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Mortgage Providers (Insurance Services)
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what plans he has to require mortgage providers to disclose the level of commission they receive from sales of bundled home insurance; [90817]
- (2) what plans he has to ensure that mortgage lenders inform consumers whether purchase of the provider's insurance is a condition of the mortgage they are to take out; [90816]
(3) if he will place on mortgage providers a duty to inform customers at renewal or expiry of a particular home insurance policy that they can exercise the right to switch to an alternative insurance provider if they so wish. [90814]
Ms Hewitt: This and other matters associated with protecting the consumer interest will be considered in HM Treasury's review of whether advice on, and marketing of, mortgages should be subject to statutory regulation by the Financial Services Authority.
HM Treasury will shortly begin to assess the case for regulation.
Mr. Flynn:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the current review of the Council of Mortgage Lenders Code will include the practice of linking insurance with mortgage products. [90815]
Ms Hewitt:
Yes. The operation of the Code will be reviewed and the Code provides that transparent information should be provided on such linkages.
Mr. Maude:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the minutes of the meeting of the EU Code of Conduct Group chaired by the Paymaster General on 7 and 8 July. [91002]
13 Jul 1999 : Column: 182
Dawn Primarolo:
As I explained in my reply to the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Mr. Gibb) on 18 June 1998, Official Report, columns 271-72, paragraph 12 of the Council Conclusions of 9 March 1998 states that the Council "agrees that the work of the Code of Conduct Group shall be confidential".
Mr. Maude:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which United Kingdom tax reliefs were discussed at the recent meeting of the EU Code of Conduct Group chaired by the Paymaster General. [91003]
Dawn Primarolo:
Paragraph 12 of the Council Conclusions of 9 March 1998 states that the Council
Mr. Steinberg:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the average rate of return on manufacturing investment in the (a) United Kingdom and (b) Northern Region in the last five years. [90984]
Ms Hewitt:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Kidgell to Mr. Gerry Steinberg, dated 13 July 1999:
Mr. Steinberg:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) male and (b) female employees in the City of Durham were in (i) full-time and (ii) part-time employment in (1) temporary and (2) permanent jobs in each year since 1990. [90985]
Ms Hewitt:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
13 Jul 1999 : Column: 183
In my answer to the right hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) 14 June 1999, Official Report, columns 30-31, I listed the UK tax measures which are currently under examination by the EU Code of Conduct Group.
"agrees that the work of the Code of Conduct Group shall be confidential".
In the absence of the Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on the rate of return on manufacturing investment.
Rates of return were last published in the ONS First Release, Profitability of UK companies in July 1997, which is available in the House of Commons Library. The estimates for the rate of return on capital employed by manufacturing companies in the United Kingdom were:
1991: 4.3%
1992: 5.1%
1993: 6.2%
1994: 8.0%
1995: 8.8%
The estimates are being up-dated and converted to the definitions in the European System of Accounts, 1995 and the next issue of the First Release is expected to be in November 1999. There are no estimates of rates of return by region.
| 1991 | 1993 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male full-time | 15.7 | 15.6 | 16.2 | 15.8 | 16.2 |
| Male part-time | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.7 |
| Female full-time | 10.2 | 9.6 | 10.4 | 9.3 | 10.6 |
| Female part-time | 9.6 | 9.8 | 9.9 | 10.2 | 9.4 |
| All | 36.9 | 36.5 | 38.3 | 37.1 | 37.9 |
(17) Parliamentary Constituency
Source:
1991-1993 Census of Employment, 1995-1997 Annual Employment Survey
| 1996(19) | 1997(19) | 1998(19) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Males | |||
| Permanent | 117 | 109 | 113 |
| Temporary | 8 | 10 | 9 |
| All employees(18) | 126 | 120 | 123 |
| Females | |||
| Permanent | 102 | 99 | 97 |
| Temporary | 9 | 7 | 9 |
| All employees(18) | 112 | 107 | 107 |
| All | |||
| Permanent | 219 | 207 | 209 |
| Temporary | 17 | 17 | 19 |
| All employees(18) | 237 | 227 | 229 |
(18) Includes some employees who did not state whether they were temporary or permanent
(19) Average of the spring to winter quarters
Source:
Labour Force Survey
Business Taxation
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the United Kingdom tax measures under investigation by the EU Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) subsequent to its initial list. [91085]
13 Jul 1999 : Column: 184
Dawn Primarolo:
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 14 June 1999, Official Report, columns 30-31.
Mr. Livsey:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much landfill tax has been collected for each of the last five years, by each landfill operator. [90523]
Ms Hewitt:
Figures relating to the amount of landfill tax collected from each operator cannot be disclosed as to do so would breach commercial confidentiality.
Mr. Maude:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consultations the Treasury held with (a) Bank of England officials, (b) foreign Governments, (c) the World Bank, (d) the International Monetary Fund, (e) the European Central Bank and (f) private institutions on the proposed sale of UK gold reserves prior to the Treasury announcement of 7 May. [88841]
Ms Hewitt:
The Treasury regularly consults with outside organisations on a wide range of issues.
Mr. Blunt:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taken to limit the impact on pension funds of the abolition of the advance corporation tax dividend tax credits. [88046]
Mr. Peter Bottomley:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on pensions of abolition of the advance corporation tax dividend tax credits. [88047]
Mr. Robathan:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the effect on pensions of the abolition of the advance corporation tax dividend tax credits. [88028]
Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 5 July 1999]: Our package of corporation tax reforms included not only the abolition of payable tax credits, but also a 2-3 per cent. reduction in the rate of corporation tax. The overall effect on pension funds of these changes will vary depending upon factors like the type of scheme and the investment policy adopted. So it is not clear that steps are necessary to limit the impact on pension funds of the abolition of payable tax credits. But during 1997, when tax credits were available for only 6 months, the average British pension fund manager delivered an overall investment return of 16 per cent. and a real return of 12 per cent., which compared very favourably with an average return for the previous year of around 9 per cent.
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