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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:

The Secretary of State for Transport has asked me to reply to your recent Question about illegal discharges from ships which have been reported since 1990.

Details of illegal discharges are published by the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) in their annual survey of oil pollution around the coasts of the United Kingdom. The information includes an overall summary of prosecutions together with the level of fines imposed.

Copies of ACOPS reports are available in the House of Commons library up to and including 1995. The report for 1996 is still being compiled.

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 claim	1997-98 estimated payments
	£ million	£ million
South Wales and West	84.8	70.9
Merseyrail	84.1	80.7
North West Regional Railways	191.9	184.9
Regional Railways North East	223.2	224.5
Central	198.1	187.5
ScotRail	292.3	280.1

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:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on the main price indices used in each EU Member State; and what assessment has been made on their basis, data collection procedures and methods of calculation relative to those used in the United Kingdom.

All EU Member States produce a consumer price index (CPI) based on the expenditure patterns of consumers in their country for national purposes. The last study of EU national prices indices was carried out by Rudolf Teekens of the Institute of Social Studies in the 1989 Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, publication Consumer Price Indices in the EC--Similarities, Differences and Proposals for Harmonisation, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library. A table from the report listing the main prices indices for each country is attached. This is the latest information available but it is possible that the situation has changed since the report was produced.

In addition to nation price indices the EU Member States have been working with Eurostat for over three years to produce harmonised measures of inflation expressly for the purposes of comparisons across Member States. This has involved assessment of the basis of the indices, the data collection procedures and the method of calculation in each country.

These harmonised inflation figures will be used to inform decisions on which Member States meet the conditions to participate in EMU under Article 109j of the Treaty on European Union. However, they are not intended to replace existing national CPIs. The RPI remains the best indicator of UK consumer price inflation.

This programme of harmonisation has lead to the production of Harmonised indices of consumer prices (HICP) by each Member State, Norway and Iceland. The first figures for all 15 Member States will be published by the EC on 7 March 1997. The figures for the UK were published by ONS on 26 February 1997.

Table: A.1

Country	Name of the Index, Widest Field of Observation
D	Cost-of-Living Index for all Private Households (Preisindex fur die Lebenshaltung aller Privaten Haushalte) published items of expenditure: 755
G	Consumer 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
I	National Consumer Price Index (Prezzi al Comsumo per l'intera Collettivita Nazionale) published items of expenditure: 878
NL	Consumer Price Index for the Whole Population (Prijsindexcijfer van de Gezinsconsumptie voor de Totale Bevolking) published items of expenditure: 690
B	Consumer Price Index (Indice des Prix a la Consommation) published items of expenditure: 401
L	Consumer Price Index (Indice des Prix a la Consommation) published items of expenditure: 255
UK	General Index of Retail Prices published items of expenditure: 394
IRL	Consumer Price index published items of expenditure: 722
DK	Consumer Price Index (Forbrugerprisindeks) published items of expenditure: 523
G	Consumer Price Index published items of expenditure: 386
E	Consumer Price Index (Indice de Precios de Consumo) published items of expenditure: 428
P	Consumer 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]

(2) how many (a) firms and (b) employees participate in the employee share ownership plans currently known to the Inland Revenue. [17978]

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
1990-91	6
1991-92	5
1992-93	3
1993-94	2
1994-95	6
1995-96	2
1996-97(5)	27

(5) To end February 1997.

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