Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the total value of licenses issued for legal payments to Discreet Law from sanctioned individuals since 2020.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) does not disclose data from specific licences it has granted under UK sanctions regimes. Information about numbers of licences granted can be found in OFSI’s Annual Review which is publicly available on OFSI’s website.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total value of sanctions waivers granted to allow sanctioned individuals to access finance for legal costs in (a) 2022, (b) 2021 and (c) 2020.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) does not disclose data from specific licences it has granted under UK sanctions regimes. Information about numbers of licences granted can be found in OFSI’s Annual Review which is publicly available on OFSI’s website.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the decision to grant sanction waivers to licence Mr Prigozhin to pay legal costs was seen in reviewed by (a) Ministers and (b) specialist advisors in his Department.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Treasury does not comment on individual licensing cases. We need to carefully balance the right to legal representation - which is a fundamental one - with wider issues.
On the issue of who makes the decision to issue a licence, I refer the Rt Hon Gentleman to the statement I made during my answer to the Urgent Question, which can be found at the following link: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2023-01-25/debates/54EFDF55-C956-45FC-8500-C47444EAF09F/WagnerGroupSanctionsRegime
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) licences and (b) waivers to UK sanctions restrictions have been issued since February 2021 by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Details of the numbers of licences that the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has issued by financial year can be found in OFSI’s Annual Review documents, which are publicly available on OFSI’s website. Full details of the general licences issued by OFSI are also available on OFSI’s website.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation provided advice to ministerial private officers in his Department on enabling receipt of payments from lawyers acting on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Treasury does not comment on individual licensing cases.
HM Treasury’s Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) takes operational decisions relating to the implementation of financial sanctions in line with the relevant regulations. OFSI has not considered it appropriate for the Treasury to effectively decide on whether a case has sufficient merit to be permitted to proceed by deciding whether to license legal fees. Rather, OFSI's position has been that the merits should be decided by the appropriate court. OFSI assesses cases on a costs-basis only, ensuring that the fees requested are reasonable in accordance with the derogations available under the sanctions regimes.
We need to carefully balance the right to legal representation - which is a fundamental one - with wider issues, including the aim and purpose of the sanctions. It is right therefore that Ministers are examining whether there are any changes that can be made to this policy.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish the review of the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation framework for delegated decisions on sanction waivers and licences.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There are currently no plans to publish the delegation framework.
We need to carefully balance the right to legal representation - which is a fundamental one - with wider issues, including the aim and purpose of the sanctions. It is right therefore that Ministers are examining whether there are any changes that can be made to this policy.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place in the Library of the House the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation framework for delegated decisions on sanction waivers and licences.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
There are currently no plans to publish the delegation framework.
We need to carefully balance the right to legal representation - which is a fundamental one - with wider issues, including the aim and purpose of the sanctions. It is right therefore that Ministers are examining whether there are any changes that can be made to this policy.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he make an estimate of the total sum of capital gains by UK resident tax payers in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC does not routinely produce estimates of capital gains split by customers’ residence status. To provide a reliable estimate would only be possible at disproportionate cost
Annual statistics on Capital Gains Tax including gains are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/capital-gains-tax-statistics The statistics in this publication are for all customers liable to UK Capital Gains Tax including chargeable gains realised by both UK residents and non-residents.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of all mortgages were buy-to-let in each region of the UK in the most recent period for which date is available; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of buy-to-let purchases on the availability of properties for first-time buyers.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In Q2 this year, 13.6% of new advances were buy-to-let mortgages.
Whilst the Government wants to support those who aspire to be homeowners, we appreciate that this is not everyone’s aspiration and that there are many people for whom renting a home is either more practical or affordable. There therefore needs to be a thriving private rental sector to accommodate these people’s housing needs.
However, the Government is aware that the growth of the buy-to-let sector can impact other people’s ability to get on the property ladder. This is why higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax were introduced in 2016 for the purchases of additional residential properties. The Government has also restricted the amount of income tax relief that landlords can claim on property finance costs to the basic rate of tax.
The Government remains committed to helping as many first-time buyers as possible to get on the housing ladder, and operates a range of schemes that aim to increase the supply of low-deposit mortgages, increase the availability of new housing, and stimulate economic growth. These include First Homes, Shared Ownership through the Affordable Homes Programme, and the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme. The Government also helps first-time buyers to save for a deposit through the Lifetime ISA and Help to Buy: ISA. Over 800,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since spring 2010 through these Government-backed schemes, with the annual number of first-time buyers at a 20-year high in 2021.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to encourage countries at risk of debt distress to engage in the G20 Common Framework; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Common Framework was agreed in November 2020 by the UK, along with the G20 and Paris Club, to help deliver a long-term, sustainable approach for supporting low-income countries to tackle their debt vulnerabilities. It considers debt treatments on a case-by-case basis and is driven by requests from eligible debtor countries. If countries are facing significant debt vulnerabilities, they can – if eligible – request a treatment under the Common Framework.
In its February 2022 communique, the G20 reiterated its commitment to step up efforts to implement the Common Framework in a timely, orderly and coordinated manner. Our priority is to work with our G20 partners to implement the Framework for those who have requested it and to support new countries who come forward.