Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she plans to introduce a bill to ban conversion therapy in this parliamentary term.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government remains committed to protecting everyone who is at risk of conversion practices from harm, and will shortly publish a draft Bill and consultation response setting out our approach to banning these abhorrent practices. The draft legislation will go for pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee in this parliamentary session.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when pre-legislative scrutiny on the draft bill to ban conversion therapy will commence.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government remains committed to protecting everyone who is at risk of conversion practices from harm, and will shortly publish a draft Bill and consultation response setting out our approach to banning these abhorrent practices. The draft legislation will go for pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee in this parliamentary session.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS England Children's Hospice Grant will be continued beyond 2023-24.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England determines the best use of its financial settlement to deliver services. Funding arrangements for children’s hospices beyond 2023/24 have not yet been agreed. Palliative and end of life care is commissioned locally by integrated care boards in response to the needs of their local population.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing mandated community benefit criteria for new solar developments.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Solar developers offer a range of community benefit schemes. These include funding for environmental enhancements, job schemes and energy discounts. Other schemes offer investment in local infrastructure, such as faster broadband, electric vehicle charging points or energy efficiency measures. The Government considers these schemes are best agreed locally and voluntarily to ensure they meet the needs of the local area.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress the Government has made o the driving license exchange between the UK and Republic of Kosovo.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK does allow the exchange of driving licences with certain countries, but Kosovo is not currently a designated country for this scheme. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has received a request from the Embassy of Kosovo to consider a possible reciprocal driving licence exchange agreement and is providing the necessary information to progress this.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an estimate of the approval rate for (a) individuals and (b) companies that apply to HMRC to have their information redacted from the UK's tax information exchange agreements on human rights grounds.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC takes secrecy provisions of tax information exchange agreements very seriously and has procedures for dealing with any case of actual or suspected violation. Such incidents are very rare. Appropriate action will depend on the facts and circumstances of the case and can include suspension of the relevant tax information exchange agreement.
In the last ten years HMRC has received no applications from individuals or companies asking to redact information on human rights grounds.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications HMRC has received from people asking to redact their information from the UK’s tax information exchange agreements in the last 10 years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC takes secrecy provisions of tax information exchange agreements very seriously and has procedures for dealing with any case of actual or suspected violation. Such incidents are very rare. Appropriate action will depend on the facts and circumstances of the case and can include suspension of the relevant tax information exchange agreement.
In the last ten years HMRC has received no applications from individuals or companies asking to redact information on human rights grounds.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance his Department has on situations where HMRC discovers a secrecy provision has been violated for one of the UK's tax information exchange agreements; and whether HMRC keeps a record of such violations.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC takes secrecy provisions of tax information exchange agreements very seriously and has procedures for dealing with any case of actual or suspected violation. Such incidents are very rare. Appropriate action will depend on the facts and circumstances of the case and can include suspension of the relevant tax information exchange agreement.
In the last ten years HMRC has received no applications from individuals or companies asking to redact information on human rights grounds.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times tax information has been exchanged with (a) the People’s Republic of China and (b) Hong Kong under (i) Common Reporting Standard and (ii) Exchange of Information on Request agreements in the past year.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
In accordance with the confidentiality rules in the relevant international treaties, HMRC does not release statistics on the number of exchanges with individual jurisdictions. All tax information exchange agreements contain secrecy provisions restricting the disclosure and use of data to tax purposes.
Before jurisdictions can receive financial data under the Common Reporting Standard they are subject to rigorous confidentiality and data safeguards assessments by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information. There are circumstances where information is not exchanged with jurisdictions, for example individuals who consider their human rights are at risk if their Common Reporting Standard data is exchanged can apply to HMRC to have their information redacted at IEIM406120_application.pdf (hmrc.gov.uk). Financial institutions have been reminded of the redaction process and HMRC will further engage on this with financial industry representatives.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what protective measures are in tax information exchange agreements to safeguard the financial data of UK-based diasporas at risk of transnational repression.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
All tax information exchange agreements contain secrecy provisions restricting the disclosure and use of data to tax purposes. Financial data exchanged by the UK under the Common Reporting Standard relates to tax residents of the receiving jurisdiction, not tax residents of the UK, and before jurisdictions can receive any such financial data they are subject to rigorous confidentiality and data safeguards assessments by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information. Nevertheless, individuals who consider their human rights are at risk if data is exchanged can apply to HMRC to have their information redacted at IEIM406120_application.pdf (hmrc.gov.uk). Financial institutions have been reminded of the redaction process and HMRC will further engage on this with financial industry representatives.