Tag: Helen Goodman

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much is planned to be spent by the (a) Government and (b) Bahraini government on the building of the new British naval base in Bahrain.

Mr Julian Brazier

Currently the UK has a Maritime Component Command (MCC) HQ and collocated Fleet Support Unit (FSU), which is a warehouse,in Bahrain. These were constructed on our behalf by the United States, at a cost to the UK Government of $10million. The Government expects to pay the United States for the ongoing running costs of these facilities, the precise costs of which are yet to be determined. The Kingdom of Bahrain (KoB) has no involvement in these arrangements.

The construction of the new UK Mina Salman Support Facility (MSSF) in Bahrain will consist of accommodation, life support facilities and further storage and will enhance the support to UK forces in the Gulf Region. Construction of the UK MSSF is being funded primarily by the KoB. To date in 2014 and 2015 the UK Government has expended £277,000 on engineering consultancy costs for the UK MSSF. We expect to contribute around £9 million towards the construction of the new UK MSSF. This will include costs of bespoke UK technical facilities and the additional cost of ensuring compliance with UK regulations.The balance of the costs, will fall to the KoB.

There are no running costs forecast in the current year or 2016-17, from 2017-18 the running costs for the UK MSSF are forecast to be £12 million per annum.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-01-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish minutes of his meetings with Rupert Murdoch in June and September 2015.

Harriett Baldwin

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-giftsand-overseas-travel

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to prevent laundered money entering the London housing market.

Mike Penning

The Government is committed to protecting the integrity of our financial system and to ensuring that the UK is a hostile environment for illicit finance, to protect our national security and promote growth. The Government is also committed to ensuring that we maintain a robust and proportionate anti-money laundering regime.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is the anti money laundering supervisor of estate agents and takes a robust, intelligence led approach to ensuring compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 (the Regulations). An estate agent should not operate as such unless they are registered with HMRC under Regulations. It is an offence to carry out relevant business without registering with HMRC and the Estate Agency Business (EAB) may be penalised or face criminal prosecution if they fail to do. All those dealing with property transactions in the UK are regulated for money laundering purposes, including banks, the legal and accountancy sectors, and estate agents, and are required to report suspicious activity to the National Crime Agency. The Suspicious Activity Reports regime is currently being reviewed to make it a more effective mechanism for identifying money laundering and terrorist financing.

The National Risk Assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing was published on 15 October 2015. This identified the threats and vulnerabilities we face in these areas, and an Action Plan will be published shortly, setting out the steps that the Government will take to address them.

The Prime Minister made clear in his Singapore speech on corruption last year that the Government is determined to make sure the UK does not become a safe haven for corrupt money. As a first step he asked the Land Registry to publish data on which foreign companies own which land and property titles in England and Wales. The Prime Minister’s Anti-Corruption Summit in May will also consider what more the Government can do to tackle flows of illicit finance at home and abroad.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-02-22.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) discussions he has had with and (b) representations he has received from (i) businesses, (ii) members of the public and (iii) other stakeholders on new double taxation treaties since 2010.

Mr David Gauke

HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs officials receive representations from, and undertake discussions on an ongoing basis with a variety of stakeholders, including companies, representative bodies, other government departments and NGOs.

These representations and discussions inform the programme of tax treaty negotiations that are approved by Ministers and published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/double-taxation-agreements-developments-and-planned-negotiations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the annual cost to HM Revenue and Customs is of administering probate.

Caroline Dinenage

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for administering probate.

The amount of fee income accrued to the public purse in probate fee charges (after remission) increased from £19m in 2013/14 to £41.5m in 2014/15 following fee increases introduced in April 2014.

The annual cost to the Ministry of Justice of administering probate in 2014/15 was £42.5m.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department takes to ensure claims for diplomatic immunity are authentic.

James Duddridge

Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 the sending State must make certain that the agrément of the receiving State has been given for the person it proposes to accredit as its head of mission (Article 4). The UK also requires sending States to submit the names of military, naval and air attaches for approval (Article 7). Diplomatic missions are further required to notify the receiving State of the arrival of all members of the mission and their accompanying family members (Article 10). If a foreign national resident in the UK claimed diplomatic status, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) would check whether the person’s name was on its database of foreign diplomats and their families, as notified to the FCO by the sending State. As necessary, the FCO would also seek confirmation from the relevant diplomatic mission.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answers of 7 April 2014 to Questions 194734 to 194737, whether his Department was aware of the FBI investigation into Dmitri Firtash when it sold Brompton Road underground station.

Mark Lancaster

The Department was not aware of the FBI investigation at the point of sale.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Government plans to issue a commencement order for section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 on sexual communication with a child.

Sir Oliver Heald

The Government remains committed to commencing section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 and will do so in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment his Department has made of the value of UK access to the single market.

Mr David Jones

My Department, working with officials across government, continues to undertake a wide range of data analyses to inform the UK’s position for the upcoming negotiations with our EU partners. We have been clear that we will not provide a running commentary that might undermine our negotiating position.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with Ministerial colleagues at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the future of agri-environment projects jointly funded by the National Lottery.

George Eustice

The Government’s announcement of 3 October has provided further certainty on funding to rural communities while we develop a new approach to supporting agriculture, protecting the countryside and generating growth in the rural economy.

Existing agri-environment agreements and new Countryside Stewardship agreements starting on 1 January 2017 will be guaranteed even after the UK leaves the EU. We will confirm arrangements for entering into new agri-environment funding agreements after 2017 in due course.

Leaving the EU means that we will want to take our own decisions about how we deliver the policy objectives previously targeted by EU funding, including agri-environment schemes. Over the coming months, the Government will review, in conjunction with stakeholders, all EU funding schemes in the round to ensure that any ongoing funding arrangements best serve the UK‘s national interest. Defra will discuss the interface with lottery funding with DCMS and the lottery distributors as part of this process.