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NATIONAL FINANCE
Close Companies
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of cost to the Exchequer in terms of national insurance not paid because of the establishment of close companies following the abolition of the investment income surcharge in 1984 and in each year since 1984.
Mr. Dorrell : No such estimates have been made.
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many close companies paid advance corporation tax in (a) 1985 and (b) 1992.
Mr. Dorrell : I regret that close companies cannot be identified separately in payment records of advance corporation tax.
Tax Avoidance
Mr. Mandelson : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taken, or proposes to take, to withhold Government business and contracts from financial, legal and accounting bodies involved in advising or creating offshore vehicles for the avoidance of United Kingdom taxation.
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Sir John Cope : The grounds on which Departments decide to do business with any firm will depend upon the individual circumstances of each appointment.
In general, Departments seek to ensure that there are no matters which could reduce a firm's effectiveness in performing the services for which it is to be appointed and that there are no matters which make it inappropriate for Government to have business dealings with the firm.
Jet Engine Fuel
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research has been undertaken by his Department on the treatment of jet engine fuel for taxation purposes within other EC countries ; and what information he has on the revenue accrued from this form of taxation.
Sir John Cope : The treatment of jet engine fuel for taxation purposes within the EC is set out in relevant EC directives, particularly in article 8(1) of EC directive 92/81/EEC which provides for the exemption from excise duty of such fuel for the purposes of air navigation other than private pleasure flying.
Under article 8(4), which permits further exemptions or reductions, Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy and Portugal are authorised to apply air navigation concessions.
The EC sixth VAT directive restricts VAT relief for the supply of aviation fuel to commercial aircraft operating on international routes.
No revenue accrues in the United Kingdom from excise duty on jet fuel. We have no information on such revenue accrued in other member states.
Tobacco and Alcohol Imports
Mr. Mills : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he is taking with Her Majesty's Customs to monitor vehicles making frequent trips to France to import tobacco products and alcohol for personal use.
Sir John Cope : With the advent of the single market, Customs no longer carry out routine fiscal checks at intra-EC borders and do not routinely monitor the movement of private vehicles between the United Kingdom and France. Customs are, however, taking measures to combat the importation of goods ostensibly for personal consumption but intended for sale without payment of United Kingdom duty. They are gathering intelligence information which can be rapidly disseminated to support their efforts to seek out and prosecute those who sell excisable goods here without paying United Kingdom duty.
Personal Taxation
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms Harman) on 27 May, Official Report, column 666, what is his estimate for the number of people taxed on (a) PAYE, (b) schedule D and (c) schedule E basis and of the tax yield for each category in 1993-94.
Mr. Dorrell : Available estimates for 1993-94 are as follows :
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Source of income |Number of individual|Tax yield<2> (£
|taxpayers<1> |billion)
|(million)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAYE and other Schedule E |23.1 |51.4
Schedule D<3> |3.4 |9.1
<1> A taxpayer with both a Schedule E and Schedule D source of income is included in
both rows of the table.
<2> The tax yield represents the tax liability on each type of income where that income
is regarded as the top slice of a person's income.
<3> Excluding interest taxed at source.
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what would be the effect on the number of higher rate taxpayers in the financial year 1994-95 of (a) indexation, (b) freezing the main personal allowances, (c) freezing personal allowances and the higher rate threshold, (d) raising personal allowances by 5 per cent. more than indexation and (e) raising personal allowances by 10 per cent. more than indexation, giving figures separately for each main allowance and a total for main allowances ;
(2) what would be the effect on the number of taxpayers in the financial year 1994-95 of (a) indexation of the main personal allowances, (b) freezing the main personal allowances, (c) increasing allowances by 5 per cent. more than indexation and (d) increasing allowances by 10 per cent. more than indexation, giving figures separately for each main personal allowance and a total for all main allowances.
Mr. Dorrell : Latest estimates for 1994-95 are shown in the table.
Millions
Taxpayers
|Number |Of which liable at
|higher rate
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(i) |Indexation |25.0 |2.3
(ii) |Freezing the personal allowance |25.2 |2.3
(iii) |Freezing the married couple's
| allowance<1> |25.1 |2.3
(iv) |Freezing all main allowances |25.2 |2.3
(v) |Freezing all main allowances and the
| basic rate limit |25.2 |2.4
(vi) |Raising the personal allowance by
| 5 per cent. more than indexation |24.6 |2.2
(vii) |Raising the married couple's allowance
| by 5 per cent. more than indexation |25.0 |2.3
(viii) |Raising all allowances by 5 per cent.
| more than indexation |24.5 |2.2
(ix) |Raising the personal allowance by
| 10 per cent. more than indexation |24.2 |2.2
(x) |Raising the married couple's allowance
| by 10 per cent. more than indexation|24.9 |2.3
(xi) |Raising all allowances by 10 per cent.
| more than indexation |24.1 |2.2
<1>References to the married couple's allowance include the effect of changing the additional personal allowance and the widow's bereavement allowance.
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Self-employment
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate for 1992-93 the number of self-employed who will pay no income tax, giving figures separately for those with gross incomes (a) under £5,000 a year, (b) between £5,000 and £10,000 a year, (c) between £10,000 and £15,000 a year, (d) between £15,000 and £20,000 a year and (e) over £20,000 a year.
Mr. Dorrell : There are about 870,000 self employed with no income tax liability in 1992-93. Of these, 720,000 have gross income of under £5,000, 150,000 have gross income between £5,000 and £10,000 and 3,000 have gross income of over £10,000.
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The estimates are based on the projection of the latest annual survey of personal incomes and are provisional. The number with gross income above £10,000 is too small to allow any further breakdown.Taxpayers
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) pursuant to his answers of 2 April, Official Report, column 477, what is his most recent estimate of the number of taxpayers paying tax at the 20 per cent. rate ;
(2) pursuant to his answer of 2 April, Official Report, column 475, what is his most recent estimate of the number of taxpayers.
Mr. Dorrell : Latest estimates for 1993-94 based on projection from the 1991-92 survey of personal incomes are given in the table. All taxpayers pay some tax at the 20 per cent. rate.
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À
1993-94 Taxpayers
Thousands
Male Female
Single Married Single Married
|Aged under 65 |Aged 65 and over|Aged under 65 |Aged 65 and over|Aged under 65 |Aged 65 and over|Aged under 65 |Aged 65 and over|All taxpayers
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lower rate taxpayers |780 |200 |480 |360 |870 |520 |1,400 |260 |4,900
Basic rate taxpayers |4,200 |260 |6,300 |560 |2,800 |440 |3,200 |230 |18,000
Higher rate taxpayers |330 |30 |1,100 |70 |100 |30 |140 |10 |1,800
All taxpayers |5,300 |490 |7,900 |990 |3,800 |980 |4,800 |490 |24,800
Mr. Dewar : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 2 April, Official Report, column 477, what is his most recent estimate of the number of taxpayers and non-taxpayers, including a breakdown for (a) lone parent families and (b) (i) working and (ii) non- working people.
Mr. Dorrell : The latest estimates of the numbers of taxpayers and non-taxpayers for 1993-94 are as follows :
|Taxpayers |Non-taxpayers
|(millions) |(millions)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Working<1> |21.6 |3.9
Non-working |3.2 |17.4
Total |24.8 |21.3
Of which lone parents |0.6 |0.7
<1> Employees and self-employed.
Actors
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to restore schedule D status for actors working in theatres.
Mr. Dorrell : Employment status for tax purposes of all individuals, including actors, is determined by general law and the facts of their individual circumstances. We have no plans to change this.
Residual Holdings and Debt
Mr. Burns : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what new expenditure has been incurred recently in order to finance the disposal of residual holdings and debt ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Dorrell : New expenditure has been incurred to cover : (
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(i) the costs of advisers, estimated at £5,000, in connection with the placing of Her Majesty's Treasury's the Treasury's 1992 sale of privatised companies' debt.Parliamentary approval of this new expenditure will be sought in a winter supplementary estimate for Her Majesty's Treasury's sale of shares in British Telecommunications plc vote (class XVII, vote 17). Pending that approval, repayable advances from the Contingencies Fund were sought to meet urgent expenditure estimated at £19,000.
Child Benefit
Sir Ralph Howell : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the net saving which would be made by the abolition of child benefit after taking account of the extent to which those families in real need would have their income support increased by the same amount.
Mr. Burt : I have been asked to reply.
It is estimated that the saving arising from the abolition of child benefit net of income support, housing and council tax benefit offsets would be £4.25 billion in 1993-94.
VAT
Mr. Cormack : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the yield from VAT on domestic fuel at (a) 17 per cent., (b) 8 per cent. and (c) 5 per cent.
Sir John Cope [holding answer 26 October 1993] : The Financial Statement and Budget Report gives an estimate of £930 million for the yield of 8 per cent. VAT on domestic fuel and power applied in 1994-95. The first full year of revenue at 17 per cent. is 1996-97 when the
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revenue is estimated to be £2,850 million. Table 9 of the publication, "Tax Ready Reckoner and Tax Reliefs", implies that the revenue from 5 per cent. VAT on domestic fuel and power in 1993-94 would be £700 million though this estimate makes no allowance for behavioural changes.Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the likely revenue income from imposition of VAT on books, newspapers and other publications ; what calculation he has made of the possible effect upon employment in the printing, publishing and allied industries as a result of imposition of VAT on those items ; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the Exchequer of such job losses in terms of benefits payable, loss of pay-as-you-earn and national insurance contributions and Government contributions to redundancy payments.
Sir John Cope [holding answer 26 October 1993] : Table 9 of the Treasury's "Tax Ready Reckoner and Tax Reliefs" provides an estimate of £1,100 million as the cost of zero-rating books, newspapers and magazines in 1993-94. This estimate makes no allowance for the likely behavioural response to applying the standard rate of VAT to these items. The consquences for employment and second order effects are difficult to estimate with accuracy.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Moated Sites
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action his Department is currently taking to record and preserve moated sites of archaeological interest ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : There are no confirmed moated sites in Northern Ireland.
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list (a) the surveys and (b) excavations that are currently being carried out of moated sites of archaeological interest.
Mr. Atkins : No surveys or excavations of moated sites are in progress.
Sour Gas
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the power stations which have been authorised to use sour gas ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Atkins : No power station in Northern Ireland has been authorised to use sour gas.
Royal Ulster Constabulary
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to his answer of 14 July, Official Report, column 579, when he hopes to make a report in respect of the result of the review being carried out by the Royal Ulster Constabulary into its guidelines concerning informants and agents ; and if he will make a statement.
Sir Patrick Mayhew : Consideration of the relevant issues is still continuing.
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Nurses
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what surveys he has carried out to determine the number of nurses working in Northern Ireland who were born in the Irish Republic ; and what percentage this represents of the total.
Mr. Ancram : No such surveys have been carried out.
Potatoes
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is now his estimate of the tonnage of (a) seed potatoes of each variety and (b) ware potatoes by market description, grown in Northern Ireland in 1992 ; what tonnages of each were sold for the home and foreign seed and for human consumption by category ; and what are the differences between the present estimates and 1992's forecasts made at various dates by his Department.
Mr. Ancram : The final estimate of marketable potatoes produced in Northern Ireland in 1992 is 282,000 tonnes. As regards the production of seed potatoes by variety I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given him on 2 April at column 447. The estimated use of ware potatoes produced in Northern Ireland in 1992 is given in the following table :
|Tonnes (000)
---------------------------------------------------------
Human consumption |111
Internal processing |24
Sales outside Northern Ireland |31
Used for planting |15
Note: The information cannot be disaggregated further as
requested.
Utilisation of the 1992 crop of seed potatoes is as follows :
|Tonnes ('000s)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Certified seed for planting in Northern Ireland |20
Certified seed sold to Great Britain |8
Certified seed sold outside the United Kingdom |20
Disaggregation by variety of sales (in tonnes) to Great Britain and outside the United Kingdom is provided in the following table :
Variety |Great Britain |Outside the
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arran Banner |- |3,514
Desiree |380 |7,318
Home Guard |553 |786
Kerr's Pink |- |1,508
King Edward |152 |1,942
Pentland Dell |1,363 |681
Record |33 |447
Others, including protected varieties |5,493 |3,396
|------- |-------
Total |7,974 |19,592
The final estimates differ from earlier estimates in two respects--namely the total marketable yield and the area planted were adjusted downwards. The initial estimate of total marketable yield of 343,000 tonnes was reduced to 304,000 tonnes to take account of estimated harvesting
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losses. The total area was reduced from 11,500 to 10,800 hectares as a result of revised census methodology. The latter change resulted in the estimated total marketable yield being further reduced to 282, 000 tonnes.Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many farmers received sums under the potato aid scheme for 1992's crop ; what tonnage was (a) accepted and (b) had aid paid on them under that scheme ; and what was the total sum expended.
Mr. Ancram : Payments were made to 523 growers ; 41,793 tonnes were provisionally accepted under the scheme and 39,476 tonnes were purchased. Expenditure totalled £1,660,968.
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his estimate of the tonnage of (a) seed and (b) ware potatoes grown in Northern Ireland in the current year.
Mr. Ancram : This information will not be available until mid- December.
Overseas Students
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his estimate of the number of students from Northern Ireland who are presently attending courses of third-level education in Great Britain.
Mr. Ancram : The figure is 11,500.
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his estimate of the number of students from Northern Ireland who are presently attending courses of third-level education in each EC country ; and what was the cost of such students to his Department and to education and library boards in each of the last three years.
Mr. Ancram : Information on the numbers of Northern Ireland students attending courses of third level education in each EC country is available only in respect of those students who are in receipt of publicly funded awards. The following tables show the number of such students and an estimate of associated costs.
Number of students
|1991-92|1992-93|1993-94
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Belgium (postgraduate) |1 |1 |1
Italy (postgraduate) |1 |1 |1
Republic of Ireland (postgraduate) |10 |13 |15
Republic of Ireland (undergraduate) |424 |686 |887
Costs (£'000)
|1991-92|1992-93|1993-94
-------------------------------------------------------------
Department of Education
(postgraduate) |77 |100 |119
Education and Library Boards
(undergraduate) |1,630 |2,714 |3,541
Labour Statistics
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his estimate of the number of persons from each EC country presently employed in
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Northern Ireland ; and what statistics as to such numbers are collected by his Department or are available from the records of the Fair Employment Agency.Mr. Atkins : Comprehensive information on the number of persons from each EC country presently employed in Northern Ireland is not available. The latest available information is that obtained from the Northern Ireland 1991 census of population. This relates to the country of birth of those in employment usually resident in Northern Ireland on 21 April 1991 and is as follows :
Country of birth |<1>Persons in
|employment
------------------------------------------------------
Belgium |34
Denmark |21
France |161
Germany |864
Greece |12
Italy |76
Luxembourg |2
Netherlands |96
Portugal |23
Republic of Ireland |12,007
Spain |42
<1> These figures include persons on government
training and employment schemes.
Catering College, Portrush
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many students from (a) Northern Ireland, (b) Great Britain and (c) each other EC country are presently attending the hotel and catering college at Portrush.
Mr. Ancram : The information is as follows :
Country of domicile |Number enrolled ------------------------------------------------------------ Northern Ireland |276 Great Britain |3 Republic of Ireland |146 Other EC countries |0
Education
Rev. William McCrea : To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) if he will give the names of those who advise the Department of Education about the national curriculum and associated matters and in each case the body which they represent ;
(2) how many people drawn from the primary school sector of education are on the Department's advisory team.
Mr. Ancram : The Northern Ireland Curriculum Council, whose function is to advise the Department on all matters connected with the Northern Ireland curriculum, consists of a chairman and 17 members. Their names, and the bodies and companies to which they belong (if any) are listed below. The members do not serve in a representative capacity--rather, all are selected for their individual knowledge and experience in the educational field. Members marked with an asterisk were chosen for their expertise in the primary school sector.
Professor D. McCloy (Chairman)
Director, Belfast Institute, Further and Higher Education
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Mr. D. F. AdairHead of Group Personnel, Ulster Bank Ltd.
Mr. A. Bremner
Controller of Programming, Ulster Television plc
Mrs. M. Breslin
Partner, Total Engineering, Londonderry
Mr. S. Costello
Manager, Marks and Spencer plc, Sprucefield
Mrs. D. A. Frazer
Vice-Principal, Fermanagh College of Education, Enniskillen Professor J. S. Fulton
Director, School of Education, Queen's University, Belfast Mr. E. Gamble
Principal, Beechlawn Special School, Hillsborough
Sr. Genevieve O'Farrell
Retired Principal, St. Louise's Comprehensive College, Belfast Miss A. Graham
Principal, Cambridge House Girls', Ballymena
Mr. D. E. McElroy*
Governor Training Officer, Southern Education and Library Board Mr. N. McLaughlin*
Principal, St. Anne's Primary School, Londonderry
Mrs. F. McMahon
Principal, St. Mary's High School, Newry
Mr. T. Nolan
Chief Executive, South-Eastern Education and Library Board Dr. R. J. Rodgers
Retired Principal, Stranmillis College, Belfast
Mrs. J. E. Ruddock
Managing Director, Education Company Ltd., Belfast
Mr. J. Thompson
Governor Training Officer, Western Education and Library Board Mr. J. Young
Principal, Sullivan Upper Grammar School, Holywood.
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