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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 13 February 1990
THE ARTS
Libraries (Beetles)
Mr. Alex Carlile : To ask the Minister for the Arts what recommendations he has made to historic libraries on protecting their collections of books against the Australian spider beetle and the biscuit beetle ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Luce [holding answer 9 February 1990] : The national preservation office, funded by the British Library, maintains a free inquiry and advice service to libraries in the United Kingdom on all aspects of preservation and security, including the protection of books against beetle.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Privatised Industries
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received concerning the possible renationalisation of privatised industries ; and if he will make a statement.
Profit-related Pay
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many profit-related pay schemes are linked to the profitability of the firm as a whole rather than to a smaller unit ; and how many people are affected.
Mr. Lilley : I regret that the information is not readily available.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the cost to the Exchequer in each year of the profit-related pay scheme.
Mr. Lilley : The information is as follows.
Year |Estimated
|cost of
|income tax
|relief
|£ million
---------------------------------
1987-88 |negligible
1988-89 |10
1989-90 |15
Costs are expected to increase in future.
Payroll Taxes
Mr. Ian Bruce : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment has been made of different levels of payroll tax on the costs of industry.
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Mr. Lilley : A payroll tax levied as a percentage of total payroll would raise an estimated £1 billion for each 0.5 per cent. of the tax rate.
Personal Equity Plans
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for each year that PEPs have been in operation what is (a) the number of people with PEPs, (b) the average holding per person in a PEP and the distribution of holdings and (c) the distribution of PEP holdings by region.
Mr. Lilley : Information is not available in the form requested. The number of plans taken out since the introduction of personal equity plans is estimated as follows :--
Year |Total
------------------------
1987 |270,000
1988 |120,000
1989 |300,000
|-------
Total |690,000
The average value of the investment in each plan is as follows.
Year |£ ------------------ 1987 |1,650 1988 |1,800
An estimate for 1989 is not available yet and there is no information available on the distribution of the level of investments or the regional distribution of investors.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what evidence he has on whether the existence of PEPs has increased (a) personal shareholdings and (b) savings.
Mr. Lilley : Personal equity plans offer a simple and cheap way of owning shares and have been very successful in shares and encouraging the spread of share ownership.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the distribution of personal equity plan holdings by income in each year of the scheme's existence.
Mr. Lilley : I regret that the information is not available.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the proportion of (a) non-United Kingdom shares and (b) shares in privatised companies held on average in each PEP and their distribution.
Mr. Lilley : I regret that the information is not available. Non- United Kingdom shares may not be held directly in a PEP.
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of PEP savings he estimates are diverted from other forms of savings, and what information he has as to what these other savings are.
Mr. Lilley : I regret that the information requested is not available.
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Tax
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report the amount and share of pre-tax income accruing to (a) the top 1 per cent., (b) the top 5 per cent., (c) the top 10 per cent., (d) the top 25 per cent., (e) the bottom 70 per cent., (f) the bottom 5 per cent. and (g) all taxpayers in each year from 1978-79 to 1989-90 and the amount and share of tax liability for each of these groups.
Mr. Lilley : Estimates are given in the tables for 1978-79 and 1983- 84 to 1989-90. Information for other years could
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be provided only at disproportionate cost. All estimates of income are based on information reported to tax offices and collected through the annual surveys of personal incomes. For years before 1985-86, estimates exclude employees' contributions to occupational pension schemes and some investment income on which tax is deducted at source. Estimates are based on the surveys of personal incomes for years up to 1987-88 and projections of the 1987-88 survey for subsequent years ; the latter are therefore provisional. I regret that information on the bottom 5 per cent. of taxpayers is not available.Column 123
Group of taxpayers<1>
Top 1 per cent. Top 5 per cent. Top 10 per cent. Top 25 per cent. Bottom 70 per cent. All
taxpayers
|Amount |Share |Amount |Share |Amount |Share |Amount |Share |Amount |Share |Amount
Year |£ billion|per cent.|£ billion|per cent.|£ billion|per cent.|£ billion|per cent.|£ billion|per cent.|£ billion
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross Incomes before tax
1978-79 |5.1 |5 |15.0 |15 |24.3 |24 |45.9 |45 |51.0 |50 |102.8
1983-84 |9.7 |6 |28.3 |16 |45.0 |26 |81.7 |47 |82.0 |47 |173.7
1984-85 |10.9 |6 |31.4 |17 |49.6 |26 |89.3 |47 |88.8 |47 |188.8
1985-86 |12.9 |6 |35.7 |17 |55.9 |26 |100.5 |47 |100.0 |47 |212.6
1986-87 |15.1 |7 |40.8 |17 |63.2 |27 |112.5 |48 |107.3 |46 |232.9
1987-88 |16.4 |6 |45.3 |18 |70.1 |28 |124.2 |49 |116.2 |46 |255.1
1988-89<2> |19.3 |7 |52.3 |18 |80.5 |28 |141.3 |49 |129.2 |45 |287.0
1989-90<2> |22.0 |7 |59.3 |18 |91.2 |28 |159.5 |50 |144.5 |45 |322.1
Income tax liabilities
1978-79 |2.3 |11 |4.9 |24 |7.0 |34 |11.5 |57 |7.7 |38 |20.2
1983-84 |2.8 |11 |8.5 |26 |12.2 |36 |19.5 |58 |12.5 |38 |33.4
1984-85 |4.2 |12 |9.3 |26 |13.3 |38 |21.1 |60 |12.4 |35 |35.4
1985-86 |5.0 |13 |10.6 |27 |14.8 |38 |23.2 |60 |13.6 |35 |38.8
1986-87 |6.2 |14 |12.7 |29 |17.3 |40 |26.5 |61 |14.5 |34 |43.3
1987-88 |6.6 |15 |13.7 |30 |18.5 |41 |28.0 |62 |14.9 |33 |45.4
1988-89<2> |6.1 |13 |13.9 |29 |19.0 |41 |29.1 |62 |15.1 |32 |46.7
1989-90<2> |7.1 |13 |16.0 |30 |22.0 |42 |33.3 |63 |16.9 |32 |53.1
<1>Married couples and single people.
<2>Provisional.
Revenues
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what revenues have been received by Government for each year from 1979-80 to the present and in aggregate in real terms from (a) North sea oil, (b) privatisation proceeds and (c) other sales of land or property of central or local government.
Mr. Lilley : Such information as is readily available is included on the CSO database (identified by the database codes) and published in the 1990 public expenditure White Paper (Cm. 1021) as follows : (a) total north sea taxes--database, code ABLG
(b) privatisation proceeds--Table 21.5.13 of Cm. 1021
(c) sales of land and buildings--Table 21.2.17 of Cm. 1021 implied GDP (at market price) deflator--database code DJDT
Tax Avoidance
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will adopt the Keith committee proposal to require taxpayers to disclose tax avoidance transactions.
Mr. Lilley : The recommendation of the Keith committee that the taxpayer should be obliged to tell the inspector where he has taken the benefit of any doubt whether any item ought to be declared, or any relief or deduction allowed, was rejected, following extensive public consultations, because it was found that it would be both burdensome and impracticable.
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Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he intends to take measures to prevent fringe banks from funding tax avoidance schemes.
Mr. Lilley : No. Banks must be free to decide whether to fund any legitimate activity.
Bankruptcy
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he intends to take to protect the interests of the Inland Revenue in personal bankruptcy cases involving moneys held by Isle of Man or Channel Islands based trusts.
Mr. Lilley : The Inland Revenue will continue to use all measures available to it under the insolvency legislation.
Workplace Nurseries
Mrs. Maureen Hicks : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received seeking assistance through the tax system to employers setting up nurseries.
Mr. Lilley : Employers can already obtain tax relief for most of the costs of setting up and running workplace nurseries. As to the provision of any further assistance, I cannot anticipate my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget statement.
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Child Care
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he received about the taxation of the use of child care facilities.
Mr. Lilley : I cannot anticipate my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget statement.
Corporation Tax
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of bank provision against less-developed country debt will be accepted for the financial year 1989-90 as appropriate to offset against corporation tax liability.
Mr. Lilley : Banks are entitled to a tax deduction for the proportion of doubtful debt which is estimated to be irrecoverable. The amount will be negotiated between the Inland Revenue and the banks when the banks submit their accounts for the year.
Electric Vehicles
Mr. Jack : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has recieved, and from whom, seeking encouragement through the use of the tax system for the development or use of electrically powered road vehicles.
Mr. Lilley : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has received few representations concerning tax concessions for the development or use of electrically powered road vehicles.
Day Vee
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Inland Revenue has sought the return of any former directors of Day Vee to the United Kingdom to help with its investigations into the company's tax liabilities.
Mr. Lilley : Such information is confidential.
Interest Rates
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from small businesses regarding the effects of interest rates.
Mr. Ryder : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer and I have received a number of such representations.
Investment
Mr. Adley : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will arrange to meet his West German counterpart to discuss investment policy.
Mr. Ryder : My right hon. Friend regularly meets the West German Finance Minister at the European Community's Economic and Finance Council. In our countries business investment has been buoyant in the last two years : in the United Kingdom it grew by over 30 per cent. in the two years to 1988, owing to the success of the Government's policies in fostering confidence in the future of the United Kingdom economy.
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Taxation Revenue
Ms. Primarolo : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list in rank order the total revenue raised from the 21 different forms of taxation.
Mr. Lilley : The information can be found in tables 3.13, 3.14 and 3.15 in "Financial Statistics", published by the Central Statistical Office.
Mr. Battle : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list in order of amount collected by the Treasury each of the different and separate forms of taxation in the United Kingdom for 1988-89.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 12 February 1990] : The information can be found in tables 3.13, 3.14 and 3.15 in "Financial Statistics", published by the Central Statistical Office.
Inland Revenue Office, Cumbernauld
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many persons employed at the Inland Revenue office in Cumbernauld are registered as disabled ; and what percentage this represents of the total work force.
Mr. Lilley : The Inland Revenue employs 26 registered disabled staff in its office at Cumbernauld ; this represents 2.47 per cent. of the total staff at 9 February 1990.
Paymaster General's Office
Mr. Soames : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has any plans to move the Paymaster General's office from Crawley.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 12 February 1990] : No.
Mortgage Tax Relief
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the additional annual cost or yield to the Exchequer in tax relief on mortgage interest payments of every 1 per cent. rise or reduction in mortgage interest rates.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 9 February 1990] : An increase or reduction of one percentage point in the level of mortgage interest rates would increase or reduce the annual cost of mortgage interest relief on the current stock of mortgages by about £550 million.
Tax Receipts
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give figures showing total receipts from capital transfer tax and inheritance tax for each year from 1980 expressed (a) in cash terms at 1990 prices and (b) as a percentage of total Inland Revenue receipts.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 9 February 1990] : The receipts of capital transfer tax and inheritance tax for each financial year since 1980 -81 are :
Year |Receipts at |Percentage of
|forecast 1990-|total Inland
|91 Prices |Revenue
|£ million |Receipts
------------------------------------------------------------
1980-81 |760 |1.3
1981-82 |781 |1.2
1982-83 |758 |1.1
1983-84 |869 |1.3
1984-85 |909 |1.3
1985-86 |1,156 |1.6
1986-87 |1,263 |1.7
1987-88 |1,299 |1.7
1988-89 |1,203 |1.6
<1>1989-90 |1,200 |1.5
<1> Converted using the GDP market price deflator and
Autumn Statement forecast.
Beverage Containers
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue would be raised if value added tax was levied at (a) 20 per cent. (b) 25 per cent. and (c) 30 per cent. on non-returnable beverage containers.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 12 February 1990] : No measurable extra revenue would accrue because beverage containers are normally taxed at the same rate as their contents when the goods are supplied.
Company Cars
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the cost of not taxing company cars at their full value.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 12 February 1990] : The benefit of the private use of a company car is taxed by reference to fixed scale charges, but the value of private use to any particular employee depends on a wide range of factors. Information about these is not available, so it is not possible to provide an estimate of the aggregate extent to which the private use of company cars is undertaxed.
Inflation
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the impact on inflation of raising £1 billion from (a) tobacco products, (b) beer, (c) wine and spirits, (d) petrol (e) value added tax and (f) vehicle excise duty.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 12 February 1990] : The estimated impact on the retail prices index of raising £1 billion from each of the specific taxes and duties is shown in the table.
Source |Effect on
|retail price
|index (per
|cent.)
--------------------------------------------
Tobacco |0.64
Beer |0.48
Wines and spirits |0.91
Petrol |0.29
VAT |0.32
VED |0.24
These estimates are subject to a considerable margin of error given the large duty changes implied.
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Petrol Duties
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the impact on the retail price index of increasing excise duties on petrol by twice what is needed for indexation, and raising excise on the other areas by as much as is necessary to achieve the same overall revenue for the Exchequer as would be achieved by full indexation only of all items.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 12 February 1990] : 0.47 per cent.
Income Tax
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the annual reduction in income tax for a married man earning (a) £160,000 per year and (b) £260,000 per year as a result of the changes brought in by the 1988 Budget.
Mr. Lilley [holding answer 12 February 1990] : A married man earning £160,000 in 1989-90 and claiming no reliefs of allowances other than the married man's allowance has income tax liability of £25,045 less than if the allowances and thresholds in 1987-88 had been indexed to 1989-90 and the tax rates had remained unchanged at 1987-88 levels. A married man earning £260,000 would have a corresponding reduction of £45,045.
Pension Schemes
Mr. Alfred Morris : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the general conditions of approval of occupational and personal pension schemes by the Inland Revenue are such as to permit the provision of payments out of such a scheme of an amount related to a person's accrued or prospective retirement pension under the scheme, such payments to be made throughout any period in which that person is entitled to the payment of an invalidity pension from the national insurance fund and to cease at the end of that period.
Mr. Major [holding answer 12 February 1990] : The main purpose of occupational and personal pension schemes is to provide an income in retirement. The tax approval conditions for such schemes allow benefits to be paid before retirement age if a person is incapable of continuing in employment. There is no requirement on schemes to provide a pension before retirement age. Decisions on whether an incapacity pension is payable are matters for the scheme trustees and their criteria might differ from entitlements to invalidity pensions. Incapacity pensions are normally payable for life.
HMSO
Mr. Battle : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the quality of service performance indicators that have been introduced into HMSO since its establishment as an agency.
Mr. Ryder [holding answer 12 February 1990] : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Smith) on 15 January 1990 at column 98.
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HOME DEPARTMENT
Taxis
Mr. Peter Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the circumstances under which police records are made available to the authorities concerned with the licensing of hackney- carriage and private hire drivers.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Information from police records is not generally made available for these purposes. In London records are available for the purpose of licensing hackney-carriage drivers, since the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the licensing authority.
Boundary Commission (Wales)
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total expenditure of the parliamentary boundary commission for Wales during the last year for which figures are available ; and what proportion of expenditure was allocated to (a) administration in general, (b) hosting of meetings and conferences, (c) allowances for attending meetings and (d) general allowances given to nominees on the committee.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : The parliamentary boundary commissions for England and Wales share a common secretariat and premises. Although work now in hand will enable costs to be identified for each commission separately, at present it is possible to give only the total combined expenditure of the two commissions, which for 1988-89 was £252,160. Members of the parliamentary boundary commissions receive no remuneration or attendance alowance, but are recompensed for any reasonably actual expenses incurred.
Summer Time
Mr. Norman Hogg : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many representations he has received from Scotland concerning any proposed change to British summer time.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : A total of 5,475 representations, including signatures on petitions, were received from Scotland.
Shotgun Certificates
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of Gwent as to whether any disciplinary action has been taken against any officer in regard to the renewal of the shotgun certificate of Mr. G. W. Phillips.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : I understand from the chief constable that no such disciplinary action has been taken.
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of Gwent as to whether a receipt was issued for the shotgun, the property of Mr. G. W. Phillips, when it was taken into the possession of the Gwent constabulary.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No. The local administration of the firearms licensing system is a matter for the chief officer of police concerned.
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Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of Gwent as to what training has been given to police officers on the procedures for dealing with applications, renewals and variation of firearms and for shotgun certificates under (a) the Firearms Act 1968 and (b) the Firearms Act 1988.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : No. Training in the local administration of firearm licensing procedures is a matter for the chief officer of police concerned.
Security Service
Mr. Allason : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the security service tribunal is declining to accept complaints against the security service which relate to matters that took place prior to any given date.
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