Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to change Government funding to credit unions from grant funding to repayable long-term investment capital.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government recognises the importance of long-term investment capital for all businesses, including credit unions, in helping them to maximise their potential.
The Government therefore supports any measures that help credit unions attract more long-term investment, helping them to boost their capital base and subsequently issue more loans.
As was made clear in the response to the Government’s Call for Evidence on the future of credit unions in 2014, the Government does not intend to provide revenue support to credit unions. This approach has been tried in the past and risks offering support for unsustainable business models which will then struggle to survive, once the support is ended. The Government will only consider grant funding in relation to specific outcomes.
The Government is supportive of increasing the level of long-term investment capital into credit unions and welcomes the role played by some private sector companies in providing this.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to review Government funding provided to credit unions.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government recognises the importance of long-term investment capital for all businesses, including credit unions, in helping them to maximise their potential.
The Government therefore supports any measures that help credit unions attract more long-term investment, helping them to boost their capital base and subsequently issue more loans.
As was made clear in the response to the Government’s Call for Evidence on the future of credit unions in 2014, the Government does not intend to provide revenue support to credit unions. This approach has been tried in the past and risks offering support for unsustainable business models which will then struggle to survive, once the support is ended. The Government will only consider grant funding in relation to specific outcomes.
The Government is supportive of increasing the level of long-term investment capital into credit unions and welcomes the role played by some private sector companies in providing this.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to regulate the rent-to-own credit sector.
Answered by Lord Bates
The government transferred the regulation of consumer credit, including high-cost credit and rent-to-own, to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2014.
The government has given the FCA strong powers to protect consumers, and the government welcomes the ongoing work of the FCA to review the high-cost credit market, including the rent-to-own sector. The FCA published a feedback statement in July 2017, noting concerns in rent-to-own, catalogue credit, home-collected credit, and overdrafts. A policy statement will follow in 2018
The FCA recently announced that BrightHouse, a rent-to-own firm, will pay over £14.8 million in redress to 249,000 customers in respect of agreements which may not have been affordable, and payments which should have been refunded. This demonstrates the effectiveness of FCA regulation in this sector.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to regulate the whole of the high-cost credit sector.
Answered by Lord Bates
The government transferred the regulation of consumer credit, including high-cost credit and rent-to-own, to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2014.
The government has given the FCA strong powers to protect consumers, and the government welcomes the ongoing work of the FCA to review the high-cost credit market, including the rent-to-own sector. The FCA published a feedback statement in July 2017, noting concerns in rent-to-own, catalogue credit, home-collected credit, and overdrafts. A policy statement will follow in 2018
The FCA recently announced that BrightHouse, a rent-to-own firm, will pay over £14.8 million in redress to 249,000 customers in respect of agreements which may not have been affordable, and payments which should have been refunded. This demonstrates the effectiveness of FCA regulation in this sector.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are planning to amend the Race Relations Act 1965 and subsequent related legislation to clarify the extent to which that legislation applies to the activities outside the UK of UK-based (1) companies, and (2) directors.
Answered by Lord Nash
The employment provisions of the Equality Act 2010 (“the Act”), which supersedes previous equalities legislation, only apply to employer activities in Great Britain. Some activities outside Great Britain may also be in scope of the Act, if the employment relationship is found to have a strong connection with Great Britain. The Government has no plans to amend the Act in this respect.