Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports that many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have had their bank accounts closed, what steps they are taking to ensure SMEs have continued access to banking services.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
While the decisions about what products are offered to individual businesses remain commercial decisions for banks and building societies, the Government recognises the vital role SMEs play in fuelling economic growth, and it is important they can access the banking services they need. Last year the Chancellor asked the FCA to collect evidence to help the Government understand where account closures and refusals are happening and why. The FCA are now doing further work to better understand the reasons behind account refusals.
The Government is also acting to increase customer protections, increasing the minimum notice period in cases of contract termination to 90 days – giving customers more time to challenge a decision through the Financial Ombudsman Service, or find a replacement service – and requiring providers to spell out to affected customers why they are terminating their contract. Both requirements will be subject to certain exceptions, including if to do so would be unlawful.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which unit in his Department is responsible for equalities.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Every Department across Government has a responsibility for equalities.
Under Public Sector Equality Legislation every person working for the Department has a personal responsibility for implementing and promoting commitment to equality in their day-to-day dealings with everyone – including members of the public, other colleagues, employers and partners.
The Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing team are responsible for providing advice on Equality Analysis where activity is colleague facing.
For customer focussed work, the responsibility sits across multiple teams in Policy and Service Delivery.
DWP has a specialist equalities team who can provide their colleagues with advice on equalities-related issues, including the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). Under the PSED, all public authorities, including Government departments, are required by law to ensure that they have due regard to certain equality considerations when carrying out their functions.
The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June, to ensure value for money for taxpayers. The Minister for Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2024 to Question 15472 on Department for Work and Pensions: Equality, which teams across his Department hold that information.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Under Public Sector Equality Legislation every person working for the department has a personal responsibility for implementing and promoting commitment to equality in their day-to-day dealings with everyone – including members of the public, other colleagues, employers and partners.
The Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing team are responsible for providing advice on Equality Analysis where activity is colleague facing.
For customer focussed work, the responsibility sits across multiple teams in Policy and Service Delivery.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to protect small businesses from being de-banked.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the vital role SMEs play in fuelling economic growth, and it is important they can access the banking services they need. However, the decisions about what products are offered to individual businesses remain commercial decisions for banks and building societies.
Last year the Chancellor asked the FCA to collect evidence to help the Government understand where account closures and refusals are happening and why. The FCA published their initial findings on 19 September, and are doing further work with firms to verify the data and to better understand the reasons behind account refusals. In addition, the Treasury is continuing to engage with industry to understand any existing or emerging issues regarding bank account access for businesses.
On 21 July, the Government published a policy statement setting out its plans to strengthen requirements relating to users’ payment service framework contract terminations. This will increase the minimum notice period in cases of contract termination to 90 days – giving customers more time to challenge a decision through the Financial Ombudsman Service, or find a replacement service. Providers will also be required to spell out to the affected customer why they are terminating their contract – increasing transparency and aiding customers’ ability to appeal decisions. Both requirements will be subject to certain exceptions, including if to do so would be unlawful.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the performance of HMRC in answering telephone enquiries.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC takes the quality of customer service very seriously.
HMRC is making strong progress improving its customer services, with a focus on encouraging people to deal with them online where they can, by providing quicker, easier and always available digital services.
HMRC performance, including adviser attempts handled and average speed to answer calls, are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the support offered by HMRC to self-assessment customers who have been victims of scams by people impersonating HMRC.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The HMRC Customer Protection Team is responsible for reporting known cases, requesting removal of suspicious websites, and raising awareness among the general public of how to identify scams and avoid becoming victims of fraud. HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) is responsible for the department’s civil and criminal investigations into the most serious fraud and wrongdoing. FIS ensures that HMRC has an effective approach to tackling the most serious tax evasion and fraud.
HMRC encourages customers to report scams through reporting mechanisms directly to HMRC or through Action Fraud.
The channels through which suspicious activity can be reported to HMRC are:
Suspicious emails – phishing@hmrc.gov.uk
Suspicious text – 60599
Suspicious phone calls – Report suspicious HMRC emails, text messages and phone calls - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason his Department lowered seven performance targets for Thameslink for the 12 months to the end of March 2024.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The contractual performance targets are agreed with the train operators on an annual basis and do not involve consultation with external bodies.
Targets are proportionate to the level of investment agreed within the Business Plan budget for that year and may vary year on year.
These plans setting out service performance measures are scrutinised by Departmental officials to ensure the agreed level of investment represents the best value for money and customer service quality possible.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether a value for money assessment was conducted before his Department lowered performance targets for Thameslink for the 12 months to the end of March 2024.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The contractual performance targets are agreed with the train operators on an annual basis and do not involve consultation with external bodies.
Targets are proportionate to the level of investment agreed within the Business Plan budget for that year and may vary year on year.
These plans setting out service performance measures are scrutinised by Departmental officials to ensure the agreed level of investment represents the best value for money and customer service quality possible.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether any public consultation was conducted before his Department lowered performance targets for Thameslink for the 12 months to the end of March 2024.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The contractual performance targets are agreed with the train operators on an annual basis and do not involve consultation with external bodies.
Targets are proportionate to the level of investment agreed within the Business Plan budget for that year and may vary year on year.
These plans setting out service performance measures are scrutinised by Departmental officials to ensure the agreed level of investment represents the best value for money and customer service quality possible.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he consulted any passenger and commuter groups before lowering performance targets for Thameslink for the 12 months to the end of March 2024.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The contractual performance targets are agreed with the train operators on an annual basis and do not involve consultation with external bodies.
Targets are proportionate to the level of investment agreed within the Business Plan budget for that year and may vary year on year.
These plans setting out service performance measures are scrutinised by Departmental officials to ensure the agreed level of investment represents the best value for money and customer service quality possible.