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Road Lighting
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will amend the regulations to ensure that highway lighting for all-purpose trunk roads is treated as secondary category 1 for the purpose of repair. [12425]
Mr. Watts: I have asked the chief executive of the Highways Agency to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Lawrie Haynes to Mr. Colin B. Pickthall, dated 23 January 1997:
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The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about amending the regulations governing the repair of highway lighting on motorways and all-purpose trunk roads.
The current Departmental Standard (TD 23/86) controlling the repair of highway lighting for motorways and trunk roads allocates defects to Category (i) and Category (ii) as appropriate. A copy of this Standard is in the Library. We are currently reviewing this Standard in the light of improving technology. However, at the present time I am unable to commit to the adoption of a Secondary Category 1 Classification.
Child Care Facilities
Mr. Allen: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if Ministers are entitled to use child care facilities supported by his Department. [11594]
Mr. Streeter: Ministers of the Crown for this Department are able to make use of the subsidised child care facilities provided by this Department on the same basis as civil servants working for the Department.
Statutory Instruments
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the five Acts of Parliament enacted since April 1992 which have generated the greatest number of statutory instruments, indicating the number in each case. [11522]
Mr. Streeter: The Acts, with the numbers of statutory instruments registered with the Statutory Publications Office up to and including 7 October 1996, are as follows:
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| Number | |
|---|---|
| The Education Act 1993 | 104 |
| The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 | 56 |
| The Local Government etc.(s) Act 1994 | 49 |
| The Value Added Tax 1994 | 44 |
| The Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 | 41 |
TREASURY
Incomes (Nottinghamshire)
Mr. Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the average income for a family of four in Nottinghamshire, or the nearest corresponding region, included in or including Nottinghamshire for which figures are available; and what proportion of that income was spent on tax, including VAT and national insurance in each year since 1988. [10816]
Mr. Jack: The information available is given in the table.
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| percentage of earnings paid in | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly earnings | Direct taxes(1) | VAT | Other indirect taxes | Total tax (East Midlands) | Total tax (GB) | |
| 1988-89 | £232.65 | 19.3 | 4.8 | 8.0 | 32.1 | 33.3 |
| 1989-90 | £256.25 | 19.5 | 4.8 | 7.4 | 31.8 | 32.9 |
| 1990-91 | £281.15 | 19.6 | 4.7 | 7.3 | 31.6 | 32.7 |
| 1991-92 | £299.35 | 19.3 | 5.2 | 7.5 | 32.1 | 33.2 |
| 1992-93 | £311.65 | 18.6 | 5.4 | 7.3 | 31.3 | 32.7 |
| 1993-94 | £321.10 | 18.7 | 5.3 | 7.4 | 31.4 | 32.8 |
| 1994-95 | £331.60 | 20.2 | 5.5 | 8.1 | 33.8 | 34.8 |
| 1995-96 | £345.55 | 21.0 | 5.4 | 8.5 | 34.8 | 35.7 |
| 1996-97 | £358.51 | 20.0 | 5.6 | 8.8 | 34.5 | 35.3 |
| 1997-98 | £372.85 | 19.4 | 5.7 | 9.2 | 34.3 | 35.1 |
(1) Income tax and NICs.
1. Income tax payments are calculated on the assumption that the households receive no tax reliefs other than the standard allowances and have income only from employment. The earner is assumed to pay class 1 national insurance contributions at the contracted-in rate. Child benefit is deducted from income tax.
2. Earnings are the average gross weekly earnings of all full-time males in the east midlands on adult rates with pay unaffected by absence. The figures are from the new earnings survey and financial year figures are the average of the two April figures. Estimates of earnings in 1996-97 and 1997-98 are based on earnings growth assumptions for Great Britain of 3¾ per cent. in 1996-97 and 4 per cent. in 1997-98 in line with the illustrative assumptions set out in the Financial Statement and Budget Report 1997-98.
3. Figures for indirect taxes include estimates of the effects of the main intermediate taxes on households as well as the impact of taxes on final goods and services. Estimates of the impact of taxes on final goods and services assume that these taxes are fully incident on households. Estimates of the impact of intermediate taxes are based on the relation between intermediate production costs and final consumption derived using input-output techniques.
4. Figures for indirect taxes since 1994-95 are estimated from expenditure patterns in the 1994-95 family expenditure survey uprated to later years using forecasts of aggregate tax receipts. For years before 1994-95, the 1985 family expenditure survey was used. All estimates are based on the illustrative assumption that 10 per cent. of disposable income is saved.
5. Estimates of indirect taxes are very approximate, even where figures are shown, because spending patterns vary widely between households with the same composition and income. Because of sampling variation, there can be substantial differences between estimates obtained from family expenditure surveys for different years, so reliable comparisons cannot be made between the estimates for different years.
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Child Care Facilities
Mr. Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if Ministers are entitled to use child care facilities supported by his Department. [11584]
Mrs. Angela Knight: Ministers of the Crown are able to make use of the child care facilities provided by the Treasury.
23 Jan 1997 : Column: 684
Landfill Tax
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received about the eligibility for exemptions of developments from the landfill tax; and if he will make a statement. [11364]
Mr. Oppenheim [holding answer 20 January 1997]: HM Customs and Excise has received a small number of representations from trade associations questioning the way eligibility for the exemption from landfill tax is determined and from applicants seeking a review of a decision to refuse to issue an exemption certificate.
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Mr. Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if it remains his policy that, where a construction site is historically contaminated, all the waste removed to landfill should be exempt from the landfill tax; what guidance has been given by his Department to HM Customs and Excise about eligibility for exemptions from the landfill tax in such circumstances; and if he will make a statement. [11365]
Mr. Oppenheim [holding answer 20 January 1997]: It has never been the policy of the Government that an automatic exemption from landfill tax would apply to wastes removed to landfill from construction sites where the land is contaminated. To qualify for exemption, such wastes would need to arise from a reclamation which facilitates development of the land and removes the potential for the pollutants to cause harm. The removal of the pollutants must be necessary for the development to proceed and any activity that gave rise to the pollutants must have ceased. Where these criteria are met, all wastes (whether polluted or not) arising from the reclamation would qualify for the exemption.
The care and management of landfill tax is vested in HM Customs and Excise. Accordingly, guidance by HM Treasury concerning eligibility for exemption would not be appropriate.
Economy (Yorkshire and Humberside)
Mrs. Peacock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the economy in Yorkshire and Humberside. [11964]
Mrs. Angela Knight: Yorkshire and Humberside is sharing fully in the success of the British economy, which is enjoying a combination of low inflation, falling unemployment, low mortgage rates and rising living standards not seen for a generation. The unemployment rate in Yorkshire and Humberside is at its lowest for six years.
DEFENCE
Insecticides (Falkland Islands)
Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what stocks of (a) malathion, (b) propoxus and (c) ficam W insecticides have been used by the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Falklands since 1982; and what insecticides are currently (i) in store and (ii) in use by the corps on the islands. [10890]
Mr. Soames: The insecticides currently in use by the Falkland Island garrison are Demon WP, Residroid and Reslin. The garrison also has stocks of the following insecticides awaiting disposal: malathion, propoxur, ficam W and insecticide space spray concentrate.
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