Tag: Treasury

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 8 November 2000.

Better consumer services in banking and other financial services are the target of a review of industry codes of practice, Economic Secretary Melanie Johnson said today.

Announcing that the review, to be chaired by DeAnne Julius of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee, will begin work shortly, Miss Johnson said :

“The review is an important step forward in getting an improved deal for financial service consumers. I am pleased that the review will be carried out by a group from a broad range of backgrounds, including consumer bodies, the financial services industries and others familiar with customer concerns”.

“This will help the review to develop recommendations with a clear focus on consumer interests, so that codes of practice are easily accessible and easily understood. We want effective tools to ensure that consumers are treated fairly and in accordance with clearly set out standards.”

The codes to be reviewed include the Banking Code, Mortgage Code, the proposed Banking Code for Small Businesses, and the Statement of Principles of Business Banking.

The remaining members of the review group, who will serve in a personal capacity, will be named shortly. The review is part of the package of measures to improve competition announced in the Government response to the Cruickshank Report on Competition in UK Banking. The review group will welcome evidence from all interested parties. It has been asked to publish its findings by April 2001.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 21 November 2000.

£1 million to launch a new charity sector-led campaign to boost charitable giving was announced today by Treasury Minister Stephen Timms. The campaign, led jointly by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and chaired by Lord Joel Joffe, aims to raise awareness of the Getting Britain Giving package through the development of an overarching brand for charitable giving.

In line with the Government’s commitment to increase the giving of both time and money, the £1 million investment will be backed up by the secondment of Government staff to the campaign team.

Speaking at the annual NCVO Lobby Conference, Financial Secretary Stephen Timms said:

“This £1 million investment, together with the secondment of civil servants to the charitable sector, shows once again the Government’s commitment to promoting charitable giving.

“NCVO, CAF and others from the voluntary sector are working very hard to put together a campaign team to boost the giving of both time and money. The team, which will be run by charity sector professionals, will focus on such diverse groups as businesses, high net worth individuals, young people and volunteers.

“The Getting Britain Giving package offers the best ever opportunity for the charitable sector to increase donations, but it needs to be widely publicised if it is to reach its full potential. Our new investment, both of time and money, will help the charitable sector fully tap this opportunity.”

Stuart Etherington, head of NCVO, welcomed today’s announcement:

“This is an excellent boost and will be a major step forward in helping spread the word that tax effective giving really works. We look forward to working with charities, the Government and business on developing the campaign.”

Michael Brophy, Chief Executive of CAF, also welcomed the news:

“This is great news for charitable giving in this country. Not only do we have the most liberal tax environment in the world as a result of changes introduced this year, we now have more money with which to start spreading the message.” Notes for editors:

Getting Britain Giving, a package of tax reliefs designed to increase charitable giving, was announced by the Chancellor in Budget 2000.

These measures were introduced following a review of charity taxation and extensive consultation, and include:

Gift Aid – abolition of the £250 minimum limit for donations; allowing donors to join the scheme by telephone or via the internet with a minimum of formality

Payroll Giving – abolition of the maximum limit of £1,200 a year, launch of a three year publicity campaign and a 10% supplement on all donations for the duration of the campaign

A new tax relief for gifts of shares and securities

Extension of the tax exemption for fundraising events

The measures are estimated to be worth about £400 million a year in tax relief.

The Government expects to contribute several experienced civil servants to the voluntary sector-led campaign team, including an expert on charity taxation from the Inland Revenue and a Senior Civil Servant from the Treasury.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 21 November 2000.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has this day appointed Dennis Andrew CANAVAN to be Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of  Northstead.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 23 November 2000.

The members of the Review Group that will assess whether banking services codes are delivering sufficiently strong benefits to consumers were announced today by Economic Secretary Melanie Johnson as :

• Michelle Childs Head of Policy Department, Consumers? Association
• Adrian Coles Director General, Building Societies? Association
• Janet Connor Director of Savings, Banking, and Consumer Credit, Abbey National plc
• Gerard Lemos Independent Director, Banking Code Standards Board; Director, Mortgage Code Compliance Board
• Stan Mendham Executive Chair, Forum for Private Business
• Brian Morris Director of Consumer and Retail, British Bankers Association
• Teresa Perchard Head of Social Policy, National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux
• Neil Simpson Deputy personal finance editor, Financial Mail on Sunday; thisismoney.com

Miss Johnson announced previously that the Review Group will be chaired by DeAnne Julius, an external member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee. All members will serve in a personal capacity.

Miss Johnson said:

” I am pleased that DeAnne Julius will be joined in conducting this valuable review by a high calibre team with such wide experience of consumer related issues. This ranges from the boardroom to direct consumer service at branch level; dealing with and commenting on specific consumer concerns and complaints; and representing the interests of small businesses.

“Their expertise and experience will help to ensure that the review produces a fully rounded analysis of how industry codes can be developed to deliver the improvements for consumers essential to meeting public concerns, and to taking forward issues raised recently by Don Cruickshank in his report on banking in the UK.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 28 November 2000.

Better use of modern payment systems will increase value for money, Andrew Smith, Chief Secretary to the Treasury said today.

His comments accompanied the publication of the third annual report of the operation of the Government Procurement Card run by Visa International EU.

The systems would include increased use of purchase cards, automatic credit transfer and consolidated billing in the move to make Government more effective in its business dealings.

Andrew Smith said:

The need for the public sector to adapt to modern and efficient methods of payment especially for low value transactions has never been greater. Not only would they provide efficiency savings and make government easier to do business with but above all demonstrates that government is truly modernising.

Making more effective use of the Government Procurement card will make it easier for Departments to meet their targets for purchasing low value items electronically. The opening up of these purchasing routes is a major step forward for Departments to increase efficiency in line with best practice techniques.

Brian Rigby, Deputy Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), an Office of HM Treasury set up to improve best practice procurement in the public sector, said:

The analysis tool we are unveiling today will help Departments measure their effectiveness in reaching the Prime Minister’s targets for electronic business in the UK that 90% of low value transactions are to be conducted electronically by 2001.

It will also help them identify where effort needs to be concentrated in the purchase to payment process in order to meet their targets. The new tool represents a further piece of best practice guidance to assist them to meet those objectives.

Andrew Watson, Manager for GPC, Visa International EU, said:

The third year of the GPC scheme has shown considerable growth in the number of departments implementing programmes and also in terms of the number of cardholders and the volume of transactions. To help facilitate this growth, the OGC, Visa and KPMG are all working together to ensure best practice is promoted across government departments and agencies to improve efficiencies.

The OGC is at the forefront of assisting departments in providing a new drive to improve performance in this emerging electronic era for departments to deliver best value for money in their commercial activities.

By making greater use of the Government Procurement Card (GPC) the public sector can derive further savings in this area of electronic spend.  The card targets efficiencies in the area of low value ordering making up 80% of the purchasing transactions conducted by Government and is therefore a rich seam of potential efficiency gains.

Transactions conducted using the card are a major component in the calculation model issued by the OGC that has been made available to departments to measure progress against the target of 90% of low value transactions being delivered electronically by 2001.  Use of the GPC is entirely consistent with the government’s E agenda and needs to be taken into the calculation.

The extensive take up of GPC as a payment mechanism to date in over 100 departments demonstrates its viability as a payment method for government.  Given the availability of this and other similar systems such as Automatic Credit Transfer and consolidated billing shows that Government has proven solutions readily available that increase efficiency.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 2 December 2000.

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 21 December 2000.

Welcoming continuing progress towards implementation of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), Economic Secretary Melanie Johnson today said:

“There has been good progress on implementation of the Financial Services and Markets Act since Royal Assent in June. The Treasury has issued thirteen pieces of draft secondary legislation, and the FSA has published large parts of the FSA Handbook in draft. Consultation on the major draft orders published by the Treasury in October has now closed.

“We will now move to incorporate helpful suggestions as quickly as possible. We are grateful for the comments we have received and will be studying them closely.

“It is important that firms and consumers enjoy the full benefits of the new system of financial services regulation as soon as practicable. I want to see all parties involved in the complex and detailed process of implementation working to that end.

“The target I set last July of N2 in about one year remains. It is still too early to be more precise on when the Act will come into force. As soon as I can give a firm date, I will do so. I plan to do so during the Spring. There will be a reasonable time for industry preparations between announcing a firm date and N2.”

Sir Howard Davies, Chairman of the FSA, said:

“We welcome the progress that has been made to date, the Government’s plan to announce a firm date in the Spring, and to provide a reasonable time for industry preparations between announcing a firm date and N2. We look forward to full implementation of the new legislation as soon as the necessary preparations, including industry preparations, have been made.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 22 December 2000.

Chancellor Gordon Brown and International Development Secretary Clare Short today welcomed the news that 22 countries have now had exceptional debt relief agreed, amounting to some $50 billion.

Speaking after the IMF and World Bank announced the news, the Chancellor and Clare Short said:

“Last year we agreed the action that needed to be taken to remove the burden of unpaid and unpayable debt on the poorest countries. The IMF and World Bank committed that 20 countries would have their debt relief agreed by the end of this year, and governments of HIPC countries, as well as the international community have worked hard to achieve this. We are pleased that we have not only met, but exceeded that target. On average these countries’ debts will be reduced by two thirds.

“More importantly, this action has enabled us to take forward our efforts to tackle the extreme poverty which affects the lives of so many millions of people in these countries. It is important to remember that the measure of success is not simply the amount of debt cancelled, but the number of people who are lifted out of poverty.

“This achievement owes much to the commitment and dedication of Horst Kohler, James Wolfensohn and their staff, and the determined efforts of countries themselves to demonstrate their commitment to addressing poverty, and to using the money freed up by this debt relief to benefit the poor.”

Continuing, they stressed that the achievement announced today was an important element in the wide ranging fight to eliminate poverty:

“We must create a virtuous circle of debt relief, poverty reduction and economic growth. The achievement announced today removes a huge barrier to tackling poverty in these countries. We are very concerned that a large number of other HIPC countries are unable to qualify for debt relief either because of their involvement in conflict, or because they do not yet have clear Poverty Reduction Strategies which show how the savings from debt relief will flow to spending on poverty reduction. We call on all concerned to work for peace, so that we can begin to work together towards poverty reduction. We are committed to intensifying our efforts to help them resolve their conflicts.

“The UK, for its part, stands ready to assist, and continues to play a leading role on debt. From this month, debt payments from the HIPC countries have either stopped, or will be held in trust, to be returned later for poverty reduction. No longer will we benefit from these historic debts.”

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 11 January 2000.

The UK today took a lead in the international effort to encourage the wider use of collective action clauses in sovereign debt contracts,  particularly by emerging market countries, when it included such a clause for the first time in a UK sovereign debt contract denominated in euros.

Greater use of collective action clauses in debt instruments is one method of facilitating coordination between creditors and debtors and  promoting an orderly resolution of financial crises. G7 Finance Ministers agreed in Cologne in June 1999 on the importance of encouraging wider use of such clauses in sovereign debt contracts.

Welcoming the development, the Chancellor, Gordon Brown said :

“The international community must continue its efforts to develop a comprehensive new framework for crisis prevention and resolution between the public and private sector.

“Greater use of collective action clauses in bond contracts is one step we can take to promote better management of crisis situations where they arise.

“We have for some time included collective action clauses in our dollar debt.  By including a collective action clause for the first time in the euro Treasury Note we have announced today, I hope further to encourage other countries, especially emerging markets, to include similar provisions in their own foreign currency bond issues.

“By making the use of collective action clauses the market norm, the international community may continue to improve its approach to crisis management.”

The clause is included in contracts for the auction of a new UK Government Euro Treasury Note announced by the Bank of England today. This makes the Note programme consistent with other UK Government foreign currency issues.

The press release issued by 9 February 2000.

Chancellor aims for £1 billion more to be given to charity

Measures to encourage more people and companies to give more money and time to voluntary action were set out today by the Chancellor Gordon Brown in a speech “A Civic Patriotism” at the NCVO annual conference in London today.
The Chancellor outlined the case for a “new and stronger relationship between individuals, communities and government” in a four point plan. The plan includes:

• tax changes to promote individual giving;
• tax changes to promote corporate donations;
• measures to promote the giving of time and volunteering; and
• measures to develop a new role for voluntary organisations.

The Chancellor said:

“I want to outline the case for a new and stronger relationship between individual, community and government – for the renewal of British civic society – or a great British society which not only defines the importance of voluntary organisations, but engenders a civic patriotism.

“I want to propose a new financial foundation for this civic renewal – a modern financial foundation for charitable, voluntary and community action.”

The Chancellor confirmed his pledge to “put charities on a firm foundation for the future.” He encouraged charities to exploit the new tax regime which makes it easier for individuals and companies, to give with the aim – “millions more giving so that by the end of the year 2002, as a people, have given a £1 billion more.”

But encouraging more people to give more time rather than money was an important part of the strategy. The Chancellor said:

“Our next task is to encourage new volunteers, create new volunteering opportunities and to build networks that match those who can give help to those which need help.”

Work is already underway working with charities and the voluntary sector on key initiatives but the Chancellor announced that:

“To advance both and the giving of money and time, we will bring together all relevant parties – the voluntary sector, key government departments, business leaders, employees’ representatives and media experts – to examine proposals for a national campaign based on a partnership with the voluntary sector.”

The Chancellor stressed the importance of the voluntary community and charitable organisations’ involvement in projects like Sure Start and the proposed new children’s fund. He said:

“These are partnerships in which the voluntary community and charitable organisations can take the lead, using their local knowledge and skill to put their ideas and projects to work.

To encourage the social enterprise sector in Britain, which can play a vital role in the economic regeneration of deprived communities the Chancellor also announced the setting up of a Social Investment Taskforce.

The Chancellor made clear he wanted to see “more investment in the UK in social enterprises – projects which have social objectives, and are not simply profit orientated.”

The Taskforce will look at:

• the case for social investment and a social investment fund;
• identify barriers to the further development of this field; and
• propose solutions and models for the future development of social investment.

It will report by autumn 2000.