Tag: Nicholas Brown

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-11-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made in tackling international tax avoidance.

Mr David Gauke

The Government is committed to countering tax avoidance to ensure all tax payers pay their fair share. The UK has been at the forefront of international efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance through the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, which had the objective of ensuring profits are taxed where economic activities are performed.

The first phase of the BEPS project was delivered in 2014, and the UK was the first adopter of the 2014 recommendations, by legislating for the internationally agreed country-by-country reporting template; and consulting on implementing the OECD agreed rules to deal with hybrid mismatch arrangements.

In line with the objectives of the BEPS project, the Government also introduced the Diverted Profits Tax to target contrived arrangements used by large multinational companies to divert profits away from the UK.

The final BEPS project reports were published on 5 October 2015. The UK will give full consideration to the outputs of the BEPS project and will engage with the OECD’s work on developing a framework for monitoring implementation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to incentivise the use of hedges, field margins and ditches in farmed uplands in order to facilitate flood water retention.

George Eustice

The management of hedges, field margins and ditches is already incentivised in England (including the farmed uplands) by payments under agri-environment schemes, such as Environmental Stewardship. The new Countryside Stewardship scheme, launched last year, is targeted to include those areas that can provide joint benefits for biodiversity, water quality and natural flood management.

The retention of hedgerows and field margins is also incentivised through Pillar 1 of the Common Agricultural Policy where they will be eligible as Environmental Focus Areas within the Greening requirements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-02-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government has made on the implementation of the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting programme; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that programme on the collection of corporation tax in the UK.

Mr David Gauke

The UK has been at the forefront of international efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance through the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, which was completed in 2015.

The UK has committed to introducing country-by-country reporting from 1 January 2016 and rules to deal with hybrid mismatch arrangements from 1 January 2017. As set out in Autumn Statement 2014, these measures are estimated to yield around £45 million and £260 million respectively over the next five years. The policy costings were certified by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.

The Government has also consulted on the OECD recommendations on the design of rules to prevent groups from gaining excessive tax deductions for interest expense, and how the OECD report on the definition of substantial activities in the context of preferential intellectual property regimes impacts the UK Patent Box.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the qualifying period applicants can apply for and claim bereavement allowance after the death of a partner.

Priti Patel

Information about Bereavement Benefits is widely available through GOV.UK. We also work closely with third party organisations who the bereaved traditionally contact such as registrars, hospitals, funeral directors and voluntary groups ensuring that they have the correct information available to signpost the bereaved to the DWP Bereavement Service.

Upon contacting the DWP Bereavement Service our staff will ensure that any benefits and pensions arrears are claimed and will also initiate a claim for Social Fund Funeral Payments and Bereavement Benefits if appropriate.

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We continue to look for opportunities to improve the availability of advice about these particular benefits and as a result we have improved the information available on GOV.UK, and are currently exploring ways in which to to join up the Tell Us Once and Bereavement Service offers.

Tell Us Once is a cross-government service delivered through Local Authorities whereby notification of the death is cascaded out to other agencies, thus reducing the number of contacts an individual has to make.

The time limit for claiming Bereavement Allowance is three months from the date of death, which is consistent with the time limit for other welfare entitlements. We are currently developing the new Bereavement Support Payment due to be implemented for new claims from April 2017, and we will assess the merits of further flexibilities on backdating as part of this work.

Information available on the number of people in receipt of Bereavement Allowance by duration of current claim can be found at:

http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/tabtool.html

Guidance for users can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of treatment and provision of support through the NHS for patients of neuroendocrine cancer.

Jane Ellison

NHS England has made an assessment of the need for national treatment decisions as to the commissioning of systemic therapies for neuroendocrine carcinomas. Based on this assessment, it has discussed the issue with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NICE has agreed to do a multiple technology appraisal of lanreotide, sunitinib, everolimus and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy. NICE guidance on these treatments is due in the summer of 2017. In the meantime, sunitinib is available from the Cancer Drugs Fund and lanreotide is available through routine commissioning.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the introduction of the Local Housing Allowance cap on the level of supply of supported housing.

Brandon Lewis

The Government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable, including through protecting and further boosting the supported housing supply we have already.

We are continuing to work with the supported housing sector and other partners to develop a sustainable and workable future for supported housing and will announce next steps in due course.

In the meantime we have put in place a one year exemption for supported housing from the Local Housing Allowance cap.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-11-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to ensure (a) British Overseas Territories and (b) the City of London comply with international standards for transparency in tax matters.

Mr David Gauke

In 2013, a major focus of the UK’s G8 Presidency was tax transparency and combatting offshore tax evasion. As part of this the UK promoted the development of a new global standard for reciprocal automatic exchange of financial account information in order to effectively tackle the global problem of tax evasion. Due in large part to the UK’s leadership, over 90 countries and jurisdictions have now committed to the new global standard – known as the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) – and will begin automatically exchanging information under the standard by 2017 or 2018.

Together with the UK itself, all of the UK’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories with a recognised financial centre have committed to the 2017 timetable as early adopters. They will also be automatically exchanging 2014 and 2015 financial account information bilaterally with the UK in 2016. The City of London is covered by the CRS which has been implemented in UK law.

In addition to their commitments to early adoption of the CRS, all of the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies have engaged fully in the Global Forum Peer Review Process on exchange of information on request, have publicly committed to improvements in the transparency of company ownership and meet Financial Action Task Force requirements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of additional algae in river and pond systems since the recent flooding in England on those systems; and what information her Department holds on levels of toxins produced by algae in those systems and their effect on the marine environment.

Rory Stewart

The Environment Agency assesses the presence of algae in the spring, summer and autumn as this is when algae can become a nuisance to people and nature.

The recent floods will have flushed nutrients from agricultural land and urban drainage systems into rivers and lakes. Much of this increased nutrient loading washes down into estuaries and coastal waters. Since the flooding has occurred in winter months, when algae are not growing, there is unlikely to be an immediate effect. Sunny and hot conditions may lead to a higher number of blooms but this will depend on the weather in the spring and summer months.

The Environment Agency and Cefas will also monitor in response to reports of toxic algal blooms at any time of year. They hold data on the levels of toxins in samples from affected sites, which inform management action. Where toxins pose a risk to the quality of shellfish, to recreational or other users of waters, this can result in closure of shellfisheries or action to warn the public about the hazards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Prevent training programme in schools; what benchmarks her Department uses to assess and train staff who provide Prevent training; and what representations she has received from schools on that training.

Edward Timpson

The statutory Prevent duty guidance refers to the importance of training to equip staff to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and to challenge extremist ideas. Individual schools and childcare providers are best placed to assess their training needs in the light of their assessment of the risk. Ofsted assess schools’ effectiveness in keeping children and learners safe from the dangers of radicalisation and extremism and will consider evidence that there is a clear approach to implementing the Prevent duty.

To help raise awareness of Prevent and issues around radicalisation amongst front line staff, the Home Office is continuing to roll out freely available Workshops to Raise Awareness of Prevent (WRAP). There are a number of professionals, particularly in safeguarding roles (many of whom work within local authorities and the police), who are accredited WRAP facilitators. There has been a significant increase in the number of WRAP training sessions delivered since the end of 2014. The greatest volume of WRAP training has taken place in schools with a significant increase in numbers of staff trained. Over 32,000 staff within schools were WRAP trained in 2015.

The Department has received a number of representations from schools about the availability of WRAP training, and we are working with Home Office and other partners to ensure that schools have access to the training they need.

Jointly with Home Office, the Department has also launched a new website, called Educate Against Hate, which brings together the best advice, support and resources available for parents, teachers and school leaders who want to learn how to protect young people from extremism and radicalisation. The website also includes references to Prevent training. http://www.educateagainsthate.com/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to extend the time limits on applications for bereavement allowance.

Priti Patel

The time limit for claiming Bereavement Allowance is three months from the date of death, which is consistent with the time limit for other welfare entitlements. We are not considering extending this at this time. We are, however, currently developing the new Bereavement Support Payment due to be implemented for new claims from April 2017, and we will assess the merits of further flexibilities on backdating as part of this work.