Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department holds data on the number of applications by region made to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme after the eligibility date was extended to 19 March 2020.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Applications for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) opened on Monday 20th April.
This is a new scheme and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will make the timescales for publication and the types of data available in due course.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to provide support to mortgage prisoners.
Answered by John Glen
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with many organisations in the public and private sectors on a variety of issues. The Treasury is discussing the issue of mortgage prisoners with consumer groups, mortgage lenders, the Financial Conduct Authority and UK Finance.
A mortgage prisoner is defined by the FCA as an existing customer that may be experiencing harm because they are unable to switch to a better deal. The Government is aware that these borrowers have been in a difficult and stressful situation. That is why we have worked closely with the FCA to implement their rule change to remove the regulatory barrier that has prevented some customers from switching.
Lenders are currently making the necessary adjustments and system changes to enable them to use the modified affordability assessment for borrowers looking to re-mortgage. We expect lenders to start offering these borrowers products using the new rules in Q2 2020.
I have written to Stephen Jones, Chief Executive Officer of UK Finance, to outline my expectation that as many of its members as possible should move quickly to offer new deals to borrowers that are eligible to switch under the new FCA rules.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with representatives from the (a) Financial Conduct Authority and (b) UK Finance on mortgage prisoners.
Answered by John Glen
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with many organisations in the public and private sectors on a variety of issues. The Treasury is discussing the issue of mortgage prisoners with consumer groups, mortgage lenders, the Financial Conduct Authority and UK Finance.
A mortgage prisoner is defined by the FCA as an existing customer that may be experiencing harm because they are unable to switch to a better deal. The Government is aware that these borrowers have been in a difficult and stressful situation. That is why we have worked closely with the FCA to implement their rule change to remove the regulatory barrier that has prevented some customers from switching.
Lenders are currently making the necessary adjustments and system changes to enable them to use the modified affordability assessment for borrowers looking to re-mortgage. We expect lenders to start offering these borrowers products using the new rules in Q2 2020.
I have written to Stephen Jones, Chief Executive Officer of UK Finance, to outline my expectation that as many of its members as possible should move quickly to offer new deals to borrowers that are eligible to switch under the new FCA rules.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Help to Buy ISAs were opened in (a) Barnsley East constituency, (b) Yorkshire and Humber and (c) England.
Answered by John Glen
We do not collect regional data for Help to Buy ISA account openings, therefore cannot confirm the amount of accounts opened specifically in those areas. However, as of June 2019, 1.6 million Help to Buy ISAs have been opened. 339,747 bonuses have been claimed throughout the UK, including (a) 645 in Barnsley East, (b) 34,192 in Yorkshire and Humber, and (c) 259,506 in England.
Further regional data about bonuses claimed under the Help to Buy ISA scheme, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/official-statistics-on-the-help-to-buy-isa-scheme