Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require explicit consumer consent for each direct debit set up on a bank account.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government believes there should be strong protections in place to ensure that customers can make payments in a secure and informed way. There are already such protections in place for Direct Debit payments under the rules made by its operator, Pay.UK, which is regulated by the Bank of England and the Payment Systems Regulator. As such, the government does not currently have plans to legislate in this area.
Under these rules, when a Direct Debit is established the receiving organisation is required to verify that the Direct Debit instruction has been authorised by the payment account holder. Notice of the amounts and dates of collection for each Direct Debit payment must also be given to customers in advance, unless otherwise agreed, enabling customers to review their upcoming outgoing payments and plan ahead. In the case of any incorrect or fraudulent payments, the account holder is entitled to an immediate refund of any unauthorised amounts collected from their account provider under the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme. Further information about Direct Debits is available at: www.directdebit.co.uk
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring banks to notify account holders when a new direct debit is established against their account.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government believes there should be strong protections in place to ensure that customers can make payments in a secure and informed way. There are already such protections in place for Direct Debit payments under the rules made by its operator, Pay.UK, which is regulated by the Bank of England and the Payment Systems Regulator. As such, the government does not currently have plans to legislate in this area.
Under these rules, when a Direct Debit is established the receiving organisation is required to verify that the Direct Debit instruction has been authorised by the payment account holder. Notice of the amounts and dates of collection for each Direct Debit payment must also be given to customers in advance, unless otherwise agreed, enabling customers to review their upcoming outgoing payments and plan ahead. In the case of any incorrect or fraudulent payments, the account holder is entitled to an immediate refund of any unauthorised amounts collected from their account provider under the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme. Further information about Direct Debits is available at: www.directdebit.co.uk
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to help tackle the potential misuse of customer bank details by merchants when setting up direct debits.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government believes there should be strong protections in place to ensure that customers can make payments in a secure and informed way. There are already such protections in place for Direct Debit payments under the rules made by its operator, Pay.UK, which is regulated by the Bank of England and the Payment Systems Regulator. As such, the government does not currently have plans to legislate in this area.
Under these rules, when a Direct Debit is established the receiving organisation is required to verify that the Direct Debit instruction has been authorised by the payment account holder. Notice of the amounts and dates of collection for each Direct Debit payment must also be given to customers in advance, unless otherwise agreed, enabling customers to review their upcoming outgoing payments and plan ahead. In the case of any incorrect or fraudulent payments, the account holder is entitled to an immediate refund of any unauthorised amounts collected from their account provider under the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme. Further information about Direct Debits is available at: www.directdebit.co.uk
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing draught duty relief for (a) beer and (b) cider served in pubs in Hazel Grove constituency.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pubs make an enormous contribution to our economy and society, and this is recognised in the tax system.
The current alcohol duty system supports pubs through Draught Relief, which ensures eligible products served on draught pay less duty.
The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent reforms and rates that took effect on 1 August 2023. As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its Budget process.