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Individual Learning Accounts
Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to undertake a review of the operation of individual learning accounts to ensure that the introduction of the child trust fund or saving gateway does not give rise to fraud. [R] [11889]
Ruth Kelly: The Government launched consultation on further proposals to encourage saving and asset-building, especially among households with low incomes, in "Saving and Assets for All" published by HM Treasury in April 2001. The consultation is focused on proposals for the child trust fund and the saving gateway. The Government intend to report back on the results from the consultation and on their further intentions for these initiatives around the time of the pre-Budget report in autumn 2001. The Government will continue to develop these proposals, including through consultation with interested parties such as financial services providers, to ensure that concerns, including the possibility of fraud, are properly addressed.
Energy Efficiency Week
John Barrett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action his Department took in recognition of Energy Efficiency Week. [11509]
Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to him by the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 30 October 2001, Official Report, column 592W.
HM Treasury is continually looking to introduce saving schemes to the Department. For example, we registered with the Watermark Project to reduce water consumption in the Parliament street building and have implemented all their recommendations and have taken advantage of a shared saving scheme.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many publications were issued by his Department in each of the last four years. [11821]
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Ruth Kelly: Official documents produced since 1997 for external distribution by or on behalf of the Treasury are listed in the Department's annual report, "The Chancellor of the Exchequer's Departments: The Government's Expenditure Plans 2001–03 to 2003–04 and Main Estimates 2001–02", published in April 2001 and on the Treasury's public website.
Departmental Targets
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish details of each Department's performance against its public service agreement targets. [11843]
Mr. Andrew Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 25 October 2001, Official Report, column 373W.
Child Trust Funds
Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) in the first year that child trust funds are available, if he will state his target for (a) the total number of people who will take advantage of a saving gateway scheme and (b) the total number of people who will take advantage of a saving gateway scheme with (i) no previous savings and (ii) a level of savings consistent with the lowest decile of average per head saving levels; [11897]
- (2) what assessment he has made of the calculation of the likely cost effectiveness of the child trust fund and saving gateway proposals; [11925]
(3) what his target is for (a) the number of families which take advantage of a child trust fund and (b) the total number of families which take advantage of a child trust fund with (i) no previous savings and (ii) a level of savings consistent with the lowest decile of average per family saving levels, in the first year that child trust funds are available; [11892]
(4) what his target is for the average percentage of the maximum available savings limit which he expects to be used up by people taking advantage of a saving gateway scheme in the first year of the scheme's availability; [11900]
(5) if he will make a statement on the intended interaction of the saving gateway, stakeholder pension and the pension credit; [11895]
(6) in the first three years of each scheme's operation, how many new savers he expects to be created by (a) the child trust fund and (b) the saving gateway; [11899]
(7) what assessment he has made of the effect which the saving gateway will have on individuals intending to save into a stakeholder pension scheme; [11898]
(8) if he plans to allow equity investments to be held in the saving gateway and child trust fund schemes; [11890]
(9) if he has calculated the likely deadweight costs to the Exchequer in the first year of operation associated with the (a) savings gateway and (b) child trust fund. [11891]
Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 23 October 2001, Official Report, columns 207–08W.
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Special Advisers
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether there are members of the Council of Economic Advisers on contracts that are (a) permanent, (b) temporary and (c) secondments. [11608]
Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Prime Minister on 20 July 2001, Official Report, column 467W.
The Council of Economic Advisers are temporary civil servants appointed under Article 3 of the Civil Service Order in Council 1995 (as amended).
Inheritance Tax
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the yield of inheritance tax in each of the last four years. [11853]
Dawn Primarolo: Figures on inheritance tax yield are contained in table 1.2 of Inland Revenue Statistics 2000, which is available, updated to 2001 on the Inland Revenue website: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/menus/stats.htm.
Deceased Persons (Estates)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many cases, in each of the last four years, the proceeds of the estates of deceased persons reverted to the Inland Revenue. [11852]
Dawn Primarolo: Where a deceased person dies intestate and without entitled blood relatives the estate falls to be dealt with by the Treasury Solicitor on behalf of the Crown. In each of the last four years an average of 1,700 estates have been referred to the Treasury Solicitor, but not all of these revert to the Crown as in about a third of cases a will or relatives are traced.
Tax Credits
John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Bassetlaw have received working families tax credit and child credit to date. [11585]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of families in each constituency receiving working families tax credit (WFTC) are shown in "The WFTC Quarterly Enquiries", copies of which are in the Library.
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It is estimated that about 5 million families will benefit from the children's tax credit. Figures for each constituency are not available, but it is estimated that about 400,000 of these families are in the east midlands.
Service Delivery Agreements
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to revise the targets contained in the service delivery agreements published in autumn 2000. [11827]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The Government will be reviewing Departments' service delivery agreements, as part of the 2002 spending review. Departments will publish new ones after the review.
Civil Marriages
Margaret Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to change the law relating to civil registration of marriages to permit reference to parents of the bride or groom to include mothers. [11587]
Ruth Kelly: In 1998, the then Economic Secretary to the Treasury commissioned the Registrar General to carry out a fundamental review of the Civil Registration service in England and Wales. This was in recognition of the fact that much of the Civil Registration system is outdated and does not meet the needs of today's society.
In September 1999, the Registrar General published a consultation paper, "Registration: Modernising a Vital Service". The consultation period ended on 6 December 1999. The responses have been used to set out options for the future development of the registration service, so that it can adapt to the changing needs and attitudes of a modern society.
Many of the responses to the consultation document were in support of equality of treatment for men and women in the records of births, deaths and marriages. Proposals on how this could be achieved are now being formulated and the intention is to publish a policy paper in due course.
Secondees
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list secondees in his Department from the private sector to (a) the Inland Revenue, (b) the Office of Government Commerce and (c) Customs and Excise. [11610]
Ruth Kelly: Details of the seconding private sector companies and the secondees' Departmental responsibilities are shown in the table:
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