Tag: Emily Thornberry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-04-30.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) inspections, (b) findings of non-compliance, (c) prosecutions and (d) convictions have been handled by HM Revenue and Customs to non-payment of the minimum wage in each region in each year since 2008.

Mr David Gauke

The Government take the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously and HMRC reviews every complaint that is referred to it, investigating the complaint and, in addition, carrying out targeted enforcement where we identify a high risk of non-payment of NMW.

The information for the time period requested is detailed in the table below. HMRC does not keep statistics at regional level for the purposes of completed inspections and non-compliance. However, the location of the employers prosecuted is included.

The majority of employers identified as paying below the NMW will pay arrears on receipt of a formal Notice of Underpayment. Where they don’t, HMRC will pursue recovery through the civil courts. For deliberate non-compliance or obstructive behaviour, HMRC operates a policy of selective and exemplary criminal investigation action to bolster our overall enforcement strategy. Criminal investigations rarely result in arrears being paid to workers and are reserved only for the most serious cases. All of the prosecutions noted in the table above were successful.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-06-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many cases of (a) rape, (b) sexual assault and (c) domestic violence were (i) reported to the Royal Military Police, (ii) referred by the Royal Military Police to prosecutors and (iii) directed for trial in each year since 2009.

Anna Soubry

The table below shows the number of cases of rape and sexual assault reported to the Royal Military Police, which of those were referred by the Royal Military Police to prosecutors and which were directed for trial since 2009.

These represent any case worldwide where the Royal Military Police has jurisdiction. Decisions to direct cases for trial are taken by the independent Service Prosecuting Authority.

The figures have been rounded to the nearest five.The specific figure has not been disclosed to ensure that the alleged victim(s) cannot be identified. This is in line with the Sexual Offences (Amendments) Act 1976 and 1992.

Because of the way domestic violence statistics are recorded it is taking some time to collate the information. I will write to the hon. Member with an answer shortly.

[1] The figures relating to referrals and directions for trial use the date of referral receipt as the base line. The Service Prosecuting Authority often receive referrals in one year and the cases are directed, disposed and/or tried in the following year. As such there is no direct correlation to the number of cases brought in any one year. Over a period of time the figures may well fluctuate as additional referrals are either directed or non-instituted.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-04-30.

To ask the Attorney General, how many cases of non-payment of the minimum wage were (a) referred to the Crown Prosecution Service from HM Revenue and Customs, (b) prosecuted and (c) prosecuted successfully in 2013-14 and each of the preceding three financial years.

Oliver Heald

Based on data held centrally by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) together with information provided by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which has responsibility for enforcing the law in relation to the National Minimum Wage, I have established (a) three referrals were made to the CPS from HMRC in 2010-2011. No referrals were made in the financial years 2011-2012, 2012-2013 or 2013-2014. (b) One prosecution commenced in 2011-2012 from the three cases referred in 2010-2011. (c) One conviction is recorded in 2010-2011 (referred in 2009/10) and one conviction in 2012-2013 (referred in 2010/11). This information represents the period of 2013-14 and the preceding three financial years.

HMRC also has civil enforcement powers to secure and punish in cases of non-compliance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-04-30.

To ask the Attorney General, whether the Serious Fraud Office has applied to HM Treasury for additional funding for its investigation into the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.

Oliver Heald

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has a core budget to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute the most serious and complex cases of fraud, bribery and corruption and some exceptionally large cases will arise that require additional resources. However it is not in the public interest to specify in detail what resources the SFO intends to dedicate to each case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2014-04-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with which countries the UK has asset sharing agreements for the purposes of freezing, confiscating and repatriating the proceeds of crime; and how many such agreements have been reached since 2010-11.

Karen Bradley

he UK is party to a number of multilateral international agreements that
contain asset recovery and asset sharing provisions. These include the Council
of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the
Proceeds from Crime, the UN Convention Against Corruption and the UN Convention
Against Transnational Organised Crime. The UK does not require a formal
international agreement to be able to cooperate with another country in respect
of freezing, confiscating and sharing or repatriating the proceeds of crime but
does have 37 bilateral mutual legal assistance agreements with other countries
including such provisions. These are –

1. Algeria
2. Antigua and Barbuda
3. Argentina
4. Australia
5. Bahamas
6. Bahrain
7. Barbados
8. Brazil
9. Canada
10. Chile
11. Colombia
12. Ecuador
13. Grenada
14. Guyana
15. Hong Kong SAR
16. India
17. Ireland
18. Italy
19. Jordan
20. Libya
21. Malaysia
22. Mexico
23. Netherlands
24. Nigeria
25. Panama
26. Paraguay
27. Philippines
28. Romania
29. Saudi Arabia
30. Spain
31. Sweden
32. Thailand
33. UAE
34. Ukraine
35. Uruguay
36. USA
37. Vietnam

The agreements with Jordan and Malaysia have been concluded since 2010.

There are a further six bilateral agreements limited to the issue of asset
sharing. These are –

1. Canada
2. Jersey
3. Hong Kong SAR
4. Ireland
5. Jamaica
6. Netherlands

These were all concluded prior to 2010.