Tag: Imran Hussain

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effects on the tax revenue of developing countries of tax treaties with the UK.

Mr Nick Hurd

HMRC actively engages with developing countries and has recently agreed treaties with Senegal and Zambia. Tax treaties encourage the appropriate tax treatment of cross-border economic activity, promote international trade and investment and ultimately lead to sustainable tax revenues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that public country-by-country reporting of corporation tax benefits developing countries.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK supports efforts to improve tax transparency. We initiated international work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting during our G8 Presidency in 2013, calling on the OECD to develop a framework for CbC reporting to tax authorities as part of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. This important initiative will enhance transparency between business and tax authorities, including those of developing countries.

DFID funds the Global Forum and the World Bank to provide technical assistance to improve exchange of tax information in developing countries which will allow tax authorities to gain access to information such as country-by-country reports. We also support the OECD in helping developing countries tackle multinational practices such as transfer pricing and have provided HMRC tax auditors to Tax Inspectors Without Borders, which puts expert tax auditors in the field working on complex multinational audit cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the introduction of measures for country-by-country reporting of profits for UK-listed companies.

Mr Desmond Swayne

DFID Ministers and officials have regular discussions with other Government Departments on a wide range of issues relating to international development, including tax.

The UK supports efforts to improve tax transparency. We initiated international work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting during our G8 Presidency in 2013, calling on the OECD to develop a framework for CbC reporting to tax authorities as part of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. This important initiative will enhance transparency between business and tax authorities, including those of developing countries.

The UK leads international efforts to help developing countries tackle tax evasion and avoidance. DFID funds the Global Forum and the World Bank to provide technical assistance to improve exchange of tax information in developing countries which will allow tax authorities to gain access to information such as country-by-country reports. We also support the OECD in helping developing countries tackle multinational practices such as transfer pricing and have provided HMRC tax auditors to Tax Inspectors Without Borders, which puts expert tax auditors in the field working on complex multinational audit cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of pharmacies which will potentially be affected financially by planned changes to funding in the Bradford District Care Trust area.

Alistair Burt

The proposals on which we are consulting will apply to all community pharmacies providing National Health Service pharmaceutical services in England.

Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. The Government believes these efficiencies can be made within community pharmacy without compromising the quality of services or public access to them.

We have been consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the mental health crisis care concordat in improving cooperation between mental health services, non-mental health NHS services and other government services.

Nicola Blackwood

MIND, which has been supporting implementation of the national Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat, commissioned an evaluation of the work being undertaken to implement the national statement. This included an assessment of how local partners were working together to improve the experience of people in mental health crisis.

The evaluation report, which was published in January 2016, can be found at the following link:

http://www.crisiscareconcordat.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/CCC-Evaluation_Report.pdf

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff of his Department are involved in the renegotiations of the UK’s tax treaties with developing countries.

Jane Ellison

HM Revenue and Customs’ Tax Treaty Team, which at October 2016 has 10.3 full time equivalent members of staff, is responsible for negotiating the UK’s tax treaties. The make-up of the negotiating programme will vary from year to year which means it is not possible to put an exact figure on the number of staff involved with negotiations with developing countries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the shortage of doctors and nurses in the NHS.

Ben Gummer

The latest monthly workforce statistics for July 2015 which are published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that since May 2010 there are 10,500 more doctors and 5,800 more nurses, midwives and health visiting staff currently employed in the National Health Service in England. This represents increases of 11% and 1.9% respectively.

The Department has set up Health Education England (HEE) to deliver a better health and healthcare workforce for England. They are responsible for ensuring a secure workforce supply that reflects the needs of local service users, providers and commissioners of healthcare.

HEE has increased adult nurse training places by 14% over the last two years and is forecasting that more than 23,000 additional nurses will be in place by 2019.

The Government has maintained the number of undergraduate medical training places at a level sufficient to support continued increase in the medical workforce in England.Where there are shortages in specific specialties, the Department will work with HEE and NHS England to address them for example, through the ten point plan for the general practice workforce.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the withdrawal of ESOL Plus Mandation funding on attainment levels of children whose parents participated in or were eligible for ESOL courses.

Nick Boles

Although there is a correlation between parental education levels and the attainment of children, many other factors are also relevant. Isolating the specific impact of this particular funding on children’s levels of attainment would be extremely difficult.

The decision to withdraw the 2015/16 English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Plus (Mandation) funding was taken in the knowledge that providers could use their adult skills budget to continue to provide ESOL training for jobseekers and therefore mitigate any adverse impact. Our data showed that the numbers of claimants being referred to ESOL Plus (Mandation) provision was significantly lower than originally anticipated.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department provides to developing countries to improve their tax revenue gathering capabilities.

Mr Nick Hurd

The UK is one of the leading donors on tax and development and we have committed to double our support on tax by 2020 as part of the Addis Tax Initiative. DFID is currently engaged in, or developing, tax reform in 26 of our 28 priority countries. This includes support from the Tax Capacity Building Unit in HMRC we established in 2013 and from international organisations such as OECD, the Global Forum and the World Bank which DFID funds to provide technical assistance to tackle tax evasion and multinational tax avoidance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Supporting Syria Conference 2016, to whom and by what mechanisms the Government’s funding pledges at that conference will be made.

Mr Desmond Swayne

At the London Conference, the Prime Minister announced that the UK will more than double our total pledge to the Syria crisis from £1.12 billion to over £2.3 billion. The UK has already spent more than £1.1 billion in providing lifesaving aid in Syria and the region.