Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the level of unauthorised overdraft fees charged by banks in the UK.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not made an assessment of the level of unauthorised overdraft fees charged by banks in the United Kingdom.
In November 2011, the Government announced an agreement with the major current account providers to enable customers to control their account and to take action to avoid unarranged overdraft charges.
The Office of Fair Trading found in January 2013 that there had been a significant reduction in bank fees and charges since their 2008 market study, and estimated that there had been an annual saving of £928million for consumers as a result.
On 6 November 2014, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced its decision to launch an in-depth market investigation into the supply of retail banking services to personal current account customers and to small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK. The CMA have indicated that they will obtain information and analyse the level of transparency in relation to pricing including on penalty charges, quality and service across banks.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount that will be saved by the non-issuing of vehicle excise discs.
Answered by Priti Patel
It has been a long standing feature that Vehicle Excise Duty licences are issued from the first day of each month. Licensing on a date other than the first of the month would add administrative complexity and cost to the tax system.
As a consequence of the abolition of the tax disc, from 1 October 2014 there will be around 2.5 million motorists that will now receive automatic refunds upon selling their vehicle that would not have done so previously. The Tax Information and Impact Note published on 10 December 2013 estimated that the abolition of the tax disc would have no Exchequer revenue impact. We expect the revenue impact of the introduction of automatic refunds and the non-transferability of the vehicle licence to cancel each other out.
The administrative cost savings from the abolition of the tax disc are estimated to be £13.8m per year as set out in the Impact Assessment published by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) on 8 September 2014. These savings reflect the costs associated with producing, issuing and posting the tax disc.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason it is his Department's policy to collect vehicle excise duty from both the vendor and the purchaser of a motor vehicle for the full month in which that motor vehicle is sold.
Answered by Priti Patel
It has been a long standing feature that Vehicle Excise Duty licences are issued from the first day of each month. Licensing on a date other than the first of the month would add administrative complexity and cost to the tax system.
As a consequence of the abolition of the tax disc, from 1 October 2014 there will be around 2.5 million motorists that will now receive automatic refunds upon selling their vehicle that would not have done so previously. The Tax Information and Impact Note published on 10 December 2013 estimated that the abolition of the tax disc would have no Exchequer revenue impact. We expect the revenue impact of the introduction of automatic refunds and the non-transferability of the vehicle licence to cancel each other out.
The administrative cost savings from the abolition of the tax disc are estimated to be £13.8m per year as set out in the Impact Assessment published by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) on 8 September 2014. These savings reflect the costs associated with producing, issuing and posting the tax disc.