Tag: 2016

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Anguilla and Guernsey have agreed to establish a central register of beneficial ownership accessible by UK tax and law enforcement agencies.

    Matthew Hancock

    Anguilla has now signed an arrangement to hold a central register or similarly effective system of beneficial ownership information accessible to UK tax and law enforcement agencies.

    Guernsey’s Chief Minister wrote to the Prime Minister on 4 April 2016 with a commitment to this too and a proposal to make a formal arrangement with the UK government when their new government is in place following their recent election.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2016 to Question 39438, if his Department will keep an annual record of locations visited by Ministers and officials of his Department in the future; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Mark Francois

    Officials in my Department keep accurate official records in line with Cabinet Office guidance and in accordance with business needs.

  • Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-09-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing survival payments in cases when the regular payment of child tax credits has been suspended.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) regularly carries out checks on tax credits awards, including Child Tax Credit, to reduce error and fraud. These checks identify potential risks with ongoing tax credits claims.

    Depending on the level of risk found, HMRC may ask customers for more information about their claim and circumstances, or a compliance team might undertake a full examination.

    In most cases, HMRC does not suspend the payment of tax credits payments during the check. It only does this where information held indicates that this is a reasonable step to prevent payments being made in error. In these cases, if a customer demonstrates that the claim is correct, HMRC reinstates payments immediately.

    In these circumstances, making further payments would therefore result in increased overpayments of tax credits overall which the customer would have to repay.

    HMRC has not carried out research into the specific aspect of the tax credits system related to suspension of Child Tax Credits.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what data his Department has that demonstrate the effect of the Troubled Families programme on rates of domestic violence and abuse in (a) England and (b) the Greater Manchester authority area in each year since 2012.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Domestic violence was not included in the target outcomes of the first Troubled Families Programme (2012-15). Given this, we did not have a robust national or local measure to assess prevalence of domestic violence families for the first programme.

    Domestic abuse has now been included as one of the six key headline problems of the new Troubled Families Programme (2015 – 2020). As part of the evaluation of the new programme, we are collecting data from all local authorities on police recorded incidents of domestic violence. This includes the Greater Manchester authority areas. We are also measuring self-reported domestic abuse through a survey of over 1,000 families using the same measure as the Crime Survey for England and Wales. The evaluation will report, in due course, the changes in these measures once sufficient families have progressed beyond intervention to make a robust assessment.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-01-12.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, who his Ministerial private office informed of his plans to visit Cardiff on 7 January 2016; by what method they so informed those people and on what date those communications took place.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Chancellor’s visit to Cardiff on 7 January 2016 was made in accordance with the specifications of the Ministerial Code.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reasons the responsibilities planned for the proposed Institute for Apprenticeships could not have been undertaken by the existing UK Commission for Employment and Skills.

    Nick Boles

    The role of the Institute for Apprenticeships (IFA) will be very different to the current role and remit of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).

    The IFA must be able to make decisions independently of Ministers and hold direct operational responsibility rather than act in an advisory capacity.

    This will require different governance arrangements, with a small Board led primarily by employers and business leaders to steer the processes and decisions that are made.

    The IFA will assume functions that Government has so far undertaken in relation to apprenticeship standards and assessment plans and will operate in the context of achieving three million starts by 2020.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations his Department has received on the practice of retoxification prior to their release of prisoners who have a history of drug addictions.

    Ben Gummer

    No representations have been made to the Department in respect of the retoxification of prisoners with a history of drug addiction prior to their release.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the National Living Wage on (a) costs to businesses and (b) employee pay.

    Nick Boles

    The Government’s Impact Assessment for the introduction of the National Living Wage estimates the total cost to businesses at around £1.1 billion, consisting of direct wage costs, associated non-wage labour costs, maintaining pay differentials and transition costs.

    Direct costs to employers contribute just under £700 million to the total cost to raise employees’ wages to the initial rate of £7.20. This will be a direct benefit to employees from receiving higher wages.

    On current OBR forecasts, a full-time National Minimum Wage worker will earn over £4,200 more by 2020 from the National Living Wage in cash terms.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-03.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the table on page 59 of the HM Revenue and Customs’ document, Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition: methodological annex published in October 2015, if he will provide (a) the same data on corporation tax risks for the (i) 2012-13 and (ii) 2013-14 financial years and (b) the same risk data for the other taxes to which large businesses are subject.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs published its latest tax gap estimates on 22 October 2015 in Measuring tax gaps 2015 edition, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470540/HMRC-measuring-tax-gaps-2015-1.pdf.

    A Methodological Annex was also published on the same date at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/469973/HMRC-Measuring-tax-gaps-2015-methodological-annex.pdf.

    The number of Corporation Tax risks for Large Business Service groups are set out in table 7.2, page 63 of ‘Measuring tax gaps’ 2015 edition. These figures are not yet available for the years requested due to the lengthy nature of some tax enquiries.

    Different methodologies are used to estimate tax gaps for other taxes paid by large businesses, and therefore the information requested on risk data for other taxes is not available.

  • Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department considers that the use of cluster munitions is always unlawful under international humanitarian law because of their indiscriminate nature.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Since becoming a signatory to the Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions it is now unlawful for the UK to use cluster munitions under any circumstances.

    For those states not currently a signatory to the Oslo Convention then the use of cluster munitions may be legitimate provided that they are used within the clearly defined limitations of International Humanitarian Law.