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101850

registered interest
date	30/10/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Fracking
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what chemical additives with a prospective use in hydraulic fracturing have been assessed for toxicological risk and other prospective health hazards by the Joint Agencies Groundwater Directive Advisory Group (JAGDAG); and if he will publish the URL where the minutes of JAGDAG meeting may be found.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Paul Flynn
uin	212543
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>In England, for the purposes of the Water Framework Directive and Groundwater Directive, the Environment Agency has the responsibility for making determinations of substances that may be hazardous in groundwater. It will not permit the use of ‘hazardous substances’ for any activity, including hydraulic fracturing, where they would or might enter groundwater and cause pollution.</p><p>Hazardous substances are defined as those that are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic, or, for the Directives, where there are ‘equivalent levels of concern’. The Joint Agencies Groundwater Directive Advisory Group (JAGDAG) carries out peer reviews of these determinations, before recommendations are then put to public consultation. Substances that were proposed for use for hydraulic fracturing of shales in Lancashire have been assessed and were determined as non-hazardous. These were consulted on in 2012 following peer review by JAGDAG.</p><p>Information about JAGDAG, including minutes of meetings, can be found at: <a href="http://www.wfduk.org/stakeholders/jagdag-work-area-0" target="_blank">http://www.wfduk.org/stakeholders/jagdag-work-area-0</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 05/11/2014 17:59:21 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	545 label Biography information for Paul Flynn

101531

registered interest
date	29/10/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Tax Avoidance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts about measures to reduce tax avoidance; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	212452
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>The UK is at the forefront of multilateral action through the G8, G20, European Union and OECD to tackle this issue of corporate tax avoidance. The UK used its Presidency of the G8 to successfully build international support for this work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Work is now underway at the OECD, in the form of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. The BEPS project is the most comprehensive reform of the international tax rules with the aim of ensuring that multinational enterprises pay their fair share of tax, in the jurisdictions where their economic activity is located. The project has 44 participant countries, 21 of which are within the EU.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>At the UK’s Lough Erne summit in June 2013 the G8 leaders confirmed their support for the ongoing G20/OECD work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>At their September 2013 summit in St Petersburg, the G20 Leaders fully endorsed the ambitious and comprehensive BEPS Action Plan set out over 2014 and 2015.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The first phase of the BEPS project is now complete, with participants reaching agreement on seven reports which have been produced by the OECD and endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers.</p><p> </p><p>The G8 called on the OECD to develop a common template for multinationals to report profit and tax information to tax authorities to help assess risks. This work was included in the BEPS Action Plan (action 13) and was one of seven outputs achieved in 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Subsequently, the UK announced that it would be the first of 44 countries to formally commit to implementing the newly agreed BEPS output of a country-by-country reporting template.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Discussions are ongoing in G20 Finance Minister’s and ECOFIN meetings to ensure that the momentum of the BEPS project is maintained, so that the project is completed successfully and on time.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Further to the BEPS project, international work with G20 and EU counterparts is ongoing with the Automatic Exchange of Information policy.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The UK put tax transparency at the heart of its presidency of the G8, calling for the creation of a new global standard on automatic tax information exchange to tackle offshore tax evasion. The new global standard was developed by the OECD and agreed in July 2014. At the March European Council leaders committed to implement the standard in the EU through agreement of the amended Administrative Co-operation Directive, which they aim to agree by the end of the year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In total 92 countries and have now committed to implement the new global standard, with the first information exchanged no later than 2018. This includes all EU Member States, all of the UK’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories with a financial centre and the majority of the world’s financial centres. Of these countries and jurisdictions, 51 have already signed an international agreement to implement the standard.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Hertfordshire answering member printed Mr David Gauke grouped question UIN 212453 question first answered 05/11/2014 17:58:27 answering member 1529 label Biography information for Mr David Gauke
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

101532

registered interest
date	29/10/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Tax Avoidance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with his G7 counterparts about measures to reduce tax avoidance; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	212453
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>The UK is at the forefront of multilateral action through the G8, G20, European Union and OECD to tackle this issue of corporate tax avoidance. The UK used its Presidency of the G8 to successfully build international support for this work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Work is now underway at the OECD, in the form of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. The BEPS project is the most comprehensive reform of the international tax rules with the aim of ensuring that multinational enterprises pay their fair share of tax, in the jurisdictions where their economic activity is located. The project has 44 participant countries, 21 of which are within the EU.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>At the UK’s Lough Erne summit in June 2013 the G8 leaders confirmed their support for the ongoing G20/OECD work.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>At their September 2013 summit in St Petersburg, the G20 Leaders fully endorsed the ambitious and comprehensive BEPS Action Plan set out over 2014 and 2015.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The first phase of the BEPS project is now complete, with participants reaching agreement on seven reports which have been produced by the OECD and endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers.</p><p> </p><p>The G8 called on the OECD to develop a common template for multinationals to report profit and tax information to tax authorities to help assess risks. This work was included in the BEPS Action Plan (action 13) and was one of seven outputs achieved in 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Subsequently, the UK announced that it would be the first of 44 countries to formally commit to implementing the newly agreed BEPS output of a country-by-country reporting template.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Discussions are ongoing in G20 Finance Minister’s and ECOFIN meetings to ensure that the momentum of the BEPS project is maintained, so that the project is completed successfully and on time.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Further to the BEPS project, international work with G20 and EU counterparts is ongoing with the Automatic Exchange of Information policy.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The UK put tax transparency at the heart of its presidency of the G8, calling for the creation of a new global standard on automatic tax information exchange to tackle offshore tax evasion. The new global standard was developed by the OECD and agreed in July 2014. At the March European Council leaders committed to implement the standard in the EU through agreement of the amended Administrative Co-operation Directive, which they aim to agree by the end of the year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In total 92 countries and have now committed to implement the new global standard, with the first information exchanged no later than 2018. This includes all EU Member States, all of the UK’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories with a financial centre and the majority of the world’s financial centres. Of these countries and jurisdictions, 51 have already signed an international agreement to implement the standard.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Hertfordshire answering member printed Mr David Gauke grouped question UIN 212452 question first answered 05/11/2014 17:58:27 answering member 1529 label Biography information for Mr David Gauke
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

101621

registered interest
date	29/10/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	EU Budget: Contributions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his officials had with the Office for National Statistics between January and October 2014 on provision for backdating of payments of European contributions to accord with the European Statistics Agency reconciliation of the European Budget under ESA95.
tabling member constituency	Dundee East
tabling member printed	Stewart Hosie
uin	212527
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>The net impact on UK contributions to the EU of revisions to the UK GNI under ESA95 could not have been calculated without the relevant information across all Member States.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Hertfordshire answering member printed Mr David Gauke question first answered 05/11/2014 17:56:19 answering member 1529 label Biography information for Mr David Gauke
tabling member	1514 label Biography information for Stewart Hosie

101622

registered interest
date	29/10/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	EU Budget: Contributions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the progress of arrangements to secure compliance with the requirements of ESA 2010 with respect to future calculation of the UK's European Budget contribution.
tabling member constituency	Dundee East
tabling member printed	Stewart Hosie
uin	212528
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>Under the Own Resources Decision of 7 June 2007, ESA 95 is the current statistical base for calculations of Member State contributions to the EU Budget.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>ESA2010 will not become the statistical base for Member State contributions to the EU Budget until the new Own Resources Decision, agreed in May 2014, comes into force following ratification by all EU Member States.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Hertfordshire answering member printed Mr David Gauke question first answered 05/11/2014 17:56:56 answering member 1529 label Biography information for Mr David Gauke
tabling member	1514 label Biography information for Stewart Hosie

101623

registered interest
date	29/10/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	EU Budget: Contributions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the accuracy of the European Statistics Agency's calculation of UK's contribution liability in respect of the European Budget under ESA 95 between 27 May and 13 October 2014.
tabling member constituency	Dundee East
tabling member printed	Stewart Hosie
uin	212529
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>The European Commission are responsible for calculating Member State contributions to the EU Budget using data provided by Eurostat who collate and validate the data from Member States’ national statistical institutions, including for the UK the Office for National Statistics.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As the Prime Minister has stated, HM Treasury will now assess the data in exhaustive detail to check how the statistics were arrived at and the methodology that was used.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South West Hertfordshire answering member printed Mr David Gauke question first answered 05/11/2014 17:56:49 answering member 1529 label Biography information for Mr David Gauke
tabling member	1514 label Biography information for Stewart Hosie

100984

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Church Schools
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the implementation of the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) (Amendment) 2014, requiring the active promotion of protected characteristics as set down in the Equality Act 2010, what provision will be made to enable Christian schools to teach traditional Christian values and views about marriage; and what measures they have taken to ensure that any such provisions are not overridden.
tabling member printed	Baroness Eaton
uin	HL2440
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 do not require the active promotion of the protected characteristics in the Equality Act.</p><p> </p><p>The Regulations require that schools actively promote principles which encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics. This is a crucial distinction. It is right to respect other people, even if one does not agree with them or their way of life. This is a fundamental part of preparation for life in modern Britain.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is absolutely clear that the changes make no difference to the existing legal obligations that schools have under the Equality Act 2010. All schools are already required to abide by the Act and their obligations are not altered by the changes to the standards. The changes do not fetter the views of individual teachers or censor the discussion of relevant matters. A teacher who, for instance, disagrees with same-sex marriage because of their Christian faith will not be prevented from expressing that view by these changes. Since the changes make no difference to schools’ existing legal obligations under the Equality Act there is no question of the ability of schools to teach traditional Christian values being overridden.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Nash question first answered 05/11/2014 17:55:38 answering member 4270 label Biography information for Lord Nash
tabling member	4184 label Biography information for Baroness Eaton