Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much the late filing penalties from companies failing to file their annual accounts within the deadline were in each financial year between 2018-19 and 2023-24.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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:
2018-19 | £95,972,000 |
2019-20 | £95,728,000 |
2020-21 | £96,695,000 |
2021-22 | £173,673,825 |
2022-23 | £164,663,042 |
2023-24 | £158,479,669 |
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.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure the financial stability of the British Council.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what headcount cap has she set for the National Crime Agency for financial year (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary has not set headcount caps for the National Crime Agency.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the meeting between the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Indo-Pacific and Hong Kong’s Convenor of the Executive Council on the human rights situation in Hong Kong.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what progress she has made on plans to create a whistleblowing incentive program within the Serious Fraud Office.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
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.
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 - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
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 - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
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 Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2024 to Question 8363, what minimum requirements his Department set out as being an expectation in any legitimate interest access regime for public registers of beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will expand the list of prescribed people for whistleblowing to include (a) job applicants, (b) trustees, (c) independent contractors and (d) trade union representatives.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what his planned timetable is for the review of the whistleblowing framework.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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.