Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the number of people currently not on the electoral register and the reported risk that this will increase with the implementation of individual registration, how much they plan to spend in the current financial year to support local authorities to ensure that the register is as complete as possible.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
Over £14million has been invested over the last two financial years to support activities aimed at increasing the completeness and accuracy of the register, including in the run up to the General Election. In addition, Electoral Registration Officers have been provided with grant funding in the current financial year of £20million. The Electoral Commission is due to publish its latest analysis of the electoral register later this month, including the impact of activity to promote registration before the election, and it is important to consider any further steps in light of this report.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 20 November (HL2705), whether they have taken, or will take, any action in relation to any contracts for services by them or bodies funded by them entered into with auditors, accountants or financial advisers named in <i>The Guardian</i> on 6 November.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The Government is clear that aggressive tax avoidance is totally unacceptable. That is why we are closing loopholes, bringing in a General Anti-Abuse Rule, and investing additional funding to help HMRC promote tax compliance.
The Government’s policy to promote tax compliance through public procurement is another tool that means government departments can exercise their power to exclude firms bidding for government contracts solely on the basis that they have been non-compliant in meeting their legal tax obligations.
This issue will remain under constant review by HM Government.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to take steps to discourage public bodies from employing as auditors, accountants or financial advisers firms which have facilitated tax avoidance by the use of such devices as those employed in Luxembourg as described in <i>The Guardian</i> on 6 November.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
As stated in the Government publication ‘Managing Public Money’, which is available in the libraries of the House, during the evaluation stage of sourcing, it is important for public sector procuring organisations to establish the propriety of candidate suppliers.
Her Majesty’s Government has taken robust action to tackle tax avoidance during this parliament, including through investing in HMRC compliance activities, identifying and closing loopholes, and making strategic reforms to the UK tax system, such as the UK’s first General Anti-abuse Rule.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what central oversight takes place to ensure the maximum efficiency in the procuring of information technology contracts for staffing, procurement and payroll services by separate government departments.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Since 2010 we have imposed tough central expenditure controls on ICT, as well as on consulting, recruitment, marketing and property, to reduce wasteful expenditure and help reduce the fiscal deficit:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-controls
To further reduce wasteful expenditure, we have implemented a review process for all forthcoming departmental investments on IT with requested spend above £5m.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much has been spent in each financial year since 2011 by each government department on external legal advice.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
Expenditure on external legal advice is a matter for individual departments. As part of the Government's transparency programme, contracts above the value of £10,000 are available on Contracts Finder at: (https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder). Departmental spending over £25,000 is published in departmental Annual Reports on (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications).