Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of which infectious diseases are among the leading causes of death for girls and women aged 10 to 19 in Africa, and what steps they are taking, working with individual countries bilaterally, to tackle those diseases.
Answered by Baroness Verma
World Health Organisation (WHO) data show that the leading causes of death from infectious diseases amongst adolescent girls and women in Africa are HIV/AIDS, diarrhoeal diseases, respiratory infections, meningitis and malaria. HIV/AIDS is not only the leading cause of death itself, but is also responsible for deaths from many other infectious diseases. The UK is the second largest funder of HIV prevention, care and treatment, and has pledged up to £1 billion for the 2014-16 replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Half of Global Fund resources are used to tackle HIV and almost 60% are invested in programmes that reach women and children.
The UK puts the empowerment of girls and women at the heart of everything we do. Through our multilateral and bilateral investments we are tackling the barriers that limit their access to services, strengthening health systems, and tackling the stigma and gender-based violence and inequality they face.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government to what extent they take into account development goals when negotiating taxation treaties with developing countries, and what role the Department for International Development has in those negotiations.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have responsibility for negotiating the UK’s double taxation agreements, subject to oversight by HM Treasury. HMRC run an annual consultation exercise to establish the negotiating priorities for the coming year, which are then approved by ministers. As part of this exercise they consider representations made by UK businesses, NGOs and government departments, including the Department for International Development, as well as the UK’s diplomatic missions throughout the world. When the programme is published it also invites representations about our forward programme.
HMRC’s programme for 2015/16 covers the following countries: Colombia, Fiji*, Ghana, Guernsey, India, Isle of Man, Israel, Jersey, Kazakhstan*, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho*, Malawi*, Portugal*, Russia, Thailand*, Turkmenistan*, UAE*, US, Uruguay*.
The UK’s starting point in negotiations is based closely on the OECD Model Double Taxation Convention, which is also the basis for most other countries’ tax treaties. Some developing countries prefer to follow the UN Model, the provisions of which differ in some areas to the OECD Model, and the UK has agreed to adopt these provisions in its treaties. The object of the negotiations is to produce a text acceptable to both countries, balancing their preferences. There is no timetable for how long negotiations should take. It is quite normal for negotiations to take two to three rounds to complete.
Consultation during the negotiations would be rare.
*Negotiations largely completed.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultation they undertake prior to, or during, negotiations with a developing country on a taxation treaty.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have responsibility for negotiating the UK’s double taxation agreements, subject to oversight by HM Treasury. HMRC run an annual consultation exercise to establish the negotiating priorities for the coming year, which are then approved by ministers. As part of this exercise they consider representations made by UK businesses, NGOs and government departments, including the Department for International Development, as well as the UK’s diplomatic missions throughout the world. When the programme is published it also invites representations about our forward programme.
HMRC’s programme for 2015/16 covers the following countries: Colombia, Fiji*, Ghana, Guernsey, India, Isle of Man, Israel, Jersey, Kazakhstan*, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho*, Malawi*, Portugal*, Russia, Thailand*, Turkmenistan*, UAE*, US, Uruguay*.
The UK’s starting point in negotiations is based closely on the OECD Model Double Taxation Convention, which is also the basis for most other countries’ tax treaties. Some developing countries prefer to follow the UN Model, the provisions of which differ in some areas to the OECD Model, and the UK has agreed to adopt these provisions in its treaties. The object of the negotiations is to produce a text acceptable to both countries, balancing their preferences. There is no timetable for how long negotiations should take. It is quite normal for negotiations to take two to three rounds to complete.
Consultation during the negotiations would be rare.
*Negotiations largely completed.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what terms they seek in taxation treaties with developing countries, and how they agree those terms before opening negotiations.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have responsibility for negotiating the UK’s double taxation agreements, subject to oversight by HM Treasury. HMRC run an annual consultation exercise to establish the negotiating priorities for the coming year, which are then approved by ministers. As part of this exercise they consider representations made by UK businesses, NGOs and government departments, including the Department for International Development, as well as the UK’s diplomatic missions throughout the world. When the programme is published it also invites representations about our forward programme.
HMRC’s programme for 2015/16 covers the following countries: Colombia, Fiji*, Ghana, Guernsey, India, Isle of Man, Israel, Jersey, Kazakhstan*, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho*, Malawi*, Portugal*, Russia, Thailand*, Turkmenistan*, UAE*, US, Uruguay*.
The UK’s starting point in negotiations is based closely on the OECD Model Double Taxation Convention, which is also the basis for most other countries’ tax treaties. Some developing countries prefer to follow the UN Model, the provisions of which differ in some areas to the OECD Model, and the UK has agreed to adopt these provisions in its treaties. The object of the negotiations is to produce a text acceptable to both countries, balancing their preferences. There is no timetable for how long negotiations should take. It is quite normal for negotiations to take two to three rounds to complete.
Consultation during the negotiations would be rare.
*Negotiations largely completed.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government with which developing countries they are currently negotiating taxation treaties, and what is the timetable for each negotiation.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have responsibility for negotiating the UK’s double taxation agreements, subject to oversight by HM Treasury. HMRC run an annual consultation exercise to establish the negotiating priorities for the coming year, which are then approved by ministers. As part of this exercise they consider representations made by UK businesses, NGOs and government departments, including the Department for International Development, as well as the UK’s diplomatic missions throughout the world. When the programme is published it also invites representations about our forward programme.
HMRC’s programme for 2015/16 covers the following countries: Colombia, Fiji*, Ghana, Guernsey, India, Isle of Man, Israel, Jersey, Kazakhstan*, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho*, Malawi*, Portugal*, Russia, Thailand*, Turkmenistan*, UAE*, US, Uruguay*.
The UK’s starting point in negotiations is based closely on the OECD Model Double Taxation Convention, which is also the basis for most other countries’ tax treaties. Some developing countries prefer to follow the UN Model, the provisions of which differ in some areas to the OECD Model, and the UK has agreed to adopt these provisions in its treaties. The object of the negotiations is to produce a text acceptable to both countries, balancing their preferences. There is no timetable for how long negotiations should take. It is quite normal for negotiations to take two to three rounds to complete.
Consultation during the negotiations would be rare.
*Negotiations largely completed.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding is currently allocated to the deployment of members of the Civilian Stabilisation Group.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Deployments are funded by the programmes they are supporting rather than as a standalone cost. This ensures deployments are directly tied to HMG objectives and can flex according to demand. The cost of maintaining the Civilian Stabilisation Group falls under the Stabilisation Unit’s core budget, which for CSG training and management comes to £1,345,000 p.a.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many members of the Civilian Stabilisation Group have been deployed in other countries in each of the last five years; and how many are currently deployed.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The Stabilisation Unit has deployed:
Date | Number of CSG deployed |
2011 | 35 |
2012 | 48 |
2013 | 133 |
2014 | 114 |
2015 | 75 |
On 23 July 2015, 55 members of the Civilian Stabilisation Group were on deployment.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people are currently on the Civilian Stabilisation Group list maintained by the Department for International Development, broken down by gender.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The Stabilisation Unit’s Civilian Stabilisation Group (CSG) consists of over 1,350 individuals. We are committed to being an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications to the CSG from every background. We would need to carry out a manual search of each individual’s profile to provide data broken down by gender, which would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the Civilian Stabilisation Group in the light of emerging priorities and the anticipated agreement of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations in September 2015.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The Stabilisation Unit is conducting an internal review of the Civilian Stabilisation Group skillsets to ensure it meets HMG priorities, both now and in the future. To inform this work, wider multilateral and international aims for UK capability will be considered.
Asked by: Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any of the Civilian Stabilisation Group have experience of devolved administration within the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The Stabilisation Unit’s Civilian Stabilisation Group database does not provide the functionality to search for specific areas of an individual’s career history that does not directly correlate to stabilisation. A manual search of each individual’s profile would be required in order to provide this information and, as such, it would not be possible to obtain the information required without incurring a disproportionate cost.