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EU Financial Regulator

Mr. Cash: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on proposals for an EU-wide financial regulator. [138651]

Miss Melanie Johnson: There are no such proposals.

Capital Gains Indexation

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 9 November 2000, Official Report, column 342W, on capital gains indexation, if he will estimate the yield from reintroducing indexation and abolishing the taper for the next five financial years, assuming that asset values are constant in real terms; and if he will make a statement. [139079]

Dawn Primarolo: The estimated yields, consistent with the November 2000 pre-Budget Report, are unchanged from those given in my answer on 9 November.

Empty Properties

Mr. Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the number of houses which have been empty for 10 years or more and which would qualify for his proposals on VAT; [138223]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 13 November 2000]: The proposed adjustment to the scope of the VAT zero-rate for the sale of refurbished previously vacant dwellings would affect dwellings which, having been continuously vacant since a time between 1973 and 1990, are refurbished and sold after April 2001. Reliable estimates of the number of dwellings in the UK which have been continuously vacant over this period are not available.

IBM UK

Mr. Nicholls: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many contracts the Government holds with IBM UK; and what is their cumulative value. [138496]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Individual departments and agencies are responsible for letting contracts for the goods and services they require. The management of Government IT Projects, including the development of a cross-departmental analysis of contracts is being addressed by the Office of Government Commerce, which commenced operations on 1 April 2000.

Computerised Printing Presses

Mr. Pearson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on defining the expected working life of computerised printing presses for capital allowance purposes; and if he will make a statement. [138766]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue published guidance on the interpretation of the long-life asset rules in Tax Bulletin Issue 30 (August 1997).

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SOCIAL SECURITY

Housing Benefit

Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average time delay for payment of Housing Benefit for each local authority in England and Wales. [139604]

Mr. Rooker: The information requested is not available.

State Pension

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to Cm 4917, what estimate he has made of total spending on the basic state pension for each of the four financial years from 2000-01 onwards; and if he will make a statement. [138458]

Mr. Rooker: The information is in the table.

Estimated expenditure on the basic state pension each of the four financial years from 2000-01 onwards

£ million
2000-0133,866
2001-0236,413
2002-0338,208
2003-0439,640

Income Support

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people are receiving Income Support amounting to (i) £1 to £50, (ii) £50 to £100, (iii) £100 to £150, (iv) £150 to £200, (v) £200 to £300, (vi) £300 to £400, (vii) £400 to £500 and (viii) £500 and over per week. [139116]

Mr. Bayley: Such information as is available is in the table.

Income Support claimants by weekly amount of benefit, May 2000

Thousand lhd>
AmountNumber of claimants
All cases3,810.5
Under £13.9
£1 to under £501,432.7
£50 to under £1001,737.8
£100 to under £150474.5
£150 to under £200103.6
£200 to under £30053.9
£300 to under £4004.0

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred and quoted in thousands.

2. Based on 5 per cent. sample therefore subject to sampling error.

3. There are insufficient numbers of cases in the sample to make a reliable estimate of the number of people receiving Income Support of more than £400 per week although a small number of such cases do occur.

Source:

Income Support Statistics Quarterly Enquiry, May 2000


Pensioner Benefits

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to Cm 4917, what estimate

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he has made of total spending benefits for pensioners for the financial years from 2002-03 and 2003-04; and if he will make a statement. [138459]

Mr. Rooker: The information is in the table.

Estimated total spending on benefits for pensioners in 2002-03 and 2003-04

£ million
2002-0356,789
2003-0459,240

Notes:

1. Excludes special needs benefits paid to pensioners such as Attendance Allowance

2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest million


Far East Prisoners of War

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what steps he is taking to ensure that those receiving the Far East war prisoners compensation do not lose entitlement to means-tested benefits. [139313]

Mr. Bayley: It is our intention that the Far Eastern prisoners of war receiving an ex-gratia payment should receive the full advantage of this payment. We have already announced that we propose to amend the income-related benefit regulations shortly to achieve this.

Social Fund Commissioner

Mr. Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he has appointed a new Social Fund Commissioner. [139943]

Mr. Darling: I am pleased to announce that I have approved Sir Richard Tilt to serve as Social Fund Commissioner for a period of three years from 1 December 2000. Sir Richard was until August of last year Head of the Prison Service where he had worked for 33 years.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Human Rights Act 1998

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent by his Department on the preparation of court officers in advance of the Human Rights Act 1998; how many court officers (a) had and (b) had not received training by 2 October; and what work the Department has been involved in preparing other Government Departments for the implementation of the Act. [139089]

Mr. Straw: The Home Office prompted and helped to co-ordinate public authority preparations for the Human Rights Act in a number of ways. A series of circulars from the Home Office Permanent Secretary helped to keep Departments up to date with Human Rights Act developments, made recommendations as to what Departments should do to prepare for implementation and passed on examples of best practice. Working with the Human Rights Task Force, we produced a range of guidance and information material on the Act for public authorities. And we have established a helpdesk to assist public authorities and the general public with queries about the Act. The Home Office is not responsible for the Court Service, but I understand that prior to 2 October

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there was a range of awareness raising activities from which all staff in the Court Service and magistrates courts benefited. These included face to face training, cascade training and awareness raising through the use of written material and team briefings. The training was carried out in-house and costs met from existing budgets. A total of £4.5 million has been spent on judicial training for the Human Rights Act.

EU Harmonisation

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the (a) current and (b) planned contact committees for harmonisation of home affairs matters at EU level. [138090]

Mrs. Roche: The Treaty on European Union established the "Article 36 Committee", a co-ordinating committee of senior officials in the field of police co-operation and judicial co-operation in criminal matters. The Committee of Permanent Representatives has also approved, most recently in 1999, a list of working parties and committees in the Justice and Home Affairs sector. In addition, a number of the working parties established by the Permanent Representatives Committee in the General Affairs sector deal with issues with a justice and home affairs dimension. No changes to these committees are planned at present.


























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