Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to establish a compensation package for people affected by the Dolphin Trust scheme.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK regulatory agencies are aware of the bankruptcy of German Property Group (GPG), formerly known as Dolphin Trust, and the effect on UK-based investors.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a joint statement with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The statement sets out what UK consumers should do if they invested in GPG via an FCA authorised firm – either a financial adviser firm or a Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPP) operator – and they believe they were mis-sold. This includes how to complain to the FOS or submit a claim to the FSCS. The statement can be accessed on the FCA’s website: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/statements/gpg-companies-preliminary-bankruptcy-proceedings.
Some consumers will not have invested in GPG via a regulated financial adviser or a SIPP operator. GPG is incorporated in Germany and is not, nor has ever been an FCA-authorised firm. Unfortunately, in these cases, customers will not have recourse to the FOS or the FSCS.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to allocate funding to the Welsh Government to tackle unsafe cladding in residential properties.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Welsh Government is receiving an average of £2.5 billion per year through the Barnett formula on top of its £15.9 billion annual baseline over the Spending Review 2021 period. This is the largest annual block grant, in real terms, of any spending review settlement since the devolution acts in 1998.
This settlement includes Barnett consequentials on changes in the overall level of funding provided to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which is responsible for cladding remediation in England. It is for the Welsh Government to allocate this funding as it sees fit across its devolved responsibilities including tackling unsafe cladding in residential properties in Wales.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress has been made on agreeing the pay settlement for staff at the Intellectual Property Office.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Following a successful pilot, the Intellectual Property Office has been granted approval to agree their annual pay remit through a system called paybill control. They are removed from the Civil Service pay remit guidance process and instead submit their requested paybill control total to HMT each year for approval.
The Intellectual Property Office are finalising their pay award for 2020/21 and will communicate the settlement to staff.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the level of use of debt management plans as a result of financial difficulties due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government continues to engage closely with the debt advice sector, the Money and Pensions Service, the Financial Conduct Authority and other stakeholders to monitor and understand the ongoing and future impact of COVID19 on people’s finances, including on the demand for debt advice and debt solutions, such as debt management plans.
The Government recognises that some people are struggling with their finances at this challenging time. To help people in problem debt get their finances back on track, an extra £37.8 million support package has been made available to debt advice providers this financial year, bringing this year’s budget for free debt advice in England to over £100 million.
From May 2021 the Breathing Space scheme will offer people in problem debt a pause of up to 60 days on most enforcement action, interest, fees and charges, and will encourage them to seek professional debt advice.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to protect jobs in the (a) travel and (b) tourism industries, which operate domestic and overseas school trips, beyond the current scheduled end date of the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme and to allow companies to plan for the future in the event restrictions on (i) domestic and (ii) overseas school trips remain in place.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency including almost £300 billion of guarantees – equivalent to 15% of UK GDP. Travel and tourism businesses continue to have access to a range of support measures including, but not limited to:
The Business Support website provides further information about how businesses can access the support that has been made available, who is eligible and how to apply - https://www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder.
On 11 May the Government published its COVID-19 recovery strategy which sets out our plan for moving to the next phase of our response. The strategy sets out a cautious roadmap for easing existing measures in a safe and measured way. On 23 June the Government announced that elements of the tourism industry in England, such as hotels and guesthouses – that meet the required social distancing and public health measures – can reopen from 4 July. Options for overseas travel are currently being reviewed.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure environmental charities are financially supported during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Environmental charities make a valuable contribution to the Government’s environmental agenda, through conservation of the natural environment; engaging people in the natural world; and providing access to our beautiful landscapes and coastlines. The Government will continue to work with these organisations on shared objectives during and after the Covid-19 outbreak.
There is no specific financial support available solely to environmental charities. However, environmental charities may benefit from a number of the business support schemes the Government has launched. These include VAT deferrals, Small Business Grant Funding, business rates holidays for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, and the Job Retention Scheme. Full details of the unprecedented support the Government has made available are available at https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government plans to take to support environmental charities that have experienced reduced income and capacity to deliver on the Government’s environmental objectives as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Environmental charities make a valuable contribution to the Government’s environmental agenda, through conservation of the natural environment; engaging people in the natural world; and providing access to our beautiful landscapes and coastlines. The Government will continue to work with these organisations on shared objectives during and after the Covid-19 outbreak.
There is no specific financial support available solely to environmental charities. However, environmental charities may benefit from a number of the business support schemes the Government has launched. These include VAT deferrals, Small Business Grant Funding, business rates holidays for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, and the Job Retention Scheme. Full details of the unprecedented support the Government has made available are available at https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether emergency Government funding will be made available to environmental charities during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Environmental charities make a valuable contribution to the Government’s environmental agenda, through conservation of the natural environment; engaging people in the natural world; and providing access to our beautiful landscapes and coastlines. The Government will continue to work with these organisations on shared objectives during and after the Covid-19 outbreak.
There is no specific financial support available solely to environmental charities. However, environmental charities may benefit from a number of the business support schemes the Government has launched. These include VAT deferrals, Small Business Grant Funding, business rates holidays for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, and the Job Retention Scheme. Full details of the unprecedented support the Government has made available are available at https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential costs to the public purse of implementing changes to universal credit's automated systems in response to the High Court decision in R (Johnson, Woods, Barrett and Stewart) v SSWP CO/1552/2018.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
I understand that the Department for Work and Pensions is carefully considering the High Court’s Judgment and it is therefore not appropriate to comment on this case, which is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has assessed the potential merits of introducing a green supporting factor to address prudential rules on capital weighting.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government is considering the potential merits of introducing a green supporting factor into the UK bank capital framework.
Prudential rules on capital weighting ensures the banking sector’s resilience against financial stability risks and are derived from agreed international standards for internationally active banks. Any changes to the framework must not undermine financial stability by creating unnecessary risks.