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National Insurance and Income Tax
Mr. Redwood : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list all of the points on the income scale for a single man with the standard allowance at which the combined national insurance and income tax marginal rates alter ; and if he will list those rates.
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Mr. Norman Lamont : Information for 1989-90 is given in the table. The calculations use the national insurance contribution rates for 1989-90 announced in chapter 3 of the Autumn Statement 1988 and assume indexed allowances and thresholds for income tax for 1989-90, shown in table 4.1 of the Autumn Statement.
Levels of income at which the marginal rate of income tax and national insurance contributions<1> of a single person<2> changes, 1989-90 Weekly income £ |Per cent. ------------------------------------------------ 43.00 |5 53.37 |30 75.00 |32 115.00 |34 325.00 |25 449.52 |40 <1> Class 1 national insurance contributions for an employee contracted-in to the state earnings-related pension scheme (SERPS). <2> Assumed to be non-aged with no reliefs or allowances other than the single person's allowance.
Single and Married Person's Allowance
Mr. Redwood : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much the single and married person's allowance against income tax can be raised for the loss of £2,000 million of revenue in a full year.
Mr. Norman Lamont : It is estimated that all personal allowances could be increased by just over 9 per cent. for a full year income tax cost of £2,000 million at 1989-90 levels of income. The estimate is based on a projection of the 1986-87 survey of personal incomes and is provisional. It has been assumed that the indexed allowances and thresholds in table 4.1 of the Autumn Statement 1988 apply in 1989-90.
Income Tax
Mr. Redwood : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what size of band at 10 per cent. tax could be introduced before reaching the 25 per cent. income tax rate for the loss of £2,000 million of revenue in a full year ;
(2) what levels of income could be taxed at 15 per cent. instead of 25 per cent. for the loss of £2,000 million in a full year, if the 15 per cent. rate only applied to those with total incomes below the maximum qualifying level for the tax band at 15 per cent.
Mr. Norman Lamont : It is estimated that a reduced rate band of 10 per cent. on the first £550 of taxable income would have an income tax cost of just under £2,000 million in a full year at 1989-90 levels of income.
For the same cost all single people and married couples with taxable incomes of less than £4,750 per annum could be taxed at 15 per cent. instead of 25 per cent.
Estimates are based on a projection on the 1986-87 survey of personal incomes and are provisional. It has been assumed that the indexed allowances and thresholds in table 4.1 of the Autumn Statement 1988 apply in 1989-90.
Building Land
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to abolish the exemption from
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capital gains tax on a person who owns a house with one acre and part of that acre is sold for building land, and replace it with a tax to be levied on the gain resulting from planning permission being obtained ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Norman Lamont : I have noted the hon. Member's suggestion but cannot, of course, anticipate the Budget judgment.
Ministers (Salary Arrangements)
Mr. Allen : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what financial arrangements for further salary payments ensue when a Minister resigns or is sacked.
Mr. Brooke : Subject to the provisions of section 13 of the Parliamentary Pensions etc. Act 1984, Ministers and paid office holders in the House of Lords are currently eligible to receive a severance payment of three months' final salary on ceasing to be a Minister. There is currently no similar scheme in place for Commons Ministers ; they revert to receiving the full parliamentary salary providing they remain Members of Parliament. I would, however, refer the hon. Member to the 26th TSRB Report (Cm. 362), and the statement of my right hon. Friend the Lord President on 24 May 1988 at column 103 in response to the right hon. Member for Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris).
Employee Share Schemes
Mr. Gould : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the tax regime applicable in the case of share subscriptions is generally applied in the case of all employee share schemes, whereby income tax is payable on the difference between the discounted and market prices.
Mr. Norman Lamont : Subject to certain qualifying conditions, employees acquiring shares through employee share schemes approved by the Inland Revenue (under legislation originally contained in the Finance Acts of 1978, 1980 and 1984) are exempt from the income tax liability which normally arises where shares are acquired below market value by reason of employment.
Health Boards (VAT)
Mr. Galbraith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what statutory authority value added tax payments and refunds are made in relation to contracts between health boards and contractors for contracted- out services.
Mr. Lilley : Section 27(2A) of the VAT Act 1983.
VAT
Mr. Heddle : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he proposes to publish the Finance Bill 1989 draft clauses on value added tax changes resulting from the decision of the European Court of Justice of 21 June 1988 regarding the European Community sixth value added tax directive.
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Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977
Mr. Heddle : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will investigate the reasons why Her Majesty's Stationery Office has no stocks of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 ; and, in view of the current review on the matter of homelessness, if he will ensure that adequate stocks are maintained.
Mr. Lilley : HMSO no longer maintains stocks of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 because it was repealed for England and Wales by the Housing (Consequential Provisions) Act 1985 (c. 71) s. 3, Sch. 1 Part I, and for Scotland by the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (c. 26), s. 339, Sch. 24. Its main provisions are covered, on consolidation, for England and Wales in the Housing Act 1980 (c. 51) and for Scotland in the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (c. 26), and HMSO holds adequate stocks of these Acts in both the Queen's Printer's and the Statutes in Force versions.
Taxation (Families)
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families with children are estimated to have taxable incomes below the income tax threshold ; and what proportion this represents of all families with children.
Mr. Norman Lamont : In 1988-89 it is estimated that some 1.6 million families, about 24 per cent. of the total number of families with children in the United Kingdom, have taxable incomes below the income tax threshold.
Independent Schools (Scotland)
Mr. McLeish : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give an estimate of the value of tax concessions granted to non-maintained independent schools in Scotland in each of the years 1978-79 to 1987-88.
Mr. Norman Lamont : I regret that information on the cost of tax relief available to schools with charitable status is not available.
Revenue
Mr. Spearing : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will tabulate in the Official Report the revenues, actual or estimated, that have been received by Her Majesty's Government, or are expected to be received, for each year from 1979-80 to 1988-89 in millions of pounds at 1987-88 prices derived from (a) revenue from North sea oil, (b) revenue from asset sales of privatisations and (c) other sales of land or property of central or local government or their agencies, showing the respective annual totals and the aggregate total for the period.
Mr. Major [holding answer 13 January 1989] : The figures requested are given in the table.
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£ million at 1987-88 prices
|1979-80 outturn |1980-81 outturn |1981-82 outturn |1982-83 outturn |1983-84 outturn |1984-85 outturn |1985-86 outturn |1986-87 outturn |1987-88 outturn |1988-89 estimated outturn|Total
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revenue from North sea oil<2> |4,061 |5,548 |8,761 |9,852 |10,598 |13,791 |12,340 |5,052 |5,305 |<1>3,100 |78,408
Privatisation proceeds<3> |662 |600 |665 |615 |1,372 |2,489 |2,945 |4,695 |5,161 |<1>5,600 |24,804
Receipts from sales of land and building<4> |1,543 |1,951 |2,823 |3,547 |2,934 |2,774 |2,733 |3,215 |3,989 |n/a |n/a
|------ |------ |------ |------ |------ |------ |------ |------ |------ |------ |------
Total |6,266 |8,100 |12,249 |14,013 |14,905 |19,054 |18,017 |12,963 |14,455 |n/a |n/a
<1> Calculated from rounded figures published in the 1988 Autumn Statement.
<2> Oil royalties, petroleum revenue tax, supplementary petroleum duty and corporation tax before ACT set off attributable to United Kingdom oil and gas production.
<3> Consistent with 1988 Autumn Statement.
<4> Figures include sales by local authorities and new towns as well as central Government, and are consistent with the 1988 public expenditure White Paper.
Tobacco Sales
Mr. Sims : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list in the Official Report figures showing sales to the consumer of (a) cigarettes, (b) hand-rolling tobacco,
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(c) cigars and (d) pipe tobacco for the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available, and for the preceding 12-month period.Mr. Lilley [holding answer 13 January 1989] : The latest estimates of consumers' expenditure on tobacco products for the 12 month period to September 1988 and for the preceding 12 months are as follows :
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Current prices, seasonally adjusted
|Cigarettes |Cigars |Other tobacco<1>|Total
|£ million |£ million |£ million |£ million
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 1987 to September 1988 |6,924 |398 |545 |7,867
October 1986 to September 1987 |6,704 |379 |545 |7,628
<1> Estimates of expenditure on hand rolling tobacco and on pipe tobacco are not separately available.
Cigarettes
Mr. Sims : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the number of cigarettes sold to consumers in the United Kingdom during the most recent 12-month period for which figures are available ; what estimate is available to him of what that figure would have been had tobacco duty been increased in each of the 1987 and 1988 Budgets by 10p more than the amount needed to adjust for the effects of inflation ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 13 January 1989] : No direct estimate is available of the number of cigarettes sold to consumers. Information is, however, available on the quantity of cigarettes cleared from bond duty paid. During the 12 month period to October 1988 a total of 96,635.3 million cigarettes were cleared. It is estimated that had tobacco duty been increased in each of the 1987 and 1988 Budgets by 10p more than the amount needed to adjust for the effects of inflation the total above might have been around 6 per cent. lower.
Stamps
Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration he has given to the implications for philatelists of the reorganisation of value added tax system in the European Community after 1992 ; whether he has considered a lower rate of value added tax for second -hand stamps and stamps purchased by collectors ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 13 January 1989] : Discussions on the shape of the VAT system post-1992 are at an early stage but the Government have already made it clear that they consider the European Commission's proposals for the approximation of VAT rates to be
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unnecessary for the completion of the single market. If the hon. Member sees particular difficulties ahead for philatelists perhaps he would write to me.TRANSPORT
M1
13. Mr. Illsley : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to improve traffic flow on the M1 motorway.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : We are planning improvements to junction 1, a climbing lane at junction 9 and widening between junctions 23a and 24.
Opening the M40 extension from Oxford to Birmingham will relieve the M1.
Tees and Hartlepool Ports
14. Mr. Devlin : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next intends to visit the ports of Tees and Hartlepool.
Mr. Portillo : I visited Teesport on 26 October 1988. My noble Friend the Minister for Aviation and Shipping hopes to be able to take up later this year an invitation from the chairman of the Tees and Hartlepool port authority.
Buses (Vandalism)
16. Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the implications for the level of vandalism and violence on buses of the increase in the proportion of one- person operated buses.
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Mr. Portillo : While there is probably no simple correlation between vandalism and violence and the type of vehicle operated, recent research on assaults on bus crews indicates that there is less risk of violence on one-person operated buses.
London Assessment Studies
18. Mr. Bernie Grant : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his policy on whether boroughs should include references to options contained in the London assessment studies when responding to solicitors' inquiries on land searches.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : Land search inquiries are a matter for the local authorities concerned. We understand that it is not their general practice to refer to possibilities being considered in their preliminary transport studies or ours.
27. Mr. Corbyn : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to make an announcement concerning the road assessment studies for London.
Mr. Channon : I expect to receive the consultants' reports on the options in the summer and will make an announcement as soon as possible after that.
Signposting
19. Mr. Amos : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will give more discretion to his regional directors of transport regarding the erection of signs in rural areas.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : Traffic signs must be based on clear principles applied consistently throughout the country.
We are currently consulting on changes to the regulations which will widen the choice of standard signs.
Channel Tunnel
15. Mr. Loyden : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the likely impact on the port of Liverpool of the Channel tunnel.
Mr. Portillo : I understand that the Merseyside chamber of commerce and industry and some other agencies in the north-west have agreed to co- operate in a study of the transport implications for that region of the single European market and the Channel tunnel. Government Departments are ready to assist with information and advice. I hope that other bodies in the region, especially in the private sector, will join in this initiative.
20. Mr. Hind : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has any plans to meet the chairman of British Rail to discuss rail links to the Channel tunnel ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Portillo : This topic is discussed from time to time in Ministers' regular meetings with the chairman.
21. Mr. Parry : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will commission a study of the impact of the Channel tunnel on the port of Liverpool.
Mr. Portillo : I see no need to commission a study as I understand that the Merseyside chamber of commerce and
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industry and some other agencies in the north -west have agreed to co-operate in a study of the transport implications for that region of the single European market and the Channel tunnel.I hope that other bodies in the region, especially in the private sector, will join in this initiative, and Government Departments are also ready to assist with information and advice.
23. Mr. Sumberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received on the need to provide a direct rail link between the Channel tunnel and the north-west of England.
Mr. Portillo : Direct rail links already exist between the site of the United Kingdom entrance to the Channel tunnel and the north-west, but we do receive representations from time to time arguing that additional infrastructure should be provided.
24. Mrs. Fyfe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will commission a study of the regional impact of the Channel tunnel.
72. Mr. McAvoy : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will commission a study on the regional impact of the Channel tunnel.
Mr. Portillo : No. The Government concluded at an early stage that such a study would not be a useful exercise. Of more practical benefit to the regions is the plan, which British Rail is required to publish by the end of 1989, for the dispersal of international passenger and freight trains throughout Britain. They are currently consulting widely and assessing demand.
55. Mr. Evennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from residents of the London borough of Bexley concerning the proposed routes for the Channel tunnel rail link.
Mr. Portillo : We have received a number of representations from Bexley residents on this subject. It is British Rail's responsibility to decide on a preferred route and to justify its choice.
57. Mr. McAllion : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on progress on the Channel tunnel.
83. Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on progress in the Channel tunnel.
Mr. Portillo : Construction progress is a matter for Eurotunnel. I understand that, following some early delays, better progress is being maintained.
63. Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what initiatives he has taken to ensure that Yorkshire and other northern areas of England will have adequate connection with the Channel tunnel.
Mr. Portillo : I expect British Rail to address these questions in the plan which they will be publishing later this year in compliance with section 40 of the Channel Tunnel Act.
65. Mr. Michael J. Martin : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the progress of the Channel tunnel.
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Mr. Portillo : Construction progress is a matter for Eurotunnel. I understand that, following some early delays, better progress is being maintained.
66. Mr. Clelland : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to increase the carrying capacity of the motorway system in the light of the Channel tunnel.
Mr. Peter Bottomley : The Government announced in the White Paper "The Channel Fixed Link" (Cmnd. 9735) that the 23km gap between Maidstone and Ashford on the M20 would be filled with dual three lane motorway, and that the 10.8km Maidstone bypass section would be widened from two lanes to three to give good access to the tunnel terminal.
In general, the impact of the Channel tunnel is one of many factors taken into account in planning the forward road programme and in the design of motorway and trunk road schemes.
94. Mr. Litherland : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what action he is taking to encourage the development of freight handling facilities in the north of England and Scotland to take advantage of the Channel tunnel.
Mr. Portillo : I expect British Rail to address these questions in the plan which it will be publishing later this year in compliance with section 40 of the Channel Tunnel Act.
Track Signalling Equipment
22. Mr. Dykes : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he has held recent discussions with British Rail and London Regional Transport representatives on procedures and problems affecting safety and other checks on track signalling equipment.
Mr. Channon : The railways inspectorate meets British Railways Board officials twice a year to discuss various operational and safety issues, including signalling. It also meets officials from London Underground Ltd. whenever necessary to discuss signalling.
Air Congestion
25. Mr. Colvin : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will next meet the chairman of the Air Transport Users' Committee to discuss air congestion in the south-east.
Mr. Channon : I have no plans to meet the chairman of the Air Transport Users' Committee again in the near future. We attended the conference held recently at Lancaster house to consider air traffic control congestion problems.
Network SouthEast
26. Mr. Madel : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next expects to meet the chairman of British Rail to discuss further improvements in Network SouthEast ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Channon : I regularly meet the chairman of British Rail and the director of Network SouthEast to discuss a wide range of issues.
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88. Mr. Key : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he last met the senior management of British Rail's Network SouthEast to discuss the efficiency of their services.
Mr. Portillo : My right hon. Friend and I meet the senior management of Network SouthEast very frequently and often discuss efficiency, amongst other topics.
British Rail (Chairman)
28. Mrs. Margaret Ewing : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next expects to meet the chairman of British Rail ; and what matters he proposes to discuss.
Mr. Portillo : I shall be meeting the chairman of British Rail on 23 January to discuss a variety of rail matters.
56. Mr. Skinner : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with British Rail ; and what subjects were discussed
Mr. Portillo : I have regular discussions with the chairman of British Rail about a wide variety of railway matters.
62. Mr. Patchett : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will next meet the chairman of British Rail ; and what matters he expects to discuss.
89. Dr. Reid : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he next plans to meet the chairman of British Rail ; and what matters he expects to discuss.
Mr. Portillo : I shall be meeting the chairman of British Rail on 23 January to discuss a variety of rail matters.
Aviation Liberalisation
29. Mrs. Roe : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when European Community Ministers will be reviewing the aviation liberalisation package agreed in December 1987.
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