Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to publish its response to the report by the right hon. Sir Eric Pickles on his review into electoral fraud.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Government is committed to tackling fraud and making our electoral process more secure. We have welcomed Sir Eric Pickles’ report on his review into electoral fraud, and we are giving careful consideration to the findings and recommendations that the report sets out. We will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, in respect of which private members bills presented on 29 June 2016 the Office of Parliamentary Counsel has been authorised to offer drafting support to the sponsor; and which bills (a) have received such support and (b) he expects to receive such support in the current session.
Answered by Ben Gummer
To date none of the Members successful in the ballot, and who introduced their bills on 29 June, have handed in the text of their bill. Departments are in discussions with several Members at this time and where a bill aligns with Government policy Parliamentary Counsel will be providing support.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department's agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government's view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the Directive enables the application of different degrees of enhanced measures to reflect the risks posed. The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation which will be published shortly.
The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. We regularly raise these issues with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, in respect of which bills presented to Parliament in the current Session, other than by a Minister of the Crown, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel has allocated resources to assist the hon. Member in charge.
Answered by Oliver Letwin
The Government is carefully considering the Bills presented by Backbench Members in this session. Where the Government supports Private Members' Bills the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel may be instructed to assist by refining the drafting of the Bill.