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Accident and Emergency Departments
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much money for improvement of A&E departments has been allocated to the NHS in Wales (a) in total and (b) by NHS trusts; and on what date the allocations were made for 1999-2000. [83256]
Mr. Jon Owen Jones: On 9 March, following the Budget, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced a Capital Modernisation Fund for Wales of £80 million, over the three years from 1999-2000, to take forward the Government's priorities in Wales, including health, education and preventing crime. The amount to be allocated to the NHS will be announced in due course and will address specific priorities for NHS Wales, not necessarily (as in England) A&E departments.
Following the transfer of functions, this will be a matter for the National Assembly.
Clothing Industry
Mr. St. Aubyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many jobs were (a) created and (b) lost in the clothing industry in Wales in the last 12 months. [82051]
Mr. Hain: The Welsh Office Record of Manufacturing Employment shows that since mid 1997, 900 jobs were created in the manufacture of textiles, apparel and dressing of fur and some 2,200 jobs lost.
Following the transfer of functions, this issue will be a matter for the National Assembly.
TREASURY
Stamp Duty
Mr. Loughton:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much stamp duty and stamp duty reserve tax the Inland Revenue (a) received from managers or authorised corporate directors and (b) repaid to managers or authorised corporate directors, in connection with (i) dealings in the units of unit trust schemes and OEICS and (ii) dealings in the units of unauthorised unit trusts, over the last three financial years; and how much he anticipates it will receive and repay in the first full year of operation of the new SORT regime announced in Budget Day press release IR17. [R] [79347]
4 May 1999 : Column: 342
Ms Hewitt
[holding answer 30 March 1999]: Estimated total gross receipts, repayments and net receipts of Stamp Duty from trading in units of unit trusts and in OEIC shares are shown in the table. The available information does not distinguish between authorised unit trusts, unauthorised unit trusts, and OEICS.
| Stamp duty receipts | Gross receipts (4) | Repayments (5) | Net receipts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-97 | 61 | 27 | 34 |
| 1997-98 | 81 | 43 | 38 |
| 1998-99 | |||
| First half year | 90 | 60 | 30 |
| Second half year | 83 | 76 | 7 |
| Total 1998-99 | 173 | 136 | 37 |
(4) Including Stamp Duty liabilities presented to the Stamp Office with matching claims for refunds.
(5) Including the matching refund claims as described in the footnote above.
Receipts of Stamp Duty Reserve Tax under the Budget proposals to replace the current Stamp Duty regime will depend on the future volume of trading in units of unit trusts and in OEIC shares. The new system is designed to be more straightforward to administer and to pave the way for electronic trading of units, while maintaining a broadly consistent approach between dealings in units and dealings in shares. Total tax liabilities under the new system should be broadly similar to the overall net liabilities that would arise from applying the principles underlying the current rules--under which Stamp Duty is charged on surrenders to trust managers and refunds made to avoid a double charge when, as a consequence, the units are cancelled and corresponding amounts of the trust's underlying assets are sold.
Endowment Policies
Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Financial Services Authority and the Personal Investment Authority to ensure that policy-holders surrendering endowment policies are informed of the existence of the traded endowment market. [83100]
Ms Hewitt: None. However, the Treasury keeps under review the case for extending the scope of the Financial Services Act 1986 to include all dealings in traded endowment policies. I am not yet persuaded that the benefits of doing so would outweigh the costs.
Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of (a) the number of consumers who have lost money as a result of surrendering their endowment policies rather than trading them on the open market in each of the last 10 years and (b) how much money has been lost by consumers surrendering their endowment policies rather than trading them on the open market in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [83099]
Ms Hewitt:
No such estimates have been made. The traded endowment market is small. Prices offered for second hand endowment policies are tending to converge with surrender values.
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Mr. Hawkins:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to accept the recommendations contained in the Office of Fair Trading report, "Vulnerable Consumers and Financial Services", in respect of traded endowment policies. [83101]
Ms Hewitt:
None of the recommendations relates to traded endowment policies.
Mr. Whittingdale:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the average retail price of petrol per litre in each member country of the European Union in (a) 1993 and (b) 1995. [82942]
Ms Hewitt:
The average retail prices of petrol in each country of the European Union for the years 1993 and 1995 are published in the DETR publication, Transport Statistics Great Britain 1998 Edition, Table 8.8 (a).
Mr. Whittingdale:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral statement by the Economic Secretary on 27 April 1999, Official Report, column 242, relating to the price of petrol in European Union member states in 1993, if he will publish the statistics referred to. [82943]
Ms Hewitt:
The figures referred to were part of a table, based on OECD data, compiled by the House of Commons Library and were as follows:
| £ | ||
|---|---|---|
| Petrol 1993 Q3 | Diesel 1993 Q3 | |
| Belgium | 0.63 | 0.38 |
| Denmark | 0.56 | 0.32 |
| France | 0.64 | 0.36 |
| Germany | 0.60 | 0.36 |
| Greece | 0.54 | 0.32 |
| Ireland | 0.56 | 0.41 |
| Italy | 0.69 | 0.44 |
| Luxembourg | 0.51 | 0.32 |
| Netherlands | 0.71 | 0.38 |
| Portugal | 0.61 | 0.39 |
| Spain | 0.54 | 0.36 |
| United Kingdom | 0.55 | 0.42 |
Source:
OECD Energy Prices and Taxes 1993 Q3 CSO Database
I regret that I inadvertently misinterpreted the data relating to petrol prices in the exchanges across the floor of the House on 27 April. I am writing to the hon. Member in full clarification and will place a copy of my letter in the Library.
Maintenance Payments
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the treatment of maintenance payments for income tax, working family tax credit and disabled tax credit purposes. [81725]
Dawn Primarolo: Recipients of payments under maintenance arrangements set up on or after 15 March 1988 are not taxable on the payments they receive.
There are different rules for those with maintenance arrangements set up before 15 March 1988. Recipients are taxable on the payments they receive, save that a former
4 May 1999 : Column: 344
wife or husband is not taxable on the first slice of payments up to the level of the married couple's allowance.
From 6 April 2000, people receiving payments under pre 15 March 1988 arrangements will no longer be taxable on them.
For WFTC and DPTC, maintenance payments received by an applicant will be fully disregarded for the purposes of calculating their income in assessing entitlement to WFTC and DPTC.
Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of (a) men and (b) women working (i) less than 16 hours and (ii) 16 hours or more and receiving an income below the lower earnings limit. [82700]
Ms Hewitt:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
| Thousands | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Usual weekly hours | All | Men | Women |
| Less than 16 hours a week | 1,792 | 393 | 1,399 |
| 16 or more hours a week | 642 | 184 | 457 |
| All employees earning less than £64 a week(7) | 2,456 | 590 | 1,866 |
(6) Total usual hours includes paid and unpaid overtime and excludes meal breaks
(7) Includes some people who did state their usual weekly hours of work
Source:
Labour Force Survey
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