Tag: Roger Godsiff

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-10.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential costs and benefits of making available to the public country-by-country taxation reports submitted to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) by multinational companies; and whether HMRC plans to make those reports available to taxation authorities in other countries.

Mr David Gauke

The UK supports efforts to improve tax transparency. We initiated the international work on country-by-country (CbC) reporting to tax authorities during our G8 Presidency in 2013, calling on the OECD to develop a template for this as part of the BEPS project. The UK was also the first to commit to implementing the OECD model with legislation in Finance Act 2015. We signed the OECD agreement to share the CbC reports with other tax authorities in January 2016 and issued our final CbC reporting regulations on 26 February 2016.

HMRC is committed to sharing the information reported by MNEs with other relevant tax jurisdictions to assist in assessing international tax avoidance risks.

The Government believes that there is scope for greater transparency by pressing the case for public CbC reporting on a multilateral basis. As the Chancellor has said, this is something that the UK will seek to promote internationally.

The European Commission is preparing an impact assessment of public CbC reporting. We look forward to seeing the outcome of this analysis, which we expect to be published early next month, and will consider any proposal put forward by the Commission in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will meet with NICE, NHS England and Vertex to discuss the provision on the NHS of the drug Orkambi to treat cystic fibrosis.

George Freeman

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently consulting on its draft technology appraisal guidance on the use of Orkambi (lumacaftor in combination with ivacaftor) for the treatment of cystic fibrosis in people who are homozygous for the F508del mutation. Stakeholders, including the Department, NHS England and the manufacturer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, now have an opportunity to comment on this draft guidance.

Departmental officials remain ready to discuss any proposals from the company that could enable National Health Service patients to access the drug at a cost-effective price.

NICE expects to publish its final guidance in July 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34839, on what date the UK Embassy in Tel Aviv last raised the issue of demolitions with the Israeli government; and whether the specific question of the villages of Susiya and Um Al Hiran was raised with the government of Israel.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Our Embassy in Tel Aviv most recently raised concerns with the Israeli Government over the increase in demolitions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories on 21 April 2016. We did not specifically raise Susiya, or Bedouin villages such as Umm al-Hiran in southern Israel at this time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-06-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what links firms bidding to run the Land Registry have to offshore tax havens.

Anna Soubry

A government consultation seeking views on options to move operations of Land Registry to the private sector closed on 26 May. Government is currently analysing the responses but no final decisions have been made. We have not received any bids.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that other countries follow up the commitments made at the Supporting Syria conference held in the UK in February 2016.

Rory Stewart

DFID has worked closely with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and other departments, alongside the UN and Co-Hosts, to press countries to deliver on commitments they made at the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference. The Prime Minister and Co-Hosts wrote to Leaders of pledging countries in May, to encourage them to deliver on their pledges. Lobbying at senior level has also been carried out in bilateral meetings and at international meetings, such as the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings and the World Humanitarian Summit. The UN General Assembly in September will provide an important opportunity to review progress further and press for more.

DFID has also set up a Post-London Conference Financial Tracking Mechanism. This will track and report on delivery of the financial commitments made at the Conference, and will be a key tool to hold countries to account for their pledges.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many racehorses (a) died and (b) were destroyed as a result of training injuries in Britain in (i) 2013, (ii) 2014 and (iii) 2015.

George Eustice

Neither the Government nor the British Horseracing Authority holds information on racehorse fatalities as a result of training injuries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is his Department’s policy to reduce the overall civil service headcount in the current Parliament.

Ben Gummer

There is no central Cabinet Office policy to reduce the overall Civil Service headcount in the current Parliament. Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each department to determine based on their individual operational and policy requirements. Each department has their own spending agreements with HM Treasury for this Parliament and are responsible for ensuring they have the right workforce and capability in place to deliver their commitments.

Earlier this year, departments published their Single Departmental Plans, setting out the key programmes of work required to deliver the Government’s Manifesto commitments. Departments have been developing plans to ensure they have the workforce required to deliver their Single Departmental Plans.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to restrict television advertising for unhealthy food on programming likely to be watched by children.

Matt Hancock

We recognise the importance of tackling childhood obesity, which is caused by a number of complex factors. The Childhood Obesity Plan for Action, published in August, considered a number of different policy responses to address this problem. Additional advertising restrictions were considered as part of this process, but current restrictions in the UK are amongst the toughest in the world and the plan focuses on those areas which experts tell us are most effective.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will examine the effect of the revaluation of business rates for self-owned rooftop solar power on the solar industry taking account of the draft list of rateable values, published by the Valuation Office Agency.

Mr Marcus Jones

Business rates are based on valuations from the Valuation Office Agency and we do not intervene in their independent assessments. We have proposed a £3.4 billion transitional relief scheme to ensure that no ratepayer is unfairly penalised by the 2017 revaluation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to protect civilians in Syria.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK has been at the forefront of the humanitarian response to the conflict in Syria. To date, we have pledged over £1.1 billion aid in response to the crisis in Syria and the region, making us the second biggest bilateral donor after the United States. We are exploring with the UN and other major donors how best to ensure that the momentum on fund-raising is maintained over the longer term, including how to respond to the 2016 Appeals, once these have been issued. The UK has provided £6.7m for the Syrian civil defence teams (known as ‘White Helmets’) to carry out search and rescue, fire fighting and First Aid in besieged areas. They have saved over 14,840 lives since March 2013. We are also working with other international donors to establish and build up the Free Syrian Police, a moderate police force in opposition-controlled areas in Syria. We are also taking action internationally. The UK co-sponsored and lobbied hard for UN Security Council Resolutions 2165 and 2191 which enable the UN to deliver aid across borders, without the consent of the regime, to assist those in the hardest to reach areas. By 31 August 2015, the UN and its partners had delivered 175 convoys of aid cross-border.