Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Tuesday 6th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

7. How many prisoners have undertaken work experience before release in the last 12 months.

[The Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor (Mr David Gauke)]

In 2016-17, offenders completed 16 million hours of work and there were, on average, 11,200 offenders working in prison workshops. In the same period, 2,048 individuals were released on temporary licence for work-related purposes. The New Futures Network will aim to get even more prisoners working during their sentence and to see that that work leads to employment on release.

[John Mann]

I know that the Secretary of State is new in office, but people at Ranby Prison have been waiting for two years now to be able to get on with creating the sports facilities that they are capable of building inside— the seating, the dugouts for community sports, and even the changing rooms—but the one thing they have not been given is the Secretary of State’s permission to proceed with doing this commercial work. Could I incentivise him with perhaps a cup of tea afterwards, to concentrate his mind on why he needs to make this decision urgently?

[Mr Gauke]

Certainly, the prospect of a cup of tea with the hon. Gentleman does concentrate the mind, and I would be delighted to accept his invitation. We are trying to ensure that we have a prison system that encourages people to progress by having opportunities to gain experience of work, and I am keen to do that in this post.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Monday 9th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

T9. Universal credit is to be introduced in my constituency on 14 December, which, in my view, is indecent. The introduction should be delayed, as it will be a catastrophe for many children at Christmas. As the Secretary of State believes the opposite, will he accept my offer now of a visit to my constituency the week after its introduction, in the run-up to Christmas, to see whether I am right or he is right and what the impact will be?

[Mr Gauke]

I visit jobcentres all the time and what I hear is that universal credit is providing a more personalised support that is helping to get more people into work and that it is an important reform. Those who stand in the way of it are failing to help the people who need support.

Finance (No. 2) Bill

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Monday 11th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I very much support the hon. Lady’s cause, and she supports my cause that manufacturers and retailers should pass on the VAT abolition to customers, and we expect to see that happen.

I should like to turn to the way in which the Bill will support British business and ensure that our employees have the skills they need. The Government committed in the Budget to put stability first, because it gives businesses the certainty that they need to invest, grow and employ people. The core of our support for British business is low taxes, and the Budget provides the biggest ever cut in business rates, worth over £6.7 billion over the next five years. Measures in the Bill will do more. First, we will again cut the main rate of corporation tax and reduce it to 17% in 2020, ensuring that we have the lowest corporation tax in the G20. By the end of this Parliament, corporation tax cuts delivered since 2010 will save businesses almost £15 billion a year, providing an important boost for our international competitiveness.

Our labour market is delivering the highest employment in our history, but we need to ensure that it has the right skills. The Bill introduces an apprenticeship levy of 0.5% of an employer’s pay bill, where it exceeds £3 million, from April 2017. That will deliver 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2010. By 2019-20, Government spending on apprenticeships in cash terms will be double the level of spending in 2010-11. We will put funding in the hands of employers to ensure that it delivers the training that they need by ring-fencing apprenticeship funding in England.

In the last Parliament, we took important steps to help entrepreneurs who start and grow businesses. We also want to ensure that they can access the investment that they need as they grow, and to that end we are legislating to reduce the higher rate of capital gains tax from 28% to 20%, and the basic rate from 18% to 10% from April 2016. Gains on residential property and the receipt of carried interest will remain unchanged. Those changes will create an incentive to invest in shares over property, and will help British companies to access the finance that they need to expand and create more jobs.

Finally, the recent Budget took necessary and radical action to support the oil and gas tax regime through difficult times. The Bill will legislate for a key part of this strategy in permanently zero-rating petroleum revenue tax. From April 2016, petroleum revenue tax will be reduced from 35% to 0%. We believe that wherever possible, we should use the tax system to stimulate growth and investment, whatever the sector.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

I have heard all of this on skills before from the Government. Will the Minister explain the productivity puzzle? Productivity appears to have gone down, rather than up. Why is that, because in every Budget attention has been given to skills? What has gone wrong with productivity in this country?

[Mr Gauke]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. It is a long-standing issue for the United Kingdom economy. I would argue that the steps we have taken as a Government to ensure that we have a competitive, business-friendly tax environment, that we invest in skills and increase the number of apprenticeships, and that we spend more on transport infrastructure—we are spending £60 billion over the course of this Parliament—will help to drive up productivity. Without those measures, our productivity levels would not be as high as they are. Further work still needs to be done, but policies that result in, for example, financial crisis so that we cannot afford transport infrastructure spending or that drive investment away from this country by being unfriendly to business will only damage productivity and will not help.

[Mr Gauke]

The Budget brings forward the expenditure on transport infrastructure in this Parliament so that we can gain the benefits of that investment earlier. The hon. Gentleman should welcome that.

Before discussing the measures in the Bill that address avoidance and evasion, I shall briefly address the issue that the Prime Minister covered earlier today—the Panama papers. Those papers have again put the spotlight on the global scourge of tax evasion and avoidance. As the Prime Minister set out earlier today, we are taking further action. First, HMRC and the National Crime Agency will lead a new joint taskforce to analyse the Panama papers and take rapid action where there is wrongdoing. It will initially have new funding of up to £10 million and will report to the Chancellor and the Home Secretary later this year.

Secondly, we will bring forward plans to introduce a criminal offence for corporations which fail to stop their staff facilitating tax evasion, ahead of next month’s summit to tackle corruption in all its forms. For the first time, companies will be held criminally liable if they fail to stop their employees facilitating tax evasion. Thirdly, our Crown dependencies and overseas territories have agreed to provide UK law enforcement and tax agencies with full access to information on the beneficial ownership of companies. We have finalised arrangements with all of them except Anguilla and Guernsey. Guernsey currently has elections and its Parliament is not sitting, but we expect both those territories to follow in the coming days and months. For the first time, UK tax and law enforcement agencies will see exactly who really owns or controls every company in those territories. This Government’s message is clear: there are no safe havens for tax evaders, and no one should be in any doubt that the days of hiding money offshore to evade tax are gone.

[John Mann]

The Minister is generous in giving way. Are the agreements with the six Caribbean overseas territories still non-reciprocal or has that changed?

[Mr Gauke]

The move is towards reciprocal agreements, but for the first time our law enforcement agencies and our tax authority, HMRC, will have access to information held about beneficial ownership. That is a significant step forward and must be viewed in the light of the fact that we have introduced the common reporting standard, meaning that much more information is provided automatically to our tax authority in respect of money held there.

[John Mann]

rose—

[Mr Gauke]

I want to make a little more progress.

It is vital that we support businesses through low taxes. We must also ensure that tax is paid where it is due. This Government have set out a comprehensive package to tackle avoidance and evasion. In total this package will raise £12 billion by 2020-21. The Bill implements a number of those measures.

First, we are leading the way internationally by being the first country to adopt the OECD recommendations on hybrid mismatch arrangements. The Bill will introduce new rules to stop multinationals avoiding paying their fair share of UK tax through the use of cross-border business structures or financial transactions. It is estimated that this will raise more than £1.3 billion over the next five years. Secondly, we are ensuring that profits from the development of UK property are always subject to UK tax. This will level the playing field between UK-based and non-UK-based developers and raise £2.2 billion in revenue by 2020-21.

Finally, we will target the unfairness that many small businesses feel when they compete against companies on the internet. Overseas sellers are evading between £1 billion and £1.5 billion of VAT each year on sales to UK customers via the internet, unfairly undercutting British business and abusing the trust of UK customers. The Bill will provide stronger powers to require overseas sellers to appoint a UK tax representative who can be made liable for the VAT owed. This is part of a package of measures designed to level the playing field for firms trading in the UK. Once again, this Government have introduced a Bill which makes it clear that everyone has a responsibility to pay the tax they owe.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Wednesday 4th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I note that the hon. Gentleman has raised the issue of English votes for English laws, and that he gets very worked up about it. Let me remind him and the House that, just a year ago, he said that English votes for English laws was

“an issue that the Scottish people could not care less about”.

That does not seem to be his approach any more.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

7. What assessment he has made of the level of anti-Semitism in Scotland.

Finance Bill

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Monday 1st July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

The double taxation agreements are part of the international structure, but that is not the only element that determines whether the UK tax system is competitive. The point I am arguing is that our engagement and the leadership shown by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor represent the right way to go about changing how multinationals are taxed. I would consider, for example, what came out of the Lough Erne summit and, more broadly, measures to ensure that people pay the right amount of tax, as well as the dramatic progress that has been made including, on tax evasion, the exchange of information between Crown dependencies and overseas territories, and indeed the creation of a new international norm based on the American Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA. That is a big step forward, and we continue to take steps, leading the way in this multinational effort to give tax authorities new tools to deal with tax avoidance by providing more information about beneficial ownership. All those are steps that can help us to deal with tax avoidance and tax evasion. I hope they will be welcomed by all Members of the House.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

May I say how pleased I am to hear that the Minister is a converted Blairite these days? In extolling the virtues of what he has done with the overseas territories, he has ignored the fact that none of us, including Treasury officials, knows who owns what company and what company structures are there, and therefore what moneys are around. That includes some of the big banks and state-owned banks.

[Mr Gauke]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who brings me on neatly to the next issue, which is registration of ownership. New clause 12(2) asks for a review of the effects of

“a global standard for public registration of ownership of companies and trusts via a convention on tax transparency”.

At the recent Lough Erne summit, the G8 leaders all committed to work internationally to ensure that tax collectors and law enforcers can easily obtain information about who really owns companies. That represents real progress in the UK’s aim to secure a substantial change in international tax transparency. That is an important point and something that we have been pressing. We have agreement from the overseas territories to develop their plans to ensure that there is access to information on beneficial ownership.

[John Mann]

I thank the Minister for generously giving way. We do not even know in this country about thousands of companies based here because inadequate returns are made to Companies House, which has neither the wherewithal nor, it would appear, the desire to do anything about that. How on earth is anyone meant to get on top of structures abroad when we are not even on top of corporate structures in this country?

[Mr Gauke]

The hon. Gentleman tempts me into an area that I am very much looking forward to debating with him on Thursday afternoon. He has secured a debate on that very subject, so perhaps I shall keep some of my powder dry for that occasion. The point that I am making is that the Government are making substantial progress in this area and we also have an international agenda, ensuring that other countries move as well, so that there is much more information about beneficial ownership. That is not to say that the job is done and that there are not challenges that we face, but we have made a great deal of progress, particularly at the recent Lough Erne summit. That should be acknowledged.

Returning to new clause 12, the final element takes us back to an issue that we have debated previously, which is a requirement on the Government to assess how UK companies could report avoidance of tax in developing countries and how assistance could be offered in the recovery of that tax.

Under the disclosure of tax avoidance schemes—DOTAS—regime, UK companies are already obliged to report to HMRC their use of tax avoidance schemes carrying certain hallmarks. That applies to avoidance schemes that have an impact on developing countries, but only where UK taxes are affected.

The Opposition’s new clause 12 effectively suggests that Her Majesty’s Government should require UK companies to report their use of tax schemes, so that developing countries’ tax authorities can be notified of tax avoidance schemes, and that the Government should assist them in recovering any tax lost. It is unlikely that HMRC will have sufficient understanding of the details of developing countries’ tax systems to enable it to do that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Tuesday 29th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I will not get into individual cases. As I have said, the OECD, at the urging of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor, is looking at these issues. We want to ensure that there is an international tax system whereby economic activity is taxed where it occurs. That has been overlooked for too long and we are determined to address it.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

Will the Minister join me in calling on all political parties in this country to refuse or return any donations from tax avoiders?

[Mr Gauke]

I think perhaps the hon. Gentleman might want to have a word with those on the Opposition Front Bench before he ventures into that territory.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Tuesday 24th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

T3. A listed building that is dismantled and rebuilt as a new dwelling will be zero rated, but people will not be able to renovate an empty barn for the same price if it is VAT-able at 20%. Is that or is that not a perverse incentive to demolish empty listed buildings?

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

As financial advice, I am not sure it is necessarily wise to dismantle and then rebuild a listed building to make a saving, but there is an anomaly in the tax system: people pay VAT for a repair on a listed building, but they do not pay VAT for an alteration. That does not seem right.

Finance (No. 4) Bill

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Wednesday 18th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

Let me make a point about the arguments surrounding ambient temperature. This test has been in place since 1984. We do not expect staff to take detailed temperature readings every time they sell a pasty. HMRC will take a pragmatic approach, and provide businesses with guidance, taking into account the responses of businesses on how to implement the change. I have to point out that existing simplification schemes are already available to allow businesses to calculate their VAT liability by reference to a fixed percentage of their turnover without requiring staff to consider the temperature of every product sold. This is a pragmatic approach, already in existence.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Gauke]

Let me deal now with listed buildings. There are some areas of confusion. The fact is that repairs and maintenance to all buildings, including listed buildings, have always been liable to VAT, while alterations to non-listed buildings have been since 1984.

Finance (No. 2) Bill

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Monday 11th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

The fact is that the measures that the Government have taken have had the support of the IMF, the OECD, the World Bank and the Governor of the Bank of England. We are getting widespread support for taking these tough measures. We also have the support of the director general of the CBI. There is an increasingly large consensus—it even includes Tony Blair—that if we simply deny the existence of the deficit and avoid taking these tough decisions, we shall face a worse problem later on. It is absolutely right that we should take these measures.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

On the Deloitte survey, does the Minister agree that business people make investment decisions based on how they see the future? What will happen if those business people see a murky future? Will they not invest less? Would not that result in the Government’s optimistic predictions of private sector growth, on which they are relying, not coming to fruition?

[Mr Gauke]

I shall tell the hon. Gentleman what would drive down investment: the fear that the Government were not prepared to take the tough decisions. Taking decisions for the long term to tackle the deficit will encourage private sector growth, and this Government are confident that we are taking steps in the right direction. We are also confident that a policy of reducing public expenditure rather than increasing taxation—which is the forecast of our plans to reduce the deficit—is the right way forward. Spending that is funded by borrowing is just a recipe for higher taxation and bigger cuts in the future, burdening future generations with the problems created by this one. That approach would drive down investment. Simply ignoring the matter would not help investment; it would not be fair and it would not be progressive.

--- Later in debate ---

[John Mann]

rose—

[Mr Gauke]

rose—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Mann and David Gauke

Tuesday 13th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

We have provided more detail of the distributional impact of this VAT rise than the previous Government ever did or would have done had they increased VAT last December. The fact is that this Chancellor—like this Treasury team—has the courage of his convictions to do the right thing, unlike his predecessors, who neither pursued the policies they believed in nor had a leader they believed in.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

3. What recent representations he has received on the level of the UK national debt relative to that of other countries; and if he will make a statement.