Taxation: Avoidance

Debate between Lord Newby and Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale

Thursday 14th March 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale]

My Lords, will the Government agree that both transparency and, as the Minister has already said, capacity, are absolutely vital here? Will they ensure that everywhere the UK provides budget support to a developing country, one of the key elements of that budget support is building the capacity for the right laws, the enforcement, and the collection of taxes to be in place inside that country?

[Lord Newby]

Yes. This is an area to which DfID is giving increasing priority. Last year we supported 48 programmes in 20 countries and spent £20 million in this area. Of course, the extent to which we can do it in any country depends on an assessment of that country’s capacity to take advice and act on it.