Tax Avoidance: Advertising

Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform for what reason advertisements for the tax avoidance services provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers have appeared on his Department's website.

Mr. Thomas
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is not aware of any advertisement of the tax avoidance services provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers on its website. It is not BERR's website policy to endorse the services and products of commercial organisations.

However, it is possible to access the PricewaterhouseCoopers website from the BERR website search engine results page. That site does contain information on the company's tax services.

Mr. Austin Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much his Department received from PricewaterhouseCoopers for the advertisements placed on his Department's website which promote that company's tax avoidance services.

Mr. Thomas
No such advertisement for PricewaterhouseCooper's tax avoidance services has been placed on my Department's website, so no payment has been received.