To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Voluntary Contributions: British National (Overseas)
Monday 12th February 2024

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will allow British National (Overseas) visa holders to back pay voluntary National Insurance contributions.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

British National (Overseas) visa holders who live or work abroad (or have previously) are usually able to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions for the previous six tax years where they have either previously lived in the UK for three years in a row or paid at least three years of contributions.

For the tax years 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018 the government has extended the deadline for paying voluntary contributions to 5 April 2025.

The deadline has also been extended to 5 April 2025 for eligible customers to pay voluntary contributions for the tax years 6 April 2006 to 5 April 2016. Further guidance on eligibility and deadlines for paying voluntary contributions, including for those living or working abroad is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions.


Written Question
Cost of Living: Rural Areas
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the impact of increases in the cost of living on rural households.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Government is committed to helping people who need it the most, wherever they are. Distributional analysis published at Autumn Statement 2023 shows that low-income households will receive the largest benefit as a percentage of income from government decisions.

Taken together, cost of living support to households is worth £104 billion, or £3,700 per household on average, across 2022-25.


Written Question
Timesharing
Wednesday 20th December 2023

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken with the Financial Conduct Authority to tackle mis-sold holiday timeshares.

Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

Timeshare arrangements are direct investments in property and are expressly carved out of regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Activities that are outside the remit of the FCA are also outside the compulsory jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

However, both lenders that provides credit to purchase a time share, and firms that make introductions to a lender, need to be authorised by the FCA and comply with relevant FCA rules. The FCA requires firms to have a complaints process in place for regulated activities, which customers should use in the first instance. If they are not satisfied with the firm’s response to their complaint, they may raise a complaint with the FOS.

There are no plans for timeshare investment schemes to be brought within the scope of FCA regulation.


Written Question
Timesharing
Wednesday 20th December 2023

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with the (a) Financial Ombudsman and (b) Financial Conduct Authority on mis-sold time shares.

Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

Timeshare arrangements are direct investments in property and are expressly carved out of regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Activities that are outside the remit of the FCA are also outside the compulsory jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

However, both lenders that provides credit to purchase a time share, and firms that make introductions to a lender, need to be authorised by the FCA and comply with relevant FCA rules. The FCA requires firms to have a complaints process in place for regulated activities, which customers should use in the first instance. If they are not satisfied with the firm’s response to their complaint, they may raise a complaint with the FOS.

There are no plans for timeshare investment schemes to be brought within the scope of FCA regulation.


Written Question
Financial Conduct Authority and Financial Ombudsman Service: Standards
Wednesday 20th December 2023

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the consistency of decision-making processes at the (a) Financial Conduct Authority and (b) Financial Ombudsmen Service.

Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) are independent non-governmental bodies.

Both the FCA and the FOS operate within the framework set by Parliament, and they are directly accountable to Parliament for how they discharge their statutory functions.

This accountability includes a requirement for the FCA and the FOS to produce annual reports and accounts which are laid before Parliament by the Treasury. Both bodies are subject to full audit by the National Audit Office and to scrutiny through committee hearings, including the Public Accounts Committee and the Treasury Committee.

Both organisations maintain arrangements for the independent investigation of complaints against them.

The FOS regularly commissions independent reviews of its service. Most recently, a review carried out by Oaklin Consulting in 2021 found that the FOS is widely respected and viewed as reaching fair and impartial outcomes in the majority of cases.

The FOS and the FCA are operationally independent from one another, but engage extensively on a range of issues through the Wider Implications Framework. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 introduced a statutory duty for the FCA, the FOS and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to co-operate on issues which have or are likely to have significant implications for each other, or for the wider financial services market.


Written Question
Revenue and Customs: Standards
Thursday 18th May 2023

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what HMRC's target response times are for (a) public enquiries and (b) Member of Parliament enquiries; and if he will provide details of performance against those targets for each of the last six months.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

HMRC publishes monthly and quarterly performance data on the GOV.UK website links below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates

HMRC aims to reply to 80 per cent of Ministerial correspondence within fifteen working days.

The Cabinet Office asks all Government departments to reply to 80 per cent of Ministerial correspondence within 20-working days and publishes data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers on an annual basis this can be found on the GOV.UK website here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers


Written Question
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: National Insurance
Thursday 3rd February 2022

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the role of National Insurance numbers was in the delivery of the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

In the context of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, National Insurance Numbers (NINO) were, and are, used for additional verification of employees, including to help protect against fraud.

Employers were required to provide the NINO of an employee they wished to place on furlough at the stage of making a claim.

In exceptional cases where an employee did not need or have a NINO, employers were able to contact HMRC to claim for them. Further exception procedures were applied to larger employers.


Written Question
Revenue and Customs: Electronic Government
Friday 11th June 2021

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have Government Gateway accounts for (a) personal and (b) business use.

Answered by Jesse Norman

There are currently 73.1 million active credentials/accounts registered with Government Gateway; a single unique user may hold several accounts for use in interactions with HMRC and/or other Government departments.

69.4 million credentials are linked to HMRC services and are profiled across the user types below:

  • Tax Agents: 1.0 million
  • Individuals: 20.9 million
  • Organisations: 47.5 million

The remaining 3.7 million credentials are associated to OGDs (not HMRC) and HMRC do not hold a record as to whether these are used for personal or business use.


Written Question
Royal Bank of Scotland: Small Businesses
Thursday 10th June 2021

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to establish an independent quality assurance review of RBS Global Restructuring Group's treatment of SMEs.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

It would be inappropriate for the Government to comment on or intervene in the independent redress process overseen by Sir William Blackburne.

The Government believes that the financial services industry has changed significantly since the challenging period leading up to and following the financial crisis. For example, all of the major SME lenders have signed up to the Standards of Lending Practice (SLP), which are overseen by the independent Lending Standards Board and contain clear guidance on best practice.

The Government has always been clear that the fact that there were areas of widespread inappropriate treatment of firms by RBS GRG is unacceptable. RBS has rightly apologised for these mistakes and as stated above, has set up a scheme to compensate victims. The redress scheme has paid out over £130 million so far and the Government continues to monitor how much redress is being paid out.

There are currently no plans to undertake a review of RBS Global Restructuring Group's treatment of SMEs.


Written Question
Stock Market: Internet
Thursday 4th February 2021

Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) Trading 212, (b) Robinhood and (c) other stock trading companies protect consumer rights to buy and sell stocks.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the UK’s financial markets conduct regulator and is responsible for protecting consumers, ensuring market integrity and promoting effective competition. As set out in the FCA’s statement of 29 January, broking firms are not obliged to offer trading facilities to clients and may withdraw or suspend services if it is necessary or prudent to do so. The FCA’s statement also said that they would take appropriate action wherever they see evidence of UK firms or individuals causing harm to UK consumers or markets.

The Government recognises that the pace and creativity of innovation in UK financial services creates new opportunities for businesses and consumers to participate in markets through technologies such as app-based platforms. However, investors should be aware that investing in securities comes with risks. The FCA’s statement of 29 January warned consumers that any losses that result from such investments are unlikely to be covered under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.