Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the impact assessments produced by banks when announcing a bank branch closure include an assessment of privacy provision at local post offices for confidentiality purposes.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The major high street banks have been signed up to the Access to Banking Standard since May 2017, which commits them to ensure customers are well informed about branch closures, the bank’s reasons for closure and options for continued access to banking services.
Under the Access to Banking Standard, banks are expected to publish an Impact Assessment which ensures impacted customers understand what the alternatives are when a branch is closing, how they can be accessed, and what the bank will do to help or assist with all or each of those.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also published guidance setting out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce the number of their physical branches. The FCA expects firms to carefully consider the impact of a closure on a consumer’s needs and consider possible alternative access arrangements. Consumer needs could comprise physical access requirements, the need for privacy, or security for making transactions. This is particularly important for vulnerable customers, so they are not excluded from using everyday banking services.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme to include self-employed company directors and homeworkers, in particular those working in the travel industry who are not eligible for current salary support schemes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has supported 2.9 million people, paying over £25bn across all four SEISS grants. Together, the five SEISS grants combined will have provided individual claimants with support up to £36,570, making it one of the most generous self-employment income COVID support schemes in the world.
Company directors are not self-employed and so cannot qualify for the SEISS. They have access to the CJRS if they are paid a salary through PAYE and if they meet the eligibility criteria. Those paid annually have been and are still eligible to claim, as long as they meet the relevant conditions including being notified to HMRC on an RTI submission within the relevant cut-off dates.
In designing the SEISS, the Government’s priority was to get support to the greatest number of people but in a way that guards against fraud and abuse. That meant designing a system where HMRC can automatically match the data people provide in their applications with information already in the system to verify and pay out the claim.
The Government has explored a range of options and proposals to support company directors who pay themselves through dividends. However, HMRC do not have data – as it is not needed to administer the tax system – to identify them or verify how much grant they should be awarded. This would rely solely on self-certification and would thus open any scheme up to unacceptable levels of fraud and error by organised criminals and others who would seek to exploit these schemes.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of including wholesalers in the guidance for local authorities on the administration of the new Business Rates Relief Fund.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The government has announced a £1.5 billion pot of additional business rates relief for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that have not otherwise been eligible for existing reliefs. The statement by the Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government of 25 March 2021 explained the relief will be allocated to English local authorities based on the stock of properties in the area and the sector-specific economic impacts of COVID-19.
The devolved administrations will receive an additional £285 million through the Barnett formula as a result of this relief announcement. Wales will receive £90 million, Scotland £145 million and Northern Ireland £50 million. Business rates are devolved in Scotland and are therefore a matter for the Scottish Government.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he we will meet with the Federation of Wholesale Distributors to discuss developing a business rates support system for businesses affected by the covid-19 outbreak outside the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The government has announced a £1.5 billion pot of additional business rates relief for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that have not otherwise been eligible for existing reliefs. The statement by the Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government of 25 March 2021 explained the relief will be allocated to English local authorities based on the stock of properties in the area and the sector-specific economic impacts of COVID-19.
The devolved administrations will receive an additional £285 million through the Barnett formula as a result of this relief announcement. Wales will receive £90 million, Scotland £145 million and Northern Ireland £50 million. Business rates are devolved in Scotland and are therefore a matter for the Scottish Government.