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Written question asked by Mark Oaten (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 22 March 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 7 April 2005. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Thursday, 7 April 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the impact of the changeover from signature to chip-and-pin credit and debit cards and its effect on consumers; what discussions his Department has had with the banking and credit card industries on this matter; and if he will make a statement; what assessment he has made of the effects on the (a) banking and (b) retail industries of the changeover from signature to chip-and-pin debit and credit cards.
Answer

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment he has made of the impact of the changeover from signature to chip and PIN credit and debit cards and its effect on consumers; what discussions his Department has had with the banking and credit card industries on this matter; and if he will make a statement; [223873] (2) what assessment he has made of the effects on the (a) banking and (b) retail industries of the changeover from signature to chip and pin debit and credit cards. [223874] Ms Blears: [holding answer 4 April 2005]: Chip and PIN is a major finance and retail industry anti fraud initiative. The introduction of chip and PIN has been managed by the chip and PIN Programme Management Organisation, and actively supported by Government. Following a successful public trial, national roll out of the scheme began in October 2003 with the aim that by 2005 a majority of plastic card transactions should be chip and PIN. The chip and PIN programme announced earlier this year that it reached all its 2004 targets for the roll out with customer research demonstrating that 71 per cent. of cardholders expect their next transaction to be chip and PIN and 45 per cent. now using it for all or most of their card payments.1 I last met with representatives from the programme in November 2003 and Home Office officials maintain regular contact with the finance and retail industry. It is currently too early to assess the effects of chip and PIN in preventing credit card fraud. The impact of chip and PIN on card fraud is expected to be seen early in 2005 and hence will first be reflected in the APACS mid- year card fraud figures to June 2005, which will be available in the summer. 1 Source: chip and PIN programme

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
432 c1794-5W;432 c1789-90W; 223873;223874
Session
2004-05
Subjects
Crime prevention Credit cards Fraud Security Retail trade Technology Debit cards
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk