Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what documented evidence they have of market failure in the relationship between Recognised Professional Bodies and the Insolvency Service.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is consulting on proposals to reform, strengthen and modernise the insolvency practitioner regulatory framework. These proposals arise from a call for evidence conducted previously and other evidence collected by the Insolvency Service in its role as oversight regulator on behalf of the Secretary of State. The consultation document, along with the associated impact assessment which were published on 21 December 2021, summarise the evidence used (including the responses to the call for evidence) to draw up the proposals for reform.
The consultation closes on 25 March.
Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultation they have undertaken (1) within, and (2) without, the insolvency industry that has suggested the Insolvency Service as a suitable candidate to be a Single Regulator of the Insolvency Industry; and whether they will puliish that evidence.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is consulting on proposals to reform, strengthen and modernise the insolvency practitioner regulatory framework.
The Government previously consulted through a call for evidence on whether there should be a different regulatory framework, including a greater role for Government. Since then further discussions have been held with stakeholders to help develop proposals for consultation.
The consultation and its associated impact assessment were published on 21 December 2021 and will close on 25 March. During the consultation period, the Government will continue to engage directly with key stakeholders and welcomes responses from all interested parties on the proposals, including suggestions on how they could be improved and on their likely impact.
Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Insolvency Practitioners Association 2021 Monitoring Report will be published.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Insolvency Service expects to publish its Monitoring Report relating to the Insolvency Practitioners Association by the end of February.
Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce a dedicated mental health first aider in every secondary school in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold data on the number of Mental Health First Aiders in schools and we believe it is important that schools are able to decide what training they offer to their staff based on the individual circumstances of the school.
However, we have made sure that schools have access to a range of training, so teachers understand and respond to the mental health and wellbeing issues that pupils face, including those issues that are as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The response to the consultation on the ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper’, published in July 2018, confirmed our commitment to provide mental health awareness training for a member of staff from all state-funded secondary schools in England by March 2020. The Department of Health and Social Care awarded the final year (19-20) of this 3 year programme to deliver Mental Health Awareness Training to all eligible secondary schools to the Anna Freud Centre, having previously been delivered by Mental Health First Aid England.
For the longer term, we announced £9.5 million on 10 May 2021 to offer senior mental health lead training to around a third of all state schools and colleges in the 2021/22 academic year, as part of its commitment to offer this training to all state schools and colleges by 2025. A senior mental health lead is a strategic leadership role in a school or college, responsible for overseeing the settings whole school or college approach to promote children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, as well as supporting those who need help with their mental health to receive appropriate support. The role is not mandatory, and the senior mental health lead training will not be compulsory.
Since applications opened in October 2021, over 8,000 eligible schools and colleges have applied for a senior mental health training grant. Over 6,500 of these have booked onto a Department for Education quality-assured training course and over 3,500 senior leads are estimated to have begun their training.
Ahead of this, to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, our recent £15 million Wellbeing for Education Recovery and Return programmes provided free expert training, support and resources for school and college staff dealing with children and young people experiencing mental health issues. Information provided by 95% of local authorities, on how they delivered training and support using Wellbeing for Education Return funding, suggests that training and support reached over 12,000 education settings. Many local authorities have also told us that this funding has enabled and accelerated cross-system collaboration to support education settings, staff, children and young people and their families. Local areas continue to share examples of practice (promotional materials, worksheets, presentations, links to recorded sessions and local directories and evaluations) with us and each other.
Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many trained mental health first aiders there are in secondary schools in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold data on the number of Mental Health First Aiders in schools and we believe it is important that schools are able to decide what training they offer to their staff based on the individual circumstances of the school.
However, we have made sure that schools have access to a range of training, so teachers understand and respond to the mental health and wellbeing issues that pupils face, including those issues that are as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The response to the consultation on the ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper’, published in July 2018, confirmed our commitment to provide mental health awareness training for a member of staff from all state-funded secondary schools in England by March 2020. The Department of Health and Social Care awarded the final year (19-20) of this 3 year programme to deliver Mental Health Awareness Training to all eligible secondary schools to the Anna Freud Centre, having previously been delivered by Mental Health First Aid England.
For the longer term, we announced £9.5 million on 10 May 2021 to offer senior mental health lead training to around a third of all state schools and colleges in the 2021/22 academic year, as part of its commitment to offer this training to all state schools and colleges by 2025. A senior mental health lead is a strategic leadership role in a school or college, responsible for overseeing the settings whole school or college approach to promote children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, as well as supporting those who need help with their mental health to receive appropriate support. The role is not mandatory, and the senior mental health lead training will not be compulsory.
Since applications opened in October 2021, over 8,000 eligible schools and colleges have applied for a senior mental health training grant. Over 6,500 of these have booked onto a Department for Education quality-assured training course and over 3,500 senior leads are estimated to have begun their training.
Ahead of this, to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, our recent £15 million Wellbeing for Education Recovery and Return programmes provided free expert training, support and resources for school and college staff dealing with children and young people experiencing mental health issues. Information provided by 95% of local authorities, on how they delivered training and support using Wellbeing for Education Return funding, suggests that training and support reached over 12,000 education settings. Many local authorities have also told us that this funding has enabled and accelerated cross-system collaboration to support education settings, staff, children and young people and their families. Local areas continue to share examples of practice (promotional materials, worksheets, presentations, links to recorded sessions and local directories and evaluations) with us and each other.
Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability of independent information resources for consumers to check that representative annual percentage rates (APRs) are fairly and accurately stated; and what action the Financial Conduct Authority advises customers to take where they are concerned they have been mis-sold under a representative APR that was not fairly stated.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Firms are required by FCA rules to include a representative APR in certain circumstances. The FCA’s handbook provides further rules and guidance on when a representative APR must be shown, how it should be denoted and the level of prominence it must be given.
If an advertisement includes an interest rate or any amount relating to the cost of credit, it must also include a representative example. This must contain certain standard information including a representative APR. The example must be clear and concise and must be no less prominent than the information that triggered the inclusion of the example.
If a customer is concerned that they have been mis-sold a credit agreement, the customer can make a formal complaint to the firm in question in the first instance. If they feel that their complaint has not been dealt with satisfactorily, they are able to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) – an independent body set up to provide arbitration in such cases.
Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has decided as part of its supervision strategy to make no independent periodic checks on the compliance of FCA regulations by authorised firms, in particular the accuracy of key consumer protection information such as representative annual percentage rates.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
This question has been passed on to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA will reply directly to the noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in each of the last six years, how many Skilled Persons Reports the Financial Conduct Authority has commissioned where the issue of representative annual percentage rates (APRs), including the formulation or deployment of representative APR in the market, has been the “matter concerned”.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
This question has been passed on to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA will reply directly to the noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in each of the last six years, (1) how many times the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has asked a firm to outline how it calculates its annual percentage rates (APRs) except at the point of granting of authorisation; (2) where the FCA has discovered representative APR breaches, how many times it has required changes to a firm’s (a) website, and (b) product literature; and (3) how many firms have been referred to the enforcement division for resolution.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
This question has been passed on to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA will reply directly to the noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what independent information resource is available to consumers to check that representative APRs are fairly stated; and what action the Financial Conduct Authority advises customers to take where they are concerned they have been mis-sold under a representative APR that was not fairly stated.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Firms are required by FCA rules to include a representative APR in certain circumstances. The FCA’s handbook provides further rules and guidance on when a representative APR must be shown, how it should be denoted and the level of prominence it must be given.
If an advertisement includes an interest rate or any amount relating to the cost of credit, it must also include a representative example. This must contain certain standard information including a representative APR. The example must be clear and concise and must be no less prominent than the information that triggered the inclusion of the example.
If a customer is concerned that they have been mis-sold a credit agreement, the customer can make a formal complaint to the firm in question in the first instance. If they feel that their complaint has not been dealt with satisfactorily, they are able to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) – an independent body set up to provide arbitration in such cases.