Written questions by Brickell.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of the legal right to a care supporter in a health and social care setting.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) Fundamental Standard on Visiting and Accompanying (Regulation 9A) came into force on 6 April 2024 to strengthen requirements for CQC registered care homes, hospitals, and hospices to facilitate visiting, unless there are exceptional circumstances which mean that it is not safe to do so. This can be a visit from a family member, a friend, or a person visiting to provide companionship or support, for example, a care supporter.We will conduct a review of Regulation 9A from April 2025, 12 months on from the legislation coming into force, to assess whether the legislation has been effective in addressing concerns about visiting in health and care settings. Depending on the outcome of the review, we will consider whether further action is needed.

How much revenue HMRC estimates has been lost due to tax evasion facilitated through overseas territories in the last five years.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. The tax gap statistics are published annually and are available at: Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Table 7.1 of the online tables shows the illustrative tax gap time series by behaviour, including evasion. The tax gap for evasion was £5.5 billion in tax year 2022 to 2023. The online tables are available at: Measuring tax gaps tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). HMRC does not separately estimate the tax gap due to tax evasion facilitated through overseas territories. HMRC uses a wide range of civil powers to tackle evasion whilst it carries out criminal investigations for the most serious cases where it is appropriate to do so.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Cypriot counterpart on the use of Cyprus-based financial structures by UK (a) businesses and (b) individuals to evade VAT.

The Foreign Secretary has not had discussions with Cypriot counterparts on the use of Cyprus-based financial structures by UK businesses or individuals for tax evasion. The UK and Cypriot governments committed to share expertise and invest in capacity building to tackle illicit finance at the UK-Cyprus strategic dialogue in December 2024.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22789 on Fraud: Coronavirus, how many (a) civil and (b) criminal compliance actions HMRC has taken on covid-related fraud since January 2020.

The COVID-19 business support schemes that were administered by HMRC were the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO).HMRC remain committed to COVID-19 scheme compliance activity and will continue to prioritise and pursue the most serious cases of abuse.As with HMRC’s approach to non-compliance in the tax system, HMRC address the majority of COVID-19 scheme error and fraud cases through cost-effective civil investigation procedures. Where appropriate, HMRC will conduct criminal investigations and seek criminal prosecutions if it is in the public interest, particularly where the behaviour is very serious or where a criminal prosecution will act as a strong deterrent.HMRC are committed to working with the COVID-19 Counter Fraud commissioner.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22789 on Fraud: Coronavirus, what the total number of staff is who work on recovering overpayments on business support schemes in each year since 2020-21.

The COVID-19 business support schemes that were administered by HMRC were the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO). Information on the resources deployed on these schemes can be found in the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23, where HMRC expected to deploy over 2,500 staff by September 2023 through the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce. HMRC are committed to working with COVID-19 Counter Fraud Commissioner.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22789 on Fraud: Coronavirus, how many (a) civil and (b) criminal compliance actions has HMRC taken relating to tax offences suspected of having been committed by those seeking and fulfilling government contracts relating to the procurement and onward supply of Personal Protective Equipment and similar products during the Covid-19 pandemic.

HMRC conducts thousands of civil and criminal compliance actions each year. A number of these relate to tax offences suspected of having been committed by those seeking and fulfilling government contracts relating to the procurement and onward supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and similar products during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Management Information systems are not currently able to extract data to quantify the total figure.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of (a) the adequacy of the Cayman Islands’ new Regulations: Beneficial Ownership Transparency (legitimate interest access) regulations 2024, (b) whether those regulations meet the expectations laid out during the Joint Ministerial Council to provide the maximum possible degree of access and transparency, (c) whether Bermuda’s regulations are aligned with international standards set out in the EU’s 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive and (d) whether (i) case-by-case applications and (ii) the introduction of fees between $30 and $100 will hinder journalists and NGOs from accessing beneficial ownership information to combat money laundering and its predicate offences.

At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November, I confirmed the UK Government's expectation that Overseas Territories implement fully public registers of beneficial ownership. Fully public registers have already been introduced in Montserrat and Gibraltar, and commitments were made by the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena to introduce these by April 2025. Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands committed to implement registers of beneficial ownership accessible to those with legitimate interest, which offer the maximum possible degree of access and transparency whilst containing the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy in line with respective constitutions, at the latest by June 2025.The Bermudian consultation closed in January, but regulations have not yet been published. The Cayman regulations are a welcome step in the right direction. My officials are working directly with Cayman officials to ensure the regulations meet the JMC requirement of maximum possible degree of access and transparency and are in line with emerging international standards in the EU's 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.A key focus of those discussions is to ensure that the conditions of access do not unduly deter effective proactive investigations and analysis.

What steps she is taking to ensure Crown Dependencies introduce public registers of beneficial ownership.

Tackling illicit finance in the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, as well as the UK, is a priority for the UK Government. Publicly accessible beneficial ownership registers are a critical tool for tackling illicit finance. Access to accurate information on who ultimately controls a company is also vital for the enforcement of sanctions and for combating kleptocracy, tax evasion and corruption.The Crown Dependencies are separate, self-governing jurisdictions responsible for their own domestic affairs, including financial services regulation. The Home Office continues to work closely with the Crown Dependencies on this agenda and welcomes their commitments for greater corporate transparency. The Crown Dependencies have committed to increase the transparency of their beneficial ownership registers and are working towards implementing access to those with legitimate interest, including media and civil society. I have written to the Crown Dependencies requesting that legitimate interest access should be delivered to a clear and reasonable timetable, with the maximum degree of access and transparency.The UK Government is committed to tackling illicit finance and expects implementing legitimate interest access is an interim step to publicly accessible beneficial ownership registers and I look forward to meeting with the Crown Dependencies to discuss this agenda.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has set out expected levels of transparency in line with international standards in the EU’s 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive for legitimate interest registers of beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories.

At the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) in November, I confirmed the UK Government's expectation that Overseas Territories implement fully public registers of beneficial ownership. Fully public registers have already been introduced in Montserrat and Gibraltar, and commitments were made by the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena to introduce these by April 2025. Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands committed to implement registers of beneficial ownership accessible to those with legitimate interest, which offer the maximum possible degree of access and transparency whilst containing the necessary safeguards to protect the right to privacy in line with respective constitutions, at the latest by June 2025.The Bermudian consultation closed in January, but regulations have not yet been published. The Cayman regulations are a welcome step in the right direction. My officials are working directly with Cayman officials to ensure the regulations meet the JMC requirement of maximum possible degree of access and transparency and are in line with emerging international standards in the EU's 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.A key focus of those discussions is to ensure that the conditions of access do not unduly deter effective proactive investigations and analysis.

How many people have (a) been committed to prison and (b) been given suspended committal orders for non-payment of council tax in each year since 2019.

Non-payment of council tax is not a criminal offence and cannot attract a custodial sentence. However, under the committal to prison process, a court order can provide for someone to be jailed for failing to pay a debt.Committal to prison can only ever be the last resort for non-payment of council tax. Before a magistrates’ court commits someone to prison for failure to pay their council tax, it must have issued a “liability order” and the local authority must have (at least) tried and failed to take control of the debtor’s goods and sell them to recover the debt. Councils have additional powers of enforcement under a liability order, including deduction from earnings, deduction from benefit, charging orders on the property, and bankruptcy. If a council applies for committal to prison, the court must inquire into the debtor’s means, and the council must satisfy the court that there is no other effective method of collection and that failure to pay is due to wilful refusal or culpable neglect. This is to prevent persons who are genuinely unable to pay their council tax from being committed to prison. Where that is the case courts have the power to remit the debt.Individuals in cases where there has been a committal to prison will not necessarily go to prison where payment is made. No individual has been admitted to prison for non-payment of council tax between 2019 and 2023. This can be viewed in Table 2.A.16: at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/662909f33b0122a378a7e602/Prison-receptions-2023.ods. Data on the number of committals to prison and suspended committals to prison for council tax non-payment since 2019 can be found in the table below: National20192020202120222023Jan - Sept 2024 *Number cases of Committals to Prison for non-payment of council tax1111020Number Cases of Suspended Committal Orders for non-payment of council tax 3956615241913 Source: HMCTS management information Libra MISThe count is based upon a case completion date falling between the reporting period 1st January 2019 and the 30th September 2024 where the offence codes CT92501 "Complaint for council tax liability order"; CT92502 "Complaints for Council Tax Liability Order (Multiple Cases)"; CT92511 "Complaint for Council Tax Committal Application" and result codes CDIMPS "Suspended Committal Order"; CDIMPSF "Suspended Committal order further suspended"; CDLTI "Civil Debt etc Committal to Prison, Imprisonment (Effective Sentence)"; CW "UPD - Imprisonment in Default Subsequent to Imposition"; IMP "Imprisonment Effective"; and SC "UPD - Suspended imprisonment to enforce money owed" were applied. The data supplied is a count of cases. Libra is a case centric management system and as such the count is not a count of the number of defendants.* Data for 2024 in line with the official statistics.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and is the best data that is available.Data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics.Data are taken from a live management information system and can change over time and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information.Data has not been cross referenced with case files. In 2018, the High Court issued a judgment in a case relating to imprisonment for non-payment of council tax. Following that judgment there has been a significant reduction in the number of committals and the number of suspended committals since 2019.Wales abolished power to commit to prison on 1 April 2019, subject to some transitional provisions.In the data held centrally, we do not have data on the demographics of the people who are the subject of these cases.

Whether her Department holds a demographic breakdown of people (a) sent to prison and (b) given suspended committal orders for non-payment of council tax in each year between 2019 and 2024.

Non-payment of council tax is not a criminal offence and cannot attract a custodial sentence. However, under the committal to prison process, a court order can provide for someone to be jailed for failing to pay a debt.Committal to prison can only ever be the last resort for non-payment of council tax. Before a magistrates’ court commits someone to prison for failure to pay their council tax, it must have issued a “liability order” and the local authority must have (at least) tried and failed to take control of the debtor’s goods and sell them to recover the debt. Councils have additional powers of enforcement under a liability order, including deduction from earnings, deduction from benefit, charging orders on the property, and bankruptcy. If a council applies for committal to prison, the court must inquire into the debtor’s means, and the council must satisfy the court that there is no other effective method of collection and that failure to pay is due to wilful refusal or culpable neglect. This is to prevent persons who are genuinely unable to pay their council tax from being committed to prison. Where that is the case courts have the power to remit the debt.Individuals in cases where there has been a committal to prison will not necessarily go to prison where payment is made. No individual has been admitted to prison for non-payment of council tax between 2019 and 2023. This can be viewed in Table 2.A.16: at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/662909f33b0122a378a7e602/Prison-receptions-2023.ods. Data on the number of committals to prison and suspended committals to prison for council tax non-payment since 2019 can be found in the table below: National20192020202120222023Jan - Sept 2024 *Number cases of Committals to Prison for non-payment of council tax1111020Number Cases of Suspended Committal Orders for non-payment of council tax 3956615241913 Source: HMCTS management information Libra MISThe count is based upon a case completion date falling between the reporting period 1st January 2019 and the 30th September 2024 where the offence codes CT92501 "Complaint for council tax liability order"; CT92502 "Complaints for Council Tax Liability Order (Multiple Cases)"; CT92511 "Complaint for Council Tax Committal Application" and result codes CDIMPS "Suspended Committal Order"; CDIMPSF "Suspended Committal order further suspended"; CDLTI "Civil Debt etc Committal to Prison, Imprisonment (Effective Sentence)"; CW "UPD - Imprisonment in Default Subsequent to Imposition"; IMP "Imprisonment Effective"; and SC "UPD - Suspended imprisonment to enforce money owed" were applied. The data supplied is a count of cases. Libra is a case centric management system and as such the count is not a count of the number of defendants.* Data for 2024 in line with the official statistics.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and is the best data that is available.Data are management information and are not subject to the same level of checks as official statistics.Data are taken from a live management information system and can change over time and for that reason might differ slightly from any previously published information.Data has not been cross referenced with case files. In 2018, the High Court issued a judgment in a case relating to imprisonment for non-payment of council tax. Following that judgment there has been a significant reduction in the number of committals and the number of suspended committals since 2019.Wales abolished power to commit to prison on 1 April 2019, subject to some transitional provisions.In the data held centrally, we do not have data on the demographics of the people who are the subject of these cases.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to assist the Central Bank of Bangladesh in repatriating UK-based assets diverted illegally from that country.

The UK is committed to assisting investigative, prosecuting and judicial authorities in combating international crime. We have robust illicit finance legislation and instruments which can be used to support asset recovery requests. We would not comment on any individual Asset Recovery cases but we are in discussions with the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre hosted by the UK's National Crime Agency and the International Centre for Asset Recovery on how to support the Interim Government of Bangladesh. In October 2024, the UK National Crime Agency visited Dhaka as part of the UK's effort to support Bangladesh in this area, as well as wider engagement on law enforcement issues. We will continue to support these recoveries to the extent that we can.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of levels of flood preparedness in communities along the (a) Middle Brook, (b) Bessy Brook and (c) Douglas rivers in Bolton West constituency.

Flood Alerts and Flood Warnings are issued by the Environment Agency (EA) to warn residents that flood is possible, and then expected, to ensure that communities are prepared take action to reduce impacts to homes and properties. 315 properties are registered to receive the Flood Warnings in the stated areas. For the Bessy Brook area, flood Alerts and one Flood Warning were issued during the heavy rainfall over New Year. The Flood warning warned 34 properties. The EA and Bolton Council engage with communities at risk, including a resident’s group at Bessy Brook, to raise awareness of flood risk and support their preparedness, signposting The Flood Hub website for information. Operational teams from the EA and Bolton council attend areas before rain is expected to clear debris from screens and grids, which minimises flooding impacts to over 220 properties.

How much HM Revenue and Customs staff time and resource was dedicated to recovering funds from covid-19 (a) business relief and (b) procurement-related fraud in the latest period for which data is available.

HMRC remain committed to COVID-19 scheme compliance activity and will continue to prioritise and pursue the most serious cases of abuse. Part (a):The main COVID-19 business support schemes that were administered by HMRC were the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO). We have interpreted your request for details relating to business relief to relate to these grant schemes. From tax year 2020/21 to date, HMRC estimate that c.3,500 staff have been deployed to recover overpayments on the COVID-19 business support schemes administered by HMRC (where one staff member is the equivalent of one full time staff member for one year). Part (b):HMRC has no functions in relation to the procurement processes and contracts awarded in relation to key healthcare related equipment and supplies. As such, HMRC would not generally investigate whether fraud has been committed in relation to the actual procurement or execution of such contracts, except where there was an ongoing investigation undertaken by other Law Enforcement Agencies concerning offences relating to one or more of HMRC’s functions, such as tax offences. HMRC’s only involvement in stand-alone fraud investigations that might arise from procurement would be if there were issues in relation to one or more of HMRC’s functions, such as tax offences. HMRC conducts thousands of civil and criminal compliance actions each year. A number of these relate to tax offences suspected of having been committed by those seeking and fulfilling government contracts relating to the procurement and onward supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and similar products during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work is undertaken across various teams within HMRC’s Customer Compliance Group.

Communities and Local Government, how many Houses in Multiple Occupation have been developed without requiring planning permission in Bolton West constituency in the last 12 months.

National permitted development rights allow a C3 dwellinghouse to change use to a C4 House in Multiple Occupation for up to six people sharing facilities without the need for a planning application. Larger Houses in Multiple Occupation require a planning application which the local authority will determine in accordance with the local development plan and following public consultation.Local authorities can remove the permitted development right to protect local amenity or wellbeing of the area by introducing an ‘Article 4’ direction.The Department do not hold data on how many Houses in Multiple Occupation have been created through permitted development rights.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of planning permission requirements for Houses in Multiple Occupation.

National permitted development rights allow a C3 dwellinghouse to change use to a C4 House in Multiple Occupation for up to six people sharing facilities without the need for a planning application. Larger Houses in Multiple Occupation require a planning application which the local authority will determine in accordance with the local development plan and following public consultation.Local authorities can remove the permitted development right to protect local amenity or wellbeing of the area by introducing an ‘Article 4’ direction.The Department do not hold data on how many Houses in Multiple Occupation have been created through permitted development rights.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to use UK-based assets that were expropriated by the Assad regime for (a) aid and (b) re-development projects to help the Syrian people.

UK-based assets expropriated by the Assad regime remain frozen. As with all our sanctions, we keep our approach under review.We do not comment on future designations as to do so lessens their potential impact.

What steps she plans to take to ensure UK law enforcement authorities use criminal measures against professional enablers of economic crime who have exploited Crown Dependencies.

Professional enablers are a critical facilitator of serious and organised crime.As part of the Economic Crime Plan 2, the National Economic Crime Centre launched a cross-system strategy to tackle the threat posed by professional enablers to the UK earlier this year.This sets out a series of actions for the public and private sectors including commitments to enhance collective understanding, improve information sharing, make better use of powers and intervention tools, and develop joint disruption strategies to tackle the threat. One of the key objectives is for law enforcement and supervisory bodies to deliver impactful disruptions and use the full range of intervention opportunities, including criminal justice outcomes, to achieve this. We expect the strategy to start delivering results in 2025.The Crown Dependencies are separate, self-governing jurisdictions responsible for their own domestic affairs and whose law enforcement agencies are responsible for tackling criminality that occurs in their jurisdictions. The Home Office works closely with the Crown Dependencies to strengthen their transparency requirements to reduce the threat of professional enablers and companies laundering money in the Crown Dependencies.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that Crown Dependencies are not used to launder the proceeds of corruption.

The Crown Dependencies are separate, self-governing jurisdictions responsible for their own domestic affairs, including financial services regulation. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for managing the UK’s constitutional relationship with the Crown Dependencies but all UK Government departments are responsible for their respective policy areas towards the Crown Dependencies and engage directly with them. The Home Office leads on illicit finance liaison with the Crown Dependencies for the UK Government.Corruption and illicit finance threaten global security, harm democracy, hamper economic growth and prosperity, slow development, and harm victims. The UK Government is committed to working together with international financial centres, including the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories, to help tackle corruption and money laundering.The Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey including Alderney, and the Isle of Man) have company beneficial ownership registers and they share data from these with UK law enforcement via the Exchange of Notes arrangements.Publicly accessible company beneficial ownership registers are a critical tool for tackling illicit finance, making it more challenging for illicit actors to hide funds and launder the proceeds of corruption. The Home Office continues to work with the Crown Dependencies to help improve their beneficial ownership transparency and welcomes the commitments the Crown Dependencies have made for greater corporate transparency; the Crown Dependencies are working towards implementing legitimate interest access to their registers, including access for media and civil society.However, this Government is committed to tackling illicit finance and expects this to be an interim step to public registers. I look forward to meeting with the Crown Dependencies in 2025 to discuss this ongoing agenda.

How much the late filing penalties from companies failing to file their annual accounts within the deadline were in each financial year between 2018-19 and 2023-24.

Official statistics on the value of collected late filing penalties are published in the annual report of Companies House. We have excerpted and reproduced the relevant figures for companies failing to file their annual accounts within the deadline below: 2018-19£95,972,0002019-20£95,728,0002020-21£96,695,0002021-22£173,673,8252022-23£164,663,0422023-24£158,479,669 Expenditure for the LFP scheme activity is not funded through fees. Penalties collected in respect of company accounts filed late with Companies House are paid to HMT, net of costs incurred in running the scheme.