The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what total amount his Department has spent on consultant fees relating to the Intercity Express Programme to date.
Claire Perry
From 2005 to October 2009, £21m was spent. Since then further spend has been incurred taking the total as at February 2015 to £46m.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-26.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the regulation of the practice of dark pool trading by high frequency bank traders.
Andrea Leadsom
Treasury Ministers regularly meet with Ministers in other departments as part of normal Government business. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.
Dark pool trading is subject to regulation under the markets in financial instruments directive (2004/39/EC) (MiFID). The new MiFIR Regulation (600/2014/EU) recently agreed as part of the “MiFID 2” negotiations will impose significant limits on dark pool trading in the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Great Western direct award will specify that guards will be responsible for the opening and closing of doors on the new Intercity Express Programme trains.
Claire Perry
Negotiations are continuing between the Department for Transport and First Great Western over the detail of the next franchise Direct Award.
As a matter of general policy, the Department does not specify numbers of staff or how they should be deployed as this is an operational matter; which the train operator is better placed to manage and understand.
However, we do support the resilience and efficiency offered by a train fleet and infrastructure which can operate as Driver Only Operation (DOO) as set out in the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) Specification which is in the public domain.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the titles of all reports covering the effects of the use of a UK nuclear weapon produced by (a) his Department and (b) the Atomic Weapons Establishment and its predecessor body for his Department in the last 30 years.
Mr Philip Dunne
The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Hitachi and Agility Trains on future maintenance depots for the new Intercity Express Programme trains in use for (a) Great Western and (b) East Coast services.
Claire Perry
Staffing issues at maintenance depots on the East Coast and Great Western are a matter for Hitachi and the respective Train Operator. The Department does not get involved.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-11.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has sought a meeting with Hervé Falciani to discuss the details of unregistered bank accounts held by UK citizens in HSBC Private Bank in Switzerland.
Mr David Gauke
How operations are conducted is a matter for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) under the long standing principle of operational independence.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what arrangements his Department has put in place for situations where application forms requesting an increase in local housing allowance (LHA) to cover an increase in rent applied to an eligible LHA claimant are lost by his Department and the applicant consequently faces eviction.
Steve Webb
The Department for Work and Pensions provides funding for Housing Benefit to Local Authorities in Great Britain. Responsibility for the day to day administration of Housing Benefit lies with Local Authorities.
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.