Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value was of (a) exports to and (b) imports from Israeli settlements in 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government’s position is that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal under international law. Goods originating from these settlements are not entitled to tariff and trade preferences under either the existing agreement between the UK and Israel or under our agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
UK trade statistics are based on data supplied in customs declarations, which includes the country code of the trading partner. This enables trade to be listed as Israel (IL) or the Occupied Palestinian Territories (PS).
Where there are doubts about the declared origin of goods, checks will be undertaken to verify the origin of those goods.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the data for UK trade with settlements is listed as (a) UK trade with Israel, (b) UK trade with the Occupied Palestinian Territories and (c) a separate category.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government’s position is that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal under international law. Goods originating from these settlements are not entitled to tariff and trade preferences under either the existing agreement between the UK and Israel or under our agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
UK trade statistics are based on data supplied in customs declarations, which includes the country code of the trading partner. This enables trade to be listed as Israel (IL) or the Occupied Palestinian Territories (PS).
Where there are doubts about the declared origin of goods, checks will be undertaken to verify the origin of those goods.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) value and (b) quantity was of seafood imported from (a) Cameroon in (A) 2023, (B) 2024 and (C) 2025 and (b) Trinidad and Tobago since October 2023.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as an Accredited Official Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria.
These tables include country of dispatch (CoD) which gives information on the country of export.
To build a table you will need to use a commodity code. Commodity codes identify the goods being imported or exported. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff at https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff. Commodity codes for the various types of seafood would come under Chapter 03.
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications have been made by (a) barristers, (b) solicitors and (c) others for licences to permit payments by sanctioned entities to be made for legal advice or representation in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) in HM Treasury is responsible for financial sanctions enforcement. OFSI may issue a licence to enable the payment of reasonable fees and/or expenses for the provision of legal services. OFSI is unable to provide the information requested as it does not collate information on legal expenses licence applications in this format and it would involve disproportionate costs to gather.
OFSI publishes an Annual Review containing information on the breakdown of legal expenses licences issued during the preceding financial year. The 2020-21 Annual Review can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1025562/OFSI_Annual_Review_2021.pdf. Data for the 2021-22 financial year is expected to be published in the Autumn.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) criteria and (b) process, including timescales, are for the determination of applications for licences to permit payment for legal advice and representation.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) in HM Treasury is responsible for financial sanctions enforcement. OFSI may issue a licence to enable the payment of reasonable fees and/or expenses for the provision of legal services. It is for the applicant to demonstrate to OFSI that the legal fees and disbursements are reasonable. All licence applications are carefully assessed against the criteria set out in the relevant Regulations.
OFSI has received a significant increase in the number of legal expenses licence applications since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Information requirements for legal expenses licences can be found on Page 28 of OFSI’s general guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1062452/General_Guidance_-_UK_Financial_Sanctions.pdf.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of applications for licences to permit payments by sanctioned entities to be made for legal advice or representation have been (a) granted, (b) rejected and (c) not yet dealt with.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) in HM Treasury is responsible for financial sanctions enforcement. OFSI may issue a licence to enable the payment of reasonable fees and/or expenses for the provision of legal services.
From June 2021 to June 2022 OFSI issued 29 licences for the payment of legal fees. OFSI is unable to provide all of the information requested as it does not collate information on legal expenses licence applications in this format and it would involve disproportionate costs to gather.
OFSI publishes an Annual Review containing information on the breakdown of legal expenses licences issued during the preceding financial year. The 2020-21 Annual Review can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1025562/OFSI_Annual_Review_2021.pdf. Data for the 2021-22 financial year is expected to be published in the Autumn.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith and Chiswick)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of applications for licences to permit payments by sanctioned entities for legal advice or representation relate to licences to permit payment for advice on the lawfulness of sanctions.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) in HM Treasury is responsible for financial sanctions enforcement. OFSI may issue a licence to enable the payment of reasonable fees and/or expenses for the provision of legal services. OFSI is unable to provide the information requested as it does not collate information on legal expenses licence applications in this format and it would involve disproportionate costs to gather.