Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Mann and Tony Baldry

Thursday 9th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sir Tony Baldry]

Indeed. Churches throughout the country support a whole number of initiatives that encourage large numbers of volunteers. I know that my hon. Friend is patron of the Linton-Linslade Homeless Service, which offers short-term emergency shelter, supplies and support to people who are homeless or about to become homeless and does invaluable work in the area.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

8. What assistance is available for grade I listed church buildings in need of major repairs.

[Sir Tony Baldry]

The most significant funder of repairs for grade I listed churches is the Heritage Lottery Fund, under the grants for places of worship scheme. The Wolfson Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and the Veneziana Fund also provide funding in some circumstances.

[John Mann]

The right hon. Gentleman will be aware of the incredibly diverse array of grade I listed churches in the Bassetlaw constituency. Would he be prepared to use his good offices to ensure that the Church Commissioners can better advise the volunteers running those churches on how to access the funds and that the north of England and the more deprived communities get a fair crack of the whip?

[Sir Tony Baldry]

The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. He is fortunate in having 26 fantastic listed churches in his constituency. Some, such as All Saints, go back to the 10th century. I entirely agree that it is very important that parochial church councils and others know how to access funds such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, and I will discuss with the churches and cathedrals division at Church House how we can better promulgate the way that that advice can be obtained.

Corporate Structures and Financial Crime

Debate between Lord Mann and Tony Baldry

Thursday 4th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the use of corporate structures in the UK and money laundering, tax evasion and other financial crime.

It gives me pleasure to introduce the debate and to thank the many Members from all parties who proposed it to the Backbench Business Committee, which we also thank for granting us the time for it. Perhaps in anticipation of it, earlier this week the Financial Conduct Authority made by far its strongest ever comment, including those of its predecessor organisation the Financial Services Authority, about the banks and so on. As a relevant introduction to the debate, let me quote Tracey McDermott, head of enforcement at the FSA, who this week said that banks’ trade finance businesses

“remained particularly vulnerable to abuse by criminals and terrorists, and that in some cases the shipments being funded by lenders were just ‘fresh air’.”

Martin Wheatley, the new chief executive of the FCA, warned that organised criminal gangs “filtered, cleaned and rebottled” £10 billion in the UK every year using banks and other financial services.

[Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[John Mann]

I will finish my introduction first, because banks are just one aspect of the problem and I want to focus on all aspects in my brief comments.

The problem is that we have opaque structures that mean that people can avoid tax and participate in illegal activities such as smuggling and money laundering. The amount of unregistered money involved is estimated by some analysts worldwide as being in excess of £20 trillion. A third of that is estimated to be directly linked with the European Union, and a third with UK Crown dependencies.

I will illustrate how the problem works. An individual sets up a firm in a country that keeps the names of directors a secret, then links that firm with another firm in a respectable place such as the United Kingdom, where the details of who owns a company do not have to be registered if it is owned by another company. They then set up nominees to be directors of the opaque firm, register with the corporate registry in the initial country, open a bank account for the original firm and funnel money through the firm in the legitimate area to the original firm in the opaque country.

There are many examples of that, and all areas of our national life, such as football, now seem to be covered by such structures. Whether it is illegal or legal, it is a major problem for transparency. We as legislators should be particularly concerned about any illegal aspects, and the banks have been at the forefront of those, as we have seen with the problems of money laundering. HSBC funded Iran with transactions involving £19.4 billion through shell companies over seven years, through the Channel Islands and the Cayman Islands. That broke sanctions but was incredibly hard to trace, because it happened through opaque shell companies

In the case of crime, in one year alone the same company funnelled £7 billion through the Mexican Zetas drug cartel, the biggest and most violent criminal agency anywhere in the world. Again, it did so through shell operations. Various mafias have also been involved.

The BBC’s “Panorama” exposed rather efficiently a woman called Lana Zamba, a Russian-born Cypriot yoga teacher, who was the director of a firm called Nomirex and 23 other UK-based firms. Records showed that those firms were inactive between 2007 and 2009, but “Panorama” demonstrated that £350 million had passed through them in that time.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Mann and Tony Baldry

Thursday 25th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)]

10. What discussions the Church Commissioners have had on laying to rest the remains of King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral.

[Sir Tony Baldry]

The remains that are thought to be those of Richard III are at present with Leicester city council’s museums department and the university of Leicester’s archaeological department, which are carrying out tests to see whether it can be demonstrated that the remains are indeed those of Richard III. Once those tests are concluded, the nature, place and marking of any reinterment will need seriously to be considered.

[John Mann]

Will the hon. Gentleman let it be known to the warring factions of York and Leicester and to the Church Commissioners of the Church of England that the great priory of Worksop, which is halfway between the two cities at the end of the road through the forest, and which is at the centre of the kingdom of Richard III, can provide the most appropriate final resting place for the king?

[Sir Tony Baldry]

I can see that there will be quite a lot of competition. If there is conclusive evidence that these are the remains of Richard III, the tradition would be that they would be reinterred in the nearest Christian church or cathedral, which happens to be Leicester cathedral. In such circumstances, I hope it would be possible to arrange a meeting with the dean of Leicester to see how that could happen.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Mann and Tony Baldry

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Tony Baldry]

My hon. Friend must remember and recognise that both archbishops and a number of bishops are Members of the other place: they are Members of Parliament and are entitled to have their views heard. I would suggest that every archbishop and diocesan bishop is a significant leader within their community. They are entitled to speak out and be heard by the country and the House. The Church of England is a national church and the bishops are part of the national voice of this country.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

9. How many churches plan to hold community celebrations for the London 2012 Olympics.

[Tony Baldry]

The ecumenical organisation More than Gold has been set up to help churches to engage with the Olympics. There are more than 400 Church of England More than Gold champions, which means that more than 400 churches are already organising activities using More than Gold resources.

[John Mann]

Would it not be appropriate for churches across the country to follow the magnificent lead of the joint churches in Bassetlaw, who are at the heart of preparing Olympic participatory activities, and are inviting the community into church grounds so that the Olympics can be fully and actively celebrated?

[Tony Baldry]

That is a fantastic example by the church in Bassetlaw, and I hope that every church will replicate it in all sorts of ways, such as by providing volunteers for the Olympics and hospitality programmes, hosting one of the many mission teams that are coming from overseas to help to give extra impact to activities, and linking hands with other churches to run community festivals and hospitality centres. I very much hope that every church in England will consider how they can use the Olympics as an opportunity to engage with the wider community.