Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will discuss with the Chief Executive of HSBC that bank's application of money laundering rules to hon. Members of both Houses of Parliament and their immediate and extended families; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Under the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations 2007, the meaning of a politically exposed person does not include an individual who is or has been entrusted with a prominent public function by the UK. The Fourth Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, makes no distinction between the prominent functions by the UK and third countries. However, 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. We will be setting out this view in our consultation which will be published shortly.
This change should not prevent any Member of this House, or any other individual in this category, from gaining or maintaining a UK bank account. I regularly raise these issues with banks and the regulator and we encourage the banks to implement these measures domestically in the most risk-based manner possible.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what revenue has accrued to the Exchequer from the use of fixed odds betting terminals in each of the last four complete financial years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Total Machine Games Duty (MGD) receipts for the years ending 31 March 2015 and 2014 were £562 million and £502 million. Total Amusement Machine Licence Duty receipts for the years ending 31 March 2013 and 2012 were £151million and £219 million.
Receipts from fixed odds betting terminals are not separately identified in the figures published in HMRC’s Tax & Duty bulletin. The bulletin can be found here:
https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/Pages/TaxAndDutyBulletins.aspx
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has conducted research on the total cost to the public purse of tax credits paid to private hire vehicle drivers in London in each of the last two financial years.
Answered by David Gauke
No such research has been conducted.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost to the financial services sector of compliance with money laundering regulations in each of the last five years.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Government's Anti-Money Laundering regime has a clear aim: to make the UK financial system a hostile environment for illicit finances, while minimising the burden on legitimate businesses and reducing the overall burden of regulation.
The government conducts an impact assessment when updating the Money Laundering Regulations, which were last amended in 2012, and will shortly publish an impact assessment alongside a consultation on the transposition of the EU’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. However, the government does not make annual assessments of the cost of compliance and the FCA, as the supervisor of the financial services sector, also does not undertake such assessments on the basis that regulated firms are generally unable to provide costs specifically for compliance with the money laundering regulations given that these costs accrue in relation to systems and controls that manage a variety of operational risks, both relating to financial crime and for other conduct and prudential reasons.
Bearing in mind to objective of minimizing burdens on legitimate businesses, the Government has launched a review of the impact of the current Anti-Money laundering and terrorist finance regime as part of the Cutting Red Tape Review programme. The Review is specifically seeking evidence on the role of supervisors in that regime, so that regulatory activity can be made as efficient as possible. A report is expected in the coming months and this will inform the work that the government is doing to reform the regime as part of the Action Plan to address weaknesses identified by last year’s National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing risks.