Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of credit card fraud levels since the contactless cumulative transaction threshold increased to £300 in October 2021.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer that I gave on 29 June 2023 to PQ UIN 191011.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what allocations were made from the Regional Angels Programme in Northern Ireland in 2022.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Regional Angels Programme, overseen by the British Business Bank, helps to reduce regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance for smaller businesses across the UK, including in Northern Ireland. In 2020, the Programme made a commitment of £10m to fund managers in Northern Ireland, which was to be invested over 2.5 years. Northern Ireland fund managers have invested £9.5m of capital funding from the Regional Angels Programme in to 55 companies in Northern Ireland to date. £5.1m of the £9.5m so far invested was made in 2022.
More broadly, I would also note that on 7 March 2023, the British Business Bank announced that it was on course to launch a £70 million investment fund for small businesses in Northern Ireland this Autumn. The fund will work to address an identified funding gap, offering a range of commercial finance options with loans from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investment of up to £5 million.
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 estimate of the expected level of public sector net debt in April 2024.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Treasury does not publish forecasts of the economy or public finances; the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the UK’s official forecaster and provides independent analysis of the UK’s public finances.
The OBR’s latest forecast can be found on their website: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2023/
The OBR will publish an updated forecast later this year.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on changes in the level of illegal transactions using stolen cards in the 18 months (a) before and (b) after higher contactless payments limits were introduced in October 2021.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UK Finance publishes data on payment industry fraud, including on unauthorised card payment fraud.
The revised limits for contactless payments were set by the FCA following public consultation. The FCA continues to monitor fraud rates across all payment types and will consider action as appropriate if fraud rates rise.
Victims of unauthorised payment card fraud are legally protected against losses. Industry analysis indicates that customers are fully refunded in excess of 98 per cent of all confirmed cases.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what funding he plans to provide to capital projects for the necessary stadia to support the UK and Ireland's bid to host the UEFA Euro 2028 football championship.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The joint UK and Ireland bid to host EURO 2028 was submitted to UEFA on 12 April 2023, with a decision expected in Autumn 2023. The bid primarily relies on our existing world class stadium infrastructure that will not require major capital investment from the UK Government. We continue to engage with partners across the bid to identify the extent to which any UK Government capital investment is required.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many fraudulent uses of contactless credit cards were reported in the 12 months (a) before and (b) after 15 October 2021.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime.
The government does not collect data on fraudulent uses of contactless credit cards. UK Finance, an industry body representing UK banks and other payment service providers, in its latest published data, found that fraud on contactless cards and devices in the first half of 2022 totalled £15.4 million. However, spending via contactless cards totalled £117 billion during the same period, meaning that fraud as a proportion of overall spending remains low and equivalent to 1.5p in every £100 spent using contactless technology. This compares to 2.7p in every £100 spent using contactless technology in the first half of 2019. Contactless fraud on payment cards and devices represents less than four per cent of overall card fraud losses, while 57 per cent of all card transactions were contactless in 2021.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are responsible for setting the legal contactless payment limits, through the Strong Customer Authentication technical standards. The industry then set their own operational limits up to the legal limit. The £100 legal limit was raised in March 2021 and in October 2021 industry increased their own operational limits to this value. The FCA continue to monitor fraud rates across all payment types and will consider further action as appropriate. More generally, the FCA requires regulated financial services firms to maintain effective systems and controls to prevent the risk that they might be used to further financial crime. This includes controls to prevent fraud.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2022 to Question 78647, what recent discussions he has had with the Office for Budget Responsibility on the Public Sector Net Debt.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As the Government’s official independent forecaster, the Government has a close working relationship with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). In the lead up to the recent Autumn Statement and accompanying OBR forecast, the OBR were engaged in the normal way. As is set out in the foreword of the OBR’s November Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), the forecast process involved the OBR producing multiple draft iterations of the forecasts which it shared with the Chancellor. These drafts included forecasts for Public Sector Net Debt. The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also met with the OBR to discuss the forecast on the 17 October and 16 November.
The OBR published an updated forecast for Public Sector Net Debt as part of their November 2022 Economic and Fiscal Outlook. The OBR forecast that Public Sector Net Debt for 2022-23 will be £2,571 billion or 101.9% of GDP.
The Government supports the vital, independent role the OBR plays, which give markets, the public, and the world confidence that our economic plans are credible, and rightly holds us to account for delivering them.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the estimated total cost was to (a) the public purse and (b) businesses of the Trader Support Service between August 2020 and October 2022.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The cost to HMRC of running the Trader Support Service (TSS) between August 2020 and October 2022 was £318.7m.
TSS continues to be a free-to-use service for businesses.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment he has made of the potential impact on the profitability of Northern Ireland based businesses in the first year of a corporation tax rate of 25 per cent compared to the Irish Republic's rate of 12.5 per cent.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Changes in Corporation Tax policy are factored into the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts (OBR). Further detail is available in the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook which is published at fiscal events.
To reassure markets of the Government’s commitment to fiscal discipline the Corporation Tax rate increase from 19 to 25 per cent, will go ahead from April 2023. 25 per cent is still the lowest rate in the G7 meaning the UK’s rate will remain internationally competitive and supportive of growth.
The introduction of a small profits rate will keep the rate at 19 per cent for companies with profits of £50,000 or less. This means around 70 per cent of actively trading companies, including Northern Ireland based companies, will not see an increase in their rate.
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 estimate of what the level of public sector net debt will be at the end of the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Treasury does not publish forecasts of the economy or the public finances; the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the UK’s official forecaster. In their March 2022 forecast, the OBR projected that Public Sector Net Debt (PSND) for 2022-23 will be £2.4 trillion or 95.5% of GDP. Latest outturn data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows by the end of September, PSND had reached 98% of GDP.
The OBR will publish an updated fiscal forecast on 17 November, alongside the Autumn Statement.