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Written Question
Iran: Financial Institutions
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to investigate (a) Bank Saderat PLC, (b) Melli Bank PLC and (c) other Iranian financial institutions based in the UK with links to the Iranian Government.

Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) is the authority responsible for implementing and enforcing the UK’s financial sanctions on behalf of HM Treasury.

On 14 December 2023, the UK announced a new sanctions regime that gives the UK extensive new powers to disrupt and deter Iran’s hostile activities in the UK and around the world. This has been developed to respond to unprecedented threats from the Iranian regime, including efforts to undermine peace and security across the Middle East and plots to kill individuals on UK soil. Overall, the UK has designated over 400 Iranian individuals and entities including in relation to Iran’s destabilising regional activity, human rights abuses, and nuclear proliferation.

OFSI assesses every instance of reported non-compliance and will act in all cases where we conclude a breach has occurred. OFSI does not comment on specific cases.

Non-compliance with UK sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through disclosures, large financial penalties, or criminal prosecution. Departments from across HMG including FCDO, HMT, OFSI, HMRC, HO, and the NCA, are working together, and with UK companies, to ensure that sanctions are enforced.


Written Question
Iran: Sanctions
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to hold to account UK-based (a) entities and (b) people continuing to deal with the (i) Iranian Government and (ii) IRGC in breach of UK sanctions.

Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) is the authority responsible for implementing and enforcing the UK’s financial sanctions on behalf of HM Treasury.

On 14 December 2023, the UK announced a new sanctions regime that gives the UK extensive new powers to disrupt and deter Iran’s hostile activities in the UK and around the world. This has been developed to respond to unprecedented threats from the Iranian regime, including efforts to undermine peace and security across the Middle East and plots to kill individuals on UK soil. Overall, the UK has designated over 400 Iranian individuals and entities including in relation to Iran’s destabilising regional activity, human rights abuses, and nuclear proliferation.

OFSI assesses every instance of reported non-compliance and will act in all cases where we conclude a breach has occurred. OFSI does not comment on specific cases.

Non-compliance with UK sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through disclosures, large financial penalties, or criminal prosecution. Departments from across HMG including FCDO, HMT, OFSI, HMRC, HO, and the NCA, are working together, and with UK companies, to ensure that sanctions are enforced.


Written Question
Iran: Financial Institutions
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that UK financial institutions comply with UK sanctions against Iran.

Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) is the authority responsible for implementing and enforcing the UK’s financial sanctions on behalf of HM Treasury.

On 14 December 2023, the UK announced a new sanctions regime that gives the UK extensive new powers to disrupt and deter Iran’s hostile activities in the UK and around the world. This has been developed to respond to unprecedented threats from the Iranian regime, including efforts to undermine peace and security across the Middle East and plots to kill individuals on UK soil. Overall, the UK has designated over 400 Iranian individuals and entities including in relation to Iran’s destabilising regional activity, human rights abuses, and nuclear proliferation.

OFSI assesses every instance of reported non-compliance and will act in all cases where we conclude a breach has occurred. OFSI does not comment on specific cases.

Non-compliance with UK sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through disclosures, large financial penalties, or criminal prosecution. Departments from across HMG including FCDO, HMT, OFSI, HMRC, HO, and the NCA, are working together, and with UK companies, to ensure that sanctions are enforced.


Written Question
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason the Government has not proscribed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; and what discussions he has had with his US counterpart on that issue.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

While the UK Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not being considered for proscription.

The UK Government has long been clear about our concerns over the malign activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The UK maintains sanctions on over 400 Iranian individuals and entities covering human rights abuses and nuclear proliferation. The Government has also imposed sanctions on the IRGC in its entirety and on several senior security and political figures in Iran, including senior commanders within the IRGC and its Basij force.

The UK Government, working with the US, has engaged closely with European partners on Iranian transnational threats and we will continue to hold Iran and the IRGC to account. On 24 January 2024, we took coordinated action with the US and imposed sanctions on several members of the IRGC for their involvement in plots to assassinate individuals on UK soil.


Written Question
Iran: Sanctions
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department plans to take to tackle hostile activities by the Iranian regime in the UK, in the context of recent reports of (a) threats to British journalists and human rights defenders by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and (b) the use UK-based banks to procure funds in breach of UK sanctions.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

We do not routinely comment on operational matters or specific threats. However, we take the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms and safety in the UK very seriously. We continually assess potential threats in the UK and use all tools at our disposal to protect the UK and our interests from any Iran-linked threats.

UK businesses – including banks – are expected to perform due diligence checks on all of their customers and clients to ensure compliance with all UK sanctions regulations.

The UK is committed to ensuring that our sanctions are robustly enforced, potential breaches are assessed, and appropriate action is taken where a breach is identified. Non-compliance with UK sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through disclosures, financial penalties, or criminal prosecution. Departments from across HMG – including FCDO, HMT, OFSI, HMRC, HO, and the NCA – are working together, and with UK companies, to ensure that sanctions are enforced.


Written Question
Sports: Codes of Practice
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the cross-sport Code of Conduct is (a) robust and (b) workable in practice; and what lessons she has learnt from the application of CAP code 2.1 for regulation of breaches of the Code.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

All domestic sports governing bodies have agreed to four core principles underpinning the cross-sport Code of Conduct on gambling sponsorship: (i) protecting children and young people (ii) socially responsible promotion (iii) reinvestment into sport (iv) maintaining sporting integrity. These principles put in place a robust minimum standard for sponsorship across all sports. Through the code, a proportion of in-stadia advertising will be dedicated to safer gambling messaging, and replica kits for adults will be made available without gambling logos, alongside the existing requirements for childrens’ replica kits.

Sports governing bodies must have sufficient flexibility to implement these principles in a way which maximises impact for the sports and their fans. Bespoke, sport-specific Codes are currently being designed by individual sports governing bodies, and will be implemented in due course. The Premier League and English Football League plan to have their Codes in place by next season. DCMS will continue to work closely with sports on their implementation and enforcement practices.

As a licence condition, gambling operators must comply with the restrictions set out in the Advertising Codes, which includes robust rules under section 2 regulating the recognition of marketing communications. Under these rules, marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such and make clear their commercial intent, if that is not obvious from the context. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) can and does take action against breaches, and a recent ruling can be found here. Operators are liable to enforcement action from the Gambling Commission if affiliates which they pay to carry out marketing activities do not comply with the rules.


Written Question
Gambling: Advertising
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of gambling advertising on (a) gambling-related harms and (b) levels of (i) at-risk and (ii) problem gambling in young people.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

In our approach to gambling advertising, we have struck a balanced and evidence-led approach which tackles aggressive advertising that is most likely to appeal to children, while recognising that advertising is an entirely legitimate commercial practice for responsible gambling firms.

In April last year, HM Government published a White Paper on gambling which outlined a comprehensive package of reforms to make gambling safer following an exhaustive assessment of the evidence, including on gambling advertising. We concluded that further action on advertising was needed, which is why we and the Gambling Commission are introducing measures to tackle the most aggressive and harmful advertising practices by preventing bonuses being constructed and targeted in harmful ways, giving customers more control over the marketing they receive, and introducing messaging about the risks associated with gambling.

This supplements the already robust rules in place to ensure that gambling advertising is socially responsible and that it cannot be targeted at or strongly appeal to children. This includes specific licence conditions for operators, including the requirement to abide by the UK Advertising Codes, which further regulate how gambling operators advertise. The UK Advertising Codes were strengthened in 2022, with new protections for children and vulnerable adults.


Written Question
Sports: Gambling
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department plans to take to help ensure that the sporting industry complies with voluntary or self-regulatory measures to prevent gambling harms.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The gambling White Paper, published in April 2023, set out plans for sports bodies to take a responsible approach to gambling sponsorship through the adoption of a cross-sport Code of Conduct. The Code will guarantee a robust minimum standard on gambling sponsorship across all sports, ensuring that when gambling sponsorship does appear, it is done so in a socially responsible way. Work is underway to develop and implement the Code, ensuring that provisions meet the Government’s objectives while being sufficiently tailored to the material differences between sports. We expect compliance with a Code of Conduct to be guaranteed from within sports themselves through enforcement by governing bodies, and we are working together to identify the most effective way to achieve this.


Written Question
Chelsea Football Club: Sales
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the delivery of £2.5 billion from the sale of Chelsea Football Club.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

The proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC are currently frozen in a UK bank account while independent experts establish a foundation to manage and distribute the money. A licence from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation will then be needed to move the funds to the foundation. We want this money to reach Ukraine as quickly as possible and remain open to any arrangement that clearly delivers this.


Written Question
Sanctions
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) enabling Parliament to exercise oversight of sanctions policy and (b) imposing a duty on His Majesty's Government to lay an annual report before Parliament on sanctions and other related measures adopted on the basis of a relevant human rights purpose as defined by the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act 2018 Section 1(f).

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

UK sanctions regimes are established through secondary legislation and are subject to Parliamentary oversight via the scrutiny processes set out in the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 ("SAMLA").

Ministers are also routinely held accountable for the UK's sanctions policy through select committees and Parliamentary Questions. The government will shortly publish a Post-Legislative Scrutiny Memorandum for SAMLA, following the publication of the UK's first sanctions strategy in February 2024.

In 2022, Parliament amended SAMLA to streamline some of the processes SAMLA originally established, including for reporting.

We have set out the UK government's approach to using sanctions as a foreign and security policy tool in our strategy published on 22 February (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/deter-disrupt-and-demonstrate-uk-sanctions-in-a-contested-world-uk-sanctions-strategy). The strategy explains how we continue to strengthen our sanctions to deter and disrupt malign activity and to protect the UK.