Tag: Nicholas Brown

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on people on the autism spectrum of removal of the additional payment in the employment and support allowance’s work related activity group.

Priti Patel

The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July. These are available on the Parliament website: http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/welfarereformandwork/documents.html

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much was raised by business rates in the Newcastle upon Tyne local authority area in the last year for which figures are available.

Mr Marcus Jones

In 2013-14, the total business rates income raised in Newcastle upon Tyne was £128.5 million. Based on their own estimates, the total business rates income in 2015-16 is expected to be £154.1 million

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the introduction of a financial transaction tax in (a) the UK and (b) partnership with other taxation authorities.

Harriett Baldwin

The UK has a financial transaction tax. Stamp tax on shares raises significant revenue from transactions in UK equities.

The UK has no plans to introduce a financial transaction tax in partnership with other tax authorities. Such a tax would only be effective if applied globally, and there is currently no prospect of global agreement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of his proposed changes to business rates on (a) the North East, (b) the North East Combined Authority area and (c) Newcastle upon Tyne local authority area.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government intends to move to 100% business rates retention in England by the end of this Parliament. We have confirmed that as part of the new system there will continue to be redistribution of local tax revenue between authorities and protections in place for authorities that see their business rates income fall significantly. Over the coming months we will be working with local government on the details of the scheme.

Ahead of final decisions, it is too early to assess what the impact will be on individual areas or authorities, but before the start of the financial year, local authorities in the North-East estimated that the total business rates income for 2015-16 would be £854.58 million.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of which are the principal methods of tax evasion; and what proposals he has for tackling each such method.

Mr David Gauke

HMRC’s latest estimates of thetax gap, which covers the tax lost due to all forms of non-compliance, including evasion was published on 22 October 2015. The tax gap in the 2013 to 2014 financial year (the latest year) was estimated to be £34billion – 6.4% of the total tax that HMRC estimates was due. Tax evasion accounted for £4.4 billion of this. Tax evaders employ a wide range of methods, ranging from simply not recording taxable transactions to sophisticated sales suppression. HMRC continually reviews its approach to tackling different methods of evasion in the light of operational experience.

Since 2010 HMRC has delivered record compliance yield from tackling all forms of non-compliance, including evasion, avoidance and fraud.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost of administering the proposed safety net mechanism for local authorities which lose more than 7.5 per cent of their business rate revenue in a year; and to what budget this will fall.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government intends to move to 100% business rates retention in England by the end of this Parliament. We have confirmed that as part of the new system there will continue to be redistribution of local tax revenue between authorities and protections in place for authorities that see their business rates income fall significantly. Over the coming months we will be working with local government on the details of the scheme.

Ahead of final decisions, it is too early to assess what the impact will be on individual areas or authorities, but before the start of the financial year, local authorities in the North-East estimated that the total business rates income for 2015-16 would be £854.58 million.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what screening provisions the Government has put in place to prevent people who wish to cause the UK harm from entering the UK through the Syrian refugee resettlement programme.

James Brokenshire

We take security extremely seriously in cases referred to us for resettlement, working closely with the UNHCR who have their own robust identification processes in place. When potential cases are submitted by the UNHCR for our consideration they are screened and considered by the Home Office for suitability for entry to the UK: we retain the right to reject individuals on security, war crimes or other grounds. For reasons of national security, we cannot provide further on the details of the screening process itself.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent assessment she has made of the UK’s progress towards meeting its 2020 carbon emission targets.

Andrea Leadsom

Each year we publish Energy and Emissions Projections which allow us to monitor progress towards meeting the UK’s carbon targets.

The last projections (published in September 2014) showed that we are on track to achieve the second and third carbon budgets, covering the period to 2022. Our projected performance over the third carbon budget equates to a 37% reduction in emissions below 1990 levels.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2014-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, for what reasons he decided against change following his review into his Department’s check-off system for employees’ trade union subscriptions.

Gregory Barker

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State did not share the views of my rt. hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on this issue.

He also noted advice from the Department that the Department is charged a fixed cost for payroll services based on the number of employees, so there would be no immediate cost saving to the taxpayer in removing the check-off agreement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2014-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reasons he decided against change following his review into his Department’s check-off system for employees’ trade union subscriptions.

Jeremy Wright

Check-off arrangements are kept under review.