Lloyd Hatton

We are committed to restoring public confidence in government and ensuring that all those in public service are held to the highest standards.

We will consider carefully the National Audit Office’s recommendations in its recent report ‘Managing Conflicts of Interest’.

The Prime Minister intends to issue and publish an updated version of the Ministerial Code shortly, in which he will set out his expectations for the conduct of all who serve in Government as Ministers.

I refer to the answer to UIN 5293.

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

The Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy. As part of this we will consider the role of Energy from Waste, including waste incineration, in the context of circularity, economic growth, and reaching net zero.

Defra’s analysis of municipal residual waste treatment infrastructure capacity, including exports, which we hope to publish shortly, sets out incineration capacity and municipal residual waste arisings in England, taking into account the implementation of the packaging reforms up to 2035. The analysis will also give consideration to the levels of residual waste in 2042, in context of the statutory residual waste target to effectively halve residual wastes. This analysis will support decision making relating to planning for new residual waste treatment infrastructure.

Regarding competing uses for the feedstock, the analysis considers all forms of treatment for municipal residual waste, including energy recovery, landfill and exports.

The UK is committed to assisting investigative, prosecuting and judicial authorities in combating international crime. We have robust illicit finance legislation and instruments which can be used to support asset recovery requests. Requests require significant domestic political support, as well as cooperation from law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. We are in discussions with the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre hosted by the UK's National Crime Agency and the International Centre for Asset Recovery on how to support the Interim Government of Bangladesh. In October, the UK National Crime Agency visited Dhaka as part of the UK's effort to support Bangladesh in this area, as well as wider engagement on law enforcement issues. We will continue to support these recoveries to the extent that we can.

Overseas Territories' (OTs) commitments to delivering publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership were outlined in a Written Ministerial Statement of 18 December 2023. This month, as Minister for the OTs, I wrote to OT Governments to set out UK transparency expectations. I noted that full public accessibility remains our expectation. Access filtered to those with 'legitimate interest' should be delivered to a clear timetable, as an interim step. I also outlined a set of minimum requirements that the UK Government would expect to see in any 'legitimate interest' regime. At the UK-OT Illicit Finance Dialogue earlier this month, officials discussed OTs' progress towards their commitments and technical assistance to support implementation. I expect to continue discussions, including on ambitious deadlines for implementation, at the Joint Ministerial Council in November.

Since Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu's arrest in July 2023, the UK has consistently advocated for appropriate medical access and the right to a fair legal process, including ahead of COP29. The UK has also called on the Azerbaijani Government to protect the human rights and freedoms of all of its citizens, and we will continue to work to ensure Dr Ibadoghlu's rights are upheld.

The UK is committed to assisting investigative, prosecuting and judicial authorities in combating international crime. The UK has robust illicit finance legislation and instruments which can be used to support asset recovery requests. Requests require significant domestic political, as well as cooperation from law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. We stand ready to support in these recoveries to the extent that we can. We are in discussions with the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre hosted by the UK's National Crime Agency and the International Centre for Asset Recovery on how to support the Interim Government of Bangladesh.

This government will drive a powerful agenda to tackle corruption and kleptocracy both at home and internationally. Working in partnership with international financial centres to tackle illicit finance is a priority. The FCDO is working across HMG to explore a range of options to deliver on this agenda and is actively considering different ways to increase the leadership of the UK in this area.

Ensuring all individuals have access to the appropriate financial services and products they need is a key priority for Government and is vital to supporting people’s financial resilience and wellbeing. It is also an essential part of achieving inclusive growth and ensuring individuals are able to fully participate in the economy.

I will be providing an update on Government’s financial inclusion agenda in due course.

Professional enablers are a critical facilitator of serious and organised crime, particularly in helping criminals and corrupt elites move and hide their illicit funds across the world, including in the UK.

The National Economic Crime Centre launched a cross-system strategy to tackle the serious and organised crime threat posed by professional enablers earlier this year. This sets out a series of actions for the public and private sectors to strengthen the UK’s response to professional enablers and includes commitments to enhance collective understanding, improve public-private data sharing, make better use of powers and intervention tools, and develop joint disruption strategies to tackle the threat.

Criminal justice interventions and regulatory interventions are essential to driving a response. Professional enabler cases are often longer and more protracted than other cases.

While we recognise the potential benefits of ring-fencing funding, we must ensure that our approach to funding remains sufficiently agile to tackle this increasingly complex threat. A critical component of this is the Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy, which provides sustainable, long-term funding to combat economic crime, helping law enforcement agencies pursue criminals and their enablers. This funding, paired with other targeted investment, enables the delivery of key outcomes to protect the UK’s national security whilst supporting economic growth.

In 2016 the UK, the three Crown Dependencies and six participating British Overseas Territories committed to share company beneficial ownership information on a bilateral basis between their participating law enforcement agencies.

A statutory review was undertaken in 2019 to review the effectiveness of the first operational 18 months of the Exchange of Notes arrangements, covering the period from 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2018. The review found that in this period, 296 requests were made. Nearly all of these were originated by UK law enforcement agencies and 118 asked for multiple pieces of information in a single request. This equates on average to nearly four requests per week. The full findings of the 2019 statutory review are available here: Statutory review of the implementation of the exchange of notes on beneficial ownership between the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The performance of the Exchange of Notes Arrangements remains subject to annual internal review, with the last 12 months from 2023-24 due for internal review in 2025. UK Law Enforcement Agencies have reported that the arrangements continue to add value by supporting complex investigations into the financial affairs of individuals believed to be involved in serious and organised crime.

I refer my Hon Friend to my answer to Question UIN 7510 on 15 October 2024.

Effective regulation and enforcement of political finance are crucial for maintaining public trust in our electoral systems. The Government has frequent discussions with the Electoral Commission on this. As set out in our manifesto, we are committed to strengthening our democracy and upholding the integrity of elections. As part of this, the Government intends to strengthen the rules around donations to political parties. My department will work closely with the Electoral Commission on developing proposals to give effect to this commitment.

The Ministry of Justice ran a Call for Evidence from 11 May to 7 September 2023 under the previous Government. It was the first system-wide public assessment on open justice and transparency in over ten years. The consultation received a wide volume of responses that are being carefully analysed and I am considering next steps. I would like to express my thanks to all stakeholders who contributed their views, which will inform future policy developments and priorities in this essential area.