Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to publish the conclusions of the review into the special licenses granted to the law firm undertaking work on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin.

HM Treasury does not comment on specific licensing cases.

HM Treasury’s Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) takes operational decisions relating to the implementation of financial sanctions in line with the relevant regulations. However, OFSI has not considered it appropriate for the Treasury to effectively decide on whether a case has sufficient merit to be permitted to proceed by deciding whether to license legal fees. Rather, OFSI's position has been that the merits should be decided by the appropriate court. OFSI assesses cases on a costs-basis only, ensuring that the fees requested are reasonable in accordance with the derogations available under the sanctions regimes.

We need to carefully balance the right to legal representation - which is a fundamental one - with wider issues, including the aim and purpose of the sanctions. It is right therefore that HM Treasury are examining whether there are any changes that can be made to this policy. We will update the House in due course.