Copy

Chris Heaton-Harris MP's
Westminster Report:
September 2017

WESTMINSTER

Online VAT Evasion: Anyone who follows my work in Parliament will know that I have been heavily involved in highlighting the issue of online VAT evasion, which is costing the UK economy up to £1.5 billion a year in lost tax receipts according to the National Audit Office. Interestingly, I was recently informed that this form of tax evasion is the second largest ever of its kind in HMRC's history.

Whilst we have seen some improvement in this area, with legislation being introduced to strengthen HMRC's hand in dealing with this fraud, there is still much more that needs to be done to help eradicate this flagrant disregard of British law.

I therefore very much welcomed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on the 13th September which asked why Amazon and eBay "were turning a blind eye to this fraud" and accused them of profiting from VAT evasion at the expense of taxpayers and UK businesses. Unfortunately my role in the Whips Office prevented me from giving evidence at this session but I was extremely pleased with the outcome and the fallout this hearing generated in the national press, with articles appearing in most of the newspapers.

The PAC will now produce a report on the issue in the coming months, so I expect much more to come of this in the near future.


Below: Vice-Presidents from eBay & Amazon and the Chief Executive of HMRC getting a grilling from the PAC!

Returning from the summer recess on the 5th September, it was my job, as Vice-Chamberlain of Her Majesty's Household, to formally provide the House with an answer from Her Majesty in reply to a response addressing this House. It is only a minute long, take a look at the video above!
FUNDRAISER
 
I would like to draw your attention to a local fundraiser which will dramatically change a young boy's life.

Caleb, who is pictured below, is a happy, funny 9 year old boy. However, he suffers from several debilitating disabilities and health conditions that drastically effect his everyday life. These include Behçet's Syndrome, Acute Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Hypermobility Syndrome, an Auto Immune Deficiency Disorder, Visual Impairment, Severe Asthma and life threatening food intolerances.

Caleb is now growing into a confident and independent young man; however because of his conditions he is finding it harder and harder to keep up with his peers and join in with all of the activities a boy of his age should be doing.

SCA Happy Faces Day Care are raising money to help Caleb's transition from a disability pushchair to a specialist wheelchair. This wheelchair will allow Caleb to take charge of his condition and help seize all the opportunities life gives him.

Please dig deep! Donations, big or small are welcome and I hope you are able to help Caleb out!

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/helpcaleb

CONSTITUENCY

I am extremely glad to report that under the new 'Fair Funding Formula' introduced by this Government, schools in my constituency will receive on average 3.1% more funding in 2018.

This will deliver on our manifesto pledge to make school funding fairer. It will replace the current unfair, opaque and out of date funding system that sees each area of the country receive very different amounts of money for no justifiable reason.

No school in 'Daventry' will lose out. Some, for instance Brixworth Primary, will receive a massive 10.9% rise in funding, and Guilsborough Academy will get an additional 6.5%, equating to an extra half a million pounds a year to spend.

 This is an historic reform. It means, for the first time, the resources that the Government is investing in our schools will be distributed according to a formula based on the individual needs and characteristics of every school in the country.

This money will be spent on our children, ensuring they have a brighter, better future. I am glad that it was this Government who chose to spend an extra £1.3 billion in schools and high needs over the next two years.

Historically, schools in my patch have been underfunded so this is extremely welcome news.

If you are interested to know how any of the schools in the area will benefit from this proposal you can view the figures here.
CHRIS' JOKE OF THE MONTH

As it is Conference Recess here is something a little political:

The £312 billion black hole in Labour's spending plan will mean every man, women and child will be saddled with £4,750 more debt to pay. Yikes!

Please Note: Due to the number of constituents this email is sent to, responses directly to this email will have their contents noted. For specific casework queries, please use my Parliamentary email address, as listed above.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.