Oral Answers to Questions

Charlie Elphicke Excerpts

Wednesday 7th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Letwin]

The short answer is neither. The reason the hon. Gentleman’s party failed to move on this for 13 years is that it is a genuinely complicated issue. We issued proposals not too long ago and we believe in evidence-based policy making rather than policy-based evidence making. We are therefore paying serious attention to the Select Committee of this House and to others and I would have expected the hon. Gentleman to congratulate us on doing so as Opposition Members frequently ask us to spend more time considering what has been proposed by Select Committees and others in response to our proposals.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

May I press the Minister further? There is a big difference between lobbying and the important policy formation work done by think tanks, especially the excellent Centre for Social Justice. There is also a big difference between a special adviser who is a professional and one who is vocational and passionate, like Philippa Stroud.

[Mr Letwin]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that there is a big difference. We must consider every measure we can to ensure that there is full transparency. In this case, there was transparency—the information can be seen on the register of the House and was fully reported to the permanent secretary and the Cabinet Office.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I will certainly make sure that the relevant Minister meets the hon. Lady, and I pay tribute to her for her long-standing campaign to equalise the rights of parents of adopted children—for instance, on parental leave—with other parents. I certainly believe that that should be the case. The Government have been looking at the issue closely and I hope that we will be able to make an announcement in the not-too-distant future.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that the Chancellor’s initiative to get the OECD to crackdown on international tax avoidance is all the more important when one considers that non-oil corporation tax went up by just 6% in the past 15 years, while income tax receipts almost doubled?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

Yes, and that is why it is right that the Treasury and the Chancellor have been so assiduous in providing additional resources to ensure that the teams in Whitehall—Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and others—who crack down on tax avoidance are able to do so. The figures that we hope to be able to recoup in tax paid, which would otherwise have been avoided, are truly eye-watering. Billions and billions of pounds of tax will come into the vaults of the Exchequer which otherwise would have gone walkabout.