Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the value of Libyan-owned assets frozen in the UK in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Since its establishment in 2016, HM Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has undertaken an annual frozen asset review, requiring all persons or institutions that hold or control frozen assets in the UK to report to OFSI, from which the following figures are taken.

The figures are each an approximate total value of frozen Libyan assets in the UK:

September 2017 £12.061 billion

September 2018 £11.222 billion

September 2019 £11.809 billion

September 2020 £11.528 billion

The figures for the 2021 Frozen Asset Review are still being finalised and will be published in OFSI’s Annual Review later this year.

The value of frozen funds in the UK can fluctuate for numerous reasons. These include changes to sanctions designations, changes in share or market values, or certain financial activity being licensed.