Tag: Stewart Malcolm McDonald

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the charity Broken Rainbow on renewing funding from her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley

The Government is committed to tackling domestic violence and abuse. Broken Rainbow plays an important role in supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims of domestic abuse, and the Home Office provided £120,000 to support the Broken Rainbow helpline for the 2015/16 financial year.

We are carefully considering ongoing funding of national helplines, in close consultation with helpline providers, and decisions on renewing funding will be announced shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations his Department have received from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on the list of addresses of British entities registered with the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama published by the ICIJ on their website on 9 May 2016.

Mr David Gauke

We welcome the statement from the source of the Panama Papers that they are willing to speak to law enforcement bodies. Tax evasion and money laundering are global issues, which is why the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and National Crime Agency (NCA) taskforce is working with international tax and law enforcement partners to take up this offer, and develop as many leads as possible from the data that is currently available.

HMRC has been in regular contact with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who have refused to share their full data with HMRC, stating that their policy is not to hand over such material. While we welcome the steps the ICIJ has taken in exposing this issue, its decision not to release the full set of information is disappointing.

HMRC has begun analytical work on all the data published by the ICIJ, in addition to a wide range of other intelligence. As a result of this, the HMRC and NCA taskforce has opened a number of detailed and forensic enquiries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Bahrain.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to meet its human rights obligations and to honour all conventions to which it is a party. We welcome the progress made by Bahrain on their reform programme, particularly with organisations that provide independent oversight of police behaviour and standards in detention.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he was made aware of Volkswagen’s decision to delay Jones Day’s comprehensive investigation into diesel emissions until the fourth quarter of 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Department for Transport was informed of this decision by Volkswagen on 22 April. This coincided with the public announcement from the company.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make it his policy to require UK Overseas Territories to create and publish registers showing the beneficial owners of companies registered in those territories.

James Duddridge

Our priority for the Overseas Territories has been for them to hold accurate and current beneficial ownership information on island in central registers or the equivalent, where they do not already do so, and to allow for UK law enforcement to access that information. The agreements signed this week achieve this and represent a significant step forward in our ability to counter criminal activity and should be welcomed.

As the Prime Minister, the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) said in the House on 11 April, only about three countries in the world, including Britain, are implementing open accessible central registers of company beneficial ownership information. The actions taken by the Overseas Territories put them well ahead of many of our international partners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many meetings he has had with representatives of Volkswagen to discuss diesel emissions in 2016 to date.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Secretary of State met with Paul Willis, Managing Director of VW UK, and other representatives of Volkswagen to discuss diesel emissions in May. Ministers have written to Volkswagen on several occasions in 2016. Department for Transport officials hold regular meetings with Volkswagen.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps at the Anti-Corruption Summit being held in London in May 2016 to press for an international agreement on stricter rules concerning tax havens and beneficial owners.

Mr Hugo Swire

The Summit will address a range of measures to tackle corruption, including promoting transparency around beneficial ownership. Further information about the London Anti-Corruption Summit can be found on the summit web pages of the GOV.UK website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to improve tax transparency.

Mr David Gauke

I refer the Hon Member to the my earlier response to question 14 during Oral Questions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions has he had with Volkswagen on the timeframe that has been agreed to complete software and technical fixes for all its UK consumers.

Andrew Jones

The Secretary of State has met with the Chief Executive of Volkswagen UK to press him to ensure that the technical fixes are completed as quickly as possible for UK consumers.

The UK’s Vehicle Certification Agency issued the type approval for some Volkswagen Group vehicles. For these the agency is working with the manufacturer to review and approve the proposed fixes. They are carrying out tests to ensure that after the fix is applied the vehicles do not have an illegal defeat device, that they meet all the legal requirements including emissions, and that other vehicles characteristics are unchanged, including fuel consumption and engine noise.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Malcolm McDonald on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assurances he has received from Vauxhall that all owners of Zafira B models were informed about the changes to the vehicle safety recall relating to those cars.

Andrew Jones

To address the latest reported fires, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency told Vauxhall that a secondary safety recall (R/2016/104) was needed on Vauxhall Zafira B models equipped with manual control heating and ventilation systems. Under the requirements of the Code of Practice on vehicle safety defects and the General Product Safety Regulations, manufacturers are required to inform owners/keepers of vehicles that are affected by a vehicle safety recall of the risk and what action they are conducting to address the issue.