Universal Bank (Hansard, 1 March 2002)

§ Mr. Weir
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent meetings he has had with the clearing banks on the universal bank; and what the outcome was of his discussions. [36056]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met representatives of the British Bankers Association (BBA) recently. The BBA agreed to keep my right hon. Friend informed of developments.

§ Mr. Weir
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with representatives of sub-post offices on the universal bank; and what items were discussed. [36058]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
My hon. Friend the Minister for Competitiveness has regular contact with the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, and my officials have also had meetings with the NFSP.

§ Mr. Weir
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of account holders that would be required to make the universal bank economically viable. [36051]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
Our operating assumption is that there will be around 3 million Post Office Card Accounts.

§ Mr. Weir
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what estimate he has made of the number of benefit recipients who would use accounts through the universal bank; and how that number has been calculated; [36052]
(2) what his estimate is of the number of people receiving benefits who will opt to have those (a) paid into accounts with the post office card account and (b) paid into accounts with established clearing banks on the introduction of ACT. [36118]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
At the start of the main move to ACT in April 2003, there will be some 13 million benefit recipients paid by order book or giro. Our operating assumption is that about 3 million of these will open a post office card account. The vast majority of benefit recipients, most of whom have a bank account, are expected to use an existing bank or building society account or open a new account.
1646W

§ Mr. Weir
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what sums have been allocated in his Department's budget for the costs of(a) setting up the universal bank and (b) implementing automated credit transfer of benefits. [36049]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
Departmental Expenditure Limits for 2003/04 and subsequent years will be set in the 2002 spending review.

§ Mr. Weir
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) if he will make it his policy that the automated credit transfer of benefits will not be introduced until such time as the universal bank is available in all sub-post offices; [36055]
(2) what estimate he has made of the time that would be required to set up the universal bank in all sub-post offices; [36057]
(3) on what date he estimates that the universal bank will be ready to begin operations; [36117]
(4) in estimating the numbers who might use the universal bank what account he has taken of the effect on post offices in urban areas where there are existing banks should ACT be introduced before the establishment of the universal bank. [36364]

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
The Post Office expects that the universal banking at post offices will be available from 2003, in line with the start of the main move to ACT.