Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Tuesday 9th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

T8. I have an urgent topical question for the Secretary of State. He has always been very good on victim support, and he will be relieved that my question is not about miscarriages of justice. Brake in my constituency works with victims of road crashes and road injuries. It is a very good and unique group, but I have heard that it is losing its grant from the Ministry of Justice. Why would that be?

[Mr Gauke]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind words. Let me look at that particular issue and, if I may, I will write to him.

Legal Aid: Post-Implementation Review

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Thursday 7th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his work in this area. We are changing the process for the funding for exceptional cases to make it easier to apply. Fundamentally, I believe the inquest system should continue to be inquisitorial, but it is very important that bereaved families do not find themselves excluded or disadvantaged—my hon. Friend has made that point with great persistence. That is partly about ensuring that coroners and their staff are properly trained to protect the position of bereaved families, but we are also working with other Government Departments to ensure that there is not unfairness in the system. We continue to engage with other Departments to make sure that bereaved families are not put at a disadvantage.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Lord Chancellor knows of my long-term interest in this policy area. Let us be humble: no party or Government have got this right. It is a very difficult nut to crack. I welcome many of the things the Lord Chancellor has been saying this morning. We look forward to digesting his announcement and commenting and being helpful on this matter.

The central thread must surely be access to justice for all, not just the wealthy, privileged and well educated. That is of course the principle that we must have, and that is what I think about when I look at my struggling constituents in Huddersfield. The fact is that there are issues in particular areas of law. The Lord Chancellor will know that I and the Chair of the Justice Committee, the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill), are involved in cases of miscarriages of justice, which is one area in which the lack of help in the form of legal aid has been really debilitating. I understand that the Ministry of Justice has had more cuts than any other Government Department, and he has my sympathy, but will he look in particular at the impact on miscarriages of justice? We have just launched a commission on miscarriages of justice and hope to publish a report to help the Lord Chancellor shortly.

[Mr Gauke]

I very much look forward to receiving that report. I thank the hon. Gentleman for the work he does in this policy area, which he and I have discussed in the past. As he says, he has a long-standing interest in this matter, and I hope we can continue to engage in a constructive way to address it. I agree with him about the importance of access to justice, but I stress that that access does not end with legal aid. There are other aspects to consider, and it is important that any sensible Government look into what can be done.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Tuesday 10th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Secretary of State do something about the way in which we treat miscarriages of justice in this country, and will he meet the all-party parliamentary group on miscarriages of justice to discuss it?

[Mr Gauke]

The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the case that was before the Supreme Court recently. We shall see where that leads, but I am sure that a member of the ministerial team would be delighted to meet the all-party parliamentary group.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Tuesday 6th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State will know that even in the best justice systems there are miscarriages of justice. Will he therefore pay attention to the fact that so many people who are later found to be innocent and have their sentences quashed, having spent years in prison, never get any compensation?

[Mr Gauke]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. If he wants to raise a specific case, I am happy to meet him to discuss it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I will very happily join my hon. Friend in thanking Ian Spalding and, indeed, Jobcentre Plus staff up and down the country, who do a fantastic job in helping to reduce unemployment. I think that the claimant count in Newark has fallen by 42% since 2010. In the meetings that I have had with jobcentre staff across the country, I have seen that they are enthusiastically implementing universal credit because they can see that it will help them to make further progress.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Is the Secretary of State not aware that hundreds of thousands of people in this country are yearning for a good and well-paid job? Many are young people who cannot get an apprenticeship. Apprenticeship starts are down by 62% this year and further education colleges are in trouble. When is he going to do something about training young people and really giving them the chance of a good job on good pay?

[Mr Gauke]

The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the recent apprenticeship numbers were affected by a spike at the end of the previous period, but the reality is that we have substantially increased the number of apprenticeships in recent years. We have introduced the apprenticeship levy, which puts apprenticeships on a sustainable financial footing. It is this Government, with our industrial strategy, who are ensuring that we create the highly skilled jobs that the country needs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Tuesday 17th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

As someone who chairs a national charity based in Peterborough, and also as the Member of Parliament for Huddersfield, may I back the people who have been saying not only that we need a more diverse housing market and better provision, but that the future must be lower-cost housing and off-site construction, and to a highly sustainable standard?

[Mr Gauke]

I thank that we can agree on all that; there is consensus on this point. We do need to build more homes. Building more homes more cheaply, but of high quality and on a sustainable basis, is something on which I hope the whole House can agree.

HMRC and Google (Settlement)

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Monday 25th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. It was very much the Prime Minister who got the OECD and the G20 to focus on how multinational companies are taxed. It is right that we did that and that we are making progress, and I am pleased that this is coming to fruition.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Minister rise above the political bickering for a moment and, with Opposition Front Benchers, look at the real problem? These massive global companies are extremely clever. With great respect to the people at HMRC, who work so hard, those companies can hire the best accountants, the best tax experts and the highest paid lawyers. However we change the law, they will find a way around it. In Europe and in this country, we have to look at this in a much more sophisticated way.

[Mr Gauke]

I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s comments, but he should not be quite so defeatist. If he looks at what happened over the previous Parliament, he will see that HMRC’s large business team brought in £38 billion in additional tax as a consequence of their intervention. The UK has a reputation as somewhere with competitive tax rates but where taxes do have to be paid. That is a reputation that we should all seek to maintain.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Tuesday 10th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

If it is not already too late to make this suggestion, I think my hon. Friend deserves a good bottle at lunchtime after that effort. He has put his case on the record, but of course all announcements are for the Chancellor on Budget day.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

If this Government do indeed have a long-term economic plan, which most of my constituents do not believe, will the Financial Secretary stop worrying about the older generation of wine drinkers and start concentrating his mind on the young people of this country who are underprivileged and overtaxed and have more problems in getting a good job? It is about time that the 18 to 35-year-olds, rather than the older wine drinkers of this country, were taken into account by this Chancellor.

[Mr Gauke]

First, may I reassure the hon. Gentleman that there is a long-term economic plan, and thank him for using the phrase? Credible public finances will benefit the younger generation, who will not face many years of paying off higher debt levels.

Tax Avoidance (HSBC)

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Monday 9th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I think that is right. I suspect that the reason why the previous Government had a lack of grip and focus on tax evasion and tax avoidance was that there was simply the view that the public finances were going to be fine whatever, and that they did not really need the money and did not need to strain in this area. That is why there was a lack of progress. I am pleased that we are making that progress now.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

I do not want to personalise this; I have always rather admired Stephen Green for very many reasons. What I dislike is the culture that this HSBC scandal represents. The ordinary people in my constituency work hard and pay their taxes. They would get into terrible trouble if they tried to get away with anything. The fact is that those like PricewaterhouseCoopers, Grant Thornton and the banks, who have done these dodgy deals for years, have never had to pay.

[Mr Gauke]

When it comes to feeling abhorrence at the culture of those who think that they can not pay their fair share and can avoid or evade their taxes, I agree with the hon. Gentleman; he is absolutely right. It is necessary to take that on—to make changes in the law where necessary and ensure that HMRC has the capability to address these matters. People in businesses should pay the tax that is due under the law.

UK Film Investment (Tax Relief)

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Tuesday 16th December 2014 Westminster Hall

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Crausby. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Sir Nick Harvey) for securing the debate. It had two key and linked themes: investment in the film industry and concerns about tax avoidance. On both those issues, the Government have a strong, clear message. We of course strongly support the UK film industry and want to encourage genuine investment in film, but equally—and unapologetically—we condemn the use of tax avoidance schemes. We want low taxes and a competitive regime, but we expect those taxes to be paid.

We have in the United Kingdom a vibrant and successful film industry, of which we should be proud. In the past three years, employment in the creative industries has grown at five times the rate of the wider economy. The past year has seen film and television production in the UK boom, with, to pick names at random, “24” being filmed in London, “Outlander” in Scotland, “Da Vinci’s Demons” in Wales and “Game of Thrones” in Northern Ireland.

It is right that as a Government we lend our support to those who want to invest in the industry. We now have a robust corporate film tax relief, which was expressly designed to minimise the risk of tax avoidance and which has been in place since 1 January 2007. The new relief goes straight to those making films—in other words, it is the production company that gets the direct benefit of the regime.

The new regime has proved very successful in attracting inward investment. It is highly popular with film-makers and has helped to make the UK one of the top film-making destinations in the world. Since the film tax relief was introduced in 2007, 1,680 film productions have become eligible to claim the new relief, and total production expenditure by films claiming the relief was £7.8 billion, of which 72% was incurred in the UK.

As a Government, we have made the relief even more effective. From 1 April 2014, we increased the rate of relief for larger budget films, reduced the level of minimum UK expenditure and modernised the system of film tax relief qualification. To ensure that our creative industry flourishes across sectors, we announced in the autumn statement that we would introduce tax relief for children’s television and for orchestras.

With regard to the concerns raised by the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) and by my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron), I should say that we have a successful record in this country. The existing film tax relief is working well and continuing to attract investment to the UK. I am pleased to confirm that there has been no reported avoidance activity with the new film tax relief.

[Mr Sheerman]

I hope the Minister takes the point that those of us who have spoken in the debate do not agree with tax avoidance, which is carried out by a minority. We are at a critical stage, having had such good news in the autumn statement—Opposition Members do not often congratulate the Minister on such things—about raising the social investment tax relief scheme to a much higher level, and about the seed investment scheme. The Minister knows that I am very keen on crowdfunding and crowdsourcing, and we are seeing a new beginning when it comes to vibrant theatre and social investment across our country. The Minister must not send a message in his response to the debate that some of that might be seen as tax avoidance. We are talking about social investment and investment in our arts, and it is to be welcomed.

[Mr Gauke]

The hon. Gentleman is nothing if not consistent; I have never known him to fail to take the opportunity to extol the virtues of crowdfunding and some of the other measures that we are taking. The point that I am making is that we have a film tax relief system that is working well and attracting investment. Nothing in what I am about to say should undermine that.

Our system is working, but I cannot, unfortunately, say the same about all investment under the film relief that was in place before 2007. The old relief was heavily exploited by partnerships of wealthy individuals. Typically, they sought to obtain tax relief out of all proportion to their economic investment. Many schemes used artificial and contrived arrangements to create excessive tax claims. In short, investors abused the relief to try to dodge paying their fair share of tax.

My hon. Friend the Member for North Devon argued that the old legislation was working well. The previous Government took significant legislative action over a number of years to try to prevent the various forms of abuse that were occurring, but they concluded in 2007 that they had to scrap the old regime and replaced it with a much better scheme that now works. HMRC is actively investigating and countering schemes under the old regime about which it has concerns.

[Mr Gauke]

HMRC is not taking a blanket approach to all such schemes, and I will return to that point in a moment.

It might be helpful if I set out some of the problems with the old regime. At the extreme, the situation was so bad that some films were produced solely for the purpose of avoidance schemes, and they were never destined for release beyond the minimal qualifying requirements. Other schemes involved genuine commercial films, but the structure of the financing was designed to generate tax relief in excess of the scheme user’s genuine economic investment. Alongside the schemes that used the relief, other avoidance schemes were created that happened to use films as the avoidance vehicle of choice, even though they did not rely on the specific film relief.

Everyone should be clear that the use of films for tax avoidance is bad for the reputation of the UK film industry. I suspect that there is no dispute among us on that point. Such avoidance is unfair on the vast majority of the public who pay their fair share of tax, and it is correct for HMRC to tackle avoidance in whatever form it takes. HMRC has a strong track record in the courts, winning about 80% of tax avoidance schemes that go to litigation. In 2013-14, HMRC’s 30 wins protected some £2.7 billion of tax. HMRC has a strong track record of defeating film schemes in court. It is right for HMRC to challenge avoidance schemes, because that is its job, but it has not taken a blanket approach of opposing all schemes that involve the old film tax relief. If someone believes that HMRC’s view on a scheme is wrong, they can take the matter to the courts for a decision.

My hon. Friend the Member for North Devon has raised the concern that HMRC has not always worked the case properly. I cannot comment on specific cases or schemes, but let me reassure him that the resolution of existing tax avoidance schemes is a top priority for HMRC. During the past year, HMRC has created a dedicated counter-avoidance directorate, bringing together technical, policy and operational expertise from across the Department in one place to concentrate focus on tackling marketed tax avoidance. The Government have consistently supported HMRC’s work to counter marketed tax avoidance by introducing new legislation and investing in its resources.

That brings me to this year’s Budget, in which the Chancellor announced that from 17 July 2014, individuals and businesses involved in tax avoidance schemes must pay HMRC the disputed amount of tax up front while the dispute is being resolved. That new power, which is called accelerated payments, came into force as part of the Finance Act 2014, and it removes the cash flow advantage that those who deliberately try to bend the tax rules by avoiding tax previously had over the majority of taxpayers who pay their tax up front.

I am pleased to say that the collection of tax from avoiders has accelerated enormously since the introduction this year of accelerated payments, and avoiders have already agreed to pay more than £30 million since Parliament introduced that measure. It is quite right that the users of avoidance schemes involving films or film relief should also pay up front.

[Mr Sheerman]

Can we send the message to HMRC that although it must catch the rascals and make them pay, it needs to be more discriminating? If it is not, we on the Back Benches will put a lot of attention and focus on to making sure that it becomes so, to ensure that people who have innocently invested are not picked on. We have many powers, through Select Committees and from the Back Benches in Question Time, to keep our eye on HMRC and ensure that it does the job properly.

[Mr Gauke]

I am sure that that point has been noted, and I do not disagree that HMRC must pursue those who have engaged in tax avoidance and not pursue those who have not. However, an important part of HMRC’s role is to pursue tax avoidance thoroughly. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on any ongoing litigation, but I stress that neither accelerated payments nor any other HMRC action to tackle avoidance will stop genuine investment in UK films.

The UK film industry goes from strength to strength, supported by a successful, avoidance-free film tax relief that goes directly to film producers. We want to continue to support investment in the UK film industry so that it can grow. Tax relief, properly due, has an important place in helping to provide that support. As the hon. Member for Huddersfield has made clear, further announcements of such support were made in the autumn statement. Tax avoidance has no place in a modern film-making environment. The UK has a hard-won reputation for world-class creativity, but we want that to be expressed in the creation of films, not in the creation of tax avoidance schemes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Tuesday 9th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

It is right that we have reduced the corporation tax rate. Next year, it will give us the lowest rate in the G20. That is resulting in greater investment in the UK. It would certainly be a mistake to reverse that policy, as the Labour party intends. In terms of the diverted profits tax, I would point out that it will help to deal with aggressive tax avoidance. We will publish the draft legislation on that tomorrow, setting out the full details of how it will operate.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The House knows that I am an avid listener of the “Today” programme. Did the Minister hear the interview this morning, which showed how ineffective it is to have this great gap between the rich and the poor in our country? The tax system is increasing that gap, not helping it. What is he going to do about it, because it makes our economy less efficient?

[Mr Gauke]

As it happens, the distributional analysis shows that our policies have narrowed the gap. The point is that we have made changes to our tax system to ensure a greater contribution from the wealthiest in terms of stamp duty land tax and capital gains tax. We have reduced some of the reliefs and exemptions that meant some high earners did not pay taxes. I am afraid that the idea that a 50p rate was effective in achieving such objectives—including raising revenue—is simply wrong.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and David Gauke

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

At this point in the year, all I can say to my hon. Friend is, “Let me take that as a further Budget submission.”

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does the Chief Secretary agree that to have a successful financial services sector we must have bankers, lawyers and accountants whom everyone trusts, and that we need a new value system of trust in these institutions? If so, will he have a careful look at the behaviour of Grant Thornton and the way in which it treats clients and businesses in this country?