Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to promote alternative finance.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Fintech offers a significant opportunity for the financial sector, providing new jobs and delivering benefits to consumers through increased competition and innovation. It contributes £6.6bn annually to the UK economy, employing 60,000 people across 1,600 companies.
The most recent step taken to promote the UK’s fintech industry, is the government’s second International Fintech Conference, due to be held on 22 March 2018. The conference will help showcase the UK fintech sector to investors from across the globe.
The government is continuing to support alternative finance, through implementing proportionate, principles based regimes for peer-to-peer (P2P) and equity-based crowdfunding that balance consumer protection with allowing the sectors to grow and evolve; and various supportive tax measures.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the contribution of financial technology to the UK’s financial sector.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Fintech offers a significant opportunity for the financial sector, providing new jobs and delivering benefits to consumers through increased competition and innovation. It contributes £6.6bn annually to the UK economy, employing 60,000 people across 1,600 companies.
The most recent step taken to promote the UK’s fintech industry, is the government’s second International Fintech Conference, due to be held on 22 March 2018. The conference will help showcase the UK fintech sector to investors from across the globe.
The government is continuing to support alternative finance, through implementing proportionate, principles based regimes for peer-to-peer (P2P) and equity-based crowdfunding that balance consumer protection with allowing the sectors to grow and evolve; and various supportive tax measures.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Open Banking in encouraging consumers to switch current accounts.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Current Account Switch Service (CASS), have conducted research which suggests that Open Banking will allow consumers to better understand the value of their current account, and compare it with competing products, potentially leading to an increase in switching. CASS will continue to monitor the impact of Open Banking on account switching.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to promote tax simplification.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The government is committed to having a tax system that is simple to understand and easy to comply with. At Budget the government took a number of practical steps to simplify the tax rules for businesses and charities which included:
These measures build on the action taken by the government since 2010 to simplify the tax system including:
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to increase the efficiency of customs clearance processes.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The new CDS (Customs Declaration Service) will replace the current customs declaration computer system (CHIEF) in January 2019. CDS will provide businesses engaged in international trade with a robust, modern and flexible customs declaration service.
‘The Customs Future Partnership Paper’ published on 15 August 2017 sets out the Government’s aspirations for future customs arrangements with the EU. The two new models proposed are:
- A highly streamlined customs arrangement
- A new customs partnership with the EU
The precise nature of any new customs arrangement will be determined in negotiations with the EU.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what role financial technology plays in promoting financial inclusion; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Financial technology plays an important role in promoting financial inclusion and capability. Banks and fintech firms use new technology to make it easy for consumers to save and invest money, receive better financial advice, and access cheaper, more appropriate loans and overdrafts.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to encourage investment in innovative UK science and technology projects.
Answered by David Gauke
As my Rt Honerable Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced at Autumn Statement, the government is significantly increasing investment in R&D, rising to an extra £2 billion a year by 2020-21; the largest increase in any parliament since at least 1979.
This includes an Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, which will support collaborations between businesses and the UK’s world-leading science base.
This will ensure the UK remains an attractive place for businesses to invest in innovative research, and that the next generation of discoveries are made, developed and produced in Britain.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the role of financial technology in encouraging consumers to switch their current account.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The government is committed to increasing competition in banking to improve outcomes for consumers. This includes delivering the Current Account Switch Service (CASS) which allows customers to switch their personal or business current account where they see a better deal – simply, quickly and reliably. Consumers have switched over 2.8 million times since the service was launched in 2013.
Making it easier for people to understand and compare banking products and services can help drive consumer engagement and could lead to an increase in switching. Financial technology is an important part of this.
In its recent provisional decision on remedies, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) proposed requiring the largest retail banks in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to develop and adopt an open API banking standard by early 2018.
This will make it easier for financial technology firms to make use of customer bank data in a variety of innovative ways, including providing services that make it easier for consumers to compare products and shop around for a better deal.
The government welcomes the CMA’s ongoing work as a crucial step towards the goal of a highly competitive banking sector, and stands ready to take action as necessary once the CMA publishes its final report in the summer.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the report by the Office for Tax Simplification's, The closer alignment of income tax and national insurance, published in March 2016.
Answered by David Gauke
Budget 2016 announced that the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) will review the impacts of moving employee National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to an annual, cumulative and aggregated basis and moving employer NICs to a payroll basis. After this review, the Government will respond in full to the OTS’s review of the closer alignment of income tax and NICs.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect of measures in Budget 2016 on social mobility.
Answered by David Gauke
The Government has carefully considered the impact of the tax and benefit reforms introduced in Budget. It is committed to improving social mobility by moving towards a higher wage, lower tax and lower welfare society.
The Government published distributional analysis to accompany Budget 2016 which shows that the richest are paying a greater share of tax as a result of this government’s policies while the share of spending going to the poorest has been protected.