Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing recipients of the Territorial Efficiency Medal (TED) to place the award letters post nominally after their name, in line with recipients of the Territorial Decoration (TD); and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Reserve forces personnel are fully eligible for all state honours, operational awards, and campaign medals, providing they are recommended and meet the associated eligibility criteria. In addition, they are eligible for the award of the Volunteer Reserve Services Medal (VRSM) when long service and conduct criteria is met - this award is similar in criteria to the award of the Long Service & Good Conduct Medal awarded to qualifying regular service personnel. There are currently no plans to widen the reserves specific medallic recognition and commendation eligibility criteria.
As the Territorial Efficiency Medal and Territorial Decoration are no longer awarded and were replaced in April 1999 by the VRSM, there are currently no plans to review the policy on post nominal recognition for the Territorial Efficiency Medal.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the range of medals and commendations that can be awarded to men and women serving in the Territorial armed services to increase recognition of their commitment and contribution to the service and protection of the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Reserve forces personnel are fully eligible for all state honours, operational awards, and campaign medals, providing they are recommended and meet the associated eligibility criteria. In addition, they are eligible for the award of the Volunteer Reserve Services Medal (VRSM) when long service and conduct criteria is met - this award is similar in criteria to the award of the Long Service & Good Conduct Medal awarded to qualifying regular service personnel. There are currently no plans to widen the reserves specific medallic recognition and commendation eligibility criteria.
As the Territorial Efficiency Medal and Territorial Decoration are no longer awarded and were replaced in April 1999 by the VRSM, there are currently no plans to review the policy on post nominal recognition for the Territorial Efficiency Medal.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there is an appeals process for former service men and women, serving in the Territorial armed forces, who missed out on receiving the 2002 Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal as a result of being unable to produce a certificate of efficiency for one or more of the five qualifying years that fell immediately before the awarding of the medal.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal was awarded to all personnel who were in effective military service with the Volunteer Reserve Forces on 6 February 2002 and had completed five annual bounty earning training years, for which a certificate of efficiency would have been received, and who were properly enlisted on, or prior to, 7 February 1997. The annual bounty training year 2001/2002 was required to be one of the five years to count. The total of five annual bounty earning training years could be aggregated.
A former service person who believes that they may have been eligible to receive the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal is welcome to write to the Ministry of Defence to request a review of their circumstances. Medals enquiries may be made by post to: MOD Medal Office, Innsworth House, Imjin Barracks, Gloucester, GL3 1HW; or by e-mail to: dbs-medals@mod.gov.uk
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason the awarding of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal to serving members of the Territorial armed services, who had unbroken service for the immediate five years preceding the Jubilee, was dependant on eligible recipients being able to produce a certificate of efficiency for each of those qualifying years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal was awarded to all personnel who were in effective military service with the Volunteer Reserve Forces on 6 February 2002 and had completed five annual bounty earning training years, for which a certificate of efficiency would have been received, and who were properly enlisted on, or prior to, 7 February 1997. The annual bounty training year 2001/2002 was required to be one of the five years to count. The total of five annual bounty earning training years could be aggregated.
A former service person who believes that they may have been eligible to receive the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal is welcome to write to the Ministry of Defence to request a review of their circumstances. Medals enquiries may be made by post to: MOD Medal Office, Innsworth House, Imjin Barracks, Gloucester, GL3 1HW; or by e-mail to: dbs-medals@mod.gov.uk
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to notify surviving D-Day veterans of their eligibility for the Légion d'Honneur; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) supports the French in their award of the Légion d'Honneur to D-Day veterans by administering applications on their behalf. The MOD subsequently informs veterans when their application has gone forward to the French Embassy who act as the interface with the French Government whose award this is.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will identify for the purpose of Article 3(9)(F) of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive which ranks in the armed services will be classed as high-ranking.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive seeks to prevent the financial and certain non-financial sectors from being used for money laundering (the conversion, by various means, of the proceeds of crime into apparently 'clean money') and terrorist financing (the provision or collection of funds used to carry out any terrorist offences).
In addition to the financial sector, the directive applies to certain non-financial sectors including lawyers, notaries, accountants, estate agents, providers of gambling services, trust and company service providers, and to all providers of goods when payments are made in cash in excess of €15,000.
The directive introduces additional requirements and safeguards ('enhanced due diligence') for situations posing a higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing, for example, trading with correspondent banks situated outside the EU. Amongst those additional requirements is a broader definition of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
Those subject to the directive are required to:
Identify and verify the identity of their customer ('customer due diligence') and of the beneficial owner (person(s) who ultimately owns or controls the customer on whose behalf a transaction is being carried out, e.g. in the case of a company, the owner of a sufficient percentage of the shares or votes), and to monitor their business relationship with the customer,
Report suspicions of money laundering or terrorist financing to the public authorities
Ensure that personnel are properly trained and that appropriate internal preventive policies and procedures are set up.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is not a financial institution nor does it fall into the non-financial sector organisations identified by the Directive, and it is not a provider of goods where payments are made in cash in excess of €15,000.
The responsibility of implementing the requirements of the Directive is for the financial sector and the non-financial sectors identified by the Directive and not the MOD.
The new Directive gives additional guidance in dealing with those risks and issues relating to corrupt activities. As with all legislation it cannot differentiate between those nations, sectors and institutions that are more or in the UK's case, less corrupt. What this Directive attempts to do is give those organisations and sectors at risk of money laundering and terrorist finances the ability to make their own judgements as to what they deem as a high risk person (PEP) or transaction. Whilst ambassadors, chargés d'affaires and high-ranking officers in the Armed Forces are included in the Directive as PEP's, the financial institutions in particular will assess their individual risk. In some countries the military are involved and in some cases run the political and governing systems, this makes them a significant corruption risk. The UK, its ambassadors, chargés d'affaires and high-ranking officers carry a lesser risk than some others; it is therefore unlikely that the extended Directive will affect them. But the interpretation of the Directive is for the financial and certain non-financial sectors to interpret.
The MOD takes its responsibility to prevent, detect, deter and investigate fraud (including corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing) very seriously and has undertaken detailed risk assessments to identify its risks, where needed implementing additional preventative and detective controls and undertakes due diligence on its suppliers.
Transparency International publishes a Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index based on 77 indicators which assesses the existence, effectiveness and enforcement of a nation's ability to manage the risk of corruption including money laundering.
The UK MOD scored an 'A' (very low corruption risk) in the 2015 index, the only country to achieve this in the G20 and NATO as well as being one of only two in the world to achieve this.
Transparency International attributed the 'A' to the UK MOD having strong anti-corruption systems underpinned by effective independent oversight mechanisms.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he plans to take to ensure that no bank accounts of military personnel are closed as a result of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive while they are on active service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
There is no reason why the bank accounts of any military personnel would be closed as a result of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive, whether or not they were on active service, unless financial institutions suspected individuals of fraudulent activity.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department's agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.
Answered by Julian Brazier
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to his Question 31527 on 22 March 2016.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department's agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.
Answered by Julian Brazier
Under the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which will be transposed into national law by June 2017, a politically exposed person is one who has been entrusted with a prominent public function domestically or by a foreign country. This would include some senior civil servants, such as ambassadors and chargés d'affaires. The Government's view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the Directive enables the application of different degrees of enhanced measures to reflect the risks posed. The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation which will be published shortly.
The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. The Treasury regularly raises these issues with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has made with his EU and NATO counterparts on providing non-lethal military equipment to Ukraine.
Answered by Michael Fallon
The UK has provided a range of non-lethal equipment to Ukraine. I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made on 6 March 2015 (Official Report, column 83WS) and the statement made on 17 October 2014 (Official Report, column 55WS). I regularly discuss support to Ukraine with NATO and EU counterparts and expect to do so at the next NATO Defence Ministers meeting on 24-25 June. Officials continue to engage with the Ukraine Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces on further requirements including the provision of training and wider support.