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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to clarify the tax rules relating to fines imposed on banks.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Fines imposed as a punishment by regulators are non-deductible for UK Corporation Tax purposes, while compensation expenditure arising from trading activity is in principle deductible.

However, the government took steps in Finance Act (No2) 2015 to make compensation associated with bank misconduct and mis-selling non-deductible and offset the deductibility of administrative costs associated with this compensation through a taxable receipt. This action is forecast by the OBR to increase banks’ tax payments by around £1bn over the next 5 years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for £50 notes no longer being issued by central banks in order to help tackle crime.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The Government is fully committed to fighting all forms of financial crime, including money laundering and terrorist financing. In 2010, UK banks voluntarily withdrew the €500 note from sale in this country on the basis of analysis from our law enforcement agencies regarding its use by criminal groups. Such high denomination notes are attractive to criminals due to their high-value to low-volume ratio.

By contrast, the highest denomination note issued by the Bank of England is the £50 note whose value is far less than that of truly high denomination notes. Furthermore, the £50 note plays an important role as a reliable store-of-value and enables financial inclusion.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the light of the number of cyber attacks against them in 2015.

Baroness Shields

The Government’s National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP) aims to tackle cyber crime and make the UK the safest place in the world to do business in the world. This includes the Cyber Essentials Scheme to protect businesses against common cyber threats and the cyber streetwise campaign which offers simple cyber security advice to small businesses and consumers. In addition to the £860 million investment under the NCSP between 2011-2016, in November 2015 the Chancellor announced a new five year £1.9 billion investment in cyber security to make the UK one of the best protected countries in cyber space.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to impose large extra tax rises or spending cuts at short notice in order to meet their target of cutting the deficit by 2019–20.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The government has set out a fixed target to achieve a surplus on the headline measure of public sector net borrowing by the end of 2019-20. This is a transparent commitment showing the government’s resolve to complete the repair of the public finances. The Spending Review and Autumn Statement set out the action required to return the country to surplus over the course of this Parliament and on the basis of the latest Office for Budget Responsibility forecast in their November 2015 ‘Economic and fiscal outlook’ the government is forecast to achieve a surplus of £10.1bn by the end of 2019-20.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to increase business confidence, in the light of uncertainty regarding the global economy and the EU referendum.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

At the February European Council the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union.

As part of these negotiations, we secured a firm commitment to drive an ambitious agenda of economic reform within the EU to help unleash the full potential of the Single Market and create growth and jobs.

The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.