Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which spending programmes their Department devolves for administration to (a) local government in England and (b) other local spending bodies; and what the budget is of each such programme for each year for which budgets are agreed.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has set itself a mission that, by 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal, with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution, with a simplified, long-term funding settlement.
At Spring Budget, the government announced the trailblazer devolution deals with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and West Midlands Combined Authorities (WMCA), which included a commitment to introduce single funding settlements at the next Spending Review for these MCAs. At Autumn Statement, the Government published a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GMCA and WMCA, setting out how the single settlements will work.
The Government also announced an ambitious new ‘level 4’ of the devolution framework, including a single transport funding settlement for eligible institutions, and a ‘consolidated’ pot at the next multi-year SR covering two DLUHC investment themes – local growth and place, and housing and regeneration. Following successful delivery of the ‘consolidated’ pot, and learning from the trailblazers, Level 4 institutions will then become eligible to receive a single settlement from the subsequent multi-year Spending Review.
Details of major funding programmes, including those administered by local government or other local bodies, are available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which month she plans that the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme will go live.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
We intend that the scheme will become operational in 2024. The work to deliver this, including establishing a Scheme Management Unit and supporting IT and developing relevant guidance is happening at pace. A public consultation on guidance for the scheme is currently live until 01 December on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/foreign-influence-registration-scheme-draft-guidance).
The Government expects to publicise the intended ‘go live’ date a number of months in advance to give those affected by the scheme time to prepare.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many criminal investigations into financial sanctions evasion have been initiated on the basis of Suspicious Activity Reports received by the Financial Intelligence Unit since February 2022.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Breaches of UK sanctions are reportable to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), not via the SARs regime, unless there are associated suspicions around money laundering.
For reasons of operational security, we are not able to provide further details publicly.