Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what monies have been returned to HM Treasury by the Northern Ireland Executive under the Budget Exchange Scheme in the form of either non-cash Resource or Financial Transactions Capital for the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Bates
The total non-cash Resource and Financial Transaction Capital returned to HM Treasury by the Northern Ireland Executive for the last three years is set out in the table:
£million | Ring-fenced (non-cash) Resource | Financial Transaction Capital |
2015-16 | 292.2 | 0 |
2016-17 | 96.5 | 34.5 |
2017-18 | 100.7 (planned) | 109.4 |
This funding is ring-fenced for specific purposes, including non-cash depreciation/impairments and loans or equity investments to the private sector.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money has been allocated to Northern Ireland in the current financial year as a result of Barnett consequentials.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Barnett Formula was applied at the 2015 Spending Review to changes to each UK government department’s overall Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) budget. The 2015 Spending Review set the baseline block grant allocation for Northern Ireland in 2015/16 at £10.7bn. This is set out in 2015 Spending Review documents published on the gov.uk website
In addition to that, HM Treasury’s Block Grant Transparency publication sets out the breakdown of changes in the Northern Ireland block grant since the 2015 Spending Review, including all further Barnett consequentials as follows.
£ million | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
Total Barnett Consequentials | 9.7 | 251.2 | 435.1* |
* Any adjustments for 2018-19 will be presented to Parliament through the Supplementary Estimates Process
The Block Grant Transparency publication can be found on the gov.uk website
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money was allocated to Northern Ireland as a result of Barnett consequentials in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Barnett Formula was applied at the 2015 Spending Review to changes to each UK government department’s overall Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) budget. The 2015 Spending Review set the baseline block grant allocation for Northern Ireland in 2015/16 at £10.7bn. This is set out in 2015 Spending Review documents published on the gov.uk website
In addition to that, HM Treasury’s Block Grant Transparency publication sets out the breakdown of changes in the Northern Ireland block grant since the 2015 Spending Review, including all further Barnett consequentials as follows.
£ million | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
Total Barnett Consequentials | 9.7 | 251.2 | 435.1* |
* Any adjustments for 2018-19 will be presented to Parliament through the Supplementary Estimates Process
The Block Grant Transparency publication can be found on the gov.uk website
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money has been returned to HM Treasury from Northern Ireland in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Lord Bates
Under the Budget Exchange system, the devolved administrations can carry forward unallocated DEL budget from one financial year to the next, within previously agreed limits and with the consent of HM Treasury Ministers.
As set out in the Statement of Funding Policy, a limit of 0.6% applies to Resource DEL underspends and 1.5% to Capital DEL underspends in any year. Any underspends in excess of these limits will be forfeited.
Over the last three financial years, all underspends in non-ringfenced Resource DEL and Capital DEL (excluding Financial Transaction Capital) have been accessed under the Budget Exchange system in the following year, rather than being surrendered to HM Treasury.
Any underspend not accessed under the Budget Exchange Scheme and returned to HM Treasury is either non-cash Resource or Financial Transactions Capital.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much interest has accrued to Libyan assets frozen by UN resolutions while in London; and what is the current total value of those assets.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Treasury does not hold comprehensive information about how much interest has accrued or the current total value of that interest.
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) undertakes an annual frozen asset review requiring all persons or institutions that hold or control frozen funds in the UK to report to OFSI.
At close of business on 29 September 2017 the approximate total value of frozen Libyan assets in the UK was £12.061 billion. The figures for 2018 have not yet been finalised.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any application has been made to use the interest accrued on Libyan assets frozen in London; and if so, by whom.
Answered by Lord Bates
Frozen funds held or controlled by financial institutions are required to be reported to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) on an annual basis in aggregate. Licence applications are made to OFSI to permit applicants to deal with frozen assets, including to release frozen funds and for designated persons to receive funds in particular circumstances and for a specific purpose. Where licensing applications relate to the release of frozen funds, breakdowns of the sources of those funds are not required as part of the application. Similarly, when the release of frozen funds is authorised, the source of the funds is not specified beyond details about the payment routeAsked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current monetary value of frozen Libyan assets in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bates
At close of business on 29 September 2017 the approximate total value of frozen Libyan funds in the UK was £12.061 billion.
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) undertakes 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 this figure is taken.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government by how much the Northern Ireland Block Grant was reduced to allow the Northern Ireland Executive to set a nil rate of Air Passenger Duty on transatlantic flights from Northern Ireland in the last three financial years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Bates
Reductions to the Northern Ireland Executive’ Block Grant to reflect the devolution of long haul Air Passenger Duty in Northern Ireland for 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/19 are set out in the table below :
2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
£2.269 m | £2.166 m | £ 2.224m |
These figures are not cumulative.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current monetary value of Libyan government assets frozen in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bates
At close of business on 29 September 2017 the total value of Libyan assets frozen in the UK was £12.061 billion. OFSI undertakes an annual frozen asset review requiring all persons or institutions that hold or control frozen funds in the UK to report to OFSI, from which this figure is taken.
HM Treasury does not provide a breakdown of the value of frozen assets held by certain individuals or entities. The figure is therefore provided on an aggregate basis.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what safeguards are in place to prevent the misappropriation of Libyan government assets frozen in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bates
Council Regulation (EU) 2016/44 of 18 January 2016 imposes an asset freeze against a number of listed individuals and entities associated with the Libyan Government. The EU regulation, which has direct effect in the UK, requires that all assets owned or controlled by listed persons are frozen.
Frozen funds cannot be accessed except under the authority of HM Treasury, the competent authority for the implementation and enforcement of financial sanctions in the UK. Where an asset freeze is in place, it is a criminal offence to release the frozen funds or deal with them without a licence from the Official of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), which is part of HM Treasury.
OFSI will only consider licensing the release of frozen funds if the activity falls within the licensing grounds available in the legislation. OFSI’s policy is to preserve the value of misappropriated government assets and it takes this into consideration when applying the EU and UK sanctions regime licensing grounds.
OFSI also undertakes an annual frozen asset review requiring all persons or institutions that hold or control frozen funds in the UK to report to OFSI. This reporting exercise ensures our records reflect any changes to the level of frozen assets made during the reporting period.