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Departmental Vehicles
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the total number of vehicles used by his Department and its agencies fuelled by (a) petrol, (b) diesel and (c) liquid petroleum gas; and what plans he has to increase the rate of conversion of those vehicles to liquid petroleum gas. [98200]
Dr. Reid: My Department leases 2 vehicles from the Government Car Service.
Departmental Waste
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to set targets for the recycling of waste (a) paper, (b) cardboard, (c) glass, (d) metal, (e) plastic and (f) other products created by his Department and its agencies; and if he will make a statement. [98228]
Dr. Reid:
My Department's approach to waste management is based on the three "R"s: with "Recovery" (ie. recycling, composting and energy recovery) following "Reduce" and "Re-use" as the preferred options for reducing waste sent to landfill. This should help us to achieve the Green Ministers' target for Government Departments of recovering a minimum of 40 per cent. of
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total office waste, with at least 25 per cent. of that recovery coming from recycling or composting, in 2000-01, as published in "Greening Government; First Annual Report of the Green Ministers Committee 1998-99".
PSBR
15. Mr. Fabricant: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the Treasury's estimate of the public sector borrowing requirement or surplus for (a) April 2000, (b) September 2000, (c) April 2001, (d) September 2001 and (e) April 2002. [97004]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The Pre-Budget Report includes annual forecasts of the surplus on current budget and public sector net borrowing. The Government do not publish monthly forecasts of these.
ISAs and PEPs
16. Mr. Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many new savers have been created by the creation of ISAs. [97005]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Inland Revenue does not yet have detailed information about individuals tax free savings patterns. As my predecessor told the hon. Gentleman on 8 July, this information will be available once the Inland Revenue have analysed provider's annual returns after ISAs have been running for a full year.
Mr. Fallon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the total value of (a) ISAs sold in the period April to September and (b) PEPs sold in the same months in 1998. [97862]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 9 November 1999]: Aggregate figures for the total amount subscribed to ISAs up to 5 October 1999 are not yet available.
Scotland
17. Ms Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his assessment of the impact of his economic policies in Scotland. [97006]
Mr. Gordon Brown: In Scotland, as in the rest of the United Kingdom, we have created a sound and credible platform for stability that will help us attain our objective of high and stable levels of growth and employment.
29. Miss Begg: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the impact of his Department's policies on the levels of employment and unemployment in Scotland. [97018]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
Present policies are designed to achieve high and stable levels of growth and employment through promoting employment opportunities for all--in Scotland as well as the UK. Since the election, Scottish unemployment has fallen by 36,000 and Scottish employment has risen by 20,000, both in line with UK trends.
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18. Dr. Cable:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the change in price competitiveness of British exports since May 1997. [97007]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
There is strong evidence that exporters are coping well with the continued high level of sterling. Export volumes rose strongly over the summer to their highest ever level, and latest surveys show manufacturing output in October growing for the seventh consecutive month.
19. Mr. Ruffley:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received regarding the national tax burden. [97008]
Dawn Primarolo:
The Government have had a number of representations on this issue.
22. Mr. Fallon:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will indicate the difference between the tax burden in 1996-97 and his projection for the tax burden in 2001-02 on the basis that income tax credits are accounted for as expenditure rather than as negative taxation. [97011]
Dawn Primarolo:
Total income tax credits in 1996-97 were 3 per cent. of GDP as compared to the Pre-Budget Report projection of 0.7 per cent. of GDP in 2001-02. New tax credits will be paid by the Inland Revenue through pay packets as income tax credits and will be regarded as such by families that receive them.
20. Mrs. Ellman:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the contribution Working Families Tax Credit is making to the alleviation of poverty in Liverpool, Riverside. [97009]
Mr. Timms:
The Working Families Tax Credit tackles poverty by boosting the incomes of 1.5 million working families including the constituents of my hon. Friend, who will receive on average £24 a week more than they would have with Family Credit. The Working Families Tax Credit makes work pay and will increase employment opportunities.
31. Mr. Gareth Thomas:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many inquiries have been received by the Working Families Tax Credit response line from Wales. [97020]
Dawn Primarolo:
Up to midnight on 2 November, there were just under 24,000 calls to the Working Families Tax Credit response line from callers with a Welsh post code.
32. Caroline Flint:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact the working families tax credit will have in increasing the financial incentives for women to work. [97021]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The Working Families Tax Credit makes work pay and will improve incentives for all working families. The childcare tax credit which provides up to £105 per week towards childcare costs, will be of particular help to women who want to work.
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36. Mr. Goggins:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of children in Wythenshawe and Sale, East who will be removed from poverty as result of the Working Families Tax Credit. [97025]
Dawn Primarolo:
The measures announced by the Chancellor in his last budget, including WFTC, will together lift one and a quarter million people out of poverty--800,000 of them children. There is, however, no estimate available for Wythenshawe and Sale, East.
Caroline Flint:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he will take to ensure that recipients of working families tax credit are able to make provision for a retirement pension. [98030]
Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 10 November 1999]: Most recipients of working families tax credit pay national insurance contributions towards entitlement for retirement pension. For those who do not, pension entitlement is safeguarded by the automatic award of national insurance credits for each week of receipt of working families tax credit.
Caroline Flint:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many calls have been received by the Working Families Tax Credit Hotline since its inception (a) nationally and (b) in the Yorkshire and the Humberside Region. [98031]
Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 10 November 1999]: Up to midnight last night, the telephone response line had handled just over 700,000 calls nationally. In the Tyne & Yorkshire TV region the response line had handled just over 80,000 calls.
Mr. Willetts:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many new claims for Working Families Tax Credit were granted during October; how many new claims there were for family credit in each of the previous 12 months; and how many six-monthly renewals of entitlement have occurred in each of the previous 13 months; [98292]
Dawn Primarolo:
I shall write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Ms Julie Morgan:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many phone calls have been made to the freephone number for information about the Working Families Tax Credit (a) in total and (b) from Wales. [98405]
Dawn Primarolo:
Up to midnight last night, the telephone response line had handled just over 700,000 calls nationally. We estimate that there were around 27,000 calls from callers with a Welsh post code.
(2) how many calls about Working Families Tax Credit have been received at the Inquiry Line; and how many have led to a claim being granted. [98295]
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