Government Diamond Office

Mark Simmonds Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd July 2014 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mark Simmonds)]

Further to my statement to Parliament on 12 March 2014, Official Report, column 27WS, I wish to inform the House that today the Government Diamond Office has amended its charging structure, bringing it into line with the Government’s best practice on charging for services.

A public consultation on the review of the Government Diamond Office’s charging structure ran from 13 March to 27 March. The Government have given careful consideration to the responses received. We also considered the need to set our fees at a level which ensures that we have sufficient income to continue to provide this service, and the need to bring our charging structure in line with the Government’s best practice for charging for services.

The new single fee for the service of issuing a Kimberley process certificate will be £37 for the financial year 2014-15. This represents the full cost of providing this service. The previous charging structure was divided into bands based on the value of the rough diamond shipment.

The new fee comes into force today and will be reviewed annually. A copy of the results of the consultation and the updated statutory instrument will be placed in the House Library and on the gov.uk website.