Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the efficacy of the Access to Banking Protocol.

The Treasury does not collect data relating to bank branch closures.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

The Chancellor of the Exchequer and other Treasury Ministers receive numerous representations concerning the impact of bank branch closures, which are taken into consideration in the development of Government policy. However, 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. For this reason, the Government welcomed the industry-wide Access to Banking Protocol and Professor Griggs’ independent ‘one year on’ review, published last November.

While banks and building societies need to balance customer interests, market competition, and other commercial factors when considering their strategy, the Government is pleased to see that the industry is committing to further improvements to protect those affected by branch closures.