Select committee: Treasury Committee
Conclusion 7
Second Report - Edinburgh Reforms One Year On: Has Anything Changed?
Published 8 Dec 2023
Paragraph 36
Addressed to HM Treasury
Treasury Committee The Edinburgh Reforms All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
While the Treasury has delivered what it set out to do in these six strands of work, namely publishing documents, welcoming a regulatory consultation, and establishing reviews or taskforces, none of these are in of themselves reforms to the UK’s financial services regulations. We do not consider reviews alone to be reforms. They are merely the preparatory work for future potential reforms. We believe the Treasury is incorrect in considering these strands of work as having delivered reforms. Only when the recommendations from these various reviews, taskforces and strategies have been implemented into regulatory rule changes can these be deemed to be financial services reforms that have been delivered.
From: Treasury Committee, Second Report - Edinburgh Reforms One Year On: Has Anything Changed? (HC 221), paragraph 36, 8 December 2023
Government response
Fourth Special Report - Edinburgh Reforms One Year On: Has Anything Changed?: Further Government Response to the Committees Second Report Fourth
The government responded to the whole report on 26 April 2024 (deadline 8 February 2024).
Second Special Report - Edinburgh Reforms One Year On: Has Anything Changed? Government Response to the Committee’s Second Report
Published 21 February 2024.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government disagrees with "a number of the Report's conclusions" and says it is "squarely focused on delivery" of the Edinburgh Reforms.
- The Economic Secretary "particularly" rejects any suggestion that the reforms will not have a substantial impact on the UK economy and financial services competitiveness, or that they could be "responsibly delivered any faster".
- It "strongly agree[s]" with the Committee that reform should be evidence-based and involve consultation, and says the Treasury is "striving to balance" pace with "appropriate time for consultation and implementation".
- It states that, as of 6 October, 21 of the 31 Edinburgh Reforms commitments "have been delivered", and lists further progress since the report, including the Digital Securities Sandbox Regulations laid on 18 December 2023.
- No new dated commitments are made; the Economic Secretary says he "remain[s] focused on delivering these reforms" and expresses confidence that they are promoting growth and competitiveness.