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Income Tax

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what was the revenue from the higher rates of income tax in (a) 1978-79, (b) 1983-84 and (c) 1995-96; [37579]

(2) what proportion of gross national product was raised in higher rate income tax in (a) 1978-79, (b) 1983-84 and (c) 1995-96; [37584]

(3) what proportion of income tax was raised by higher rate tax in (a) 1978-79, (b) 1983-84 and (c) 1995-96. [37583]

Mr. Jack: Estimated income tax liabilities from higher rates of income tax, that is rates in excess of the basic rate, and from the investment income surcharge are given

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in the table. Their sum is also expressed as a percentage of total income tax and of gross national product at market prices.

	Income tax at excess over basic rate (1)	Investment income surcharge (2)	(1) and (2) as percentage of total income tax	(1) and (2) as percentage of GNP
	£ million	£ million
1978-79	1,790	249	10.1	1.2
1983-84	3,330	255	10.2	1.2
1995-96(38)	7,080	--	9.8	1.0

(38) Provisional.

Infrastructure Projects

Mr. Walden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of his policies in respect of reducing public expenditure and taxation levels on the timing of priority infrastructure projects, with particular reference to bypasses. [38440]

Mr. Waldegrave: When deciding on its future spending plans in the annual public expenditure survey round, the Government consider their priorities for all areas of departmental expenditure. The implication of any options is under discussion for future levels of infrastructure funding, including the roads programme, is an important element of these deliberations.

Tobacco Smuggling

Mr. David Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he has taken to combat organised criminal gangs smuggling tobacco; and if he will make a statement. [38808]

Mrs. Angela Knight: Customs have taken further steps this year to combat organised smuggling of tobacco and other revenue goods. These include a programme of enhanced staff training, an uprating of intelligence systems and organisation, and an increase in staffing levels. Whilst measures of this kind by their nature take some time to bear fruit, the Government are determined that vigorous efforts to protect both the revenue and legitimate traders will continue.

Self-assessment

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will ensure that small firms will not suffer financially as a result of the introduction of self-assessment taxation. [38904]

Mr. Jack: Self-assessment is a clearer, more straightforward, more efficient tax administration system which will reduce costs for the self-employed.

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of tax returns completed by volunteers in the pilot self-assessment of taxation scheme were filled in (a) correctly, (b) incorrectly and (c) on time. [38894]

Mr. Jack: Results from the first year's live trial of self-assessment in Leicester show that 95 per cent. of tax returns could be processed without further reference to the taxpayer. Of these, 37 per cent. required the Revenue to make a correction of an obvious error in the return. A total of 79 per cent. of tax returns were submitted to the Inland Revenue within the time allowed under

23 Jul 1996 : Column: 245

self-assessment. Revised forms reflecting comments by the Leicester volunteers, are currently being used in the extended live trial in Leicester and Southampton.

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the extra costs to small firms of paying accountants to prepare accounts for random inspection by the Inland Revenue. [38893]

Mr. Jack: In order to monitor the operation of self-assessment and enhance compliance, the Inland Revenue will carry out a small number of random inquiries into returns under the self-assessment taxation system. As all necessary information will be included in the self-assessment return form, small firms will not be required to prepare accounts for self-assessment.

Value Added Tax

Mrs. Roche: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to ensure that VAT penalties are levied on small businesses only where there is not a reasonable excuse for late or incorrect payments. [38900]

Mrs. Angela Knight: The VAT civil penalties for late or incomplete payment and for inaccurate returns are default surcharge and misdeclaration penalty respectively. Existing legislation provides that neither penalty is imposed where a business, of whatever size, has a reasonable excuse. Insufficiency funds, reliance on a third party or dilatoriness or inaccuracy on the part of any person relied upon are specifically excluded by law from qualifying as a reasonable excuse. However the cash accounting threshold of £350,000 whereby many small businesses pay VAT only when it is paid to them is of considerable benefit to small businesses.

Debt Interest Payments

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of general Government expenditure was spent on debt interest payments in each year since 1990; and what he expects it to be in 1996-97 and 1997-98. [38701]

Mr. Waldegrave: As a percentage of general Government expenditure (GGE(X)--GGE net of interest and divided receipts, excluding privatisation proceeds and lottery financed spending--general Government net debt interest payments were as follows:

	Percentage
1990-91	5.6
1991-92	4.7
1992-93	4.8
1993-94	5.3
1994-95	6.1
1995-96	6.7

For 1996-97 and 1997-98, general Government net

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debt interest as a percentage of GGE(X) is forecast as 7.2 per cent. and 7.8 per cent. respectively. These forecasts are consistent with the summer economic forecast 1996.

Mr. Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the level of Government expenditure on debt interest payment in each year since 1990; and what he expects it to be in 1996-97 and 1997-98. [38700]

Mr. Waldegrave: General Government net debt interest payments were as follows:

1990-91: £12.1 billion
1991-92: £11.3 billion
1992-93: £12.7 billion
1993-94: £14.6 billion
1994-95: £17.5 billion
1995-96: £20.2 billion

For 1996-97 and 1997-98, general Government net debt interest is forecast at £22.2 billion and £24.8 billion respectively. These forecasts are consistent with the summer economic forecast 1996.

Financial Services Act

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Southport (Mr. Banks) of 27 June, Official Report, column 235, if he will list the number and nature of relevant representatives that were consulted, the basis of their selection, and the criteria of relevance. [38906]

Mrs. Angela Knight: The Law Commission's report (No. 236) on fiduciary duties and regulatory rules was published in December 1985. This provided an opportunity for interested participants within the financial services industry to consider the implications of the recommendation that legislation would be desirable to clarify the effect of Chinese wall arrangements.

The Treasury received no representations supporting the Law Commissions' recommendations. Moreover, both the Securities and Investments Board and the London Investment Bank Association did express the view that there was no compelling reasons to amend the Financial Services Act 1986 as recommended by the Law Commission, and much to be gained from relying on the legal precedents set since the Financial Services Act came into force.

Population Statistics

Mr. Alex Carlile: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the (a) male, (b) female and (c) total population was under the age of 25 years, broken down by age group and in total, for each of the last 20 years for which figures are available; and what was the percentage change in each year. [38683]

Mrs. Angela Knight: The information is contained in the following table:

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Estimated resident population at mid-year 1974-1994: selected age-groups expressed as a percentage of the totalEngland and Wales

	Percentage of males aged
Year	0-4	5-9	10-14	15-19	20-24	Total	0-24	25+
1974	7.6	8.6	8.4	7.4	7.2	100	39.3	60.7
1975	7.3	8.4	8.6	7.6	7.1	100	39.0	61.0
1976	6.9	8.3	8.7	7.8	7.2	100	38.8	61.2
1977	6.5	8.1	8.7	8.0	7.3	100	38.6	61.4
1978	6.3	7.9	8.7	8.2	7.4	100	38.4	61.6
1979	6.2	7.5	8.6	8.5	7.5	100	38.3	61.7
1980	6.3	7.2	8.4	8.7	7.6	100	38.2	61.8
1981	6.4	6.8	8.3	8.8	7.8	100	38.0	62.0
1982	6.5	6.5	8.1	8.8	8.0	100	37.9	62.1
1983	6.6	6.2	7.8	8.8	8.2	100	37.7	62.3
1984	6.6	6.2	7.5	8.6	8.5	100	37.4	62.6
1985	6.6	6.2	7.2	8.4	8.7	100	37.1	62.9
1986	6.7	6.4	6.8	8.2	8.8	100	36.8	63.2
1987	6.7	6.5	6.4	8.0	8.8	100	36.4	63.6
1988	6.8	6.6	6.2	7.8	8.7	100	36.0	64.0
1989	6.9	6.6	6.2	7.4	8.5	100	35.6	64.4
1990	7.0	6.6	6.2	7.1	8.3	100	35.2	64.8
1991	7.0	6.6	6.3	6.7	8.1	100	34.8	65.2
1992	7.1	6.7	6.4	6.4	7.9	100	34.4	65.6
1993	7.0	6.8	6.5	6.1	7.7	100	34.0	66.0
1994	6.9	6.8	6.5	6.1	7.3	100	33.7	66.3

The question also asked for percentage changes each year. It is not entirely clear what was meant by this, but year to year differences in the percentages can be seen in the tables.

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23 Jul 1996 : Column: 247

23 Jul 1996 : Column: 248

Estimated resident population at mid-year 1974-1994: selected age-groups expressed as a percentage of the totalEngland and Wales

	Percentage of females aged
Year	0-4	5-9	10-14	15-19	20-24	Total	0-24	25+
1974	6.8	7.7	7.6	6.7	6.7	100	35.5	64.5
1975	6.6	7.6	7.7	6.9	6.6	100	35.3	64.7
1976	6.2	7.5	7.8	7.1	6.6	100	35.1	64.9
1977	5.8	7.3	7.8	7.3	6.6	100	34.9	65.1
1978	5.6	7.1	7.8	7.5	6.7	100	34.7	65.3
1979	5.6	6.8	7.7	7.7	6.8	100	34.6	65.4
1980	5.7	6.5	7.5	7.8	7.0	100	34.5	65.5
1981	5.7	6.1	7.4	7.9	7.3	100	34.4	65.6
1982	5.9	5.8	7.2	7.9	7.4	100	34.3	65.7
1983	6.0	5.6	7.0	7.9	7.6	100	34.1	65.9
1984	6.0	5.6	6.7	7.7	7.8	100	33.8	66.2
1985	6.0	5.6	6.4	7.6	8.0	100	33.6	66.4
1986	6.0	5.7	6.1	7.4	8.1	100	33.3	66.7
1987	6.1	5.8	5.8	7.2	8.0	100	33.0	67.0
1988	6.2	6.0	5.6	7.0	7.9	100	32.6	67.4
1989	6.3	6.0	5.5	6.7	7.8	100	32.3	67.7
1990	6.3	6.0	5.6	6.4	7.6	100	31.9	68.1
1991	6.4	6.0	5.7	6.1	7.4	100	31.6	68.4
1992	6.4	6.1	5.8	5.8	7.2	100	31.3	68.7
1993	6.4	6.1	5.9	5.5	7.0	100	31.0	69.0
1994	6.3	6.2	5.9	5.5	6.7	100	30.7	69.3

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Estimated resident population at mid-year 1974-1994: selected age-groups expressed as a percentage of the totalEngland and Wales

	Percentage of persons aged
Year	0-4	5-9	10-14	15-19	20-24	Total	0-24	25+
1974	7.2	8.1	8.0	7.0	6.9	100	37.3	62.7
1975	6.9	8.0	8.2	7.2	6.8	100	37.1	62.9
1976	6.5	7.9	8.2	7.4	6.9	100	36.9	63.1
1977	5.2	7.7	8.3	7.7	6.9	100	36.7	63.3
1978	5.9	7.5	8.2	7.9	7.0	100	36.5	63.5
1979	5.9	7.1	8.1	8.1	7.1	100	36.4	63.6
1980	6.0	6.8	7.9	8.2	7.3	100	36.3	63.7
1981	6.1	6.4	7.8	8.3	7.5	100	36.2	63.8
1982	6.2	6.1	7.6	8.4	7.7	100	36.0	64.0
1983	6.3	5.9	7.4	8.3	7.9	100	35.8	64.2
1984	6.3	5.9	7.1	8.2	8.2	100	35.5	64.5
1985	6.3	5.9	6.8	8.0	8.3	100	35.3	64.7
1986	6.4	6.0	6.4	7.8	8.4	100	34.0	65.0
1987	6.4	6.2	6.1	7.6	8.4	100	34.7	65.3
1988	6.5	6.3	5.9	7.4	8.3	100	33.3	66.7
1989	6.6	6.3	5.8	7.0	8.1	100	33.9	66.1
1990	6.6	6.3	5.9	6.8	7.9	100	33.5	66.5
1991	6.7	6.3	6.0	6.4	7.8	100	33.2	66.8
1992	6.7	6.4	6.1	6.1	7.6	100	32.8	67.2
1993	6.7	6.4	6.2	5.8	7.3	100	32.5	67.5
1994	6.6	6.5	6.2	5.8	7.0	100	32.2	67.8

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23 Jul 1996 : Column: 249

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