Previous Section Index Home Page


Railtrack Debts

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures his Department took to write off the debts of Railtrack; and if he will indicate the amounts involved. [18679]

Mr. Watts [holding answer 4 March 1997]: The outstanding capital debt of Railtrack owed to the national loans fund, amounting to £1,229 million, was extinguished by the Railways Act 1993 (Extinguishment of Loans) (Railtrack plc) Order 1996 on 29 March 1996. On that day, £585 million of new debt owed to HM Treasury was created. Part of the £585 million was repaid immediately; the remainder was sold on as bonds in July 1996, after Railtrack was privatised. The company's capital structure was determined with the objective of maximising the overall value of the flotation.

Marine Pollution

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many illegal discharges from ships were reported in each year since 1990, indicating in each case the location; how many resulted in a successful prosecution; and what was the fine imposed. [18559]

Mr. Bowis: I have asked the chief executive of the Coastguard agency to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Chris Harris to Mr. Gordon Prentice, dated 5 March 1997:




Heavy Goods Vehicles

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his answer of 10 February, Official

5 Mar 1997 : Column: 612

Report, column 64, on what date he received the submission of the Association of District Councils for his consultations on the introduction of 44-tonne lorries; and for what reason the Association of District Councils was not included in his original answer. [18599]

Mr. Watts: The hon. Member's question to which my answer appeared in the Official Report on 10 February was originally due for answer on 31 January and the information in the answer included the responses received by that date. The response from the Association of District Councils was not received until 3 February. I regret that the answer was not fully up to date when published.

Regional Railways

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is his current estimate of the annual subsidy which will be paid to each of the regional railway franchisees for 1997-98. [16617]

Mr. Watts: The Office of Passenger Rail Franchise's latest estimates of the grant support to be paid in 1997-98 to the franchisees that make up the previous regional railways sector British Rail are given in the table, together with the comparative British Rail grant claim for 1996-97. Both sets of figures comprise the annual support for passenger rail services grant paid by the franchising director and the financial support provided to train operators by passenger transport executives.

1996-97 grant claim1997-98 estimated payments
£ million£ million
South Wales and West84.870.9
Merseyrail84.180.7
North West Regional Railways191.9184.9
Regional Railways North East223.2224.5
Central198.1187.5
ScotRail292.3280.1

TREASURY

Price Indices

Mr. David Shaw: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the main price indices used in each EU member state; and what assessment he has made of their (a) basis, (b) data collection procedures and (c) methods of calculation relative to those used in the United Kingdom. [17356]

Mr. Oppenheim: 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.

5 Mar 1997 : Column: 613

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. David Shaw, dated 5 March 1997:






Table: A.1

CountryName of the Index, Widest Field of Observation
DCost-of-Living Index for all Private Households (Preisindex fur die Lebenshaltung aller Privaten Haushalte) published items of expenditure: 755
GConsumer Price Index for Urban Households of Workers and Employees (Indice des Prix a la Consommation des Menages Urbains dont le chef est ouvrier ou employe published items of expenditure: 296
INational Consumer Price Index (Prezzi al Comsumo per l'intera Collettivita Nazionale) published items of expenditure: 878
NLConsumer Price Index for the Whole Population (Prijsindexcijfer van de Gezinsconsumptie voor de Totale Bevolking) published items of expenditure: 690
BConsumer Price Index (Indice des Prix a la Consommation) published items of expenditure: 401
LConsumer Price Index (Indice des Prix a la Consommation) published items of expenditure: 255
UKGeneral Index of Retail Prices published items of expenditure: 394
IRLConsumer Price index published items of expenditure: 722
DKConsumer Price Index (Forbrugerprisindeks) published items of expenditure: 523
GConsumer Price Index published items of expenditure: 386
EConsumer Price Index (Indice de Precios de Consumo) published items of expenditure: 428
PConsumer Price Index (Indice de Precos no Consumidor) published items of expenditure: 500

5 Mar 1997 : Column: 614

Income Tax

Dr. Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage to total Government revenue is accounted for by income tax. [18145]

Mr. Jack: Income tax accounted for 25¼ per cent. of all general Government receipts in 1995-96. The Budget forecast this percentage falling to 24 per cent. in 1997-98, reflecting the 1995 and 1996 Budget reductions in income tax.

Employee Share Ownership Schemes

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many statutory employee share ownership trusts have been notified to the Inland Revenue in each year since 1990; [17979]

Mr. Jack: Statutory employee share ownership trusts--ESOTs--do not require formal advanced approval from, or registration by, the Inland Revenue. The Revenue is, however, prepared to say whether a particular draft or executed trust deed meets the statutory ESOT conditions. Not all companies will see a need to clear a trust deed in advance; and companies clearing deeds are not required to state the number of employees prospectively covered by them. The number of statutory ESOTs cleared by the Revenue since 1990 is in the table. Information about the number of firms and participating employees in all forms of employee share ownership plan is not available.

Number of statutory ESOTs
1990-916
1991-925
1992-933
1993-942
1994-956
1995-962
1996-97(5)27

(5) To end February 1997.



Next Section Index Home Page