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Israel
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 1 March 2000, Official Report, columns 266-67W, on how many occasions in the past five years Her Majesty's Customs and Excise has referred to the European Commission instances of goods alleged to have been imported under preference as Made in Israel which were produced in Occupied Territories or elsewhere; on how many occasions in the past five years the European Commission had established the origin of the products in question; in how many of these cases the origin was established as (i) within the internationally recognised borders of Israel, (ii) within the Occupied Territories of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights and (iii) elsewhere; and what was the average time taken by the European Commission to establish the origin of goods referred by the UK Government to the Commission for possible violation of the Protocol on Rules of Origin of the EC Trade Agreement with Israel in the last five years. [113551]
Dawn Primarolo: Her Majesty's Customs and Excise has advised the European Commission in relation to four separate products. They have yet to be made aware of the outcome of any investigations conducted by the European Commission.
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 1 March 2000, Official Report, columns 266-67W, concerning Israel (a) whether he has examined imported goods still held by the consignee to obtain actual evidence of origin, (b) when the imports of wines from (i) the Golan Heights and (ii) the Israeli West Bank settlement of Barkan, were first detected, (c) when details were first passed to the European Commission and (d) whether the Syrian Government have been informed of the detection of imports from Israeli settlements on the Golan Heights. [113417]
Dawn Primarolo: (a) Customs will shortly be visiting a consignee identified as being an importer of dates from Israel. The outcome will be notified to the European Commission.
(b) Information was received on both products in May 1999.
(d) The Syrian Government have not been informed by HM Customs and Excise.
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 1 March 2000, Official Report, columns 266-67W, (a) when the imports of carpets from the Israeli West Bank settlement of Barkan were first detected, (b) when details were first passed to the European Commission, (c) how many consignments of carpets from the area Barkan have been imported into the UK under preferences, (d) what type of goods were
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described in the details obtained by the European Commission and (e) when he expects the European Commission to make its assessment. [113550]
Dawn Primarolo: (a) November 1999, as a direct result of information received from the European Commission.
(d) The goods described covered a range of agricultural and industrial products.
(e) There is no indication as to when the European Commission is expected to make an assessment.
Windfall Tax
Mr. Rowlands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much of the Windfall Tax Fund has been spent on programmes in Wales to the latest date. [113494]
Mr. Timms: Information on the allocation of the Windfall Tax receipts between the different programmes, as currently estimated, is set out in Table 4.1 of the 1999 Pre Budget Report. Many Windfall Tax funded programmes are demand-led, with expenditure allocated by participant and not by country, region or any other geographical area. For this reason it is not possible to provide a reliable and robust estimate of the amount which has been spent in Wales.
VAT
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to press other EU member states to broaden the experimental arrangement of Council Directive 1999/85/EC (Annex K to Sixth VAT Directive) to provide for the inclusion of repairs to historic and listed buildings. [113562]
Dawn Primarolo: Repairs to historic and listed buildings are already included in the experimental reduced rate if they are dwellings.
Further discussion of the scope of the reduced rate is unlikely until the current experiments have concluded and been fully evaluated. The Commission is due to report at the end of 2002.
Petroleum Products Smuggling
Mr. Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) vehicles were seized by HM Customs and Excise for alleged smuggling of petroleum products in Northern Ireland and (b) litres of fuel were seized in (i) 1998 and (ii) 1999. [113538]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 7 March 2000]: Customs have made the following seizures of petroleum products in Northern Ireland:
| Financial year | Litres of fuel | Vehicles seized |
|---|---|---|
| 1998-99 | 584,000 | 39 |
| 1999-2000(29) | 915,691 | 98 |
(29) April to February
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Duchy of Cornwall
Mr. Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the tax status of the Duchy of Cornwall, with particular reference to the tax exemptions which apply. [112834]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 7 March 2000]: The tax arrangements for the Duchy of Cornwall are set out in the Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation, attached to the Report of the Royal Trustees published on 11 February 1993 (HC 464).
Working Families Tax Credit
Ms Kelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the additional cost to the Exchequer of providing the Working Families Tax Credit to couples with children if couples split their total earnings in half and the credit was calculated on each half assuming the 55 per cent. taper started cutting in at (a) £45, (b) £50, (c) £60, (d) £70 and (e) £80. [112475]
Dawn Primarolo: The limitations of the data available to model these changes, and the uncertainty over behavioural effects, are such that reliable estimates are not available in the detail required.
The reply I gave to my hon. Friend on 9 February 2000, Official Report, column 214W, provided a rough indication of the high cost involved in splitting the total earnings of couples in the calculation of Working Families Tax Credits. Lowering the income threshold to the levels specified in the question would reduce the cost but precise estimates which take into account the varying behavioural effects could be provided only at disproportionate costs. As a rough guide, halving the income threshold from the current £90 to £45 per week would still more than double the existing cost of Working Families Tax Credits, before allowing for differential behavioural effects.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate, for each quintile group ranked by equivalised disposable household income, the percentage of gross income accounted for by the Working Families Tax Credit. [112950]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is given in the table.
| Quintile by equivalised disposable household income | Estimated percentage of gross income accounted to by the Working Families Tax Credit |
|---|---|
| Lowest quintile group | 3.5 |
| Second | 2.2 |
| Third | 0.4 |
| Fourth | (30)-- |
| Highest quintile group | (30)-- |
(30) Sample numbers too small for reliable estimates to be made
The figures assume 100 per cent. take-up of entitlement and will tend to overestimate the proportion of Working Families Tax Credit going to the higher quintiles. It is also known that some of the types of household containing families now eligible for Working Families Tax Credit are under-represented in the survey data used to model these estimates.
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Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many recipients of Working Families Tax Credit are paid at the minimum wage; what proportion this is of total Working Families Tax Credit claimants; how much Working Families Tax Credit is being paid in total to claimants claiming at the minimum wage; and what proportion this is of total Working Families Tax Credit expenditure, all figures for over the latest period for which figures are available and including family credit if applicable; [112756]
- (2) how many recipients of the Working Families Tax Credit and the Disabled Person's Tax Credit are paid at rates above the minimum wage; and how many are paid at the minimum wage. [113581]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 2 March 2000]: The information requested is not available. For each employed claimant, the information captured to the computer system is of gross earnings in each relevant pay period, and a single figure of normal hours worked. These two pieces of information therefore have different coverages, and cannot be used to derive an hourly wage for each case.
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