---

Export Levies

Mr. Gill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been raised in levies on British exports to non-EU countries in each of the last five years; and what is the estimated figure for the current year. [63102]

Dawn Primarolo: Figures for receipts of export levies (which apply only to certain agricultural products) are available from 1994-95. They are as follows:

£

Year	Amount
1994-95	5,600
1995-96	202,371
1996-97	295,679
1997-98	50,111

No monies are expected to be raised from export levies in 1998-99.

Non-EU Imports

Mr. Gill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been raised from duties on imports from non-EU countries in each of the last five years; and what is the estimated figure for the current year. [63103]

9 Dec 1998 : Column: 221

Dawn Primarolo: Net receipts of customs duties and agricultural levies on imports from non-EU countries have been as follows:

Year	£ million
1993-94	2,169.4
1994-95	2,164.5
1995-96	2,479.5
1996-97	2,299.5
1997-98	2,263.3

The latest estimate for 1998-99, as published in the Pre Budget Report, is £2.0 billion.

VAT

Mr. Gill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the yield from VAT in the current financial year; and what is his estimate of its yield in 1999-2000. [63100]

Dawn Primarolo: The latest forecasts for VAT (as published in the November 1998 Pre Budget Report) in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 are £52.6 billion and £55.0 billion respectively.

Supplementary Tax Allowances

Mr. Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the number of married couples over 65 years of age who are (a) receiving the full benefit of the married couples' supplementary tax allowance and (b) receiving no benefit or part benefit from those tax allowances. [62629]

Dawn Primarolo: Latest estimates for the number of married couples where one partner is aged 65 or more for 1998-99 are as follows:

Thousand

	Number of couples
(a) Receiving the full benefit of the appropriate age related married couple's allowance	930
(b) Receiving no benefit or part benefit of the supplementary age related married couple's allowance (including non-taxpayers)	1,940

Mr. Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the additional costs to the Treasury, for the current year, of supplementary tax allowances for the age-related personal allowance paid to citizens who are (a) aged 65 to 74 and (b) 75 years and over; and what is the total cost of age-related supplement incorporated into the married couples' allowance for the current year. [62627]

Dawn Primarolo: Estimated costs for 1998-99 of the excess of the aged personal and married couples' allowances over the corresponding allowances for non-aged taxpayers are as follows.

	Allowance	£ billion
a.	Taxpayers aged (65 to 74)--personal allowance	0.5
b.	Taxpayers aged (75 and over)--personal allowance	0.4
c.	Taxpayers aged (65 and over)--married couples' allowance	0.2

9 Dec 1998 : Column: 222

Savings

Mr. Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the number of (a) individuals and (b) households with savings (i) below £1,000, (ii) between £1,000 and £5,000, (iii) between £5,000 and £10,000 and (iv) above £10,000; and if these figures exclude pension fund entitlements. [62631]

Dawn Primarolo: Information on the estimated distribution of savings held by individuals is given in the table. Similar information on the distribution of savings held by households is shown in Table 5.9 of Family Resources Survey 1996-97, a copy of which is in the Library. Neither includes the value of accrued pension rights.

	Number of adults (6) (million)
Total	46.0
No savings or investments	14.0
With savings or investments	32.0
Less than £1,000	14.5
£1,000 but less than £5,000	8.0
£5,000 but less than £10,000	3.1
£10,000 or more	6.4

(6) Population aged 16 or over

Source:

Financial Research Survey by NOP (March 1997-February 1998)

CABINET OFFICE

Ministerial E-mail Address

Mr. Brake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what is the e-mail address of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. [62880]

Mr. Kilfoyle: My right hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury does not have an E-mail address.

Departmental Staff

Mr. Robert Jackson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the special advisers in his Department and the issues on which they specialise; and to what level they have been security cleared. [62844]

Mr. Kilfoyle: The Minister for the Cabinet Office has appointed two Special Advisers--Ms Anna Healy and Mr. Tim Walker--who provide advice on the full range of issues for which he is responsible. In addition, the UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator, Mr. Keith Hellawell, and his Deputy, Mr. Michael Trace have been working in the Cabinet Office since July 1998 when the responsibility for co-ordination of anti-drugs activity was transferred from the President of the Council to my right hon. Friend.

My right hon. Friend, the Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Privy Seal and Minister for Women has two special advisers, paid for from the Cabinet Office vote. Ms Clare Cozens advises on legislative strategy and parliamentary procedure, and policy across government. Ms Jo Gibbons advises on the presentation and co-ordination of policies which fall within my right hon. Friend's area of responsibility.

9 Dec 1998 : Column: 223

My right hon. Friend, the Government Chief Whip has two special advisers paid for from the Cabinet Office vote. Ms Sue Jackson and Mr. Ian McKenzie provide advice on the full range of issues for which the Government Chief Whip is responsible.

The special advisers are subject to the usual security clearance arrangements.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Arms Embargo (Argentina)

Mr. Savidge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if there have been any new exceptions to the arms embargo on Argentina. [63430]

Mr. Tony Lloyd: A licence has recently been issued to allow the export of nine sets of gun rings and smoke grenade launchers to be mounted on armoured personnel carriers in service with the Argentine contingent of the UN forces in Cyprus. This decision represented an exception but not a change to the arms embargo on Argentina.

Cyprus

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has

9 Dec 1998 : Column: 224

had with the United Nations Special Representative on Cyprus, regarding her negotiations on the Cyprus issue; and if he will make a statement. [62597]

Ms Quin: We remain firmly committed to supporting UN efforts towards a comprehensively political settlement in Cyprus. We warmly welcomed the UN Secretary- General's 30 September announcement of a process for on-island contacts with both parties, led by the UN Deputy Special Representative for Cyprus, Dame Ann Hercus, aimed at reducing tensions and promoting progress towards a just and lasting settlement. Dame Ann has secured the agreement of the two parties to treat discussions within this process as confidential. We respect this, and urge both sides to co-operate in a constructive and flexible manner with Dame Ann, with whom we maintain close contact through our High Commissioner in Nicosia.

Secondments

Mr. Robert Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people in his Department are currently on secondment from private companies; and if he will list them, their companies and their current responsibilities within Government. [62829]

Mr. Fatchett: There are currently 23 staff seconded from the private sector to the FCO. Full details are as listed.

9 Dec 1998 : Column: 223

Inward secondments from the private sector

Name	Company/Organisation	Post	Position
	Substantive appointments to posts in London or overseas
>A. Heffernan	China Britain Trade Group	Peking	1st Secretary Commercial
N. Collier	Bank of England	UKREP Brussels	1st Secretary Economic and Finance
T. McLaughlin	British Nuclear Fuels	Tokyo	Counsellor Atomic Energy
A. Vaudrey	Civil Aviation Authority	Washington	Civil Air Attache
J. Paxman	BP	Washington	1st Secretary Environment
J. McPherson	European Investment Bank	Ankara	1st Secretary Commercial
P. Jones	BBC	Research Department FCO	Research Officer
I. Sayers	Standard Chartered Bank	South East Asia Department FCO	Desk Officer
	Appointments to commercial posts under the short term business attachment scheme
M. Stephenson	Midland Bank	Kuala Lumpur	Commercial Attache
R. Pitfield	Taylor Woodrow	New York	Commercial Attache
D. Watson	AMEC	Johannesburg	Commercial Attache
R. Curwen	Brown and Root	Oslo	Commercial Attache
J. de la Paz	Gifford and Partners	Mexico	Commercial Attache
P. Shortt	GLE	UKREP Brussels	Commercial Attache
P. Forrest	Moscow Narodny Bank	Moscow	Commercial Attache
D. Johnson	Mouchel	Hong Kong	Commercial Attache
D. Musco	Hayter Ltd	Cairo	Commercial Attache
	Staff seconded to overseas posts on inward investment work
M. Davies	Barclays	Sydney	Commercial Attache
S. Wayne	Barclays	Los Angeles	Commercial Attache
J. Butler	BT	New York	Commercial Attache
M. Mullins	National Westminster Bank	New York	Commercial Attache
J. Wood	York & Humberside Dev. Agency	Chicago	Commercial Attache
J. Enefer	Ernst & Young	San Francisco	Commercial Attache

9 Dec 1998 : Column: 223

---