Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the Financial Conduct Authority authorisation exemption for insolvency practitioners.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The government consulted extensively on its reforms to the consumer credit market prior to the transfer of regulation from the Office of Fair Trading to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in April 2014. The result of that consultation included the exclusion for insolvency practitioners when acting in reasonable contemplation of being appointed as an insolvency practitioner (IP).
It remains the government’s view that when an insolvency practitioner is no longer acting in reasonable contemplation of being appointed as an IP, they must be authorised by the FCA if they wish to continue providing debt advice. There are no immediate plans to review this exclusion. However, the government does maintain an interest in the impact of regulation on the debt advice market.
The FCA is thoroughly assessing every debt management firm’s fitness to trade as part of the authorisation process. The size of the debt advice market will not be known until this process is complete. The government will stay in contact with the FCA throughout the authorisation process to monitor the impact on customer journeys and capacity.
For IPs concerned about the potential burden of FCA authorisation, the FCA has been clear that it takes a proportionate approach to setting fees. This includes imposing tiered fees based on the income a firm generates from its credit activities, ensuring that the smallest firms pay the lowest fees. There also remain other options for smaller firms to consider, including the appointed representative regime.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the health impact, in terms of hospitalisations and deaths, of ending the alcohol duty escalator.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Government published its assessment of the impacts of changes to alcohol duties in the Tax Information and Impact Notes alongside the Budget document in 2013 and 2014. This information is available on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Institute of Fiscal Studies' recent argument in favour of "reforming cider duties so that they are no longer extremely low for strong products", set out in the <i>IFS Green Budget: February 2016</i>, what action HM Treasury intends to take on strong, cheap cider.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The government amended the definition of cider, reducing the scope to products with a minimum of 35% apple or pear juice, to tackle the cheapest ciders. The government has since created 20 Local Alcohol Action Areas with the aim of reducing alcohol health and crime harms by encouraging partnerships between industry, local agencies and the voluntary sector.
The government is also helping tackle irresponsible alcohol consumption. For example, Local Councils have been given the ability to collect a Late Night Levy from alcohol retailers to contribute towards the cost of policing.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the Financial Conduct Authority's oversight of anti-money-laundering regulations in the light of consumer complaints about enforced, unannounced and unexplained closures of bank accounts.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Government encourages banks to take a risk based approach in its activities to ensure that measures they take are effective, proportionate and mitigate the risks that they face. In doing so the Government also encourages them to have due regard to financial inclusion.
Whilst it would be inappropriate for the Government to intervene in these decisions, individuals are able to request a review of the decision to close their bank account using the bank’s formal complaint procedure and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultations they have conducted on the impact of the cap on low- to middle-income earners in the public sector, and what protections were considered when setting the level of the exit payment cap at £95,000.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Government set out its proposals for the cap on public sector exit payments in the consultation document published on 31 July 2015 and confirmed the design of the cap in the consultation response document published on 16 September 2015. The consultation document gave details of the number of exits over recent years that cost the taxpayer more than £100,000.
The precise number of those affected by the public sector exit payment cap will depend on the number and type of exits in coming years. However, in recent years the large majority of exits in the public sector are below the level of the cap. For example, the Whole of Government Accounts states that, in 2013-14, 1,838 out of 72,445 pay outs were in excess of £100,000.
The exit payment clauses currently before the House of Lords in the Enterprise Bill set out how the cap is expected to apply.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what efforts they are making to protect low- to middle-income earners in the public sector from the proposed £95,000 public sector exit payment cap.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Government set out its proposals for the cap on public sector exit payments in the consultation document published on 31 July 2015 and confirmed the design of the cap in the consultation response document published on 16 September 2015. The consultation document gave details of the number of exits over recent years that cost the taxpayer more than £100,000.
The precise number of those affected by the public sector exit payment cap will depend on the number and type of exits in coming years. However, in recent years the large majority of exits in the public sector are below the level of the cap. For example, the Whole of Government Accounts states that, in 2013-14, 1,838 out of 72,445 pay outs were in excess of £100,000.
The exit payment clauses currently before the House of Lords in the Enterprise Bill set out how the cap is expected to apply.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of how many public sector employees earning below £31,000 will be affected by the proposed £95,000 public sector exit payment cap.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Government set out its proposals for the cap on public sector exit payments in the consultation document published on 31 July 2015 and confirmed the design of the cap in the consultation response document published on 16 September 2015. The consultation document gave details of the number of exits over recent years that cost the taxpayer more than £100,000.
The precise number of those affected by the public sector exit payment cap will depend on the number and type of exits in coming years. However, in recent years the large majority of exits in the public sector are below the level of the cap. For example, the Whole of Government Accounts states that, in 2013-14, 1,838 out of 72,445 pay outs were in excess of £100,000.
The exit payment clauses currently before the House of Lords in the Enterprise Bill set out how the cap is expected to apply.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of how many public sector employees will be affected by the proposed £95,000 public sector exit cap.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Government set out its proposals for the cap on public sector exit payments in the consultation document published on 31 July 2015 and confirmed the design of the cap in the consultation response document published on 16 September 2015. The consultation document gave details of the number of exits over recent years that cost the taxpayer more than £100,000.
The precise number of those affected by the public sector exit payment cap will depend on the number and type of exits in coming years. However, in recent years the large majority of exits in the public sector are below the level of the cap. For example, the Whole of Government Accounts states that, in 2013-14, 1,838 out of 72,445 pay outs were in excess of £100,000.
The exit payment clauses currently before the House of Lords in the Enterprise Bill set out how the cap is expected to apply.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the Health Impact Assessment of the two per cent cut in spirits duty announced in the March 2015 Budget.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Government published its assessment of the impacts of the spirits duty change in the Tax Information and Impact Notes published alongside the Budget document. Copies of Budget related documentation are available in the Printed Paper Office.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of likely changes in alcohol consumption in the United Kingdom as a result of changes to alcohol duty in the 2015 Budget.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The effect of alcohol consumption is referred to in the policy costing note on alcohol duties published at Budget 2015, available at the gov.uk website[1].