Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to help improve young people’s understanding of finance and credit products; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Education on financial matters helps to ensure that young people are prepared to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed.
Finance education forms part of the citizenship National Curriculum, at Key Stages 3 and 4, but can be taught by all schools at all Key Stages. Citizenship covers the functions and uses of money; the importance of personal budgeting; money management; and managing financial risk. At secondary school, pupils are taught information on income and expenditure; credit and debt; insurance, savings and pensions; financial products and services and the need to understand financial risk, including any emerging financial trends. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum.
The current mathematics curriculum at primary level includes financial education and relevant skills, including calculations with money and using percentages, which provides young people with the knowledge and financial skills to make important financial decisions. The secondary mathematics curriculum develops pupils’ understanding and skills in relation to more complex personal finance issues, such as calculating loan repayments, interest rates and compound interest.
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England in November 2021, to support school leaders to enhance their financial education provision. The guidance is available at: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/. This guidance includes links to quality assured resources for schools, including content and activities on cryptocurrencies and buy now, pay later schemes. It also sets out the knowledge and skills pupils need to protect their personal data, critically evaluate online content and identify scams.
The Department is working with MaPS on a series of joint financial education webinars during the 2022/23 academic year, to help both primary and secondary schools, to improve pupils’ skills and knowledge and build teachers’ confidence in this area.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to increase the financial education provided to young people, including teaching about savings, investments, mortgages and other borrowing.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department wants all young people to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed.
Finance education forms part of the citizenship national curriculum, at Key Stages 3 and 4, but can be taught by all schools at all Key Stages.
The subject covers the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management and managing financial risk. At secondary school, pupils are taught about income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent.
The mathematics curriculum includes a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic that primary pupils should be taught. A strong grasp of mathematics will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including using percentages. The secondary mathematics curriculum develops pupils’ understanding in relation to more complex personal finance issues, such as calculating loan repayments, interest rates and compound interest.
The Money and Pensions Service published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England in November 2021, to support school leaders to enhance their financial education provision. The guidance can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/financial-education-in-schools/.
The department and the Money and Pensions Service are also planning a series of joint financial education webinars during this academic year, aimed at promoting the importance of financial education, improving pupils’ skills and knowledge and teachers’ confidence.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve young people’s understanding of buy-now-pay-later schemes.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants all young people to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed. Financial education is included in the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4 but can be taught by schools at all Key Stages.
Pupils should be taught about the functions and uses of money, budgeting, money management, and managing financial risk. At secondary school, pupils are taught about income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services and the need to understand financial risk, including any emerging financial trends.
The mathematics curriculum includes a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic that primary pupils should be taught. A strong grasp of mathematics will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money.
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England in November 2021, to support head teachers to enhance their financial education provision. Guidance for this can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.
The guidance includes links to quality assured resources for schools, including content and activities on cryptocurrencies and buy now, pay later schemes. It also sets out the knowledge and skills pupils need to protect their personal data, critically evaluate online content, and identify scams.
The Department and MaPS are planning a series of joint financial education webinars during this academic year, to help schools to improve pupils’ skills and knowledge and build teachers’ confidence in this area.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve young people’s understanding of financial products.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department wants all young people to manage their money well, make sound financial decisions and know where to seek further information when needed. Financial education is included in the National Curriculum at Key Stages 3 and 4 but can be taught by schools at all Key Stages.
Pupils should be taught about the functions and uses of money, budgeting, money management, and managing financial risk. At secondary school, pupils are taught about income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services and the need to understand financial risk, including any emerging financial trends.
The mathematics curriculum includes a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic that primary pupils should be taught. A strong grasp of mathematics will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money.
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England in November 2021, to support head teachers to enhance their financial education provision. Guidance for this can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.
The guidance includes links to quality assured resources for schools, including content and activities on cryptocurrencies and buy now, pay later schemes. It also sets out the knowledge and skills pupils need to protect their personal data, critically evaluate online content, and identify scams.
The Department and MaPS are planning a series of joint financial education webinars during this academic year, to help schools to improve pupils’ skills and knowledge and build teachers’ confidence in this area.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to increase trade opportunities for the UK financial services sector.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for International Trade is committed to increasing trade opportunities for the UK financial services sector. We work closely with the sector through Trade Advisory Group forums, to secure their input to develop our ambitious free trade agreements programme. We identify overseas market access barriers and work to remove them through our overseas Post network. Together with a wide range of industry organisations we promote the UK’s world class financial services sector in key areas such as asset management, insurance, green and sustainable finance as well as supporting fintech and insuretech providers to enter high growth overseas markets.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for Carers Allowance to a larger number of unpaid carers; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of unpaid care work on the (a) physical and (b) mental health of women.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The primary purpose of Carer’s Allowance is to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who give up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to provide regular and substantial care for a severely disabled person.
Entitlement to Carer's Allowance depends on certain conditions relating to the circumstances of both the disabled person and the carer being satisfied. The carer must provide a minimum of 35 hours care a week for the disabled person who must be receiving a qualifying disability benefit. The carer must be aged 16 or over; should not be in full-time education; or receiving earnings above £132 a week, net after the deduction of certain allowances. In 2020/21, 850,000 people were in receipt of the Allowance, an increase of nearly 300,000 since 2010/11.
In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £168.81 per monthly assessment period, and the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit is £38.85 per week.
Since April 2010, carers who do not get Carer's Allowance have been able to apply for National Insurance carer's credits if they are caring for one or more disabled people for at least 20 hours a week. These are Class 3 credits which can help towards the conditions of entitlement to the new State Pension and Widowed Parent’s Allowance.
Carer’s Allowance is devolved to the Scottish Parliament and will, in due course be replaced by Scottish Government provision. Carer’s Allowance is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland.
The Government recognises that caring is not always easy or straightforward. There is a wide variety in caring circumstances, experiences and needs among unpaid carers. In England, the Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable high-quality care and support services, including support for unpaid carers and local authorities are required to undertake a Carer’s Assessment for any unpaid carer who appears to have a need for support and to meet their eligible needs on request from the carer. There is similar provision in Scotland and in Wales.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to help improve financial literacy amongst young people.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Finance education forms part of the citizenship national curriculum, which can be taught at all key stages and is compulsory at key stages 3 and 4. More information about the content of the national curriculum can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum.
Financial education ensures that pupils are taught the functions and uses of money, the importance of personal budgeting, money management, and managing financial risk. At secondary school, pupils are taught about income and expenditure, credit and debt, insurance, savings and pensions, financial products and services, and how public money is raised and spent.
The mathematics curriculum, which is compulsory at key stages 1 to 4 also develops financial skills. At primary level, there is a strong emphasis on the essential arithmetic knowledge that pupils should be taught. This knowledge is vital, as a strong grasp of numeracy and numbers will underpin pupils’ ability to manage budgets and money, including, for example, using percentages. There is also some specific content about financial education, such as calculations with money.
The secondary mathematics curriculum develops pupils’ understanding and skills in relation to more complex personal finance issues, such as calculating loan repayments, interest rates and compound interest.
As with other aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver these subjects, so they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.
The Money and Pensions Service published financial education guidance for primary and secondary schools in England on 11 November 2021, during Talk Money week. The guidance is designed to support school leaders to enhance the financial education currently delivered in their schools to make it memorable and impactful. Further information can be accessed at: https://maps.org.uk/2021/11/11/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england/.
The department and the Money and Pensions Service will deliver a series of joint financial education webinars during the 2022/23 academic year, aimed at promoting the importance of financial education, improving teacher confidence, skills and knowledge and providing a launchpad for further engagement with training and resources to support continuous improvement.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her department is taking to support the welfare of children whose parents are subject to No Recourse to Public Funds.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Temporary migrants are generally required to support themselves and any accompanying family members, including children, in the UK without recourse to public funds. This is a well-established principle which protects taxpayer-funded public services from becoming overburdened.
There are, nonetheless, strong and important safeguards in place to ensure migrants receive support where they are destitute, at risk of destitution, or have community care needs, including issues relating to human rights or the wellbeing of children.
People with leave under the Family, Private life and Human Rights routes that engage Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and those who have been granted leave on the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route can apply, for free, to have their NRPF condition lifted by making a ‘change of condition’ application. An individual can apply if they are destitute or at risk of imminent destitution, if the welfare of their child is at risk due to their low income, or where there are other exceptional financial circumstances.
Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 imposes a general duty on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of “children in need” in their area. Support provided to a child by local authorities under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 is not dependent on the immigration status of the child or their parent(s).
Local authorities may also provide basic safety net support, regardless of immigration status, if it is established there is a genuine care need which does not arise solely from destitution, for example, where they are community care needs, migrants with serious health problems or family cases where the wellbeing of a child is in question.
Status holders who have made the necessary national insurance contributions can also claim contributory benefits such as contribution-based Jobseekers Allowance, statutory sick pay and state pension.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of measures taken to ensure that directors of insurance companies are fit and proper.
Answered by Richard Fuller
The Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority are independent bodies responsible for the regulation and supervision of the financial services industry. They have set out rules determining the assessment of the fitness and propriety of individuals applying to become an approved person within an insurance company, including director, and are responsible for the monitoring of adherence to these rules.
The government has no plans to change these arrangements.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of liabilities as a result of the liquidation of Lamp Insurance Company Limited being covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Richard Fuller
HM Treasury does not routinely provide estimates relating to Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) costs in relation to individual cases.
The FSCS is funded by the financial services industry and is operationally independent of government. Firms that are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority pay an annual levy to fund FSCS compensation and management expenses. Some of the funding also comes through recoveries from the estates of failed firms and any third parties that might be liable for, or connected to, the compensation claim. This can reduce the cost of the levy to the wider industry. The FSCS also has in place a revolving credit facility with a consortium of private lenders from which it can drawdown at short notice.
In the unlikely event the FSCS exhausts its available resources, it may request a loan from the National Loans Fund. This means public funds are only used to fund FSCS compensation in a very limited set of special circumstances.