Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that large corporations pay the correct amount of tax.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Large Business team manages the tax compliance of the UK’s 2,000 largest businesses through a resource intensive Customer Compliance Manager (CCM) model because their tax at stake, their size and complexity mean that this is the most cost-effective way of ensuring they pay the right amount of tax. This approach is in line with international best practice on cooperative compliance.

CCMs are senior, highly trained compliance professionals, who lead teams of skilled specialists to scrutinise HMRC’s large business customers. This gives an in-depth knowledge of the business and the economic and commercial environment in which it operates, its appetite for tax planning and its internal governance, which allows HMRC to effectively identify and tackle tax compliance risk and ensure the right amount of tax is paid.

The UK Tax Gap in 2022 to 2023 (Measuring Tax Gaps 2024 Edition) was £39.8bn or 4.8% of total theoretical tax liabilities. The element of the Tax Gap relating to large businesses in 2022 to 2023 was £4.3bn (or 0.5% of the UK’s total theoretical liabilities) decreasing from £7.4bn (or 1.7% of the UK’s total theoretical liabilities) in 2005 to 2006. Whilst the UK tax gap for large businesses remains low (the latest figures showing this customer segment pays over 99% of its theoretical liabilities), HMRC continues to take a risk-based approach, focusing resources to close the Tax Gap.

HMRC subjects large businesses to an exceptional level of scrutiny, investigating around half of the UK’s largest businesses at any given time

As of 31 March 2024, HMRC’s tax under consideration for large businesses was £44.9 billion. Tax under consideration is an estimate of the amount at stake in open enquiries, which demonstrates that HMRC is very actively challenging large businesses on tax that may be due.

During 2023 to 2024, by effectively policing the tax rules as they apply to large businesses, HMRC successfully achieved compliance yield of £11.4bn

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the amount of corporation tax lost due to tax (a) evasion and (b) avoidance during the current financial year to date.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. The tax gap statistics are published annually. The latest estimates are available at: Measuring tax gaps 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

In the tax year 2022 to 2023 the tax gap for Corporation Tax gap was 13.9% of the total theoretical Corporation Tax liability, or £13.7 billion in absolute terms. The amount of the Corporation Tax gap in 2022 to 2023 due to evasion is estimated to be around £2.9 billion, and due to avoidance, around £1.0 billion.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to manage the environmental impact of installing overground pylons.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Developers of transmission projects and all nationally significant infrastructure projects in England and Wales must assess the impacts of their proposals. This includes conducting assessments of projects’ impacts on the environment through Environmental Impact Assessments. Additionally, developers engage with statutory and non-statutory stakeholders through consultations to ensure their feedback is considered and incorporated into project proposals. These assessments are considered as part of the consenting process by the Secretary of State. Scottish planning requirements are a devolved matter but also require due and proper consideration of environmental and other impacts and the opportunity for public scrutiny within the planning process.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of Meta's content reporting procedures.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Under the Online Safety Act all in scope services, including Meta, will be required to have systems and processes to enable users and other affected persons to report instances of the types of content the services have responsibility for. This includes illegal content, and, where relevant, content that is harmful to children (where services are likely to be accessed by children).

The Act also requires Ofcom to review the efficacy of content reporting and complaints mechanisms once the above duties have been implemented.

Found: Jonathan Brash Neil Duncan-Jordan Sarah Champion Ian Byrne Mike Amesbury Sarah Smith Dr Rosena Allin-Khan