Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what most recent discussions she has had with Banks to help support victims of economic abuse in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire.

The Government recognises the devastating impact economic abuse can have and the important role the financial services sector plays in supporting victim-survivors.

This is why economic abuse is a key theme in the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy which sets out an ambitious programme of measures for Government and the financial services sector to improve financial inclusion. This includes supporting victim-survivors to regain financial independence through industry interventions to increase access to banking services and improving the impact of coerced debt on victim-survivors’ credit files.

Wider initiatives, like UK Finance’s Financial Abuse Code, also provide guidance for firms on how they should respond when a customer is facing abuse, including training employees to recognise and respond to the potential signs and effects of financial abuse and to support victim-survivors to access financial services in their own name.

The Government continues to work closely with firms and charities, such as Surviving Economic Abuse, on the delivery of these interventions and the response to economic abuse.