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Customs Duty

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue has been collected each year since 1 January 1990 in (a) customs duty and (b) indirect tax from (i) cigarettes, (ii) hand rolling tobacco, (iii) cigars, (iv) spirits, (v) cider, (vi) fortified wines, (vii) wine and (viii) beer entering the United Kingdom by (1) post and (2) private carrier. [92770]

Dawn Primarolo: The table provides details of Excise Revenue for Post for the calendar years 1993-1998. Earlier information is not available. This does not include VAT and Customs Duty, which are not readily available. Excise duties are recorded as a global sum; the breakdown in the table is based on samples of goods imported.

Import duty schedule: net receipts

				£000
Calendar year	Tobacco	Spirit	Wine	Total
1993	15	1	2	18
1994	44	2	6	52
1995	94	4	13	111
1996	131	6	18	155
1997	140	6	19	165
1998	144	6	20	170

It is assumed that private carrier means fast parcel operators, for which the revenue is not separately recorded.

26 Jul 1999 : Column: 120

Duty Free

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 19 March 1999, Official Report, column 859-60, if he is able to estimate the increased revenue to the Treasury as a result of the abolition of duty free shopping for this financial year and the next. [93160]

Dawn Primarolo: We have estimated that the abolition of duty free sales within Europe could yield £120 million in revenue receipts in a full year, but this does depend entirely on how the companies providing the services seize on the new commercial opportunities that are now open to them. This estimate will be kept under review as further information on the marketing strategies of the operators becomes available.

26 Jul 1999 : Column: 121

Duty Differentials

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to reduce the duty differential on (a) beer, (b) spirits and (c) tobacco between the United Kingdom and the rest of the European Community. [93141]

Mrs. Roche: Any changes to the levels of UK alcohol and tobacco duties is a matter for the Chancellor's Budget deliberations.

26 Jul 1999 : Column: 123

VAT

Mr. Rogers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the rates of VAT in each of the member states of the European Union for each of the main commodities and services. [93125]

Dawn Primarolo: The table details the standard and reduced rates of VAT in each member state and the main commodities and services subject to a reduced rate.

26 Jul 1999 : Column: 121

VAT rates in the European Community (standard rates and reduced rates; and main items subject to reduced rates (23))

				Percentage
Member state	Standard rate	Reduced rate
Austria	20	10--Food; books; newspapers public transport
Belgium	21	12--Food (coal only); social housing
		6--Food; books; public transport; water supplies
		0--Newspapers
Denmark	25	0--Daily newspapers
Finland	22	17--Food
		8--Pharmaceuticals; public transport
		0--Newspapers
France	20.6	5.5--Food; public transport; pharmaceuticals; books
		2.1--Newspapers
Germany	16	7--Food; books and newspapers; local public transport
Greece	18	8--Food; public transport; pharmaceuticals
		4--Books and newspapers
Ireland	21	12.5--Domestic fuel and power; newspapers; new housing
		0--Food; books; pharmaceuticals
Italy	20	10--Certain foods; domestic fuel and power, public transport; pharmaceuticals
		4--Basic foodstuffs; books and newspapers; certain social housing
Luxembourg	15	12--Fuel (other than gas and electricity)
		6--Fuel (gas and electricity)
		3--Food; books and newspapers; pharmaceuticals
Netherlands	17.5	6--Food; books and newspapers; public transport; water supplies pharmaceuticals
Portugal	17	12--Certain foods
		5--Food; books and newspapers; public transport; water supplies; hotels; pharmaceuticals
Spain	16	7--Food; water supplies; public transport
		4--Basic foodstuffs; books and newspapers; pharmaceuticals
Sweden	25	12--Food
		6--Newspapers
United Kingdom	17.5	5--Domestic fuel and power
		0--Food; books and newspapers; public transport; children's clothing; new housing; water and sewerage services; pharmaceuticals; aids for the disabled; charities

(23) Taken from European Commission Document XXI/148/98--EN 'VAT rates applied in the Member States of the European Community'

26 Jul 1999 : Column: 121

Compliance Costs

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what reductions were achieved in the compliance costs of regulation administered by his Department, its public bodies and by other departments for which Treasury Ministers are responsible for the last year for which data is available; what mechanisms exist for monitoring the post-implementation compliance costs of such regulation; and if he has established targets for reduction in the compliance costs of regulation administered by his Department and its public bodies and by other Departments for which Treasury Ministers are responsible. [92316]

Mrs. Roche: Details of regulations that imposed compliance costs on business are published in the Chancellor's Departments' regulatory impact assessments and laid in both Houses. A summary of all the regulatory impact assessments published by the Chancellor's

26 Jul 1999 : Column: 122

Departments and the other regulatory Departments in Whitehall is published every six months in a White Paper, and is available on a monthly basis on the Cabinet Office Regulatory Impact Unit's website.

There is no arbitrary target for reducing the compliance cost of regulation. However, all Departments are required to make an assessment of the risks, costs and benefits of any regulatory proposal that has an impact on businesses, charities and voluntary bodies before they decide to act. Without an assessment of this kind, there can be no collective agreement of a regulatory proposal.

Economic and Finance Council

Mr. Kenneth Clarke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which Minister from his Department has attended each of the meetings of the European Council of Finance Ministers held in 1999 to date. [93173]

26 Jul 1999 : Column: 123

Ms Hewitt: Attendance at the meetings of the Economic and Finance Council of Ministers held in 1999 to date, is set out as follows:

Date
18 January	The Chancellor of the Exchequer
8 February	The Chancellor of the Exchequer
15 March	The Chancellor of the Exchequer and myself
10 May	Myself
25 May	The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Paymaster General
12 July	The Chancellor of the Exchequer

Migration (North-East)

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the level of net migration from each local authority area in Tyne and Wear and the counties of Durham and Northumberland in each of the past five years, separately identifying net migration (a) within and (b) outside the North East. [92462]

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 Tim Holt to Mr. Jim Cousins, dated 26 July 1999:

As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question for an estimate of the level of net migration from each local authority area in Tyne and Wear and the counties of Durham and Northumberland.

The estimates of net migration are not sufficiently reliable to be published as a separate component of the total population estimate for each local authority. It is not, therefore, our policy to release them.

Unemployment

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how often and when the definition of unemployment used for measuring unemployment has been changed since 1979. [92556]

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 Tim Holt to Mr. Austin Mitchell, dated 26 July 1999:

As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on the definition of unemployment.

The ONS measure of unemployment, derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), is defined on a consistent and internationally recognised basis set out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and counts as unemployed people who are: a) without a paid job; b) available to start work within the next two weeks and c) have either looked for work in the last four weeks or are waiting to start a job already obtained. The LFS has used the ILO definition since 1984. Prior to this a slightly different definition was used. This included people who were without a paid job who were looking for work in the reference week, or prevented from seeking work by temporary sickness or holiday, or were waiting to start a job they had already obtained or were waiting for the results of a job application. Full-time students who were seeking work but who were not available to start work in the next two weeks because they had to complete their education were excluded. The definition was used from spring 1979 to spring 1983.

26 Jul 1999 : Column: 124

The Labour Force Survey measure of unemployment has been compiled and published on the same definition since 1984 (annually 1984-1991; quarterly 1992 to March 1998) and a monthly moving average of each three month period from April 1998.

The ONS also published the monthly numbers of people who are claiming unemployment related benefits, also known as the Claimant Count. There have been nine changes affecting the coverage of the monthly claimant count since 1979 which have been significant enough to warrant a recasting of the consistent seasonally adjusted series. Further details of these discontinuities are given in the November 1995 edition of Labour Market Trends, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.

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