Phil Brickell

APPGs are already required to publish a list of all their members. The reporting requirements for APPGs are set out in the Guide to the APPG Rules. Paragraph 67(b) of the Guide to the Rules requires APPGs to publish on their website, or provide on request if they do not have a website, a list of its members (both parliamentary and external).

Changes to the APPG Rules are approved by the House on the recommendation of the Committee on Standards. The Committee on Standards, not the House of Commons Commission, is responsible for updating and issuing the Guide to the APPG Rules.

This Government is committed to cracking down on serious fraud and economic crime.

The Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has expressed support for the incentivisation of whistleblowers and the SFO Strategy 2024-29 committed to explore options for achieving this, working with partners in the UK and abroad.

The Government will continue to work with the SFO to understand what reforms could be made to help them deliver their mission as effectively as possible.

The UK is facing an ever-changing and growing set of risks. All risks in the National Risk Register, which is the public-facing version of the internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment, are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity.

The National Risk Register will be updated in the coming months.

Lead government departments are responsible for providing updates and use the latest evidence and analysis to ensure the government’s assessment of risks reflects the risk landscape.

The Government is committed to opportunities for openness and scrutiny, for example, the opportunity to discuss risk assessment at the Public Accounts Committee on Extreme Weather events in February 2024.

The government has committed to reviewing and updating the Business Appointment Rules. An update on this work will be provided in due course.

The Government committed in its manifesto to reform the process of appointments to the House of Lords to ensure the quality of new appointments and to seek to improve the national and regional balance of the second chamber and is actively considering how this can be achieved.

This Government has also already introduced the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill. This Bill delivers the Government’s manifesto commitment to bring about an immediate reform by removing the right of the remaining hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.

Official statistics on the value of collected late filing penalties are published in the annual report of Companies House. We have excerpted and reproduced the relevant figures for companies failing to file their annual accounts within the deadline below:

Expenditure for the LFP scheme activity is not funded through fees. Penalties collected in respect of company accounts filed late with Companies House are paid to HMT, net of costs incurred in running the scheme.

The whistleblowing framework enables workers to seek redress if they are dismissed or suffer detriment because they have made a ‘protected disclosure’. The standard employment law definition of worker has been extended to provide whistleblowing protections to NHS job applicants and other categories of worker such as trainees, agency workers and certain NHS workers. The government has no plans to extend the protections more generally but to qualify for protection, the worker must make their disclosure in accordance with the Employment Rights Act 1996, which can include making it to a ‘prescribed person’. DBT regularly updates the list of prescribed persons.

The Employment Rights Bill delivers on the government's commitment to strengthening protections for whistleblowers, by updating protections for women who report sexual harassment at work.

The Government is keen to work with organisations and individuals who have ideas on how to strengthen the whistleblowing framework and we will consider options to review the whistleblowing framework in due course.

This Government is committed to delivering the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers in October 2027, as agreed with the devolved Governments of the UK, and in accordance with the Joint Policy Statement published in April 2024.

We plan to lay the DRS regulations for England/Northern Ireland before Parliament in late 2024 and for them to come into force in early 2025 (assuming parliamentary time allows) and for the Deposit Management Organisation (DMO), who will run the scheme, to be appointed in April 2025 as planned.

Our countryside and green spaces are a source of great national pride, but too many across the country are left without access to the great outdoors. That is why the last Labour Government expanded public access by introducing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provided the public a right of access to large areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land and coastal margin in England. 2024 marks 75 years since the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, which secured public access and preserved natural beauty.

This Government will continue to increase access to nature for families to enjoy, boosting people’s mental and physical health and leaving a legacy for generations to come. We will create nine new National River Walks, plant three new National Forests and empower communities to create new parks and green spaces in their communities with a new Community Right to Buy. We will announce further details on our plans for improving access to nature in due course.

The Government does not believe the Scottish or Scandinavian models are the right approach in England. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 provides the public a right of access to areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land and coastal margin in England. We will be considering whether any changes are required to the current right to roam regime in due course.

The Environment Agency will publish the 2024 Event Duration Monitoring data, showing how long and how often storm overflows have been used, in March 2025. The data for previous years is available here.

I would also refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by the Secretary of State on 18 July: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.

Every day, millions of NHS staff go the extra mile to make a broken system work as well as it can for their patients.

As we develop our ten-year plan for the NHS - and the Long Term Workforce Plan that will support it – a critical concern will be ensuring we have the modern, positive, and supportive working environment needed to retain them, motivate them and enable them to provide the high quality care they want to give to patients.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people, and their loved ones, at the end of life.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by ICB area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth and range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.

We understand that, financially, times are difficult for many voluntary and charitable organisations, including hospices, due to the increased cost of living. We want a society where these costs are manageable for both voluntary organisations, like hospices, and the people whom they serve.

We, alongside NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.

The National Health Service in England has been surveying sites and undertaking Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) mitigation work since 2019. Once the presence of RAAC is confirmed at a hospital site, it joins NHS England’s national RAAC programme, which is backed by £954 million. This programme has delivered mitigation, safety, and eradication works across all NHS sites in England with confirmed RAAC, to keep facilities safe and open and, over time, remove RAAC fully from the NHS estate. The Department has published a full list of hospitals with confirmed RAAC, which will be updated periodically and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-in-hospitals-management-information

As of 29 February 2024, there were 54 NHS hospital sites with confirmed RAAC, and RAAC had been eradicated at four sites. Further eradication work has taken place since this date.

This information is not available in the format requested. The latest published National Health Service data, from June 2024, shows that 61.8% of patients were admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.

The Government is committed to supporting the NHS in reducing accident and emergency waiting times, and returning to the standards patients should expect as set out in the NHS Constitution.

This Government is committed to a successful British Council that is financially stable. Our funding to the British Council underlines our support. The FCDO will provide the British Council with £162.5 million Grant-in-Aid in 2024/25. Funding for 2025/26 will be announced in due course.

I met Regina Ip on 31 October. Human rights were raised as part of the discussion. The UK will continue to speak often and candidly with Hong Kong authorities across both areas of contention as well as areas for cooperation. Engagement with representatives of Hong Kong and China is pragmatic and necessary to support UK interests.

Tackling illicit finance in the UK, as well as in our Overseas Territories (OTs) and Crown Dependencies (CDs) is a priority for this Government. We consider publicly accessible registers of beneficial ownership (PARBOs) a vital tool for combatting financial secrecy. I have been clear to OT leaders that full PARBOs are our ultimate expectation. Where a legitimate interest access regime is implemented as an interim step, I have set out minimum requirements, and the UK's belief that any legitimate interest registers should be delivered with the maximum degree of access and transparency. I was delighted Montserrat joined Gibraltar in launching a full PARBO on 11 October. We are continuing to engage with OTs, and I will discuss this with leaders at the Joint Ministerial Council next week. I am looking forward to further progress on this by other OTs in the very near future.

Following publication of its first report in September, the UK co-led the renewal on 9 October 2024 of the Fact-Finding Mission's mandate for a further year. The UK will continue to use its position as penholder at the Security Council and the Human Rights Council to keep a spotlight on the human rights situation in Sudan. During the 120-day UN Security Council session on Sudan on 28 October, the UK called on the warring parties to urgently facilitate humanitarian access, and we have also called on Member States to refrain from external interference, including our explanation of vote following the adoption of resolution 2750 on 11 September to renew the UN Darfur arms embargo and sanctions regime. The UK welcomes the Secretary-General's recommendations on protection of civilians, which was requested in UK-led resolution 2736 as an important step for prioritising protection of civilians in the conflict. It concluded that conditions for the successful deployment of a Protection of Civilians force, as recommended in the FFM's report, do not currently exist.

This question is a matter for Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which is an independent, non-governmental body.

The FCA will respond to the Honourable Member by letter and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.

HM Treasury’s Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 place requirements onto electronic payment providers to establish policies, controls and procedures to mitigate the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing.

HM Treasury works closely with the National Crime Agency, who are responsible for collecting and interpreting Suspicious Activity Reports and other intelligence, and with the Financial Conduct Authority, who supervise authorised electronic payment providers, to monitor the threat. The government will be publishing an updated assessment of the risks in its upcoming update to the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing National Risk Assessment.

This government is committed to supporting safe innovation within our financial technology sectors. The UK’s 2020 National Risk Assessment for money laundering and terrorist financing judged that payment and e-money services were at medium risk of money laundering. Reflecting this risk, payment service providers and electric money institutions offering e-payment platforms in the UK are required to be authorised by the FCA, and supervised to ensure they meet the anti-money laundering requirements set out in the Money Laundering Regulations. The government is continuing to monitor this risk, and intends to publish an updated National Risk Assessment next year.

Responses to these consultations have been invaluable in building the evidence base on potential reforms. Policy development is ongoing, and next steps will be set out as soon as possible.

The Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) is responsible for civil enforcement of the UK’s financial sanctions regimes.

OFSI is committed to ensuring that the UK has the strongest possible capability to implement and enforce the UK’s financial sanctions. OFSI has scaled up its enforcement capabilities through legislative changes and expanded its team, allowing it to progress a higher number of complex investigations. For example, in the financial year 2022 – 2023 OFSI increased resource in its enforcement team by 175%.

OFSI expects to see the first monetary penalties resulting from breaches related to the 2022 Russia designations in 2024.

The Home Secretary has not set headcount caps for the National Crime Agency.

This government understands the devastating impact terrorism has on individuals and their families and is determined to make sure victims and survivors receive the support they deserve

Since October 2020, the government has funded support services to provide practical and emotional support to victims and survivors of attacks. The services include a 24/7 support line, mental health assessments and referrals and access to long-term peer support networks.

The Home Office has reviewed the support provisions and is considering options for future improvements.

Intelligence from Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) enable law enforcement to identify, disrupt, and recover hundreds of millions of pounds which underpin serious and organised crime in the UK and disrupt criminals. The SARs Reform Programme was established to make several improvements, which have been delivered. These are:

• UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) capacity uplift: An additional 74 officers for UKFIU (doubling capacity).
• UKFIU Feedback and Engagement: Provide higher quality feedback and increased engagement events to the Anti-Money Laundering regulated sector. In FY22/23, the UKFIU delivered c.575 products and events, and achieved positive satisfaction scores, with 95% (of over 800 respondents) finding the new products/events useful.
• Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCU) Uplift: The creation of a new national capability, uplifting 22 ROCU investigators, dedicated to SARs analysis.
• Defence Against Money Laundering (DAML) SARs Review: Legislative changes delivered through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (2023) have been implemented, designed to reduce the volume of low value (from a law enforcement effectiveness perspective) DAML SAR reports.
• IT Transformation: A new SARs Digital Service (SDS) is being implemented to replace the existing SARs IT system. The programme delivered the first release of the new Digital Service in March 2023, enabling the 14 largest SARs Reporters (primarily banking) to submit SARs in bulk through a new interface, and the delivery of the new SARs Online Portal for the remaining reporting community to enable them to submit SARs (which 10,000 organisations have registered for). The National Crime Agency is continuing to develop and rollout the SARs Digital Service to the UKFIU and law enforcement over FY24/25 and FY25/26.

Decisions relating to the police estate, including the availability of public enquiry counters, are decisions for Chief Constables and democratically elected Police and Crime Commissioners, as they are best placed to make decisions about frontline policing and how resources are best deployed at a local level.

I will write to the Hon Gentlemen with details of how he can make representations to the local police authorities about the facilities of Horwich police station.

Effective regulation and enforcement of political finance are crucial for maintaining public trust in our electoral systems and combatting the threat of foreign interference in our democracy. Which is why, as set out in our manifesto, the Government is 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 to protect our democracy. My department is developing proposals to give effect to this commitment, and we will continue to work closely with the Defending Democracy Taskforce, of which MHCLG is a member, and the national security community on this.

We value the contribution that the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme can make in enabling young people in custody to develop essential skills and discover new talents. In this way, they can learn to take responsibility for themselves and others. Those who gain the award will be able to point to a widely-respected achievement that can help them fulfil their potential after release. The scheme is currently available in HMYOI Wetherby, HMYOI Feltham A, HMYOI Parc and HMYOI Werrington, and management information shows that 36 young people from those establishments are currently enrolled on the scheme. Five children in one of our secure children’s homes are also taking part, and a number of other secure children’s homes, as well as Oakhill Secure Training Centre, are in the process of joining the scheme. The new Secure School in Kent also plans to offer the award, as part of a varied enrichment and education offer.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of convictions for criminal offences, however, offences specifically relating to ‘failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion’ are not separately identifiable from information held centrally. This information may be held on court records, but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.