Draft Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Search, Seizure and Detention of Property: Code of Practice) (Northern Ireland) Order 2024

Dan Jarvis Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2024 General Committees

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Search, Seizure and Detention of Property: Code of Practice) (Northern Ireland) Order 2024.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger, and it is very good to see the shadow Minister in his place. I want to take this opportunity to thank him for the very constructive tone he adopted in the Martyn’s law debate last night. I am very pleased that we have been able to make progress with that important piece of legislation and I am very grateful to him and to the Opposition for the support they have offered throughout the passage of the Bill.

The debate this morning relates to the commencement of a statutory instrument similar to one debated in Committee on 13 November. I will therefore not go into great detail on the context but will briefly remind the Committee that the order relates to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. The Act contained a wide range of reforms to reduce economic crime and increase transparency over corporate entities conducting business in the UK, which included reforms to enable targeted information sharing to tackle money laundering and remove reporting burdens on business. Additionally, the Act introduced new intelligence-gathering powers for law enforcement and reformed outdated criminal corporate liability laws. It also introduced reforms to keep pace with the use of emerging technologies used to launder money and commit economic crime, including cryptoassets.

The Act introduced new search, seizure, and detention powers when cryptoassets are being used illegally or for terrorist purposes. The legislation aims to remove criminal gains and disrupt criminals who use cryptoassets for illicit purposes. On 26 April, the cryptoassets measures to which the debate relates came into force in Northern Ireland, as well as in England and Wales. As of the end of November, more than 100 cases in the UK have involved the exercise of the new powers, including cryptoassets seizures or confiscation cases involving cryptoassets. The cases account for £18 million.

The Committee will be relieved to hear that I do not intend to cover the content of the powers as they were debated extensively by both Houses during the passage of the Act. I will instead outline briefly the purpose of the order. The code of practice being brought into operation by the statutory instrument is the search, seizure and detention of property code for Northern Ireland. The code is made by the Home Secretary to guide the exercise of search and seizure powers operated by immigration enforcement and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in Northern Ireland.

It is the responsibility of the relevant Ministers in each jurisdiction in the UK to publish their own codes of practice. The Northern Ireland Assembly’s code of practice for officers’ operating powers in Northern Ireland came into force in July. This is the final code of practice to be debated under the cryptoassets measures in the Act.

The codes of practice clarify the circumstances in which the powers may be exercised to ensure that they are applied consistently and proportionately across law enforcement, in order to safeguard against improper use of the powers, which is vital given the broad range of law enforcement agencies that can exercise them. For instance, the code of practice in the order contains guidance on what constitutes reasonable grounds for suspicion when searching a premises and the prior authorisations required to exercise the powers. Those safeguards are necessary where more intrusive powers are used to investigate crime. To be clear, the code relates to guidance for officers using powers that are already introduced.

The draft order is required to complete commencement of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. That will ensure that all necessary legislation is in place and that law enforcement operates the powers proportionately and according to the aims of the legislation. I commend it to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dan Jarvis]

I thank the shadow Minister and the hon. Member for South Antrim for their constructive and helpful comments. I will seek to address the points that they made and if I am not able to do so this morning, I will write to them both as I did previously. Let me see what I can do.

First, on the helpful remarks made by the hon. Member for South Antrim, I think he was seeking assurance that that the code is specific to crime in Northern Ireland. That is the case—I can give him that assurance—but he also, entirely reasonably, was seeking wider reassurances on the engagement that the UK has had with colleagues in the Northern Ireland Assembly and in the Republic of Ireland. I can give him those assurances.

I am grateful to the shadow Minister for the constructive tone he struck. He asked an entirely reasonable question about the recycling of funds. As he was kind enough to accept that I would not be able to give him the precise figures at this particular moment, rather than giving him an inaccurate figure I will write to him, as I did previously, to make sure that he has the most up-to-date figures that the Department holds. I can also give him the same assurance that I gave the hon. Member for South Antrim about the UK Government’s engagement with colleagues in the Northern Ireland Assembly and contact with the Republic of Ireland, too.

The shadow Minister also made a good point about the cryptocurrency and sanctions against Russia. I was at the National Crime Agency yesterday with the Foreign Secretary and our newly appointed anti-corruption champion, Baroness Hodge. These matters are a real priority for the Government and we are working at pace across the Government to look at the resources we have to tackle the issues the shadow Minister has raised. The appointment of Baroness Hodge, who brings long-standing experience in this area, will complement the work we are doing.

Having visited just yesterday, I want to take the opportunity to pay tribute to the extraordinary work being done by the National Crime Agency on behalf of the UK Government. It recently completed a very successful operation known as Destabilise, which involved targeted interventions against Russia, about which there has been quite significant media reporting. I can give the shadow Minister an absolute assurance that we are looking incredibly carefully at what more we can doto take action against the use of cryptocurrency and to ensure that our sanctions regime is as effective as it possibly can be.

I thank the Committee for considering the statutory instrument. As I have set out, it is necessary to complete the commencement of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 and I commend it to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.