Money Laundering

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

My Lords, the National Economic Crime Centre leads and co-ordinates the UK’s response to economic crime. Prosecutions for economic crime are pursued by the National Crime Agency and other enforcement partners. Annually, some 7,900 investigations, 2,000 prosecutions and 1,400 convictions take place in connection with money laundering-related activities.

[Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I take the prevention of money laundering as an important imperative. However, I am not sure the banks are dealing with it sensibly. I have had calls from banks asking about my monetary transfers. One bank, which I will not identify, could not contact me as I was away, so it wrote to me in what I regard as a threatening manner, saying, “If we have not received this information about transfers by” a particular date, then three days hence, “we will have to restrict access to your accounts. This will mean you will not be able to withdraw money or make mortgage payments or other standing orders and direct debits.” I am aware of business customers placed in dire financial straits without fault because their accounts have been frozen for so-called security reasons. Does the Minister agree that disrupting normal business commerce just to increase numbers of checks is unacceptable and that the banks need to get the balance right?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

My Lords, it is extremely difficult to get the balance right, because the banks are damned if they do and damned if they do not. I am sorry the noble Lord had personal difficulties in that situation, but if it had been a fraudulent transaction with large sums lost, I think he would have been even more upset. We have to err on the side of caution. The banks need to improve their ways of intervening and use artificial intelligence to be more effective and not go after false alarms.

Northern Ireland Protocol

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Excerpts

Wednesday 13th October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Frost (Con)]

My Lords, there is, of course, a difference between what is in an international legal instrument and what happens day to day, as I am sure is well understood. The political difficulty being created in Northern Ireland is because individual legal instruments, which come out in profusion from the European Union day to day, are applied automatically in Northern Ireland without any sort of process. That system is not sustainable, which is why these governance arrangements need to change to bring them more in line with democratic norms elsewhere. We need to find a solution that everybody in Northern Ireland can get behind and which they think represents their interests.

[Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, this Question is about trust and reputation. The admission by the Northern Ireland Secretary last September in another place that his Brexit Bill broke international law in a very specific and limited way was denounced by Members of this House from all parties, including the noble Lord, Lord Howard, and others. It led to a tit-for-tat reaction from the EU that it would unilaterally reject the protocol and, later, that it might not ratify the withdrawal agreement. Can the Minister tell your Lordships from where this reputation-destroying tactic by the UK Government of abandoning the rule of law emanated?

[Lord Frost (Con)]

My Lords, these matters were well debated at the time. The then UK Internal Market Bill is now a very good Act to protect the integrity of the single market of the UK. It does that very well. I am now looking forward. We are trying to find solutions to a problem that we hoped would not arise but which has now arisen because of the relatively insensitive way in which we have been forced to implement this protocol. We need to find a solution that everybody in Northern Ireland can get behind, which provides a better balance and which fully supports the Belfast/Good Friday agreement.

Essential Services: Large-scale Technology

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Excerpts

Tuesday 12th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, the specific question is outwith my area of responsibility, but I will pass the noble Lord’s comments on to colleagues in the Government, and I certainly note the important point that he has made.

[Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, this is a crucial question. Cyberattacks globally on critical infrastructure appear to be increasing with impunity. What plans have the Government got to deter such attacks, particularly by foreign state actors, and have they assessed at what point such an attack could amount to an act of war?

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, at my level in Government I will not comment on the final part of the noble Lord’s question. He is right that malign cyber activity, including by states, is an ongoing concern. In the Cabinet Office and across Government we are maintaining our capability to respond to major cyber incidents, and the National Cyber Security Centre and law enforcement cyber specialists are active in supporting critical organisations in the UK, including outside government.

Future of Financial Services

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

My Lords, we have certainly not abandoned any aspirations of mutual equivalence. As I said earlier, we cannot start from a position of almost perfect equivalence, and it is disappointing that the EU has not seen it appropriate, at this stage, to engage on a more collaborative basis. We had to provide clarity to UK-based firms and show that we were ready for business on 1 January, whatever the EU’s attitude. We continue to engage with the EU proactively.

[Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Chancellor’s Statement. It quite rightly emphasises the high regard that the United Kingdom is held in throughout the world for its financial services, which, as he said, bring £130 billion to the Exchequer. We are also renowned for our gold standard legal system, which, again, attracts many high-value disputes in our courts, and we rightly take pride in our word being our bond. Therefore, does the Minister agree that, as we leave the European Union, our enviable reputation is tarnished by an open admission by a Minister of the Crown in another place that we will place on the statute book an Act which, on his own admission, will breach international law?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

My Lords, the UKIM Bill is there as a precautionary instrument in the event that we do not achieve a deal at the end of this year, to protect the interests of this country.

Economy Update

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

No firm decisions on that have been made, other than what was announced a few weeks ago, which was to extend the payment period of the bounce-back loans to 10 years and to confirm that those businesses that took out less than their 25% eligibility up to the £50,000 cap could return to top up to the full amount. We will of course keep under close review how the economy reacts as we come out of this pandemic, as we hope, and how quickly businesses are able to recover from it.

[Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, I welcome the new economic measures announced by the Chancellor last Thursday in another place, but, like other noble Lords, I continually hear of cases of thousands of fellow citizens who, not because of fecklessness or negligence, are falling between the cracks—photographers, event organisers, dividend earners and the like, who have taken risks and built high-earning businesses, who are now prevented from earning a living or paying their debts and are being driven to despair through no fault of their own. In the light of the new quantitative easing measures, will the Government please have another look at support for these innocent victims of this pandemic?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

I share the noble Lord’s concern for those who have fallen through the cracks. We have issued a number of initiatives over the last few weeks and months to try to close the gap. For example, for the arts sector, there is some £1.5 billion of support, some of which will be available to vulnerable groups which have not been able to be part of the traditional self-employed schemes. We have also made funding available to local authorities, which are able to use discretion in the allocation of some of that money for vulnerable self-employed people.

Home Secretary: Allegations of Bullying

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, one of the main deterrents to reporting workplace bullying is the fear of retribution by the perpetrator. One way of facilitating the reporting of such incidents is through an independent hotline outwith the normal line management structure of the organisation. Having just attended the excellent parliamentary webinar course on Valuing Everyone, in which an independent hotline is paramount, can the Minister say whether the great departments of state provide such independent whistleblowing hotlines?

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord has made an important point. As I have indicated to the House, full assistance is provided to those who make complaints. There is also a facility to make complaints without the disclosure of names. I agree with what the noble Lord has about the Valuing Everyone training, and I confirm to the House that all Cabinet Ministers, including the Prime Minister, have either taken Parliament’s important Valuing Everyone training or have made arrangements to do so.

Economy

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Excerpts

Monday 28th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

My Lords, the announcements last week included a number of matters around the extension of existing loan facilities and keeping open the window for loan applications under the various support schemes that the Treasury has created. On encouraging part-time working to enable staff to use the spare time for training, I think that that has to be an individual matter between employees and employers. However, to me it seems fairly straightforward that a part-time employee can access, in particular, online training, which has become the method by which most training is now distributed.

[Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, as vice-chairman of the all-party group, perhaps I may make a plea for assistance for travelling fairs and circuses. This sector, which has been ignored, forms part of our heritage and culture in the UK and is much loved by the public. It needs support to ensure that it is still there after the pandemic. I ask the noble Lord to treat it in the same way as theme parks, for example, and I ask the Government to do what it takes to wrap their arms metaphorically around funfairs and the big top.

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

I agree with the noble Lord that this is an important part of our heritage. Only three weeks ago, I went to the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome, which I think is the oldest functioning hippodrome in England. Those working there have used their own initiative, and it was the very first venue to open up after lockdown. They explained to me the various measures that they are using to deal with these restrictions. It takes ingenuity and imagination but they are managing to do it, and I encourage all in that sector to do the same.

Banking: Financial Crime

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bridges of Headley]

Clearly, this was an appalling case of mismanagement on the part of the managers at Barclays at the time, and the record fine that Barclays has faced reflects that. I agree with the noble Lord that financial regulatory change is needed, as well as a change in culture of many financial firms. Key to this is ensuring that senior managers’ responsibilities are crystal clear. I stress that the most important task is to find out who is responsible for such failings as we have seen at Barclays. Up till now, regulators have sometimes found it difficult to hold senior managers personally accountable for management failings in the area for which they are responsible because there is such lack of clarity about who is responsible for what. This is precisely what the new senior managers regime addresses. The Government think it perfectly reasonable for the regulator then to show that the senior manager failed to take reasonable steps to avoid the failings.

[Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, on the wider point of strengthening corporate governance, and given that most employees know what is going on in a company, what plans do the Government have to safeguard whistleblowers in the financial sector?

[Lord Bridges of Headley]

The Bill does not change any existing obligations on individuals working in the financial services industry to report wrongdoing whether within their own firm, to regulators or to other authorities. To address the noble Lord’s question directly, the FCA published in October a package of rules designed to encourage a culture in banks where individuals feel able to raise concerns and challenge poor practice and behaviour. Those rules will also constitute non-binding guidance for other financial services firms.