Lord Young of Cookham

The SFO is an independent law enforcement agency, superintended by the Attorney General’s Office. As set out in the Framework Agreement between the two organisations there are regular meetings between the Law Officers and the Director of the SFO to discuss both the SFO performance at an organisational level and to provide an oversight of high-profile casework.

Following a three-year investigation into British American Tobacco, in January 2021 the SFO determined that this case did not meet the evidential tests as defined in the Code for Crown Prosecutors. As with all cases that fail this first limb of the Code, it was therefore not in the public interest to continue with the investigation.

The SFO is aware of the allegations made in the BBC’s Panorama programme in September 2021.

The SFO continues to assist its international law enforcement partners with ongoing investigations related to this matter, and will assess any new material on its merits, as with any allegation of serious fraud, bribery or corruption. The SFO does not disclose the actions it takes to assess allegations.

To protect the interests of all involved the Government does not comment on the specifics of ongoing process.

The Prime Minister will make any decision on the matter public once the process has concluded.

Further to the question posed during the debate on 14 July, a letter was sent on 21 July.

Further announcements will be made in the usual way.

Where an allegation of financial abuse is confirmed, that is, that the DLA received by the appointee has not been used in the best interests of the claimant, the appointment is revoked. However, compensation is not paid.

The Department of Work and Pensions does not offer pre-paid cards. The main method of paying customers is into a standard bank, building society or credit union account. However, there are exceptions in limited circumstances.

The Department currently provides two Payment Exception Services which allow customers access to their payments. These are Her Majesty’s Government Payment Exception Service (HMG PES) and the Post Office Card account.

The Payment Exception Service is aimed at those customers who are unbanked and are either unable to open or use a bank account. It is designed for access to cash only. The contract expires 30 September 2021, but a similar procured new Payment Exception Service will replace HMG PES.

The Post Office Card Account is a basic deposit service for benefits and pensions, delivered by Post Office Limited on behalf of the Department. This service is due to end and customers will either convert to a standard bank, building society or credit union account. Those customers who are unable to open or use an account will be migrated to the new Payment Exception Service on a staged basis from August 2021.

From the latest published benefit expenditure and caseload tables, in 2019/20 the average caseload of people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance was 1.539 million, with nominal terms expenditure of £7.233 billion.

From the latest published benefit expenditure and caseload tables, in 2019/20 the average caseload of people in receipt of Disability Living Allowance was 1.539 million, with nominal terms expenditure of £7.233 billion.

No assessment has been made. Benefit fraud committed by an appointee is considered in the same way as benefit fraud committed by any claimant. Allegations of financial abuse against an appointee are investigated and will result in the appointeeship being revoked if proven.

The Government has announced a globally unprecedented investment in building safety and hundreds of thousands of leaseholders will be protected from the cost of replacing unsafe cladding on their homes.

On 10 February the Government announced it will provide an additional £3.5 billion grant funding for removal of unsafe cladding on buildings over 18 metres, which brings the total investment in building safety to an unprecedented £5 billion.

Lower-rise buildings between 11 and 18 metres, with a lower risk to safety, will gain new protection from the costs of cladding removal through a generous new financing scheme. As part of this financing scheme, no leaseholder will pay more than £50 per month towards the cost of cladding remediation.

This builds on steps already taken to support leaseholders, including £1.6 billion of funding to remediate unsafe cladding, the £30 million waking watch fund to help end excessive costs and new legislation in the Building Safety Bill which will ensure homes are made and kept safer in future.

The schemes will be launched in due course, and we will publish more details on how these will work as soon as we are in a position to do so.

The Government has worked with the lending industry and the regulators to prevent both homeowners and landlords from facing unaffordable bills or repossession if they can’t work, or if their tenants can’t pay rent due to the impact of coronavirus.

Mortgage holidays have been extended, with applications open to 31 March 2021. Borrowers that have been impacted by coronavirus and have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a six-month holiday, and those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to six months without this being recorded on their credit file.  Current FCA guidance states all mortgage holidays must end by 31 July, so while no one can have more than a six-month deferral, any consumer applying now for their first payment holiday will not be able to take the full six months. Information on mortgage payment holidays is set out on the FCA website: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-confirms-support-mortgage-borrowers-impacted-coronavirus

The FCA has been clear that for borrowers who have taken six months’ holiday and continue to face ongoing financial difficulties, firms should continue to provide support through tailored forbearance options. This could include granting new mortgage payment holidays. Mortgage customers in this situation should speak to their lender to discuss their options.

A mortgage holiday is not the right solution for everyone, and a prolonged payment deferral may not be in a consumer’s best interest - it is important to remember that whilst someone takes a payment holiday, they will still owe the amount they don’t pay during the deferral period, and interest will continue to accrue. Where consumers can afford to re-start mortgage payments, it is in their best interest to do so.

Evidence gathered by the consultation on raising accessibility standards for new homes will help government consider whether to mandate a higher baseline accessibility standard or to reconsider the way existing optional standards are used. We are currently analysing responses and will publish a government response in due course.

The most effective way to make buildings with unsafe cladding safe and eliminate the need for interim measures and associated costs is to have the unsafe cladding removed as quickly as possible. That is why we are prioritising £1.6 billion public subsidy on remediation of unsafe cladding. However, we recognise residents’ concerns about the cost of waking watch measures and the lack of transparency of these costs. That is why we have collected and published information on waking watch costs. This will enable those that have commissioned it to make comparisons and challenge providers on unreasonable costs. The data is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-waking-watch-costs

The Government also welcomes the National Fire Chiefs Council update to its guidance on Simultaneous Evacuation published in October (available at: www.nationalfirechiefs.org.uk/Simultaneous-evacuation-guidance). We have asked the Fire Protection Board to advise Fire and Rescue Services on how best to operationalise the revised guidance including looking into other measures such as installing building-wide fire alarm systems to reduce the dependency on waking watches wherever possible.

The national smoke-free seating condition in the Business and Planning Act was agreed with the Department of Health and Social Care, as was the associated guidance. Ministerial correspondence is not generally cleared across Government.

The Government has established an unprecedented package of support to protect tenants and landlords throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, with support for businesses to pay staff salaries and strengthening the welfare safety-net with a nearly £9.3billion boost to the welfare system. This includes an extra £1billion to increase Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates so that they cover the lowest 30% of market rents. These measures are supporting both landlords and tenants by enabling renters to continue paying their rent.

For those renters who require additional support, there is an existing £180 million of Government funding for Discretionary Housing Payments made available this year, an increase of £40 million from last year and which is for councils to distribute to support renters with housing costs.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely throughout the Autumn and Winter.