Tag: Paul Flynn

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.

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

To ask the Prime Minister, what due diligence he undertook on the background of Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint before his appointment as a Minister of State in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and what communications he has had with Lord Green in respect of the accounts of British residents and nationals held by HSBC in Switzerland since 2005 since 7 February 2015.

Mr David Cameron

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson) on 11 February 2015, Official Report, columns 774-775.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-10.

To ask the Attorney General, what discussions he has had with the Crown Prosecution Service in respect of the possibility of prosecuting HSBC Bank for conspiracy to assist some of its customers to evade paying tax.

Mr Robert Buckland

The Attorney General and I frequently meet representatives of the Crown Prosecution Service to discuss a variety of issues. However, as was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide details of all such meetings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what dates the no-fly zones around nuclear facilities have been violated since May 2010; and what steps his Department has taken to ensure such violations do not occur in future.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) maintains a complaint log for three years. Since June 2011, it has received 12 complaints from onsite Security Guards about aircraft which they believe may have overflown their respective sites at low level. 　 The dates of these incidents were:

12/06/2011	25/07/2012	25/08/2013
14/06/2011	02/01/2013	09/09/2013
24/06/2011	14/01/2013	03/10/2013
17/08/2011	15/08/2013	21/05/2014

All these recorded incidents were investigated, but due to a lack of evidence the only case which led to a successful prosecution occurred on 25 August 2013 and involved the use of a small unmanned aerial vehicle.

The need to report to the CAA all aircraft which appear to be low flying is written in the nuclear site’s security procedures manual. 　The successful prosecution demonstrates that the CAA investigates all such reported incidents and that it will take enforcement action when there is sufficient evidence available.　In addition, both the CAA and the Department for Energy and Climate Change seek to learn what they can from the investigations into reported incidents.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will publish all documentation relating to the nuclear power investment signed with the Prime Minister of China covering Chinese state companies on 17 June 2014; and if he will publish all subsequent documentation.

Michael Fallon

On June 17 2014, the UK and China signed the Joint Statement on Civil Nuclear Energy Co-operation. DECC was also a co-signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Co-operation in the Field of Civil Nuclear Industry Fuel Cycle Supply Chain. Both documents are online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/multimillion-boost-to-uk-economy-as-china-and-uk-government-sign-civil-nuclear-agreement-and-sign-agreement-to-deepen-cooperation-on-climate-change

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-10.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the names of individuals with whom HM Revenue and Customs has reached an out of court agreement to settle cases of tax evasion that came to light as a result of information from HSBC’s Swiss branch; and what the amount of tax evaded was in each case.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can only name taxpayers in specific instances. The rules governing HMRC’s entitlement to publish details of deliberate defaulters are set out in Section 94 Finance Act 2009.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assistance the UK has given to the developments of the SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) project; and what collaborative scientific research projects the UK supports between Israel, Iran and the Palestinian Authority.

Greg Clark

The UK became an observer member of the SESAME Interim Council in 2001. Professor Samar Hasnain of Liverpool University has represented the UK Government at the SESAME Council, following his appointment in 2004. The Government has provided funding since 2008/9 to Professor Samar Hasnain to support his role as the UK’s representative on the SESAME council as follows:

– 2008/9 – 2013/14: £15k per annum

– Additional funding of £22k per annum was recently approved following a review of the project for the financial years 2014/15 – 2015/16

Professor Samar Hasnain in his role as an observer undertakes various activities on behalf of the Government for the progress of SESAME including:

– Representing the Government at the Interim Council meetings

– Producing an annual report on SESAME and its benefits to the UK; and

– Spreading awareness of the existence and desirability of SESAME to existing and potential SESAME member countries.

He is also an active member of the Science Advisory Committee which meets twice a year.

This Department does not currently fund any other collaborative scientific research projects between Israel, Iran and the Palestinian Authority.