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  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to implement the University College London RSCoin proposal.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Digital currencies, and the distributed ledger technology that underpins them, have the potential to bring innovative services and products to UK customers and firms – particularly in areas like international transfers.

    The Chancellor announced in March 2015 that the Government will bring digital currency exchange firms into regulation in the UK to help the legitimate industry flourish, and to create a hostile environment for illicit actors. We will publish proposals on this regulatory regime in due course.

    As outlined in Deputy Governor, Ben Broadbent’s recent speech, the Bank of England is also exploring this emerging sector and the implications it could have for monetary and financial stability as part of its broader research agenda.

    Separately, academics at University College London’s (UCL) digital currency research centre have also been looking at how the distributed ledger technology that underpins digital currencies could be harnessed by central banks. The Government is encouraged to see this research from one of the UK’s world-leading universities. However, this a theoretical paper by an independent institution, separate from the Bank of England’s work and from Government policy.

    It is the Government’s ambition to foster the growth of legitimate digital currency firms as part of the wider FinTech ecosystem here in the UK. As part of this, the Government will consider the wider implications of a growing digital currencies sector for the financial services sector and the economy as a whole. Some parts of Government are also looking at how the benefits of distributed ledger technology can be harnessed to deliver greater innovation. However, the Government and the Bank of England do not currently have any plans to introduce a centrally issued digital currency.

    The UK has been rated as having the world’s leading FinTech ecosystem in a recent global benchmarking exercise and attracted c. £524mn in investment in 2015.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Bank of England on utilising the University College London RSCoin proposal as an alternative to Western Union, CHAPS, BACS and the Faster Payment Service.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Digital currencies, and the distributed ledger technology that underpins them, have the potential to bring innovative services and products to UK customers and firms – particularly in areas like international transfers.

    The Chancellor announced in March 2015 that the Government will bring digital currency exchange firms into regulation in the UK to help the legitimate industry flourish, and to create a hostile environment for illicit actors. We will publish proposals on this regulatory regime in due course.

    As outlined in Deputy Governor, Ben Broadbent’s recent speech, the Bank of England is also exploring this emerging sector and the implications it could have for monetary and financial stability as part of its broader research agenda.

    Separately, academics at University College London’s (UCL) digital currency research centre have also been looking at how the distributed ledger technology that underpins digital currencies could be harnessed by central banks. The Government is encouraged to see this research from one of the UK’s world-leading universities. However, this a theoretical paper by an independent institution, separate from the Bank of England’s work and from Government policy.

    It is the Government’s ambition to foster the growth of legitimate digital currency firms as part of the wider FinTech ecosystem here in the UK. As part of this, the Government will consider the wider implications of a growing digital currencies sector for the financial services sector and the economy as a whole. Some parts of Government are also looking at how the benefits of distributed ledger technology can be harnessed to deliver greater innovation. However, the Government and the Bank of England do not currently have any plans to introduce a centrally issued digital currency.

    The UK has been rated as having the world’s leading FinTech ecosystem in a recent global benchmarking exercise and attracted c. £524mn in investment in 2015.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the guidance note on public sector pay and terms published by his Department on 5 February 2016, whether he plans to place that guidance on a statutory footing; and if he will make a statement.

    Greg Hands

    There are no current plans to place the guidance note on public sector pay and terms on a statutory footing.

    The note is a reminder of the rules that are in place and the Government’s expectations on public sector employers.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether all documents released by his Department as a result of Freedom of Information requests are placed on his Department’s website.

    Harriett Baldwin

    A proportion of our responses are published on GOV.UK, which you can find at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=hm-treasury&publication_type=foi-releases.

    “

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-03-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total amount that the UK will contribute to the EU budget in each of the next five years.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for forecasting UK contributions to the EU Budget. Details of the OBR’s latest forecast of UK gross and public sector net contributions to the EU Budget on a financial year basis can be found in Table 2.25 of its Supplementary Fiscal Tables.

    The OBR forecast is not directly comparable to the UK contributions set out in the 2015 EU Finances White Paper which averaged £7.1bn over the most recent period (Table 3.B). This is because the OBR’s net contribution to the EU budget does not include receipts that are not administered by UK government bodies and therefore does not reflect all EU transactions with the UK.

  • Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Sarah Champion – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Champion on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of domestic violence refuges which have closed as a result of lack of funding in each of the last five years.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Domestic Abuse is a devastating crime. That is why we are determined to ensure that victims get the help they need when they need it. In last year’s Spending Review we secured new £40 million funding to support victims of domestic abuse.

    It is for local areas to assess their needs for domestic abuse services and to make decisions on the provision of safe accommodation, including refuges and support for victims of domestic abuse.

    In the new Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy published on the 8 March, we set out our ambition to improve services for women suffering from domestic abuse, commiting to a new Statement of Expectations to set out for the first time what we expect from local areas.

    To support this, we are launching a new two year fund for refuges and other forms of accommodation-based support and to help local areas take the steps they need to meet the National Statement.

    The new funding builds on the £3.5 million funding to support victims of domestic abuse and is on top of the £10 million funding to stop refuges closing and strengthen the provision of safe accommodation in the last spending review period.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 1.149 of the Budget 2016, how much of the increased funding available to prevent and reduce homelessness is in addition to the funding allocated to his Department in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to do all we can to prevent homelessness. We have protected the homelessness prevention funding local authorities receive, totalling £315 million by 2019-20.

    This builds on our Spending Review commitment to increase central government funding to £139 million over the next four years. We announced in the Budget that £10 million of this would be spent to support and scale up innovative ways to prevent and reduce rough sleeping, particularly in London and that funding for the Rough Sleeping Social Impact Bond announced in the Spending Review will be doubled from £5 million to £10 million.

    We also announced in the Budget an additional £100 million to deliver low cost ‘move on’ accommodation to enable people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis, providing at least 2,000 places for vulnerable people to enable independent living. We will re-prioritise money within our existing capital budgets to deliver this accommodation. This will not affect delivery of the Government’s Starter Homes and Shared Ownership programmes.

  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department’s agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Government’s view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the Directive enables the application of different degrees of enhanced measures to reflect the risks posed.

    The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation which will be published shortly.

    The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. HM Treasury regularly raises these issues with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the publication Decentralisation: An account of progress, published in December 2012, what progress his Department has made on proposals to deliver on annual decentralisation statement.

    James Wharton

    Since December 2012 considerable progress has been made on the decentralisation of powers to cities and regions, including the evolving work of negotiating City Deals, Growth Deals and now Devolution Deals with places across the country. The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act sets out in legislation the requirement for the Government to produce an Annual Report on devolution; the first such report is currently being drafted and will be laid before both Houses of Parliament later this year pursuant to the legislation.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the oral contribution of Baroness Williams of Trafford, 1 March 2016, HL Deb column 809, if he will place in the Library a copy of the research referenced in that contribution on the affordability of starter homes.

    Brandon Lewis

    This is a finding from DCLG analysis of the estimated lower quartile of prices paid by first time buyers in 2014, and the total income of households in the private rented sector, considered by region.