§ Mr. PollardTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the withdrawal of British banks from the Eurocheque system on the cost and ease of transferring small payments within the European Union by(a) small businesses and (b) private individuals. [121484]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonNone. There has been an 80 per cent. drop in the use and acceptance of eurocheques in the 1990s. This has been matched by significant growth in the use of alternative methods—automated teller machines, debit cards and credit cards—of making payments and obtaining cash abroad. The Association for Payment Clearing Services, the industry body for the UK's banks and building societies which oversees money transmission systems, have advised that the majority of UK banks are able to offer cost effective alternatives to eurocheques.