Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 9
Second Report - Access to cash in Scotland
Published 11 Jul 2022
Paragraph 59
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Access to cash in Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that the UK Government should clarify their position on how the Financial Services and Markets Bill will interact with pre-existing industry-led solutions such as LINK’s Financial Inclusion Programme. Currently, LINK’s Financial Inclusion Programme is reliant on the voluntary membership of card issuers and ATM operators. We recommend that the UK Government consider legislating in the Financial Services and Markets Bill to mandate the membership of LINK for card issuers and ATM operators to ensure that the Financial Inclusion Programme can continue to provide free access to cash for as long as it is needed.
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, Second Report - Access to cash in Scotland (HC 80), paragraph 59, 11 July 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 October 2022.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government notes the Committee's recommendations, points to the access to cash provisions in the Financial Services and Markets Bill and to industry-led initiatives, and says some matters are for individuals, industry or commercial parties rather than government.
- On cash acceptance, the government "notes" the recommendation for FCA monitoring, says it "engages closely with the financial regulators to monitor and assess trends relating to cash", and holds that acceptance should "remain the choice of individuals and organisations".
- On ATMs and deposit-taking, it does not commit to mandating LINK membership or setting up a working group. It says it is "not the Government’s intention for the Bill to determine how industry provides access to cash facilities", while the Bill gives the FCA powers to ensure reasonable provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities.
- It says it "remains supportive of initiatives by industry" such as the Cash Action Group, and that the legislation allows HM Treasury to designate industry coordination bodies for FCA oversight.
- On the Post Office Banking Framework, it says it is "fully supportive" and that a new agreement runs from January 2023 to December 2025, but that "it is not for Government to negotiate the details of commercial contracts". It cites a further £335 million for the Post Office over three years.