Margaret Hodge

The CPS does not record or hold the requested data centrally on prosecutions for criminal financial sanctions breaches. The information could only be obtained by completing manual case file reviews, which would be at a disproportionate cost.

The CPS is committed to tackling economic crime, including where these crimes span multiple jurisdictions. The CPS works closely with the National Crime Agency (NCA) and other investigative agencies; this includes providing early investigative advice on cases, obtaining evidence from overseas using mutual legal assistance and proving support through its network of prosecutors deployed overseas.

The CPS does not breakdown referrals by individual departments within the NCA. The following data is available which shows the number of cases received by the CPS Specialist Fraud Division from the National Crime Agency for pre-charge decisions.

Pre-charge decision receipts

The following shows number of cases where charging decisions have been reached.

Pre-charge decision finalisations

The CPS is committed to tackling economic crime, including where these crimes span multiple jurisdictions. The CPS works closely with the National Crime Agency (NCA) and other investigative agencies; this includes providing early investigative advice on cases, obtaining evidence from overseas using mutual legal assistance and proving support through its network of prosecutors deployed overseas.

The CPS does not breakdown referrals by individual departments within the NCA. The following data is available which shows the number of cases received by the CPS Specialist Fraud Division from the National Crime Agency for pre-charge decisions.

Pre-charge decision receipts

The following shows number of cases where charging decisions have been reached.

Pre-charge decision finalisations

The Call for Evidence on Corporate Criminal Liability for Economic Crime contained a number of different options for reform, including a proposal to extend the failure to prevent offence to wider economic crimes other than bribery or tax evasion. The Government’s response is expected to be issued in 2019.

The SFO does request information from the UK's Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies as well as other overseas partners in relation to its ongoing investigations. However, for operational reasons the SFO does not provide details of such requests as it could prejudice the conduct of those investigations.

The Government is committed to driving progress on our anti-corruption strategy, as well as stepping up efforts to tackle corruption both domestically and overseas. My Rt Hon Friend, the Member for East Hampshire is the lead Minister on tackling fraud, corruption and illicit finance.

Details of any future appointments will be set out in the usual way.

Information relating to specific pieces of work undertaken by all consulting firms including details of secondments from consulting firms is not held centrally and is therefore only available at disproportionate cost. In May 2010 the Cabinet Office introduced a control on the use of consultants within central government to reduce spending and to challenge organisations to only use consultants when absolutely necessary. Details of expenditure approvals for consultancy controls are published on: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk and on data.gov.uk: www.data.gov.uk Additionally, all new contracts over the value of £10,000 and payments of over £25,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder Under the Government controls introduced in May 2010, any contract for consultancy the estimated value of which exceeds £20,000 and exceeds 9 months in duration must be approved by the MCO and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Any consultancy contracts that fall outside of this scope must be approved by Cabinet Office Finance as part of the standard departmental financial controls. The full Cabinet Office Controls guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-controls/cabinet-office-controls-guidance-version-40

Information relating to specific pieces of work undertaken by all consulting firms including details of secondments from consulting firms is not held centrally and is therefore only available at disproportionate cost. In May 2010 the Cabinet Office introduced a control on the use of consultants within central government to reduce spending and to challenge organisations to only use consultants when absolutely necessary. Details of expenditure approvals for consultancy controls are published on: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk and on data.gov.uk: www.data.gov.uk Additionally, all new contracts over the value of £10,000 and payments of over £25,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder Under the Government controls introduced in May 2010, any contract for consultancy the estimated value of which exceeds £20,000 and exceeds 9 months in duration must be approved by the MCO and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Any consultancy contracts that fall outside of this scope must be approved by Cabinet Office Finance as part of the standard departmental financial controls. The full Cabinet Office Controls guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-controls/cabinet-office-controls-guidance-version-40

Information relating to specific pieces of work undertaken by all consulting firms including details of secondments from consulting firms is not held centrally and is therefore only available at disproportionate cost. In May 2010 the Cabinet Office introduced a control on the use of consultants within central government to reduce spending and to challenge organisations to only use consultants when absolutely necessary. Details of expenditure approvals for consultancy controls are published on: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk and on data.gov.uk: www.data.gov.uk Additionally, all new contracts over the value of £10,000 and payments of over £25,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder Under the Government controls introduced in May 2010, any contract for consultancy the estimated value of which exceeds £20,000 and exceeds 9 months in duration must be approved by the MCO and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Any consultancy contracts that fall outside of this scope must be approved by Cabinet Office Finance as part of the standard departmental financial controls. The full Cabinet Office Controls guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-controls/cabinet-office-controls-guidance-version-40

Information relating to specific pieces of work undertaken by all consulting firms including details of secondments from consulting firms is not held centrally and is therefore only available at disproportionate cost. In May 2010 the Cabinet Office introduced a control on the use of consultants within central government to reduce spending and to challenge organisations to only use consultants when absolutely necessary. Details of expenditure approvals for consultancy controls are published on: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk and on data.gov.uk: www.data.gov.uk Additionally, all new contracts over the value of £10,000 and payments of over £25,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder Under the Government controls introduced in May 2010, any contract for consultancy the estimated value of which exceeds £20,000 and exceeds 9 months in duration must be approved by the MCO and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Any consultancy contracts that fall outside of this scope must be approved by Cabinet Office Finance as part of the standard departmental financial controls. The full Cabinet Office Controls guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-controls/cabinet-office-controls-guidance-version-40

My Department and Companies House closely monitor reports of potential misuse of corporate structures registered in the UK.

The Government is well aware of the risks around misuse of limited partnerships, which is why we acted through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 to introduce the biggest changes to limited partnership law since 1907. The reforms will crack down on the abuse of all UK limited partnerships, including requiring much more information on the partners and greater controls over their formation.

The Government is aware that limited partnerships are being misused by rogue actors. This is why we legislated for reform of the law governing limited partnerships via the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

Under these reforms, much more information will be required on the partners of all limited partnerships, leading to greater transparency. Companies House will also have greater powers to challenge, reject, share and remove suspicious information relating to limited partnerships.

In addition, the new Companies House intelligence hub will use data science to identify patterns and crack down on those trying to dodge the new requirements.

The year in the table provided refers to the financial year ending year, i.e. 2023 means 2022-23 Financial Year.

The data in the tables comes from the annual official statistics publication that Companies House produces: Companies register activities: statistical release 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

There have been no judicial reviews against Companies House for refusal to grant applications to restrict personal data under section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006 in the last three years.

The table below sets out the number of applications received to restrict the publication of personal data under section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006

There is 1 application currently pending. These figures have been manually collated. This is supplied as management information; it is unaudited and is subject to change. It should, therefore, be used for indicative purposes only.

The table below sets out the number of applications received to restrict the publication of personal data under section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006

There are 4 applications currently pending. These figures have been manually collated. This is supplied as management information; it is unaudited and is subject to change. It should, therefore, be used for indicative purposes only.

There have been no judicial reviews against Companies House for refusal to grant applications to restrict personal data under section 790ZG of the Companies Act 2006 in the last three years.

The latest estimates for suspected fraud and error losses in the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) can be found in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2021-2022, accessible here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) was announced on 27 April 2020 and launched on 4 May 2020. BBLS was launched in extraordinary circumstances. Ministers made an explicit trade-off to ensure businessescould get the financial support they urgently needed as quickly as possible, despite the increased fraud risks this entailed.

The residual fraud risks (which were captured in a draft review prepared by PwC for the British Business Bank) were referenced in the Ministerial Direction letters published in relation to the Scheme, and the Reservation Notice published by the British Business Bank.

The Cabinet Office began an extensive BBLS fraud analytics programme in July 2020. Fraud and error estimates were given due consideration throughout these discussions.

We are unable to name the lenders referenced, as doing so would be likely to prejudice their commercial interests, because the position is likely to change as we receive more data from lenders in the course of time.

Approximately £113m of ineligible loans have been identified and removed from guarantee cover, including since 24 January 2022. These include duplicate loans and those paid to companies already dissolved or incorporated after the eligibility date. Therefore, statistics on lender accountability for ineligible loans will have changed since that date.

Differences between lender data should not be viewed as absolute indicators of performance, as lenders have very different portfolios and business models.