House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 18 Dec 2000 (pt 23)

Working Families Tax Credit

Mr. Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many calls have been received by the Working Families Tax Credit Hotline to date (a) nationally and (b) in Scotland. [142691]

Dawn Primarolo: The Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) helpline, and the response line, together handled about 8.4 million calls up to the end of November 2000.

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A separate count of calls from Scotland is not available, but about 9.5 per cent. of WFTC awards are to families in Scotland.

Mr. Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to evaluate the impact of the Working Families Tax Credit. [143125]

Dawn Primarolo: A comprehensive programme of evaluation is in progress. The programme of work spans several years and comprises qualitative and quantitative research and analysis.

Mr. Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the Working Families Tax Credit on increasing the financial incentives for women to work. [143166]

Dawn Primarolo: The WFTC provides support for low and middle income working families with children.

The WFTC has been of particular benefit to lone parents, 90 per cent. of whom are women, helping to tackle poverty and support lone parents as they move off benefit and into work.

Working Families Tax Credit, along with other tax and benefit reforms implemented during this Parliament, delivers a Minimum Income Guarantee of £208 per week for families working 35 hours a week and £152 for families working 16 hours a week . 50 per cent. of WFTC recipients are lone mothers and another 10 per cent. are couples where the woman is the main earner.

On average, families are £30 a week better off on WFTC than on Family Credit and 35 per cent. more lone parents are receiving WFTC compared to Family Credit. The net income for a lone mother with two children is now £30 higher than it was under Family Credit.

In addition, the Childcare Tax Credit reimburses up to 70 per cent. of parents' eligible child care costs, thereby tackling one of the main obstacles for women wanting to work. Over 100,000 lone parent families are now receiving the Childcare Tax Credit, more than twice the number that benefited from the child care disregard in Family Credit.

Beer

Mr. John M. Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the loss of revenue to the Treasury resulting from the purchase of beer in Europe for transport to the UK (a) legally and (b) illegally in the last three years. [142828]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Mrs. Lawrence) on 26 November 1999 Official Report, columns 254-55W.

Mr. John M. Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the level of the United Kingdom beer duty on the quantity of illegally imported beer from Europe into the United Kingdom. [142829]

Dawn Primarolo: No such assessment has been made.

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Integrated Child Credit

Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the proposed integrated child credit will be implemented. [143256]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government's intention, subject to the legislative timetable, is to introduce the new integrated system of support for families with children from 2003.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what preparations his Department has taken to prepare for the implementation of the integrated child credit. [143253]

Dawn Primarolo: Treasury departments are working with the Department of Social Security and the Department for Education and Employment on plans for the introduction of the proposed new integrated system of support for families with children.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will publish a consultation paper on the details of the integrated tax credit. [143255]

Dawn Primarolo: Paper 6 in the series "The Modernisation of Britain's Tax and Benefit System" ("Tackling Poverty and Making Work Pay--Tax Credits for the 21st Century") sets out the case, and a possible framework, for a new integrated system of support for families with children.

Children's Tax Credit

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many claim forms were issued for his new Children's Tax Credit and on what date; how many forms were returned in each month since then; what are the implications of the failure to return a form for the ability of a parent to receive the credit in April 2001; and if he will make a statement. [143094]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) on 24 November 2000, Official Report, column 341W.

Hospital Building Programme

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Government hospital building programme is subject to VAT at the standard rate. [143390]

Dawn Primarolo: The construction of hospitals and similar buildings is standard rated for VAT, but VAT is taken into account in the funding of National Health Service Trusts.

Income Tax

Mr. Todd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what income tax was payable in (a) 1999-2000 and (b) 2000-01 by a retired married couple aged 59 years with an income of £6,000 paid to the man alone, with no dependent children and with no other allowances. [143449]

Dawn Primarolo: The amount of tax that an individual will pay will depend on their individual circumstances.

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Mr. Todd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what income tax was payable in 2000-01 by (a) a married couple, the man born on 5 April 1935, the woman aged 61 years, with a household income of £6,000 with no dependent children, the woman receiving no income beyond her share of the state pension and with no other allowances and (b) a married couple, the man born on 6 April 1935, the woman aged 61 years, with a household income of £6,000, with no dependent children, the woman receiving no income beyond her share of the state pension and with no other allowances. [143443]

Dawn Primarolo: The amount of income tax that an individual will pay will depend on their individual circumstances.

National Insurance

Mr. Todd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much income tax and national insurance is payable in (a) 1999-2000 and (b) 2000-01 by a married man claiming the married couples allowance with a working income of £6,000 with no dependent children and no other allowances. [143429]

Dawn Primarolo: The amount of tax and national insurance that an individual will pay will depend on their individual circumstances.

New Taxes

Mr. Jack: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for each new tax introduced since June 1997 (a) the actual revenue raised and (b) the original revenue estimate. [143431]

Dawn Primarolo: All changes to the tax system are included in the relevant Financial Statements and Budget Reports. Estimated costs of tax expenditures and reliefs are given in Tax Ready Reckoner and Tax Reliefs, published on 8 November 2000. Both of these are available in the Library of the House.

Aggregates Tax

Mrs. Ray Michie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what account he has taken of the (a) remoteness and (b) sparse population in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland when calculating the fixed rate of the proposed aggregates tax; and if he will make a statement; [142967]

(a)

(b)

Mr. Timms: The aggregates levy is based on independent research commissioned by the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions which has verified that there are significant environmental costs associated with quarrying that are not already covered by regulation, including noise, dust, visual intrusion, loss of amenity and damage to biodiversity. The research looked at sites in both densely populated areas and in remote and sparsely populated areas.

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Mrs. Ray Michie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the social and economic impact of the proposed aggregates tax on the Highlands and Islands of Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [142966]

Mr. Timms: The aggregates levy will bring about benefits by making the price of aggregates better reflect

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their true environmental costs. This will provide an incentive for all business to use more sustainable materials and to use all aggregates more efficiently. A proportion of the proceeds from the levy will be available in a Sustainability Fund to help the Scottish Executive deliver local environmental benefits. The remaining proceeds will fund a cut in employer NICs which will deliver economic benefits nationwide.