Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of banning imports of oil products from refineries using Russian crude.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK has worked closely with international partners to constrain Russian oil revenues while maintaining energy market security. The Government does not speculate on future sanctions measures as to do so could reduce their impact. We continue to monitor the effectiveness of our sanctions.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of planned increases to audit exemption thresholds on rates of tax evasion.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The proposal to increase the monetary thresholds for company size are based on findings from a call for evidence on non-financial reporting, which the Department for Business and Trade undertook last year. Most respondents supported amending the qualifying criteria that determine company size, particularly raising the monetary thresholds.
Under the proposals around 14,000 companies will be reclassified from medium-sized to small and therefore may be eligible for the small company audit exemption. Many of these companies are owned and operated by family members, who are well-versed in the company’s operations. The benefits of audit are more limited for such businesses.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of adopting the International Standard on Auditing for Audits of Financial Statements of Less Complex Entities.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
It is for the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to decide whether the International Standard on Auditing for Audits of Financial Statements of Less Complex Entities (ISA for LCE) provides proper and proportionate scrutiny of financial statements. The Government expects to see the FRC act in line with the requirements placed on it to consider the proportionality of its decisions and its impacts on economic growth. These requirements will continue to apply to the new Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA) once it is created.