News story: Finance Bill 2017-18 legislates for Autumn Budget tax changes

The Finance Bill takes steps to help young people with the cost of living, crack down on tax avoidance and evasion, and protect the environment.

Plans to introduce a Stamp Duty Land Tax relief for first-time buyers, back innovative businesses and crack down on tax avoidance and evasion took the next step forward today (1 December 2017) as the government publishes the Finance Bill 2017-18.

The Bill will legislate for tax changes announced at Autumn Budget 2017.

Mel Stride, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

The UK must have an economy that is fit for the future and this Finance Bill takes important steps to deliver just that. We are backing the innovative businesses that power our economy, helping our young people to get on the property ladder and making our tax system fairer so that we can continue to fund our vital public services.

This Finance Bill takes steps to benefit young people, helping them with the cost of living and protecting our environment:

  • abolishing Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) for first time buyers purchasing properties worth up to £300,000, and reducing stamp duty for those buying properties worth up to £500,000
  • helping to protect our environment and make our air cleaner by encouraging manufacturers to produce cleaner cars:
    • increasing by one band the amount of Vehicle Excise Duty new diesel cars pay in their first year
    • increasing existing Company Car Tax diesel supplement by 1%

It ensures our tax system is fair and collects the money we need for our vital public services by:

  • removing the indexation allowance – an outdated relief for inflation which provides benefits to companies that are not available to individuals
  • clamping down on tax avoidance, evasion, and non-compliance by:
    • closing loopholes in the anti-avoidance rules for offshore trusts, so that people cannot avoid paying UK tax on the benefits they withdraw from their offshore trusts
    • preventing companies from claiming unfair tax relief on their intellectual property
    • reducing online VAT evasion by making online marketplaces take more responsibility for the unpaid VAT of their sellers
    • tackling the use of disguised remuneration
    • ensuring companies are not able to claim relief for losses on the disposal of shares which do not reflect losses incurred by the wider group
    • extending landfill tax to illegal waste sites to crack down on rogue landfill site operators

And it backs the UK’s innovative businesses and improves productivity by:

  • doubling the annual amount an Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) investor can get tax relief on to £2m, when investing in knowledge-intensive companies
  • doubling the amount of money that knowledge-intensive companies can receive annually through EISs and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) to £10 million
  • stopping tax reliefs from being claimed for low-risk investments, re-directing funds towards the UK’s risk-taking growing companies
  • increasing the rate of R&D Expenditure Credit (RDEC) from 11% to 12%, so that companies can receive more support for research and development

Notes to editors

The Finance Bill is published on the parliament.uk website.



Press release: Appointments to the Social Security Advisory Committee

The new appointees are:

  • David Chrimes
  • Philip Jones

Existing committee member, Seyi Obakin, has also been appointed for a second term.

The appointments were made following open competition. The new members will start their 5-year terms on 1 February 2018.

Lady Buscombe said:

I am delighted to welcome David and Philip to the Social Security Advisory Committee, and to welcome Seyi back for a second term. They each have considerable knowledge and experience which will be of great value to the Committee, and I look forward to working with them.

Paul Gray, SSAC Chair, said:

These appointments bring a wide-range of expertise and skills to the committee. In particular, they will strengthen the committee’s insight to how the benefit system impacts some of the most vulnerable people in our society. As Universal Credit full service continues to roll out to more complex cases, their understanding of issues affecting employers and workers will be especially valuable.

At the same time we will be losing 2 valued and highly-respected colleagues as their terms expire early next year. I would like to place on record my thanks to Rachael Badger and our vice Chair Colin Godbold for their excellent contributions to our work over recent years, and wish them well for the future.

David Chrimes said:

I am delighted and honoured to be invited to join SSAC. I hope that my experience of disability, welfare and workforce representation will add to the considerable breadth and depth of knowledge and skill held by the committee, with whom I look forward to working.

Philip Jones said:

I am thrilled to have been appointed to SSAC. I look forward to working with the committee, government, employers and others in my area of focus in Wales to ensure we give the most vulnerable in our society, and especially disadvantaged young people, a real opportunity to show their true potential and make a positive contribution to society.

About the committee

The Social Security Advisory Committee is an independent statutory body established in 1980. It provides advice to the Secretary of State on proposals for the amendment of secondary legislation and on general social security matters.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments regulates all appointments made by the Secretary of State to SSAC. All such appointments are made in accordance with the Governance Code for Public Appointments published by the government.

SSAC members receive a daily fee of £256.80, for a time commitment of 2 to 3 days a month. The appointments are for a period of 5 years.

About the appointees

David Chrimes

Crown Advocate, Crown Prosecution Service and member of the FDA Trade Union Executive Committee. David will be the committee’s representative of workers, a reserved post by statute.

Philip Jones

Director, Prince’s Trust Cymru. Philip will be the committee’s representative of employers, and will represent the interests of Wales. Both are reserved posts, the former by statute.

Seyi Obakin

Chief Executive Officer, Centrepoint. Seyi will represent the interests of Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, a reserved post.



Corporate report: Environment Agency 2016 data on regulated businesses in England

Updated: Corrected data on the waste crime data spreadsheet. The tonnage of waste prevented and stopped at a loading site in 2016 to 2017 was 15,113 tonnes.

These datasets support the 2016 Regulating for the environment, people and growth report.

Opra (operational risk appraisal)

The Opra datasets on data.gov.uk contain the Opra compliance ratings and the full Opra profiles. Installations and waste operations were scored to show how compliant these regulated sites were in 2016. The Opra risk assessment provides a rating that the Environment Agency uses to assess the risk to the environment for sites we regulate. A and B indicates good performance whilst bands D, E and F indicate poor performance.

Pollution inventory

The pollution inventory dataset on data.gov.uk contains information from the pollution inventory for each release type (to air, land and waste transfers off-site). The data is grouped by sector for the industrial activities the Environment Agency regulated in 2016.

Pollution incidents

The pollution incidents dataset provides information about incidents that met the Environment Agency category 1 and 2 impact criteria for those reported in 2016. These are the most serious environmental incidents we deal with.

Compliance assessment

The national compliance assessment and compliance classification scheme datasets on data.gov.uk contain details of compliance assessments and breaches of permits recorded by the Environment Agency in 2016.

Enforcement action

The prosecutions dataset on data.gov.uk contains details of all prosecutions carried out in 2016 against companies by the Environment Agency. It covers all regimes we regulate. The dataset covers January 2000 to June 2017. Find out more about our position on enforcement and sanctions.

Waste crime

The waste crime summary dataset contains details of the numbers, types and activities associated with illegal waste sites, large-scale illegal dumping and illegal waste exports. The data covers each financial year from 2009 (where available) to the end of March 2017.

The waste investigations dataset on data.gov.uk contains information about the Environment Agency’s waste crime investigation work and outcomes. The dataset covers January 1997 to September 2017.

The proceeds of crime dataset on data.gov.uk contains details of all post-conviction confiscation orders. These are where we’ve recovered unlawful profits from illegal operators. The dataset covers January 2007 to July 2017.

The illegal dumping incidents dataset on data.gov.uk contains all incidents of illegal dumping (fly-tipping) reported to the Environment Agency. Illegal dumping means the illegal deposit of liquid or solid waste on land, not covered by a permit or exemption. The dataset covers January 2011 to March 2017.

Remaining landfill capacity

The remaining landfill capacity dataset on data.gov.uk provides data for the calendar year 2016. It details the reported remaining landfill capacity by operators at permitted landfill sites.

Data

We’ve made the data on this page available to members of the public for information. We’ve published each dataset under either the open government licence or the Environment Agency conditional licence. Each dataset states the licence it’s published under. If you use the information you must meet the conditions of the relevant licence.



Corporate report: Regulating for people, the environment and growth

Updated: Added the 2017 report.

Annual reports on the Environment Agency’s regulation work. The reports provide information and statistics about the:

  • emissions to air from the businesses we regulate
  • number of serious pollution incidents and sectors responsible
  • compliance of businesses with their environmental permits
  • reduction in costs for businesses we regulate
  • enforcement action we take when businesses do not comply

The Environment Agency applies the regulatory framework set by government. We work with businesses to make sure they operate in a way that avoids harming people or the environment, without imposing unnecessary administrative burdens on them.

See the 2017 datasets that support the 2017 report.

See the 2016 datasets that support the 2016 report.

See the 2015 datasets that support the 2015 report.

See the 2014 datasets that support the 2014 report.

See the 2013 datasets that support the 2013 report.



Corporate report: Environmental performance: sector strategies

Updated: Minor changes to the oil and gas sector strategy 2016 to 2020.

These 14 sector strategy reports give an overview of each sector’s performance and annual emissions. They also list the Environment Agency’s top environmental objectives for each sector to 2020.

See the 2016 datasets that support these strategies.

See the 2015 sector strategies.