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Schools (Repairs and Maintenance)

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the backlog of repair and maintenance work at schools in England; and if he will make a statement. [127600]

Jacqui Smith: The Department does not currently hold accurate and comprehensive data on all school buildings. We have, however, made resources available to local

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education authorities to help them prepare Asset Management Plans covering all the maintained schools in their areas. When completed, these plans should provide a comprehensive picture of the repairs to school buildings which still need to be carried out.

A total of £1.9 billion is being spent in the current financial year on repairs and maintenance, three times the amount spent in 1996-97. This includes the New Deal for Schools, public-private partnerships, and other capital grants to schools and LEA borrowing.

Teachers (Performance-related Pay)

Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teachers are eligible to apply for performance-related pay. [127884]

Ms Estelle Morris: Around 265,000 teachers in England and Wales were eligible to apply for the performance threshold this year.

Post-16 Education and Training

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to equalise the funding arrangements for post-16 education and training. [128002]

Mr. Wicks: How the Learning and Skills Council will allocate its funds is subject to a current consultation. The Government have invited partners' views on a system of national rates for the majority of learning programmes, which means that the same programme would attract the same funding wherever it was delivered. The Government recognise the current differences in funding levels, and favours upwards convergence, but we recognise that this can only happen over time, and subject to resources being available. Changes in levels of funding will, of course, be subject to the real-terms funding guarantee we have given to school sixth forms.

Engineering

Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the recent Engineering and Marine Training Authority report entitled "Working in Engineering", with special reference to opportunities in engineering for young people from ethnic minorities. [127721]

Mr. Wicks: I welcome the report by the Engineering Employers' Federation/Commission for Racial Equality. The recommendations stemming from the project provide a realistic opportunity for engineering companies to engage the ethnic minority communities in a more constructive way.

This will require greater commitment and positive action to build more effective links with schools and ethnic minority community centres. I believe a vital factor in encouraging young people from the ethnic minority community to be engineers is to provide role models from their own communities. The case studies which have been published should actively encourage entry into the industry.

My Department strongly supports the outcomes and follow-up initiatives from the project and will continue to work closely with all appropriate parties to ensure that

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the engineering sector, together with the construction and manufacturing sectors--for example--attract more young people from the ethnic minority community.

TREASURY

VAT

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost of increasing the value added tax threshold for small businesses by (a) 10 per cent., (b) 20 per cent., (c) 50 per cent. and (d) 100 per cent. per year; and if he will make a statement. [127494]

Mr. Timms: Customs and Excise do not have reliable current estimates of the cost of substantial increases in the VAT registration threshold. A description of the difficulties involved in predicting the effect of large changes in the threshold is contained in "The VAT Shortfall: Report of the Working Group on VAT Receipts and Forecasts", Treasury Occasional Paper No. 9, September 1997. Table A.13 of the Budget 2000 Financial Statement and Budget Report contains an estimate of the Exchequer cost of indexing the VAT registration and deregistration thresholds in line with inflation.

Tax Avoidance and Evasion

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he plans to take to reduce tax avoidance and evasion through non-domiciled status. [127602]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government keep all aspects of the tax system under review.

We have taken steps in successive Finance Bills to combat avoidance and evasion across the tax system.

HIPC Initiative

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the World Bank and IMF will set up the joint committee for overseeing the implementation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative; and where it will be based. [127713]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The World Bank and IMF announced the establishment of the HIPC Joint Implementation Committee on 16 April this year. The Committee is based in Washington and has had its first meeting on 22 May.

Red Diesel

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many days the HM Customs and Excise testing units for red diesel operated within Scotland during (a) 1997 and (b) 1998; and how many prosecutions were brought for illegal use of red diesel in each of those years. [127661]

Mr. Timms: Scotland has two road fuel testing units. In 1997 they were operational for a combined total of 446 days and for 432 days in 1998. In the same period they made 277 detections leading to penalties and duty recovered totalling £423,214. In 1997 and 1998 two cases were taken to prosecution.

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Climate Change Levy

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the net yearly costs in the first year of implementation of the climate change levy to (a) the dairy industry and (b) the agriculture industry in Scotland. [127697]

Mr. Timms: It is not possible to say what the precise effect of the levy will be on any one particular industry. The impact of the levy package will depend on a number of factors, including: the future energy consumption by firms; the level of employment in those firms; the number of firms that are eligible to receive a discount on the main rates of the levy by signing up to an energy efficiency agreement; what use they make of electricity generated from 'new' renewable sources of energy and in 'good quality' combined head and power plants; and the extent to which they take advantage of the proposed introduction of a system of enhanced capital allowances for energy saving investments. However, the agriculture sector stands to benefit from a number of features of the levy package including the proposed special package of support for the horticulture subsector announced in the March 2000 Budget.

GNP

Miss Geraldine Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of GNP has been spent on (a) defence, (b) education and (c) health in each of the last 15 years. [127640]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Table 4.4 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis 2000-01 (Cm 4601) shows the amount of public expenditure spent on these services, as a percentage of GDP, in each of these years.

The Health figures presented in this table are net of income from charges and asset sales, and do not include NHS trusts interest and dividend payments.

Tax Returns

Miss Geraldine Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discounts are available for electronic filing of tax returns. [127634]

Dawn Primarolo: On 16 February 2000, the Chancellor announced that individuals who file their self-assessment tax returns over the internet in 2000-01 and pay any tax due electronically will receive a discount of £10. Small businesses that do the same for their PAYE and VAT returns in 2001-02 will receive a discount of £50 for each. And in his Budget speech on 21 March 2000 he said that small businesses that qualify for the PAYE discount and which pay tax credits to employees would receive a further discount of £50. These discounts are being offered to encourage businesses and individuals to embrace internet technology. Legislation has been included in this year's Finance Bill to provide for the payment of these incentives. The detailed conditions will be set out in regulations to be published later this year.

Child Benefit

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue from taxing child benefit for (a) all upper-rate taxpayers at 40 per cent. and (b) upper-rate taxpayers at 40 per cent.

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but 50 per cent. for those with taxable incomes of over £100,000 per annum; and if he will make a statement. [127500]

Dawn Primarolo: The estimated revenue from taxing child benefit received by higher-rate taxpayers at 40 per cent. in 2000-01 is £50 million in a full year. The additional revenue from taxing child benefit received by higher-rate taxpayers with taxable incomes of over £100,000 per annum at 50 per cent. is estimated to be less than £5 million.

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