Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of cash deposit regulations in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 on (a) the ability of SMEs to accept cash payments and (b) people who experience difficulty in conducting transactions via means other than cash.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups. Furthermore, businesses need access to cash deposit services in order to keep accepting cash and, therefore, support people’s ability to continue to transact using cash.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities.
The government considers that this legislation will support organisations, including local businesses, to continue accepting cash by ensuring that they have reasonable access to cash deposit facilities.
Following the passage of this legislation, the government published a Cash Access Policy Statement, which sets out the government’s policies on access to cash. The FCA is required by law to have regard to these policies when determining its regulatory approach in this area. The FCA will publicly consult on its regulatory approach in due course. The government’s policy statement is available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cash-access-policy-statement/cash-access-policy-statement
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the number of staff in HMRC working from home on the (a) average time taken to process cases and (b) quality of service provision.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC takes the quality of customer service very seriously.
HMRC’s approach to hybrid working is in line with many private and public sector organisations.
HMRC’s workforce plan includes the effective use of hybrid working where this meets business needs; staff are held to the same standards if they are working from an HMRC building or from home.
On average, HMRC advisers answer the same number of calls whether they are in the office or at home and process more customer correspondence when working from home. HMRC constantly monitor call volumes to ensure they deploy available staff where they need them. They use a flexible workforce model, where staff may switch between answering phone calls, processing correspondence, and replying to webchat enquiries throughout the day as needed.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support households in Meriden constituency with their energy bills.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government took action at Spring Budget 2023 to support struggling families in all constituencies, including by maintaining the Energy Price Guarantee support rate at £2500 per year until July 2023. This measure, alongside the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme, brings total government support for energy bills to £1500 for the typical household since October 2022. The government is also removing the premium paid by 4 million households using prepayment meters (PPMs), bringing their costs into line with those paid by comparable households on Direct Debits (DD).
These measures are in addition to the uprating of benefits and Cost of Living Payments in 2023-24, which will help more than 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits, 8 million pensioner households and 6 million people across the UK on eligible disability benefits. Taken together, support to households to help with higher bills and cost of living is worth £94 billion, or £3,300 per household on average across 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support small and medium-sized businesses in Meriden constituency with energy prices.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government remains committed to supporting the whole business sector including small and medium sized businesses. The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) provides all eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users with a discount on high energy bills for 12 months from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024. It also provides businesses in sectors with particularly high levels of energy use and trade intensity with a higher level of support.
This follows the unprecedented package of support for non-domestic users last winter provided through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. The Government has been clear that such levels of support, unprecedented in its nature and huge scale, were time-limited and intended as a bridge to allow businesses to adapt.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support the technology sector in Meriden constituency.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The tech sector is important for growth across the UK, including the Meriden constituency.
West Midlands Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) has been invited to develop an Investment Zone proposal, to catalyse a high potential knowledge intensive growth cluster in one of our priority sectors, including Digital and Technology. The government has begun discussions with West Midlands, through the MCA, with a view to agreeing a co-developed Investment Zone proposal by the end of the year.
We would recommend engagement with West Midlands MCA directly to discuss how to ensure the benefits of the Investment Zone are best felt by residents across the region, including in Meriden.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support the financial services sector in Meriden constituency.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government’s vision for financial services is for a sector that is open, sustainable, technologically advanced, globally competitive, and which acts in the interests of communities and citizens across all four nations of the UK.
The Edinburgh Reforms will drive growth and competitiveness while retaining our commitment to high international standards. This supports delivery of the Chancellor’s wider priority of driving economic growth and prosperity through his 4 E’s: Enterprise, Education, Employment, and Everywhere.
The government recognises that financial services is an important employer across the whole of UK, with 2.5 million people employed in financial and related professional services across the UK, two thirds of whom are employed outside of London. This includes 145,000 people in the West Midlands alone.
The Government’s approach to financial services reforms will ensure that the sector benefits from dynamic and proportionate regulation, and that consumers and citizens from across all four nations of the UK benefit from high quality services, appropriate consumer protection, and a sector that embraces the latest technology.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to provide financial support to people on lower incomes in Meriden constituency.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises the challenges facing households on lower incomes across the country, particularly in light of elevated costs of living. Support to households with the cost of living is worth £94 billion, or £3,300 per household on average, across 2022-23 and 2023-24.
This includes uprating benefits and the state pension in line with inflation from this April, and new Cost of Living Payments in 2023-24 for households on means tested benefits, pensioner households and individuals on disability benefits, in addition last year’s support. Over 14,000 households on means-tested benefits in Meriden were eligible for last year’s £650 Cost of Living Payment, with another 11,500 individuals on disability benefits eligible for a further £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment, and over 20,000 pensioner households eligible for the £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment.
The Government is also providing further assistance through a one year extension to the Household Support Fund in England. Solihull Council has been allocated over £2.8m this year from the Household Support Fund to support its residents, including in Meriden, with the cost of food, energy and other essentials.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to help secure free access to cash withdrawals and deposit facilities in Meriden constituency.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises that while the transition towards digital payments brings many opportunities, cash continues to be used by many people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.
The government is currently legislating to protect access to cash across the UK as part of the Financial Services and Markets (FSM) Bill 2022. The Bill establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities.
As amended, the FSM Bill protects free access to cash by requiring the FCA to seek to ensure that, in the United Kingdom, there is reasonable provision of free withdrawal and deposit facilities for personal current accounts with relevant providers. It also requires the Treasury to publish a policy statement that includes policies on free access.
According to LINK data for April 2023, there are around 39,000 free-to-use ATMs across the UK, including 81 in the constituency of Meriden.