Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to support self-employed people who want to buy their own home.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Government is committed to making the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible. At the Spending Review the Government announced a series of measures which will help people become homeowners. These include plans to deliver 200,000 Starter Homes and 135,000 Shared Ownership homes; increasing the value of Help to Buy equity loans in London to 40% from 25% and extending the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme for a further year to 2021.
These schemes are also supported by the Help to Buy: ISA, through which the Government tops up mortgage deposit savings for first time buyers by up to £3,000.
Decisions around the availability of individual mortgage loans are commercial decisions for lenders, including what evidence is required to validate income. The Government does not seek to intervene in these decisions.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to improve access to mortgages for self-employed people.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Government is committed to ensuring that the mortgage market delivers for creditworthy borrowers.
On 1 December 2015 the Government launched the Help to Buy: ISA to help all first time buyers saving for their first home.
Beyond the requirements set out in the regulations, decisions around the availability of individual mortgage loans are commercial decisions for lenders, including what evidence is required to validate income. The Government does not seek to intervene in these decisions.
Asked by: Susan Elan Jones (Labour - Clwyd South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will meet senior management of NatWest Bank to urge them to re-consider their decision to closes branches in Llangollen, Corwen and other communities in North Wales; and what steps his Department is taking to support high street banks in communities in North Wales.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Decisions on the opening and closing of individual bank branches are taken by the management of each bank on a commercial basis without intervention from Government.
Banks and building societies need to balance customer interests, market competition, and other commercial factors when considering their strategy.
The Government is committed to increasing competition to deliver innovation and good financial products and services for all bank customers, and part of the Government’s long term economic plan is to ensure that banks serve all sections of society.
The government welcomed the industry-wide Access to Banking protocol announced in March 2015. From the first of May this year, a bank must carry out a number of steps if it is closing a branch. The steps include establishing the impact of a branch closure before it takes place; finding suitable alternative provision; and putting satisfactory alternative measures in place before a branch is closed.