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Written Question
Chinese Embassy: Protest
Tuesday 17th June 2025

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Metropolitan Police on (a) the space available for and (b) policing of protests at the site of the old Royal Mint, in the context of proposals to build a new Chinese Embassy on that site.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The management and safety of demonstrations is an operational matter for the police.

The Metropolitan Police Service have provided their assessment of the potential management of protests outside Royal Mint Court in their publicly available submission to the Planning Inquiry on 10 February 2025.


Written Question
Royal Mint: Demonstrations
Tuesday 6th May 2025

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Metropolitan Police on the cost of (a) overtime payments, (b) equipment, (c) special measures and (d) mutual aid from the policing of protests outside the Royal Mint court on (i) 8 February and (ii) 5 March 2025.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Secretary has regular meetings with all policing leaders, including the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), covering a range of matters.

The police are operationally independent from the government. This means that the Home Office is unable to direct the police to take any particular operational decision, including those around the management of protests. How the police resource such events, including the management of overtime and other logistical considerations, is a matter for the police to decide. However, the Government expects the police to enforce the law as is necessary to maintain public safety.


Written Question
Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission
Monday 3rd March 2025

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the finding in the Transnational Repression Origin Country Case Study by Freedom House that an increase in the presence of state employees from the People's Republic of China in a particular country brings an attendant increase in transnational repression; and whether this will be taken into account when considering the application of the People's Republic of China to redevelop Royal Mint Court.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

As set out in a joint letter by the Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary to the Planning Inspector on 14 January, the Home Office has considered the breadth of national security issues in relation to the planning application.

It would not be appropriate to comment in further detail on specific matters relating to national security.


Written Question
Chinese Embassy: Demonstrations
Monday 24th February 2025

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she had discussions with the Metropolitan Police on the cost of (a) overtime payments for officers, (b) additional resources, (c) equipment, (d) special measures and (e) mutual aid costs arising from the policing of the protest outside the Royal Mint court on 8 February 2025.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Public order policing is an operational matter for forces.

We are in frequent contact with the MPS on a range of issues and have just agreed a funding settlement that will provide the force with up to £3.8 billion in 2025-26, an increase of up to £249.7 million.

This includes the funding MPS receives through the National and International Capital City (NICC) Grant to support with the additional demands London faces as the nation’s capital and seat of Government, including additional protests. The NICC will be £248.7 million in 2025-26 an increase of £63.4 million.


Written Question
Petr Aven
Friday 20th December 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will use her discretionary powers to redirect a portion of the £783,827 recovered from Petr Aven to support survivors of the conflict in Ukraine.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The NCA secured a forfeiture of Petr Aven’s funds after breaches of sanctions regulations. The allocation of forfeited funds under POCA is governed by the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS), a discretionary funding model that allocates returned funds between central government and operational partners. In the spirit of the scheme, the Government encourages agencies to use ARIS funds to increase asset recovery and, where appropriate, fund local crime fighting priorities for the benefit of the community. Victims of crime can also apply for the release of seized funds to them.

In some circumstances, funds can be returned to a state at their request. The UK remains fully committed to working with allies to pursue all lawful routes through which Russian seized assets can be used to support the reconstruction of Ukraine.


Written Question
Money Laundering: Russia
Wednesday 18th December 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will use her discretionary powers to redirect a portion of the cash and cryptocurrency seized by the National Crime Agency in Operation Destabilise for the benefit of survivors of the war in Ukraine.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Operation Destabilise is an NCA-led operation, which has so far resulted in over £20 million in cash and cryptocurrency being seized. The allocation of recovered criminal funds under POCA is governed by the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS), a discretionary funding model that allocates returned funds between central government and operational partners.

In the spirit of the scheme, the Government encourages agencies to use ARIS funds to increase asset recovery and, where appropriate, fund local crime fighting priorities for the benefit of the community. Victims of crime can also apply for the release of seized funds to them.

In some circumstances, funds can be returned to a state at their request. The UK remains fully committed to working with allies to pursue all lawful routes through which Russian seized assets can be used to support Ukraine.


Written Question
Forced Labour: Supply Chains
Monday 9th September 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on the adequacy of section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act in preventing the use of forced labour products in net zero supply chains.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office works across government to tackle modern slavery in supply chains and holds regular discussions with other government departments on legislative and non-legislative measures to enhance our approach.

The Home Office is currently updating the Section 54 statutory guidance to support businesses with more practical guidance on how to tackle modern slavery in their supply chains. We are setting up the Forced Labour Forum, which will include representatives from government, civil society organisations, businesses and academics to ensure the guidance is fit for purpose and is applicable across sectors.

The Government is committed to improving our response to modern slavery and will set out next steps more broadly in due course.


Written Question
Forced Labour
Thursday 1st August 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department issues on whether products that have been made (a) entirely and (b) partially with forced labour should be sold in the UK.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not provide guidance on whether specific products have been made entirely or partially with forced labour.

The Government encourages businesses to monitor their supply chains with rigour, to uncover and remedy any instances of modern slavery they may find. Under Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, commercial businesses who operate in the UK and have a turnover of £36m or more must report annually on the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains by publishing an annual modern slavery statement. The purpose of these ‘transparency in supply chains’ provisions is to allow scrutiny by consumers, investors, and civil society.

Businesses must ensure their statement has been approved by the Board, signed by a director and is available on the homepage of their website. They must publish the statement within 6 months of their financial year end. The Home Office has published statutory guidance for businesses to support them in drafting these statements. This guidance also provides information and further resources to support businesses identify and mitigate modern slavery risks in their supply chains.

To further enhance transparency, the modern slavery statement registry was launched in March 2021 to bring modern slavery statements together on a single platform.


Written Question
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason the Government has not proscribed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; and what discussions he has had with his US counterpart on that issue.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat

While the UK Government keeps the list of proscribed organisations under review, we do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is or is not being considered for proscription.

The UK Government has long been clear about our concerns over the malign activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The UK maintains sanctions on over 400 Iranian individuals and entities covering human rights abuses and nuclear proliferation. The Government has also imposed sanctions on the IRGC in its entirety and on several senior security and political figures in Iran, including senior commanders within the IRGC and its Basij force.

The UK Government, working with the US, has engaged closely with European partners on Iranian transnational threats and we will continue to hold Iran and the IRGC to account. On 24 January 2024, we took coordinated action with the US and imposed sanctions on several members of the IRGC for their involvement in plots to assassinate individuals on UK soil.


Written Question
Iran: Sanctions
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department plans to take to tackle hostile activities by the Iranian regime in the UK, in the context of recent reports of (a) threats to British journalists and human rights defenders by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and (b) the use UK-based banks to procure funds in breach of UK sanctions.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat

We do not routinely comment on operational matters or specific threats. However, we take the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms and safety in the UK very seriously. We continually assess potential threats in the UK and use all tools at our disposal to protect the UK and our interests from any Iran-linked threats.

UK businesses – including banks – are expected to perform due diligence checks on all of their customers and clients to ensure compliance with all UK sanctions regulations.

The UK is committed to ensuring that our sanctions are robustly enforced, potential breaches are assessed, and appropriate action is taken where a breach is identified. Non-compliance with UK sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through disclosures, financial penalties, or criminal prosecution. Departments from across HMG – including FCDO, HMT, OFSI, HMRC, HO, and the NCA – are working together, and with UK companies, to ensure that sanctions are enforced.