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Special Advisers
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 31 October 2001, Official Report, columns 741–42W, on records kept under Clause 9 of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, if he will list the internal purposes to which he referred. [20383]
Ruth Kelly [holding answer 4 December 2001]: These are set out in Clause 9 of the Code to which the hon. Member refers.
Crown Estate
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Crown Estate has spent on corporate hospitality in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001. [18535]
Mr. Andrew Smith [holding answer 27 November 2001]: The Crown Estate spent the following on corporate hospitality:
| Year | £ |
|---|---|
| (a) 1998–99 | 9,198 |
| (b) 1999–2000 | 12,173 |
| (c) 2000–01 | 135,415 |
This figure includes costs for special receptions to mark the millennium, held for Crown Estate tenants. These comprised a garden party in the Windsor Estate for some 1,500 guests, and a dinner in Stirling Castle for some 200 guests.
- (d) 2001–02: Projected to be £16,610.
Mr. Andrew Smith [holding answer 6 December 2001]: The Crown Estate contributes to activities related to land and property management and figures for these contributions are supplied:
| Year | £ |
|---|---|
| (a) 1998–99 | 26,450 |
| (b) 1999–2000 | 45,896 |
| (c) 2000–01 | 72,730 |
| (d) 2001–02(7) | 37,431 |
(7) Predicted to date
These activities include items such as contributions to the cost to the Marine Conservation Society's Beachwatch scheme, the Marine Education Centre in Kimmeridge, Dorset and the Moray Firth Partnership (coastal forum)
11 Dec 2001 : Column: 767W
newsletter. The Crown Estate does not, as a general rule, provide corporate sponsorship for cultural or sporting events.
In addition, in Regent street where the Crown Estate owns all the property between Piccadilly circus and Oxford circus (an estate valued at £742.5 million) the Crown Estate contributed £193,836 (1999–2000) and £200,000 (2000–01) to the Regent street Christmas lights and £61,796 (2000–01) to the Regent street festival, as part of its management strategy to maintain and enhance Regent street's reputation and position as one of London's premier shopping destinations.
Royal Finances
Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what steps he has taken to distinguish, for the purpose of treatment of royal finances, between the private wealth of the sovereign and that held in trust by the sovereign in her capacity as head of state; and if he will make a statement; [21535]
- (2) if he will list the taxation provisions where the treatment of the sovereign in her private capacity differs from that applied to the rest of the population; [21533]
(3) if he will take steps to make mandatory the arrangement under which Her Majesty the Queen pays tax on her private income. [21532]
Mr. Gordon Brown [holding answers 10 December 2001]: The taxation arrangements for Her Majesty are set out in the Memorandum of Understanding in the Royal Trustees Report (HC 464) published on 11 February 1993. Assets held by Her Majesty as Head of State, i.e. on behalf of the nation, include the Royal Collection, the assets of the Crown Estate, the occupied and Historic Royal Palaces, and the Royal Parks. These are distinct from private assets, whose tax treatment is covered in the Memorandum of Understanding. We have no plans to change these arrangements.
National Income
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of national income is spent on (a) work and pensions, (b) health, (c) national debt, (d) defence, (e) education and skills, (f) trade and industry, (g) environment, food and rural affairs, (h) transport, local government and the regions, (i) international development, (j) law and order, (k) asylum and immigration and (l) culture, media and sport. [21231]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Government spending by function, as a percentage of national income, is detailed in Table 3.4 of "Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2001–02", published in April 2001, as Command Paper 5101.
Public-Private Venture Capital
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to achieve his target of £1 billion of public-private venture capital funding; and what proportion of this target he expects to be (a) public and (b) private. [20482]
11 Dec 2001 : Column: 768W
Mr. Boateng: The target will be achieved over several years. The split between public and private funding will depend on commercial considerations.
Benefits (Portsmouth, South)
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people received (a) tax credits and (b) means- tested benefits in the constituency of Portsmouth, South in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [21218]
Dawn Primarolo: The latest available information for Portsmouth, South is in the following table:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) | 2,100 |
| Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC) | 24 |
| Income Support (IS) | 7,600 |
| Jobseeker's Allowance (income based)(JSA) | 1,300 |
| Total | 11,000 |
Notes:
1. Apart from DPTC, the figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample. They are subject to sampling error and therefore shown to the nearest hundred.
2. Recipients of WFTC or DPTC who also receive IS or JSA are included only in the first two columns. This eliminates doubling counting in the total.
3. DPTC figure is for April.
Sources:
Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiries May 2001
Jobseeker's Allowance Quarterly Statistical Enquiries May 2001
Working Families Tax Credit Quarterly Statistical Enquiry May 2001
Disabled Person's Tax Credit Quarterly Statistical Enquiry April 2001
Housing benefit and council tax benefit figures are not available for the Portsmouth, South constituency but are available for the Portsmouth local authority.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Housing benefit | 15,900 |
| Council tax benefit | 13,710 |
Notes:
1. The data refer to benefit units, which can be single persons or couples.
2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest ten.
3. Housing benefit figures exclude any Extended Payment cases.
4. Council tax benefit totals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases.
Source:
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock
Tax Credits (Glasgow)
Mr. Wray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Glasgow have received (a) the working families tax credit, (b) the child care tax credit and (c) the disabled persons tax credit. [21664]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the numbers receiving the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) and the Disabled Person's Tax Credit (DPTC) in each local authority and parliamentary constituency are published in the WFTC and DPTC Quarterly Enquiries, copies of
11 Dec 2001 : Column: 769W
which are in the Library. It is estimated that about 2.6 thousand families in Glasgow City were receiving the child care tax credit within WFTC or DPTC at May 2001.
The estimates for WFTC and for the child care tax credit are however based on 5 per cent. samples of awards, and are therefore subject to sampling error.
Public Services Productivity
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to publish the paper on public services productivity mentioned in paragraph 1.13 of 'Productivity in the UK: The evidence and the Government's approach'; and if he will make a statement. [21417]
Mr. Boateng: Work on the paper is well under way, and the paper will be published in due course.
Employment Tax Credit
James Purnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of how the employment tax credit could be combined with training to increase the earnings potential of the low paid. [21625]
Dawn Primarolo: Recent work by CBI-TUC and the Performance and Innovation Unit has underlined the importance of workforce development and skill acquisition in the UK. Their reports identify significant market failures that restrict training opportunities for lower skilled employees. To tackle these market failures and deliver a long-term improvement in workplace training the Government are considering a range of options for a new policy framework to reform the UK training system and encourage more training among people with low skills. In the PBR, the Government said they would examine an approach based on four complementary, linked elements which would require commitments by stakeholders—the Government, employers and individuals. These are: financial support for employers whose staff take time off; free learning provision for employees; and entitlement to take-up training and extended guidance and support.
James Purnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment the Government have made of the relationship between incentives to work for a second earner and the introduction of the employment tax credit. [21626]
Dawn Primarolo: The working tax credit aims to make work pay and tackle poverty. The working tax credit will improve work incentives for second earners by:
- assessing against gross income, enabling the second earner in the household to take advantage of national insurance contributions thresholds, income tax allowances and rate bands. In this way, gross tapers should lessen the unemployment trap for tax credit recipients by reducing the average deduction rate;
allowing couples with children with joint working hours of over 30 hours to qualify for an extra credit, even if neither of them individually works 30 hours or more.
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