Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Financial Conduct Authority's powers to seek redress for the victims of financial fraud.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime.
In October 2024, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) introduced a mandatory reimbursement regime for authorised push payment (APP) scams which take place over the Faster Payments system, as required by the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2023. The PSR’s regime requires payment service providers to reimburse victims for losses up to £85,000 for scams which took place after 7 October 2024.
In cases where consumers have been impacted by financial fraud and are not covered by these rules, they should contact their bank in the first instance. Victims may have access to recourse through the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which can consider individual complaints between consumers and financial firms. This includes on fraud providing the activity is within the FOS’s jurisdiction, which is set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FOS can consider whether or not the firm has acted fairly, however, any criminal investigation would be a matter for the police.
HM Treasury is working with colleagues in the Home Office as they develop a new, expanded Fraud Strategy. This will be published in due course as part of the Government’s Plan for Change and in line with our manifesto commitments.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of non-compliant number plates on levels revenue to traffic enforcement forces.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not made an assessment of the potential impact of non-compliant number plates on the levels of revenue to traffic enforcement forces.
The Government is working closely with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), Trading Standards, local authorities and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the performance of the Financial Conduct Authority in balancing its confidentiality obligations with the need to provide transparency and effective communication to individuals who report potential financial misconduct.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government meets regularly with the FCA to discuss a range of topics. The government is content that the legislative framework, set by parliament, which gives the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) powers to supervise the financial services sector and enforce rules, is appropriate, and that the FCA has the correct tools available to enable it to investigate and act on evidence of malpractice and criminality.
The FCA is required by legislation to have regard to the principle that regulators should exercise their functions as transparently as possible. The FCA is also required not to disclose confidential information it receives in the course of carrying out its functions, with limited exceptions including where required to carry out its functions or otherwise required by law.
The government expects the FCA to act in accordance with high standards of transparency and operational efficiency, and will continue to hold the FCA to account for how it exercises its functions.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions she has had with the Financial Conduct Authority' on it's ability to act evidence of (a) malpractice and (b) criminality.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government meets regularly with the FCA to discuss a range of topics. The government is content that the legislative framework, set by parliament, which gives the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) powers to supervise the financial services sector and enforce rules, is appropriate, and that the FCA has the correct tools available to enable it to investigate and act on evidence of malpractice and criminality.
The FCA is required by legislation to have regard to the principle that regulators should exercise their functions as transparently as possible. The FCA is also required not to disclose confidential information it receives in the course of carrying out its functions, with limited exceptions including where required to carry out its functions or otherwise required by law.
The government expects the FCA to act in accordance with high standards of transparency and operational efficiency, and will continue to hold the FCA to account for how it exercises its functions.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of (a) taxi and (b) private hire vehicles that use number plates that do not conform with regulations.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, various police forces and Trading Standards in relation to the supply and use of illegal number plates as well as number plates with raised characters, commonly known as ‘4D plates’. Some 4D plates can also be described as ‘ghost’ plates where the characters are constructed from materials that are unable to be read by infrared Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems. Work is currently ongoing to quantify the number of illegal plates that may be in circulation, which would include on taxis and private hire vehicles.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the support available for UK-based downstream steel companies that are seeking to decarbonise their industrial processes.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are developing a suite of policies to enable industry, including UK-based downstream steel companies, to deliver savings through fuel switching from fossil fuels to low carbon alternatives. As we do so, we are closely engaging with industry, both with sector trade associations as well as with manufacturers directly, to identify and understand the challenges, barriers and costs of their decarbonisation pathways. For example, we published a summary of responses to our Call for evidence on Enabling Industrial Electrification in September 2024 (https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/enabling-industrial-electrification-a-call-for-evidence).
To give longer-term confidence for industry to decarbonise, a renewed Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy will set the strategic direction for our approach to working with industry towards a competitive and low carbon industrial base in the UK, ensuring growth opportunities are captured in tandem with emissions reductions.
More widely, we are determined to work towards a bright future for steel through our steel strategy. The Government stands by our manifesto commitment to invest up to £2.5bn in steel through the National Wealth Fund and other routes.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of recent trends in levels of police (a) time and (b) resources used to investigate Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera mis-reads.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
A total of £85.45 million has been provided for maintaining and improving national Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems in the last three years.
ANPR technology is used for law enforcement purposes, to help detect, deter and disrupt criminality at a local, force, regional and national level.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure that all schools in Sandwell are listing teaching jobs with a (a) main and (b) upper pay scale.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
For maintained schools, the school teachers’ pay and conditions document (STPCD) sets out which pay range would be appropriate for any teaching role advertised in England, including Sandwell, and includes the main and upper pay ranges. The document is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-teachers-pay-and-conditions.
Non-maintained schools, including academies and free schools, are responsible for determining the pay and conditions of their staff. Such schools are therefore not currently obliged to follow the statutory arrangements set out in the STPCD, although they may still choose to do so if they wish.
However, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department will require academies to have regard to the STPCD, ensuring an established starting point for all state schools while giving confidence that existing or future changes which benefit teachers and pupils, will be able to continue.
Taken together, the Bill measures and the changes we make through secondary legislation following this Bill will create a pay floor with no ceiling, ensuring all state school teachers can rely on a core pay offer and all schools can innovate to attract and retain the best teachers.
For either maintained or academy schools, it would be for the individual school to determine for themselves, when advertising vacant posts, whether the requirements of the post are more suited to the main or upper pay range, depending on the school’s budget and the range of experience and skills that applying candidates demonstrate.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her planned timeframe is for publishing a road safety strategy.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government treats road safety with the utmost seriousness, and we are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. My Department is developing the first road safety strategy in over a decade, and will set out more details in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Coombes (Labour - West Bromwich)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking with National Trading Standards to tackle the sale of ghost number plates.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
National Trading Standards (NTS) are working with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), local authorities and the police to address the supply and use of modified number plates.
The evidence gathered following a multi-agency investigation by the DVLA, the National Trading Standards Intelligence Team and police forces across the UK will be considered by the NTS National Tasking Group when evaluating potential future action to address this issue.