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Exchange Rate
Ms. Mowlam : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps Her Majesty's Government are taking to stabilise the exchange rate ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lilley : I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend's speech in the Opposition day debate on Government economic policy on 7 June at columns 247-322.
European Monetary System
Mr. Dykes : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has had recent discussions with the Spanish Minister of Finance on questions affecting membership of the European monetary system.
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Mr. Lilley : My right hon. Friend has regular discussions on a wide range of subjects with his EC Finance Minister colleagues, including the Spanish Minister of Finance.
Investment
Mr. Hind : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out in tabular form the growth of total investment in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, together with the comparable figures for each of the other major European countries.
Mr. Lilley : The information is as follows :
Percentage increase in Total Gross
Fixed Capital Formation
1980-88
|Percentage
-------------------------------------
United Kingdom |39.1
Germany |4.4
France |6.7
Italy |11.1
Spain |33.6
Netherlands |17.1
Belgium |3.1
Source: CSO 1988 National Accounts
Blue Book and 20 June press release
for United Kingdom. For other
countries OECD National Accounts
Volume I for 1980-1987 figures, 1988
figures from OECD Economic Outlook
June 1989.
Premium Bonds
Mr. French : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on his decision to introduce a minimum £100 purchase of premium bonds.
Mr. Lilley : I have received a number of representations. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor gave on 5 May to the right hon. Member for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (Mr. Steel) explaining the reasons for this decision, Official Report, column 255.
Investment Income Surcharge
Mr. Greg Knight : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has any plans to restore the investment income surcharge.
City Earnings
Mr. Thornton : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the total earnings by the City since 1965 in (a) the European Community, (b) the United States of America, (c) Japan and (d) the rest of the world.
Mr. Lilley : The data requested are not available.
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Output Statistics
Mr. Butler : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are his latest figures for output per hour worked in the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.
Mr. Lilley : The April 1989 Treasury economic progress report presented estimates which show that output per hour worked in the United Kingdom economy in 1986 was about 50 per cent. higher than in Japan and about 5 per cent. lower than in Germany.
Banking System (Complaints)
Mr. Vaz : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to establish a statutory system to replace the banking ombudsman in the light of public disquiet over the treatment of complaints relating to automatic telling machines.
Mr. Lilley : The report of the review committee on banking services law and practice, under the chairmanship of Professor Robert Jack, was published by command (Cm 622) on 23 February 1989. The committee has made 83 recommendations covering a number of banking issues including the banking ombudsman scheme. The Government are carefully examining these recommendations and will set out their detailed response in due course.
VAT
Mr. Quentin Davies : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received about the value added tax charge on the self-supply of new construction introduced by amendments to schedule 3 of the Finance Bill ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Lilley : I have received a number of written representations and met representatives of universities, independent schools and banks. In the light of these representations, I have decided to table further amendments for the Report stage of the Finance Bill which will tax the exempt use of new buildings on the basis of the historic cost of land plus the cost of construction.
Independent Taxation
Mr. Terry Davis : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements have been made to publicise the effects of independent taxation.
Mr. Norman Lamont [holding answer 29 June 1989] : A major programme of publicity for independent taxation is
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already under way. The first stage of the programme began in March and April this year to coincide with the issue of about 1 million extra tax returns for 1989-90. These returns will help the Inland Revenue divide married couples' income and tax reliefs correctly for the new system. Each return was accompanied by special message briefly outlining independent taxation and its effects and explaining the importance of completing the returns. Posters about the returns and independent taxation were also displayed in post offices, libraries and other locations. The Inland Revenue has published four new leaflets about the new system to give general guidance to taxpayers. These leaflets are available from tax offices and tax inquiry centres.Further publicity is planned during the coming months and will focus on ensuring that taxpayers, particularly married women, are aware of the change and its implications for them.
Tax Returns
Mr. Gordon Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people will be issued with personal tax returns by the Inland Revenue in 1988-89, 1989-90 and 1990-91.
Mr. Norman Lamont [holding answer 27 June 1989] : The number of people sent personal tax returns in 1988-89 was 9.098 million. It is expected that the figures for 1989-90 and 1990-91 will be :
|million
------------------------
1989-90 |10.188
1990-91 |11.400
Personal Incomes
Mr. Gordon Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give (i) the total unearned and (ii) the total earned income of (a) the top 1 per cent., (b) the top 5 per cent., (c) the top 10 per cent., (d) the top 20 per cent., (e) the top 25 per cent., (f) the bottom 50 per cent., (g) the bottom 70 per cent. and (h) all taxpayers in the years 1988-89 and 1989 -90.
Mr. Norman Lamont [holding answer 27 June 1989] : Estimates are given in the table. They are based on a projection of the 1986-87 survey of personal incomes and are provisional. All estimates are subject to a large degree of uncertainty since some investment income on which tax is deducted at source is not reflected in the survey.
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Total Investment Income and Earned Income
£ billion
Group of Income Tax 1988-89 1989-90
Payers
|Investment Income|Earned Income |Investment Income|Earned Income
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Top 1 per cent. |4.3 |14.7 |5.0 |16.0
Top 5 per cent. |8.2 |43.0 |9.7 |46.9
Top 10 per cent. |10.5 |69.0 |12.5 |75.1
Top 20 per cent. |13.7 |108.8 |16.5 |118.5
Top 25 per cent. |14.9 |125.6 |18.0 |136.6
Bottom 70 per cent. |10.2 |119.5 |12.4 |129.4
Bottom 50 per cent. |6.6 |69.4 |8.0 |74.8
All taxpayers |26.1 |260.2 |31.7 |282.1
Territorial Army (Earnings)
Mr. Soames : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance is given to tax inspectors on the treatment of earnings from the Territorial Army for unemployed men receiving benefit.
Mr. Norman Lamont [holding answer 26 June 1989] : I can assure my hon. Friend that inspectors of taxes are given appropriate guidance to ensure that the earnings of all taxpayers are taxed correctly. If he has a particular case in mind, and would let me have the details, I shall be happy to look into it.
Income Tax
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing the proportion of income taxpayers falling into the higher-rate and basic-rate bands, by region, for the last full year for which figures are available.
Mr. Norman Lamont [holding answer 27 June 1989] : The table gives estimates of the proportion of tax units (married couples and single people) with liability to income tax for 1986-87, the latest available year, at basic rate only and at higher rates. The estimates are based on a sample survey, and their reliability is limited by the size of the sample available, particularly in regions where the total number of taxpayers is relatively small such as Northern Ireland and East Anglia.
Proportion of
taxpaying tax units
liable to tax at:
Region |Basic rate only|Higher rates
|Per cent. |Per cent.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
North |96.3 |3.7
Yorkshire and Humberside |95.7 |4.3
North West |95.7 |4.3
East Midlands |95.9 |4.1
West Midlands |96.4 |3.6
East Anglia |95.6 |4.4
South East |91.9 |8.1
South West |95.0 |5.0
Wales |95.7 |4.3
Scotland |95.4 |4.6
Northern Ireland |93.9 |6.1
Business Expansion Scheme
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing total sums raised under the business expansion scheme, by region, for the last full year for which figures are available.
Mr. Norman Lamont [holding answer 27 June 1989] : Provisional estimates of regional investment through the business expansion scheme for the year 1987-88 are as follows :
Region |1987-88
|£ million
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
England
South East |134
East Anglia |8
South West |15
West Midlands |8
East Midlands |3
Yorkshire and Humberside |5
North and North-West |6
Wales |2
Scotland |11
Northern Ireland |1
|-------
Total |194
SOCIAL SECURITY
Disabled People (Benefits)
3. Mr. Andrew Bowden : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to review social security benefits for disabled people.
24. Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has for involving disabled people and their organisations in the review of disability benefits.
Ms. Ruddock : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to consult disability organisations about the review of disability benefits.
Mr. Scott : I refer my hon. Friend, the right hon. Gentleman and the hon. Lady to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, North-East (Mr. Thurnham) earlier today.
32. Mr. Ashley : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if, in the light of the Social Security Advisory Committee's report "Benefits for Disabled People : A Strategy For Change" he plans to increase spending on disability benefits.
38. Mr. Tom Clarke : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give the financial terms of reference of the disability benefits review.
52. Mr. Sims : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans he has to increase spending on disability benefits.
53. Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what response he has made to the comments of the Social Security Advisory Committee, in its report entitled "Benefits for Disabled People : A Strategy for Change" that reforming the system unavoidably means putting in new resources.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if, in light of the Social Security Advisory Committee's report "Benefits for Disabled People : A Strategy for Change" he will increase spending on benefits for disabled people.
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what additional resources he plans to make available for disability benefits.
Mr. Scott : I refer my hon. Friend and the right hon. and hon. Members to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Hannam) earlier today.
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Agencies
10. Mr. David Shaw : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how his Department's agencies will affect the work of social security staff.
Mr. Moore : Agencies will mean exciting new opportunities for our staff. They will have clearer targets and greater flexibility to provide an improved service to the public, and their pay will be matched to their success in doing so.
16. Mr. Couchman : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how the introductions of his Department's agencies will affect staff training.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Training will be more sharply focused on the specific aims and objectives of the agencies, with a particular emphasis on management training, to reflect the greater devolution of responsibilities which agencies will bring.
29. Mr. Stevens : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what further agencies are envisaged for his Department.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : On 17 May 1989, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced plans for the establishment of an information technology services agency by April 1990 ; a national insurance contributions unit by April 1990 ; a benefits administration agency by April 1991. A further agency, the resettlement units executive agency, has already been established.
Pensioners (Home Ownership)
14. Mr. Hayward : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of pensioners own their own homes outright.
Mr. Moore : In 1986 about 48 per cent. of pensioners owned their own homes, of which only 4 per cent. had a mortgage and paid interest. This means 96 per cent. of pensioners did not pay mortgage interest.
31. Mr. Nicholas Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of pensioners are owner-occupiers.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : In 1986, a total of 48 per cent. of pensioners were owner-occupiers ; of those, 92 per cent. owned their homes outright.
Attendance Allowance
15. Mr. Skinner : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people are receiving the higher rate of attendance allowance at the latest available date ; and what was the comparable figure for 1979.
Mr. Scott : An estimated 310,000 people were receiving the higher rate of attendance allowance at any one time in 1988-89. The corresponding figure for 1978-79 was 122,000.
33. Mr. Butler : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he has any plans to improve the attendance allowance system.
Mr. Scott : We are constantly seeking to improve the working of the attendance allowance system. We have
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substantially reduced the average time taken to decide new attendance allowance claims from 12.5 weeks in 1983 to 7.5 weeks currently. This year we are spending almost £1,200 million on attendance allowance, an increase of 230 per cent. in real terms since 1978 -79. The reports of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys disability surveys will help us judge how well the substantial current expenditure is targeted and whether there are better ways of helping those in greatest need.Pensions
17. Mr. Knapman : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many European Community countries pay flat-rate retirement pensions.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Within the European Community, only the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland pay flat-rate retirement pensions. So far as the United Kingdom is concerned, that means that all pensioners are provided with a secure foundation for retirement. In countries that rely on earnings-related schemes low earners receive low pensions and very low earners have very low pensions.
Benefits (Uprating)
18. Mr. John P. Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what action he intends to take to compensate those who are currently losing because of the disparity between inflation and the uprating increase.
Mr. Moore : In April, benefits were fully uprated in line with the movement in prices over the 12 months to September 1988. In the same way, the next uprating will take account of the movement in prices between September 1988 and September 1989. The use of the historic method for uprating is much fairer than the previous forecasting method. A switch to the forecasting method in 1976 meant that pensioners were not compensated for the price increases of 6 per cent. between March 1975 to November 1975. That meant pensioners got over £1 billion less, in today's prices, than they would have done.
41. Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what action he intends to take to compensate those who are currently losing because of the disparity between inflation and the uprating increase.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's reply to the hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Mr. Smith) earlier today.
Living Standards
19. Mr. John Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security by how much the average living standards of couples with children has increased since 1979.
Mr. Scott : From 1979 to 1985, the average living standards of couples with children improved by 9 per cent. This improvement is larger than for couples without children or single people. Both these groups had improvements in their living standards of 6 per cent.
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Child Benefit
20. Mr. Stern : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many families in receipt of child benefit contain an earner of more than twice national average male earnings ; and what proportion of all such earners are part of a family unit receiving child benefit.
Mr. Scott : On the basis of the 1986 family expenditure survey, a little over 300,000 families in receipt of child benefit contained an earner of more than twice average earnings, representing just over a half of all such earners. Information about the incomes of families receiving child benefit is not routinely collected. Estimates are subject to normal sampling and response variation.
Benefits
21. Mr. Andrew Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people are in receipt of social security benefits.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : There are a large number of different social security benefits serving different purposes and giving different sorts of help to different groups of people. The estimated average numbers receiving each of the various benefits in 1988-89 are :
|1988-89
|Thousands
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Retirement Pension |9,720
Widows' benefit |385
Unemployment benefit |620
Invalidity benefit |1,130
Industrial disablement benefit |210
Industrial death benefit |25
Maternity allowance |15
Non-contributory retirement pension |35
War pension |255
Attendance allowance |760
Invalid care allowance |100
Severe disablement allowance |265
Mobility allowance |530
Income Support |4,215
Child benefit-numbers of children<1> |12,030
Child benefit-number of families |6,755
One parent benefit |680
Family credit |285
Housing benefit<2>
rent rebate |3,100
rent allowance |925
rate rebate<3> |5,105
Notes:
<1>Numbers of children in families receiving child benefit, including
those also receiving one parent benefit.
<2>Most households getting assistance with rent will also be in
receipt of a rate rebate.
<3>Includes estimates of people receiving community charge rebates in
Scotland.
one time, people can receive more than one social security benefit and there are cases where people (eg parents) receive benefits for others (children). In 1987, the latest year for which an estimate isavailable, social security benefits made some contribution to the incomes or family incomes of some 38 million men, women and children--about 70 per cent of the population of Great Britain. 26.Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he will make it his policy to commence payment to anyone granted (a) housing benefit
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or (b) any other form of social security benefit with effect from the date from which the need for that benefit can be shown to date.Mr. Scott : No. There are prescribed times for claiming housing benefit and other social security benefits some of which may be extended for up to 12 months before the date of claim where the claimant proves there was good cause for the failure to claim timeously.
National Insurance
22. Mr. Rogers : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what effect the current increase in earnings will have on national insurance fund contributions.
Mr. Scott : We expect that the current increase in earnings will increase the income of the national insurance fund by about £500 million compared with estimates published last autumn. The Budget measures on national insurance contributions and the abolition of earnings rule will cost the fund a net £1 billion in 1989-90. The national insurance fund's income from contributions is expected to be about £28.2 billion in the current year.
46. Mr. Alan W. Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the percentage increase in contributions to the national insurance fund anticipated in the current year as a result of the increase in earnings.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The percentage increase in receipts from national insurance contributions to the national insurance fund resulting from the expected increase of earnings in 1989-90 is expected to be 9 per cent. in cash terms. This estimate is based on receipts net of statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay and personal pension rebates, but includes premiums paid to the state scheme by occupational pension schemes. It also take account of the changes announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor in his Budget speech.
Pensioners (Income)
23. Mr. Neil Hamilton : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of pensioners have investment income.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : In 1986, a total of 70 per cent. of all pensioners, and 85 per cent. of recently retired pensioners received investment income.
27. Miss Widdecombe : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what percentage of pensioners have income from some source other than state benefit.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : In 1986 just over 80 per cent. of pensioners were in receipt of income from a source other than state benefits.
34. Dr. Twinn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, by how much pensioners' income from savings has increased since 1979.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Pensioners' average total net income from savings increased by 64 per cent. in real terms between 1979 and 1986. Source : Family Expenditure Survey 1986.
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Transitional Payments Unit
25. Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security to what factors he ascribes the staff effort required to process each application to the housing benefit transitional payments unit having been three times greater than expected.
48. Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security to what factors he ascribes the staff effort required to process each application to the housing benefit transitional payments unit having been three times greater than expected.
51. Mr. Ray Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security to what factors he ascribes the staff effort required to process each application to the housing benefit transitional payments unit having been three times greater than expected.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The staff effort required in the transitional payments unit was not three times greater than expected. An early planning estimate was made of the number of staff who would be needed at the transitional payments unit which proved to be an underestimate for two main reasons : the difficulty of estimating staff numbers in a wholly new area of work before detailed procedures had been worked out ; and the fact that many of those employed in the transitional payments unit lacked any previous work experience. The general running costs of the unit in 1988-89 will be less than half the original estimate.
Carers
28. Mr. Livsey : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the estimated annual saving to his Department from the existence of a network of informal carers.
Mr. Scott : This information is not available.
Claimants
30. Mr. Dunn : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which categories of claimants or potential claimants he has identified as being in greatest need.
47. Mr. Butterfill : To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security which categories of claimants or potential claimants he has identified as being in greatest need.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : We recognised that less well-off families with children--those on income-related benefits needed extra help. Income support and housing benefit include premiums providing extra help to families, lone parents and disabled children. Family credit provides more generous help to working families with modest earnings. In all three benefits, the amounts provided for children vary with their ages. In this year's uprating extra help, over and above the £2.1 billion needed to maintain the value of benefits, of 50p per child per week (worth £70 million in total) was provided for some 3 million children living in around 1.5 million families.
Income support and housing benefit include premiums recognising the extra needs of pensioners and disabled claimants. The independent living fund provides financial help to enable severely disabled people who are receiving income support or have low incomes to pay for the personal care and domestic support they need to maintain an independent life in the community.
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From July we are introducing measures to provide extra help for 16 and 17-year-olds who are forced to live independently which is worth up to £6.60 a week for these on income support and up to £5.61 a week for those on housing benefits only. From October we are directing extra help to elderly and disabled pensioners, costing nearly £200 million in a full year and worth up to £2.50 a week for single people and up to £3.50 for couples.
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