Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's news story of 3 May 2019, Cash here to stay as government commits to protecting access, if he will publish the remit of the Joint Authorities Cash Strategy Group.
Answered by John Glen
As part of our response to the Call for Evidence on access to cash, the Government announced that the Treasury would set up and chair the Joint Authorities Cash Strategy (JACS) Group.
The Group brings together the Bank of England, Payments Systems Regulator and Financial Conduct Authority. This was in recognition of the need to ensure joined-up oversight of the UK’s cash infrastructure, in light of the changing behaviours and preferences of consumers and businesses.
The Group will coordinate strategy across members, to ensure that the roles and responsibilities of each regulator remain clear and relevant, and that the effects of regulatory activities are evaluated across the full end-to-end cash system. The Group does not affect the statutory responsibilities of individual regulators.
The Group is up and running and further details of its activities will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's news story of 3 May 2019, Cash here to stay as government commits to protecting access, if he will publish the schedule of meetings of the Joint Authorities Cash Strategy Group; and whether minutes will be taken at those meetings.
Answered by John Glen
As part of our response to the Call for Evidence on access to cash, the Government announced that the Treasury would set up and chair the Joint Authorities Cash Strategy (JACS) Group.
The Group brings together the Bank of England, Payments Systems Regulator and Financial Conduct Authority. This was in recognition of the need to ensure joined-up oversight of the UK’s cash infrastructure, in light of the changing behaviours and preferences of consumers and businesses.
The Group will coordinate strategy across members, to ensure that the roles and responsibilities of each regulator remain clear and relevant, and that the effects of regulatory activities are evaluated across the full end-to-end cash system. The Group does not affect the statutory responsibilities of individual regulators.
The Group is up and running and further details of its activities will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will publish in full any recommendations produced by the Joint Authorities Cash Strategy Group.
Answered by John Glen
As part of our response to the Call for Evidence on access to cash, the Government announced that the Treasury would set up and chair the Joint Authorities Cash Strategy (JACS) Group.
The Group brings together the Bank of England, Payments Systems Regulator and Financial Conduct Authority. This was in recognition of the need to ensure joined-up oversight of the UK’s cash infrastructure, in light of the changing behaviours and preferences of consumers and businesses.
The Group will coordinate strategy across members, to ensure that the roles and responsibilities of each regulator remain clear and relevant, and that the effects of regulatory activities are evaluated across the full end-to-end cash system. The Group does not affect the statutory responsibilities of individual regulators.
The Group is up and running and further details of its activities will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2019 to Question 217138, what designation has been assigned to those complaints.
Answered by Guy Opperman
I refer the honourable gentlemen to the answer previously given in response to Question 217138. The Independent Case Examiner closed all live complaints concerning changes to women’s State Pension age when they became subject to legal proceedings, as is required under its governance contract. In the event the legal proceedings fall away or there is no determination on the matters which form the basis of this group of complaints, the Independent Case Examiner could consider reopening the cases at the request of the Department. The Department cannot evaluate the potential merits of making such a request until the legal proceedings have been concluded.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2019 to Question 217138, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of her Department instructing the Independent Case Examiner to reopen complaints relating to the equalisation of the state pension age cases in the event that legal proceedings fall away.
Answered by Guy Opperman
I refer the honourable gentlemen to the answer previously given in response to Question 217138. The Independent Case Examiner closed all live complaints concerning changes to women’s State Pension age when they became subject to legal proceedings, as is required under its governance contract. In the event the legal proceedings fall away or there is no determination on the matters which form the basis of this group of complaints, the Independent Case Examiner could consider reopening the cases at the request of the Department. The Department cannot evaluate the potential merits of making such a request until the legal proceedings have been concluded.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending (a) the marriage allowance and (b) other benefits to long-term cohabiting couples.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Government introduced the Marriage Allowance in April 2015. Every time the personal allowance increases, the Marriage Allowance automatically becomes more generous.
The increase to personal allowance to £12,500 means that, from April this year, eligible couples will be able to transfer £1,250, compared to £1,060 in 2015-16. This means that in 2019-20, eligible couples can receive a tax reduction of up to £250, or £1,150 if they make a backdated claim to 2015-16.
The Marriage Allowance was introduced specifically to recognise marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system. Therefore, the Government has made no assessment of extending Marriage Allowance to cohabiting couples.
The majority of benefits are paid on a household basis and the Government currently has no plans to change this.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the final report of the Access to cash review published on 6 March 2019; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen
The Government recognises that widespread free access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK. Government has been engaging and will continue to engage with the regulators and industry on this topic.
The Treasury initiated a discussion on payment methods at Spring Statement 2018 through a Call for Evidence on Cash & Digital Payments in the New Economy. This sought to gather evidence on how changing preferences for cash and digital payments impact on different sectors, regions and demographics.
The Government welcomes the recent Access to Cash Review, which is an important contribution to the debate on cash and which will help inform our future policy development.
The Government will formally respond to the Call for Evidence in due course.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has plans to reform the cap on interchange rate fees for card payments introduced in the Interchange Fee Regulation 2016 from a percentage cap to a flat rate of 50p per transaction.
Answered by John Glen
The Government is open to hearing views on this issue, and digital payments more broadly, as evidenced by its call for evidence on cash and digital payments in the new economy. Amongst other things, this explored how the Government can best support digital payments. The Government will formally respond to the call for evidence in due course.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential correlation between the use of sunbeds for tanning the risk of skin cancer; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation-emitting tanning devices, including sunbeds, were classified in 2009 as ‘carcinogenic to humans’ by the International Agency for Research on Cancer based on consistent evidence of a positive association between their use and incidence of melanoma.
In 2009, the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment published advice to United Kingdom Government on the health effects and risks from UV sunbeds and concluded that there is evidence to suggest an increased risk of skin cancer among those who use sunbeds before the age of 35. The Committee's Report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/comare-13th-report
The World Health Organization (WHO) report on ‘Artificial tanning devices: public health interventions to manage sunbeds’ states that melanoma risk increases with younger age of first sunbed use and with greater lifetime use of sunbeds. The WHO report can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.who.int/uv/publications/artificial-tanning-devices/en/
A systematic review in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showed that people who have used a sunbed at least once at any stage in their life have a 20% higher risk of developing melanoma than people who have never used a sunbed, and the first use of sunbeds before the age of 35 increases the risk of developing melanoma by 59%. The BMJ report can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e4757.long
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Bank of England, (b) Financial Conduct Authority and (c) Payment Systems Regulator on the availability of access to cash through (i) ATMs and (ii) other means.
Answered by John Glen
The Government recognises that widespread free access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK. Government has been engaging and will continue to engage with the regulators and industry, including both the Payment Systems Regulator and LINK (the scheme that runs the UK’s ATM network), on this topic. For example, last year we conducted a call for evidence on cash and digital payments in the new economy. This explored how the trend from cash to digital payments impacts on different sectors, different regions and different demographics. The Government will formally respond to the call for evidence in due course.
The Government established the Payment Systems Regulator with a statutory duty to ensure that payment systems work well for those who use them. As part of this, the PSR regulates LINK and is closely monitoring developments within ATM provision. LINK has committed to maintain the broad geographical coverage of the ATM network in the UK. The PSR has used its powers to hold LINK to account over its commitments and to ensure LINK reports to it on a regular basis.
Government also notes that LINK has commissioned an independent review (chaired by Natalie Ceeney) which is looking at long-term access to cash.