Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to ensure that people are able to obtain their money from free-to-use ATMs throughout the country.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
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.
The Governments’ Call for Evidence on Cash & Digital Payments highlighted changing payment trends. In response, the Government has set up the Joint Authorities Cash Strategy (JACS) Group. This group brings together the key regulators to co-ordinate regulatory work to support the country’s cash infrastructure, including ATMs. It will publicly update on activity in the Autumn.
The Government also believes industry has a crucial role to play in protecting access to cash. In addition to previous commitments, LINK – the UK’s largest ATM network - has recently committed to protect access to cash on high streets with five or more qualifying retailers. It has also created an ATM delivery fund for elected officials to request a new machine in areas with poor access to cash. Furthermore, UK Finance has launched a Community Access to Cash Initiative, offering grants to local communities to improve cash access through alternative solutions.
The Government-established Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) continues to closely monitor developments in the ATM market and has used its powers to hold LINK to account over commitments to preserve the broad geographic spread of ATMs.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that free to use automated teller machines are available throughout the country.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The management and deployment of ATMs is a commercial matter for ATM market participants, however 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. That is why the Government is engaging, and will continue to engage, with the regulators and industry on this important topic.
The Government-established Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is closely monitoring developments in ATM provision. The PSR regulates LINK, the scheme which runs the UK’s ATM network, and has used its powers to hold LINK to account over LINK’s commitments to preserve the broad geographic spread of the ATM network.
LINK has put in place specific arrangements to protect free-to-use ATMs more than 1 kilometre away from the next nearest free-to-use ATM and has also enhanced its Financial Inclusion Programme. More recently, LINK has committed to protecting free access to cash on high streets – where there is a cluster of five or more retailers – that don’t have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within 1 kilometre.
In addition, the Government has invested heavily in maintaining a stable network of Post Office branches, with investment of around £2 billion since 2010. Currently, 99% of personal customers and 95% of small business customers can carry out their everyday banking locally at one of the Post Office’s 11,500 branches.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Finance Bill, what steps his Department is taking to require a review of the public health effects of fixed odds betting terminals.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Public Health England were asked to conduct an evidence review of the health aspects of gambling-related harm to inform action on prevention and treatment and are due to report back in Spring 2020.
The Government will shortly publish the report into the public health effects of the two gambling duty provisions as required by Finance Act 2019.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the UK complies with the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The UK supports the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive, which requires all Member States to adopt minimum standard rules that restrict the ability of large multinationals to artificially lower their tax bills.
The UK already had effective and comprehensive anti-avoidance rules in place, which met or exceeded most of the minimum standards set out by the Directive.
Finance Act 2019 introduced several technical changes which help ensure our existing rules will be fully compliant with the approach taken by the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families who have a child in receipt of disability living allowance have had their child benefit reduced due to exceeding the earnings threshold in each year for which information is available.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HMRC do not hold information relating to Child Benefit claimants’ receipt of the disability living allowance.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families who have a child with additional support needs have had their child benefit payment reduced due to exceeding the earnings threshold.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The information is not available. Information on whether the children of Child Benefit claimants have additional support needs is not held by HMRC.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HMRC takes to notify Child Benefit claimants that start to receive a salary which effects their entitlement of their responsibility to complete a tax self-assessment.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) applies to anyone with an income over £50,000 who claims Child Benefit, or whose partner claims Child Benefit.
Those who continue to receive Child Benefit must register for Self Assessment to declare their Child Benefit payments and pay the tax charge through their tax return.
HMRC makes information on HICBC, and the need to declare and pay HICBC via Self Assessment widely available. Guidance is published on gov.uk, which lists HICBC among the criteria for those who must file a Self Assessment return, and HMRC uses social media and marketing campaigns to increase awareness.
HMRC also writes to individuals to remind them to check whether they need to register for Self Assessment to declare their Child Benefit payments, where it is aware that individuals may have become liable for HICBC.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will take steps to evaluate all aspects of the 2019 Loan Charge and seek external evidence.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The government chose to accept New Clause 26 during the passage of the Finance Bill, and will lay a report in line with the requirements of that New Clause no later than 30 March 2019. The report will include a comparison with the time limits for the recovery of lost tax relating to disguised remuneration loans.
The government also consulted extensively on the detail of the charge on disguised remuneration loans after it was announced at Budget 2016.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to conduct economic modelling on the effect of air passenger duty on the UK's global connectivity and competitiveness.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Like all taxes, Air Passenger Duty remains under review. The UK aviation sector has demonstrated strong growth and remains competitive with our neighbours.
Since 2010 passenger numbers at UK airports have grown by more than 15%. With the exception of Heathrow - which has been constrained due to capacity - the UK’s biggest airports have all achieved growth in line with their EU counterparts since 2010.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what Steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Financial Conduct Authority enforces rules on affordability checks for payday loans.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, transferring regulatory responsibility to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014.
Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an independent body.
The FCA has tough enforcement powers – criminal, civil and regulatory – to protect consumers and to take action against firms and individuals that do not meet its standards. In 2017, the FCA issued total fines of £229 million. Since the transfer, the FCA has taken a proactive approach on consumer credit, to ensure that all consumers who use high-cost credit products are treated fairly.