Internet Safety
Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Leigh of Hurley(5 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Ashton of Hyde
Yes, the right reverend Prelate makes a good point. That is why the Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper set out the need for the industry to think safety first by designing products and platforms in a way that makes them less likely to cause harm. We need to make that as simple as possible for the industry and we need to be aware of the impact on SMEs and growing companies. The White Paper will address this issue further and will, for example, examine the case for a set of safety-by-design guidelines for the industry. It will also set out the Government’s approach to the use of safety technology.
Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)
Will my noble friend consider instructing the committee to look at the anonymity of social media and in particular whether or not tweeting should be allowed from anonymous people?
Lord Ashton of Hyde
No, it is not part of the Government’s thought process to instruct the committee to do anything. The Government will consider issues such as those raised by my noble friend in the online harms White Paper.
VAT: Evasion
Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Leigh of Hurley
Lord Ashton of Hyde
My Lords, in the spending review the Chancellor confirmed that HMRC is making savings of 18% in its own budget through efficiencies. Of course, in this digital age we do not need taxpayers to pay for paper processing or 170 separate tax offices. However, the Government are reinvesting £1.3 billion of their savings in HMRC to transform it into one of the most digitally advanced tax administrations in the world.
Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)
My Lords, I declare an interest as a director of a chain of retailers with 200 shops and a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. The problem is with non-established taxable persons. The solution is either to implement Article 14 properly or to bring in regulation—which we are allowed to do by derogation because it is evasion—and push the problem back to the retailers so that they police the evasion of tax.