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Bank of England (Meetings)

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to stop the publication of the discussion of his monthly interviews with the Governor of the Bank of England. [7414]

Mrs. Angela Knight: My right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor has no plans to stop publication of the minutes of monthly monetary meetings. The next set of minutes will be published on 31 January.

Tax Receipts

Ms Church: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the average overshoot or undershoot for actual tax receipts in relation to the predictions a year earlier for 1990 to 1995 and 1992 to 1995. [6902]

Mr. Jack: The table compares the outturns for tax receipts for the period 1989-90 to 1994-95 with the forecast made in the Budget the previous year.

Tax receipts £ billion

Year	Budget forecast	Outturn
1989-90	190.9	191.5
1990-91	194.9	205.8
1991-92	204.3	211.6
1992-93	216.5	208.7
1993-94	213.8	217.0
1994-95	236.2	236.8

For 1989-90 to 1993-94, forecasts were made in the previous March. For 1994-95, forecasts were made in November 1993.

Ms Church: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the predictions for total tax receipts in 1990 to 1995 made in the previous year. [6903]

Mr. Jack: The table sets out the information requested.

Table 1: Forecasts for Tax Receipts(16)

Year	Forecasts made in:	Tax receipts £ billion
1989-90	March 1989	190.0
1990-91	March 1990	194.9
1991-92	March 1991	204.3
1992-93	March 1992	216.5
1993-94	March 1993	213.8
1994-95	November 1994	236.2
1995-96	November 1995	260.9

(16) Total tax and royalty receipts, social security contributions and council tax.

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Ms Church: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the total tax receipts, for each year, from 1990 to 1995. [6947]

Mr. Jack: The table sets out the information requested. ¹

Year	Tax receipts (£ billion)
1989-90	191.5
1990-91	205.8
1991-92	211.6
1992-93	208.7
1993-94	217.0
1994-95	236.8
1995-96	(18)254.2

(17) Total tax and royalty receipts, social security contributions and council tax.

(18) Latest forecast.

Ms Church: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the predicted total for tax receipts in 1996 would be if the average error in past predictions for (a) 1992 to 1995 and (b) 1990 to 1995 were added. [6914]

Mr. Jack: The Budget forecast for tax receipts in 1996-97 was £268.7 billion. The absolute average error on tax forecasts, made in the autumn of the previous year, for both the four-year period 1991-92 to 1994-95 and the six-year period 1989-90 to 1994-95 was equivalent to ¾ per cent. of GDP, or £5 billion and £6 billion respectively.

Mr. Booth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library figures showing (a) receipts of income tax annually since 1979 and (b) the changes in the rates in each such year. [6744]

Mr. Jack: Income tax receipts can be found in table 1.2 of "Inland Revenue Statistics 1995". Income tax rates can be found in table A of the 1995 edition of the Taxes Acts. Copies of these publications are available in the Library.

Mr. Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total amount of income received by the Exchequer from income tax in each of the last four years for which figures are available at current prices. [7558]

Mr. Jack: Receipts of income tax can be found in table 1.2 of "Inland Revenue Statistics 1995", a copy of which is available in the Library.

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Wages

Ms Church: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what was the median wage in the United Kingdom in each year from 1979 to 1995: [6907]

(2) what was the percentage change for the average wage of each income decile, on the previous year, for the years 1979 to 1995 in (a) absolute terms and (b) real terms; [6905]

(3) what was the average wage for each income decile in the United Kingdom, in each year from 1979 to 1995; [6908]

(4) what was the average wage in the United Kingdom in each year from 1979 to 1995. [6906]

Mrs. Angela Knight: Information on the mean, median, lowest decile, and highest decile of gross weekly earnings for full-time adult workers in Great Britain for 1983 to 1995 can be found in table 17 of part A of the new earnings survey for 1993 and 1995.

Full-time adult figures are not available for the years 1979 to 1982. Part B, table 30 shows the mean, median, lowest decile, and highest decile of gross weekly earnings, but for full-time males and full-time females separately.

Absolutely percentage change can be calculated directly from the tables. Real percentage change can be calculated using the retail prices index (all items). This information is published in the Central Statistical Office Business Monitor MM23.

Copies of these reports are available in the Library.

I will write to the hon. Member with the information for each of the remaining deciles, and place a copy in the Library.

Taxation (Reliefs and Allowances)

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of taxpayers with income tax reliefs and allowances in excess of (a) £7,000, (b) £8,000, (c) £9,000, (d) £10,000, (e) £11,000 and (f) £12,000, (i) including and (ii) profits related pay. [7065]

Mr. Jack: The number of taxpayers with income tax reliefs and allowances in excess of the specified limits at 1996-97 income levels is in the table. Detailed information is not available to provide estimates taking account of profit-related pay.

Upper limit for total allowances and reliefs(19)	Number of taxpayers
£	Thousands
7,000	610
8,000	380
9,000	260
10,000	190
11,000	150
12,000	120

(19) Including only allowances and reliefs given at marginal rates.

Gross Domestic Product

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what change took place in his growth forecast for 1995 between 28 November and 13 December and what are the implications for the growth

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forecast for 1996; and what changes he plans to make to that forecast; [7428]

(2) if he will list the growth differences for 1995 between (a) the Budget forecast and (b) evidence given to the Treasury and Civil Service Committee as a plus or minus effect on output in cash terms. [7632]

Mrs. Angela Knight: The Government's forecasts for GDP growth in 1995 and 1996 are set out in table 3.8 of the 1996-97 "Financial Statement and Budget Report". The Government publish only two forecasts a year--the Budget forecast and the summer economic forecast, which is normally published in late June.

An increase in GDP of 2½ to 2¾ per cent. in 1995 would be broadly in line with the economy's trend growth rate, and would represent a continuation of sustainable recovery.

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his present growth estimate for 1995 and for 1996; and what were the equivalent forecasts produced by each member of the panel of independent forecasters. [7429]

Mrs. Knight: The Budget forecast of GDP growth in 1995 is 2¾ per cent. As shown in table 3B.5 of the "Financial Statement and Budget Report". Five of the six panel members also forecast 2¾ per cent. The sixth forecasts 2.6 per cent. The Budget forecast for growth in 1996 is 3 per cent. Four panel members forecast growth of 2.5 per cent. next year, one forecasts 2.9 per cent., and one 3.1 per cent.

Internet

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what web site his Department maintains on the Internet; what information is provided there; how often it is updated; what is the address; and if he or his Department answers questions and supplies additional information through the Internet. [7577]

Mrs. Angela Knight: The Treasury maintains its own web site on the Internet. The site provides an extensive range of information including the Budget statement and all the Budget news releases, Treasury news releases, speeches, minutes of the monthly monetary meetings with the Governor of the Bank of England, reports of the panel of independent forecasters and various other publications.

Material is added to the site on a daily basis and there is a continuing programme to add more services.

The Treasury's system can be accessed directly using any one of the addresses set out in the table. In addition, users can find the Treasury pages through either on the Government world wide web server-- http://www.open.gov.uk--or the server of the Central Office of Information--http://www.coi.gov.uk/coi.

The addresses are:

E-mail file transfer: [e-mail]
File transfer (FTP): ftp.hm-treasury.gov.uk
World wide web: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

Questions are received by Internet e-mail. These are answered electronically or by conventional means, depending on the nature of the inquiry. All information currently supplied through the Internet is available in hard

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copy. From next year, a number of charts of publicly available economic data will be available through the Internet service, but will not be published separately.

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