Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which organisations his Department consulted on the projects proposed by the Government's submission to the European Commission's Special Task Force on investment in the EU.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Treasury consulted with the Departments for Business Innovation and Skills; Communities and Local Government; Culture, Media and Sport; Energy and Climate Change; Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Transport; the Cabinet Office and the Devolved Administrations on the Government’s submission to European Commission’s Special Task Force. The approach to the projects list was agreed by the members of the European Affairs Committee.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assistance and advice his Department is providing to small digital supply businesses potentially adversely affected by recent changes in the designation of place of supply in VAT regulations.
Answered by David Gauke
A Tax Information and Impact Note was published on 10 December 2013 which included an assessment of the impact on small and micro businesses. It is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/264647/Overview_of_legislation_in_draft.pdf
HMRC has provided a significant amount of information about the VAT rule changes on the GOV.UK website, including highlighting to businesses the simplification options available to them to help them comply with the changes. HMRC has also organised a Twitter Clinic and published answers to the main questions as well as a list of ‘Top Tips’ for businesses. HMRC has also created a special e-mail address (vat2015.contact@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk) where businesses can send HMRC any specific enquiries they may have.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on small digital supply businesses of recent changes in designation of place of supply in VAT regulations.
Answered by David Gauke
A Tax Information and Impact Note was published on 10 December 2013 which included an assessment of the impact on small and micro businesses. It is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/264647/Overview_of_legislation_in_draft.pdf
HMRC has provided a significant amount of information about the VAT rule changes on the GOV.UK website, including highlighting to businesses the simplification options available to them to help them comply with the changes. HMRC has also organised a Twitter Clinic and published answers to the main questions as well as a list of ‘Top Tips’ for businesses. HMRC has also created a special e-mail address (vat2015.contact@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk) where businesses can send HMRC any specific enquiries they may have.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, why the UK voted against United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/68/L.57/Rev.1 Towards the establishment of a multilateral legal framework for sovereign debt restructuring processes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Government is actively engaged in ongoing discussions in a number of international fora, to reform the framework for sovereign debt restructurings. As outlined in the joint-EU Explanation of Vote on this Resolution, the Government was not in a position to support this UN resolution given concerns over the lack of time afforded to members to discuss the complex issues it raised.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government supported the recent invitation from the Financial Action Task Force for Israel to become a member of that body.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Government supported the extension of membership of the Financial Action Task Force to all the countries invited to join FATF, including Israel, after it was determined that they met the membership criteria. There is now a process to determine the readiness of those countries that met the membership criteria. The membership policy can be found here: http://www.fatf-gafi.org/pages/aboutus/membersandobservers/fatfmembershippolicy.html
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, who the Government's representative is on the Financial Action Task Force.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The UK delegation to the Financial Action Task Force is led by the Deputy Director of the Treasury’s Sanctions and Illicit Finance team, and includes officials from the Home Office, National Crime Agency and other departments as appropriate.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value of works of art accepted in lieu of inheritance tax was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy.
The total value of items accepted under the Acceptance-in-Lieu Scheme for the last five years is as follows:
2009 £19.8m
2010 £15.7m
2011 £8.3m
2012 £31.3m
2013 £49.4m*
*includes the first item accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme which operates from the same budget as the Acceptance-in-Lieu Scheme.
Asked by: Andrew Smith (Labour - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much in tax accrued to the Exchequer in fuel duty on diesel in 2013; and what quantity of diesel this figure represents.
Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes
This information can be found at the UK Trade Info website at https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/Pages/TaxAndDutybulletins.aspx