Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will initiate an inquiry into the performance of the insolvency service in handling the case of COSALT.
Answered by Jo Swinson
A report on the directors’ conduct was submitted by the administrators of Cosalt plc to my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. When considering whether to seek a director’s disqualification The Insolvency Service has to consider the seriousness of the misconduct alleged and whether there is sufficient evidence of the alleged misconduct to satisfy the court that the director should be disqualified. In this case, the Insolvency Service also considered information received from other regulators and the concerns raised by the company’s shareholders. A decision was made that there was insufficient evidence of relevant misconduct for it to be in the public interest to investigate further since the issues raised are unlikely to be viewed by the Court as serious enough misconduct to merit the minimum disqualification period of two years.
The allegation of a breach of Companies Act requirements to file accounts with Companies House was considered by BIS prosecuting lawyers, who decided not to bring a criminal prosecution against the directors of Cosalt PLC. A detailed explanation of the basis for the decision has been provided to a number of MPs who had expressed concerns.
Complaints about the work and levels of service provided by the Insolvency Service are taken very seriously. Details about The Insolvency Service’s complaints procedure is available on the websitewww.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-procedure. If matters are not resolved, then individuals can contact The Adjudicator’s Office which acts as an unbiased referee into complaints about The Insolvency Service.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will increase the number of council tax bands to increase the proportion of their income wealthiest people pay as council tax.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
We have no intention of introducing higher council tax bands.
Council tax re-banding would require a wholesale council tax revaluation, hitting ordinary home owners with higher taxes, especially those who have undertaken home improvements. Fundamentally, council tax is not a wealth tax; it is a local charge for the use of local services. The current banded system is intentionally designed to avoid the flaws and inequities of both the poll tax and of domestic rates, the former which taxed multiple-adult homes too much, and the latter which taxed both family homes and pensioner households too much. Both were scrapped for good reason.
I would note that the last Labour Government and Welsh Assembly Government jointly undertook a council tax revaluation and re-banding exercise in Wales in 2005. Four times as many homes moved up one or more bands than moved down. Two-thirds of the net rises were among homes (originally) in Bands A to C, meaning that those on more modest incomes were hardest hit.
Labour Ministers originally claimed that revaluation was revenue-neutral, but this was not the case. In the first year of the revaluation, council tax income rose by 10%, of which 4% was due to that year's increase in Band D rates, and 6% due to more properties in higher bands due to the revaluation (Welsh Assembly Government, Submission to the Lyons Inquiry into Local Government, Annex B: Council Tax Revaluation and Rebanding 2005, Chronology and Facts, March 2006). To place that in context, a 6% rise in council tax receipts in England would today represent a sustained tax increase on hard-working people of £1.4 billion a year, every year.
As the then Chairman of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, Phyllis Starkey (the then Labour Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes South West), observed: “The Welsh Assembly – I believe it was my party, but I am not making an excuse for it - took advantage of the revaluation hugely to increase the total [tax] take” (3 February 2010, Official Report, column 383).
This Government has already taken a number of steps to tackle property tax avoidance by a small minority.
Instead of finding new ways to tax people, this Government have given extra funding to town halls to help freeze council tax. A further council tax freeze is available to councils next year. We have handed local residents new rights to veto big local tax hikes, so local people have the final say on the amount they pay.
Council tax in England more than doubled under the Labour Government; under this Government, bills have fallen by 11% in real terms, giving families financial security and helping hard-working people with the cost of living.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will introduce legislative proposals to implement procedures which track transactions in foreign exchange markets to facilitate the detection of mispriced customer trades.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK currently has a transaction reporting regime that requires financial entities, including all investment firms and operators of regulated markets to report to the FCA, transactions that relate to financial instruments under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. This includes foreign exchange derivatives.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what access he has to evidence by the EU enquiry into the extent and the means of tax avoidance by multinational corporations through Luxembourg and the Irish Republic.
Answered by David Gauke
The European Commission has a duty of confidentiality to Member States in relation to the information they provide to the Commission. Where appropriate, HMRC can request information relevant to UK tax matters directly from the fiscal authorities in Member States under existing arrangements for the exchange of information.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has made to tax authorities in (a) Ireland and Luxembourg and (b) other EU countries to ensure that profits made in the UK can be taxed in the UK at UK tax rates.
Answered by David Gauke
Profit shifting by multinationals is a global problem. It is essential to look at this issue in a comprehensive and coordinated manner so that we can come up with effective solutions. The UK is at the forefront of multilateral action through the G20 and the OECD to reform the international tax standards.
The UK used its Presidency of the G8 to successfully build international support for this work. We are now playing a leading role in the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project to reform the international tax landscape in order to ensure that profits are taxed where economic activities are performed and where value is created.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to create an independent regulator to regulate insolvencies.
Answered by Jo Swinson
The Small Business Enterprise and Employment Bill (currently before the Other House) contains a reserve power which will allow the Secretary of State to designate a body to be the sole regulator for insolvency practitioners. We have made clear that we would only exercise this power if the other measures contained within this Bill do not succeed in improving confidence in this regulatory regime; and only with proper consultation and assessment of the costs and benefits.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much the firm Mackeys received in legal aid in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14; how much in legal aid to this firm is currently outstanding for 2014-15; and to whom such money will now be paid.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Legal Aid Agency did not hold a contract with a firm called Mackeys for the period in question and therefore no payments were made and there are no payments outstanding.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has made to the Irish government about the double-Irish system of reducing the UK tax obligations of multinational corporations.
Answered by David Gauke
There are regular discussions of international tax issues in the ECOFIN Council, in the OECD and in other international fora including the G20. The UK is playing a leading role in reform of the international tax rules to ensure that companies pay their fair share.
The government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review. Changes to the UK tax system are announced as part of the normal fiscal cycle.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of UK tax revenue foregone as a result of the double-Irish system.
Answered by David Gauke
There are regular discussions of international tax issues in the ECOFIN Council, in the OECD and in other international fora including the G20. The UK is playing a leading role in reform of the international tax rules to ensure that companies pay their fair share.
The government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review. Changes to the UK tax system are announced as part of the normal fiscal cycle.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will request the EU's inspection teams to provide details of all preferential tax deals between (a) Luxembourg, (b) the Netherlands and (c) Ireland and multinational corporations which trade in the UK.
Answered by David Gauke
The European Commission has a duty of confidentiality to Member States in relation to the information they provide to the Commission. Where appropriate, HMRC can request information relevant to UK tax matters directly from the fiscal authorities in Member States under existing arrangements for the exchange of information.