Tag: Stephen Phillips

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2016-02-24.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of successful prosecutions for tax evasion.

Mr David Gauke

At Summer Budget 2015, the Government announced an investment of £800 million to tackle non‑compliance and tax evasion.

This investment includes £266 million and 670 new HMRC staff to tackle tax fraud, which will lead to a tripling of the number of criminal investigations into the most serious and complex tax crimes.

The Government is also consulting on new criminal powers to tackle offshore tax evasion and corporate facilitation of tax evasion.

This all builds on the Government’s earlier investment into HMRC, which enabled the Department to achieve a seven-fold increase in the number of prosecutions over the course of the last parliament and contributed to the protection over £2 billion of vital public revenue last year.

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 Government has formed a view on the legality of the maritime claims made by the People’s Republic of China in the South China Sea as set out in the nine-dotted line map annexed to the Notes Verbales communicated to the UN Secretary-General in May 2009.

Mr Hugo Swire

The UK takes no position on the underlying and conflicting claims in the South China Sea. We encourage all parties to resolve all their maritime disputes peacefully, in accordance with international law, for example the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any aircraft of the Royal Air Force have exercised or sought to exercise freedom of navigation or passage rights over disputed areas of the South China Sea claimed by the government of the People’s Republic of China since 2010.

Penny Mordaunt

The RAF regularly flies in the vicinity of the South China Sea on transit to countries such as Brunei and Australia. Information on the exact route of every such flight area since 2010 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The UK strongly asserts its right, and supports that of all States, to exercise Freedom of Navigation in accordance with the International Rules Based System.

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.