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Petroleum Revenue Tax

Mr. Derek Twigg: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes he plans to make to petroleum revenue tax legislation for pipelines in the North Sea. [60383]

Dawn Primarolo: In the next Finance Bill, the Government intend to make a minor change to legislation introduced in the Finance Act 1994 which helped remove possible distortions in North Sea pipeline competition. This change is to ensure that, for pipelines subject to the 1994 rules, tariffs received for transporting oil and gas to the UK from fields in other countries are taxed in the same way as tariffs for transporting oil or gas from new UK fields. This change will allow these pipelines to compete more fairly for the transportation of non-UK oil or gas.

Excise Duties

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what revenue the Government have obtained from the United Kingdom road haulage industry through (a) vehicle excise duty for heavy goods vehicles and (b) excise duty on diesel since 1 May 1997. [59345]

Ms Hewitt: The amount of revenue raised from VED on Heavy Goods Vehicles from May 1997 to September 1998 was £818 million.

It is not possible to separate the revenue raised from excise duty on diesel paid by the road haulage industry from the total revenue received.

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact on

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the competitiveness of the United Kingdom road haulage industry of differences in (a) vehicle excise duty on heavy goods vehicles and (b) excise duty on diesel, between EC nations. [59344]

Ms Hewitt: Impact on competitiveness is one of the factors that the Chancellor takes into account when making decisions on Budget measures.

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the rates of (a) vehicle excise duty on heavy goods vehicles and (b) excise duty on diesel, for each EU country. [59352]

Ms Hewitt: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Essex, North (Mr. Jenkin) on 10 November 1998, Official Report, columns 152-53.

Mr. Woodward: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates he has made of the cost of collection of vehicle excise duty as a result of the proposed changes to the duty set out in the pre-Budget statement. [59666]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 16 November 1998]: The cost will depend on the precise options chosen as a result of consultation.

Economic and Monetary Union

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if his Department contributed to the section on economic and monetary union in the European Communities booklet, "Europe in Ten Bints"; what assessment he has made of the contents of the document; and how many copies of that document have been distributed in the UK. [59789]

Ms Hewitt: HM Treasury did not contribute to the section on Economic and Monetary Union in the European Communities publication "Europe in Ten

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Bints". The document is largely factual. It sets out the institutions of the EU and their origins and identifies some of the challenges now faced by the Union. The document is distributed in the UK by the London office of the European Commission. The Commission estimate that around 4,000 copies have been distributed throughout the UK.

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 2 November 1998, Official Report, column 339, concerning national deposits and share capital in the European Central Bank, if he will tabulate the percentage of the share capital subscribed by each participating state on 1 January 1999. [60112]

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Ms Hewitt: In accordance with Article 29 of the ESCB Statute, the formula for the subscription of capital to the ECB is based on Member States' population and GDP. The table gives details of the weightings assigned to national central banks.

The national central banks of participating Member States will be required to pay up the full amount of their subscribed capital in the ECB. In accordance with Article 48 of the Statute of the ESCB, the ECB General Council decided in September that the national central banks of non-participating Member States should pay up 5 per cent. of their shares in the subscribed capital of the ECB. This payment will be made by offset against the proceeds of the liquidation of the EMI.

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Capital subscription to the European Central Bankeuro

NCB	Key percentage	Subscribed capital	Percentage to be paid up	Total amount due
Germany	24.4096	1,220,480,000	100	1,220,480,000
France	16.8703	843,515,000	100	843,515,000
Italy	14.9616	748,080,000	100	748,080,000
Spain	8.8300	441,500,000	100	441,500,000
Netherlands	4.2796	213,980,000	100	213,980,000
Belgium	2.8885	144,425,000	100	144,425,000
Austria	2.3663	118,315,000	100	118,315,000
Portugal	1.9250	96,250,000	100	96,250,000
Finland	1.3991	69,955,000	100	69,955,000
Ireland	0.8384	41,920,000	100	41,920,000
Luxembourg	0.1469	7,345,000	100	7,345,000
Euro NCBs	78.9153	3,945,765,000	--	3,945,765,000
Non-euro NCBs	21.0847	1,054,235,000	5	52,711,750
Total	100.0000	5,000,000,000	--	3,998,476,750

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Exchange Trading Schemes

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to expand the experiments in local exchange trading schemes under which unemployed participants in a local area work for each other. [59530]

Mr. Byers: The Government are investigating whether Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) can play an effective role in fostering community cohesion and encouraging unemployed people back into economic activity. The use of LETS is one of the issues being taken forward by the "Jobs" Policy Action Team, one of 18 teams set up as a follow up to the Social Exclusion Unit's report on deprived neighbourhoods "Bringing Britain together: a national strategy for neighbourhood renewal". This team is being headed by my right hon Friend, the Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities and will report to the Prime Minister in July 1999.

Monetary Policy Committee

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what plans he has to measure the effectiveness of the Monetary Policy Committee (i) annually and (ii) over four-year periods; [59528]

(2) if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of the Monetary Policy Committee to date. [59583]

Ms Hewitt: The task of the Monetary Policy Committee is to set short-term interest rates to meet the Government's inflation target. The success of the new monetary framework is demonstrated by the fact that

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inflation is at its target, long-term interest rates are currently at their lowest level for over 35 years and inflation expectations have fallen.

Airports (Borrowing)

Mr. Truswell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will allow airports owned by local authorities to borrow on normal commercial terms. [59659]

Mr. Byers: Subject to Parliamentary approval, public sector borrowing controls on financially sound local authority airports would be relaxed from 1 April 1999. This will allow qualifying local authority airports to raise development capital on the money markets to cater for growing demand.

Local authority airport companies will have to meet strict financial criteria before the controls on them are relaxed. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions has launched a consultation exercise into the qualifying criteria.

Euro Preparations Unit

Sir Richard Body: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the selection of non-civil servants to serve on the Euro Preparations Unit; on what terms the HSBC Midland secondee is serving; what is his area of expertise; how many other candidates were considered; and if additional non-civil servants will be brought in. [59836]

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Ms Hewitt: The Treasury encourages inward secondments to promote the exchange of ideas and experience. The secondee from HSBC Midland has been seconded for a period of 12 months, with the possibility of extension, and was selected from a field of candidates with extensive experience in providing advice to SMEs. As with other secondees, he remains the employee, and retains the employment terms, of his parent organisation.

European Central Bank

Mr. Gill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assets the United Kingdom is obliged to hand over to the European Central Bank; and at what stage. [59823]

Ms Hewitt: In accordance with Article 48 of the Statute of the ESCB, the ECB General Council decided in September that the national central banks of non-participating Member States should pay up 5 per cent. of their shares in the subscribed capital of the ECB. Unless the UK joins the single currency, the UK will not be required to forward any foreign reserves to the ECB.

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