Tag: Paul Flynn

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which projects have been undertaken to date under the UK-China Memorandum and Understanding on Enhancing Cooperation in the Field of Civil Nuclear Industry Fuel Cycle Supply; and what the (a) location and (b) cost is of each such project.

Andrea Leadsom

A number of communication meetings, seminars, and reciprocal visits have taken place under the Memorandum of Understanding. No projects have as yet been taken forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the annual budget is for the UK’s Centre of Nuclear Excellence.

Andrea Leadsom

The Centre of Nuclear Excellence is a Cumbrian partnership of public and private organisations which aims to maximise the benefit of the region’s nuclear capability and expertise for the local economy and UK as a whole. The organisations involved support the initiative’s work with in-kind contributions of manpower.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the activities of the new UK-China joint research and innovation centre will be subject to oversight by (a) the Office for Nuclear Regulation and (b) her Department’s national nuclear stakeholder forum.

Andrea Leadsom

The Joint Research and Innovation Centre (JRIC) is envisaged to be the subject of a commercial agreement between the National Nuclear Laboratory and the Chinese National Nuclear Corporation.

These two organisations are still in the process of negotiating such an agreement and will need to consider details on the structures, funding, governance and accountability of the JRIC. As such, it is too early for Government to be able to comment on the outcomes of such a negotiation.

We continue to maintain an interest in developments of these discussions and will work, where appropriate, with our counterparts in the Chinese government to ensure that outcomes are mutually beneficial to the research landscape of both nations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) his Department and (b) HM Revenue and Customs has asked the (i) Panorama programme or (ii) Guardian for the documents reporting on the use by UK citizens of unregistered accounts in jurisdictions abroad to evade paying tax in the UK was based.

Mr David Gauke

I can confirm that HM Revenue and Custom (HMRC) has formally asked the BBC Panorama programme, the Guardian newspaper and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for all data in their possession relating to off shore tax evasion.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-12.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on which dates he discussed with senior officials at HM Revenue and Customs whether maximisation of recovery of unpaid tax liabilities from UK residents holding private unregistered accounts offshore should be prioritised ahead of prosecuting alleged offenders.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has a longstanding approach to tax evasion, which is based on collecting the tax and interest due, changing taxpayer behaviour to discourage them from evading in the future, and enforcing the most appropriate and effective penalties. This approach was set out by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2002^[1] and has not changed.

They have a range of enforcement tools at their disposal, including criminal prosecution and civil sanctions. In many cases, and when the evidence supports this, the most appropriate action is to pursue criminal charges.

HMRC therefore use the criminal route where they have the strongest evidence of criminal intent, for serial tax evaders and for people who deliberately conceal information when they are investigated by HMRC.

In 2010 this Government increased the resources available for prosecution and as a result the number of prosecutions has increased by a factor of five.

[1] http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/2002/nov/07/tax-fraud

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with (a) the Crown Prosecution Service, (b) the Attorney General, (c) HM Revenue and Customs and (d) the Financial Conduct Authority on the use by UK residents of the provisions of the European Savings Directive to avoid paying UK tax by opening anonymous bank accounts in jurisdictions abroad since 1 January 2015.

Mr David Gauke

The European Savings Directive has been in force since 2005. It is a mechanism for achieving tax compliance through either disclosure of investment income data to the tax jurisdiction of the individual concerned or (in limited circumstances) applying withholding tax at source as an alternative to information disclosure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which HM Revenue and Customs officials saw the list of bank accounts held at the HSBC private bank in Geneva, known as the Falciani list, as passed to the Government by the French financial authorities; what evaluation was conducted of that list on its receipt; and when Ministers in his Department were first made aware of the information on that list.

Mr David Gauke

On receipt of the list HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) set up a project, called ‘Operation SOLACE’, which at its peak had around 300 tax specialists systematically examining the leaked HSBC Suisse data, to assess how it could be used to identify tax evasion and whether it provided sufficient evidence to support enforcement action against UK resident account holders.

The HSBC Suisse data initially revealed 6,800 ‘entities’ – individuals, businesses and trusts – but this contained duplication (some people had multiple accounts). Removing duplication left around 3,600 entities, all of which HMRC have examined.

HMRC have investigated and challenged more than 1,000 account holders, and collected £135 million from them in unpaid tax, interest and fines.

HMRC received the data from the French in April 2010 under very strict international treaty conditions, which limited its use to tax purposes only and prevented HMRC from sharing the data with other law enforcement authorities for investigating other potential offences.

Since 2010 we have asked the French authorities on a number of occasions for permission to use the data for purposes wider than tax collection.

The French authorities gave written confirmation on 23 February 2015 that they were lifting restrictions on the use and sharing of the data with other law enforcement agencies and regulators for the purpose of investigating criminal offences.

As a result, HMRC has recently held a multi-agency meeting to discuss how the stolen HSBC Suisse data can be shared with them.

Ministers were not made aware of any specific cases under the long standing principle of taxpayer confidentiality and HMRC operational independence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to permit publication of data by banks in the UK on the aggregate bank holdings of residents in other jurisdictions using the structure developed by the Bank for International Settlements for banking data collection.

Mr David Gauke

UK Banks are already subject to extensive disclosure requirements which have been substantially strengthened under this Government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what communications he has had with Mr David Hartnett, the former head of tax collection at HM Revenue and Customs, since he left that post to advise HSBC in 2014.

Mr David Gauke

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has had no communications with David Hartnett in an official capacity since his departure from HM Customs and Excise in 2012.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with the US (a) Treasury and (b) Justice Department on HSBC’s licence to operate in the US since HSBC’s prosecution by the US authorities for facilitating money laundering in 2012.

Mr David Gauke

Treasury Ministers and officials regularly discuss a wide range of issues with their counterparts in foreign jurisdictions.