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Terrorist Asset-Freezing (Temporary Provisions) Bill

My Lords, Amendment 8 requires quarterly reporting by the Treasury to Parliament on the exercise of the powers conferred on it by the Bill. Amendment 11A would require monthly reporting. We recognise the point of these Amendments. The Government understand and support the need to ensure accountability and transparency in the use of our powers. However, with the greatest respect, the amendments are not required. The Treasury already lays a written report before Parliament on the operation of the UK’s asset-freezing regime. This report is made on a quarterly basis, which we believe is the right period for such a report, and it includes more than the noble Baroness’s amendment requires. As well as information on designations made and licences granted, our—currently quarterly—report details the total assets frozen and the number of case reviews and delistings each quarter. We would be happy to add proceedings taken for an offence to the report, as suggested by the noble Baroness. The next report is due shortly. I am not sure that we could add that information for that report, but I certainly hope so for subsequent reports. I therefore ask that these amendments be withdrawn. The purpose of Amendment 9 is to appoint an independent person to review the operation of the Bill three months after it comes into force and every three months thereafter. We have included a clause in the longer Terrorist Asset-Freezing Bill, which is available in draft on the Treasury website, to the effect that an independent person should be appointed to review the operation of the Bill nine months from the day it is passed and then annually. However, an independent review is not required for the operation of this temporary Bill. It is a temporary measure, which has a fixed sunset provision. In the course of giving pre-legislative scrutiny to the longer Bill, attention may well be given to the current orders and how they are implemented, but this does not require a formal independent review of this temporary Bill, a point that was made very eloquently in the contribution from the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes. I therefore ask that this amendment is also withdrawn.