Question to the Attorney General:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of engagement they have had with the private sector in pursuit of the £1.6 billion of illegal assets calculated by the National Audit Office to be subject to confiscation orders but which will evade recovery.

In 2014 the Home Office established the Serious and Organised Crime Financial Sector Forum, an initiative to bring together Government, law enforcement agencies, regulators and the financial sector in a public-private partnership to tackle crime. Under its auspices, the National Crime Agency has trialled sharing data on uncollected confiscation orders with the banks, and leads the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT), which brings together banks and law enforcement agencies to share information to tackle money laundering.

Work is continuing with the Financial Sector Forum to explore effective ways of sharing data between private sector entities.