Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) potential breaches of sanctions have been investigated and (b) penalties have been issued for non-compliance by the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation since its establishment in 2016.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) takes some form of compliance action in every suspected instance of non-compliance, and the majority of cases are resolved by enforcement activity short of a penalty. All suspected financial sanctions breaches reported are investigated. OFSI uses the figure of reports of suspected breaches of financial sanctions as our measurement of non-compliance in a given period.
OFSI has published information about the number of breach investigations since 2017 in its Annual Reviews, accessible via GOV.UK. The number of reported suspected financial sanctions breaches over these previous years is as follows:
Since its establishment in 2016, OFSI has issued 7 fines for non-compliance, ranging from £5000 to £20,471,809.83 in scale.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation has; and how many of those staff hold investigation and enforcement roles.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury, is the competent authority for financial sanctions in the UK. The staff in post in OFSI was 37.8 FTE as at 31 March 2021. This information can be found in HM Treasury’s Outcome Delivery Plan 2021 to 2022, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-treasury-outcome-delivery-plan/hm-treasury-outcome-delivery-plan-2021-to-2022.
The number of staff has since increased and is now increasing again, in light of recent developments in Ukraine. Releasing further details of OFSI’s budget and headcount by function could prejudice its operational effectiveness.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation works with (a) other Government departments and (b) UK regulators to ensure compliance with sanctions; and with which organisations that body has Memorandums of Understanding.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
OFSI engages extensively and regularly with other Government departments and regulators involved in relevant work, to ensure a consistent cross-Government approach and aligned sanctions messaging.
This covers a broad range of areas, including (but not necessarily limited to):
Its engagement with the above includes information-sharing (with information both received and provided) under the provisions of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 and associated relevant legislation.
OFSI has a number of Memoranda of Understanding with partner organisations. However, I am unable to provide details of those currently in force or being negotiated between OFSI and other Government departments/partner agencies and regulators. The provision of such information could jeopardise ongoing investigations.