§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will commission an assessment of the impact fee-charging cash machines have on those on low incomes. [118943]
§ John HealeyThe Government are not currently planning to commission an assessment of the impact fee-charging cash machines have on those on low incomes.
Issues regarding cash machines will, however, be considered as part of the Government's ongoing monitoring of payment system issues.
§ Mr. GardinerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will regulate fee-charging for ATM withdrawals. [118944]
§ John HealeyThe Cruickshank report of March 2000 rejected the idea of directly regulating the retail charges for ATM cash withdrawals or banning such charges. The Government agrees with this finding and currently has no plans to regulate fee-charging for ATM withdrawals.
The costs of providing unrestricted access to cash, 24 hours a day at thousands of locations around the country are considerable. It is a matter of commercial judgment for ATM owners whether to pass these costs on to customers in the form of retail charges. Such charges allow ATMs to be located where otherwise it would not be cost effective to do so. Nevertheless, the Government do not think that it would be appropriate for ATM owners to charge customers in excess of reasonable costs.
Recent years have seen a large increase in the number of ATMs—over 32 per cent. since March 2000. This expansion in the UK's network of ATMs has been to the benefit of consumers.
The Government remain committed to introducing legislation to give the Office of Fair Trading new regulatory powers to promote effective competition in payment systems—and aims to do so as soon as parliamentary time allows. Issues relating to ATMs will be considered as part of this process.