Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many enforcement proceedings have been instated relating to the (a) Russia and (b) Belarus sanctioned regimes since 24 February 2022.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) published its Annual Review for the 2022-23 financial year on 14 December available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsi-annual-reviews.
This contains details of the number of cases recorded and outcomes for the relevant financial year.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what processes his Department has in place for Ministerial oversight of (a) licenses and (b) other exemptions to the sanctions regime.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is a delegated framework which sets out how decisions are taken. Copies of this framework have been deposited in the Libraries of the Houses.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what amount of frozen assets under the UK's sanctions regimes for (a) Russia and (b) Belarus have been released for maintenance of those assets including, property, vehicles and business premises.
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, including under the routine holding and maintenance derogation, can be found in OFSI’s Annual Review which is publicly available on OFSI’s website.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) proceedings and (b) fines have been issued for breaches of the UK's sanctions regime on (i) Russia and (ii) Belarus in the period since 24 February 2022; and what the total value of fines has been for those breaches.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Treasury, through the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), is the UK’s competent authority responsible for the implementation of financial sanctions. It is therefore the body responsible for civil enforcement of financial sanctions breaches.
OFSI does not issue proceedings in response to financial sanctions breaches. The details of civil monetary penalties issued by OFSI are published on GOV.UK here [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/enforcement-of-financial-sanctions].
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any people designated under the UK’s sanctions regime for (a) Russia and (b) Belarus have been granted access to frozen assets.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Where there are derogations set out in the sanctions regimes, and where the conditions of those derogations have been met, HM Treasury, through the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), may authorise activity that would otherwise be prohibited, including the use of frozen funds.
Licences have been issued under the Russia and Belarus sanctions regimes. Information regarding licences issued can be found in OFSI’s Annual Review documents, which are publicly available on OFSI’s website.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many individuals designated under the UK sanctions regimes have been granted access to frozen assets to fund legal costs in each of the last five years; and what was the total value of asset use authorised.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) publishes the number of financial sanctions licences issued in its Annual Review. Information about the total number of licences and the total number of legal fees licences that OFSI has granted for the last five financial years can be found in OFSI’s Annual Review documents, which are publicly available on OFSI’s website. OFSI will publish the latest figures in the next Annual Review in due course. OFSI does not publish details about individual licences granted, including source and quantum of funds licensed.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his oral contribution of 10 January 2022, Official Report, column 283, what consequential funding will be made available to the Welsh Government.
Answered by Simon Clarke
As set out in the Statement of Funding Policy, the Barnett formula applies to changes in UK Government department budgets.
The Welsh Government's existing funding already includes Barnett consequentials on changes in overall funding provided to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which is responsible for cladding remediation in England. Most recently, Spending Review 2021 provided the Welsh Government with the biggest annual block grants, in real terms, of any spending review settlement since devolution in 1998.
It is for the Welsh Government to allocate funding as it sees fit across its devolved responsibilities including tackling unsafe cladding in residential properties in Wales.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government since the Senedd elections on (a) Barnett consequentials of fire safety remediation funds announced by his Department and (b) the design and operation of new taxes and levies related to fire and building safety.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Welsh and UK governments regularly discuss a range of policy issues.
As part of the cladding remediation package announced by the UK Government this year the devolved administrations will receive additional funding through the Barnett formula at future fiscal events and spending reviews, except where new departmental spending is funded by an England-only levy.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government's oral statement of 10 February 2021 on Building Safety, what the Barnett consequential will be for the (a) Welsh Government and (b) other devolved administrations.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government made an oral statement to the House of Commons on building safety on 10 February 2021.
The devolved administrations will receive additional funding through the Barnett formula at future fiscal events and spending reviews, except where new departmental spending is funded by an England-only levy. The devolved administrations can implement their own levies should they choose to do so.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to support people who are paid a substantial part of their income via commission and have lost that income as a result of the covid-19 outbreak where that income is not covered as part of the calculation for payments under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The objective of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is to enable employers to keep people in employment. To achieve this, the grants compensate employers for the payments that they are contractually obliged to make, in order to avoid the need for redundancies. Covering discretionary payments, for example commission, would go beyond the objectives of the scheme.
The Government recognises that for some employees, the pay in scope for this emergency grant package will be less than the overall sum they usually receive. The Government is supporting people on low incomes who need to rely on the welfare system through a significant package of temporary measures. This includes a £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element, and a nearly £1 billion increase in support for renters through increases to the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants. These changes will benefit new and existing claimants. Anyone can check their eligibility and apply for Universal Credit by visiting https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit.