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Wellington Barracks, Chelsea

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future development of Wellington Barracks, Chelsea. [79421]

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Mr. Spellar: Initial planning is in hand for the possible refurbishment of Wellington Barracks in the London Borough of Westminster during the early years of the next decade.

TREASURY

Dividend Tax Credits

Mr. Pearson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide a breakdown of the average amoun of tax credits reclaimed on dividends in 1995-96 and 1996-97 by each decile for (a) non-taxpayers aged over 65 years and (b) all non-tax paying individuals. [67471]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 25 January 1999]: Latest available estimates for 1995-96 and 1996-97, derived from the Survey of Personal Incomes, are given in the table.

	£
Decile	Amount of dividend tax credit claimed
	Non taxpayers aged 65 or over--1995-96
Lowest	2
2nd	5
3rd	10
4th	15
5th	25
6th	45
7th	65
8th	95
9th	145
Highest	290
	Non taxpayers aged 65 or over--1996-97
Lowest	3
2nd	7
3rd	15
4th	20
5th	35
6th	55
7th	80
8th	130
9th	220
Highest	480
	All non-taxpayers--1995-96
Lowest	2
2nd	5
3rd	10
4th	15
5th	25
6th	45
7th	65
8th	95
9th	145
Highest	320
	All non-taxpayers--1996-97
Lowest	3
2nd	7
3rd	15
4th	20
5th	35
6th	55
7th	80
8th	125
9th	210
Highest	480

31 Mar 1999 : Column: 686

Mr. Pearson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will provide a breakdown of the number of (a) non-taxpayers aged over 65 years and (b) all non-taxpaying persons reclaiming tax credits on dividends in 1996-97 in the categories (i) under £20, (ii) £21 to £50, (iii) £51 to £100, (iv) £101 to £200 and (v) over £200 reclaimed; [67636]

(2) what estimate he has made of the average value of shares held by (a) non-taxpayers aged over 65 years and (b) all non-taxpaying individuals reclaiming tax credits in 1995-96 and 1996-97 in the categories (i) under £20, (ii) £21 to £50, (iii) £51 to £100, (iv) £100 to £200 and (v) over £200 reclaimed. [67473]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 25 January 1999]: Estimates of the numbers of people claiming payments of dividend tax credits, derived from the 1996-97 Survey of Personal Incomes, are given in the table, but share holdings or values are not known, so it is not possible to estimate the average value of shares held by these people.

1996-97

Amount of dividends tax credit claimed (£)	Number of non-taxpayers aged 65 and over with claims (Thousand)	Number of non-taxpayers with claims (Thousand)
under 20	105	225
21-50	65	130
51-100	55	110
101-200	50	95
201 and over	60	105
Total	335	660

Mr. Pearson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the (a) average and (b) medium amount in sterling of tax credits on dividends reclaimed in 1995-96 and 1996-97. [67472]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 25 January 1999]: Latest available estimates for 1995-96 and 1996-97 are given in the table.

		£
Year	Average amount of dividend tax credit claimed	Median amount of dividend tax credit claimed
1995-96	75	35
1996-97	105	40

Ministerial Meetings

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many times ministers in his Department have met their counterparts in the US Government since 1 June 1998; and if he will list the dates and locations of each meeting, the ministers involved on each occasion, and the name of the US counterpart at each meeting. [77153]

Ms Hewitt: The Chancellor of the Exchequer met the US Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin, on 2 October (Washington), 16 December (Washington), 29 January (Davos, Switzerland) and 20 February (Cologne).

31 Mar 1999 : Column: 687

Married Couples Allowance

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many couples with children, in the tax year 2000-01, will face a loss as a result of abolition of the married couples allowance in April 2000, broken down by type of housing tenure; and what the average loss will be. [76842]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 15 March 1999]: An approximate breakdown by housing tenure of the number of married couples who will no longer benefit from the married couple's allowance in 2000-01 and have children eligible for child benefit is shown in the table. These estimates are based on the Family Expenditure Survey.

Housing tenure	Number (Million)
Rented	0.6
Housing Association	0.1
Owned	4.1
Rent free	0.1
Total	4.9

Childless Couples

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what data his Department has collated on the number of individuals in childless married couples who pay income tax; and if he will breakdown that number by housing tenure. [77008]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 16 March 1999]: The Inland Revenue does not currently collect data on the number of taxpayers with or without children, but an approximate breakdown by housing tenure of the number of married couples who benefit from the married couple's allowance in 1998-99 and have no children eligible for child benefit is shown in the table. These estimates are based on the Family Expenditure Survey.

	Numbers (Million)
Rented	0.5
Housing association	0.1
Owned	5.1
Rent free	0.1
Total	5.8

Budget

Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the effect in (a) 1999-2000 and (b) 2000-01 of his budgets to date on the total tax burden in (i) cash terms and (ii) as a percentage of GDP. [78808]

Dawn Primarolo: Table B9 of the Financial Statement and Budget Report shows forecasts of taxes and social security contributions, net of tax credits, as a per cent. of GDP. Forecasts of taxes and social security contributions, net of tax credits, in cash terms are published in Table B10. Forecasts of money GDP are published in Table B4.

Mortgage Interest Tax Relief

Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Government adopted the international national

31 Mar 1999 : Column: 688

accounting convention which requires mortgage interest tax relief to be shown as public expenditure for budgetary purposes. [79059]

Mrs. Roche: National accounts are prepared in accordance with internationally agreed guidelines. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) decided to adopt the new European System of Accounts (ESA 95) as the standard for the National Accounts Blue Book published in September 1998. In national accounts prepared under ESA95, all payments of Mortgage Interest Relief are shown as part of Total Managed Expenditure (TME).

Budget Leaflets

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the cost of (a) preparing, (b) printing and (c) distributing the Budget 99 leaflet. [79398]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) on 23 March 1999, Official Report, columns 207-08.

Pensioners

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answers of 24 March 1999, Official Report, columns 255-56, if he will explain the reason for the fall in the number of pensioners from 10,700,000 in 1998-99 to 9,950,000 in 1999-2000. [79170]

Mrs. Roche [holding answer 29 March 1999]: The figure of 10.7 million in 1998-99 covers all pensioners whereas the figure of 9.95 million for 1999-2000 excludes those paying income tax at a marginal rate of 20 per cent., as specified in the question.

Public Service Agreements

Ms Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Government intends to publish the remaining public service agreements and the measures which will be used to monitor their success. [80117]

Mr. Milburn: The Government are today publishing a White Paper (CM 4315) which is a supplement to "Public Services for the Future: Modernisation, Reform, Accountability" (CM 4181 published in December 1998). It includes PSAs for the Department of Social Security, Sure Start, the utility regulators (Offer/Ofgas, Oftel, and Ofwat), the Office of Fair Trading and the Charity Commission. PSAs for the Countryside Agency and the Northern Ireland Office will follow later in the year. I have today also published a booklet, "The Government's Measures of Success: Output Performance Analyses", which includes the measures the Government will be using to track progress against the PSA targets. Copies are available in the Vote Office.

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