What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support the agri-tech sector.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee recently had the privilege of visiting New Zealand. We met an Innovate UK delegation promoting incredible British agri-tech innovations like cups that enable substrate-free hydroponics, vegetables that have 40 times the iron content, and AI analysis of drone, satellite and sensor data. Does the Secretary of State agree that agri-tech will be a key growth area for the UK? Will she work with counterparts in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and DBT to accelerate the success of British agri-tech start-ups?

I encourage the Secretary of State to visit the Roslin Institute, just outside Edinburgh. It is most famous, of course, for the cloning of Dolly the sheep, and it is one of the world’s leading agri-tech centres. Although it is in Scotland, it is extremely important that it is regarded as a UK asset, and I hope that she will promote it in that way.

Innovation and productivity go hand in hand, and the Government are backing British agri-tech with real investment. Innovation is central to our farming road map, and I recently announced that we are boosting the farming innovation programme to £123 million this year. We are also working across Government—for example, with the Department for Business and Trade—to open up new export opportunities and drive growth, productivity and jobs across the sector.

The government has set out its ambition for the UK to be the world leader in sustainable finance. This includes delivering a regulatory framework to support sustainable growth and enable the private sector to realise the opportunities of the transition. Through the consultation, the government was keen to explore whether a UK Green Taxonomy can be a useful tool in contributing to this ambition.

The government is reviewing and analysing the consultation responses, this includes considering the potential costs and how it fits in with existing regulation and regimes. We will publish a formal consultation response in due course which will set out next steps.

At this stage in the consultation process, the government was not seeking feedback on the detail of the sectors for inclusion. Instead, the government are focused on the bigger picture of whether and how this can be a useful tool for companies and investors. Therefore, at this stage issues around activities and sectors, such as defence, are out of scope.

The new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Standards, so called S1 and S2, are designed to replace the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) framework.

These are disclosure standards that ask firms to disclose financially material climate related risks to their business. The objective of these is to provide investors with consistent, comparable and reliable information about companies' sustainability-related risks and opportunities. These standards are designed to enhance transparency and do not dictate how a company should invest. They do not prevent or impose restrictions on investment in specific sectors, including defence or the Trident nuclear deterrent.

The previous government committed to establishing a framework to assess the suitability of ISSB Standards for endorsement in the UK. A Technical Advisory Committee of external experts have conducted a detailed assessment of the ISSB’s inaugural standards, and this process has now concluded. The government aims to consult on the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS) shortly, after which point they will be made available for use later in 2025.

The UK Benchmarks Regulation sets out the requirements for UK Climate Transition Benchmarks and UK Paris-aligned Benchmarks. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) monitor and supervise benchmark administrators according to the Benchmarks Regulation to ensure that benchmarks are produced robustly and with due transparency. The FCA published a statement regarding their position on sustainability regulations and UK defence investment on 11 March 2025.

It is for benchmark administrators to decide if they wish to provide UK Climate Transition Benchmarks and UK Paris-aligned benchmarks under the Benchmarks Regulation, including by paying due regard to the relevant FCA guidance, and which companies to include in their benchmarks. It is then up to firms and investors to choose whether to use these benchmarks.

This Government does not see a conflict between sustainable investment and investment in our world-leading defence sector.

Fraud is a costly crime for citizens, consumers, and businesses.

I welcome existing pledges to prevent fraud made by tech and telecoms firms.

At Mansion House, the Chancellor announced this government would work with tech and telecoms companies to stop their platforms and networks being exploited by criminals.

We are monitoring progress, including work on the second Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter and implementation of the Online Safety Act.

To balance the requirement on Financial Services to reimburse victims of fraud, Section 72 of the Financial Services and Markets Act enables the sector to manage risk through due diligence checks before releasing payments.

The department will continue to work with the Home Office and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to unlock further prevention efforts across all sectors in the forthcoming update to the fraud strategy.

New technologies will drive growth across our economy.

The Government has committed to taking forward all 50 recommendations from the AI Opportunities Action Plan.

We also launched the Tech Adoption review to ensure that the Industrial Strategy’s high growth sectors are unlocking the full potential of tech.

What are this Government doing to ensure innovation in UK tech companies, such as Kao Park in my constituency, so that they can drive economic growth as part of world-class AI computer ecosystems?

The principles of the Green Financing Programme are set out in the Green Financing Framework, published in June 2021. The Framework explains how proceeds from green gilts and NS&I’s retail Green Savings Bonds will finance green expenditures to help tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and other environmental challenges, while creating green jobs across the UK. It also includes guidelines on the types of expenditures that can be included in the Programme.

The previous Government decided to exclude financing weapons in its Green Financing Framework, alongside other named exclusions. The international convention is to exclude weapons for green bond frameworks. In line with other sovereign green bond issuers and international best practices, the UK Government Green Financing Framework was designed to align with the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) Green Bond Principles. This approach enables the UK’s green gilts to be accessible to the greatest possible pool of investors, improving value-for-money.

Green gilts and Green Savings Bonds finance public expenditures that can demonstrate a direct and positive environmental impact. Eligible expenditures are drawn from departments’ confirmed settlements in the Spending Review and assessed on the basis of their contribution to the Government’s climate and environmental objectives.

The Green Financing Framework does not underpin how Government expenditure decisions are made. As the PM has announced to Parliament on Tuesday 25 February, we will reach 2.5% of GDP expenditure on defence in 27-28.

The Government is committed to improving access to growth capital for startups and scaleups, recognising their vital role in driving economic growth and innovation.

At Autumn Budget, the Government provided over £1bn across the years 2024-25 and 2025-26 for the British Business Bank to enhance access to finance for smaller businesses. This includes additional funding for the Future Fund: Breakthrough scheme, which co-invests in high-growth, innovative firms.

The Government is also working to unlock additional private capital for productive investment. The Government published the Interim Report of the Pensions Investment Review alongside the Chancellor’s Mansion House Speech on 14 November 2024. The proposed reforms in the Interim Report could potentially unlock around £80 billion of productive investment, while boosting savers’ pension pots. The Government will publish the Final Report in Spring 2025. This will further consider the opportunity for, and scope of, investment in the UK by pension funds.

The Government is also taking further proactive steps to increase investment in innovative businesses by creating and managing new funding structures that will deliver returns for investors and deliver capital to high-growth businesses. In November 2024, the British Business Bank completed its £250m Long Term Investment for Technology and Science (LIFTS) investment alongside Phoenix Group with Schroders Capital. The £500m investment vehicle will invest in UK late-stage companies focused on technology and science, with 20% of the fund expected to be invested in life sciences.

Additionally, two UK pension funds, Aegon UK and NatWest Cushon, have agreed to collaborate with the British Business Bank on launching the British Growth Partnership to crowd-in institutional investment into venture capital funds and innovative businesses here in the UK.

In July 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) overhauled the UK’s Listing Rules to align our rulebook with leading international counterparts and provide greater flexibility to firms and founders raising capital on UK markets. The Government has also granted the FCA powers to rewrite the UK’s Prospectus Regime, with new rules expected later this year. This will benefit all firms looking to list on UK markets, including tech companies.

The Government is committed to reinvigorating our capital markets to deliver growth across the UK and is pursuing ambitious reforms to make our markets even more competitive.