---

TREASURY

Children's Tax Credit

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the number and nature of representations received calling for an increase of the children's tax credit in order to meet the cost of nurseries and child minders. [28762]

Dawn Primarolo: We are not aware of any representations to increase the level of children's tax credit to help with the costs of nurseries and child minders.

23 Jan 2002 : Column 910W

Euro Bank Accounts

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of euro accounts opened in the United Kingdom banks; and what percentage this is of the total. [29271]

Ruth Kelly: The latest quarterly review by the Association for Payment Clearing Systems (APACS) identified that there were about 135,000 euro bank accounts and approximately 6 per cent. of UK businesses have opened one.

Tobacco

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue lost due to excise evasion on (a) hand-rolling tobacco and (b) cigarettes since the abolition of European fiscal frontiers; and how much of this revenue has been recovered. [24801]

Mr. Boateng: Relevant information concerning estimates of fraud can be found in the Customs and Excise technical paper "Measuring Indirect Tax Fraud", published on 27 November 2001, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

Excise Movement and Control System

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the progress and expected time scale of measures to implement a computerised excise movement and control system throughout the EU. [26513]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 14 January 2002]: The Commission published a proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the European Council on computerising the movement and surveillance of excisable products on 19 November 2001. The proposal, if agreed, would establish the computerised system within five years.

VAT (Cancer Charities)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the revenue that would be forgone if charities which pay irrecoverable VAT on the cost of building and refurbishing cancer treatment facilities were to be allowed to recover VAT or to have such work zero-rated. [26534]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 16 January 2002]: No estimate is available of the cost to the Exchequer of allowing charities to recover VAT on the cost of building and refurbishing cancer treatment facilities or the cost of having such work zero-rated.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the definition is of a hospice for the purposes of VAT; [26535]

(2) what his policy is towards the liability of hospices for VAT; [26533]

(3) if he will make a statement on how EU law affects his powers to determine the liability of charities for VAT on the construction and refurbishment of facilities for cancer treatment. [26531]

23 Jan 2002 : Column 911W

Mr. Boateng [holding answers 16 January 2002]: EU VAT law provides no specific relief for charities constructing or refurbishing facilities for cancer treatment. Neither does it provide any definition of a hospice. In the UK, the construction of new residential hospices is zero-rated provided the organisation that commissioned the building work also occupies it. The construction of new non-residential treatment facilities and the repair or refurbishment of existing buildings is standard-rated. Long-standing agreements with our European partners allow us to retain our existing zero-rates but prevent us from introducing any new ones.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to allow Macmillan Cancer Relief to recover VAT on its building costs incurred in respect of buildings which are owned or managed by the national health service. [26532]

Mr. Boateng [holding answer 16 January 2002]: The Government looked very carefully at the issue of irrecoverable VAT as part of the 1999 Review of Charity Taxation, concluding that to allow refund would be prohibitively expensive and would breach fundamental principles of VAT law.

Customs are ready to provide help and advice to any charity experiencing VAT problems. They have recently written to the Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Relief and hope to meet the charity soon to discuss the VAT implications of their building programmes.

Intra-community Trade

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the intra-Community trade declared despatch arrival values for January to February 2001 as a percentage of the corresponding values for January to February 2000. [24549]

Mr. Boateng: HM Customs and Excise collect statistics for intra-Community trade via the Intrastat system.

The declared intra-Community trade for arrivals and despatches for January and February 2001, expressed as percentages of the corresponding values for the same months of 2000 are as follows:

Arrivals

January 2001

Declarations as a percentage of value of January 2000 declarations—116 per cent.

February 2001

Declarations as a percentage of value of February 2000 declarations—106 per cent.

Despatches

January 2001

Declarations as a percentage of value of January 2000 declarations—117 per cent.

February 2001

Declarations as a percentage of value of February 2000 declarations—109 per cent.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the compliance rate of traders in statistical submissions for intra-Community transactions in January and February; and what percentage was received by the due date. [24550]

23 Jan 2002 : Column 912W

Mr. Boateng: HM Customs and Excise collect statistics for intra-Community trade via the Intrastat Supplementary Declaration. Declarations can be submitted on paper or electronically.

During 2001, paper declarations were to be submitted to Customs by the tenth day following the end of the reference period to which the declaration referred. Electronic declarations were to be submitted by the last day of the month following the end of the reference period to which the declaration referred.

Partially compliant traders are those who submit some, but not all, of their declarations by due date.

The percentages of declarations for January and February 2001 received by the due date are as follows:

Declarations received by respective due datePercentage

Date	Paper	Electronic
January 2001
Arrivals
Trade value received by due date	44	89
Traders fully compliant by due date	51	70
Traders partially compliant by due date	4	7
Dispatches
Trade value received by due date	47	89
Traders fully compliant by due date	56	76
Traders partially compliant by due date	2	4
February 2001
Arrivals
Trade value received by due date	41	91
Traders fully compliant by due date	48	73
Traders partially compliant by due date	3	7
Dispatches
Trade value received by due date	46	89
Traders fully compliant by due date	51	80
Traders partially compliant by due date	2	2

Single Market

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the changes in Customs and Excise duties arising from the operation of the European single market and cross-channel shopping; and what estimates were made before the single market came into force. [24803]

Mr. Boateng: No changes in Customs and Excise duties arose from the operation of the European single market and cross-channel shopping.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the changes in revenue to the Exchequer arising from the introduction of the European single market (a) through the increased allowances on importation of EC-produced cigarettes and tobacco products and (b) through increased smuggling of cigarettes and tobacco products. [24837]

Mr. Boateng: Customs and Excise make no estimates about the effects of the European single market on the smuggling of cigarettes and tobacco products.

23 Jan 2002 : Column 913W

VAT

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much on average each VAT inspector raised an additional VAT liability in the last financial year; and what is the average annual cost of employing a VAT inspector. [24380]

Mr. Boateng: In 2000–01 each VAT inspector raised, on average, £446,000 in net additional liability. The average cost of employing a VAT inspector is around £40,000.

Ian Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if a person registered for VAT can reclaim from the Customs and Excise the costs of building (a) a mausoleum for himself and (b) a home for himself. [28308]

Mr. Boateng: Anyone building a home for themself, whether or not they are VAT registered, is able to claim the VAT paid on goods and materials under the DIY builders refund scheme, details of which are available from the Customs and Excise National Advice Service on 0845 010 9000. The scheme applies only to dwellings, not to mausoleums.

---