The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-11-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what value of projects received guarantees through the UK Guarantees Scheme (a) in 2015 and (b) since that scheme’s launch.
Greg Hands
Since its launch in 2012 the UK Guarantees Scheme has approved £3.7bn of guarantees for projects, enabling £23bn of projects to commence. In 2015 the UK Guarantees Scheme has, to date, approved £2bn of guarantees.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-12-16.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times and in which locations the British Irish council has met since 2010.
Mr Oliver Letwin
Details of all Summits and Ministerial Meetings of the British-Irish Council since 2010 can be found at: http://www.britishirishcouncil.org/
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans his Department has to ensure that a privatised Green Investment Bank would be able to maximise the deployment of equity and debt from the European Fund for Structural Investment and other EU sources.
Anna Soubry
There is no reason why the Green Investment Bank (GIB) could not invest alongside the EFSI whether GIB is in public or private hands, as it seeks to gather the range of financing necessary to sponsor projects.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied children from each country of embarkation arrived at UK airports without being eligible for entry clearance in 2015.
James Brokenshire
This information is not held centrally.
The UK Government takes child safeguarding extremely seriously. All Border Force officers have received training in keeping children safe and all operational processes involving children comply with requirements as set out in the Children and Young Persons Act.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what her Department’s decision making process is on the (a) provision and (b) removal of (i) bilateral and (ii) other aid assistance programmes.
Mr Desmond Swayne
DFID is undertaking a number of reviews, which aim to look across our portfolio to build the most effective response to deliver the Spending Review, the UK Aid Strategy and the Strategic Defence and Security Review. These include a review of the research portfolio, a Civil Society Partnership Review, a Multilateral Aid Review and a Bilateral Aid Review (BAR). The outcome of these reviews will collectively determine DFID’s approach to delivering the UK Aid Strategy over the period of the Spending Review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-04-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will identify for the purpose of Article 3(9)(F) of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive which ranks in the armed services will be classed as high-ranking.
Mark Lancaster
The Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive seeks to prevent the financial and certain non-financial sectors from being used for money laundering (the conversion, by various means, of the proceeds of crime into apparently ‘clean money’) and terrorist financing (the provision or collection of funds used to carry out any terrorist offences).
In addition to the financial sector, the directive applies to certain non-financial sectors including lawyers, notaries, accountants, estate agents, providers of gambling services, trust and company service providers, and to all providers of goods when payments are made in cash in excess of €15,000.
The directive introduces additional requirements and safeguards (‘enhanced due diligence’) for situations posing a higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, for example, trading with correspondent banks situated outside the EU. Amongst those additional requirements is a broader definition of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
Those subject to the directive are required to:
Identify and verify the identity of their customer (‘customer due diligence’) and of the beneficial owner (person(s) who ultimately owns or controls the customer on whose behalf a transaction is being carried out, e.g. in the case of a company, the owner of a sufficient percentage of the shares or votes), and to monitor their business relationship with the customer,
Report suspicions of money laundering or terrorist financing to the public authorities
Ensure that personnel are properly trained and that appropriate internal preventive policies and procedures are set up.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is not a financial institution nor does it fall into the non-financial sector organisations identified by the Directive, and it is not a provider of goods where payments are made in cash in excess of €15,000.
The responsibility of implementing the requirements of the Directive is for the financial sector and the non-financial sectors identified by the Directive and not the MOD.
The new Directive gives additional guidance in dealing with those risks and issues relating to corrupt activities. As with all legislation it cannot differentiate between those nations, sectors and institutions that are more or in the UK’s case, less corrupt. What this Directive attempts to do is give those organisations and sectors at risk of money laundering and terrorist finances the ability to make their own judgements as to what they deem as a high risk person (PEP) or transaction. Whilst ambassadors, chargés d’affaires and high-ranking officers in the Armed Forces are included in the Directive as PEP’s, the financial institutions in particular will assess their individual risk. In some countries the military are involved and in some cases run the political and governing systems, this makes them a significant corruption risk. The UK, its ambassadors, chargés d’affaires and high-ranking officers carry a lesser risk than some others; it is therefore unlikely that the extended Directive will affect them. But the interpretation of the Directive is for the financial and certain non-financial sectors to interpret.
The MOD takes its responsibility to prevent, detect, deter and investigate fraud (including corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing) very seriously and has undertaken detailed risk assessments to identify its risks, where needed implementing additional preventative and detective controls and undertakes due diligence on its suppliers.
Transparency International publishes a Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index based on 77 indicators which assesses the existence, effectiveness and enforcement of a nation’s ability to manage the risk of corruption including money laundering.
The UK MOD scored an ‘A’ (very low corruption risk) in the 2015 index, the only country to achieve this in the G20 and NATO as well as being one of only two in the world to achieve this.
Transparency International attributed the ‘A’ to the UK MOD having strong anti-corruption systems underpinned by effective independent oversight mechanisms.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-05-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many British military personnel have been embedded with US military personnel flying drones or planes over Libya in the last six months.
Penny Mordaunt
None.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that other countries follow up the commitments made at the Supporting Syria conference held in the UK in February 2016.
Rory Stewart
DFID has worked closely with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and other departments, alongside the UN and Co-Hosts, to press countries to deliver on commitments they made at the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference. The Prime Minister and Co-Hosts wrote to Leaders of pledging countries in May, to encourage them to deliver on their pledges. Lobbying at senior level has also been carried out in bilateral meetings and at international meetings, such as the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings and the World Humanitarian Summit. The UN General Assembly in September will provide an important opportunity to review progress further and press for more.
DFID has also set up a Post-London Conference Financial Tracking Mechanism. This will track and report on delivery of the financial commitments made at the Conference, and will be a key tool to hold countries to account for their pledges.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has received on reports of the use of ammunition produced and exported by Primetake, a company based in Lincolnshire, to kill Abdul-Rahim al-Faraj by security forces in Saudi Arabia; and whether he plans to investigate such reports.
Sir Alan Duncan
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is aware of claims by Mr al-Faraj’s family that ammunition produced in the UK was used in the incident that killed him. The UK Government takes decisions on all arms export licensing applications on the basis of close and careful consideration, assessing them against the EU and National Consolidated Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which includes an assessment of whether there is a clear risk that the items might be used for internal repression.
The Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman stated that Mr al-Faraj was suspected of previously killing security forces personnel and indicated that substantial arms and ammunition were found on the premises during the operation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department provided in Homelessness Prevention Grant to each local authority in London in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14, (c) 2014-15 and (d) 2015-16.
Mr Marcus Jones
We have made available over £500 million to local authorities and the voluntary sector to tackle homelessness. Since 2010, this has helped local authorities to prevent 935,800 households from becoming homeless.
The attached table (London Borough Homelessness Prevention Grant allocation 2012-13) shows the allocations of Homelessness Prevention Grant in 2012- 13 for London Boroughs.
From 2013-14 support for preventing homelessness has been included in the annual Local Government Finance Settlement, split between Revenue Support Grant and estimated retained business rates. In the following years London Boroughs’ level of notional grant was as set out in the attached table (London Borough Homelessness Prevention Grant allocation 2013-16).
Revenue Support Grant and retained business rates are not ring-fenced. It is up to individual authorities to decide how grant funding should be spent in order to deliver local services.