned two-year review of the Strategy.

  • On the proposed fuller quantitative analysis of financial exclusion, the Government considers it "would duplicate work already undertaken in developing the Strategy".
  • On firm-level metrics, the Government will "continue to use and invest in established population-level data sources". It is mindful that a broad set of new reporting requirements "could risk diverting resources" from effective action.
  • On pilots, the two-year review will include "a forward-looking assessment of the next steps for each pilot, working group and exploratory programme", rather than a separate pilot-to-scale plan within six months.
  • On governance, the Government considers that formally recording disagreements between consumer and industry representatives "could discourage candid discussion". It commits to the Financial Inclusion Committee continuing to publish summaries of its meetings on GOV.UK.

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