UK Debt Management Office: Business Plan
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 3 months ago)
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Harriett Baldwin
The United Kingdom Debt Management Office (DMO) has today published its business plan for the year 2016-17. Copies have been deposited in the Libraries of both Houses and are available on the DMO’s website: www.dmo.gov.uk.
[HCWS71]
Bank Branch Closures
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 3 months ago)
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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
It is a great pleasure to be able to respond on the Government’s behalf to this really excellent debate. I congratulate the hon. Members for City of Chester (Christian Matheson) and for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) and my hon. Friend the Member for Wells (James Heappey) on securing it, and thank them for giving me the opportunity to update the House on what is going on in this area. I also thank the Backbench Business Committee for scheduling such an interesting debate on a Thursday afternoon. I also thank the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell). It is a great honour for me to have the shadow Chancellor respond to the debate. He only lost one member of his team during it, so congratulations to him.
I need to start with a confession. I am a rural Member of Parliament. I spend four days a week up here in London. If I think about it, I actually cannot remember when I last went into a bank branch. I have been to the cashpoint, here and in my constituency, but I also ask myself when, these days, do I even use cash? The only place seems to be in the House of Commons Tea Room. I understand contactless is coming there soon, so where will we all be then?
Customer behaviour is clearly changing. The number of times that we all use a branch in any given year has dropped almost 30%. The most recent data that I have from the BBA show that branch transactions have fallen to 270 million branch customer contacts in 2016. If my maths is right, that is an average of four per year.
Kirsten Oswald
Does the Minister accept that some of the downturn in customer bank transactions is because bank branches have closed?
Harriett Baldwin
The hon. Lady is right to ask that question, but if customers were surging into branches and transacting valuable business, the banks would not be being as radical as they are.
Harriett Baldwin
A lot of Members will want to intervene. I have a lot of ground to cover and only seven minutes in which to cover it, so I will give way only very briefly.
Albert Owen
I am very grateful. I encourage the Minister to go to her local banks and talk to the staff. Their opinions have not really been voiced here today. They are the frontline of the banking industry and quite often we do not hear from them. It is because of reduced hours that she and I have limited time to go into our banks, but I do go in every Friday morning.
Harriett Baldwin
The hon. Gentleman is right to pay tribute to the wonderful staff up and down the land who staff our bank branches. The older members of our communities really value that interaction. It can be very important in protecting them against some of the online fraud, which, we have to acknowledge, targets older customers.
It is clear from the points raised today, and from the regular discussions I have with Members, that we are all in agreement that bank branches are an important part of the solution when it comes to access to finance for our local communities. It is one of my top priorities as Economic Secretary to ensure that financial services work for everyone and that they are on the side of people who want to work hard, do the right thing and get on in life. Having a good branch network is part of that. The role of banks in society is essential. I am glad that that has been acknowledged today.
In the interests of time, I want to just highlight some of the issues raised in the debate. First, in the past year we have made significant progress on access to banking services by improving access to the basic bank account. Many more banks now offer that. We have also reduced the practice of charging for failed payments, which was unacceptable. The industry has moved forward on that. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy). She has not participated in this debate, but she made such an impact in terms of bringing payday lending under the regulation of the FCA and the progress we are making on that. There has been much discussion about the access to banking protocol.
Chris Evans
Does the Minister know of my interest in real-time credit scoring? Has she had a chance to look at that?
Harriett Baldwin
The hon. Gentleman knows that that is worth a whole Adjournment debate in itself, so I will talk about the access to banking protocol instead.
The protocol means that when a bank decides to close a branch it must think carefully about the consequences of doing so, particularly when it is the last bank in town. We have heard today—this debate is timely—that Professor Russel Griggs has been appointed by the BBA to review how it has been working in its first year. All the points raised by Members will be excellent submissions to that review. I hope he will take the opportunity to meet hon. Members to hear at first-hand the feedback on the independent review of the protocol. I would like practical recommendations to come out of the review on how we can move forward. I think we all recognise there will be an ongoing review by banks on how they can best use their branches.
Mr Gareth Thomas
The Minister has a reputation for being one of the most reasonable of her colleagues on the Government Front Bench. Is she willing to receive a deputation from the people in the credit union and the responsible finance industry to see what else might be possible to help them to grow?
Harriett Baldwin
I am glad to confirm that all the occupants of the Government Front Bench are entirely reasonable and sane. I regularly meet members of the credit union industry. The hon. Gentleman’s point brings me on to credit unions specifically.
We think that credit unions are very much worth backing. As the hon. Gentleman will know, we have put a great deal of money into improving their technology. One of the challenges they have is scale: the smallness of some credit unions means that they need a communal IT platform. We have subsidised that to the tune of £38 million. I also want to highlight to the House that we have, in the past few days, launched a consultation—people may have missed it, with all the other news that has been coming out—on how the Help to Save product will work. I encourage credit unions to come forward with proposals on how they could be a part of this really important saving product.
Many Members have alluded to the important role that the post office network can play in solving this problem. As we know, this Government, like the last one, have committed to subsidising the network and making it viable. I dispute what the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Albert Owen) said about the network having fallen from 11,900. The figure has stayed above 11,500—just over 11,600, I think—so there has been a small decline, but not the precipitous decline we saw when Labour was in government. Post offices are an important part of the solution. For example, the network’s opening hours have increased by nearly 200,000 as a result of the modernisation process.
Members have mentioned the importance of mobile phone signals, digital connectivity and our commitment on universal access. Those things are also an important part of the solution. Moreover, we currently have a record number of free-to-use ATMs in this country—about 45,000—and there is a commitment from the LINK network to continue expanding their number, particularly into harder-to-reach communities.
We have heard powerful and passionate contributions from the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy), my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Chris Davies) and the hon. Members for Clwyd South (Susan Elan Jones) and for Harrow West (Mr Thomas), the last of whom talked about the affordable credit sector and the help we are giving to the mutuals sector. We have also talked about lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and the importance of the community finance network, which I know from my own constituency is very important. There are also now other platforms through which small businesses can access finance, such as peer-to-peer platforms and so on.
I do not have time to make all my points, but my door is open. We all aspire to ensure that as we go through this evolution we maintain good access to finance for everybody. Healthy competition is also important. The new starter banks—five have got a banking licence in this Parliament so far—are an important part of the solution, as too is the way firms are adapting branches to use technology to provide more services. I have run out of time—I want to hand over to the hon. Member for City of Chester to conclude—but this has been a very important and well-timed debate.
Finance Bill
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 3 months ago)
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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
Clause 129 increases the standard rate of insurance premium tax from 9.5% to 10% to raise revenue to invest in flood defence and flood resilience.
Insurance premium tax is due on general insurance premiums related to risks located in the UK regardless of where the insurer is based. It is charged as a percentage of the gross premium that an insurer charges, including any broker commissions and other directly related costs—so it is a charge on the insurer, not on the individual.
Insurance premium tax is due on general insurance, which accounts for approximately 20% of total insurance premiums. General insurance includes motor insurance, home insurance, employers’ liability insurance and medical insurance. Approximately 80% of insurance premiums are exempt from insurance premium tax. Exempt insurance includes long-term insurance such as life insurance and critical illness cover. Long-term insurance products are exempt from insurance premium tax to avoid creating a distortion between savings products and long-term insurance products, which can serve the same purpose for consumers. Reinsurance is also exempt to avoid double taxation.
Harriett Baldwin
I know the Opposition are having a hard time being an Opposition at the moment, but it can only be left to the imagination how hard they might find some of the difficult choices people have to make in government. We all agree that flood defence spending is an incredibly important part of what we need to do to help our communities. The hon. Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) is a Leeds MP, so I would have liked more of a welcome from him for the millions of pounds of additional funding this measure will give fund flood defences in his constituency. I, too, represent a very flood-prone area, with it containing the confluence of the Rivers Severn, Avon and Teme, and nobody in government argues for more money for flood defences more than I do. It is very important that we continue to find ways to make our country more resilient to what will occur on unpredictable occasions when we have the kind of weather that we had last winter.
The hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) was right to point out the importance of flood defence spending. She was concerned about the fact that this Budget raises IPT by 0.5% and asked whether it was our policy to make any further changes to IPT. On that, I will have to give her the standard Treasury Minister answer, which she can probably guess: the Government keep all taxes under review. As others have pointed out, this 0.5% increase is considerably less than was feared at the time of the Budget announcements.
In terms of the availability of flood insurance for homeowners, the Flood Re initiative has been very helpful and beneficial in making sure that homeowners who perhaps in the past found it difficult to access affordable flood insurance are able to continue to access that. That has been very widely welcomed by those homeowners across the country, and I can certainly say in terms of my constituency experience that it is important that people shop around. If their existing insurer is causing difficulties in terms of price changes, it is worth getting in touch with the excellent British Insurance Brokers Association, who can be very helpful in terms of alternatives.
The hon. Member for Leeds East asked about hypothecation and about rate increases. We need to keep this in perspective. Although I welcome the Labour party’s sudden welcoming of lower taxes—something I hope all parties can subscribe to—we do need to raise tax revenues. The hon. Gentleman asked what this will actually cost. For average annual combined contents and buildings insurance, this would add just £1 to the annual bills, or 2p a week. For the average motor insurance premium, it will add just £2 a year or 4p a week. Just going from one petrol station to a slightly better value petrol station can save considerably more than that, which puts this measure into perspective.
I cannot imagine that there is anything more exciting to watch on television at the moment than this debate, but if there is, it may explain why the Chamber is not particularly vigorously attended. However, with those points answered, and given that the link we have made—rather than the explicit hypothecation—means that these measures have been pretty widely welcomed by all commentators, without any further ado, given rival attractions on television, I would like to commend this clause to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 129 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill.
To report progress and ask leave to sit again.—(Margot James.)
The Deputy Speaker resumed the Chair.
Progress reported; Committee to sit again tomorrow.
Draft Building Societies (Floating Charges and Other Provisions) order 2016
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 3 months ago)
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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Building Societies (Floating Charges and Other Provisions) Order 2016.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Buck. We all want to see a healthy and competitive banking sector that delivers for consumers. For many years now, building societies have been strong competitors to the major banks, particularly in the mortgage market, and we want to see that kind of competition not only continue but grow further. In 2012, the Government launched a consultation to look at how we could level the playing field between banks and building societies. We wanted to maintain the distinctiveness of the building society sector but remove any unnecessary barriers that were getting in the way of their success. One key thing that building societies told us was that they found it difficult to compete because, unlike banks, they could only create fixed charges over their assets and not floating charges.
It may be helpful at this point if I explain briefly what floating charges are and how they are used. In short, they are securities over an undefined set of assets—for example, a building society’s mortgage book—that fluctuates in the course of business. That is in contrast with a fixed charge, which is over a fixed, defined asset such as a building or a specified set of loans. Floating charges allow financial institutions to borrow money and use their mortgage book as collateral, while still being able to exchange and dispose of any individual mortgages during normal trading activity. However, the Building Societies Act 1986 created a restriction that building societies could not use such charges. Banks therefore denied building societies access to certain transactions, because of the risk that a court could ultimately reclassify a fixed charge on a building society’s assets to a floating charge and make the security void.
Secured funding is an accepted and flexible funding tool that is far more commonplace and necessary now than when the restriction was introduced. That is why the Government made an order last year under the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 that repealed the restriction and allowed building societies to create floating charges. Initial estimates indicate that the change will save the sector around £2 million a year by allowing building societies to enter into such transactions with banks.
The draft order will make further provisions in relation to the repeal of the floating charges restriction. It will amend the Building Societies Act to apply companies insolvency legislation if the building society were to go into receivership. Therefore, in the unlikely event that it becomes necessary to enforce the security, a floating charge holder can appoint a receiver to enforce the terms of a floating charge. The draft order is uncontroversial, and it will help to provide legal certainty and ensure the effectiveness of the repeal of the restriction made last year.
The draft order proposes a technical change that will allow us to continue our work to support building societies by allowing them to compete with banks on a level playing field. That will be not only good for the market by helping to boost competition, but help to create better products and services for the people who use them. I therefore commend the draft order to the Committee.
Harriett Baldwin
I congratulate the hon. Member for Salford and Eccles on the expertise with which she addressed the draft order. I do not know whether hers is a permanent or temporary substitution on the Opposition Front Bench, but she has acquitted herself with great excellence, and I am glad that her colleague from the Whips Office, the right hon. Member for Tynemouth, is here to observe her. I welcome her support for the measure and her enthusiasm for potential further deregulation in the building society sector.
The hon. Lady is absolutely right that we put competition in the banking sector right at the heart of what we are trying to do. I welcome the fact that eight new banking licences were awarded in the UK in the last Parliament and that five have been awarded so far in this Parliament. The Prudential Regulation Authority has set up a new bank unit, which might welcome—although this is unlikely—new building societies to the fold. Competition is something that we think is helpful and beneficial for consumers, and something that we back wholeheartedly. We, too, are looking forward to the final report from the CMA later this year and its recommendations.
One thing I will share with the hon. Lady is that, when bringing such measures to a Committee of the House, I try to bunch them together as much as possible, so it is perhaps unfortunate that we have such a short discussion today. She asked about deceased investors in building societies. She is right that representations have been made and are being considered by the Treasury on that matter. She is also right that further representations have been made about some of the reporting requirements. It is incumbent on us, as we have done in this instance, always to look for opportunities to simplify or clarify regulations on behalf of the sector.
In the interests of potentially beating the record for the length of consideration of such a technical change, I commend the draft order to the Committee and hope that it will be widely welcomed and accepted.
Question put and agreed to.
Oral Answers to Questions
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 4 months ago)
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Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)
7. What steps he is taking to increase exports.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
Over the last six years, UK Trade & Investment has more than doubled the number of businesses that it helps. It now aims to help a further 100,000 firms to export by 2020.
Alan Brown
I thank the Minister for her answer, but it did not make it clear what is actually being done to increase exports. The Chancellor promised that his growth strategy would be underpinned by a doubling of exports to £1 trillion by the end of the decade, but to date his targets have been missed, and the export figures are moving in the wrong direction. What will the Government do to turn that dire performance around?
Harriett Baldwin
My right hon. Friend the Chancellor mentioned earlier the important work that UKTI is doing in not only promoting the Exporting is GREAT brand around the world, but, now—across the whole Government—encouraging all our embassies around the world to focus their resources on increasing the potential opportunities for our world-class exporters.
Sir Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con)
22. Is the Minister aware that more than 25% of small businesses in France and Germany export, whereas the figure in the United Kingdom is about 20%? Does she agree that not just UKTI, but chambers of trade and business organisations such as the Federation of Small Businesses, can play a role in encouraging more small firms, in particular, to export?
Harriett Baldwin
My hon. Friend is absolutely right that there is an important role to be played by not only our embassy network, but our chambers of commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses. I also welcome the fact that some of our larger banks have also set themselves targets for getting additional customers to start to export during the next five years.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
Is the Minister aware that Huddersfield and Yorkshire are already a northern powerhouse in terms of manufacturing and the quality of partnership with universities? Is she aware that my universities in Yorkshire and the manufacturing sector are terrified that we will leave the European Union? It will bankrupt the universities and the manufacturing sector.
Harriett Baldwin
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to highlight the fact that the UK’s universities are unanimous in expressing the value that they put not only on higher education, but on the potential for those educated in universities to export in due course. He is absolutely right to highlight the fact that all other trade deals would be worse than the current zero-tariff trade deal that we have as a member of the EU.
Clive Lewis (Norwich South) (Lab)
8. What assessment he has made of which groups within the UK population will benefit from planned changes to (a) capital gains and (b) corporation tax.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
T6. I note that the Government will publish a report on the progress of payments to Equitable Life policyholders who are victims of the great scam, and I congratulate the Government on the progress that has been made to compensate those individuals. Will my right hon. Friend undertake to review the amount of money paid to victims of the scam so that we can fulfil the debt of honour that we owe them?
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
I can announce that although the Equitable Life payment scheme is now closed to new claims, payments being made under the scheme to with-profit annuitants are not only tax free but will continue for the life of the relevant annuity.
Steven Paterson (Stirling) (SNP)
T8. June’s OECD economic outlook revised down its prediction for UK GDP growth. This latest fall arises in the aftermath of the International Monetary Fund’s health check of the UK economy, which concluded that GDP growth was also paltry. When will the Chancellor listen to the experts and offer much-needed investment instead of ideologically driven austerity?
Harriett Baldwin
I hope that my hon. Friend has experienced only the ambulance chasers, not the whiplash. He is right to highlight the cost that this puts on motorists, which we estimate is about £90 a year for every motorist in the country. That is why we have already taken steps to reform this area. Last year in the autumn statement we announced further reforms, which will remove the right to cash compensation for minor whiplash injuries, while ensuring that genuine claimants are rehabilitated.
Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)
Genuine tax avoidance must be tackled, but HMRC pursuing people who invested legally in schemes, not to avoid tax, and who are now being hit with accelerated payments, is an affront to natural justice, treating them as guilty until proved innocent. Will the Chancellor meet me and a group of people who are seriously detrimentally affected by this?
Harriett Baldwin
I welcome this question because our financial services sector is not only our highest-paid sector, but the one with the widest gender pay gap. That is why we launched the Women in Finance charter, and we are asking all financial services firms to implement the recommendations in the excellent review by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the chief executive of Virgin Money, on the representation, or rather the under-representation, of senior women in financial services.
Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)
The Government have made significant public spending cuts affecting disabled people, including nearly £30 billion of cuts in social security to 3.7 million disabled people. Given that disabled people are twice as likely as the general population to be living in poverty, how many more disabled people will be living in poverty by 2020?
Counter-terrorist Asset-freezing Regime
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 4 months ago)
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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
Under the Terrorist Asset-Freezing etc. Act 2010 (TAFA 2010), the Treasury is required to report to Parliament, quarterly, on its operation of the UK’s asset-freezing regime mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 1373.
This is the 18th report under the Act and it covers the period from 1 January 2016 to 31 March 2016.1This report also covers the UK implementation of the UN ISIL (Daesh) and al-Qaida organisations asset-freezing regime (ISIL-AQ) and the operation of the EU asset-freezing regime in the UK under EU regulation (EC) 2580/2001 which implements UNSCR 1373 against external terrorist threats to the EU. Under the ISIL-AQ asset-freezing regime, the UN has responsibility for designations and the Treasury has responsibility for licensing and compliance with the regime in the UK under the al-Qaida (Asset-Freezing) Regulations 2011. Under EU Regulation 2580/2001, the EU has responsibility for designations and the Treasury has responsibility for licensing and compliance with the regime in the UK under part 1 of TAFA 2010.
Annexes A and B to this statement provide a breakdown, by name, of all those designated by the UK and the EU in pursuance of UN Security Council resolution 1373. The one individual subject to a designation, which has been notified on a restricted and confidential basis, under sections 3 and 10 of TAFA 2010 is denoted by “A”.
The table attached sets out the key asset-freezing activity in the UK during the quarter ending 31 March 2016.
Legal Proceedings
Moazzem Begg, who was previously designated under TAFA 2010, lodged an appeal on 3 November 2014, challenging the Treasury’s decision to revoke rather than quash his designation. These proceedings were ongoing during the reporting period.
One individual, C, designated under TAFA 2010, lodged an appeal against his designation on the 26 May 2015. These proceedings were ongoing during the reporting period.
Mohammed al Ghabra’s challenge of his listing under the EU ISIL (Daesh) and al-Qaida regulation was heard by the CJEU in February 2016. Judgment is to follow.
There were no criminal proceedings in respect of breaches of asset-freezes made under TAFA 2010, during the reporting period.
Annex A: Designated persons under TAFA 2010 by name2
Individuals
1. Hamed ABDOLLAHI
2. Imad Khalil AL-ALAMI
3. Abdelkarim Hussein AL-NASSER
4. Ibrahim Salih AL-YACOUB
5. Manssor ARBABSIAR
6. Usama HAMDAN
7. Nur Idiris HASSAN NUR
8. Nabeel HUSSAIN
9. Hasan IZZ-AL-DIN
10. Mohammed KHALED
11. Parviz KHAN
12. Musa Abu MARZOUK
13. Khalid MISHAAL
14. Khalid Shaikh MOHAMMED
15. Abdul Reza SHAHLAI
16. Ali Gholam SHAKURI
17. Qasem SOLEIMANI
18. A (restricted designation)
Entities
1. Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA)
2. Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN)
3. Fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)
4. Hizballah Military Wing, including external security organisation
5. Popular Front for the Liberation of PALESTINE—General Command (PFLP- GC)
6. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine— (PFLP)
7. Sendero Luminoso (SL)
Annex B: Persons designated by the EU under Council Regulation (EC)2580/20013
Persons
1. Hamed ABDOLLAHI*
2. Abdelkarim Hussein AL-NASSER*
3. Ibrahim Salih AL YACOUB*
4. Manssor ARBABSIAR*
5. Mohammed BOUYERI
6. Hasan IZZ-AL-DIN*
7. Khalid Shaikh MOHAMMED*
8. Abdul Reza SHAHLAI*
9. Ali Gholam SHAKURI*
10. Qasem SOLEIMANI*
Groups and entities
1. Bu Nidal Organisation (ANO)
2. Al-Aqsa E.V.
3. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade
4. Babbar Khalsa
5. Communist Party of the Philippines, including New People’s Army (NPA), Philippines
6. Devrimci Halk Kurtulu Partisi-Cephesi—DHKP/C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army/Front/Party)
7. Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army)*
8. Fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC)*
9. Gama’a al-Islamiyya (a.k.a. Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya) (Islamic group—IG)
10. Hamas, including Hamas-Izz al-Din al-Qassem
11. Hizballah military wing, including external security organisation
12. Hizbul Mujahideen (HM)
13. Hofstadgroep
14. International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)
15. Islami Büyük Dogu Akincilar Cephesi (IBDA-C) (Great Islamic Eastern Warriors Front)
16. Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF)
17. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) (a.k.a. KONGRA-GEL)
18. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
19. Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
20. Popular Front For The Liberation of Palestine—General Command (PFLP-GC)*
21. Popular Front For The Liberation of Palestine— (PFLP)*
22. Sendero Luminoso (SL) (Shining Path)*
23. Teyrbazen Azadiya Kurdistan (TAK)
1 These figures are correct as at 30 September 2015
2 For full listing details please refer to: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/current-list-of-designated-persons-terrorism-and-terrorist-financing
3 For full listing details please refer to: www.gov.uk
* EU listing rests on UK designation under TAFA 2010
[HCWS26]
Insurance Fraud Taskforce
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 4 months ago)
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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
The Insurance Fraud Taskforce was established as an independent body by HM Treasury and the Ministry of Justice in January 2015 in order,
“to investigate the causes of fraudulent behaviour and recommend solutions to reduce the level of insurance fraud in order to ultimately lower costs and protect the interests of honest consumers”.
The final report of the Insurance Fraud Taskforce published on 18 January 2016 made 26 recommendations to tackle fraudulent activity ranging from organised or premeditated crime to opportunistic fraud. It is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ insurance-fraud-taskforce-final-report.
The Minister of State for Civil Justice (Lord Faulks) and I are very grateful for the work of the taskforce members, and to all those who contributed to it. We are particularly grateful to David Hertzell for his efficient stewardship of the taskforce.
The report highlighted the particular problem of fraud in relation to low value personal injury claims and the Government have established a programme of reforms in this area, particularly in respect of whiplash claims. We are pleased that the report’s recommendations reflect and support that reform programme. The Government accept each of the recommendations addressed to it and we will set out in due course how we propose to implement them. However, there needs to be a concerted effort by all those involved in the insurance process to tackle this serious problem, which is estimated to cost policyholders up to £50 each per year, and the country more than £3 billion. We therefore expect organisations tasked with taking forward recommendations to do so with urgency. The Government will do what they can to assist and, in order to make sure that all of the recommendations are actively pursued, we will seek an update on progress later in the year.
[HCWS28]
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementations
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 4 months ago)
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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
At the summer Budget the Chancellor announced that HM Treasury will establish the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) before the end of the financial year to support the UK’s foreign policy and national security goals and help maintain the integrity of and confidence in the UK financial services sector. The OFSI was established on 31 March 2016 within HM Treasury. Its principle aims are to:
increase awareness of and compliance with financial sanctions;
ensure that sanctions breaches are rapidly detected and effectively addressed; and
provide a professional service to the public and industry on financial sanctions issues.
The Treasury, through OFSI, will continue to be the UK’s competent authority for the implementation of financial sanctions, and Treasury ministers will continue to be responsible for licencing decisions and designations under UK sanctions legislation.
[HCWS723]
Financial Services Update
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 5 months ago)
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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
I can today confirm that I have laid a Treasury Minute informing the House of the sale of NRAM plc to Cerberus, and the replacement of NRAM plc on the Government’s balance sheet by a new company, NRAM (No.1) Limited (“StayCo”), which will continue to wind down the remaining legacy assets of the former Northern Rock.
The Treasury Minute concerns the transfer to StayCo of assets and liabilities of NRAM plc that were not included in the sale to Cerberus. The Government have also reissued, on a like-for-like basis, the guarantees for StayCo’s directors, replacing the previous arrangements for NRAM plc. StayCo is also taking on NRAM plc’s state aid commitments.
The Government have received the final £520 million from Cerberus as part of the conclusion of this sale. The Treasury’s contingent liabilities have also reduced by £1.6 billion as a result of the withdrawal of the Treasury’s undertaking to NRAM plc.
I will update the House of any further changes to NRAM (No.1) Limited as necessary.
[HCWS712]
Oral Answers to Questions
Harriett Baldwin Excerpts(8 years, 5 months ago)
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Maggie Throup (Erewash) (Con)
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
The Government fully support expanding the UK’s trade relationship with Iran. The Treasury is actively liaising with UK banks and industry bodies, to understand concerns and help re-establish financial channels between the UK and Iran.
Maggie Throup
Despite the improving diplomatic relations between the British and Iranian Governments, UK businesses still face significant barriers to completing legitimate banking transactions for trade purposes. Will the Minister look at what more can be done to help to facilitate financial transactions between UK and Iranian banks, so that the UK economy can begin to benefit from this new market?
Harriett Baldwin
I thank my hon. Friend for her question. She is right that the situation with the payment channels between the UK and Iran is quite challenging, particularly because the US still has its primary sanctions in place. We have been speaking to banks at the highest levels. We have also been liaising with the US authorities to push for further clarity for UK banks. It is worth pointing out that some banks have a more extensive US business than others do, and that therefore it might be worth companies in my hon. Friend’s constituency and elsewhere considering switching to banks that have less exposure in the US.
Sir Simon Burns (Chelmsford) (Con)
Given the opportunities for British businesses in Iran as a result of the relaxation of sanctions, could the Treasury have a word with our friends the Americans to make sure that they do not seek to use their banking regulations to prevent some of the commercial deals that may flow to British companies as a result of that relaxation of sanctions?
Harriett Baldwin
My right hon. Friend is right to highlight one of the key issues. I assure him that we are working at all levels in discussions with the US authorities to ensure that British companies selling to Iran are able to put that money into UK bank accounts.
Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
It is Export Week, and I can announce that UK Export Finance has provided more than £15 billion of support to exporters since 2010 and UK Trade & Investment has more than doubled the number of businesses that it helps to more than 54,000.
Marie Rimmer
UK industrial production and manufacturing output suffered sharp falls in February, and they remain well below 2008 levels. Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics reported that house prices in London have reached an average of £524,000, which is 49% higher than their pre-recession peak and out of the reach of all but those who are on six-figure salaries or who have benefited from a trust fund inheritance. When will my constituents see the Britain held aloft by the march of the makers, and the economy rebalanced towards the north of England, as the Chancellor promised?
Harriett Baldwin
I encourage the hon. Lady to seek an Adjournment debate to elaborate further on her question. I am sure that she and her constituents will welcome the fact that employment in the north-west is at the highest level on record; that more than 89,000 businesses in the north-west will not pay business rates; and that 360,000 people in the north-west will now benefit from the living wage.
Mr Alan Mak (Havant) (Con)
British exports to China have more than doubled since 2010, led by Havant-based manufacturers such as Colt and Lewmar. Will the Minister join me in congratulating those businesses, and will she encourage others to follow their lead by supporting and maintaining the Government’s pro-export policies?
Harriett Baldwin
It is wonderful to hear during Export Week about Colt and Lewmar, and their fantastic work exporting overseas. It is a key priority of the Government to continue to encourage more firms to export. In fact, we have ambitious aims to have another 100,000 businesses exporting over the life of this Parliament.
Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)
The current account deficit is at a post-war high of more than 5% of GDP, and 44% of our exports go to the European Union. It took Canada seven years to negotiate a free trade agreement with the European Union. Does the Minister agree that the last thing that exporters need, and the last thing that the one in 10 jobs that depend on our exports to the EU need, is the uncertainty that the referendum is bringing—and, indeed, that Brexit would bring—to them and to those jobs?
Harriett Baldwin
The last time I looked, I thought it was also Labour policy to have such a referendum, but I agree with the hon. Lady that it is very important that she and others get out the message about the value of exports and the importance for manufacturing of the UK’s membership of the single market. That is why I shall vote in the same way as her on 23 June.
Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)
Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriett Baldwin)
The analysis by the House of Commons Library is fundamentally flawed. First, it assumes that every pound of Government borrowing benefits people. It also does not highlight the fact that it is higher rate taxpaying women such as me, whose child benefit has been ended, who form the largest part of that group. Is the hon. Lady saying that her party wants to reinstate child benefit for higher rate taxpayers?
Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)