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Inland Revenue Rewards

Mr. Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with regard to section 32 of the Inland Revenue Regulation Act 1890, if Commissioners have made use of this power since 1972 to reward their own officers involved in a case. [26843]

Dawn Primarolo: We are not aware of any cases in which the Commissioners of Inland Revenue have used their power under section 32 of the Inland Revenue Regulation Act 1890 to reward their own officers.

Children's Tax Credit

Ms Walley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of families in Stoke-on-Trent who will benefit from the increase in children's tax credit in April 2002. [26933]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government announced in Budget 2001 that we would increase the children's tax credit to up to £20 a week for families in the year of a child's birth from April 2002. This is expected to benefit around half a million families, but no estimate is available of the number that will benefit in Stoke-on-Trent.

Smuggling

Mr. Peter Atkinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cars with their contents of tobacco

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and alcohol were confiscated by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in the last 12 months; and how many of these cars originated in the north-east. [26726]

Mr. Boateng: Customs records of the numbers of vehicles seized do not disaggregate between the nature of the offences, the type of vehicle or the origin of the vehicle involved in each case.

For the number of vehicles seized by Customs, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) on 30 October 2001, Official Report, column 625W.

World AIDS Day Postcards

Ann McKechin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many World AIDS Day postcards promoted by the World Development Movement and Jubilee Scotland were received by his Department in 2001. [26907R]

Mr. Boateng: 746 World AIDS Day postcards promoted by the World Development Movement and Jubilee Scotland were received by HM Treasury in 2001.

Aircraft Fuel

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to tax aircraft fuel. [26920]

Mr. Boateng: The Government's taxation plans are announced in my right hon. Friend's annual Budget.

Poverty Relief

Ms Walley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what conditions he has set to define the relief of poverty in respect of his 2015 targets arising from trade liberalisation as set out in his Ottawa speech. [26934]

Mr. Boateng: Full trade liberalisation could lift at least 300 million people out of poverty by 2015. Even diminishing protectionist tariffs in agriculture and in industrial goods and services by 50 per cent. would boost the world's yearly income by nearly 400 billion US dollars, a boost to growth of 1.4 per cent. Developing countries would gain 150 billion US dollars and a greater than average increase in GDP growth.

That is why we strongly welcome the WTO agreement in Doha to launch a new trade round focused on development. And in the next phase we must take forward the agreements to open up trade in agriculture, build the capacity of developing countries to participate more effectively in the negotiations and open up greater access to medicines.

On the other hand developing countries must pursue corruption-free policies for stability, for opening up trade and for creating a favourable environment for investment. In return, developed countries should be prepared to increase assistance to meet the 2015 UN millennium development goals agreed.

Developed countries have the responsibility for ensuring that trade liberalisation is accompanied by social justice, creating conditions under which people in developing countries are enabled to benefit from expanding economic opportunities.

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Towards this end all developed countries should offer access to all but military products from the least developed countries and, by banning export credit guarantees for unproductive expenditure, discourage and diminish the diversion to arms expenditure of resources needed for education and health.

Tax Relief (Residential Care)

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give tax relief for those taxpayers who are paying the full cost of a spouse residing in a nursing home. [26910]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government have no plans to introduce tax relief for those taxpayers who are paying the full cost of a spouse residing in a nursing home.

Working Families Tax Credit

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the working families tax credit on the income levels of the poorest working families in the Edinburgh North and Leith constituency. [27484]

Dawn Primarolo: The working families tax credit (WFTC) is a success in making work pay for families with children. At August 2001 WFTC was helping 1,270,000 families. This is 52 per cent. more families than were benefiting from family credit at its peak, and families were receiving on average around an extra £35 per week. In the Edinburgh, North and Leith constituency 1,216 families with children were benefiting from WFTC at August 2001.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people (a) are eligible for the working families tax credit and (b) claim the working families tax credit. [27761]

Dawn Primarolo: The numbers of recipients of working families tax credit (WFTC) are shown in the WFTC Quarterly Enquiries, copies of which are in the Library. No reliable estimate of the number of families eligible for WFTC in 2000–01 can be attempted until the Family Resources Survey for 2000–01 is analysed.

Insurance (Reserving)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the tax system on reserving in the insurance business. [27440]

Dawn Primarolo: No such assessment has been made.

Tax Competition

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the most recent (a) report and (b) other publication of the Code of Conduct Group on harmful tax competition. [27463]

Dawn Primarolo: As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer explained in the answer he gave my hon. Friend the Member for Clydesdale (Mr. Hood) on 11 December 2001, Official Report, column 770W, the ECOFIN Council received a written report from the Code of Conduct Group at its meeting on 4 December 2001.

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The Code of Conduct states that it is for ECOFIN to decide whether reports should be published. On 28 February 2000, the ECOFIN Council agreed to publish the Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) Report of 23 November 1999.

Customs and Excise

Mr. Illsley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many domestic motor cars were seized by HM Customs and Excise during 2000; [27203]

(2) how many domestic motor cars were seized by HM Customs and Excise as a consequence of seizures of (a) alcohol and (b) tobacco during 2000; [27204]

(3) how many motor cars have been seized by HM Customs and Excise (a) in the United Kingdom, (b) which were registered in west Yorkshire, (c) which were registered in south Yorkshire and (d) which were registered in Barnsley in the last three years. [27202]

Mr. Boateng: Customs records of the number of vehicles seized do not disaggregate between the nature of the offences, the type of vehicle or the origin of the vehicle in each case.

For the number of vehicles seized by Customs in 2000–01, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) on 30 October 2001, Official Report, column 625W.

For the number of vehicles seized by Customs in 1998–99 and 1999–2000, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Hamilton, South (Mr. Tynan) on 8 January 2001, Official Report, column 794W.

Lower Income Earners

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the proportion of the income of the bottom 10 per cent. of income earners in each of the last four years taken by (a) VAT and (b) other indirect tax. [27439]

Mr. Boateng: Precise information on income earners is not available. The closest information available is that published in "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income, 1999–2000", Economic Trends No. 569, April 2001.

Landfill Tax Credit Scheme

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes in the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme; and if he will make a statement. [27600]

Mr. Boateng: An assessment of the impact of changes to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme will be made as part of the current review of the scheme. A consultation document will be issued shortly.

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