Written questions by Charters.

Whether her Department has plans to change the access to (a) Junior ISAs and (b) Child Trust Funds for parents of SEND young adults.

Access to Junior ISAs (JISA) and Child Trust Funds (CTF) for parents of young adults with special educational needs and disabilities is already possible in certain circumstances.Where a young adult lacks mental capacity, including due to a disability, the law requires parents or a guardian to have legal authority to make decisions on their behalf about financial assets or property. This includes in relation to accessing funds held in a CTF or a JISAThe Ministry of Justice has published a toolkit on gov.uk explaining the process for parents and guardians of disabled children to obtain legal authority if no other arrangements are in place. The Ministry of Justice has worked with The Investment and Savings Alliance (TISA) to promote the toolkit with parents and carers, and is working with the Department for Work and Pensions on ways to inform parents and carers about the relevant legal processes as their young person approaches the age of 18.The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of reforming mortgage regulation.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who are operationally independent of Government, are responsible for the regulation and conduct of financial services and markets, including the residential mortgage market. In 2014, the FCA put in place new regulation for mortgages in the UK, known as the ‘Mortgage Market Review’. This was based on the principle that mortgages should only be advanced where there is a reasonable expectation that they could be repaid by borrowers. However, this Government welcomes innovation in the mortgage market, particularly where this provides borrowers with the greatest choice possible about the level of interest rate risk that they are willing to take on.