4.1 The Bank of England agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: December 2021 4.2 As the Bank of England stated when the Committee’s report was released, the Bank of England’s responsibility is to meet the public’s demand for banknotes. It has always met that demand and will continue to do so. The delivery of this responsibility does not require identifying who is holding banknotes at any point in time. Members of the public do not have to explain to the Bank of England why they hold banknotes or how much they hold. 4.3 The Committee highlight the continuing increase in the value of notes in circulation, despite the use of cash for day-to-day transactions falling in recent years, including during the pandemic. This suggests that banknotes are increasingly held as a store of value. Holding banknotes as a store of value can be perfectly legitimate, and the trend towards using banknotes for this purpose is also being seen in many other major currencies around the world. 4.4 The Bank of England does not agree that it lacks curiosity about the increasing number of notes not being held for day-to-day transactions. The Bank of England already carries out work on trends in banknote use for the purposes of understanding future banknote demand. The Bank of England’s future work will – consistent with the Committee’s recommendation – focus on banknotes held as a store of value, given the declining trend in notes used in the domestic economy to facilitate transactions. The Bank of England will conduct surveys over the next year on households’ use of banknotes as a store of value and on small businesses’ banknote holdings and usage. 4.5 The Bank of England will also engage with other relevant authorities, in particular Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the National Crime Agency, who may hold additional relevant information.