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Working Families Tax Credit
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the passported benefits to which recipients of the working families tax credit are entitled and the conditions attached to their receipt. [141050]
Dawn Primarolo: The Working Families Tax Credit is used by a wide range of Government, devolved administrations, local authorities and non-Government organisations as a gateway to the help that they provide. A complete list of all benefits made available by others, and the entitlement conditions they set could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The Inland Revenue includes information about the major types of help provided by other departments as part of information given to applicants.
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes his Department has made in the last three years to the number of legal advisers it employs to deal with the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and consequent secondary legislation. [141196]
Miss Melanie Johnson: A team was employed full-time on preparation of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 until Royal Assent in June 2000. Thereafter additional members have been added for the secondary legislation required to implement the Act.
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Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the preparation of secondary legislation relating to the introduction of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. [141195]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Treasury is currently consulting on a number of statutory instruments, including the Financial Promotion Order, and the Regulated Activities Order (which defines the scope of financial regulation), and will be starting consultation shortly on several other instruments.
Civil Servants
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list constitutional conventions that civil servants in his Department are expected to comply with when undertaking their duties; and if he will make a statement. [141245]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the reply which the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office is giving him today.
Sickness Absence
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 6 November 2000, Official Report, column 78W, on sickness absence, how often managers are required to submit information on sickness absence; and in what form. [141081]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Managers complete a sickness absence notification form in line with the July 1998 report on Managing Attendance in the Public Sector.
Income Tax
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the revenue yield, on a national accounts basis, of increasing the basic rate of income tax by 1p for the three financial years commencing in 2003-04; and if he will make a statement. [141189]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates for changing the basic rate of income tax by 1p on a National Accounts Basis are given in table 4 of the "Tax Ready Reckoner and Tax Reliefs" (HM Treasury, November 2000).
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many income tax payers have an income tax liability of (a) less than £40 and (b) more than £40 per annum; and what the average income tax liability is of somebody with an income tax liability of less than £40 per annum. [140862]
Dawn Primarolo: In 2000-01 some 0.8 million taxpayers are liable to less than £40 income tax out of 27.9 million. The average income tax liability of those 0.8 million is around £20.
This information is based on the Survey of Personal Incomes and is consistent with the November pre-Budget Report.
Civil Service Costs
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total (a) salary cost and (b) non-salary cost of the civil service in the last year for which figures are available. [141026]
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Mr. Andrew Smith: The information requested is set out in Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2000-01 (Cm 4601), a copy of which is in the Library.
Bingo
Mr. Fearn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce legislation to reduce the level of duty on bingo. [141077]
Mr. Timms: The Chancellor reviews all duty rates in the run up to the Budget.
Expenditure
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list by standard planning region the spending per head in (a) 1997-98, (b) 1987-88, (c) 1979-80 and (d) 1974-75 on (i) health and personal social services, (ii) education, (iii) transport, (iv) housing, (v) agriculture, (vi) social security, (vii) law, order and protective services, (viii) environmental services and (ix) trade, industry, energy, employment and training; and the total amount spent in each sector. [141110]
Mr. Andrew Smith: I refer my hon. Friend to tables F1 and F2 of Public Expenditure Analyses to 1993-94 (CM 1520) for 1987-88 and tables 8.9 and 8.10 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2000-01 (CM 4601) for 1997-98. Regional information prior to this is not available. The tables are not fully comparable because of changes in definitions of the spending aggregates, and functional sectors and in the boundaries of regions. Data on spending levels in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not available on a comparable basis.
Petrol Smuggling
Mr. William Ross: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the quantity of petroleum products smuggled from (a) the Irish Republic and (b) other countries into Great Britain in each of the last five years up to the latest date for which information is available. [141048]
Dawn Primarolo: No such estimates are available.
Mr. William Ross: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the sums lost to the Revenue in (a) 1999 and (b) the financial year 1999-2000 due to the smuggling of petroleum products from the Irish Republic into Northern Ireland. [141067]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Customs and Excise has responsibility for excise revenues. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Lewes (Mr. Baker) on 20 March 2000, Official Report, column 442W.
Export Credits Guarantee Department
Mr. Ian Stewart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he plans to review the implementation of the recommendations made by KPMG in December 1999 on the adequacy of the risk management systems and processes of the Export Credits Guarantee Department. [141296]
Mr. Timms: On 25 July this year my right hon. friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry published the ECGD Risk Management Review [Cm 4792], which was jointly commissioned from KPMG by HM Treasury
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and ECGD. Alongside the Review HM Treasury and ECGD Ministers also published an Action Plan to address all the recommendations made in KPMG's report.
The Government, in their response to the Trade and Industry Committee's report on the future of ECGD, noted that they intended to commission a follow-up, independent report to assess progress in addressing the recommendations made by KPMG.
KPMG have been re-engaged to undertake this follow-up review. It is to be undertaken in two stages with the following Terms of Reference:
The consultants are required to examine progress in addressing the recommendations set out in sections 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the KPMG report. In particular the consultants should: comment on the adequacy and effectiveness of the actions taken in remedying the shortcomings identified in the KPMG report; examine and report whether each KPMG recommendation has been sufficiently addressed; and where further progress is deemed necessary, recommend what action should be taken, its priority and the timescale within which it should be addressed.
The consultants should also examine ECGD's proposals to develop a capital-based portfolio management system (PMS 3) at whatever stage its development has reached by Stage I of this follow-up study. The consultants are required to comment on whether the proposals are likely to address the recommendations made in section 4 of the KPMG report and, where they might not, recommend changes to the framework under development accordingly.
The consultants will be required to begin the assessment of Stage I by end-October 2000. This stage should be completed within a four-week timescale.
The consultants will be required to: assess whether ECGD's systems and procedures, following measures taken, constitute an effective pro-active risk management system envisaged in sections 3 and 4 of KPMG's report which delivers real control over risk. This should not conflict or duplicate with ECGD's current invitation to tender for consultancy on portfolio management; examine any area(s) where further progress was deemed necessary during Stage I of the study, and report whether the relevant KPMG recommendation(s) have been subsequently addressed; discuss and recommend (on the basis of the above analysis) whether the operating environment is now such that restoration of high level delegated authorities from HM Treasury to ECGD would be appropriate and whether ECGD should have full operational autonomy.
It is envisaged that the consultants will begin the Stage II assessment in spring 2001, to be completed within a two-week timescale.
The consultants will need to verify that agreed changes to operations and procedures are implemented in practice throughout the risk management process. They can expect to have unrestricted access to Government papers relevant to the study and to be able to question such employees of ECGD or other Government Departments as they judge necessary.
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The output from this project will be a report at the end of Stage I and a second one at the end of Stage II, addressing the relevant issues set out in these Terms of Reference.
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