Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of bank branch closures on people requesting to have their state pension or benefits paid into a bank, building society or credit union account rather than a Post Office account.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government has not made an assessment.
The Government is committed to improving access to financial services. Access to a transactional bank account is key to enabling people to manage their money on a day-to-day basis effectively, securely and confidently.
Under the Payment Accounts Regulations 2015, the nine largest personal current account providers in the UK are legally required to offer fee-free basic bank accounts to customers who do not have a bank account or who are ineligible for a bank’s standard current account. The Financial Conduct Authority is the body responsible for monitoring and enforcing firms’ compliance with these requirements.
The Government continues to monitor firms’ wider commitments on basic bank accounts, including that applications should be accepted in the same ways as for other personal current accounts (e.g. in branch, online or via other channels).
Since January, 99% of banks’ personal customers are able to withdraw cash, deposit cash and cheques, and make balance enquiries at a Post Office counter via its network of 11,600 branches.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has commissioned research on the effect of inflation on household debt.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The department has not commissioned research on this subject.
The independent Monetary Policy Committee has the primary objective of maintaining price stability. This objective is defined as an inflation target of 2% as measured by the twelve month increase in the Consumer Prices Index.
Household financial positions are stronger than before the financial crisis: net financial wealth as a share of income is close to record highs; debt to income is below pre-crisis levels; and debt interest payments to income are at a record low.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on child poverty of restrictions on child benefit for third and subsequent children.
Answered by David Gauke
The government does not restrict Child Benefit for third and subsequent children.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the activities of credit reference agencies benefit consumers.
Answered by David Gauke
Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs) are a key part of the consumer credit market and enable lenders to assess whether an individual has the ability to repay any credit that is offered.
Consumer credit regulation transferred from the Office of Fair Trading to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014. As part of this transfer, the Government decided that, given their central role in helping to inform responsible lending decisions, CRAs should be regulated by the FCA. The Government has ensured that the FCA has robust powers to protect consumers and it has a broad enforcement toolkit to punish breaches of its rules; there is no limit on the fines it can levy.
In addition to being regulated by the FCA the Information Commissioner’s Office, an independent UK supervisory authority, oversees CRAs’ compliance with both the Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000.