Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether representatives of (a) India, (b) the Philippines, (c) Indonesia, (d) Nigeria, (e) Ghana and (f) South Africa were invited to the Global Fraud Summit held at Lancaster House from 11-12 March 2024.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Secretary convened the first ever Global Fraud Summit, featuring Ministers and representatives from across 11 countries as well as international institutions to agree a co-ordinated action plan to dismantle international fraud networks. With over 70% of the UK fraud threat having an overseas element, strengthening international collaboration is critical.
The countries included in the summit were those with a similar pattern of victimisation, aiming to develop joint working and share best practice. We are also working bilaterally with a number of countries, including some of the ones listed in the question and have already agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Government which includes a strategic dialogue on online fraud.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the press notice entitled UK hosts world leaders for first Global Fraud Summit, published on 11 March 2024, if he will publish the evidential basis on which the statement was made that £3 billion was lost to overseas accounts last year as a result of fraud.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The £3 billion figure is an estimate of the UK fraud losses that either originated abroad or had an international element.
This estimate combines data on the fraud losses that was publicly available over the period of Financial Year 22/23 on the Action Fraud dashboard (the latest Action Fraud data can be found here NFIB Dashboard (Public) (arcgis.com), with the estimate that over 70% of fraud originated abroad or has an international element, which was published in the Fraud Strategy Tackling fraud and rebuilding trust (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 137 of the Fraud Strategy, published on 3 May 2023, whether any country considered by his Department to be financially benefiting from fraud was in attendance at the Global Fraud Summit held at Lancaster House from 11-12 March 2024.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
We currently have no assessment of which countries are benefitting from fraud.
We are determined that through strong international collaboration, we will raise global standards and push forward a co-ordinated approach to tackle fraud.
This is why we hosted the first Global Fraud Summit and agreed an ambitious plan for tackling fraud across the world.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's Freedom of Information response of 29 January to the Rt Hon Member for Islington South and Finsbury of 29 January 2024 (reference number FOI2023/08394), how many freeports were recorded as having an amount of capital expenditure resulting from verified foreign direct investment of (a) £0, (b) £1 to £500,000, (c) £500,001 to £10,000,000, (d) £10,000,001 to £100,000,000, (e) £100,000,001 to £400,000,000, (f) £400,000,001 to £640,000,000 and (g) more than £640,000,000 between 1 December 2021 and 29 February 2024.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
There is an expectation that FDI performance of UK Freeports will be assessed in the upcoming annual report on the programme that DLUHC will be releasing in Summer. The data used in the FOI remain the most recent in the public domain.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's Freedom of Information response of 29 January 2024 to the Rt Hon Member for Islington South and Finsbury of 29 January (reference number FOI2023/08394), how many freeports were recorded as having a number of jobs created as a result of verified foreign direct investment of (a) zero, (b) 1 to 50, (c) 51 to 150, (d) 151 to 250, (e) 251 to 400, (f) 401 to 710 and (g) more than 710 between 1 December 2021 and 29 February 2024.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
There is an expectation that FDI performance of UK Freeports will be assessed in the upcoming annual report on the programme that DLUHC will be releasing in Summer. The data used in the FOI remain the most recent in the public domain.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February to Question 14510 on Sloane Helicopters: Contracts, whether he will be able to publish the figure requested in that question once the deadline for bids for the new Rotary Wing Command Support Air Transport Helicopter Service contract (procurement reference 412734/1312240) has passed on 15 March 2024.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Releasing the contract extension value before the Contract Award for the future Rotary Wing Command Support Air Transport Helicopter Service could prejudice my department and our industry partner's commercial interests in the competition. The value of both the future contract and the current extension will remain commercially sensitive until 30 days after the Contract Award. At that point the final Contract Award Notice will be made available on Contracts Finder as part of standard practice.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether any costs were incurred by the Government Legal Department in relation to the libel action pursued by Professor Kate Sang against the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, following her letter of 23 October 2023 to UK Research and Innovation on that organisation's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion board.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
In line with normal Government Legal Department charging arrangements, any costs in relation to this matter have been or will be borne by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to paragraphs 7.16 and 7.17 of the Ministerial Code, on how many occasions the Law Officers have been informed that ministers in other Government departments are the defendants in a libel action in (a) their personal capacity, (b) their official position and (c) both since 19 December 2019.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
I cannot answer your question as to do so would be in breach of the Law Officers’ Convention.
Paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code clearly states that the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many days in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, (d) 2022, (e) 2023, and (f) 2024 Border Force implemented a (i) red, (ii) amber and (iii) green rating for expected numbers of small boat crossings in the Channel.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Office has received regular assessments of the likelihood of Channel crossings from the Met Office since 1 September 2019.
The Home Office’s records show the following distribution of Red (Crossing attempts likely, or very likely), Amber (Realistic possibility of crossing attempts being made), and Green (Crossing attempts unlikely or very unlikely) ratings from 1 September 2019 to 6 March 2024:
Year | Red | Amber | Green | Total of days |
2019 | 15 | 19 | 88 | 122 |
2020 | 103 | 86 | 177 | 366 |
2021 | 103 | 52 | 210 | 365 |
2022 | 106 | 63 | 196 | 365 |
2023 | 102 | 56 | 207 | 365 |
2024 | 12 | 18 | 36 | 66 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to introduce the Phase 2 Means Test Review civil legal aid changes.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Since publication of the Legal Aid Means Test Review Consultation Response in May 2023, the Government has been developing detailed implementation plans for the new legal aid means assessment. The Government intends to provide an update on the timeline for implementation of these reforms shortly.