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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-11-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the availability of bank accounts for (a) crowd funding and (b) digital currency businesses.

Harriett Baldwin

As the Chancellor announced at the Budget in March, the Government intends to bring digital currency exchanges into the scope of anti-money laundering regulation. The digital currency industry has highlighted the current lack of regulation as one of the obstacles firms face when trying to get bank accounts in the UK. The new regulatory regime will be designed to support firms’ access to these vital banking services, and to foster an environment in which legitimate digital currency businesses can flourish in the UK. The Treasury will consult on the detail of regulation shortly.

The Government has supported the crowdfunding industry by consulting on whether to extend ISA eligibility to debt and equity crowdfunding and helping equity crowdfunding through the tax efficient Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) – without which 24% of investors say they would not have invested.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-11-16.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to deliver a faster payments infrastructure.

Harriett Baldwin

The Faster Payment Scheme (FPS) launched in 2008 and provides near-instant settlement for over one billion payments that consumers and businesses make every year.

FPS is one of the eight payment systems regulated by the new Payment Systems Regulator – which the Government launched in 2015, equipped with powers to ensure that UK payment systems are competitive and innovative. A key part of the PSR’s work is to ensure that UK payment systems work efficiently to deliver benefits for the individuals and firms that use them.

The Government is also working with the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Project Innovate – which looks to foster and support innovative financial technology (“FinTech”) firms, including firms that offer customers new and efficient ways to make payments in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed merger of O2 and Three on the competitive functioning of the mobile telecommunications industry.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The assessment of the impact of mergers on competition is a matter for the independent competition regulators. In the case of the takeover ofTelefónica UK (O2)byCKHutchison Holdings Ltd. (CKHH), which owns Three, the competent authority is the European Commission, due to the international scope of the deal, although the UK Competition and Markets Authority has applied for jurisdiction.

Any authority ruling on this merger will take advice from Ofcom, the UK’s independent communications regulator, on competition in the mobile communications sector in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has spent on election observation (a) in real terms and (b) as a proportion of her Department’s budget since 2010.

Mr Desmond Swayne

DFID tracks its spending on support to elections, and this encompasses election observation to build public confidence in electoral processes and help deter fraud, intimidation and violence. DFID spent a total of £212 million on bilateral and multilateral support to elections during the period 2010/11 to 2014/15 which represents 0.5% of DFID total spend. During this period DFID has funded elections observation in a number of countries often as part of wider election programmes, for example in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Kosovo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan.