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Personal Allowances

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the revenue yield in the (a) first year and (b) a full year from abolishing the age related personal allowances and replacing them with the standard personal allowance at the existing level. [106509]

Dawn Primarolo: The yield from replacing the age-related personal allowances with the standard personal allowances in 2000-01 is around £0.95 billion in a full year and £0.8 billion in the first year on a National Accounts Basis. These estimates are based on the 1997-98 Survey of Personal incomes and consistent with the November 1999 Pre-Budget Report forecast.

Income Tax

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the (a) full year and (b) first year revenues which would be raised by increasing the basic rate of tax by one penny in the pound. [106510]

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Dawn Primarolo: The latest estimate for changing the basic rate of income tax was published by HM Treasury in table 4 of the "Tax Ready Reckoner and Tax Reliefs" in November 1999, a copy of which is held in the Library of the House.

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost of abolishing the 10 per cent. income tax band and extending the size of the personal tax allowance by the size of this band. [106511]

Dawn Primarolo: The cost of abolishing the starting rate of income tax and increasing the personal allowances by £1,520 in 2000-01 would be £4 billion in a full year. This estimate is based on the 1997-98 Survey of Personal incomes and consistent with the November 1999 Pre-Budget Report forecast.

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost of increasing the size of the basic rate income tax band by £2,000 per year, assuming no change in the size of the personal allowance or lower rate band. [106505]

Dawn Primarolo: The full-year cost of increasing the basic rate limit by £2,000 in 2000-01 is £0.9 billion. This estimate is based on the 1997-98 Survey of Personal incomes and consistent with the November 1999 Pre-Budget Report forecast.

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the (a) first year and (b) full year revenue yield from introducing a 50 per cent. income tax rate on taxable income of over £100,000 per annum; and how this yield would increase in each of the following two years. [106512]

Dawn Primarolo: The full-year yields from introducing a 50 per cent. income tax rate on taxable income over £100,000 per annum are £2.6 billion in 2000-01, £2.9 billion in 2001-02 and £3.1 billion in 2002-03. The first year yield on a National Accounts Basis is £1.7 billion. These estimates are based on the 1997-98 Survey of Personal incomes and consistent with the November 1999 Pre-Budget Report forecast.

Economic and Monetary Union

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if it is his policy to hold a referendum on entry to the euro within the lifetime of the next Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [106465]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Government policy towards holding a referendum on the single currency remains as set out by the Chancellor in his statement to the House of Commons on 27 October 1997.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the cost to date of the National Changeover Plan. [106388]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the right hon. Member for Horsham (Mr. Maude) on 13 December 1999, Official Report, column 78W.

Law Students (Vocational Training Relief)

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to ensure that students required

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to undertake a fourth year at law school after taking their first degree will continue to be eligible for Vocational Training Relief after September 2000. [106044]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Chancellor announced in the March 1999 Budget that Vocational Training Relief (VTR) will be withdrawn when the national framework for Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) is launched, under which people who open ILAs will be eligible for discounts towards the cost of approved types of learning. In last November's pre-Budget Report we said that, on current plans, the discounts will first become available from September this year and that accordingly VTR is to be withdrawn at the end of August.

On that basis, VTR will not be due for training payments made on or after 1 September 2000. Students undertaking training which currently qualifies for VTR and continues after September 2000 will, however, be eligible for VTR if they pay the remaining course fees before the end of August 2000.

Armed Forces Commitment

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many days total commitment of HM armed forces the reserves can maintain; if holding these reserves as (a) foreign exchange and (b) bullion modifies commitment capability; and if he will make a statement. [106402]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The costs of committing the armed forces depend on many factors, and do not necessarily require use of the Government's reserves.

Bilateral Financial Assistance

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total of financial assistance given by Her Majesty's Government to (a) Sub-Sahara Africa and (b) the former Yugoslavia in the last financial year. [106194]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Figures for bilateral financial assistance given by HMG are published in the Department for International Development Report "Statistics on International Development". For financial year 1998-99, the total bilateral financial assistance given by HMG to:



The UK contributes indirectly to financial assistance in both areas as a member of the EU and in Sub-Sahara Africa as a shareholder in a range of international financial organisations. It is not possible to provide reliable statistics for this assistance in the financial year 1998-99.

Departmental Consultation

Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the public consultation exercises on policy matters carried out by his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years; who was consulted and by what means; how responses were analysed; how and in what form the results were transmitted to those responsible for the consultation; how the results of the

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consultation were published; and what analysis has been carried out of the extent and nature of policy changes resulting from the consultation. [106290]

Miss Melanie Johnson: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Transferable Tax Allowance

Ms Kelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to the Exchequer of providing a transferable tax allowance between (a) all married couples, (b) all married couples with children, (c) all families with children, (d) all married couples with children whose youngest child is under the age of five years, (e) all families with children whose youngest child is under the age of five years and (f) all families with caring responsibilities in receipt of invalid care allowance. [104868]

Dawn Primarolo: The estimated costs for 2000-01 of allowing married or co-habiting couples to transfer all or part of their personal allowance are given in the following table.

Family type£ million
(a) All married couples4,250
(b) All married couples with children2,250
(c) All families(34) with children2,500
(d) All married couples whose youngest child is under the age of five1,750
(e) All families(34) whose youngest child is under the age of five2,000
(f) All families(34) with caring responsibilities in receipt of invalid care allowance70

(34) A family is defined here as unit with a married or co-habiting couple


Childcare Tax Credit

Ms Kelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the steady-state cost of providing the childcare tax credit to all households with a child below the age of one year on the current tapers, irrespective of whether anyone is in work. [104865]

Dawn Primarolo: The childcare tax credit is available to families in receipt of the Working Families' Tax Credit or Disabled Person's Tax Credit who meet the work requirements and have eligible child care costs.

If a separate weekly credit of £70 were to be given to all families with a child under one, including those on income support or Jobseeker's Allowance, subject to a taper of 55 per cent. for net income over £90 per week, then the estimated cost for 2000-01 would be about £800 million.


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