Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to improve free access to cash in Scotland.

The Government recognises that widespread free access to cash remains important to the day-to-day lives of many people and small businesses in Scotland and across the UK.

The UK has one of the most extensive free-to-use ATM networks in the world; around 80% of the ATM network in Scotland is free and there are now around 700 more free ATMs in Scotland compared to 2015. From January 2018 to March 2019, there were no publicly accessible Protected ATMs in Scotland that closed which did not have alternative free access to cash via another source, such as a Post Office.

In addition, the Government is engaging, and will continue to engage, with the regulators and industry on this important topic. In 2015, the Government established the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), with a statutory objective to ensure that the UK’s payment systems work in the interests of their users. As a result, the PSR is closely monitoring developments within ATM provision, and has used its powers to ensure LINK meets its commitment on maintaining the broad geographical spread of free-to-use ATMs.

To support this, LINK has introduced premiums through its Financial Inclusion programme to boost interchange fees, helping protect ATMs in remote, rural and deprived locations.