| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Warehoused Goods Regulations
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions in (a) 1999–2000 and (b) 2000–01 an owner of warehoused goods failed to comply with the Warehouses and Owners of Warehouse Goods Regulations 1999. [26429]
Mr. Boateng: The central record holds details of rejections at application and revocation action only. The numbers are as follows:
- 1999–2000
Revocations—1
Rejections at registration—0
2000–01
Revocations—14
Rejections at registration—38.
Digitised Products (Taxation)
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proposals the Government are making within the European Community for alternatives to the Commission's paper COM (2000) 349. [26448]
Mr. Boateng: As part of on-going EU discussions on the taxation of digitised products supplied to consumers, the Government have consistently argued that, in the medium term, an electronic solution should be introduced for charging, collecting and distributing the tax due on these supplies in the place where they are consumed, and that any short-term solution should be both temporary and simple to administer. We are confident that final agreement will soon be reached on this basis.
Alcohol and Tobacco Fraud Review
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which Ministers received the draft Alcohol and Tobacco Fraud Review report containing the paragraph on resources cited in paragraph 9.3 of the Rogues report. [26415]
Mr. Boateng: The draft report was submitted to the then Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and discussed by Treasury Ministers. Consideration of the resourcing implications was subsequently taken forward as part of the 1998 spending round in the normal way.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the recommendations of HM Customs and Excise on the level of additional resources needed to combat fraud and evasion that were contained in the draft Alcohol and Tobacco Fraud Review and quoted in paragraph 9.3 of the Rogues report. [26414]
Mr. Boateng: Consideration of the resourcing implications of the Review was taken forward as part of
25 Jan 2002 : Column 1147W
the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). The CSR settlement included an additional £35 million to fund more than 100 extra officers at the ports to tackle the problem of alcohol and tobacco fraud and smuggling.
Comprehensive Spending Review
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to consult service users on options and priorities for the Comprehensive Spending Review. [26137]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The Government consult a wide range of interests in setting their priorities, including, importantly, service users.
Market Research
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what expenditure has been incurred by his (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each of the last four years on (i) opinion polling, (ii) focus groups and (iii) other forms of market research; and if he will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each. [27950]
Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) on 29 January 2001, Official Report, column 42W.
Detailed information in the form requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Young People
(Income Tax and National Insurance)
Matthew Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of persons aged (a) 16 and (b) 17 years paid (i) income tax and (ii) national insurance in each of the last five years; [29463]
- (2) how much (a) income tax and (b) national insurance was received from persons aged (i) 16 and (ii) 17 years in each of the last five years. [29467]
Dawn Primarolo: Amounts of income tax liabilities from persons aged 16 and 17 are in the table.
| Aged 16 | Aged 17 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 20 | 50 |
| 1999–2000 | 10 | 40 |
| 2000–01 | 10 | 40 |
Estimates (rounded to the nearest £10 million) are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes and are consistent with the November 2001 pre-Budget report. I regret that it is not possible to provide reliable estimates for earlier years.
Estimates for amounts of class 1 primary national insurance contribution (NIC) liabilities from persons aged 16 and 17 are in the table.
25 Jan 2002 : Column 1148W
| Aged 16 | Aged 17 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 10 | 30 |
| 1997–98 | 10 | 30 |
| 1998–99 | 10 | 30 |
| 1999–2000 | 10 | 30 |
| 2000–01 | 10 | 20 |
Estimates provided by the Government Actuary's Department and rounded to the nearest £10 million.
Available estimates for the number of income taxpayers aged 16 and 17 as a percentage of the total population of 16 and 17-year-olds are in the table.
| Number of 16-year-old taxpayers as a percentage of all 16-year-olds | Number of 17-year-old taxpayers as a percentage of all 17-year-olds | |
|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 4 | 11 |
| 1999–2000 | 3 | 10 |
| 2000–01 | 3 | 10 |
Taxpayer estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes. Population estimates are from the Office for National Statistics.
Estimates for the number of NIC payers aged 16 and 17 as a percentage of the total population of 16 and 17-year-olds are in the table.
| Number of 16-year-old NIC payers as a percentage of all 16-year-olds | Number of 17-year-old NIC payers as a percentage of all 17-year-olds | |
|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 5 | 13 |
| 1997–98 | 5 | 13 |
| 1998–99 | 5 | 13 |
| 1999–2000 | 5 | 14 |
| 2000–01 | 4 | 11 |
Estimates were provided by the Government Actuary's Department. Population estimates are from the Office for National Statistics.
All of the estimates are based on survey data and therefore subject to a margin of error particularly because of the relatively small sample sizes involved.
Green Technology Challenge
Ms Walley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) on what basis (a) air pollution from industry, (b) cleaning up polluted land, (c) oil spills, (d) waste treatment and (e) recycling are excluded from the Green Technology Challenge funding; [29702]
- (2) for what reasons the decision was taken to limit the Green Technology Challenge to (a) clean fuels, (b) clean vehicle reduction in water use, (c) the improvement of water quality and (d) energy efficient technologies. [29701]
25 Jan 2002 : Column 1149W
Mr. Boateng: The Government provide support for environmental objectives through a wide range of policies. Proposals put forward in response to the consultation on setting up a Green Technology Challenge were assessed against the following criteria:
- the extent to which there is a market failure or a specific environmental problem that needs to be addressed through Government policy;
the extent to which this problem is best dealt with through a fiscal instrument such as capital allowances and the objective cannot be better achieved through other Government policies;
the effectiveness of offering enhanced capital allowances for investment in technologies in the environmental area in question.
World Bank Loans
Tony Baldry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with US Treasury spokesmen on replacing World bank loans to the world's poorest countries with grants. [29629]
Mr. Boateng: The potential role of World bank grant finance is one of the issues being discussed in the context of the replenishment of the funds of the International Development Association (IDA, the concessional lending arm of the World bank), on which the Secretary of State for International Development leads. The Chancellor and Treasury officials have held discussions with the US Treasury and other countries to seek support for the UK position in these negotiations, which is that we should maintain and enhance the role of IDA as the largest source of concessional finance for low-income countries, and to encourage a substantial contribution by donors to the IDA replenishment.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |