The UK is committed to supporting countries to achieve the Global Goals, including working actively with countries to help raise and manage public revenues, and thereby to invest in their public services and infrastructure.

In February 2019 we announced a new £47 million package of support to assist developing countries in strengthening their tax systems. This package will provide technical assistance and capacity building support through a number of partners. It will also help contribute to economic growth by helping to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, and by creating a more level playing field for businesses. In addition to this new package of support, the UK has a number of other initiatives underway to help strengthen tax systems; in August 2018 DFID Ethiopia launched a £35 million programme to support the Ethiopian government in transforming the country’s tax system, and HMRC’s Capacity Building Unit provides peer-to-peer expertise to raise the standards of tax systems of developing countries.

The UK is committed to supporting countries to achieve the Global Goals, including working actively with countries to help raise and manage public revenues, and thereby to invest in their public services and infrastructure.

In February 2019 we announced a new £47 million package of support to assist developing countries in strengthening their tax systems. This package will provide technical assistance and capacity building support through a number of partners. It will also help contribute to economic growth by helping to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, and by creating a more level playing field for businesses. In addition to this new package of support, the UK has a number of other initiatives underway to help strengthen tax systems; in August 2018 DFID Ethiopia launched a £35 million programme to support the Ethiopian government in transforming the country’s tax system, and HMRC’s Capacity Building Unit provides peer-to-peer expertise to raise the standards of tax systems of developing countries.

The UK is committed to supporting countries to achieve the Global Goals, including working actively with countries to help raise and manage public revenues, and thereby to invest in their public services and infrastructure.

In February 2019 we announced a new £47 million package of support to assist developing countries in strengthening their tax systems. This package will provide technical assistance and capacity building support through a number of partners. It will also help contribute to economic growth by helping to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, and by creating a more level playing field for businesses. In addition to this new package of support, the UK has a number of other initiatives underway to help strengthen tax systems; in August 2018 DFID Ethiopia launched a £35 million programme to support the Ethiopian government in transforming the country’s tax system, and HMRC’s Capacity Building Unit provides peer-to-peer expertise to raise the standards of tax systems of developing countries.

The UK is committed to supporting countries to achieve the Global Goals, including working actively with countries to help raise and manage public revenues, and thereby to invest in their public services and infrastructure.

In February 2019 we announced a new £47 million package of support to assist developing countries in strengthening their tax systems. This package will provide technical assistance and capacity building support through a number of partners. It will also help contribute to economic growth by helping to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, and by creating a more level playing field for businesses. In addition to this new package of support, the UK has a number of other initiatives underway to help strengthen tax systems; in August 2018 DFID Ethiopia launched a £35 million programme to support the Ethiopian government in transforming the country’s tax system, and HMRC’s Capacity Building Unit provides peer-to-peer expertise to raise the standards of tax systems of developing countries.

The UK is committed to supporting countries to achieve the Global Goals, including working actively with countries to help raise and manage public revenues, and thereby to invest in their public services and infrastructure.

In February 2019 we announced a new £47 million package of support to assist developing countries in strengthening their tax systems. This package will provide technical assistance and capacity building support through a number of partners. It will also help contribute to economic growth by helping to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, and by creating a more level playing field for businesses. In addition to this new package of support, the UK has a number of other initiatives underway to help strengthen tax systems; in August 2018 DFID Ethiopia launched a £35 million programme to support the Ethiopian government in transforming the country’s tax system, and HMRC’s Capacity Building Unit provides peer-to-peer expertise to raise the standards of tax systems of developing countries.

The UK is committed to supporting countries to achieve the Global Goals, including working actively with countries to help raise and manage public revenues, and thereby to invest in their public services and infrastructure.

In February 2019 we announced a new £47 million package of support to assist developing countries in strengthening their tax systems. This package will provide technical assistance and capacity building support through a number of partners. It will also help contribute to economic growth by helping to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, and by creating a more level playing field for businesses. In addition to this new package of support, the UK has a number of other initiatives underway to help strengthen tax systems; in August 2018 DFID Ethiopia launched a £35 million programme to support the Ethiopian government in transforming the country’s tax system, and HMRC’s Capacity Building Unit provides peer-to-peer expertise to raise the standards of tax systems of developing countries.

DFID’s support will help strengthen developing country capacity to raise domestic resources, including through assistance in the implementation of international tax standards. Although many factors impact on revenue growth, so forecasts are not available, past DFID tax programmes have proved to be great value for money. For example, the OECD’s Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative, which assists developing countries to implement international tax standards, has generated an additional £100 for every £1 spent on operating costs.

Officials at the Department for International Development did not have any specific discussions with HMRC on tax treaty negotiations between the UK and Lesotho, Colombia or Kyrgyzstan.

HMRC is the lead department for the negotiation of the UK’s tax treaties, reporting to HM Treasury Ministers. HMRC seeks views from a range of interested parties, including DFID, and then takes a judgement about which countries to seek to engage with. DFID has supported this approach which led to recent successful negotiations with Colombia, Lesotho and Kyrgyzstan.

The Secretary of State for International Development has not had any discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on tax treaty negotiations between the UK and Lesotho and Colombia.

HMRC is the lead department for the negotiation of the UK’s tax treaties, reporting to HM Treasury Ministers. HMRC seeks views from a range of interested parties, including DFID, and then takes a judgement about which countries to seek to engage with. DFID supports this approach which led to recent successful negotiations with Colombia and Lesotho.

HM Revenue and Customs is the lead department for the negotiation of the UK’s tax treaties, reporting to HM Treasury Ministers. HMRC seeks views from a range of interested parties, including DFID, and then decides with which countries to seek to engage. DFID are fully supportive of the approach. DFID and HMRC officials work closely together to deliver technical assistance to build capacity in developing country tax authorities.

The process to determine the level of UK Government financial support to St Helena for 2017/18 has followed standard DFID procedures. It began during November 2016 when the St Helena Government (SHG) provided budget forecasts and DFID officials visited the island for intense discussions of the budget proposals. Elected Members took an active role throughout these discussions.

A revised budget from SHG in January provided more detailed and prioritised spending projections. Following internal quality assurance Ministers approved the level of DFID’s contribution to the budget on 30 March 2017. This approval was relayed to SHG Officials on 31 March.

Throughout the process DFID officials were in regular contact with their SHG counterparts. Financial Aid makes an important contribution to the long term growth and development of St Helena.

The UK Government has a duty to ensure value for taxpayers’ money as it meets its international commitments.

DFID is working in collaboration with HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs to develop the Government’s tax and development policy, and to improve the capacity of developing country tax administrations to raise revenue. We are also working closely with the Department for International Trade to support the Government’s work on international trade policy, with a specific focus on creating jobs and livelihoods in order to reduce poverty around the world.

The UK and Italy have the largest number of very restrictive tax treaties with poor Asian and African countries, harming their economic development. Will the Secretary of State press her Treasury colleagues to review these treaties?

I did not fully hear the question, but I did hear the most important point, which was that of Africa and economic development. The British Government, through UK aid, are at the forefront of leading the way when it comes to prosperity and economic development. We will continue to do exactly more of that.

(1) DFID is supporting the National Revenue Authority to increase domestic tax collection and the Ministry of Finance on tax policy. To date, our support has helped boost the Sierra Leonean Government’s tax collection from 8% to 11% of GDP from 2006 to 2014.

(2) Agriculture has the potential to increase incomes for poor families and the Smallholder Commercialization and Agribusiness Development Project aims to reach 50,000 people, of which 40% will be women and young people. This project, which DFID are funding with the World Bank, focuses on improving access to markets by upgrading 500 km of rural roads, increasing access to finance and helping farmers to get a better price for their crops.

(3) DFID is not supporting work on tourism in Sierra Leone.

(4) On job creation we are funding the Strengthening Opportunities for Business Action programme. This project works with local enterprises and entrepreneurs to help them identify and take opportunities to expand their businesses and create more jobs. DFID expect that nearly 60,000 poor men and women will increase their annual incomes by more than 10%.

The UK is recognised as a global leader in tax and development, working to end aid dependency in developing countries. The UK, as a founding signatory to the Addis Tax Initiative, pledged to double our spend on tax and development by 2020. My Department has made strong progress and is on course to deliver this commitment by 2020.

All organisations that DFID contracts with are subject to the standard DFID Terms and Conditions. These are clear on the organisations responsibility for establishing specific country tax obligations and payment requirements. Supplier compliance expectation is reinforced through DFID’s Statement of Priorities and Expectations (SOPE) which specifies the Department’s position regarding tax avoidance.

The UK remains supportive of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) efforts to strengthen its revenue generation. A transparent and effective tax system is an important part of this. It is also important that the tax system is implemented in a way that does not negatively impact the vital role which NGO’s play in responding to the needs of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is an importtant part of this.

DFID officials have raised concerns with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) about this, particularly the need for clarity on the implications of the tax system for NGOs, and how this could affect issues such as operations in Gaza and banking signatory authorities. The UK, along with other donors, UN OCHA and the NGO community, will continue to be in close contact with PA to clarify their approach.