Written questions by Hendrick.

What assessment her department has made of the impact of increasing oil and gas prices on fixed-rate mortgages in light of the conflict in Iran; and what steps her department will take to support homeowners affected by potential increases in mortgage rates.

The government does not comment on specific market movements. It is normal for sterling markets to vary in response to global developments. Mortgage rates, which are influenced by a range of factors, are a commercial matter for lenders in which the Government does not intervene. There are significant measures in place to protect vulnerable mortgage borrowers. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules require lenders to engage individually with their customers who are struggling or who are worried about their payments. The Mortgage Charter also remains in place, providing additional flexibilities to help customers manage their mortgage payments over a short period.

What steps she is taking with financial institutions to provide (a) (i) emergency and (ii) discreet access to banking, (b) financial independence tools, (c) specialist support services and (d) other (A) privacy and (B) safety measures for people fleeing domestic violence.

The Government recognises the important role that access to financial services products plays in supporting victim-survivors of domestic abuse to establish financial independence. The financial services sector has carried out significant work on this to date to enhance understanding of financial and economic abuse and develop solutions which provide support to their customers. This includes initiatives like UK Finance’s Financial Abuse Code which provides guidance for firms on how they should respond when a customer is facing abuse, including training employees to recognise and respond to the potential signs and effects of financial abuse and to support victim-survivors to access financial services in their own name. Economic abuse is also a cross-cutting theme of the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy which will be published later this year. The strategy will seek to tackle a range of barriers to individuals’ access to financial services and products and build on the sector’s work to date in supporting victim-survivors to establish financial independence. More widely, the Government recently announced a £19.9 million investment to support victims of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). As part of this, £1.96m is being invested into the Flexible Fund which provides financial support to victim-survivors to enable them to leave abusive situations and begin to rebuild their lives.