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Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 7 February 1991
NATIONAL FINANCE
Tax Reliefs
Mr. Battle : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing the value of the main tax reliefs and the saving that would occur if these were restricted to the basic rate of tax.
Mr. Maude : The latest estimates of the costs of direct tax reliefs and allowances for 1990-91 are published in Cm. 1520 "Public Expenditure Analyses to 1993-94" statistical supplement to the 1990 autumn statement. The direct revenue yields in a full year at 1990-91 levels of income from restricting the following main income tax reliefs to the basic rate are estimated at :
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£ million ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mortgage interest relief<1> |470 Relief on contribution to personal pensions<2> |<3>130 Relief on employees' contributions to occupational pension schemes |220 <1> Assuming that mortgage interest rates remain at their current levels for the remainder of 1990-91. <2> Including relief for retirement annuity premia and free standing additional voluntary contributions. <3> This estimate is subject to a wide margin of error.
Advisory Services
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the issues and the departments for which the firms Herbert Smith and Associates, Slaughter and May, and Kleinwort Benson have been used by the Government since 1983.
Mr. Maude : The tables show the issues, sponsoring departments and in which positions the firms of Herbert Smith and Associates, Slaughter and May and Kleinwort Benson were appointed since 1983.
Role of Kleinwort, Benson in Privatisations
Issue |Date of Sale |Department |Position
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
British Petroleum<1> |1983 |Treasury |Underwriter
|1987 |Treasury |Underwriter
British Aerospace<1> |1985 |Treasury |Joint Lead Underwriter
Cable and Wireless<1> |1983 |Treasury |Adviser<2> Lead Underwriter
|1985 |Treasury |Underwriter
Britoil<1> |1985 |Treasury |Underwriter
Associated British Ports |1983 |Transport |Adviser<3> Joint Underwriters
Enterprise Oil |1984 |Energy |Adviser Underwriters
British Telecom |1984 |DTI |Adviser Joint Lead Underwriter
British Gas |1986 |Energy |Underwriter
British Airways |1987 |Transport |Underwriter
Royal Ordnance |1987 |Defence |Adviser<4>
British Steel |1988 |DTI |Underwriter
Water and Sewerage Companies |1989 |Environment |Underwriter
Regional Electricity Companies |1990 |Energy |Adviser
<1> Sale of Government shares (not a privatisation).
<2> With Bank of England.
<3> Early stages.
<4> Initial study.
Role of Kleinwort, Benson in Privatisations
Issue Date of sale Department Position
British Petroleum 1983 Treasury Underwriter
1987 Treasury Underwriter
British Aerospace 1985 Treasury Joint Lead Underwriter Cable and Wireless 1983 Treasury Adviser Lead Underwriter 1985 Treasury Underwriter
Britoil 1985 Treasury Underwriter
Associated British Ports 1983 Transport Adviser Joint Underwriters
Enterprise Oil 1984 Energy Adviser Underwriter
British Telecom 1984 DTI Adviser Joint Lead Underwriter British Gas 1986 Energy Underwriter
British Airways 1987 Transport Underwriter
Royal Ordnance 1987 Defence Adviser
British Steel 1988 DTI Underwriter
Water and Sewerage Companies 1989 Environment Underwriter Regional Electricity Companies 1990 Energy Adviser
Sale of Government shares (not a privatisation).
With Bank of England.
Early stages.
Initial study.
Role of Herbert Smith and Associates in Privatisations
Issue Date of sale Department Position
Royal Ordnance 1987 Defence Solicitor
National Seed Development Organisation 1987 DES/MAFF Solicitor Role of Slaughter and May in Privatisations
Issue Date of sale Department Position
Jaguar 1984 DTI Solicitor
British Aerospace 1985 Treasury Solicitor
Britoil 1985 Treasury Solicitor
British Gas 1986 Energy Solicitor
Unipart 1987 DTI Solicitor
British Airways 1987 Transport Solicitor
British Petroleum 1987 Treasury Solicitor
Regional Electricity Companies 1990 Energy Solicitor
Sale of Government shares (not a privatisation).
Sale of a subsidiary.
Role of Slaughter and May in Privatisations Issue |Date of Sale|Department |Position ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jaguar<2> |1984 |DTI |Solicitor British Aerospace<1> |1985 |Treasury |Solicitor Britoil<1> |1985 |Treasury |Solicitor British Gas |1986 |Energy |Solicitor Unipart<2> |1987 |DTI |Solicitor British Airways |1987 |Transport |Solicitor British Petroleum<1> |1987 |Treasury |Solicitor Regional Electricity Companies |1990 |Energy |Solicitor <1> Sale of Government shares. <2> Sale of a subsidiary.
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Mortgage Rates
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consultations he has had with the Building Societies Association concerning alterations in the annual basis for altering building society mortgage rates.
Inland Revenue
Mr. Higgins : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about how "next steps" is to be applied to the Inland Revenue.
Mr. Norman Lamont : On 25 July 1990 my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced, at columns 239-42, his decision to introduce changes which would enable the Inland Revenue to operate fully on "next steps" lines.
I have now approved a wide-ranging action plan, prepared by the Chairman of the board of Inland Revenue. The plan sets out a programme for extensive further internal delegation and accountability within the Department and for examining ways of reshaping the structure and organisation of work. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
The action plan includes launching the valuation offices for England and Wales and for Scotland as a single Executive agency on 30 September 1991, under its recently appointed chief
executive-designate.
The key new feature of the plan is the establishment, within the present overall structure of the Inland Revenue, of 33 executive offices with an enhanced and more visible framework of management responsibilities and account-ability. The executive offices will cover parts of the Department which have direct dealings with the public or which provide internal support services. They will include 56,800 staff, or about 85 per cent. of the Department. They will all be established by April 1992.
The executive offices will normally be in the charge of controllers who will be appointed directly by the chairman of the board of Inland Revenue. They will be given significantly increased delegated authorities to manage the financial, personnel and other resources within their charge.
Controllers will prepare framework documents, operating plans and annual reports for their offices. They will be personally accountable through their line managers to the board of Inland Revenue for how well their offices perform and for the quality of the services they provide. Framework documents, appropriate key targets and annual reports will be published.
The action plan also includes a new customer services plan, under which the Inland Revenue as a whole, and individual offices, will seek all possible means of improving the quality of service they provide to the public.
The action plan also looks forward to the longer-term possibility of other far-reaching changes in the Department's work and the way it can best be organised and managed. A number of experiments, pilot schemes and initiatives have been set up which will help to inform those decisions.
Finally, the action plan notes that a review has been considering how best the Revenue's information tech-nology needs might be met throughout the 1990s, and subsequently. A report is currently being considered.
The Inland Revenue will remain a department headed by a chairman and board, and operating with a statutory
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framework which defines the tasks of the department and the relationship between the chairman and the board on the one hand and Treasury Ministers on the other.I am confident that the implementation of this action plan will enable the Inland Revenue to operate fully on "next steps" lines, and that the changes it foreshadows will strengthen responsibility and accountability within the Department, reinforce its commitment to efficiency, value for money and services to taxpayers, and enhance the Department's ability to respond to the needs of Government, Parliament and the public.
Taxation
Mr. Nicholas Brown : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the change in Treasury income during the 1991-92 financial year resulting from restricting all tax reliefs, apart from personal allowances, to the basic rate of income tax.
Mr. Maude [holding answer 21 January 1991] : The direct revenue yield is estimated to be about £1.1 billion.
Excise Duty
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the income in each year in real terms since 1980 from excise duty for (a) commercial vehicles and (b) private vehicles.
Mr. Chope : I have been asked to reply.
The estimated revenue from vehicle excise duty in the United Kingdom is shown in the table, in 1989-90 prices. Due to taxation changes in October 1982, it is not possible to give a breakdown of revenue by vehicle groups on the same basis before 1983-84.
Vehicle excise duty revenue, by taxation groups, United King-
dom
|£ million 1989-90 prices
Year |Private and light |Other |Total
tion |and tricycles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1980-81 |n/a |n/a |2,298
1981-82 |n/a |n/a |2,495
1982-83 |n/a |n/a |2,648
1983-84 |2,187 |556 |2,744
1984-85 |2,374 |587 |2,961
1985-86 |2,428 |585 |3,013
1986-87 |2,444 |582 |3,027
1987-88 |2,382 |577 |2,959
1988-89 |2,343 |604 |2,947
1989-90 |2,329 |619 |2,948
ENERGY
The Gulf
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what estimate has been made of the effect of the destruction of 75 per cent. of Iraqi oil -refining capacity on normal international supplies after the war.
Mr. Moynihan : If losses of this magnitude were to be confirmed, the net impact on world oil markets following the cessation of hostilities would none the less be of marginal significance for the following reasons.
1. The embargo has already terminated Iraqi product exports. Amounting only to 150,000 to 200,000 barrels a day of mainly heavy fuel oil, the effect on world product markets is negligible.
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2. More than adequate surplus refining capacity exists worldwide to meet any shortfall in Iraq's domestic supply-- estimated before hostilities at 300,000 barrels a day.3. Iraq's generally unsophisticated refineries produce a relatively high proportion of middle/low grade products : by contrast, any tightness which exists in world refining is at the more complex "upgrading" level.
Monktonhall Colliery
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what representations he has received regarding the future of Monktonhall colliery.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I have received a number of representations concerning the future of Monktonhall colliery.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will obtain for his departmental library a copy of the feasibility report on the future of Monktonhall colliery produced by Lothian regional council ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The future of individual collieries is a matter for British Coal. I have received a copy of the feasibility report on the future of Monktonhall colliery. It will be for British Coal to take account of this when it reviews the future of the colliery in the summer.
Coal Mining Licences
Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will introduce a right of appeal against refusal by British Coal of a licence to mine coal.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The licensing of coal production is a matter for the British Coal Corporation. However, I understand that a revised procedure against refusal of a licence has been agreed, which includes ultimate referral to an expert nominated by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, who will be expected to report with recommendations to the corporation. The final decision, however, must rest with British Coal, as the licensing authority.
Wave Power
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if his Department has received any request from the European Commission for permission to make public correspondence between the Commission and his Department and the Energy Technology Support Units on the United Kingdom wave power programme.
Mr. Moynihan : My officials have recently been approached by officials of the European Commission requesting permission to make public correspondence between the Commission and my Department on the United Kingdom wave energy programme, which makes clear my Department's support for the inclusion of wave energy within the Community's research programme. I have no objection to the publication of such correspondence by the Commission.
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AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FOOD
Imported Food
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will review the procedures for the monitoring of imported food products for chemical residues and pesticides ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean : An interdepartmental steering group on chemical aspects of food surveillance reviews annually the Government's programme for monitoring residues of chemicals, including pesticides, in imported and domestic food. The monitoring of pesticide residues is also reviewed annually by the independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides. The results of monitoring are published in a comprehensive report.
Hill Livestock Compensatory Amounts
Dr. Cunningham : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when farmers in west Cumbria will receive their hill livestock compensatory amounts ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Devon, North (Mr. Speller) on 31 January, Official Report, column 935.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Mr. Martlew : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give the number of cases of BSE-affected cattle in the years ended 31 December 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1990 in Cumbria.
Mr. Maclean : The number of confirmed cases of BSE by year of onset of clinical symptoms is as follows :
------------------------- 31 December 1986 |0 31 December 1987 |9 31 December 1988 |52 31 December 1990 |231
Salmon
Mr. Wilson : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the progress of measures to counter the dumping of Norwegian farmed salmon on the European Community.
Mr. Sainsbury : I have been asked to reply.
Allegations of the dumping of Norwegian farmed salmon on the Community market in 1989 have now been investigated by the European Commission following a formal complaint to it by the Scottish Salmon Board and the Irish Salmon Growers' Association. In its initial report to member states, the Commission stated that it had found evidence of dumping of Norwegian salmon on the Community market and resultant injury to Community producers. Although the report proposed a provisional anti-dumping duty a majority of member states opposed this proposal. The Norwegian Government subsequently indicated that measures which had been taken in 1990 to help stabilise the market would be continued into 1991 and it offered to discuss with the Commission any future
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instability in the farmed salmon market. The Commission then proposed that the anti-dumping investigation should formally be terminated without remedy. This proposal has recently been put to the Council and the Government are now considering how to respond to it.TRANSPORT
M40
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish advice for the M40 user concerning toilet facilities during (a) daylight hours and (b) night time.
Mr. Chope : There are practical difficulties about publishing the advice which my hon. Friend seeks.
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will consider the placing of emergency Portaloo facilies midway along the M40 pending the construction and completion of permanent service facilities.
Mr. Chope : I am making inquiries about this suggestion and will write to my hon. Friend.
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will consider installing appropriate temporary signposting on the M40 indicating the nearest availability of 24-hour fuel and refreshment facilities to motorway users prior to the construction of permanent motorway service facilities.
Mr. Chope : Pending the opening of planned motorway service areas, temporary signs will be erected on the M40 where there are service facilities providing 24-hour fuel and refreshments at reasonable distance from junctions with the motorway.
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the distance in miles from the commencement of the southern end of the M40 to the first available service facility travelling (a) M40, M42, M5, (b) M40, M42, M6 and (c) M40, M42 to end.
Mr. Chope : The distances are (a) 104 miles (b) 120 miles and (c) 108 miles.
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will consider installing signposting advising M40 users of the non- existence of fuel and refreshment services on that motorway at (a) the commencement of the M20 near Maidstone, (b) the commencement of the M23 at Crawley, (c) the commencement of the M42 (northern section)--southbound, (d) the M6 southbound at Hilton park and (e) the M5 southbound at Frankley and at other appropriate places.
Mr. Chope : Signs have been erected at both ends of the M40 and on the approaches to significant interchanges to advise users of the absence of services. Such signs on M20 and M23 would be confusing to travellers on the intervening M25. There is no evidence that such signs are necessary on M42, M6 or M5.
Mr. Roger King : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the M40 service facility to be open for use.
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Mr. Chope : Three motorway service areas--MSAs--are planned for the M40 : at Barn Hill--between junctions 12 and 13--Ardley--junction 10--and Tetsworth--between junctions 6 and 7. The selection of three sites was announced in mid-1986. Tetsworth later replaced Stokenchurch as the choice for the southern site. Planning clearance for the three sites was sought in February 1987, November 1986 and July 1989 respectively. Planning clearance has been obtained for Ardley following public inquiry. The aim is to open it before the end of 1992. Decisions on Barn Hill and Tetsworth are awaited following public inquiries.
Mr. Nicholas Winterton : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information he has about the level of traffic flow on each link of the M40 motorway since the opening of the extension from Oxford to Birmingham.
Mr. Chope : Average 24-hour weekday traffic flows on each link of the M40, where available, since the opening of the extension from Oxford to Birmingham are listed in the table.
------------------------ 1A to 2 |94,000 3 to 4 |78,500 6 to 7 |50,000 9 to 10 |48,000 11 to 12 |50,000 12 to 13 |46,000 13 to 14 |42,000 15 to 16 |48,000 16 to M42 |52,000
This information is for the short period since opening. It will be some time before traffic flows settle down.
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