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673444

	registered interest
	date	16/01/2017
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2017 to Question 58730, on credit unions, what steps he plans to take to complete the expansion project for credit unions; how the £38 million will be allocated; and over what time period that allocation will take place.
	tabling member constituency	Bolton North East
	tabling member printed	Sir David Crausby
	uin	59997
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2017 answer text <p>The Contract to deliver the Credit Union Expansion Project was scheduled to end in December 2016. The Association of British Credit Unions Ltd (ABCUL) are delivering the Contract and has provided a proposal to extend the delivery timeline. To allow the proposal to be considered the Department has agreed an interim Contract extension to February 2017.</p><p> </p><p>To the end of December 2016, £30.8.m has been spent. Any remaining expenditure is subject to agreement on ABCUL’s proposal to extend the Contract and delivery of specific outcomes.</p> answering member constituency Watford answering member printed Richard Harrington question first answered 23/01/2017 14:54:45 answering member 4068 label Biography information for Lord Harrington of Watford
	tabling member	437 label Biography information for Sir David Crausby

668868

	registered interest
	date	06/01/2017
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the Government plans to improve and promote access to credit unions.
	tabling member constituency	Bolton North East
	tabling member printed	Sir David Crausby
	uin	58730
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2017 answer text <p>The Government’s manifesto commits to support the credit union movement in making financial services more accessible over the course of this Parliament. The Government has supported the sector in the following ways:</p><p> </p><ul><li><p>Investing up to £38 million in an expansion project for credit unions, aimed at helping credit unions expand and grow sustainably.</p></li><li><p>The Government announced at AS16 that a greater proportion of funds recovered from illegal money lenders will be allocated to incentivise vulnerable people to join, save and borrow with a credit union instead of turning to loan sharks.</p></li><li><p>The Coalition Government also increased the maximum interest rate that credit unions can charge on loans from 2% to 3%. This has helped credit unions become more stable.</p><p> </p><p>The Government will continue to look at ways it can help support the sector.</p></li></ul> answering member constituency Brighton, Kemptown answering member printed Simon Kirby question first answered 11/01/2017 10:37:39 answering member 3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby
	tabling member	437 label Biography information for Sir David Crausby

647622

	registered interest
	date	29/11/2016
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.45 of the Autumn Statement 2016, if he will publish details on the working of the expansion of the scheme to encourage credit union membership in areas at risk from loan sharks.
	tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
	tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
	uin	55479
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/12/2016 answer text <p>The Government is committed to facilitating sustainable financial services that give consumers greater choice in accessing credit. To help achieve this aim, the Government has fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market, transferring regulatory responsibility from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April 2014. The FCA has transposed key elements of the OFT’s Irresponsible Lending Guidance into binding rules. The FCA makes clear that a firm should lend responsibly, and takes reasonable steps to assess the customer’s ability to meet repayments in a sustainable manner without undue difficulties, and without having to borrow further. Ultimately, money should only be lent to a consumer if they can afford to repay it.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, the Government has already introduced several initiatives to support the credit union sector. These include investing £38m in the sector through the Department of Work and Pensions’ Credit Union Expansion Project, and providing £500,000 to help armed forces personnel access credit union services.</p><p> </p><p>The scheme referred to at paragraph 3.45 of the Autumn Statement 2016 is undertaken by the England Illegal Money Lending Team. The Team recovers funds from convicted loan sharks under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) and currently uses this to fund community education work and a credit union incentive scheme in areas which are vulnerable to loan sharks. The scheme provides cash incentives for new credit union accounts into which consumers make regular savings.</p><p> </p><p>In 2018, governance of the Team, and control of how it uses funds recovered under POCA, will transfer to HM Treasury. In April 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority will introduce a new levy collected from consumer credit firms which will fund the Team’s enforcement and education work. This will make it possible to free-up POCA funds currently used for education about loan sharks to expand the credit union scheme.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Brighton, Kemptown answering member printed Simon Kirby question first answered 07/12/2016 11:17:53 answering member 3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby
	tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

480076

	registered interest
	date	17/03/2016
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the legislation governing credit unions.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL7178
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/04/2016 answer text <p>On 31 December 2014, the government published a response to the Call for Evidence on Credit Unions.</p><p> </p><p>In this response the government committed to considering the potential changes to credit union legislation highlighted by the Call for Evidence over the course of this parliament.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord O'Neill of Gatley question first answered 01/04/2016 12:37:33 answering member 4536 label Biography information for Lord O'Neill of Gatley
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

445447

	registered interest
	date	18/01/2016
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help credit unions compete in the personal loans and savings market.
	tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
	tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
	uin	22923
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2016 answer text <p>The Government has taken significant steps to help credit unions compete in the personal loans and savings market. These include increasing the maximum interest rate that credit unions can charge on loans from 2% to 3% per month; investing £38m in the sector through the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Credit Union Expansion Project; ensuring that universal credit and pensions payments can be paid into any credit union account; providing £500,000 to help armed forces personnel access credit union services; and changing legislation to allow credit unions to admit corporate members.</p><br /><p>The Government has also provided £650,000 to fund the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ‘LifeSavers’ project. This project forms partnerships between primary schools and local credit unions, raising awareness of the credit union movement and encouraging more junior savers to become members.</p><br /><p>In addition the Government has also introduced an amendment to the Bank of England Bill 2015 to support financial mutuals. It amends the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority’s General Regulatory Principles to ensure that both regulators take account of the differences between mutual societies and other types of firm (where appropriate) whenever they are discharging their general objectives.</p> answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin question first answered 21/01/2016 12:23:42 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

443171

	registered interest
	date	07/01/2016
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many credit unions were subject to intervention by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in 2014 and 2015.
	tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
	tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
	uin	21538
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2016 answer text <p>The Financial Services Compensation Scheme regularly publishes details of the interventions it has undertaken to protect depositors. The Scheme announced that it had protected the savings of members in five credit unions which entered default in 2014; and six in 2015.</p><br /> answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin question first answered 12/01/2016 15:20:34 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

424865

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2015
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking encourage the Prudential Regulation Authority to assist credit unions in expanding the services they offer to their members; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Harrow West
	tabling member printed	Gareth Thomas
	uin	14104
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2015 answer text <p>The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of credit unions. It has a general objective to promote the safety and soundness of the firms it regulates and a secondary objective to facilitate effective competition.</p><br /><p>The PRA is an independent non-governmental body and, although the Treasury sets the legal framework for all regulation, it has strictly limited powers in relation to the regulators. However, last year the Government asked the PRA to use the evidence gathered from the Government’s Call for Evidence on Credit Unions to inform their 2015 review of the Credit Union Sourcebook (CREDS).</p><br /><p>The PRA have confirmed that they have taken into account the feedback received by HM Treasury in response to the Call for Evidence when formulating suggested reforms to CREDS.</p><br /><p>The PRA’s reforms seek to establish a more risk-based and flexible framework for credit union regulation, which imposes higher expectations for more sophisticated activity. The PRA recognises the unique structure and important role credit unions play in their local communities and is proposing to reform the rules to better reflect their evolving but distinctive business model.</p><br /><p>The PRA are looking to adjust the regulation so that rules around investments, capital levels and reporting requirements will be determined by looking at the risk profile and business model of the credit union. Existing rigid restrictions will be removed, giving credit union boards more freedom to decide how their businesses are to be run.</p> answering member constituency West Worcestershire answering member printed Harriett Baldwin question first answered 04/11/2015 12:57:34 answering member 4107 label Biography information for Dame Harriett Baldwin
	tabling member	177 label Biography information for Gareth Thomas

420943

	registered interest
	date	13/10/2015
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Government's credit union expansion programme; and what assessment he has made of the feasibility of extending that programme.
	tabling member constituency	Worcester
	tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
	uin	11604
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2015 answer text <p>DWP’s contract with the Association of British Credit Unions Ltd to deliver the Credit Union Expansion Project began in May 2013. It <del class="ministerial">was</del><ins class="ministerial">is</ins> due to end in April 201<del class="ministerial">5</del><strong><ins class="ministerial">6</ins></strong> but we are currently considering a request for a<ins class="ministerial">n</ins> <del class="ministerial">further</del> extension. The Department has plans to review effectiveness at the end of the Project.</p><br /> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 19/10/2015 13:14:22 question first ministerially corrected 21/10/2015 16:31:59 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson previous answer version 24060 answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

172711

	registered interest
	date	08/01/2015
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to changing the Common Bond of geographical credit unions from potential to actual members.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL4031
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2015 answer text <p>On 31 December 2014 the government published a response to the Call for Evidence on Credit Unions. In this response the government committed to considering potential changes to credit union legislation, including to the Common Bond, in the next parliament.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Deighton question first answered 22/01/2015 16:53:12 answering member 4262 label Biography information for Lord Deighton
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

147447

	registered interest
	date	10/11/2014
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Credit Unions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to encourage saving through credit unions as a means of preventing poverty and payday loans.
	tabling member constituency	Belfast North
	tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Dodds
	uin	214140
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government is supportive of credit unions and has taken a number of steps to assist them, most recently including:</p><p> </p><ul><li><p>Investing up to £38 million in an expansion project for credit unions, aimed at helping credit unions expand and grow sustainably</p></li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>Issuing a Call for Evidence on credit unions, to which the Government will respond shortly.</li><li>Removing unnecessary restrictions on credit unions via the Legislative Reform Order that came into effect in January 2012.</li><li>These measures will help increase the capability of the credit union sector allowing it to become a viable option for financial services provision for an even wider range of consumers.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is concerned about consumer detriment in the payday market and believes the FCA’s new, more robust regulatory system will help to improve protections for consumers who still choose to use pay day lenders.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Northamptonshire answering member printed Andrea Leadsom question first answered 20/11/2014 17:49:06 answering member 4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom
	tabling member	1388 label Biography information for Lord Dodds of Duncairn