Membership
The standing membership will consist of representatives from HMRC’s Stamp Taxes policy team, HM Treasury’s Financial Services Tax branch and the stakeholders listed below:
| Name | Organisation |
|---|---|
| Martin Walker | ADE Tax |
| Janette Sawden | Association of Investment Companies |
| Holly Bradley | Baker & McKenzie LLP |
| Sean Randall | Blick Rothenburg |
| Kate Willis | Chartered Institute of Taxation |
| Sacha Dalton | Chartered Institute of Taxation |
| Laura Mullarkey | Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP |
| Charlie Hodge | Computershare |
| Suzi Evans | Deloitte |
| Toby Price | Deloitte |
| Georgina West | Ernst & Young |
| Peter Checkley | Euroclear |
| Alison Dickie | Freshfields |
| Gordon Keenay | FTI Consulting |
| Asta Evans | Goodwin Procter (UK) |
| Mike Dalton | Grant Thornton |
| Steven McGrady | Grant Thornton |
| Adam Parry | Hogan Lovells |
| Emily McCarthy | Hogan Lovells |
| Ben Eaton | Law Society |
| Isobel d’Inverno | Law Society of Scotland |
| Pete Miller | The Miller Partnership |
| Kyle Rainsford | Norton Rose Fulbright |
| David Halsey | Office of Tax Simplification |
| Michael Nguyen | Price Waterhouse Coopers |
| Steve Quinn | Sidley Austin |
| Jamshed Bilimoria | Slaughter and May |
| Martin Worsley | SLC Registrars (Equiniti) |
Terms of reference
1. Purpose
To provide a forum in which HMRC and stakeholders can discuss, explain and explore the feasibility and implications associated with modernising the STS Framework.
The Working Group will help to inform the development of policy proposals as part of a longer-term project with potentially several stages of consultation and new legislation.
It will also provide an opportunity for early review of guidance and information. This will recognise the diverse needs of customers and make sure that changes are clearly explained so that they understand what is required of them.
2. Confidentiality
All information and papers that HMRC shares with the Working Group will be shared in confidence unless they are already in the public domain or confidentiality restrictions have been expressly lifted. However, external representatives may consult in confidence with other members of their organisation in order to provide a truly representative view.
Exceptionally, HMRC may wish to consult on something which is particularly sensitive and where premature disclosure could seriously prejudice a government initiative or affect commercial interests. In such circumstances, HMRC may want to engage with stakeholders on a more restricted individual basis and subject to a stringent confidentiality undertaking.
3. Governance and membership
HMRC Stamp Taxes Policy will provide the chair and secretariat.
The external membership of the Working Group will comprise representatives of industry bodies and professional bodies representing legal, finance and tax professionals (see list for current members).
Representatives from other parts of HMRC, other government departments and other external representatives may be invited to meetings on an ad hoc basis as appropriate.
The Working Group is one of a number of HMRC consultative forums for businesses, agents and representative bodies. It is not a decision-making body. Final decisions on the policy proposals to be recommended to Ministers remain the responsibility of HMRC in conjunction with HM Treasury officials.
4. Sub-groups
As appropriate, work may be remitted to an informal sub-group, set up as needed by agreement amongst the members, for a limited period.
Any sub-groups set up will report to the meeting as a whole. As issues are resolved, the appropriate sub-group will be stood down.
5. Meetings
The group will usually meet bi-monthly, although this may be varied with the agreement of members.
Draft minutes of meetings will be issued to members within 15 working days of each meeting. Minutes will be anonymised, and comments will not be credited to particular individuals.
All members will be invited to each meeting unless a specific sub-group is set up with the agreement of members. It is open to members to decide whether to attend on the basis of the agenda.
The timing and length of meetings will be flexible, taking account of the agenda and of members’ views.
All members will be given an opportunity to suggest agenda items. Agenda items should normally be submitted to HMRC at least two weeks before each meeting. The final agenda and any accompanying papers will normally be issued at least one week in advance of each meeting.
6. Review
The operation, terms of reference and membership of the Working Group and its sub-groups may be periodically reviewed by the Chair to ensure that it continues to meet its aims and objectives.
7. Transparency
These terms of reference, together with the name and organisation of each stakeholder, will be published on GOV.UK.
Minutes
As meeting discussions and papers are used to inform active government policy development, minutes are not published on this page. However, the resulting policy proposals will be published on GOV.UK for formal consultation at future fiscal events.
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