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Climate Change Levy
Mr. Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the climate change levy on manufacturing productivity. [R] [10256]
Mr. Boateng: The climate change levy is a broadly revenue neutral instrument which will raise the relative price of energy but lower the relative cost of employment.
The impact on any specific sector or industry will depend on a number of factors including:
- The future energy consumption of firms in the sector and the use they make of levy funded energy efficiency support.
- Employment levels in those sectors and the benefits received from the levy funded reductions in employers' national insurance contributions.
- The number of energy intensive firms in that sector that are eligible to receive a discount on the main rates of the levy by signing up to an energy efficiency agreement.
- What use firms in that sector make of electricity generated from levy exempt sources of energy such as new renewables and combined heat and power.
Mr. Boateng: The Government have no plans to amend the eligibility criteria for businesses entering into negotiated agreements for improving energy efficiency in return for 80 per cent. discounts of the climate change levy.
Customs and Excise
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the statutory instruments affecting the working of HM Customs and Excise that have come into force since 31 March 1999. [11174]
Mr. Boateng [holding answer 5 November 2001]: Statutory instruments that affect the work of the Department can be found listed in the HM Customs and Excise annual reports. The next report is due to be published at the end of November.
Public-private Partnerships
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 30 October 2001,
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Official Report, column 623W, on the Mott MacDonald study, if any public-private partnerships will be examined by the study; for what reasons he is unable to place the terms of reference in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [13456]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The study is intended to inform risk assessment in future publicly procured projects. For this reason, the study is confined to conventional procurement, as per the terms of reference, which are available in full in the Library.
Intellectual Property Rights
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which organisation owns the intellectual property rights to (a) the Inland Revenue proprietary system for processing tax returns, (b) the National Insurance Recording System 2 and (c) Customs and Excise proprietary systems; and if he will make a statement. [14742]
- (a) Inland Revenue—Under the strategic partnership contract with EDS, the Inland Revenue owns all the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) created as part of the delivery of IT services to the Department.
- (b) NIRS 2—The NIRS 2 deal with Accenture (then Andersen Consulting) is a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and accordingly the IPRs were granted to Accenture.
- The PFI deal permits IR to have 'licence to use' the IPRs in perpetuity for a sliding scale of charge.
- (c) Customs and Excise—All IPRs in Customs and Excise propriety systems are owned by the Department.
Child Care Tax Credits
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland are eligible for (i) the working families tax credit and (ii) the child care tax credit. [15147]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of families in receipt of the working families tax credit (WFTC) in each country are shown in the WFTC quarterly inquiries, copies of which are in the Library.
The following are estimates of the number of families in each country in receipt of the child care tax credit within WFTC at May 2001:
| Country | |
|---|---|
| (a) England | 119,400 |
| (b) Wales | 6,900 |
| (c) Scotland | 14,200 |
| (d) Northern Ireland | 3,900 |
Note:
The figures for England, Wales and Scotland are estimates based on a 5 per cent. sample of awards, and are therefore subject to sampling error. In addition, there were a small number of families for which the country was not known from the data used to compile these estimates.
Tax Receipts
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what impact the reduced rate of output in manufacturing since January has had on (a) corporation tax receipts and (b) VAT receipts. [14423]
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Mr. Andrew Smith: An updated projection for corporation tax and VAT receipts will be presented in the forthcoming pre-Budget Report.
British Petroleum
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received from BP; and if he will place them in the Library. [14443]
Mr. Boateng: Treasury Ministers receive a large number of representations from a wide range of organisations on a wide range of subjects.
Company Cars
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the total cost to business that will result from the changes to company car tax from April 2002. [14391]
Mr. Boateng: The Inland Revenue estimates that employers will pay around £25 million less in national insurance contributions over the first three years of the new system as a result of the reforms to company car tax.
The Inland Revenue also estimates that employers will save around £20 million per year in recurring compliance costs as a result of the reforms. A Regulatory Impact Assessment document looking in detail at the impacts of the company car tax changes on employers' compliance costs is on the Inland Revenue's website.
Customs and Excise (Rosyth)
Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Customs and Excise officers the Rosyth ferry terminal will employ; and what special measures will be included in their roles to prevent smuggling and the entry of illegal immigrants. [13938]
Mr. Boateng [holding answer 12 November 2001]: It is a matter for the Commissioners of HM Customs and Excise where and how they deploy their staff. They continually keep the position under review and will deploy staff based on the assessed level of risk and results from smuggling.
The Immigration Service rather than Customs and Excise are responsible for preventing the entry of illegal immigrants.
NHS Funding Review
Dr. Fox: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the result of the review of the future funding of the NHS, commissioned from Derek Wanless, upon receipt of the report in April 2002. [15054]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Budget 2001 announced that Derek Wanless had been asked to carry out a review to examine the technological, demographic and medical trends over the next two decades that may affect the health service in the UK as a whole. I confirm that the Government intend to publish his report when it is completed.
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Capital Modernisation Grant Scheme
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to which nations and regions of the United Kingdom the Government capital modernisation grant scheme is applicable. [15067]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The capital modernisation fund applies to all parts of the United Kingdom for non-devolved functions and to England for devolved functions. Where money is allocated to English Departments, corresponding allocations are made to the devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland based on the usual Barnett formula. The amounts allocated to the devolved Administrations from the fund are set out in the table 1.12 of the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2001–02.
Pre-Budget Report
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will publish his pre-Budget report; and if he will make a statement. [14145]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The Chancellor will present the pre-Budget report on 27 November.
Illegal Food Imports
Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of customs resources available to control the importation of illegal food. [15197]
Mr. Boateng: The lead responsibility for controls on imported food lies with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and agencies acting on its behalf. Customs has both provided support to these agencies and dealt with illicit meat detected as part of Customs normal control activities on imports. It is examining with DEFRA how it can best contribute to the overall Government response to the risks presented by illegal meat imports.
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