Treasury minister Lord Spencer Livermore has promised the government will consider reforms to investment company cost disclosure rules, as the House of Lords prepares to debate a fresh bill on the topic. 

A private members bill put forward by Baroness Sharon Bowles will be heard in the House of Lords on 5 September, after a previous attempt to push through reforms led by former pensions minister Ros Altmann did not make it past the general election. 

Current rules mean that the routine expenses of managing a fund, such as surveyors’ fees for a real estate investment trust, are not treated as costs and deducted from net asset value when they have already been deducted from the share price, so in effect they are double-counted.

This has dissuaded investors from backing such trusts, hampering areas such as real assets or green energy at a time when chancellor Rachel Reeves has emphasised her intention to get more private investors’ money into UK infrastructure. 

Speaking in the House of Lords, Bowles said that her bill, which calls for listed funds to be removed from the scope of regulated cost disclosure and returned to their pre-2018 status before the European Mifid and Priips directives were applied, would ‘fix a glitch’ in the presentation of investment company cost disclosures that has lost the sector more than £30bn. 

‘Will the government fix the glitch in cost disclosure presentation that has ravaged the listed investment company sector?’ asked Bowles. ‘Lost investment largely for real assets such as infrastructure and renewable energy is now at £30bn and counting.’

In response, Lord Livermore, who is financial secretary to the Treasury, said that investment companies played a significant role in the UK economy, making up more than 30% of the FTSE 250 index, including many infrastructure projects and renewables that could support the government’s growth agenda. 

‘I continue to believe Baroness Bowles makes a persuasive case for action and the government will carefully consider all options available to address the issues,’ Livermore said.

Bowles’ bill picks up from Baroness Altman’s previous attempt, which had made its way through the House of Lords before the Conservatives called a general election, meaning ongoing legislation was scrapped.