Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) work and (b) reviews his Department has requested from the (i) Ministry of Defence, (ii) Department of Health and Social Care, (iii) Department for International Development and (iv) Foreign Office on the adequacy of controls on senior staff using offshore bank accounts.

HM Treasury continues to monitor the value of funds held outside the Exchequer through regular disclosures made by government departments. These returns include funds held in offshore bank accounts.

Managing Public Money sets out that it is the responsibility of the organisation’s accounting officer, working with internal and external auditors, to ensure that the appropriate financial controls are in place and that the use of all banking services complies with relevant laws and regulations.

Information on the specific number of offshore bank accounts held by central Government, local government and Government-controlled companies is currently not available and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.