5th Special Report - National Wealth Fund: Government Response

This is the government's response, published 15 January 2026.

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.

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