Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions his Department has had with representatives of Equitable Life on payment of the outstanding balance of compensation to policyholders.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Equitable Life Assurance Society is entirely separate from the Equitable Life Payment Scheme. The Treasury has therefore had no recent meetings with the representatives of Equitable Life on this issue.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what infrastructure projects were built in (a) 2017 and (b) 2008 using Private Finance 2; and how much funding there was for each such project.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
In 2017 the North West, Yorkshire and Midlands batches of the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) and the Midland Metropolitan Hospital were in construction and using Private Finance 2 (PF2). In 2018 the Yorkshire batch of the PSBP and the Midland Metropolitan Hospital were in construction using PF2. No specific funding was made available by HM Treasury for these projects. They were funded from general departmental resources.
Full details of all PFI and PF2 projects can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-finance-initiative-and-private-finance-2-projects-2017-summary-data
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that waiting times at UK ports do not increase as a result of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government recognises the importance of trade fluidity through the UK’s key ports to the country’s economy, and is committed to ensuring that trade is as frictionless as possible through those locations after we leave the EU.
The cross-government Border Delivery Group are engaging with authorities, port users and operators domestically and at key EU ports to understand what the synergies and constraints are in different locations, and to discuss how to ensure locations are operationally ready to meet with Government requirements when the UK leaves the EU.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that businesses receive any refunds or rebates from HMRC in a timely manner.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
HMRC’s processes are designed to ensure that customers who are owed money can get that money back as quickly as possible subject to the requirements of legislation and security. Those processes are regularly reviewed to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays built into them.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to streamline the real-time submissions process to support the payment of refunds from HMRC to employers.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
HMRC’s processes are designed to ensure that customers who are owed money can get that money back as quickly as possible subject to the requirements of legislation and security. Those processes are regularly reviewed to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays built into them.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC has recently made an assessment of the effectiveness of its procedures for businesses obtaining refunds from either (a) the Construction Industry Scheme and (b) statutory overpayments.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
HMRC’s processes are designed to ensure that customers who are owed money can get that money back as quickly as possible subject to the requirements of legislation and security. Those processes are regularly reviewed to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays built into them.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with the Financial Conduct Authority about the introduction of a duty of care for the banking sector to support people with cancer.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The government believes that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as the UK’s independent conduct regulator for the financial services industry, is best placed to evaluate the merits of a duty of care for financial services providers. We therefore welcome the FCA’s commitment to publish a Discussion Paper on the subject, which the FCA plans to publish after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons National Savings and Investments is closing applications to new customers for its five-year children's bonds.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Children’s Bonds no longer meet the needs of NS&I’s customers. The Junior ISA, with its online access, higher investment limit and the option to migrate to an adult ISA at 18, better meets the needs of child savers today.
NS&I customers who currently hold Children’s Bonds are unaffected and can continue to hold the product until it matures.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to introduce a saving scheme to enable grandparents to save for their grandchildren.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The government has introduced a range of measures to support savers, which can be used by grandparents who wish to save for their grandchildren. These include increasing the amount of money that people can contribute to ISAs to £20,000 and introducing an annual Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate tax payers and up to £500 for higher rate taxpayers. Thanks to these measures 98% of adults in the UK are currently paying no savings tax on the bank and building society interest and other savings income they receive.
There are a range of savings products in which grandparents can deposit money for grandchildren, including Junior ISAs or Child Trust Funds which are a long-term, tax-free savings accounts for all children living in the UK. Parents or legal guardians can open a Junior ISA on behalf of their children. Any contributor – including grandparents – can deposit savings into accounts, up to the value of £4,128 a year. Once the child reaches 18 he or she will have full access to the savings pot.
Grandparents can also purchase NS&I’s Premium Bonds for their grandchildren. Premium Bonds are entered into a monthly prize draw giving every owner of Bonds a chance of winning completely tax-free prizes. Until the child reaches 16, the nominated parent or guardian of the child will look after the Bond and any prizes won. Premium Bonds for grandchildren must be applied for by post.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will introduce a requirement on the Financial Conduct Authority to set out a reasonable duty of care for financial services providers to exercise towards their customers.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The government recognises that there are different views on the merits of introducing a duty of care for financial services providers. The government welcomes the Financial Conduct Authority’s commitment to publish a discussion paper to explore the issue of duty of care, as part of the planned review of their Handbook described in their Mission document published in April.