Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how he plans to maximise investment in the UK by sovereign wealth funds in each of the next five years.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The government welcomes investment from investors all over the world, including Sovereign Wealth Funds.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has a strategy for (a) current and (b) future collaboration with sovereign wealth funds; and if he will publish that strategy.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The National Infrastructure Delivery Plan set out the government’s plan for attracting inward investment through infrastructure development.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are investigating matters relating to Malaysia’s state investment fund, 1MDB, and the role played by Goldman Sachs International Limited and its officers past and present.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Money laundering investigations are conducted by law enforcement agencies with access to the powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act, such as the National Crime Agency, the Serious Fraud Office, and the police. All of these law enforcement agencies are operationally independent of the Government.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will respond to the recommendations made in the Social Market Foundation's report on the potential benefits of creating a Sovereign Wealth Fund, published on 7 November 2016.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The recommendations made in the Social Market Foundation’s report published on 7 November 2016 were addressed during a Westminster Hall debate on Sovereign Wealth Funds in the House of Commons on 14 December 2016.
The government’s priority is to reduce the deficit and reduce the UK’s debt as a share of national income. Therefore, the government does not currently intend to give detailed consideration to a Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they are having with the directors of overseas sovereign wealth funds about increasing investment and employment across the Middle East and North Africa, both north and south of the Sahara.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are in regular contact with sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf in support of our mutual interests in economic development.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions have taken place between the Government and managers of global sovereign wealth funds since the vote for the UK to leave the EU; and if he will make available the agendas of those meetings.
Answered by Simon Kirby
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors to discuss a broad range of topics in the process of policy development and delivery.
Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
Asked by: Bob Stewart (Independent - Beckenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to introduce a sovereign wealth fund.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The government’s current priority is to reduce the deficit and start paying down national debt.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any enquiries have been launched into the involvement of UK financial institutions in the matter of the Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK has a robust but proportionate anti-money laundering regime. The UK’s first National Risk Assessment of money laundering was published on 15 October 2015. It identified the threats and vulnerabilities faced in this area, and an Action Plan will be published shortly, clearly setting out the steps that will be taken to address them.
The Prime Minister made clear in his Singapore speech on corruption last year that the Government is determined to make sure the UK does not become a safe haven for corrupt money. The Prime Minister's Anti-Corruption Summit in May will also consider what more the UK and our international partners can do to tackle flows of illicit finance at home and abroad.
Any investigation is an operational matter for the police and the prosecution authorities. The decision on whether to investigate a case, and then take forward a prosecution, will depend on the evidence available.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2015 to Question 4926, whether any of the meetings referred to in that Answer included meetings with representatives from (a) pension funds based outside the UK, (b) sovereign wealth funds and (c) private equity investors based outside the UK.
Answered by Claire Perry
I refer the Honourable Member to the previous Answer of 6 July 2015 to Question 4926.
Asked by: Iain Wright (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his statement on 25 June 2015, HCWS54 on the Green Investment Bank, whether existing staff and directors at the bank will be (a) gifted and (b) permitted to purchase shares in that Bank.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Our expectation is that interest in acquiring a stake in the Green Investment Bank will come from sophisticated, large scale institutional investors such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. Detailed matters like employee share schemes will need to be considered as part of the transaction and will depend in part on the views of investors.