Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to assist the hospitality industry in the UK, following both the coronavirus pandemic and cost of living crisis; and what consideration they have given to reducing VAT to 10 per cent for the hospitality industry.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Since the start of the pandemic, over £37 billion has been provided to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
The Government announced a package of business rates support at Autumn Statement 2022 which means businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, including pubs, will receive a tax cut worth over £2 billion in 2023-24. The UK also has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the second highest in the OECD, which keeps most businesses out of the VAT system altogether.
VAT is the UK's third largest tax forecast to raise £161 billion in 2023/24, helping to fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education and defence. The previous VAT relief for tourism and hospitality cost over £8 billion and reintroducing it would come at a significant further cost.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the percentage of existing ATMs that will be protected under the provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Bill to ensure the continued provision of free-to-use cash access services.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The government has recently legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. The Act 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 part of this responsibility, the FCA must also seek to ensure that there is reasonable provision of free withdrawal and deposit facilities in relation to personal current accounts.
The FCA will be responsible for determining what constitutes “reasonable provision”. In doing so, the regulator must have regard to a Cash Access Policy Statement that will be published by the government in due course, any local deficiencies in cash access services that the regulator has identified and considers to be significant, and other factors that it considers to be relevant.
ATMs play an important role in the availability of cash withdrawal facilities. Decisions regarding the operation and funding arrangements of an ATM network are taken by the parties involved. LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has made 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 publishes information on the number of protected ATMs monthly, and ATMs can be suggested for protected status via LINK’s website: https://www.link.co.uk/consumers/request-access-to-cash/suggest-an-atm-for-protected-status/
According to LINK data for March 2023, there were around 39,000 free-to-use ATMs across the UK. Further information is available at: https://www.link.co.uk/initiatives/financial-inclusion-monthly-report/
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the implementation of the Financial Services and Markets Bill, whether they anticipate that any changes will be made to the funding model for ATM operators to help to keep ATMs operational on a free-to-use basis.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The government has recently legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. The Act 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 part of this responsibility, the FCA must also seek to ensure that there is reasonable provision of free withdrawal and deposit facilities in relation to personal current accounts.
The FCA will be responsible for determining what constitutes “reasonable provision”. In doing so, the regulator must have regard to a Cash Access Policy Statement that will be published by the government in due course, any local deficiencies in cash access services that the regulator has identified and considers to be significant, and other factors that it considers to be relevant.
ATMs play an important role in the availability of cash withdrawal facilities. Decisions regarding the operation and funding arrangements of an ATM network are taken by the parties involved. LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has made 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 publishes information on the number of protected ATMs monthly, and ATMs can be suggested for protected status via LINK’s website: https://www.link.co.uk/consumers/request-access-to-cash/suggest-an-atm-for-protected-status/
According to LINK data for March 2023, there were around 39,000 free-to-use ATMs across the UK. Further information is available at: https://www.link.co.uk/initiatives/financial-inclusion-monthly-report/
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any increase in (1) homeowner mortgage arrears, and (2) house repossession orders as a result of homeowner mortgage arrears, since the rise in interest rates began in December 2021; and whether they have had any recent discussions with mortgage lenders to discuss concerns over rising mortgage arrears.
Answered by Baroness Penn
HM Treasury is regularly in contact with mortgage lenders on all aspects of their mortgage business to understand their position and current lending conditions, including at a roundtable hosted by the Chancellor on this topic in December.
Mortgage arrears and repossessions remain below pre-pandemic levels. However, where mortgage borrowers do fall in financial difficulty, Financial Conduct Authority guidance requires firms to offer tailored support. This could include a range of measures depending on individual circumstances.
The Government has also taken a number of measures aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans for those in receipt of an income-related benefit, and protection in the courts through the Pre Action Protocol, which makes it clear that repossession must always be the last resort for lenders.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure the UK's petrol retailers (1) do not profiteer at the expense of the public, and (2) pass onto consumers the 5p fuel duty cut announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 23 March.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government has been clear that it expects those in the supply chain to have passed the fuel duty cut through to consumers, and to ensure that drivers across the country are getting a fair deal.
The Competition and Markets Authority has been engaged about the issue and stands ready to take action, should there be evidence that competition or consumer protection law has been broken in the fuel retail market.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what figures they have on the increase in the number of people in the UK using high-cost credit, such as ‘buy now pay later’ debt schemes, to pay their energy bills since 1 April.
Answered by Baroness Penn
HM Treasury regularly monitors developments in the consumer credit market, including the use of Buy-Now Pay-Later (BNPL) credit products, as part of its normal process of policy development.
However, it does not hold information regarding the number of people using BNPL or other types of credit to pay their energy bills. Instead, HMT draws on the research of various stakeholders, including consumer groups and the wider financial services industry, to inform policy development.
As an interest free product, the government does not consider BNPL to be high-cost credit.
However, the government recognises that BNPL products do pose several potential risks of consumer detriment, as set out in The Woolard Review into the unsecured credit market. That is why on 2 February 2021, the Government announced its intention to regulate BNPL products in a proportionate manner.
The Government published a consultation on policy proposals for the regulation of BNPL on 21 October 2021, which closed on 6 January 2022. The Government is now reviewing responses to this consultation and considering next steps and intends to publish a consultation response in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assistance they are providing to UK hospitality businesses, especially small businesses, to help with (1) rising costs, and (2) the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, following their decision not extend the 12.5 per cent rate of VAT for hospitality.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The government has already prioritised support for SMEs by cutting business rates by 50% for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, providing a 95% subsidy for apprenticeships, and supporting them to invest and grow by increasing the Annual Investment Allowance to £1 million. The Help to Grow scheme provides eligible SMEs with a 90% subsidy for world class management training and subsidises the cost of new software up to £5,000.
The Spring Statement 2022 went further and cuts the cost of employment for half a million small businesses, by increasing the Employment Allowance from £4,000 to £5,000. This means that from April, 670,000 businesses will not pay NICs and the Health and Social Care Levy. In addition, to help businesses and consumers, the main rates of petrol and diesel duty will be cut by 5 pence per litre, the largest cash terms cut that has ever been applied to fuel duty rates at once.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the consultation paper, Amending HMRC’s Civil Information Powers, published on 10 July, which contained the proposal to remove the "requirement to seek approval from the tribunal or the taxpayer before a third-party notice could be issued", what protection and oversight they intend to introduce for taxpayers with regard to the provision of information from third parties.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government believes that every HMRC information power should have an appropriate and proportional safeguard. The ongoing consultation asks for views on the appropriate safeguard to allow HMRC to use a third party information power effectively whilst still protecting taxpayers’ rights. All responses will be considered before any final decisions are taken.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that rural communities in the UK have adequate access to free-to-use cash machines now and in the future.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government recognises that widespread free access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK, including in rural communities. Government has been engaging and will continue to engage with industry, to ensure that widespread free access is maintained.
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), which Government set up as an independent regulator in 2015 with a statutory objective to ensure that the UK’s payment systems work in the interests of their users, is monitoring developments within ATM provision, and is conducting ongoing work on the impact that changes may have. The PSR has recently published a summary of their work to date, which can be found at https://www.psr.org.uk/psr-focus/the-UK-ATM-network.
The PSR has committed to using its powers to act should any of the firms it regulates behave in a way that conflicts with its statutory objectives.
LINK, the main scheme behind the UK’s ATM network, has assured us and the PSR that industry is committed to maintaining an extensive network of free-to-use cash machines, and to ensuring that the present geographical spread of ATMs is maintained. LINK intends to bolster its Financial Inclusion Programme, which ensures the provision of ATMs in areas of deprivation, where demand would not otherwise make one viable, and has also committed to protecting all free-to-use ATMs which are a kilometre or more from the next nearest free-to-use ATM.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which Minister is responsible for Britain's financial services during the Brexit negotiations; whether there has been a recent change in the allocation of ministerial responsibilities in this regard; and if so, when this was announced.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Chancellor is responsible for all HM Treasury business relating to EU exit, including financial services. When I was appointed as Commercial Secretary the Chancellor asked me to take on responsibility under him for EU exit for financial services in addition to a number of other duties. My full portfolio was formally published on gov.uk on 31 January