This House of Commons Library debate pack briefing has been prepared in advance of a debate entitled ”Strengthening Families”. This will take place in Westminster Hall on 8 February 2018 at 1:30pm and will be led by Fiona Bruce MP.
On 30 January 2018, there will be a Westminster Hall debate on 'Marriage and Government policy'. The debate is sponsored by Derek Thomas MP. The debate will start at 9:30 and last 90 minutes.
Following the 2017 Budget on 8 March 2017, the Government published the Finance (No.2) Bill 2016/17 on 20 March 2017. Due to the timing of the General Election, the Bill completed all its remaining stages in the Commons on 25 April, in 'wash up' before Dissolution. In light of the abbreviated timetable for the Bill's scrutiny, the Government removed a significant number of clauses, to be introduced in a Finance Bill later this year. This second Finance Bill was published on 8 September and received Royal Assent on 16 November.
A debate on public country-by-country reporting is to be held in Westminster Hall on Wednesday 22 November, at 4.30pm. The debate is sponsored by Nigel Mills MP, and is scheduled to last an hour.
The briefing sets out the background to Autumn Budget 2017 which will take place on Wednesday 22 November 2017. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish revised forecasts for the economy and public finances on the same day.
On Tuesday 14 November the House is scheduled to debate the 'Paradise Papers', a large tranche of material gathered by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, leaked from two offshore service providers and 19 tax havens' company registries. Details of the financial holdings of both wealthy individuals and multinational enterprises has been reported by the BBC, the Guardian, and other media organisations that are part of the consortium, reiterating public concerns as to the scale of tax avoidance and evasion, and the ability of offshore jurisdictions to facilitate these activities. This note gives some background on this issue.
There was a general debate on HMRC Closures in Westminster Hall on Thursday 2 November 2017. The subject of the debate was nominated by the Backbench Business Committee. The debate was opened by Stuart McDonald MP.
A Westminster Hall debate on "Taxation of the beer and pubs sector" was held on Tuesday October 31 2017. The Member leading the debate was Mike Wood MP.
A Westminster Hall debate on the "Effect of taxes on small businesses" was held Wednesday 18 October 2017 at 2.30pm. The Member leading the debate was Derek Thomas MP.
The Government’s new tobacco control plan was published in 2017, and seeks to reduce smoking overall and target this inequality in smoking rates. The ambitions in the plans include reducing smoking in adults, young people and pregnant women, ensuring a parity of esteem for those with mental health problems, and supporting evidence based use of innovative technologies to reduce smoking, such as e-cigarettes (now the most popular method for quitting smoking in England ).
This Library briefing provides a short introduction to the taxation of non-domiciles, before discussing the reforms to these rules introduced in the 2008 Budget.
Taxation is very largely a Member State competence. The implications of the UK lying outside the EU are likely to be less significant for taxation compared with other policy areas. This short note discusses the balance of competences between the UK and the EU with regard to tax law, before looking at the brief comment that has been made, to date, on this aspect of Brexit.
What is an EU (Approvals) Bill and why is one needed now? This Bill concerns draft EU proposals concerning Albania and Serbia participating as observers in the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency, and an agreement between the EU and Canada on competition laws. This paper provides background on the proposals and explains why an Act of Parliament is needed for the UK Government to approve them in the Council of the European Union.
Key Issues 2017 is a series of short briefings on the topics that will take centre stage in UK and international politics in the new Parliament. Written by impartial Commons Library specialists, these articles are designed to help the reader get up to speed quickly on issues such as; Brexit, the housing crisis, the future of devolution and much more.