Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Government plans to deliver a consolidated tape of pre- and post-trade market data as considered in the Edinburgh Reforms.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As set out in the Chancellor’s Edinburgh Reforms statement, the government has committed to having a regime for a UK consolidated tape in place by 2024.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment he has made of the costs to businesses of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and similar schemes in other leading financial centres.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are each responsible for making rules in relation to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The PRA is responsible for rules relating to claims in connection with deposits and insurance provision. The FCA is responsible for claims in connection with all other relevant types of financial services activities that are protected by the FSCS.
As part of its responsibilities, the PRA is responsible for setting the depositor coverage limit, which is currently set at £85,000. The PRA has a statutory duty to review this limit regularly, with the next review due by 2025 at the latest. Any change to the limit must be approved by HM Treasury and would therefore be carefully considered by the government.
The FCA is currently reviewing the FSCS compensation framework for areas it is responsible for. In its Feedback Statement published in December 2022, it committed to a number of actions including plans to assess the scope of FSCS coverage, review the current compensation limits and review the current funding class thresholds.
Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the PRA and FCA are also required to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to ensure the compensation schemes managed by FSCS continue to reflect the total value of the claims made or likely to be made.Both the PRA and FCA would use such assessments in forming its overall judgement on forming rules in relation to the FSCS.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Feedback Statement on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are each responsible for making rules in relation to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The PRA is responsible for rules relating to claims in connection with deposits and insurance provision. The FCA is responsible for claims in connection with all other relevant types of financial services activities that are protected by the FSCS.
As part of its responsibilities, the PRA is responsible for setting the depositor coverage limit, which is currently set at £85,000. The PRA has a statutory duty to review this limit regularly, with the next review due by 2025 at the latest. Any change to the limit must be approved by HM Treasury and would therefore be carefully considered by the government.
The FCA is currently reviewing the FSCS compensation framework for areas it is responsible for. In its Feedback Statement published in December 2022, it committed to a number of actions including plans to assess the scope of FSCS coverage, review the current compensation limits and review the current funding class thresholds.
Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the PRA and FCA are also required to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to ensure the compensation schemes managed by FSCS continue to reflect the total value of the claims made or likely to be made.Both the PRA and FCA would use such assessments in forming its overall judgement on forming rules in relation to the FSCS.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make a statement on plans to update the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are each responsible for making rules in relation to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The PRA is responsible for rules relating to claims in connection with deposits and insurance provision. The FCA is responsible for claims in connection with all other relevant types of financial services activities that are protected by the FSCS.
As part of its responsibilities, the PRA is responsible for setting the depositor coverage limit, which is currently set at £85,000. The PRA has a statutory duty to review this limit regularly, with the next review due by 2025 at the latest. Any change to the limit must be approved by HM Treasury and would therefore be carefully considered by the government.
The FCA is currently reviewing the FSCS compensation framework for areas it is responsible for. In its Feedback Statement published in December 2022, it committed to a number of actions including plans to assess the scope of FSCS coverage, review the current compensation limits and review the current funding class thresholds.
Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the PRA and FCA are also required to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to ensure the compensation schemes managed by FSCS continue to reflect the total value of the claims made or likely to be made.Both the PRA and FCA would use such assessments in forming its overall judgement on forming rules in relation to the FSCS.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value of Additional Tier 1 bonds supporting UK banks is; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the takeover of Credit Suisse on UK Banks' ability to issue those bonds in the future.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As noted by the Chancellor on Monday 20 March, the Government welcomes the steps taken by the Swiss authorities in relation to Credit Suisse to support financial stability.
The Bank of England published a statement to reiterate the creditor hierarchy in the UK. The statement confirmed that Additional Tier 1 (AT1) instruments rank ahead of Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) and behind Tier 2 (T2) instruments in the insolvency creditor hierarchy. Holders of such instruments should expect to be exposed to losses in resolution or insolvency in the order of their positions in this hierarchy.
The Prudential Regulation Authority is responsible for supervising UK banks’ capital adequacy requirements. The Bank of England's quarterly statistical release shows that the value of Additional Tier 1 capital in the UK banking sector was £67 billion as at Q3 2022. This figure includes both externally issued and intragroup capital instruments.
The Governor of the Bank of England has confirmed that the UK banking system remains safe, sound and well capitalised.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for (a) his policies and (b) the banking sector of the treatment of additional tier-one bondholders in the takeover of Credit Suisse.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As noted by the Chancellor on Monday 20 March, the Government welcomes the steps taken by the Swiss authorities in relation to Credit Suisse to support financial stability.
The Bank of England published a statement to reiterate the creditor hierarchy in the UK. The statement confirmed that Additional Tier 1 (AT1) instruments rank ahead of Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) and behind Tier 2 (T2) instruments in the insolvency creditor hierarchy. Holders of such instruments should expect to be exposed to losses in resolution or insolvency in the order of their positions in this hierarchy.
The Prudential Regulation Authority is responsible for supervising UK banks’ capital adequacy requirements. The Bank of England's quarterly statistical release shows that the value of Additional Tier 1 capital in the UK banking sector was £67 billion as at Q3 2022. This figure includes both externally issued and intragroup capital instruments.
The Governor of the Bank of England has confirmed that the UK banking system remains safe, sound and well capitalised.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse entitled Child protection in religious organisations and settings, published in September 2021, if she will take steps to implement the recommendations of that report.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse and has engaged constructively with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse throughout the course of its seven years of investigation.
The recommendations in the religious organisations and settings report fall within the policy remit of the Department for Education, and I continue to work closely with my ministerial colleagues on these important issues.
We are currently carefully considering the Inquiry’s Final Report and I recognise the significant milestone this report represents in our wider whole-of-system efforts to combat this horrific crime. The strength and bravery of all of the victims and survivors who came forward to share their stories cannot be understated. And I am committed to working across government to prepare the Government response to the final 20 recommendations which will be published in the coming weeks.
We remain committed to confronting and combatting this horrific crime wherever and whenever it occurs and will use every lever available to us to keep children safe, and provide support to victims and survivors to ensure they receive the support they need to help to rebuild their lives.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he will publish his Department's biomass strategy.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has committed to publishing the Biomass Strategy in Q2 2023.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to help develop the UK's biomass industry.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government intends to publish a Biomass Strategy later this year, which will review the amount of sustainable biomass, including perennial energy crops and short rotation forestry, available to the UK. The Strategy will examine how biomass could be best used across the economy to help achieve the Government’s net zero and wider environmental commitments, while also supporting energy security.
The Government announced £36 million of funding for the Biomass Feedstocks Innovation programme, funded through the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. The Programme aims to increase the production of sustainable biomass feedstocks in the UK by funding innovative ideas that address barriers to biomass feedstock production. The knowledge developed from these projects will help to inform future policy on domestic biomass.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to support future UK spaceflight launches.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government remains committed to making the UK the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe by 2030, with all the necessary infrastructure and regulations now in place to support this. £50 million has been provided to grow new UK markets for small satellite launch and sub-orbital spaceflight, with £31.5 million helping to establish vertical launch services in Scotland. This includes supporting Orbex to launch from Sutherland and Lockheed Martin to launch from the Shetland Islands. Both launches are expected to take place in 2024, with other spaceports in development across Scotland and in Wales.
The UK Space Agency is now developing the next phase of the UK Spaceflight Programme, subject to HM Treasury approval. In addition, the UK invested £12 million into the next phase of the European Space Agency’s Boost programme at the ESA Council of Ministers 2022, aimed at providing tailored support to national launch companies and related infrastructure.