14 Jul 1997 : Column: 1
Written Answers to Questions
Monday 14 July 1997
TREASURY
1998 Budget
Mr. Key: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if his Budget in March 1998 will be unified to include public expenditure plans. [7709]
Mr. Darling [holding answer 10 July 1997]: In the Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced revised spending allocations for 1998-99. The timing of announcements for the years 1999-00 and beyond will depend on the progress of the Comprehensive Spending Review which is due to conclude in the middle of next year.
Employer Pension Funds
Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to (a) local authorities and (b) the national health service of making good the shortfall in employer pension funds arising from his Budget measures. [7772]
Mr. Darling [holding answer 10 July 1997]: There are around a hundred local authority pension funds. The position will vary depending on factors such as financial circumstances and the make up of investment portfolios. For example, many funds have surpluses which can be used to help cushion the effect. Pension schemes should also benefit from improved company performance as a result of quality long term investment being encouraged. Although the loss of tax credits will have some impact on the income of local authority pension funds, the extent to which these changes feed through to authorities' budgets will depend on the overall judgements made by the funds' actuaries as they undertake revaluations due from next year. Their conclusions will not be reflected in contribution rates before 1999-00 at the earliest. The Budget changes will not adversely affect the NHS scheme on present assumptions, since it is based on a notional fund assumed to be invested entirely in Gilts.
Public Sector Borrowing Requirement
Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if (a) funding for house building by local authorities from borrowing against their own housing revenue accounts, (b) funding of developments by public authorities for water and sewerage services if such authorities are constituted as mutually owned businesses and (c) funding of support for agriculture which is fully refunded by the European Union, are regarded as part of the public sector borrowing requirement in (i) the United Kingdom and (ii) other individual members of the European Union; and if he will make a statement. [7694]
Mr. Darling
[holding answer 10 July 1997]: The public sector borrowing requirement (PSBR) measures total borrowing by the public sector--by central
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government, local authorities and public corporations--from the private sector and overseas. Any spending by a public sector body that is not covered by receipts will add to the PSBR. The PSBR is a UK measure and is not used by other EC member states, although they may measure their borrowing requirements in a similar fashion to the United Kingdom.
Mr. Key:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of his officials, and at what grades, are assisting (a) the Ministry of Defence and (b) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Strategic Defence Review. [6756]
Mr. Darling:
The number and grade of the officials involved in the Strategic Defence Review will depend on the issues that arise and the nature of their responsibilities.
Mr. Colvin:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the representations he has received from the privatised water companies about the windfall tax; and if he will make a statement. [8535]
Mr. Geoffrey Robinson:
Treasury Ministers are treating representations from companies and other bodies as confidential. If companies wish to make their views public, that is for them.
Mr. Colvin:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his definition of excess profit for the purposes of the windfall tax. [7252]
Mr. Robinson:
Details of the windfall tax are set out in the Finance Bill. Clause 1 and Schedule 1 of the Bill set out how the amount of a company's windfall is to be calculated.
Mr. Dafis:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the new control totals of spending, by Department, for 1988-89 on the format produced in the Red Book for 1997-98. [7154]
Mr. Darling:
Figures for planned spending in 1998-99 for each department were published in table 1.2 of the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 1997-98, Cm 3601. Apart from some minor technical changes discussed in the Financial Statement and Budget Report, paragraph 4B.14, these have been updated only to take account of the allocation of the existing Reserve to the Government's priorities of health and schools. The spending announced in the Budget on the Welfare to Work package and investment in housing under the Capital Receipts Initiative is additional to the Control Total.
(1) Figures are rounded to the nearest £1 million, except LASFE, the Reserve and the Control Total, which are rounded to the nearest £100 million.
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Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Forth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give for the review of the Private Finance Initiative (a) the expected completion date and (b) the cost of conducting the review. [8258]
Mr. Geoffrey Robinson: The review of the Private Finance Initiative was completed on 13 June, and the summary and recommendations were released on 23 June. It was undertaken by an independent expert at no cost.
Comprehensive Spending Review
Mr. Forth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give for the spending review (a) the expected completion date and (b) the cost of conducting the review.[8263]
Mr. Darling: I expect the Comprehensive Spending Review to last approximately 12 months. The costs of the Review will be absorbed in the relevant departments running costs as would any similar review to look at improving efficiency and effectiveness.
Customs (Staff)
Mr. Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the reductions in Customs anti-smuggling staff planned under the Department's 1994 fundamental expenditure review are to be proceeded with. [8760]
Dawn Primarolo: I have reviewed with Customs the previously planned intention to reduce the number of frontier anti-smuggling officers by some 300 posts during the current year. We face a growing world-wide threat of drug smuggling which is increasingly diverse and cunning. In the light of this I have decided that in the present circumstances it would not be prudent to go ahead with these cuts and the posts are to be retained. Customs' target for the value of drugs prevented from entering Kingdom in the current year will be increased by £50 million.
This Government takes the threat of drugs very seriously, and we recognise that Customs anti-smuggling staff play a vital role at our frontiers in combating not only drug trafficking but also in detecting the smuggling
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of other prohibited goods, such as firearms, paedophile material, and commercial pornography, which post an unrelenting threat to society.
The Government is determined to maintain and strengthen the co-ordinated enforcement action against these evils in which Customs play a key role. Customs have a consistently strong record in the detection and investigation of drug trafficking, not only in the UK but in their contribution to the European and international effort.
Funding for these posts will be contained within Customs' existing provision in accordance with the Government's commitment to work within the Departmental spending limits we have inherited for this year and next.
Mr. Lansley:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the tax gained or forgone on expenditure on the National Lottery relative to alternative forms of consumer expenditure. [3425]
Mr. Darling:
The rate of duty on the lottery was originally set on the basis that it was expected to be broadly revenue-neutral--that is the revenue raised would broadly offset the indirect tax loss from expenditure diverted from other goods and services. We know of no evidence as yet to suggest that the Exchequer is gaining or losing substantial revenues as a result of the Lottery.
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