Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether there has been a change in the number of (a) his Department's (i) personnel and (ii) assets and (b) the level of development assistance in the Indo-Pacific region since 16 March 2021.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether there has been a change in his Department's (a) departmental expenditure limit and (b) annually managed expenditure spending in the Indo-Pacific region since 16 March 2021.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what changes there have been to the level of UK official development assistance in the Indo-Pacific region by each nation in the region and in each year since March 2021.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his Department's forecast budget is for development assistance to nations in the Indo-Pacific region broken down by (a) nation and (b) financial year for each of the next five years.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his Department's forecast is of (a) the total FTE and (b) the change in FTE complement for each of his embassies and consulates in the Indo-Pacific region, broken down by (i) embassy and (ii) consulate for each year in the next five-year period.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to policy paper entitled Build Back Better: our plan for growth, published March 2021, what projects his Department contributed to as part of that policy initiative; and what public spending has been committed to those projects.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there has been a change in his Department's (a) departmental expenditure limit and (b) annually managed expenditure spending in the Indo-Pacific region since 16 March 2021.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there has been a change in the number of his Department's (a) personnel and (b) assets in the Indo-Pacific region since 16 March 2021.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will set out her Department's forecast of (a) its total FTE and (b) the change in its FTE complement for each of the UK’s embassies and consulates in the Indo-Pacific region, broken down by (i) embassy and (ii) consulate for each year in the next five-year period.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether there has been a change in her Department's (a) departmental expenditure limit and (b) annually managed expenditure spending in the Indo-Pacific region since 16 March 2021.
Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2022 to Question 89754, whether His Majesty’s Ambassador to Ukraine has attended any state schools to make similar presentations.
Liam Byrne: I meant, in summary, the economic effect. The impact is that agencies have much greater latitude to bring cases against bad people in American courts without fear of what it will do to their enforcement budget. That is exactly where we need our enforcement agencies to be. If we are going to strengthen their hand, to really effectively police the problem and to respect what the Government need...
Liam Byrne: The Minister has had quite an education since becoming a Minister and joining the ranks of the Government, because, of course, it was in the Foreign Affairs Committee report on tackling illicit finance in which he authored a number of quite strong words about the need to reform and improve the regime for unexplained wealth orders, which are an important legal innovation. They are looked up to...
Liam Byrne: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. In a way, new clause 66 builds on the debate we have just had, but it takes the proposed reform in a slightly different direction. The Minister is well aware that in earlier debates we touched on the problem that when lawyers engage in work that falls squarely within the scope of money laundering regulations, there is a risk that regulated...
Liam Byrne: The Minister made the case for the new clause rather well. I am grateful for his confession that significant numbers of businesses are in effect not covered by a default supervisor. If anything, he will have alarmed those listening from the other place who will, no doubt, want to pick up the new clause and build on it, especially given the Minister’s intention—sotto voce, I think—to try...
Liam Byrne: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Liam Byrne: The new clause would cap legal costs where the Government try to bring unexplained wealth orders into effect. That point was picked up by the Foreign Affairs Committee when it was ably chaired by the Minister for Security. It also featured heavily in the economic crime manifesto which the other Minister helped launch in Westminster Abbey not too long ago, in the heady days of summer, when he...
Liam Byrne: Because he is going to accept it.
Liam Byrne: I am grateful for the chance to intervene, because I sense that the Minister has almost reached the conclusion of his remarks without giving the Committee the date on which a more comprehensive proposal, which is what he argues for, will be presented to the House. We know that the Ministry of Justice has already conducted its consultation, and that the consultation responses have been...
Liam Byrne: The truth is that people will be appalled by this debate. We gathered an enormous number of campaign groups and journalists together in the House on Tuesday evening, at a function that I had the privilege to co-sponsor with the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden. The kinetic energy behind reform is significant. The law will change—we will get there—but the question is whether...