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  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the ease by which UK SMEs can access the export market.

    Anna Soubry

    Increasing exports is a key factor in the Government’s long-term economic plan and, through the GREAT campaign, it continues to promote the support available to those UK businesses looking to take advantage of overseas opportunities.

    According to data from the Office of National Statistics, since 2010 UK exports have increased from £444.4bn to £513.5bn per annum. At the same time, the number of UK exporting businesses has increased from 188,000 in 2010 to over 221,000 in 2014. The Government commitment is to increase this figure to over 288,000 UK exporting businesses per annum by 2020; an increase of 100,000 on the 2010 figure.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has been paid to the Landfill Communities Fund by third party groups in each of the last five years.

    Damian Hinds

    The regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund, ENTRUST, does not hold data on the amount of money contributed by third parties.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what timescales the Tax Credit Office in Preston has in place to respond to representations made by hon. Members by (a) telephone, (b) email and (c) letter; and how this Office performed against these timescales in the last reporting year.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Tax Credit Office aim to prioritise and respond to representations from hon. Members as soon as possible, irrespective of the route by which they are received. HMRC do not, however, routinely record and collate performance against specific timescales for such representations.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received from the Living Wage Foundation in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

    Damian Hinds

    The Government receives representations from a wide range of stakeholders on the minimum wage. A list of ministers’ meetings is published on the GOV.UK website.

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made on reducing levels of tax avoidance by large corporations; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Gauke

    The UK initiated the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project and has already taken action to implement two of the internationally agreed outputs with domestic legislation to introduce country-by-reporting and rules to address hybrid mismatches.

    In addition, the UK played a key role in securing the successful EU agreement on automatically exchanging information on tax rulings, reached at the ECOFIN Council in October 2015.

    Complementary to international efforts to tackle this issue, we introduced the Diverted Profits Tax from April 2015 to counteract the diversion of profits from the UK by large multinational enterprises.

    In the summer Budget 2015 we legislated to improve the effectiveness of our Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) regime by removing the ability for companies to use UK losses and reliefs against their CFC charge.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of how much will accrue to the Exchequer as a result of the Carbon Price Support legislation in each year until 2020.

    Damian Hinds

    The most recent forecast of receipts from the Carbon Price Floor was published by the OBR in their ‘Economic and fiscal outlook supplementary fiscal tables – November 2015’, available at http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-november-2015/.

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  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the letter of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on making tax digital, dated 11 January 2016, for what reasons the increased revenue from a more accurate digital tax return system has been estimated at £600 million per annum given that the current tax gap due to errors made by small businesses has been estimated in that letter at £6.5 billion.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs remains committed to narrowing the overall tax gap. The policy costings for Making Tax Digital can be found in the publication Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015: policy costings.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/480565/SRAS2015_policy_costings_amended_page_25.pdf

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  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the future funding of illegal money lending teams.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government is exploring a number of options to ensure that the England and Wales Illegal Money Lending Teams have the funding they need to ensure that consumers continue to be protected from illegal loan sharks and is confident of transitional arrangements being agreed.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of companies issued fines for underpayment of the minimum wage in each of the last five years; what the total value of such fines issued is; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.

    Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay back arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker. A further increase in penalties will come into force in April 2016 and will increase the penalty percentage from 100% to 200% of the underpayments owed to each worker, up to the existing maximum.

    I refer the honourable member to the answers provided at UIN 18487 and UIN 205613 for the information on penalties charged on employers.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to introduce a one-month time limit on engagements for (a) small business and (b) other limited company contractors before they are treated as employees for tax purposes.

    Mr David Gauke

    Where people would have been employees if they were providing their services directly, the intermediaries legislation (known as IR35) requires that they pay broadly the same tax and National Insurance as other employees.

    The Government estimates that currently only around 10% of people who should pay tax on at least part of their company’s income under these rules do so. This non-compliance is both unfair and estimated to cost over £400 million a year. The Government is therefore looking to improve the legislation in a way that protects the Exchequer and improves fairness. However, it is not the Government’s intention to widen the scope of the rules.

    The Government published a discussion document on 17 July 2015 that set out the issues in more detail and invited views on options for reform. The discussion period closed on 30 September and the Government will announce next steps in due course.