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TREASURY
VAT (Listed Properties)
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates he has made of the annual cost to the Exchequer of applying a rate of VAT to renovation work on listed properties of (a) 12 per cent., (b) 10 per cent., (c) 7.5 per cent. and (d) 5 per cent. [125909]
Dawn Primarolo: Customs and Excise do not have estimates of the costs of reducing the VAT rate on renovation work on listed buildings because reliable estimates of amounts of VAT which have been paid in the past on such work are not available.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the annual cost is to the Exchequer of zero-rated VAT on alterations to listed buildings. [125908]
Dawn Primarolo: Customs and Excise do not have an estimate of the cost of zero-rated VAT on alterations to listed buildings. This is because reliable estimates of the amount of expenditure on such work are not available.
Credit Unions
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many credit unions operate in the UK; and what links his Department has with them; [125643]
- (2) what plans he has to (a) extend the areas from which credit unions can borrow and (b) amend the legislation in respect of credit unions. [125644]
Miss Melanie Johnson: There are currently 860 credit unions in operation in the UK of which 675 are in Great Britain. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland is responsible for credit unions in Northern Ireland. The Government announced on 16 November 1999 a package of measures designed to help credit unions to grow, some of which have been included in the Financial Services and Markets Bill. There will be further consultation on extending the areas from which credit unions can borrow.
Expenditure Limits
Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes are proposed to the Inland Revenue departmental expenditure limit and running costs limit for 2000-01. [126071]
13 Jun 2000 : Column: 573W
Dawn Primarolo: Subject to Parliamentary approval of the Supplementary Estimate for Class XVI, Vote 5 the Inland Revenue Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2000-01 will be increased by £147,608,000 from £2,097,763,000 to £2,245,371,000. The Inland Revenue running cost limit will also be increased by £154,608,000 from £2,222,471,000 to £2,377,079,000.
The increase is mainly to cover increased workloads and measures introduced in the Budget and also in respect of some interdepartmental transfers.
The increase will be offset by transfers or charged to the DEL reserve and will not add therefore to the planned total of public expenditure.
Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes are proposed to HM Treasury's departmental expenditure limit and running costs limit for 2000-01. [126072]
Dawn Primarolo: Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class XVI Vote 1 (HM Treasury), the Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2000-01 will be increased by £26,376,000 from £220,417,000 to £246,793,000.
The increase is the net effect of an increase in other current expenditure of £20,950,000 and capital of £7,450,000, to meet new commitments in respect of the costs associated with the new Partnerships UK, and a decrease in running costs of £1,400,000 to meet the continuing costs in other current expenditure of the Treasury Taskforce, giving a net total increase of £27,000,000 which will be drawn from the Capital Modernisation Fund. The running costs limit for HM Treasury will accordingly be decreased by £1,400,000 from £64,923,000 to £63,523,000.
A reduction included in the Revised Estimate for Class XVI Vote 3, (HM Treasury: Office of Government Commerce) will decrease HM Treasury's DEL by £224,000, and a further reduction due to transferring responsibility for Class XVI Vote 15 (1999-2000), (Repayments to the Contingencies Fund) to Class XVI Vote 7, (Inland Revenue: Payments in Lieu of Tax Relief) will decrease HM Treasury's DEL by £400,000; giving a net increase to HM Treasury's DEL of £26,376,000.
The increases will be offset by transfers and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes are proposed to HM Customs and Excise departmental expenditure limit and running costs limit for 2000-01. [126073]
Dawn Primarolo: Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Revised Estimate for Class XVI, Vote 4 (HM Customs and Excise: administration) the Customs and Excise Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2000-01 will be decreased by £2,100,000 from £888,958,000 to £886,858,000. The running costs limit will be decreased by the same amount from £863,057,000 to £860,957,000. The decrease covers a transfer of Invest to Save funds to the Inland Revenue to support the joint Closer Working Programme. There is no overall change to the planned total of public expenditure.
13 Jun 2000 : Column: 574W
Forms
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the net change in each year since May 1997 in the number of forms issued by his Department which (a) charities and (b) other voluntary organisations are required to complete. [123948]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The number of forms that a charity or voluntary organisation is required to complete will depend on the size and nature of the organisation and the purposes for which they need to complete forms.
Public Sector Workers (Home Loans)
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Housing Green Paper, how, for (a) taxation and (b) national insurance contribution purposes, his Department's revenue bodies would treat preferential loans made by the Government to public sector workers wishing to buy housing in London and the South East of England; and if he will make a statement. [119425]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 17 April 2000]: Under current rules, if a Government Department were to make preferential loans for key workers, whether in the public, private or voluntary sectors, there would be no tax or national insurance charges arising provided that the employees were not directly employed by a Government Department and the loans were neither guaranteed nor facilitated by their employers.
Stakeholder Pensions
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what advice he has received on (a) the costs of full concurrency in stakeholder pensions in tax revenue forgone and (b) changes in administrative costs borne by the Inland Revenue. [115907]
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue implications of allowing for (a) partial concurrency and (b) full concurrency of the proposed new stakeholder pension regime with other existing occupational and personal pension products or schemes; and if he will make a statement. [123721]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Ministers are currently examining this issue.
Windfall Tax
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects the Windfall Tax to have been fully spent on employment programmes; and if he will make a statement. [125397]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Information on the estimated allocation of the Windfall Tax receipts between different programmes, including employment programmes, is set out in Table 4.1 of the Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report published at the time of the 2000 Budget. Future funding plans for employment programmes are being considered as part of the current Spending Review.
13 Jun 2000 : Column: 575W
Working Families Tax Credit
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what circumstances a Working Families Tax Credit award can be amended, once finalised, due to a change in the claimant's circumstances. [125386]
Dawn Primarolo: The circumstances by which a Working Families Tax Credit award can be amended, once finalised, are:
- If the applicant in a one-parent family dies, or both the applicant and their partner in a two-parent family dies.
- If the family breaks up during an award period and Working Families Tax Credit, Disabled Person's Tax Credit, Income Support or income based Jobseeker's Allowance are awarded to someone else for a child who was included in the original award.
- If the only child in the family in a WFTC award is aged 16 or over and leaves full-time non-advanced education.
Dawn Primarolo: The average weekly value of Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) awards made in the six months from October 1999 to the end of March 2000 are estimated to be as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Region | Average weekly value of awards |
| North East | 70.97 |
| North West | 73.17 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 72.59 |
| East Midlands | 71.21 |
| West Midlands | 73.72 |
| East of England | 70.44 |
| London | 75.08 |
| South East | 70.70 |
| South West | 69.81 |
| Wales | 71.37 |
| Scotland | 70.55 |
| Northern Ireland | 76.34 |
| United Kingdom | 72.09 |
Note:
The figures for the regions of England, for Wales and for Scotland are estimates based on a 5 per cent. sample of awards, and are therefore subject to sampling error.
No reliable estimate of the overall effect of WFTC on Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit for families receiving WFTC can yet be made, for the reasons given in my reply to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) on 12 June 2000, Official Report, column 459W.
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