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I am writing to a range of partner organisations today to invite them to become members of a new DSG formula review group. The group will steer the work of the review and report its recommendations to Ministers. Special interest groups of stakeholders will be invited to attend meetings and submit papers on
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Schools: Rural Schools
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Lord Adonis): My honourable friend the Minister of State for Schools and 14 to 19 Learners (Jim Knight) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I have today written to local authorities to remind them of our policy and guidance on rural schools. A copy of the letter has been placed in the Library of the House.
Security Industry Authority
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Crime Reduction (Vernon Coaker) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Following the Home Secretary's Statement of 13 December 2007, I should like to update the House on the latest position regarding the revocation of Security Industry Authority licences following immigration checks.
As the Home Secretary said in the Statement on 13 December, the SIA contacted some 10,500 individuals to inform them they were minded to revoke their licences as a consequence of checks which indicated no right to work or where the BIA was not satisfied that the individual had the right to work. Licence holders had up to 21 days to respond to the SIA with further information challenging the intention to revoke, and a further 21 days in which to appeal to the magistrates’ or sheriff courts. Both of the 21-day periods have now elapsed.
Information is today being made available on the SIA's register of licence holders on some 7,000 individuals who have had their licences revoked. SIA will update its advice to employers. Some 3,000 challenges to the minded-to-revoke letter are currently being processed.
As the Home Secretary informed the House on 13 December, the BIA has been carrying out targeted enforcement activity in relation to illegal working in the security industry, focusing on visits to employers and workplaces where SIA checks suggest there may be a repeated use or significant presence of illegal migrant workers.
The BIA is screening and prioritising cases for investigation where employers have blatantly failed to comply with the law on the prevention of illegal working, and where individuals have committed criminal offences, including where this includes the use of false identities or forged documents. Individuals with adverse immigration records or who may pose a risk to the public are being prioritised for removal.
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Taxation: Aviation
Lord Davies of Oldham: My honourable friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Kitty Ussher) has made the following Written Statement.
I am announcing today the publication of a consultation document on reforming the taxation of aviation. My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Alistair Darling) made the announcement at Pre-Budget Report 2007 that air passenger duty was to be replaced by a duty paid per plane. This reform will send better environmental signals, encourage the more efficient use of aircraft and ensure aviation makes a greater contribution to both environmental costs and the public finances.
This consultation document sets out options for the detailed design of the new per plane duty, puts forward a number of proposals for how it would operate, and seeks the views of stakeholders on these proposed options. The formal consultation period will run for 12 weeks from today and close on 24 April 2008. Design issues to be considered include the basis of the duty, exemptions, general aviation, impact on the freight and transit/transfer industry and administrative details.
The consultation document has been deposited in the Libraries of the House and is available in the Vote Office and on the Treasury website at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk.
Taxation: Avoidance Schemes
Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Jane Kennedy) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Recent disclosures to HM Revenue and Customs indicate that individuals are claiming relief against income tax for manufactured payments that are paid using tax avoidance schemes and that substantial sums of tax are at risk.
Tax avoidance is unfair on the majority of taxpayers and can undermine the funding of public services. The Government are determined to take appropriate and prompt action to counter avoidance. Therefore the Government propose to introduce appropriate legislation in the Finance Bill 2008 that will be effective from today, 31 January 2008.
A draft of the material that will be contained in the Finance Bill 2008, together with draft Explanatory Notes and background material, will be published today on HMRC's website at www.hmrc.gov.uk.
Terrorism: Finance
Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Jane Kennedy) has made the following Written Statement.
In a Written Ministerial Statement of 10 October 2006, the previous Economic Secretary undertook to report to Parliament on a quarterly basis on the operation of the UK's counterterrorism asset-freezing regime. This is the fifth of these reports and covers the period October-December 2007.1
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In The Financial Challenge to Crime and Terrorism (February 2007), the Treasury announced that it would be setting up a dedicated asset-freezing unit which, acting in response to advice from law enforcement and security agencies, will increase the resources and operational focus that the Government are able to bring to bear on asset-freezing. The Treasury's asset-freezing unit became operational on 24 October 2007.
In the quarter October-December 2007, the Treasury made six domestic designations under the Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2006.
None of these were persons already designated under earlier orders.
The Terrorism Order and the al-Qaeda and Taliban Order provide, where appropriate, for designations to be made confidentially and with restricted circulation of notice.
No persons were designated on this basis in this quarter.
No persons were designated on the basis of closed source material provided by law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
There were no financial sanctions listings at the EU or the UN in relation to terrorism or al-Qaeda and the Taliban of persons with links to the UK.
A total of 288 separate accounts containing approximately £1.4 million2 of suspected terrorist funds are currently frozen in the UK.
The Treasury keeps domestic asset-freezing cases under review. A number of formal reviews have been initiated in this quarter and the review of five cases was completed. In four cases a decision was taken to delist the designated person and in one case the designation was continued.
In accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1452 (2002), the Treasury operates a licensing system whereby designated persons and others are able to apply to make or receive payments under specific and, if necessary, monitored conditions. In this quarter, the following licences were issued:
11 listed persons were granted legal expenses licences;17 listed persons were granted basic expenses licences; two of which were for benefits payments; andno listed persons were granted extraordinary expenses licences.In addition, the households of four listed persons were granted benefits licences in accordance with the policy set out in the previous Economic Secretary's Statement of 3 July 2006 to Parliament.
- 1 The detail that can be provided to the House on a quarterly basis is subject to the need to avoid the identification, directly or indirectly, of personal or operationally sensitive information.
- 2 This figure represents the balance of the accounts at the time they were frozen and includes approximately $58,000 of suspected terrorist funds frozen in the UK. This has been converted using current exchange rates. Future fluctuations in the exchange rate may impact on the contribution this sum makes to future totals of suspected terrorist funds frozen.
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