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Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 18 March 1993
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Juanito Silva
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Brazilian Government about the killing of Juanito Silva in Rio de Janeiro ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Garel-Jones : Our embassy in Brasilia raised the matter with the Brazilian authorities on 11 March. They undertook to keep the embassy informed about their investigation.
Committee of the Regions
Mr. Betts : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many seats on the Committee of the Regions it is proposed to allocate to (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) Yorkshire and Humberside ; and what is in each case the ratio of population to seats.
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Mr. Goodlad : No final decisions have been taken on the allocation of seats between the different parts of the United Kingdom.
North Korea
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the consequences for British foreign policy of the recently announced decision by the North Korean Government on their attitude to possible inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors.
Mr. Goodlad : The United Kingdom is determined to maintain and strengthen the non-proliferation treaty. We urge North Korea to reconsider its position.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Crime Statistics
Mr. Nigel Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were killed or injured in crimes involving firearms in each police authority for each year since 1979.
Mr Jack : The number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have caused death or injury is shown by policy force in the table. Information for the years prior to 1985 is available only at disproportionate cost.
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Notifiable offences recorded by the police in which firearms were reported to have caused death or injury, England and Wales 1985 to 1991
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991
Force |Killed |Injured|Killed |Injured|Killed |Injured|Killed |Injured|Killed |Injured|Killed |Injured|Killed |Injured
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avon and Somerset |- |26 |3 |13 |2 |18 |- |18 |- |40 |1 |42 |2 |43
Bedfordshire |1 |28 |- |19 |- |14 |- |13 |- |8 |- |9 |2 |7
Cambridgeshire |1 |32 |- |10 |2 |16 |1 |20 |- |12 |- |20 |1 |28
Cheshire |- |31 |2 |14 |- |23 |1 |36 |- |33 |2 |43 |1 |25
Cleveland |- |6 |- |21 |- |17 |- |18 |- |27 |- |37 |1 |42
Cumbria |- |25 |- |19 |2 |17 |- |25 |- |13 |- |24 |- |24
Derbyshire |- |56 |1 |37 |1 |30 |- |36 |1 |34 |1 |67 |- |29
Devon and Cornwall |1 |46 |8 |43 |1 |35 |1 |32 |- |41 |- |29 |- |34
Dorset |- |16 |- |2 |- |5 |- |- |2 |2 |1 |2 |- |3
Durham |1 |44 |1 |28 |1 |32 |- |9 |- |25 |1 |17 |1 |26
Essex |7 |41 |- |45 |1 |58 |- |45 |- |52 |1 |50 |1 |39
Gloucestershire |- |12 |1 |2 |1 |10 |- |14 |1 |7 |1 |5 |- |21
Greater Manchester |3 |198 |- |176 |2 |169 |2 |121 |6 |158 |1 |148 |5 |148
Hampshire |3 |63 |- |42 |- |47 |- |38 |2 |34 |1 |41 |2 |41
Hertfordshire |- |28 |- |17 |1 |15 |1 |18 |1 |13 |- |9 |- |19
Humberside |- |66 |- |50 |- |66 |- |52 |1 |66 |- |61 |2 |65
Kent |2 |52 |2 |41 |3 |40 |1 |47 |2 |49 |4 |49 |2 |50
Lancashire |- |40 |- |49 |1 |33 |1 |46 |1 |12 |1 |39 |2 |48
Leicestershire |1 |23 |- |22 |1 |34 |1 |26 |- |48 |2 |23 |- |11
Lincolnshire |- |21 |- |17 |1 |21 |- |18 |- |16 |- |14 |- |4
London, City of |- |2 |- |2 |- |5 |- |- |- |2 |- |- |- |1
Merseyside |- |141 |- |124 |2 |116 |1 |100 |1 |111 |- |82 |1 |106
Metropolitan Police |8 |644 |13 |520 |23 |448 |12 |487 |11 |492 |23 |471 |14 |475
Norfolk |4 |18 |1 |14 |- |12 |- |16 |- |36 |- |22 |- |18
Northamptonshire |- |24 |2 |31 |- |20 |1 |21 |- |15 |- |21 |1 |14
Northumbria |2 |120 |- |75 |2 |90 |- |77 |1 |110 |2 |82 |1 |82
North Yorkshire |1 |22 |- |10 |1 |13 |- |17 |1 |19 |1 |9 |- |20
Nottinghamshire |3 |115 |- |82 |- |64 |- |69 |1 |70 |- |55 |5 |76
South Yorkshire |1 |128 |2 |88 |1 |73 |1 |75 |- |75 |2 |66 |- |50
Staffordshire |1 |56 |- |42 |- |47 |- |48 |1 |34 |1 |51 |- |51
Suffolk |2 |15 |1 |9 |3 |7 |1 |13 |- |14 |2 |12 |- |21
Surrey |- |13 |1 |19 |- |18 |1 |14 |- |19 |- |16 |2 |20
Sussex |- |21 |3 |14 |2 |25 |1 |23 |2 |18 |- |31 |2 |23
Thames Valley |- |59 |2 |41 |14 |57 |2 |45 |1 |48 |1 |51 |2 |43
Warwickshire |- |18 |- |25 |1 |16 |1 |9 |- |12 |- |18 |- |18
West Mercia |- |44 |1 |29 |1 |41 |1 |22 |1 |44 |1 |16 |1 |14
West Midlands |- |192 |4 |153 |2 |116 |3 |122 |- |111 |2 |139 |- |134
West Yorkshire |1 |167 |3 |110 |2 |141 |- |104 |1 |108 |3 |108 |- |97
Wiltshire |- |13 |- |8 |1 |15 |- |7 |2 |4 |1 |1 |1 |2
Dyfed Powys |2 |11 |- |8 |- |16 |- |14 |- |11 |3 |11 |1 |19
Gwent |- |27 |- |17 |1 |14 |- |24 |1 |22 |1 |25 |2 |13
North Wales |- |41 |- |28 |- |31 |2 |20 |- |28 |- |22 |- |32
South Wales |- |74 |- |52 |1 |41 |- |45 |4 |26 |- |54 |- |41
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |45 |2,819 |51 |2,168 |77 |2,126 |36 |2,004 |45 |2,119 |60 |2,092 |55 |2,077
Travel Documents
Mr. Olner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will abolish family passports and introduce the requirement that all children be issued with their own travel documents.
Mr. Charles Wardle : Family passports, which included details of the holder and spouse, were discontinued in 1988, though those issued previously remain valid until their normal date of expiry. Children under the age of 16 can still be included in the passport of a parent or other appropriate adult or can be issued with their own passport. If the facility to have children included in a parental passport were abolished, this could lead to inconvenience and additional expense.
Gambling
Mr. Riddick : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will outline the statutory or licensing restrictions which apply to gambling in pubs or other licensed premises ; and what consideration is being given to amending them.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : Section 6 of the Gaming Act 1968 permits, in public houses and hotels licensed for the sale of liquor, the playing of dominoes, cribbage and any other form of equal chance game authorised by the appropriate liquor licensing authorities. To prevent abuse, the justices are empowered as a safeguard to impose conditions that forbid play for high stakes or stop the gaming from becoming a primary inducement to custom ; and people under 18 are debarred from play.
Child Abduction
Mr. Olner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has to improve training for immigration officers in the area of child abduction.
Mr. Charles Wardle : There are no plans to alter the training that immigration officers already receive in this area.
Forensic Scientists
Mr. Spellar : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set up a national register of qualified forensic scientists.
Mr. Jack : We will look at this area carefully in the light of the conclusions of the Royal Commission on criminal justice. We shall also take account of the report on forensic science of the Select Committee on Science and Technology in another place published on 4 March.
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Czech and Slovak Citizens
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Czech and Slovak citizens have been refused entry to the United Kingdom at the channel ports in each of the last three years.
Mr. Charles Wardle : The information requested is given in the table.
Czechoslovak nationals refused leave to enter and removed from channel ports<1> Year |Number of persons ------------------------------------------------------ 1990 |81 1991 |414 1992 |244 <1> Dover, Folkestone, Newhaven, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Ramsgate and Southampton.
Passport Control
Mr. Olner : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide telefax facilities for notifying passport control of portstops with photographs.
Mr. Charles Wardle : My right hon. and learned Friend is aware of the recommendation for the provision of telefax facilities made in the recent report of the parliamentary working party on child abduction. The allocation of resources, though for the provision of such equipment is a matter for the chief officers of individual police forces to decide.
Dr. Kypros Loucas
Mr. Gerrard : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Members for Makerfield (Mr. McCartney), for Sheffield Brightside (Mr. Blunkett), and for Hammersmith (Mr. Soley), on 17 December 1992, Official Report, column 450 , if the investigations referred to have been completed ; and if he will make a statement on the employment of Dr. Kypros Loucas at Wormwood scrubs prison.
Mr. Peter Lloyd : My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has drawn to the attention of the General Medical Council allegations made about Dr. Loucas's conduct before he took up his appointment at Wormwood Scrubs. Any further investigation will be a matter for the council. The Wormwood Scrubs appointment is under review. In the meantime, the suspension of Dr. Loucas's visits to the prison continues.
Urban Crime Fund
Mr. Fatchett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria have been used for selecting those areas to benefit from the urban crime fund.
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Mr. Jack : Areas were chosen that had a diverse range of urban crime problems in which innovative crime prevention measures involving local communities could be trialed.
Correspondence
Mr. Wareing : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby's letter of 11 February respecting Mr. Paul Malone, currently held at Frankland prison, Durham.
Mr. Jack : I replied to the hon. Member on 16 March.
Secure Training Units
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 10 March, Official Report, column 557, when he expects to be able to give the global sum (a) needed and (b) available in 1993-94 towards providing the secure training units for 11 to 15-year-olds announced on 2 March.
Mr. Jack [holding answer 17 March 1993] : I have nothing at present to add to the reply given to a similar question from the hon. Member on 16 March, at column 169.
Mr. Basharat Ali Khan
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when a decision is to be taken on the application from Basharat Ali Khan, Ref : K218950, to join his father in the United Kingdom, referred by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to his Department on 6 December last ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Charles Wardle [holding answer 24 February 1993] : We hope to reach a decision shortly, and I will then write to the hon. Member.
Child Pornography
Mr. Ronnie Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he intends to take to prevent the flow of child pornography into Britain from Europe and the rest of the world.
Sir John Cope : I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the member for Clwyd, North-West (Mr. Richards) on 17 February, Official Report, column 209.
DEFENCE
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many appointments to the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies" for his Department were made from names supplied by the public appointments unit ; and if he will list them.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Seven of the appointments listed in "Public Bodies" are currently filled by individuals whose names were supplied by the public appointments unit : six to the Advisory Committee on Conscientious Objectors and one to the Review Board for Government Contracts.
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Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what share of total departmental spending was accounted for by non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1979.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Information is not held in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information on the expenditure of NDPBs is however published in "Public Bodies" : for 1991-92 the total MOD grant in aid to NDPBs was £38 million--some 0.16 per cent. of total defence expenditure.
Rhinoceroses
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will offer military personnel and equipment to African Governments to protect rhinoceros stock.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : No request for such assistance has been received.
Trident
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many missiles will be deployed on each of Britain's Trident submarines.
Mr. Aitken : It has been the practice of successive Governments not to comment on the number of missiles carried by our ballistic missile submarines. The United Kingdom's Trident submarines are being built with 16 missile tubes.
Polaris Missiles
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what dates United Kingdom Polaris missiles have been test fired since May 1987.
Mr. Aitken : There have been no United Kingdom Polaris missile test firings since May 1987.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his Department's assessment of the ability of Russian
intelligence-gathering satellites to identify the number of missiles that are carried on the United Kingdom's Polaris submarines.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Russia operates a number of satellites with an intelligence-gathering capability. We are confident however, that these cannot identify the number of missiles carried by Polaris submarines.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to increase the number of warheads deployed on the Polaris fleet during the remainder of its operational life.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : It has been the practice of successive Governments not to specify publicly the number of nuclear warheads deployed on our ballistic missile submarines.
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of the United Kingdom's Polaris Missiles have been test fired since the missiles were purchased from the United States of America.
Mr. Aitken : There have been 42 such test firings.
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Nuclear Warheads
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent changes there have been to the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear targeting policy that have required changes in the numbers of warheads deployed.
Mr. Archie Hamilton : Successive United Kingdom Governments have always declined to make public their nuclear targeting policy and plans.
Vulcan Aircraft
Mrs. Angela Knight : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the disposal of Vulcan aircraft XH 558.
Mr. Aitken : Following evaluation of the returned tenders for the sale of the Vulcan XH 558, the aircraft will be sold to C Walton Ltd. (Aircraft Division) at Bruntingthorpe aerodrome in Leicestershire. The new owners will preserve the aircraft as a museum exhibit.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage share of total departmental spending was accounted for by non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1979.
Mr. Portillo : The information for the Chancellor of the Exchequer's departments is set out in the table. This information is not readily available for 1979-80 and 1980-81.
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Percentage share of
departmental spending
accounted for by funding of
non-departmental public
bodies
|per cent.
------------------------------
1978-79 |1.15
1981-82 |0.54
1982-83 |0.55
1983-84 |0.69
1984-85 |0.73
1985-86 |0.64
1986-87 |0.66
1987-88 |0.56
1988-89 |0.44
1989-90 |0.37
1990-91 |0.39
1991-92 |0.41
Saztec Philippines Ltd.
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what contracts his Departments have granted to Saztec Philippines Ltd. since July 1992 ; and where the company carries out the contracted work.
Value Added Tax
Mr. Robert Banks : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out the rates of VAT applicable in EC countries.
Sir John Cope : The information is as follows.
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EC rates as at 1 February 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- United Kingdom |17.5 |- |- |wide range Belgium |19.5 |- |1, 6, 12 |minimal Denmark |25.0 |- |- |minimal France |18.6 |- |2.1, 5.5 |minimal Germany |15.0 |- |7 |minimal Greece |18.0 |- |4, 8 |minimal Ireland |21.0 |- |2.5, 12.5 |wide range Italy<1> |19.0 |- |4, 9, 12 |minimal Luxembourg<1> |15.0 |- |3, 6, 12 |minimal Netherlands |17.5 |- |6 |nil Portugal<2> |16.0 |30 |5 |minimal Spain<3> |15.0 |- |3, 6 |minimal <1>The 12 per cent. rate is a "parking" rate which is a transitional measure provided for in EC law (VAT Directive 92/77/EEC) and applies to supplies previously taxed at the reduced rates. <2>Lower rates of 12, 21 and 4 per cent. are applied in autonomous region of the Azores archipelago. <3>New rate of 3 per cent. introduced with effect from 1 January 1993.
Financial Services Act 1986
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who has the responsibility for ensuring the enforcement of section 47 of the Financial Services Act 1986 ; what action each enforcement agency has taken in the last two years ; and in what form the efficacy of enforcement is reported to Parliament.
Mr. Nelson : The Treasury is responsible for the overall framework of the Financial Services Act. Responsibility for instituting proceedings under section 47--misleading
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statements and practices--lies primarily with the President of the Board of Trade, the Director of Public Prosecutions and procurators fiscal in Scotland.Post and Telecommunications
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the import, export and balance of payments in respect of postal and telecommunications services each year from 1982, expressing those payments both in cash and current price terms.
Mr. Nelson : The current price, or cash, value of postal and telecommunications services imports and exports for 1982 to 1991 can be found in table 3.6 of the 1992 edition
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of the Central Statistical Office's United Kingdom balance of payments publication--the Pink Book. Copies of the Pink Book are available in the Library of the House ; alternatively the data can be found on the CSO database which can be accessed through the Library. For 1992, it is estimated that exports of postal andtelecommunication services were £905 million and imports were £950 million. These series are not available at constant prices.
Political Parties (Funding)
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether funds brought into the United Kingdom and used for day-to-day expenditure of political parties are subject to tax.
Mr. Dorrell : Remittances of income from overseas by a resident of the United Kingdom are subject to tax. In general, remittances of capital are not subject to tax.
Capital Gains Tax
Mr. Rogers : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the preliminary estimates made by the Board of Inland Revenue of the capital gains tax lost due to overseas ownership of United Kingdom assets in each of the years from 1983 to 1989.
Mr. Dorrell : In common with most other countries, the United Kingdom does not in general tax capital gains made by non-residents. Information on which to estimate the effect of a change in the law in this respect is not available.
Premium Bonds
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individuals bought premium bonds each month for the last year ; and how much was invested.
Mr. Nelson : National Savings can give information only about the number of purchases of premium bonds, not the number of individuals making them. Following is the information.
|Number (thousands)|Value (£ millions)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992
January |88.7 |25.3
February |66.8 |26.8
March |97.9 |29.6
April |73.9 |25.5
May |60.7 |25.3
June |87.3 |27.9
July |79.0 |26.5
August |75.5 |26.5
September |87.7 |37.8
October |99.0 |40.1
November |99.4 |39.1
December |78.4 |27.2
1993
January |97.8 |31.4
February |<1>85.7 |<1>38.1
<1> Provisional figures.
National Savings
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes have been made to the minimum payments, and on what dates, into (a) national savings accounts or (b) premium bonds, over the last three years.
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Mr. Nelson : There have been three changes in minimum deposits and purchases for national savings bank accounts and premium bonds since 1990. From 1 February 1993, the minimum deposit required for a national savings ordinary account rose from £5 to £10 and that for the investment account from £5 to £20. On the same day, the minimum purchase of premium bonds for children rose from £10 to £100.
Mrs. Helen Jackson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individuals invested in national savings accounts in each of the last three years.
Mr. Nelson : National Savings retains information about accounts, not individuals. The following is the number of ordinary and investment accounts with at least one deposit in a year.
|Ordinary accounts |Investment accounts
|(thousands) |(thousands)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990 |1,781 |2,110
1991 |1,657 |1,964
1992 |1,601 |1,836
Taxation of Trusts
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the outcome of consultation on the document "Trusts : The Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax Treatment of UK Resident Trusts".
Mr. Dorrell : The Government have decided not to implement the central proposals in the consultative document on trusts published in March 1991.
The main option discussed in the consultative document was a proposal to integrate the income tax and capital gains tax treatment of trusts. As for individuals, trustees' income and chargeable gains would have been added together, with gains being treated as the top slice of income, and taxed at the basic rate up to a certain threshold and then at the higher rate.
The response to the document was varied, but a common concern was that treating capital gains as the top slice of income would adversely affect beneficiaries entitled to trust capital, because gains more than income would tend to be charged at the higher rate. In the light of the representations received, the Government have concluded that the proposal to integrate the income tax and capital gains tax treatment of trusts should not be pursued.
The Government are continuing to consider the responses on some of the more detailed issues discussed in the consultative document.
Economic and Finance Council
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the outcome of the latest meeting of the European Community's Economic and Finance Council.
Sir John Cope : The Economic and Finance Council of the European Community--ECOFIN--met in Brussels on 15 March. I represented the United Kingdom.
The Council approved the Commission's annual economic report for 1993. The report includes the
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Commission's forecast that the United Kingdom economy will grow faster in 1993 and 1994 than any other major EC country ; and set the background for a discussion of national measures to promote economic recovery arising from the initiative launched by my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and Chancellor at the Edinburgh European Council. The Council decided to reconsider national action to promote recovery and the related measures at Community level at its meeting in April, when it will also be possible to reflect the measures to reduce unemployment and promote sustainable growth announced in my right hon. Friend the Chancellor's Budget statement on 16 March. There was also some discussion of the wider international context to the Community's initiative to promote growth and I gave a report of relevant discussions at the meeting of G7 Finance Ministers in London on 27 February.The Council examined and endorsed the programme for economic convergence submitted by Greece covering the period 1993-99. The Council welcomed achievements in structural reform and fiscal consolidation made by the Greek Government during 1992 and emphasised the importance of taking the action necessary to meet the ambitious targets it had set itself for the future.
Following a presentation by the president of the European Court of Auditors on the 1991 Community Budget, the Council agreed a recommendation to the European Parliament on granting the Commission a discharge on its implementation of the 1991 budget. I stressed the importance that the United Kingdom Government and Parliament attach to the work of the Court of Auditors and the need to ensure high standards of financial management in the Community's activities. The Council had a brief discussion of a report from the presidency on progress in discussions between officials on the Commission's proposal for a carbon/energy tax. The German delegation also tabled a paper on its ideas for a harmonised system of withholding tax on interest from bank deposits. It was agreed that this paper would be discussed further at official level before being considered by the Council.
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Council Tax
Mr. Tyler : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many properties in England, Wales and Scotland have been listed as composite properties on the council tax valuation list in accordance with the valuation regulations in the categories of (a) shops and commercial premises, (b) public houses and other licensed premises, (c) dwellings used in agriculture and (d) others.
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