Financial Services and Markets Bill (Second sitting)

Gareth Davies Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 19th October 2022 Public Bill Committees

[Stephen Hammond]

Okay.

[Gareth Davies (Grantham and Stamford) (Con)]

Q Martin, I want to ask you very quickly about all the data that you have been listing in the evidence. I take this evidence session very seriously. I think that it would be really helpful if you could share the constituency data, but also, importantly, the workings. Can you just confirm that the way in which you are working out the poverty premium is not based on a best-case counterfactual?

Martin Coppack: What do you mean by “best case”?

[Gareth Davies]

Q Well, it is based on either a best-case counterfactual or average consumers’ costs. Which is it?

Martin Coppack: We have a whole list. We deal with Bristol University. We do a range. We work out an average. And then we have figures that go much higher. If it is one in 10 of people who are in poverty, we would have a higher one. We have a whole range that we can present to you.

[Gareth Davies]

Q But is the data that you have been rattling off today to all of us specifically on the best-case counterfactual or on an average cost per consumer?

Martin Coppack: I am not quite sure what you mean by “best case”.

[Gareth Davies]

Q Okay. Maybe write to me with your workings and we will go from there. If you rattle off data in an evidence session such as this, it is important for you to know how that data was calculated.

[Emma Hardy]

How they have worked it out is on the website.

Martin Coppack: It is published by the Bristol University Personal Finance Research Centre.

[Gareth Davies]

That still does not answer my question. If you are going to come to a Committee such as this, please provide your data.

[The Chair]

Order. I am afraid that brings us to the end of our allotted time for this panel. On behalf of the Committee, I thank our witnesses.

Examination of Witness

William Wright gave evidence.