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Inland Revenue
Mr. Timms:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the performance of the Inland Revenue
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since 31 March 1996 in meeting its targets for (a) personal callers, (b) telephone calls, (c) repayment claims and (d) correspondence. [17891]
Mr. Jack:
The Inland Revenue does not publish its performance against annual targets until results covering the full period are available and appropriate validation and checking of figures has been carried out.
On latest provisional information, the Department is broadly on course to meet or exceed its annual targets for personal callers, telephone calls and repayment claims, but it is unlikely to achieve its correspondence target.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the annual cost to public funds of mortgage interest tax relief at (a) 20 per cent. and (b) 23 per cent. [17857]
Mr. Jack:
The estimated total cost of mortgage interest tax relief in 1997-98 is £2.4 billion. The rate of relief is 15 per cent. If the rate of relief were 20 per cent. the extra cost to the Exchequer would be about £800 million. If the rate of relief was 23 per cent. the extra cost would be about £1.3 billion.
These estimates are based on the assumption, by convention, of no change from the current estimated average building society interest rate of 6.51 per cent.
Mr. Lidington:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the annual cost to public funds of increasing the amount of a mortgage allowable for tax from £30,000 to £60,000, assuming no other changes to the tax system. [17858]
Mr. Jack:
The estimated total cost of mortgage interest tax relief in 1997-98 is £2.4 billion. Relief is limited to the interest on loans of £30,000. If the limit was increased to £60,000, and the rate of relief remained at 15 per cent. the extra cost to the Exchequer would be about £900 million.
The estimate is based on the assumption, by convention, of no change from the current estimated average building society interest rate of 6.51 per cent.
Mr. Peter Bottomley:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 19 February, Official Report, column 577, what assessment he has made of the contribution of (a) indirect taxes and (b) imported raw material prices to recent reductions in inflation and unemployment. [17907]
Mrs. Angela Knight:
Indirect taxes and imported raw material prices are just two of the many factors that affect inflation and unemployment. In particular, the appropriate use of monetary policy and labour market reforms have played an important role in achieving recent reductions in inflation and unemployment. It is difficult to quantify the precise effects of each of these factors.
Mr. Milburn:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will translate the PSBR figures in table 4A.8 of the Red Book into cash terms. [18127]
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Mr. Waldegrave
[holding answer 28 February 1997]: The table shows the figures requested.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1965-66 | 0.9 |
| 1966-67 | 1.1 |
| 1967-68 | 2.0 |
| 1968-69 | 0.4 |
| 1969-70 | -0.6 |
| 1970-71 | 0.8 |
| 1971-72 | 1.0 |
| 1972-73 | 2.4 |
| 1973-74 | 4.3 |
| 1974-75 | 8.0 |
| 1975-76 | 10.3 |
| 1976-77 | 8.3 |
| 1977-78 | 5.4 |
| 1978-79 | 9.2 |
| 1979-80 | 9.9 |
| 1980-81 | 12.5 |
| 1981-82 | 8.6 |
| 1982-83 | 8.9 |
| 1983-84 | 9.7 |
| 1984-85 | 10.1 |
| 1985-86 | 5.6 |
| 1986-87 | 3.6 |
| 1987-88 | -3.5 |
| 1988-89 | -14.7 |
| 1989-90 | -8.0 |
| 1990-91 | -0.6 |
| 1991-92 | 13.8 |
| 1992-93 | 36.3 |
| 1993-94 | 45.4 |
| 1994-95 | 35.9 |
| 1995-96 | 31.7 |
| 1996-97 | 26.4 |
| 1997-98 | 19.2 |
| 1998-99 | 12 |
| 1999-00 | 3 |
| 2000-01 | -8 |
| 2001-02 | -18 |
Adlids
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what contracts the Inland Revenue has with Adlids; what are the costs, nature and duration of these contracts; what procedures were used to enter into the contracts; and what assessment the Inland Revenue has made of the benefits of the contracts with Adlids. [18003]
Mr. Jack [holding answer 28 February 1997]: The Inland Revenue made a one-off payment of £30,000 for self-assessment information to be printed on 3 million take-away lids.
The "contract" was negotiated via Ardent, one of a number of promotions agencies working on a range of projects to help target self-assessment information to those affected. A 50 per cent. discount was negotiated on normal rates charged by Adlids.
According to research, 60 per cent. of self-employed manual trades people, a key audience for self-assessment information, regularly eat Chinese take-aways. At the cost of 1p per lid, this was a cost-effective and highly targeted way of delivering self-assessment information in an unusual and striking way.
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Besides the lids themselves being seen by those likely to be affected by self-assessment, the idea achieved some very positive press coverage.
Mr. Byers:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of those leaving the unemployment register went into (a) full-time and (b) part-time employment in each year since 1979; [16765]
Mrs. Angela Knight
[holding answer 20 February 1997]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Stephen Byers, dated 3 March 1997:
(2) how many of those leaving the register of those unemployed and entitled to claim benefit went into (a) full-time employment, (b) part-time employment, (c) permanent employment and (d) temporary employment in (i) England, (ii) Wales, (iii) Scotland (iv) Northern Ireland and (v) each standard English region in the last year for which figures are available. [16895]
Source:
JUVOS.
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Consultants
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what monitoring takes place by his Department of the use of external consultants by non-departmental public bodies. [16746]
Mrs. Angela Knight [holding answer 20 February 1997]: This is a matter for the management of the bodies concerned.
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