Tag: Stephen Phillips

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-05-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the effect of the Government’s steps to tackle aggressive tax avoidance on the revenues derived from general taxation.

Mr David Gauke

During this Parliament, we have already announced that we will legislate for more than 25 measures to tackle avoidance and evasion, which are forecast to raise £16 billion by 2021.

During the last Parliament, we made over 40 changes to tax law, closing down loopholes and introducing major reforms to the UK tax system. These were forecast to have raised £12 billion by 2016.

During the last Parliament, as a result of actions to tackle tax evasion, tax avoidance, aggressive tax planning and non-compliance, HM Revenue and Customs secured around £100 billion in additional compliance revenue. This includes over £38 billion from big businesses and £1.2 billion extra from the UK’s richest people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK is entitled to be represented before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Philippines v. China.

Mr Hugo Swire

The UK is not party to the case of Philippines v China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and is therefore not entitled to be formally represented before the PCA in this case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, on how many occasions in each of the last two calendar years her Department has been notified by outside consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials.

Nick Gibb

The Department was notified by a third party of a breach of document retention or security policy relating to confidential or secure materials on two occasions during 2014.

No other notifications were received during the period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to dual the A17 between Newark and Sleaford.

Andrew Jones

The A17 forms part of the local road network and is the responsibility of Lincolnshire County Council and Nottinghamshire County Council. Responsibility for maintenance of the road rests with the relevant Local Highway Authority. Plans for future improvement and requests for funding are matters for the relevant Local Highway Authorities to put forward to their relevant Local Enterprise Partnerships.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK plans to be represented before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Philippines v. China.

Mr Hugo Swire

The UK is not party to the case of Philippines v China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and is therefore not entitled to be formally represented before the PCA in this case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, on how many occasions in each of the last two calendar years her Department has been notified by outside consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials.

Andrea Leadsom

No notifications have been received.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure the economic empowerment of women in the developing world.

Justine Greening

The economic empowerment of women is a top priority for my Department. In September 2015 at the UN General Assembly and Post-2015 Summit, the UK and UNWomen hosted the event Transforming Economies: Empowering Women and Girls. The Call to Action launched at this event secured over 150 commitments to action from governments, development institutions, civil society and the private sector. These will all help deliver the Global Goal targets for women’s economic empowerment.

We support a wide range of programmes to increase women’s opportunities for employment, ownership and control over economic assets and ability to start and run businesses. Since 2011, DFID have helped 2.5m women to improve their land and property rights and 35m women to access financial services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on how many occasions his Department has been notified by external consultants or other third parties of breaches by employees or subcontractors of those consultants of document retention or security policies relating to confidential or secure materials in each of the last two years.

Mr David Lidington

Our records show 57 breaches by commercial third party suppliers in handling secure materials for the years in question. This is broken down by year as follows:

2014/15 – 47

2015/16 – 10

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has rigorous formal procedures for reporting, investigating and monitoring any incidents involving the loss or compromise of sensitive data for which it is responsible. Our policies and procedures are designed to ensure that we are compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998 and HMG’s Security Policy Framework. Responsibility for this compliance is shared with Suppliers through appropriate contract terms and conditions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to assist schools in Lincolnshire to resolve recent issues relating to the provision of financial services by SERCO on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council.

Mr Sam Gyimah

We’ve been in correspondence on this issue and theHon. Memberis aware that the management of financial services to schools is the devolved responsibility of the local authority.

The local authority has confirmed they are aware of the problem. They have put in place an emergency project board, and are processing payments manually where necessary. Schools concerned about urgent payments should contact the local authority who will intervene and make an emergency payment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made a formal request for the Government of the People’s Republic of China to state the legal basis for its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Mr Hugo Swire

The UK has consistently called on all parties to clarify the legal basis for their claims in the South China Sea. We continue to urge all parties to pursue their claims peacefully in accordance with international law, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised the situation in the South China Sea with China during his recent visit to Beijing on 5 January.