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Duty Free Goods

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the yield to the Exchequer in the next three years resulting from the system of duty free goods. [27489]

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Mr. Boateng: No revenue is received from the sale of duty free goods.

VAT (Church Repairs)

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has made to the European Commission on the issue of reducing VAT on repairs to historic churches; and if he will make a statement. [28081]

Mr. Boateng: The European Commission has indicated that it will consider a reduced rate of VAT for listed places of worship in their general review of the reduced rates in 2003.

The Chancellor announced in Budget 2001 the introduction of a UK-wide grant scheme to help congregations with the VAT cost of the repair and maintenance of listed buildings that are used as places of worship. The effect of the grant is to reduce the VAT cost on eligible repairs from 17.5 to 5 per cent.

This grant scheme, known as the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, was launched on 4 December.

Registrar's Department

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the role of the Registrar's Department and on progress in reviewing options for its future. [27924]

Ruth Kelly: It is not clear to which Registrar's Department the hon. Gentleman's question relates. If he would clarify the point, I will endeavour to provide him with the information he seeks.

Standing Committee

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions the Standing Committee set up by the Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority has met; and if he will publish the minutes of the meetings. [27918]

Ruth Kelly: The committee meets roughly monthly. Much of its work is confidential, and discussions are often subject to statutory protections of information under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Inland Revenue Services (Rural Areas)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on the future provision of Inland Revenue services in rural areas. [27920]

Dawn Primarolo: I am aware of no such recent representations relating to the provision of services in rural areas.

Hypothecation

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the merits and demerits of hypothecation. [28023]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 6 December 2001, Official Report, column 526W.

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Customs and Excise Forecasts

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the reasons underlying the growth in the level of manual adjustments made by HM Customs and Excise to their modelled forecasts for receipts over the years from 1995–96 to the present. [26412]

Mr. Boateng: Officials in HM Customs and Excise make manual adjustments to forecasts produced by economic models in consultation with officials from HM Treasury. The purpose of these adjustments is to provide more accurate forecasts of revenue receipts. This is conventional practice and such adjustments are made so as to capture events or trends that are not explicitly modelled, eg one-off events, such as the millennium celebrations; changes to the scope of the tax; changing tastes or new products.

The models for alcohol and petrol and diesel were re-estimated by Professor Marcus Chambers in 1999 (published as Government Economic Service Working Paper, Number 138). For most items the manual adjustments have been considerably reduced as a result.

Rail Infrastructure Company

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his Department's involvement in the proposed structure of the successor company to Railtrack. [27891]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Treasury Ministers and officials have been kept informed of DTLR's work on this subject.

Departmental Sickness Absence

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will commission and publish an independent report on the reasons for the level of sickness absence in his Department. [26997]

Ruth Kelly: The Cabinet Office already commissions and publishes an independent annual report "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service". This report includes details of the causes of absenteeism. The report for the year 2000 will be published shortly.

Pension Tax Codes

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what basis the Inland Revenue indexed the amount of state pension included in pension tax codes between 1999–2000 and 2000–01. [26797]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 14 January 2002]: The Inland Revenue does not routinely index the amount of state pension when it issues tax codes to pensioners before the start of the tax year. It bases the tax code on information provided to it by the Department for Work and Pensions (the Department of Social Security before June 2001) for individuals receiving the state pension, which takes into account the increase in the state pension that comes into effect in the new tax year. If for any reason the information is not provided by DWP, the estimated amount of state pension already included in the tax code is increased by reference to the appropriate percentage increase in state pensions as announced in the pre-Budget report.

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Capital Gains Tax

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer further to his answer of 17 December 2001, Official Report, column 32W, on Capital Gains Tax, what estimates for the Capital Gains Tax yield in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04 are used to derive the estimates for tax revenues contained in the pre-Budget report of November 2001; and if he will make a statement. [25784]

Dawn Primarolo: The available estimates of Capital Gains Tax receipts in years to 2002–03 are given in Table B11 of the November 2001 pre-Budget report and receipts mostly relate to accruals of the previous tax year. Estimates for later years are highly dependent on assumed growth in asset values.

Rural Support Scheme

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his projection is for the funding required to match the modulated funds in the rural support scheme. [27029]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Expenditure on rural support match funding in Scotland is a devolved matter for the Scottish Executive within their devolved budget.

Economic Stability Document

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to his answer of 18 December 2001, Official Report, column 197W, on the Economic Stability Document, how many copies of the volume "Reforming Britain's Economic and Financial Policy" (a) have been printed and (b) are planned to be printed over the next six months; and if he will make a statement. [25783]

Ruth Kelly: "Reforming Britain's Economic and Financial Policy" has been published commercially by Palgrave, the academic publishing division of Macmillan. The number of copies printed is a commercial decision for the publisher.

Climate Change Levy

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to exempt nuclear energy from the climate change levy. [25889]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The climate change levy is designed to encourage energy efficiency across the business and public sectors and to increase the use of sustainable forms of energy. The Government have no plans to exempt the nuclear power industry from the levy.

NHS Charges

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax revenue is generated from charges in the national health service. [25297]

Dawn Primarolo: Prescription and other national health service patient charges are outside the scope of VAT. NHS charges are not directly chargeable to income or corporation tax but NHS practitioners will be taxable on their income and profits in the normal way. It is not possible to separate tax revenue on NHS charges from tax revenue on other income.

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Charitable Donations

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individuals are making charitable donations; what the total amount given to charity is; and what the cost is to the Exchequer of tax relief thereon. [26253]

Ruth Kelly: Information on the full extent of charitable giving is not available from administrative sources. A study by the Charities Aid Foundation and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) estimated that about 30 million adults in Great Britain gave to charities in the year 2000. A survey by NCVO/NOP suggested that this was worth nearly £6 billion excluding legacies. There are also significant amounts of giving by companies. The cost to the Exchequer of donations under Deeds of Covenant, Gift Aid and Payroll Giving is estimated at £525 million for 2000–01.

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