Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 3 January (HL4167), how many of the 687 employers named and shamed for non-compliance with the national minimum wage since October 2013 identified further arrears, not included in the sum of arrears for which they were named, under the self-correction mechanism introduced by HM Revenue and Customs in 2015; what is the combined total of those further, self-corrected arrears; and to how many workers those further, self-corrected arrears were owed.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Self-correction was introduced in 2015 and additional arrears recorded in 2015-16 data. Employers are not named for additional self-corrected arrears. Due to the small number of cases involved in addition to those provided in response to Written Question 52385, publishing aggregate self-correction data could allow individual employers to be identified, and would amount to naming them.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether waste operators can distribute Landfill Communities Fund monies directly to projects, or must do so through an environmental body.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Landfill operators can only distribute monies from the Landfilll Communities Fund to environmental bodies. In order to receive money directly from a landfill operator, a project would have to register as an environmental body with the scheme’s regulator, ENTRUST.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much revenue would be raised if all air fares for aircraft departing from UK airports were subject to a tax at 20 per cent.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Such a form of taxation would be in breach of the UK’s obligations under its bilateral Air Service Agreements, the 1944 Chicago Convention and EU law. Consequently, no such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much revenue would be raised if aviation fuel were subject to the same rate of tax as fuel for motor vehicles.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
In accordance with its bilateral Air Service Agreements, the 1944 Chicago Convention and EU law, the UK does not tax aviation fuel. Consequently, no such assessments have been made.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of how much revenue will be raised from Air Passenger Duty this financial year, and how much would need to be raised to compensate for the loss of fuel tax and VAT on air fares.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The government expects APD to raise £3.1 billion over the financial year 2015-16.
In accordance with the long standing 1944 Chicago Convention, its bilateral Air Service Agreements and EU law, the UK does not tax aviation fuel or charge VAT on air fares. Consequently, the government does not consider this lost revenue and no such estimates have been made.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the grant from Viridor Credits to Twickenham Rowing Club was audited by ENTRUST, and what assessment they have made of the environmental objectives that grant fulfils.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Landfill Communities Fund is a tax credit scheme. It allows landfill operators to gain a tax credit against 90% of the voluntary donations they make to environmental bodies for spending on certain prescribed objectives.
The prescribed objectives include:
within the vicinity of a landfill site.
ENTRUST, the independent regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund assesses and approves applications for project funding to ensure they meet the objectives of the scheme. ENTRUST also carries out a programme of assurance under which a cross-section of projects are selected for audit to ensure they meet the prescribed objectives, and that funds are spent compliantly.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the grant from Viridor Credits to Holy Trinity Church in Wallington was audited by ENTRUST and what assessment they have made of environmental objectives that grant fulfils.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Landfill Communities Fund is a tax credit scheme. It allows landfill operators to gain a tax credit against 90% of the voluntary donations they make to environmental bodies for spending on certain prescribed objectives.
The prescribed objectives include:
within the vicinity of a landfill site.
ENTRUST, the independent regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund assesses and approves applications for project funding to ensure they meet the objectives of the scheme. ENTRUST also carries out a programme of assurance under which a cross-section of projects are selected for audit to ensure they meet the prescribed objectives, and that funds are spent compliantly.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the grant from Viridor Credits to All Saints Church in Kingston was audited by ENTRUST, and what assessment they have made of environmental objectives that grant fulfils.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Landfill Communities Fund is a tax credit scheme. It allows landfill operators to gain a tax credit against 90% of the voluntary donations they make to environmental bodies for spending on certain prescribed objectives.
The prescribed objectives include:
within the vicinity of a landfill site.
ENTRUST, the independent regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund assesses and approves applications for project funding to ensure they meet the objectives of the scheme. ENTRUST also carries out a programme of assurance under which a cross-section of projects are selected for audit to ensure they meet the prescribed objectives, and that funds are spent compliantly.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the decision to give Landfill Communities Fund contributions by Viridor regarding the Beddington landfill site to the Wilton Music Hall in Tower Hamlets and All Saints Church in Kingston, which are not situated in the communities affected by that site.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Landfill Communities Fund allows a landfill operator to gain a tax credit against 90 per cent of the voluntary donations it makes to environmental bodies for spending on certain prescribed objectives. The restoration of a building of historic interest or place of religious worship within the vicinity of a landfill site is one of these objectives.
ENTRUST, the regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund publishes guidance which describes the vicinity of a landfill sites as within approximately 10 miles of a site. The works at Wilton Music Hall and All Saints Church fall within this range.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether charities that distribute Landfill Communities Fund money should be wholly independent of waste companies bidding for contracts with waste authorities.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) allows landfill operators to claim a 90 per cent tax credit on voluntary contributions made to Environmental Bodies, for spending on certain prescribed objectives.
Environmental Bodies do not need to be charities but they must be non-profit making, and not controlled by the landfill operator or a local authority. Environmental Bodies are also precluded from using funds for the benefit of the contributing landfill operator.
All LCF-funded projects undertaken by Environmental Bodies are approved by ENTRUST, the regulator of the LCF, to ensure they meet the requirements of the scheme. Details of all projects approved by ENTRUST are published on their website.