Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1130880

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) investment choices available to workplace pension customers are regularly reviewed by Independent Governance Committees and (b) those investment choices are aligned with the interests of customers.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
	uin	262255
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced rules in 2015 to require contract-based pension providers to set up independent governance committees (IGCs) to address poor consumer outcomes.</p><p>IGCs have a duty to scrutinise the value for money of the provider’s workplace personal pension schemes, taking into account transaction costs, raising concerns and making recommendations to the provider’s board as appropriate. IGCs have a duty to assess whether all the investment choices available, including default options, are suitable for the interests of consumers.</p><p>In 2016, the FCA reviewed IGCs and found that they were “generally effective” in influencing and advancing cost reductions for members. The review also found that the Independent Project Board’s work in auditing high legacy charges and implementing IGCs had been successful. As a result, a substantial majority of consumers received improved outcomes regarding costs and charges, with 1m consumers receiving reduced costs and charges.</p><p>The FCA has announced that it will undertake a further review of IGCs in 2019/20.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen grouped question UIN 262256 262257 question first answered 13/06/2019 13:34:39 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1130881

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy that Independent Governance Committees attached to contract-based workplace pensions have a duty to monitor the suitability of the retail fund choices available to scheme members.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
	uin	262256
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced rules in 2015 to require contract-based pension providers to set up independent governance committees (IGCs) to address poor consumer outcomes.</p><p>IGCs have a duty to scrutinise the value for money of the provider’s workplace personal pension schemes, taking into account transaction costs, raising concerns and making recommendations to the provider’s board as appropriate. IGCs have a duty to assess whether all the investment choices available, including default options, are suitable for the interests of consumers.</p><p>In 2016, the FCA reviewed IGCs and found that they were “generally effective” in influencing and advancing cost reductions for members. The review also found that the Independent Project Board’s work in auditing high legacy charges and implementing IGCs had been successful. As a result, a substantial majority of consumers received improved outcomes regarding costs and charges, with 1m consumers receiving reduced costs and charges.</p><p>The FCA has announced that it will undertake a further review of IGCs in 2019/20.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen grouped question UIN 262255 262257 question first answered 13/06/2019 13:34:39 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1130882

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of scrutiny by Independent Governance Committees of the retail funds offered within workplace pensions products.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
	uin	262257
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduced rules in 2015 to require contract-based pension providers to set up independent governance committees (IGCs) to address poor consumer outcomes.</p><p>IGCs have a duty to scrutinise the value for money of the provider’s workplace personal pension schemes, taking into account transaction costs, raising concerns and making recommendations to the provider’s board as appropriate. IGCs have a duty to assess whether all the investment choices available, including default options, are suitable for the interests of consumers.</p><p>In 2016, the FCA reviewed IGCs and found that they were “generally effective” in influencing and advancing cost reductions for members. The review also found that the Independent Project Board’s work in auditing high legacy charges and implementing IGCs had been successful. As a result, a substantial majority of consumers received improved outcomes regarding costs and charges, with 1m consumers receiving reduced costs and charges.</p><p>The FCA has announced that it will undertake a further review of IGCs in 2019/20.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen grouped question UIN 262255 262256 question first answered 13/06/2019 13:34:40 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1130883

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential conflict of interests in the business model of vertically integrated companies offering retail investment platforms, asset management and workplace pensions products.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
	uin	262258
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is operationally independent from Government. The question has been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply directly to the Member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 13/06/2019 13:30:26 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1131004

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Insurance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that insurance companies do not unfairly discriminate against consumers with (a) historical and (b) current mental health conditions.
	tabling member constituency	Livingston
	tabling member printed	Hannah Bardell
	uin	262447
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government is determined that all insurers should treat customers fairly and firms are required to do so under the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) rules.</p><p> </p><p>The FCA has placed access and vulnerability at the core of the its Mission and Business Plan. For example, it is currently exploring options for signposting consumers with pre-existing and historic medical conditions, such as mental health conditions, to specialist travel insurance providers so that these consumers are better able to access suitable insurance.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 13/06/2019 13:27:04 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	4486 label Biography information for Hannah Bardell

1131016

	registered interest
	date	10/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Pension Funds: Consumer Information
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of advice given to retirees accessing their pension funds for the first time.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	262271
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government works closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the independent financial services regulator, to ensure that the market for pensions advice works well, competitively and fairly, especially as consumers now have a wider variety of choice, with the onset of pension freedoms.</p><p>In 2017, the FCA published the results from its Assessing Suitability Review (ASR I) which looked at pension and investment advice delivered during 2015. The review showed that generally financial advice was suitable in 93.1% of cases, across a statistically representative sample of the entire market. The FCA are undertaking further work looking at the market for pensions transfer advice.</p><p>In August 2015 HM Treasury and the FCA launched the Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR) and have since then implemented its recommendations to ensure the financial advice market works better for consumers. The government and FCA are conducting a review of FAMR throughout 2019.</p><p>The Government is also committed to ensuring that people have access to free-to-access financial guidance and information on the options available to them when accessing their Defined Contribution pension, which is why PensionWise, now part of the Money and Pensions Service (MAPS), was set up in 2015.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 13/06/2019 13:25:01 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1130449

	registered interest
	date	06/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Bank Services: Standards
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what key performance indicators his Department uses to assess the performance of Open Banking; and what recent assessment he has made of the performance of Open Banking.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	261179
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The independent Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is responsible for assessing the performance of Open Banking, and HM Treasury’s view is informed by their assessment.</p><p> </p><p>The OBIE’s latest published assessment of Open Banking performance, made in March 2019, shows that in that month the average availability of Open Banking APIs was 97%, the average response time was 798 milliseconds, and that 38.2 million successful API calls had been made, representing over 97% of the total number of calls made to APIs.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 13/06/2019 13:36:10 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

1130526

	registered interest
	date	06/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Pensions: Taxation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of how often the annual tapered allowance results in a person being taxed more than 100 per cent of the pensions relief they would have received if they had not reached the allowance limit.
	tabling member constituency	Central Ayrshire
	tabling member printed	Dr Philippa Whitford
	uin	261239
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>Pensions tax relief is one of the most expensive reliefs in the personal tax system. In 2016/17 income tax and employer National Insurance Contributions relief cost over £50 billion, with around two-thirds going to higher and additional rate taxpayers.</p><p>The tapered annual allowance is therefore focussed on the highest-earning savers, to ensure that the benefit they receive is not disproportionate to that of other pension savers. Less than one per cent of pension savers will have to reduce their saving or face an annual allowance charge as a result of the tapered annual allowance.</p><p> </p><p>For those who incur annual allowance tax charges, the charge recoups the excess tax relief on the benefits that they have accrued in that year above their annual allowance. The charge is levied at an individual’s marginal rate. For example, an individual with a salary above £150,000 would be taxed at 45% on pension accrual above their annual allowance.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to estimate the precise effects of the tapered annual allowance on an individual’s total remuneration without knowing their specific circumstances.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen grouped question UIN 261240 question first answered 11/06/2019 13:41:45 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	4385 label Biography information for Dr Philippa Whitford

1130527

	registered interest
	date	06/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Pensions: Taxation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of how often the annual tapered allowance results in a person being taxed more than 100 per cent of the earnings gained from additional sessions or responsibilities.
	tabling member constituency	Central Ayrshire
	tabling member printed	Dr Philippa Whitford
	uin	261240
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2019 answer text <p>Pensions tax relief is one of the most expensive reliefs in the personal tax system. In 2016/17 income tax and employer National Insurance Contributions relief cost over £50 billion, with around two-thirds going to higher and additional rate taxpayers.</p><p>The tapered annual allowance is therefore focussed on the highest-earning savers, to ensure that the benefit they receive is not disproportionate to that of other pension savers. Less than one per cent of pension savers will have to reduce their saving or face an annual allowance charge as a result of the tapered annual allowance.</p><p> </p><p>For those who incur annual allowance tax charges, the charge recoups the excess tax relief on the benefits that they have accrued in that year above their annual allowance. The charge is levied at an individual’s marginal rate. For example, an individual with a salary above £150,000 would be taxed at 45% on pension accrual above their annual allowance.</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to estimate the precise effects of the tapered annual allowance on an individual’s total remuneration without knowing their specific circumstances.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen grouped question UIN 261239 question first answered 11/06/2019 13:41:45 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	4385 label Biography information for Dr Philippa Whitford

1129985

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Pensioners: Income
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of consumers to make an informed choice when accessing retirement income products.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Ms Angela Eagle
	uin	260554
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises that people need the right support and guidance to make decisions that best suit their evolving personal circumstances. That is why the Government introduced Pension Wise, a service provided by the Money and Pensions Service (MAPS) that offers everyone aged 50 and over who has a defined contribution pension, free and impartial guidance on their range of available choices at retirement.</p><p> </p><p>The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found in its Retirement Outcomes Review in 2018 that consumer engagement in the retirement market is low and there are low levels of shopping around. As part of remedies to improve this, the FCA has set new requirements for pension providers to send more frequent ‘wake-up packs’ to their consumers, which include a summary of their open market options.</p><p> </p><p>The Money Advice Service (provided by MAPS) also offers a guaranteed income product comparator tool and is developing a drawdown comparator tool, to make it easier for consumers to compare the different options available to them.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 10/06/2019 11:08:05 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle