Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Barnett consequentials for Northern Ireland are of the Farming Innovation Programme's support for innovations in the countryside.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Farming Innovation Programme is being funded from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ existing budgets set at Spending Review 2021. As there are no changes to UK Government departmental funding associated with the Farming Innovation Programme, there are no further Barnett consequentials on top of the Spending Review settlement in line with the normal application of the Barnett formula.
The Northern Ireland Executive received a record settlement at Spending Review 2021. On top of this record settlement, the Northern Ireland Executive also benefit from nearly£1 billion of ringfenced UK Government funding for agricultural projects in Northern Ireland throughout the Spending Review 2021 period.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people were registered as self-employed in each year between 2017 and 2022.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Estimates of the number of self-employed individuals is published yearly in the Survey of Personal Income (SPI), which is based on information held by HMRC on individuals who could be liable to UK Income Tax. The estimates for the tax years 2017-2018 to 2020-2021can be found at the following link:
Notes
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the number of Help to Buy ISAs that have been opened in each of the last two years.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting people of all incomes and at all stages of life to save, and to making the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible.
The Help to Buy: ISA scheme closed to new accounts on 30th November 2019. The scheme continues to help those struggling to save enough to get onto the housing ladder as existing account holders can continue to save into their Help to Buy: ISA until November 2029. The latest statistics show that since the scheme was launched in 2015, 558,176 property completions have been supported through the scheme.
The Lifetime ISA (LISA) was launched in 2017 and remains open for those that are eligible for the scheme. Further information on this scheme can be found at:
https://www.ownyourhome.gov.uk/
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans that the pilot No Interest Loan Scheme will be launched in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
At Budget 2021, HM Treasury announced £3.8 million of funding to pilot a No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS), designed to help vulnerable consumers across all four nations of the UK who would benefit from affordable credit to meet unexpected costs.
This pilot is being run by Fair4AllFinance, in conjunction with their partners. It is HM Treasury’s clear expectation that they shall launch a pilot site in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish proposals on UK Green Taxonomy.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The 2023 Green Finance Strategy set out the Government’s commitment to deliver a UK Green Taxonomy to support an increase in financing for activities supporting the transition to net zero and delivering on UK environmental objectives. It also announced that we expect to consult on the Taxonomy in Autumn 2023.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the report by the Financial Conduct Authority entitled Financial Lives 2022 survey, published on 26 July 2023, if he will hold discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority on the findings of that survey on the number of people who unsuccessfully attempted to contact their financial services providers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government wants to ensure that everyone can access useful support from their financial service providers and understands that for many customers, getting through to their provider is often the starting point for receiving help.
The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Financial Lives Survey provides a nationally representative view of UK adults’ financial behavior and experience of the UK financial services industry. While in the 12 months to May 2022, the Survey shows that 84% of those who used customer support services in the last 12 months agreed that it helped them achieve what they wanted to, in the same period, 14% of adults who held one or more financial products unsuccessfully attempted to contact one or more of their financial services providers.
Already, Ministers and officials regularly engage with the FCA on the key issues affecting customers, including access to support.
The Consumer Duty, introduced on 31 July this year, builds on the FCAs work to ensure that firms act to deliver good outcomes and seeks to set a higher and clearer standard of care that firms owe their customers. Under the duty, firms will have to provide helpful and responsive customer service and equip their customers to make good decisions through communications people can understand, provided at the right time. This means it should be as easy to complain about or switch and cancel products or services as it is to buy them.
To improve access to digital services, the government is continuing to invest in digital infrastructure as well as essential skills. For example, the Digital Entitlement allows for adults with no or low digital skills to study for a new Essential Digital Skills Qualification for free.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hold discussions with financial institutions on customer complaints and the way they operate the Your Business Profile system.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Banks and building societies occupy a privileged position in society and I recognise the importance of access to banking services to enable businesses to manage their money on a day-to-day basis.
That is why Treasury ministers and officials regularly hold discussions with financial institutions, both individually and through the trade association UK Finance, on a range of issues including how those institutions can best serve their business customers.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether additional Barnett formula funding was applied to Northern Ireland in the context of the extension of the Household Support Fund in England for financial year 2023-24.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Barnett formula was applied in the normal way to additional funding provided for the Household Support Fund.
The Block Grant Transparency document details the Barnett consequentials that have been provided to the Northern Ireland Executive. As this shows, Barnett consequentials of £27.5m were provided to the Northern Ireland Executive in 2023-24 as a result of the extension of the Household Support Fund.[1]
[1] Block Grant Transparency: July 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the accuracy of forecasts made by the Office for Budget Responsibility since 2018.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
HMT supports the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as the UK Government’s independent official forecaster. The OBR is required by law to provide an assessment of the accuracy of previous fiscal and economic forecasts at least once each financial year. The most recent OBR Forecast Evaluation Report (FER) was published in January 2023. It examined how the OBR’s March 2021 forecast for 2021-22 compared to subsequent outturn data and identified lessons for future forecasts. The OBR also published a report called “The OBR’s forecast performance” in August 2023 which reviewed its forecast performance since its establishment in 2010.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has held discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority on the treatment by financial institutions of individuals who are deemed to be politically exposed persons for anti-money laundering purposes.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
My officials have been in regular contact with the FCA on the issue of the treatment of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) since concerns were first raised in 2017, and my predecessor, Rt. Hon. John Glen MP, met with the FCA and banks in February 2022 to underline the importance of the FCA’s guidance on PEPs.
Further to this, my Treasury colleague Baroness Penn wrote to the Chief Executive of the FCA in June setting out the Government’s expectations for their review into the treatment of PEPs by financial institutions. Following this letter, I wrote to the FCA in July underlining the importance of this review to the Government.
The Money Laundering Regulations require financial institutions and other regulated businesses to carry out enhanced due diligence on PEPs due to the increased risks associated with their positions. However, it is essential that these measures are implemented proportionately, and the Government took action through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to respond to concerns that some financial institutions were failing to do so.
The Act commits the Government to amend the Money Laundering Regulations to explicitly distinguish between domestic and foreign PEPs, and requires the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to carry out a review into the adherence of financial institutions to their guidance on PEPs.