argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Education
Questions: Shrewsbury College has an outstanding reputation for providing high-quality apprenticeship programmes, yet it was unsuccessful in the latest non-levy apprenticeship tender process, which will put the college and students at a disadvantage. It caters for a huge geographical catchment area, and Ministers and officials need to think again about this.; I know the Minister shares my concern about the horrific sexual exploitation of young girls in Telford. Is he aware of any national inquiry that will specifically investigate all aspects of current and historical cases of child exploitation in Telford?; Will the Minister explain the Government’s approach to special educational needs funding in Hertfordshire and other areas? There is concern in many quarters that additional funding allocated to children with special needs is not being adequately ring-fenced at a local level.; I do not think the answer that the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation gave on the pensions dispute at universities was good enough. He cannot sit on the sidelines; he should be doing something to resolve the situation rather than going up and down the country giving lectures on behalf of the Conservative party.; Headteachers throughout Stoke-on-Trent have told all three of our city’s MPs that they have never quite felt the pinch like they feel it now. Class numbers are rising, support staff posts are being left vacant and the purchase of new equipment is being put on hold, yet if we listen to the Secretary of State we are led to believe that schools have never had it so good and that money is flowing in. Given that the two statements cannot be reconciled, will the Secretary of State say who he believes is inadvertently misleading Members?; A few weeks ago I had the privilege of meeting the father of Oliver King and founder of the Oliver King Foundation. His young lad, Oliver, died at school. His father’s ambition is to get a defibrillator in every school, because the work that the foundation has done identified that that would save the lives of many, many hundreds of people. Will the Government commit to supporting a defibrillator in every school?
Damian Patrick George Hinds (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said earlier, real-terms per-pupil funding in the core schools budget is being maintained across the system, but two things are overlaid on that. First, there is the application of the national funding formula to correct historical imbalances; and secondly, of course, local authorities play a part in reflecting local circumstances. I do acknowledge that with the cost pressures that there have been, things have been tight in school budgets. I will be happy to meet the hon. Gentleman and his constituents.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the shadow Chancellor for giving the Government the opportunity to come here today to say what they have been doing on dirty money and money laundering in the United Kingdom. It is a long list, Mr Speaker, so I ask you to have a bit of patience and I will try to be as quick as possible in reading it We have made it harder for crooks to launder money through property, jewellery and betting. We have reversed the burden of proof so that people we think have links to organised crime have to prove where their assets come from. If they cannot prove it, we will seize the asset and dispose of it, or keep it to distribute it to countries where it may have been stolen. We have, for the first time, through the Magnitsky amendment made it possible to confiscate assets from people guilty of gross human rights abuse. We will complete that with an amendment to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill currently going through Parliament. I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) and the right hon. Member for Barking (Dame Margaret Hodge), who actually led the campaign on the Magnitsky amendment, not Labour Front Benchers We have made it easier to seize criminals’ money from bank accounts. We have introduced new powers to be able to freeze terrorists’ assets, and we did so on the very day that the provision came into force. We have made it a criminal offence to fail to prevent tax evasion, both at home and overseas. We are currently exploring the potential of widening other areas where failure to prevent may apply in economic crime We have brought a number of prosecutions under the Bribery Act 2010 of those involved in bribery, and we have had the first conviction of a company for failing to prevent bribery. [Interruption.]
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): We introduced deferred prosecution agreements to ensure that we maximise incentives for companies to face up to fraud and corruption. We are setting up the National Economic Crime Centre within the National Crime Agency. We have brought together the many strands of economic crime under one Minister—namely myself. We have bolstered the Serious Fraud Office by ensuring access to blockbuster funding so as to ensure that big business and overseas oligarchs cannot use their wealth to obstruct justice. The previous Prime Minister, David Cameron, initiated an international anti-corruption summit. In response to the Panama papers, we established a joint financial analysis centre within the NCA. We have established one of the world’s first public registers of beneficial ownership of companies. We have helped to establish in all overseas territories and Crown dependencies a register of beneficial ownership, with mutual and, in some cases, live-time access to law enforcement. We have committed to establishing a public register of overseas owners of property in the United Kingdom This Government have taken real steps to tackle criminal finance in this country. Whoever the crooks are, wherever they are from, and no matter what their nationality, we will pursue them and their cash.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): This is interesting, because we have done a lot of work on criminal finance. I have stood at this Dispatch Box on numerous occasions, and the Government have taken many pieces of legislation through the House. The Treasury has also stepped up to the plate. Indeed, it has its own levy: where a property is bought by an overseas company or a UK company, it attracts an extra high level of stamp duty of 15%, which of course matches the levy that the right hon. Gentleman is talking about We have committed to a public register of overseas ownership of property, and we will introduce the Bill in 2018. We have to make sure that this is right. [Interruption.] The Opposition shout, but the reality is that we are taking many steps to deal with criminal finance, and there are only so many months in the year. We should not forget that, as we saw over the weekend, this is really a distraction by the Labour party from its woeful response last week to our national security This is an attempt by the shadow Chancellor to say, "Nothing to see here. Look over there—it’s all about oligarchs." Before coming to the Chamber, I looked up in Hansard when the shadow Chancellor last mentioned oligarchs. The last time he mentioned them was in 2016, in a debate on the schools White Paper, in which he talked about the tax rate for cleaners. He should raise that with Hansard if he would like to The reality is that this Government and the coalition Government have been absolutely determined to deal with the threat posed by dirty money going through the City of London and being harboured here in a number of properties. The best example of how we have done the work in this House and how this is all last-minute Labour is that one of the complaints they made over the weekend was that unexplained wealth orders were not used by this Government. An unexplained wealth order was used in under two weeks of coming into force on 31 January. It was served against an overseas oligarch, on £22 million of property. That was action within a fortnight, contrary to the Labour party’s idea that no unexplained wealth orders have been issued. The other measure introduced by that Bill was used before midnight on the first day. I suggest that Labour does its homework, tries to put right its disaster of last week and stops trying to distract from the reality about the Russian threat.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend asks a pertinent question. It is well over £1 billion—it is about £1.6 billion, I think, and it has increased in the last few years. We have been determined, through the use of confiscation orders and the provisions we used to improve the Act through the Criminal Finances Act 2017, to start increasing the seizure and freezing of assets, to make sure that criminals lose their ill-gotten money.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is doing exactly what Scottish National party Members did during the passage of the Criminal Finance Act, which was to work with us and make some sound suggestions about how to tackle criminal finance. We listened to them—for example, we lowered the thresholds of unexplained wealth orders to fit with some of the concerns in Scotland. I have taken up the issue of Scottish limited partnerships—the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is driving forward that work—because, like the hon. Gentleman, I realise that it has to be tackled When it comes to a Magnitsky Act, I give the hon. Gentleman the absolute assurance that we will deal with anyone convicted of gross human rights abuses, whether through sanctions, seizing their assets if they are obtained criminally or controlling their movements through visa bans and any other measures. The intention of this Government is to make life incredibly hard for people who have committed human rights abuses and to prevent them and their families from enjoying the benefits they currently enjoy should they come to Europe to spend the money.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a very sound suggestion about a public list. As hon. Members will know, the Government are consulting within the various Departments on how to make sure that the amendment we put forward actually makes a difference. That is why we opposed the Labour proposal in Committee: it was not because we disagreed with having a Magnitsky amendment, but because we wanted to make sure we had one that worked. [Interruption.] Labour Front Benchers are saying, "Point of principle". Would they rather we accepted a flawed amendment that did not do the job, or would they like this Government to deliver action, as we have done with unexplained wealth orders, by getting the law right in the end?
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Julian Carlton Knight (Conservative, Centre-right): Will the Minister confirm that the UK was the first country in the G20 to introduce a register of company beneficial ownership, and that we rank as one of the most efficient countries in terms of tax collection in many international league tables?
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes. The tax gap is the lowest it has ever been, and much lower than it was under Labour. We have recovered a record amount of tax that should have been gathered—£160 billion over the past few years—and that has been a major contribution to the coffers. On the register of beneficial ownership, this country has led the way. David Cameron set out his ambition for the Government, and it is still the ambition of this Government. We have led the way, and now Montserrat, one of the overseas territories, also has a public register of beneficial ownership. The key is that the territories all have a register, and it is our ambition for them to be public, but in the meantime our leadership is starting to make a difference around the world.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will know that there are numerous registers for people’s money. CIFAS and a range of other organisations record people who have been involved in fraud and other criminal actions. There are also the Government registers, such as the police national computer. We will continue with diligence based on applications for visas. [Interruption.] Members need to come to the House and say, "This person was allowed in based on their £2 million and we have prima facie evidence that they should not have been." We will base it on evidence. Where we find evidence that someone got the money through the wrong means, they will not be allowed a visa to come into this country.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): Will my right hon. Friend update the House on how the swift application of unexplained wealth orders under this Government is making a significant difference in tackling money laundering and terrorist finance, thereby demonstrating how seriously the Government take the issue?
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): When an unexplained wealth order is made, the National Crime Agency or the Serious Fraud Office, for example, goes to the court to apply for it. A judge can give a period of time for the person to respond to the charge that the law enforcement agencies have made. If they cannot, we move to seizure. Usually, at the same time as an unexplained wealth order is applied for, we also apply for a freezing order to make sure that the person does not move the money or the property when the order is made. We believe that it is a very important tool and there are many more in the pipeline. We used it within 14 days of it coming into law on 31 January.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman makes some important points. The first is about the development of new technologies, such as platforms and cryptocurrencies, which all present a challenge for law enforcement agencies around the world. The Governor of the Bank of England recently commented on that, and it is something that we will all have to think through. There is no easy answer on some of them On the issue of regulation and supervision, we are obviously working closely with the Financial Conduct Authority and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs—the tax authorities—to make sure that we spot when people move money without paying tax. It is also important to gather evidence from that movement. Of course, this country is bound by a number of directives on money laundering that we follow. We are currently subject to the Financial Action Task Force inspections on how we deal with money laundering. That leads to an independent international report that judges and ranks us. All hon. Members are welcome to comment on that and we will be held to account.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Timothy Paul Loughton (Conservative, Centre-right): When the Home Affairs Committee looked at this issue in 2016, witnesses pointed to a lot of hot Russian money in the London property market, yet out of 1.2 million property transactions in that year, only 355 suspicious activity reports were raised. There were problems with the fragmented regulatory landscape. Will my right hon. Friend tell us what progress has been made by the NCA-led joint money laundering intelligence taskforce in coming up with a more joined-up approach to this issue?
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend asks a very good question. In fact, one of the first things I did when I became the Minister for Security and Economic Crime was to use the Home Affairs Committee report to hold the Department to account and ensure that we put right some of the things that clearly had not happened in the area of asset recovery. On SARs reform, it is worrying that SARs predominantly come from the banks—about 83% of them—and only the rest come from the facilitators. I have been determined, as has the director general of the NCA, to start focusing on the facilitators. It is the lawyers, accountants and people who sell things like boxes at football stadiums and Bentleys around the world who need to do more to report suspicious activity. When they do, we will stop it.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman knows that I will not come to the House and publish the names of individuals who may or may not be the subject of an investigation or of operations against them because it could threaten our ability to have an effect on them. Needless to say, we are determined to ensure that we use intelligence-led policing to find money and deal with those individuals, whether they are from here or abroad.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes. As I said at the beginning, one of the challenges of taking on people with deep pockets or large corporations is that they have no qualms about setting off to the Supreme Court or the High Court to challenge us. We are keen to ensure that we support the NCA with unexplained wealth orders, because some of the people to whom they serve them have a brass neck and are happy to challenge us. That is why we put in blockbuster funding for the SFO, which means that when there is a case of significant scale, it can access funding directly from the Treasury to ensure that money is not a barrier to taking on some of those very bad people.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a matter for the NCA—[Hon. Members: "Zero!"] No, no. The NCA has appeared before many parliamentary Committees and been asked those questions. They are a matter for operational partners. It is not for Ministers to come to the House to talk about potential ongoing operations, which could expose our police officers or our methods to the risk of people getting away with it.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Government Operations
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): It is interesting that no Opposition Member mentioned the fact that, only in the last few weeks, the UK went from 10th to eighth on Transparency International’s register of least corrupt places in the world. That speaks volumes.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: International Affairs
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): I said earlier that the difference between us and Russia is that Ministers here do not sit around directing who to pick on and who not to pick on. Our operational partners are independent of Government. That is the difference. We will ensure that any case is evidence led and that we follow the rule of law. That is how we make a difference and send a message internationally.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): The best example I can give is that, after the Panama papers were published, we set up the joint financial analysis centre with the NCA and HMRC to ensure that we went through them and worked internationally to deal with some of those involved, collect some tax and potentially prosecute people. That happened through joint working at home, bringing together our partners, and internationally.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): I met Mr Browder and he presented me with his portfolio of evidence. I have raised it a number of times with the NCA, the Serious Fraud Office and the police. I would be delighted to meet the right hon. Gentleman to discuss this specific issue directly. It is up to the operational partners to make a decision. [Interruption.] He may say it is about evidence, but we have make sure that it is evidence up to a level that can produce prosecution in court. I am happy to explore that further with him. My door is open.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): If there are criminal assets, we now have the powers to do that. We will bring forward any cases where we have collected the evidence and prepared a case. As I said, the Criminal Finances Act became law on 31 January, so we now have those powers. On sanctions, the sanctions Bill is currently transiting the House. We will bring forward our amendment in due course on Report. I hope we will work across the House to ensure the amendment is acceptable.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not think I have to tell the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee about standing at the Dispatch Box and commenting on an individual case. She will know that, through our intelligence agencies, the police and a variety of partner organisations, we have the ability to find out information about people and gather evidence, if it is there, to make sure we make a case either to serve some of the new measures I have mentioned in the Criminal Finances Act or take action under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and other measures that have been around for some time. We will not hesitate to do that if we feel that it is the right thing to do. It does not matter who that person is—whether they are a politically exposed person, or whether they are linked to friendly countries or adversaries—we will take action to take that money. I do not want that reputation for London and I know the right hon. Lady does not.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): Through the NCA, the Government have invested in a network of overseas officers working around the world to make sure they have the best liaison and best access to other investigators, such as the FBI. I recently visited officers in Singapore whose job on a day-to-day basis is to put together international cases, either for this country or for their host country, to make sure we go after these people no matter where they are all around the world.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Government Operations
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will know that the Electoral Commission is the arbiter of policing political funding. I know what he is trying to get at. We are confident that all our donations are in accordance with the law, as set out for UK citizens. I would rather be taking money under that premise than from Max Mosley.
Money Laundering — House of Commons, 2018-03-19
Topic: Law and Crime
Robert Ben Lobban Wallace (Conservative, Centre-right): It is very important that we tackle transnational criminals using a much more co-ordinated Government response. The Prime Minister has brought together many strands of economic crime and put them under one Department and one Minister, so that we can co-ordinate them better. It is incredibly important that we recognise that we have to use the rule of law. It has to be evidence-based, so that we can take action and remind those countries that this is about an international world order and the international rule of law and so that we can show that this country is a beacon around the world, not some client state that targets people willy-nilly.