Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue HMRC estimates has been lost due to tax evasion facilitated through overseas territories in the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. The tax gap statistics are published annually and are available at: Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Table 7.1 of the online tables shows the illustrative tax gap time series by behaviour, including evasion. The tax gap for evasion was £5.5 billion in tax year 2022 to 2023. The online tables are available at: Measuring tax gaps tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
HMRC does not separately estimate the tax gap due to tax evasion facilitated through overseas territories.
HMRC uses a wide range of civil powers to tackle evasion whilst it carries out criminal investigations for the most serious cases where it is appropriate to do so.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22789 on Fraud: Coronavirus, how many (a) civil and (b) criminal compliance actions has HMRC taken relating to tax offences suspected of having been committed by those seeking and fulfilling government contracts relating to the procurement and onward supply of Personal Protective Equipment and similar products during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC conducts thousands of civil and criminal compliance actions each year. A number of these relate to tax offences suspected of having been committed by those seeking and fulfilling government contracts relating to the procurement and onward supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and similar products during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Management Information systems are not currently able to extract data to quantify the total figure.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22789 on Fraud: Coronavirus, what the total number of staff is who work on recovering overpayments on business support schemes in each year since 2020-21.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The COVID-19 business support schemes that were administered by HMRC were the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO).
Information on the resources deployed on these schemes can be found in the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23, where HMRC expected to deploy over 2,500 staff by September 2023 through the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce.
HMRC are committed to working with COVID-19 Counter Fraud Commissioner.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22789 on Fraud: Coronavirus, how many (a) civil and (b) criminal compliance actions HMRC has taken on covid-related fraud since January 2020.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The COVID-19 business support schemes that were administered by HMRC were the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO).
HMRC remain committed to COVID-19 scheme compliance activity and will continue to prioritise and pursue the most serious cases of abuse.
As with HMRC’s approach to non-compliance in the tax system, HMRC address the majority of COVID-19 scheme error and fraud cases through cost-effective civil investigation procedures. Where appropriate, HMRC will conduct criminal investigations and seek criminal prosecutions if it is in the public interest, particularly where the behaviour is very serious or where a criminal prosecution will act as a strong deterrent.
HMRC are committed to working with the COVID-19 Counter Fraud commissioner.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs staff time and resource was dedicated to recovering funds from covid-19 (a) business relief and (b) procurement-related fraud in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC remain committed to COVID-19 scheme compliance activity and will continue to prioritise and pursue the most serious cases of abuse.
Part (a):
The main COVID-19 business support schemes that were administered by HMRC were the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO). We have interpreted your request for details relating to business relief to relate to these grant schemes.
From tax year 2020/21 to date, HMRC estimate that c.3,500 staff have been deployed to recover overpayments on the COVID-19 business support schemes administered by HMRC (where one staff member is the equivalent of one full time staff member for one year).
Part (b):
HMRC has no functions in relation to the procurement processes and contracts awarded in relation to key healthcare related equipment and supplies. As such, HMRC would not generally investigate whether fraud has been committed in relation to the actual procurement or execution of such contracts, except where there was an ongoing investigation undertaken by other Law Enforcement Agencies concerning offences relating to one or more of HMRC’s functions, such as tax offences.
HMRC’s only involvement in stand-alone fraud investigations that might arise from procurement would be if there were issues in relation to one or more of HMRC’s functions, such as tax offences.
HMRC conducts thousands of civil and criminal compliance actions each year. A number of these relate to tax offences suspected of having been committed by those seeking and fulfilling government contracts relating to the procurement and onward supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and similar products during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work is undertaken across various teams within HMRC’s Customer Compliance Group.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many electronic money institutions have (a) had their activities restricted and (b) been de-authorised following an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
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.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the number of (a) Suspicious Activity Reports and (b) Defence Against Money Laundering Suspicious Activity Reports from electronic payment providers.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
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.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the (a) potential risk of the use of e-payment platforms for money laundering and (b) likelihood that those platforms are used to launder criminal money originating from Russia.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
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.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to help support the enforcement of UK sanctions.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
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.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her planned timetable is for publishing its response to the consultations on (a) reform of the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervisory system, published on 30 June 2023, (b) Improving the effectiveness of the Money Laundering Regulations, published on 11 March 2024 and (c) Senior Managers & Certification Regime, published on 30 March 2023.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
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.