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TREASURY

Electronic Correspondence

Mr. Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what difficulties have been encountered with the new electronic correspondence system in his Department; and to what extent they have been resolved. [71732]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 16 February 1999]: The Treasury, Inland Revenue and Custom and Excise have recently introduced a new electronic correspondence handling system which will strengthen the systems for processing and monitoring ministerial correspondence. The technical problems encountered at the outset have now been tackled.

Press Releases

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many press releases have been issued by his Department, its agencies and non-departmental bodies in each of the years 1990 to 1998. [71456]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 16 February 1999]: The information is as follows:

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Number of press releases issued

	Year
Department	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Treasury(11)	86	107	153	140	162	185	187	184	239
Inland Revenue	170	240	173	271	252	270	235	138	168
Customs and Excise	88	77	62	76	52	62	59	37	31
Office for National Statistics	181	181	193	193	285	308	282	372	441
Debt Management Office	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	(12)31
National Savings	51	51	57	49	44	47	47	57	68
Royal Mint(13)	13	6	6	18	10	7	20	27	23
Valuation Office	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	(14)13
Government Actuary's Department	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Registry(15)	5	6	9	10	11	18	9	17	6
National Investment and Loans Office	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

(11) The numbers include press releases issued on Budget and Pre-Budget Report days.

(12) The Debt Management Office was launched on 1 April 1998.

(13) Includes only press releases issued in the UK.

(14) The Valuation Office started issuing its own press releases in April 1998. Before this they were issued by the Inland Revenue.

(15) Includes Building Societies Commission and Friendly Societies Commission.

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Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out the conventions governing the propriety and cost of press releases issued by his Department, its agencies and non-departmental bodies; and what is the total cost of the press releases issued since May 1997. [71471]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 16 February 1999]: Rules governing the work of the Government Information and Communications Service (GICS) were set out in guidance published by the Cabinet Office in July 1997. More specific guidance on the writing and issuing of press releases is given in the Working Guide for Government Information Officers. Copies of both documents are in the Library of the House.

Since May 1997 (May 1997-December 1998) the Treasury has been billed a total of £22,819 for the services of the Central Office of Information, which distribute press releases electronically, by fax and by courier service. This figure does not include postage. The same information requested of the Treasury's agencies and non-departmental bodies is not held centrally and could be obtained only a disproportionate cost.

Media Allegations (Rebuttals)

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list (a) those units in his Department and (b) the number of departmental staff which are concerned with preparing rebuttals of allegations in the media; and what is (i) the total cost of their work, including salaries, and (ii) the number of rebuttals issued since May 1997. [71857]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 22 February 1999]: In common with other departments, the work of press officers in the Treasury includes responding to any misinformed allegations concerning Government policy or activity which are published in the media. They are supported in this work by other officials as necessary.

Because this is a routine part of a Department's work and it is not separately recorded from other tasks, to provide the further information requested would involve disproportionate cost.

"Getting Ready for the Euro"

Ms Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will publish the second edition of the six monthly report "Getting Ready for the Euro". [72995]

Ms Hewitt: It is being published today. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.

Fuel Duty

Dr. Marek: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will indicate the levels of tax payable by way of duty and VAT on the current average price of a litre of (a) unleaded, (b) diesel and (c) leaded fuel in (i) the UK and (ii) each other EU state. [72294]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 22 February 1999]: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Essex, North (Mr. Jenkin) on 10 November 1998, Official Report, columns 152-53.

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The levels of tax payable by way of duty and VAT on the current average price of a litre of (a) unleaded, (b) diesel and (c) leaded fuel in (i) the UK and (ii) each other EU state are:

Pence per litre

	Unleaded petrol		Standard diesel		Leaded petrol
	Duty	VAT	Duty	VAT	Duty	VAT
Austria	29.08	8.95	20.33	6.93	n/a	n/a
Belgium	35.58	10.01	20.35	6.89	39.67	10.92
Denmark	31.77	12.11	21.59	8.32	n/a	n/a
Finland	39.27	10.76	21.37	7.79	n/a	n/a
France	41.36	10.52	26.02	7.43	44.28	11.07
Germany	35.15	7.54	22.24	5.37	25.42	6.85
Greece	22.00	6.33	17.73	5.04	25.42	6.85
Ireland	26.57	8.49	23.16	8.02	32.20	10.16
Italy	37.04	10.28	27.08	8.15	40.27	10.76
Luxembourg	24.37	4.46	17.74	4.40	28.02	6.16
Netherlands	40.32	9.66	23.77	6.49	n/a	n/a
Portugal	32.85	8.06	19.73	5.50	36.07	8.36
Spain	25.61	6.09	18.60	4.95	27.89	6.55
Sweden	33.18	12.16	19.83	9.41	n/a	n/a
United Kingdom	43.99	9.44	44.99	9.61	49.26	10.43

The Excise duty rate in the United Kingdom for low sulphur diesel is 42.99 pence per litre, and the VAT on the current average price is 9.76 pence per litre.Rates of excise duty and VAT on low sulphur diesel are not available for the countries of the European Union other than the United Kingdom.

Film Industry

Mr. Spring: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made on the impact of changes to tax relief on travelling and subsistence expenses on the British film industry. [71743]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 22 February 1999]: The tax rules on employee travel expenses, introduced in April 1998, followed lengthy and thorough public consultations. Since the legislation, the Inland Revenue has had extensive contacts with film industry representatives to provide guidance for the industry on the operation of the new rules.

Overseas Investment Exchanges

Ms Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if United States investment exchanges have applied to be recognised over the past year as overseas investment exchanges in the United Kingdom under sections 37 and 40 of the Financial Services Act 1986. [72996]

Ms Hewitt: The Cantor Financial Futures Exchange (CFFE) applied for recognition in September 1998 and, with effect from today, has been granted recognition as an Overseas Investment Exchange, having satisfied the conditions under sections 37 and 40 of the Financial Services Act 1986. CFFE is therefore able to carry out investment business in the UK.

Married Couples Tax Allowance

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Inland Revenue monitors (a) whether customers receiving the married couples tax allowances are living permanently together and if this is required before they receive the married couples tax allowance and (b) if customers receiving the additional personal tax allowance

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in respect of dependent children are living with those children, and if it is a condition of the tax allowance that those claiming it live with such children. [71892]

Dawn Primarolo: The married couples allowance is available to a married couple who live together at some time during a year of assessment. A husband and wife are treated as living together for income tax purposes unless they are separated under a court order or by a deed of separation, or they are in fact separated and the separation is likely to remain permanent.

The additional personal allowance is available to people who are not living with a spouse (or who live with a spouse who is totally incapacitated) and who have one or more qualifying children resident with them at some time during a year of assessment.

The Inland Revenue treat claims to personal tax allowances in much the same way as other claims to relief, Revenue staff apply risk assessment procedures in order to identify potentially incorrect claims. If the Revenue have a reason to believe that an allowance is being falsely claimed, they have powers to make appropriate inquiries and recover any tax lost.

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