Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what programmes were allocated funding from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy in 2018-2019.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
In 2018-19 the following programmes were allocated money through funds collected from the levy:
The funding from the Soft Drink Industry Levy has meant the following increases in allocations in recent years:
The Devolved Administrations receive money from the levy through the Barnett formula. We do not hold information on the programmes they choose to support.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to invest in technological improvements to the UK's ATM network.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises that widespread access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK.
As set out in the Government’s Summary of Responses to the Call for Evidence on Cash and Digital Payments in The New Economy, industry continues to develop a range of ways to safeguard access to cash, from investment in ATMs and cashback from retailers, to shared business banking hubs. The Government supports further industry collaboration to promote innovative ways of managing, accessing and depositing cash. The management and deployment of ATMs is a commercial matter for ATM market participants.
In addition, the Government has invested heavily in maintaining a stable network of Post Office branches, with investment of around £2 billion since 2010. Anyone can use their LINK enabled bank card to take out money for free at the counter of every one of the 11,500 Post Offices in the UK.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of free-to-use ATMs that have been converted to pay-to-use machines in each of the last five years.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government believes that widespread access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses. That is why the Government continues to engage with the regulators and industry in this area.
In 2015, the Government established the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), with a statutory objective to ensure that the UK’s payment systems work in the interests of their users. As a result, the PSR is closely monitoring developments within ATM provision, and has used its powers to ensure LINK meets its commitment on maintaining the broad geographical spread of free-to-use ATMs.
The Treasury has not made an estimate of the number of free-to-use ATMS that have been converted to pay-to-use in each of the last five years. Detailed statistical data on the number of free-to-use and pay-to-use ATMs since 1998 is publicly available on the LINK website.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that everyone has access to free-to-use ATMs.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government believes that widespread access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses. That is why the Government continues to engage with the regulators and industry in this area.
In 2015, the Government established the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), with a statutory objective to ensure that the UK’s payment systems work in the interests of their users. As a result, the PSR is closely monitoring developments within ATM provision, and has used its powers to ensure LINK meets its commitment on maintaining the broad geographical spread of free-to-use ATMs.
The Treasury has not made an estimate of the number of free-to-use ATMS that have been converted to pay-to-use in each of the last five years. Detailed statistical data on the number of free-to-use and pay-to-use ATMs since 1998 is publicly available on the LINK website.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the annual tapered allowance on the retention of doctors in NHS hospitals.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government is committed to public service pensions which are fair to workers and fair to other taxpayers. The tapered annual allowance is focussed on the highest earning pension savers, to ensure that the tax relief they receive is not disproportionate to that of other savers. The Government is aware of specific concerns raised by some high-earning NHS doctors impacted by annual allowance tax charges. As the Chancellor said at the Treasury Select Committee, we are currently in discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care about providing additional pension flexibility for NHS doctors affected by annual allowance tax charges.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to encourage employers to be flexible and accommodating to mothers of young children in their employment.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
This Government has a strong record of supporting parents and has introduced a number of measures to support parents of young children in the workplace and to encourage employers to be flexible.
Specific measures include; spending almost £6 billion on childcare support in 2019/20 – more than ever before, extending the right to request flexible working to all, introducing a system of shared parental leave and becoming one of the first countries in the world to introduce gender pay gap reporting.
The female employment rate is at a joint record high of 71.8% and the gender pay gap is at a record low.