Financial Inclusion

Debate between Duncan Hames and Nick Hurd

Tuesday 17th March 2015 Westminster Hall

[Mr Nick Hurd (Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner) (Con)]

It is a huge pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward, I think for the first time. It is also a great pleasure to have secured this debate. My motive for doing so was simple: I have spent six months representing my party on a non-partisan commission that was set up to look at the issue of financial inclusion, by which I mean the ability of our constituents to access the financial products and services that help them to function effectively in society. Those are products and services that many of us take for granted—after all, we live in a country with one of the most sophisticated financial systems in the world—yet the commission’s work raised a real concern that the issue of financial inclusion needs to be given higher priority. I therefore welcome the opportunity to make the case and hear the Government’s response.

The commission took written evidence and held oral evidence sessions around the country, in Liverpool, London, Cardiff and Glasgow, including with people who are or have been financially excluded. In all, representatives of 84 organisations came forward to share their views with us, including big banks, small charities, academics, entrepreneurs, insurance companies and local authorities. There was a wide range of people, but a consistent view that we could and should be doing better as a country to make the financial system work better for everyone, to improve the financial health of the millions of people who are, quite frankly, living on the edge.

The picture that came out of all the evidence is not reassuring. Nearly 2 million adults in the UK do not have a bank account; an estimated 2 million people took out a high-cost loan in 2012 because they were unable to access any other form of credit; and 50% of households in the bottom half of income distribution do not have home contents insurance. There is a price attached to that exclusion. Financially excluded people pay a poverty premium that has been estimated by Save the Children at £1,300 a year. Even more powerful is the picture of financial vulnerability and lack of resilience that came through so strongly from the evidence. Up to almost 9 million people are over-indebted, depending on the definition used; 13 million people do not have enough savings to support them for a month if they experience a 25% cut in income; and 15 million people—31% of the population—report one or more signs of financial distress. That is not the picture of financial health in the UK that I am sure we all want, irrespective of our politics.

At a time when the public are hearing a lot from their politicians about the public finances, the commission argues that the vulnerability of private finances should also be a major political concern, and that the issue of financial inclusion needs to be given higher priority.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate on an important subject. Does he share my concern that because most of the means tests in the welfare system do not consider debt repayments, private indebtedness hits very hard at times when people need additional help?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and Nick Hurd

Wednesday 25th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hurd]

I would like to think that this Government, unlike the previous one, are not in the business of massaging statistics. The central point is that we now have, as a result of the lack of credibility of statistics under the previous Government, the official UK Statistics Authority, which does an excellent job in safeguarding the integrity of public statistics.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

The Nomis website publishes estimates of unemployment by constituency using the annual population survey, which itself uses a sample of under 300 people of working age per constituency. Does the Minister agree that it is incumbent on the publishers of local statistics based on national surveys to assist the users of those statistics in understanding the confidence intervals, which can swamp tiny sample sizes?

[Mr Hurd]

Absolutely, yes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and Nick Hurd

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hurd]

The Cabinet Office is not devoting any money from local authorities. Every week the hon. Lady pops up to talk about cuts in her constituency, but she never asks any tough questions of her local authority about the priorities it sets. The Cabinet Office has taken over responsibility for youth policy, and part of what we will be doing is working with local authorities across the country that want to think creatively about how they continue to deliver really value-added youth services.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

It was a privilege to meet participants in the National Citizen Service in Wiltshire last month. They told me that they got the opportunity to work with people on social action projects whom they would not otherwise have met. Does the Minister agree that the value of the initiative depends on its ability to continue to draw participants from all backgrounds?

[Mr Hurd]

My hon. Friend makes a hugely important point. The social mix is fundamental to the value of NCS, because it is about giving young people opportunities to meet and spend time together that they would not otherwise have, and they value that enormously. We pay by results when it comes to providers delivering that, and we monitor it obsessively.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and Nick Hurd

Wednesday 21st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Five months ago, the Prime Minister told me here that he would look at the funding gap arising from changes to legal aid funding for advice services such as the citizens advice bureaux in Wiltshire. Does the Minister consider that he has yet found lasting funding arrangements to sustain that voluntary sector service in future years?

[Mr Hurd]

We know that the charity advice sector is under a lot of pressure; that is why we found the money for a £20 million fund to provide immediate support for the most vulnerable organisations and why we are undertaking a serious review of the longer-term issues facing the sector. We will be announcing the findings of that review later in the spring, so the hon. Gentleman may not have to wait very long.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and Nick Hurd

Wednesday 7th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hurd]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the sterling example that he has set others. Of course, one of the purposes of the national citizen service is to connect young people with their power to make a positive difference in their communities. If he had visited some of the pilots that I did, he would have been absolutely inspired by the enthusiasm with which they undertook that task.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

In opening access to public data on the performance of our publicly subsidised railways, does the Minister recognise that real-time running information would be even more powerful in driving innovation that would aid the travelling public? Will he get train operators to be more open with such public data?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and Nick Hurd

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

1. What plans his Department has to help match young people with volunteering opportunities.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr Nick Hurd)]

We are investing in the national citizen service, which will be very powerful in connecting young people with their own power to make a contribution to the community. In addition, we will invest £40 million over the next two years to support volunteering infrastructure and social action.

[Duncan Hames]

I thank the Minister. Grow, the organisation behind Wiltshire’s volunteer centre in Chippenham, is keen to extend the range of support it provides in matching young people with volunteering opportunities as part of Wiltshire council’s volunteer strategy and action plan. Will the new local infrastructure fund be able to support such initiatives, be they in Wiltshire or elsewhere?

[Mr Hurd]

I was in Devizes constituency in Wiltshire on Friday, and I recognise that Wiltshire council represents best practice in many ways in supporting local voluntary organisations and local infrastructure. I am delighted about the local infrastructure fund, because it will help existing infrastructure assets become even more efficient and effective in supporting front-line voluntary organisations and encouraging local people to get involved.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Duncan Hames and Nick Hurd

Wednesday 20th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hurd]

We are absolutely committed to that, and the national citizen service will be an extremely important opportunity to connect young people with their own power to make a difference in their communities. I know that the hon. Lady took a strong interest in that through her work on the Select Committee on Children, Schools and Families. If she had had the opportunity to talk to some of the young people who had taken part in this year’s pilot, she would have been as impressed as I was by the transformative effect that it had on them and on how they view their community and their own power to make a difference. We are very excited about it.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Voluntary organisations in my constituency rely on the great efforts of many people who are retired, and they are crying out for younger volunteers. Those volunteers need not just be teenagers, however. What plans do the Government have to facilitate opportunities for volunteering by people of working age?