Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost was of the travel arrangements of the former Chancellor for his visit to Washington D.C. in October 2022.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
(a) The costs for the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng’s travel to Washington DC for IMF Annual Meetings was £8,533.56.
(b) The costs for the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng’s one special advisor travel to Washington DC was £4,459.56.
(c) The costs for the four civil servants that accompanied the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, to Washington DC was £17,746.58
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost was to the public purse of the travel for (a) the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, (b) his specialist advisors and (c) HM Treasury civil servants for the British Airways flight from Washington to Heathrow Airport which departed on Thursday 13 October.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
(a) The costs for the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng’s travel to Washington DC for IMF Annual Meetings was £8,533.56.
(b) The costs for the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng’s one special advisor travel to Washington DC was £4,459.56.
(c) The costs for the four civil servants that accompanied the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, to Washington DC was £17,746.58
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much public money has been spent on the building of inland border facilities as of 6 September 2022.
Answered by Richard Fuller - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Inland Border Facilities (IBFs) were introduced to help facilitate the flow of trade at the border following the UK leaving the EU, and to provide support to ports that were unable to provide the infrastructure required. HMRC ensure all build costs associated with IBFs represent value for money. HMRC monitor the performance at all IBF locations and continuously work to ensure a proactive, continuous improvement approach across the IBF network.
Since April 2020, when HMRC spend on building IBF’s commenced, to the end of August 2022, HMRC has spent around £100 million on the building of IBFs. This includes temporary sites such as Manston, Waterbrook, Birmingham, North Weald, Warrington, and Ebbsfleet that became operational from January 2021 in time for the UK leaving the EU. This also includes an enduring site at Holyhead, as well as early development costs at Dover before a decision was made to not to continue with the build.
Further investment is currently underway to complete the Holyhead IBF.
It is worth noting that the enduring site at Sevington was delivered by the Department for Transport, and so HMRC do not hold these costs.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many fines HMRC have issued for breaches of the UK arms export regime since May 2022; and how much each of those fines has been.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMRC has issued 1 compound settlement from 1 May 2022 to date for breaches of the UK arms export regime. The value of this settlement was £105,000.
Information on HMRC enforcement outcomes is published in the Strategic Export Controls Annual Reports available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/united-kingdom-strategic-export-controls-annual-report.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions his officials have had with financial institutions about signing up to the Contingent Reimbursement Model code.
Answered by John Glen
The Government recognises the actions of the financial services industry to help tackle APP fraud, including the creation of the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code. The Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) is a voluntary code which sets out reimbursement standards for signatory Payment Service Providers (PSPs).
With nine of the UK’s largest banks signatory to the Code, the CRM has had some beneficial impacts since its introduction in May 2019. However, while improving matters, the Code comes with limitations, including disparity in how different payment service providers are interpreting their obligations under it, as well as its lack of comprehensive cover across providers.
The Government therefore welcomed the PSR’s recent consultation on APP scams, which set out various potential measures that could improve scam prevention and outcomes, including proposals to introduce mandatory requirements to reimburse victims. The Government has confirmed it intends to legislate to address any barriers regarding regulatory action on mandatory reimbursement when parliamentary time allows, as part of the Financial Services & Markets Bill. Treasury Officials also undertake regular engagement with financial services firms, the Lending Standards Board (who oversee the CRM Code) and other stakeholders, to understand what further action can be taken to protect consumers from APP fraud.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of financial institutions in signing up to the contingent reimbursement model code to protect consumers from authorised push payment fraud.
Answered by John Glen
The Government recognises the actions of the financial services industry to help tackle APP fraud, including the creation of the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code. The Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM) is a voluntary code which sets out reimbursement standards for signatory Payment Service Providers (PSPs).
With nine of the UK’s largest banks signatory to the Code, the CRM has had some beneficial impacts since its introduction in May 2019. However, while improving matters, the Code comes with limitations, including disparity in how different payment service providers are interpreting their obligations under it, as well as its lack of comprehensive cover across providers.
The Government therefore welcomed the PSR’s recent consultation on APP scams, which set out various potential measures that could improve scam prevention and outcomes, including proposals to introduce mandatory requirements to reimburse victims. The Government has confirmed it intends to legislate to address any barriers regarding regulatory action on mandatory reimbursement when parliamentary time allows, as part of the Financial Services & Markets Bill. Treasury Officials also undertake regular engagement with financial services firms, the Lending Standards Board (who oversee the CRM Code) and other stakeholders, to understand what further action can be taken to protect consumers from APP fraud.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many fines HMRC has issued in 2022 for breaches of the UK arms export regime; and what was the value of each of those fines.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMRC has issued 6 compound settlements from January 2022 to date for breaches of the UK arms export regime. The value for each of those settlements are as follows: £1,000, £1,500, £3,200, £4,300, £60,000 and circa £2.7million.
Information on HMRC enforcement outcomes is published in the Strategic Export Controls Annual Reports which are available on the GOV.UK website.