Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the economic impact of safety and security declaration requirements for EU imports.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
As is standard for such changes, any necessary impact assessment of the changes will be published alongside the legislation.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking ahead of the introduction of safety and security declaration requirements for EU imports on 31 October; and what assessment they have made of the impact of those import controls on channel ports.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Border Target Operating Model sets out the new approach to Safety and Security controls, applying to all imports. We are introducing the Model in a phased approach with plenty of time for industry to prepare. The dataset has been reduced to its most critical elements, ensuring the burden on trade is reduced whilst maintaining security outcomes.
The Government is engaging with industry to support readiness for the changes.
Enhancing our intelligence on imported goods will help Border Force to keep citizens safe from the most harmful goods brought into the country. It will also minimise disruption at the border, including at channel ports, by intercepting the highest harm goods before they enter the country, and supporting a more intelligence informed approach to risking and intervention, as well as facilitating the flow of legitimate trade by reducing the number of ‘false positive’ hits.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to undertake a detailed review of the effectiveness of the Barnett formula and its effect on allocations of finance to devolved governments within the UK.
Answered by Baroness Penn
Whilst the effective operation of the funding arrangements for the Devolved Administrations is monitored on an ongoing basis, the UK Government currently has no plans to undertake a formal review of the Barnett formula.
The Barnett formula is simple, efficient and provides a clear and certain outcome. For this reason, it has stood the test of time.
The Barnett formula ensures the same change in funding per person across the whole of the UK, while the underlying baseline funding reflects that needs are higher in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The devolved administrations are receiving over 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in other parts of the UK.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 13 June (HL8243), what assessment they have made of whether or not banks are passing on higher interest rates to savers; and what discussions they have had with banks on this matter.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Treasury is committed to ensuring people are supported to save, and can access a wide range of competitive savings products.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) monitors the speed and extent of banks’ pass-through of interest rate rises to their savings products, and has made clear that firms should be able to justify these decisions. Banks are expected to pass through higher interest rates to savers as they do to mortgage holders, and we are working closely with the FCA on this important issue.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they have in place to encourage banks to pass on higher interest rates to savers.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government is committed to ensuring people are supported to save, and that they can access a wide range of competitive savings products. The retail savings market currently offers a range of competitive options to savers, who can now access the highest rates in recent years on a variety of instant access and fixed-term products.
The Government launched the Help to Save scheme in September 2018 to directly encourage those on lower incomes to save. This encourages saving for those on Working Tax Credit or receiving Universal Credit. These savings accounts provide a bonus of 50p for every £1 saved over 4 years.
The Government has also introduced other measures in recent years to encourage saving. Individuals can save up to £20,000 into their ISA each year and coupled with the Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and up to £500 for higher rate taxpayers, around 95% of people with savings income pay no tax on that income.
The Lifetime ISA is a long-term savings product to encourage younger people to save for their first home or for later life. The government provides a 25% bonus on savings of up to £4,000 each year, provided the savings are kept for the long-term.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they have in place to encourage saving.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government is committed to ensuring people are supported to save, and that they can access a wide range of competitive savings products. The retail savings market currently offers a range of competitive options to savers, who can now access the highest rates in recent years on a variety of instant access and fixed-term products.
The Government launched the Help to Save scheme in September 2018 to directly encourage those on lower incomes to save. This encourages saving for those on Working Tax Credit or receiving Universal Credit. These savings accounts provide a bonus of 50p for every £1 saved over 4 years.
The Government has also introduced other measures in recent years to encourage saving. Individuals can save up to £20,000 into their ISA each year and coupled with the Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and up to £500 for higher rate taxpayers, around 95% of people with savings income pay no tax on that income.
The Lifetime ISA is a long-term savings product to encourage younger people to save for their first home or for later life. The government provides a 25% bonus on savings of up to £4,000 each year, provided the savings are kept for the long-term.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with retail banks about the importance of ATMs to communities; and what responses they have received from the retail banking sector, if any.
Answered by Baroness Penn
As the Noble Lord is aware, the Government has confirmed that it will legislate to protect access to cash as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill.
Further to the answer given on 26 May, I would also highlight that the FCA published guidance in September 2020 setting out its expectations of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. On 23 February 2022, the FCA published best practice feedback for firms that are intending to close bank branches or ATMs to give firms greater clarity on FCA expectations with regards to the quality of analysis and consideration of customer needs. The FCA also shared areas that it expects to see improvements in to ensure closure decisions are taken in a way that treats customers fairly.
With regards to engagement, Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 26 May, what steps are they taking to ensure that banks do not withdraw ATMs before the proposed powers in the Financial Services and Markets Bill come into effect.
Answered by Baroness Penn
As the Noble Lord is aware, the Government has confirmed that it will legislate to protect access to cash as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill.
Further to the answer given on 26 May, I would also highlight that the FCA published guidance in September 2020 setting out its expectations of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. On 23 February 2022, the FCA published best practice feedback for firms that are intending to close bank branches or ATMs to give firms greater clarity on FCA expectations with regards to the quality of analysis and consideration of customer needs. The FCA also shared areas that it expects to see improvements in to ensure closure decisions are taken in a way that treats customers fairly.
With regards to engagement, Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available on the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much infrastructure spending they have committed in relation to the Oxford–Cambridge Arc (Ox–Cam Arc); and in what years such spending will take place, broken down by (1) rail, (2) schools, (3) hospitals, (4) housing, and (5) other categories.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government recognises the importance of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc as a globally renowned hub of innovation, with businesses and universities that are leading the way in life sciences, space and green technologies. Businesses from these fields will benefit from this Government’s investment in R&D, that will deliver £20bn by 2024-25 with an increase of £5bn over the Spending Review period.
This question has been interpreted as requesting details on spend associated with the OxCam Growth Programme.
In October 2021, the Government completed a 12-week public consultation gathering views to shape a vision for an Arc Spatial Framework. The results from this consultation are currently being considered and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will provide more information in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent the withdrawal of ATMs ahead of the proposed powers in the Financial Services and Markets Bill coming into effect.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government recognises that cash remains an important part of daily life for millions of people across the UK, and remains committed to legislating to protect access to cash.
LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and free access to cash on high streets (where there is a cluster of five or more retailers) that do not have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within one kilometre. Furthermore, LINK operates a scheme to enable communities with poor access to cash to request an ATM.
The Government intends to introduce legislation on cash access as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill when Parliamentary time allows. The Government recently published a summary of responses to the Access to Cash consultation, setting out the government’s planned approach to legislating for access to cash.