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19 Jun 2007 : Column WS9
19 Jun 2007 : Column WS9
19 Jun 2007 : Column WS9
Tuesday 19 June 2007
Gift Aid
Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Stephen Timms) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Today, HM Treasury has published documents launching a consultation on gift aid. The launch of the consultation starts a process of engagement with the charity sector that will include regional and national events and discussion with a wide range of charities. The consultation was announced at the Budget, and the Treasury expects to report on progress before the end of the year. Copies of the consultation documents are available in the Library of the House.
Health: NHS Choices Information Service
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): My honourable friend the Minister of State (Andy Burnham) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Government have today launched the NHS Choices information service. The NHS Choices website will provide the public with information about conditions, treatments and services available from the NHS, comparative data on the quality of services and information on healthy lifestyle options. Patients will also have the opportunity to comment on their experiences of NHS services. Potential patients can view these comments as part of their own decision-making about health and health services. Over time, NHS Choices will build into a comprehensive information service that covers a wide range of health and health service issues. The address for the NHS Choices website is www.nhs.uk.
Housing
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Ruth Kelly) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am today publishing two consultation documents.
The document Delivering Housing and Regeneration: Communities England and the Future of Social Housing Regulation outlines proposals to create a new housing and regeneration agency, Communities England, and responds to Professor Cave's review of social housing regulation.
At the end of last year, I asked Professor Martin Cave, director of the Centre for Management under Regulation at Warwick Business School, to carry out a review of social housing regulation, the first for 30 years. Professor Cave's report, Every Tenant Matters, is published today. The Government's initial
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I am also today publishing a consultation paper, Tenant Empowerment, outlining proposals to increase empowerment of social housing tenants. It includes the following for delivering a strengthened role for tenant voice:
a draft statutory instrument to simplify the Housing (Right to Manage) Regulations 1994 for local authority tenants to make it easier for those who wish to trigger the process of developing tenant management with their local authority; this follows a commitment in the local governmentWhite Paper Strong and Prosperous Communities to review these regulations;a proposal to promote a voluntary tenant management process for all social housing tenants and landlords;opportunity to comment on how tenant management organisations may extend their role to wider neighbourhood services;a proposal to form a national tenants organisation;consultation on options for tenant-led/tenant-owned ALMOs.Both documents are available in the Libraries of both Houses and can be accessed via the Communities and Local Government website:
Delivering Housing and Regeneration: Communities England and the Future of Social Housing Regulation (consultation paper): www.communities.gov.uk/index .asp?id=1511392.
Tenant Empowerment—A Consultation Paper www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1511393.
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Housing: Home Loss Payments
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Meg Munn) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Following the annual review, on 26 June the Secretary of State will lay regulations to update the home loss payment thresholds in Section 30 of the Land Compensation Act 1973 (as amended). Home loss payments are paid at a rate of 10 per cent of the market value to owner-occupiers who are displaced from their homes as a result of compulsory purchase or certain housing orders. These are subject to maximum and minimum payments. Tenants receive a flat rate equal to the minimum payment to owner-occupiers.
With effect from 1 September 2007, the maximum payment to owner-occupiers displaced from their home will be increased from £40,000 to £44,000 and the minimum payment will be increased from £4,000 to £4,400. The flat rate will be increased from £4,000 to £4,400.
The period of two months between laying the regulations and commencement will give acquiring authorities reasonable notice to revise their budgets for compensation. This is similar to the notice period given in previous years for revisions to the home loss payments thresholds.
Money: ATM Machines
Lord Davies of Oldham: My honourable friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Ed Balls) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Following the March 2005 Treasury Committee report on ATM (automatic teller machine) charging, the Treasury invited the chairman of the Treasury Committee, the right honourable John McFall MP, to chair a working group on ATMs, including banks, independent ATM operators and consumer groups, to take forward work on key issues. The working group published a report on 13 December 2006.
The working group announced an agreement to provide over 600 new free cash machines across 1,707 target low-income areas that it identified as lacking convenient access to these machines. To achieve this, a market-based financial incentive—known as a “financial inclusion premium” would be introduced, to encourage ATM operators to place or retain free ATMs in deprived areas. The working group also agreed to implement improved transparency rules for charging cash machines.
The Government are pleased to report that, just six months since the publication of this report, industry has made excellent progress towards the goal of placing over 600 non-charging machines in low-income areas across the UK, with more than 1 million individuals on low incomes standing to benefit.
As of 15 June 2007, sites for 471 of the 600 new ATMs required have been successfully identified. Of these, 127 new free machines are already issuing cash to the public, with a further 344 confirmed ATM sites
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The financial inclusion premium was introduced on 1 March 2007. Operators of the 127 newly live cash machines are already receiving this premium from cardholders' banks and building societies. In addition, a further 100 ATMs that existed prior to the working group announcement are benefiting from this premium, given their special status as the “last ATM in town”.
Banks, building societies and independent ATM operators have all contributed new free-to-use cash machines, with independent ATM operators having provided or in the process of supplying 41 per cent of the confirmed new non-charging ATMs. The UK ATM network, LINK, is continuing to work with its member banks and ATM operators to identify suitable sites in the remaining target areas, co-ordinating with Members of Parliament, local authorities, consumer councils and landlords.
This work is already having an important effect on financial inclusion, particularly on the ability of low-income customers to access and manage their accounts. According to data from LINK, the new free ATMs in operation are enabling over 260,000 residents in the target low-income areas to access cash more conveniently. A further 822,000 residents in deprived areas will stand to benefit from the confirmed additional ATMs that are being supplied across the UK over the coming months.
For all cash machines that charge users, operators are continuing work on signage to make it absolutely clear that a charge will be applied when withdrawing cash, so that customers can see at a glance whether a machine is free or charging.
The Government are encouraged by the concrete progress achieved and would like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved in extending free access to cash to those who need it the most. Today John McFall MP and I have written to all MPs thanking them for their support and urging them to continue to identify sites for the remaining 129 free cash machines. The Government look forward to a further update from the industry on its work to deliver against the ATM working group recommendations before the end of this year.
Full details about the progress made are available on the LINK internet website at www.link.co.uk/atm/access_to_cash_progress/index.html.
Police: Grants
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): My honourable friend the Minister for Security, Counter-Terrorism and Police (Tony McNulty) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am pleased to be able to announce today that a further £25 million of capital is now available for distribution to police authorities for 2007-08. A breakdown of the allocation of this additional money is shown in the table attached.
As a consequence of this additional money, the total amount of capital grant allocated to police authorities in 2007-08 will be £220 million, the same figure as in 2006-07.
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Home Office officials are writing to police authorities and forces to inform them of this additional grant.
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