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TREASURY

Ultra Low Sulphur Petrol

Ms Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to encourage the use of ultra low sulphur petrol. [66449]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 20 January 1999]: The Chancellor is aware of forthcoming changes in standards for fuel quality, including the timescale for achievement of these standards. These issues will be carefully considered in the run up to the Budget.

Salaries (Euro)

Mr. Pearson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make arrangements for civil servants to have the option of receiving their salaries in euros. [66508]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 19 January 1999]: There are no plans to offer civil service staff the option of receiving salaries in euro while the United Kingdom is outside the single currency zone.

However, Departments with staff posted in eurozone countries have taken steps to enable them to draw their entitlements in euro when arrangements in the host country make that appropriate.

Oil Tax Revenues

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the UK oil tax revenues from 1999-2000 onwards assuming an oil price of 10 US dollars per barrel; and if he will make a statement. [65701]

Mrs. Roche [holding answer 14 January 1999]: Reliable estimates cannot easily be made. They would require detailed assumptions on how an oil price of $10 per barrel would affect the future levels of production and expenditure. A forecast of £1.3 billion for 1999-2000 was published in the Pre-Budget Report in November last year based on the oil price being flat at about $13 per barrel (in real terms).

Government Debt (Yield Differential)

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he has put in place to achieve his policy of reducing the differential between yields on German and British long-term Government debt; what bench mark maturity and yield differential he is using for this target; and if he will make a statement. [65677]

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Ms Hewitt [holding answer 14 January 1999]: The Government introduced their new monetary policy framework, with Bank of England independence, to ensure that their commitment to price stability is delivered in practice. Maintaining low inflation will help reduce the differential between yields on German and British long-term debt. Since the Government came into office, the differential has fallen by 1.1 percentage points.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when his Department will publish the final version of PFI Technical Note 1 on How to Account for PFI transactions. [65501]

Mr. Milburn [holding answer 14 January 1999]: Shortly.

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what addition there would be to Government borrowing if all approved capital developments provided through PFI were to be financed by traditional Government borrowing. [66507]

Mr. Milburn: Figures for the total value of private sector investment in the period covered by the Comprehensive Spending Review resulting from PFI projects were given in the answer by the then Paymaster General to my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mr. Caplin) on 19 November 1998, Official Report, columns 846-47.

Air Passenger Duty

Sir Peter Emery: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the monthly revenue raised by air passenger duty since its inception. [66079]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 18 January 1999]: Information in the form requested can be found in the Government Statistical Service publication "Financial Statistics". Table 2.1D "Customs and Excise taxes" shows monthly figures for receipts from Air Passenger Duty.

Air Passenger Duty was introduced on 1 November 1994. However as duty is required to be paid in the month after that in which the flight took place, the first duty was received in December 1994.

Sir Peter Emery: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the annual cost for collecting air passenger duty (a) to the Treasury and (b) to individual airlines. [66078]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 18 January 1999]: The annual cost to the Treasury of collecting Air Passenger Duty is approximately £400,000. The annual cost to individual airlines will vary depending on the business practices of each airline.

UK Abatement

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money was received as a result of the United Kingdom's abatement in each year since it was established under the Fontainebleau agreement. [66121]

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Ms Hewitt [holding answer 18 January 1999]: The cash amounts made available to the United Kingdom due to its abatement, together with an estimate for this financial year, are as follows:

	£ million
Year	Amount
1985-86	823
1986-87	1,343
1987-88	1,137
1988-89	1,600
1989-90	1,317
1990-91	1,838
1991-92	2,428
1992-93	1,993
1993-94	2,350
1994-95	1,648
1995-96	1,576
1996-97	2,418
1997-98	1,563
1998-99 (estimate)	2,726
Total	24,762

Fraud (EU)

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action was agreed under the last British presidency of the EU to combat fraud. [66124]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 18 January 1999]: The Government made the fight against fraud one of the priorities of the UK Presidency of the EU, ensuring that it was kept high on the agenda. Priority was given to work on the recommendations of the High-Level Group on Organised Crime. Progress was reported to the Cardiff European Council, including conclusion of the pre- accession pact on organised crime with applicant countries, establishment of a European judicial network to improve practical co-operation and improvements to the mechanism for collecting and analysing data on organised crime. Progress was made on legislation to improve the working of the transit system and preparation of the new computerised transit system, aimed at making the Community transit system less vulnerable to fraud. Work continued on the SEM2000 initiative with measures to improve financial management and fight fraud both in the Commission managed programmes and in the 82 per cent. of the EC budget which is administered by Member States. The 19 May ECOFIN Council was devoted to financial management and anti-fraud issues including considering the annual Fight against fraud report and the Commission's anti-fraud work programme for 1998-99. The Council conclusions emphasised the importance of this work.

Tax and Social Security Contributions

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish figures for the total tax and social security contributions from 1997-98 to 2002-03 on the basis used in Table 4.5 of the July 1997 Red Book, HC 85. [64638]

Ms Hewitt: The figures for net taxes and social security contributions as a per cent. of GDP in table B9 of the Pre-Budget Report (PBR) are on a cash basis. The

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corresponding figures in table 4.5 of the July 1997 Financial Statement and Budget Report (FSBR) are on an accruals basis. Moving from a cash to an accruals basis requires the addition of accruals adjustments to the cash figures. Accruals adjustments for tax receipts were forecast to be about 0.1 per cent. of GDP in 1998-99, and to remain at about this level in each of the forecast years shown in table B9 of the PBR.

Under national accounts conventions at the time of the July 1997 FSBR, a small amount of MIRAS and of life assurance premium tax reliefs were scored as public expenditure. These amounts do not significantly affect the PBR tax/GDP ratio. The Working Families Tax Credit will only be introduced in October 1999 and hence no assumptions about its treatment were made at the time of the July 1997 FSBR.

EMU

Sir Richard Body: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of sterling's performance against the criteria set for membership of economic and monetary union by the European Commission; and if he will make a statement. [66162]

Ms Hewitt: In line with the Council decision of 3 May 1998, under Article 109j(4) of the Treaty, the Government accept that exchange rate stability is an important precondition for membership of the single currency. The Government are committed to ensuring a stable and competitive exchange rate for sterling over the medium term, consistent with our objective of price stability. The Government have no intention of rejoining the ERM.

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list those (a) member states and (b) community bodies which (i) support and (ii) oppose Her Majesty's Government's position that UK accession to the single currency does not require prior participation in an exchange rate mechanism. [66378]

Ms Hewitt: The Government have no intention of rejoining the ERM. The Government have never believed that the Treaty provisions on membership of the ERM could be applied mechanically given the changes that have occurred since the Treaty was agreed in 1991. The Recommendation of the Commission under Article 109j(2) in March 1998 and the Decision of the Council under Article 109j(4) in May 1998 both avoided a mechanical approach to the application of the criteria, allowing for the exercise of judgment provided by the Treaty.

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