United Front Work Department
Robin Swann Excerpts(1 week, 5 days ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
The urgent question asked about the extent of the United Front Works Department’s operations in the United Kingdom. What is the Minister’s assessment of that department’s work with, or within, the devolved Administrations?
Dan Jarvis
The hon. Member makes an important point. On the nature of the threat, I refer him to the annual threat lecture given by the director general of MI5 back in October. We work incredibly closely with all the devolved Administrations, and I hope at some point to visit the hon. Member’s part of the world.
Draft Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Search, Seizure and Detention of Property: Code of Practice) (Northern Ireland) Order 2024
Robin Swann Excerpts(2 weeks, 4 days ago)
General CommitteesRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger, and I thank you for inviting me to speak on this statutory instrument. We will support the proposals, because any measure that puts more pressure on organised crime, criminal organisations and, indeed, paramilitary and terrorist organisations is a welcome step forward.
I want to ask the Minister two questions about the order. Paragraph 6.3 of the explanatory memorandum says that the code will apply only to Northern Ireland, but I seek the Minister’s reassurance that although the code is specific to Northern Ireland it still comes under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 and that there will be similarities across all jurisdictions of the United Kingdom.
I join the shadow Minister in seeking reassurance that the Minister is working with his counterparts in the Republic of Ireland. What we have seen in Northern Ireland is how easy it is to move physical assets of crime across the border. I would not like to see cryptoassets being able to be easily transferred into the Republic of Ireland and hidden there in a safer form.
I also note that the explanatory memorandum states in paragraph 7.2 that
“one enforcement agency sought clarity on the definitions in a different code on property, cryptoassets and wallets and also suggested where additional guidance could be added on storage and searches.”
Can the Minister clarify whether that additional guidance has been provided to the agencies? It is vital that we get this right and tackle crime at its heart.
Oral Answers to Questions
Robin Swann Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
The Minister speaks of the young futures programme. Will she work with the Northern Ireland Executive to put in place the same programmes so that we can prevent young people in Northern Ireland from joining paramilitary organisations, which are nothing more than organised and violent crime organisations?
Dame Diana Johnson
I can certainly talk to Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office to discuss what we can learn from the proposed programme and the good practice we know exists already in many parts of the UK. We want to build on that so I am very happy to share that.