Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to assess the work of the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation; and if he will make a report to Parliament on monies released to Yevgeny Prigozhin to pursue a court case against a British journalist.

HM Treasury is considering its approach to licensing to see if any changes are required to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation’s (OFSI) licensing practice in relation to legal fees licence applications. We need to carefully balance the right to legal representation - which is a fundamental one - with wider issues of public policy.

HM Treasury does not comment on specific licensing cases. We will update Parliament appropriately on the wider considerations in due course.