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Council Tax

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the council tax for a band D property in each local authority in England for each financial year from 1997–98 to 2001–02. [40283]

Dr. Whitehead: Tables showing the band D council tax in each local authority in England for each financial year from 1997–98 to 2001–02 have been placed in the Libraries of the House. Table 1 provides information on the band D council tax for the area of each local authority, with table 2 showing each authority's own band D council tax. The figures are based on two adults and include amounts funded by council tax benefit and transitional reduction.

Allowances (Local Government)

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what guidance he gives to local authorities on (a) the payment of members' allowances and (b) employment of political staff. [40282]

Dr. Whitehead: We issued local authorities with guidance on allowances for councillors in April 2001. Local authorities are required to have regard to the statutory parts of this guidance, as well as to the relevant legislation.

The guidance sets out that basic and special responsibility allowances are discretionary allowances, with levels set by individual local authorities, having regard to the recommendations of their independent remuneration panels. Local authorities are required to publish the details of their scheme of allowances, the amount of each allowance paid to each member, and the recommendations of their independent remuneration panel.

The maximum levels payable to councillors for travel and subsistence are governed by section 174 of the Local Government Act 1972. They were last updated in April 2000 by an Annex to Circular 1/86.

The employment of political staff is covered by section 9 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. There may be no more than three political assistants in a Local Authority. These posts are usually assigned to the three largest political groups which have ten per cent. or more of the membership of the authority, unless the authority decides to allow a different minority group to appoint a political assistant. Where only one political group has more than 10 per cent. of the authority's membership, that group and the next largest group will be entitled to appoint a political assistant. A political assistant may not discharge any of an authority's functions, nor may they direct any staff except for their own clerical or secretarial support. The

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maximum remuneration of political assistants is set by the Local Government (Assistant for Political Groups) (Remuneration) Order 1995, and is currently £25,044.

TREASURY

Customs and Excise

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what statistics he keeps on the ethnic background of business-owners under investigation by HM Customs and Excise; and if he will make a statement. [36032]

Mr. Boateng: No such statistics are available. Customs in the course of their investigations do not collect this information.

PIU Voluntary Sector Review

Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will list the (a) numbers, (b) grades and (c) sections in which they work of the officials in his Department who have worked with PIU voluntary sector review: organisational forms for social enterprise; and if he will make a statement; [36034]

(2) which Minister in his Department has responsibility for the PIU voluntary sector review: organisational forms for social enterprise. [35974]

Ruth Kelly: The Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) is not part of HM Treasury but is located in the Cabinet Office and reports directly to the Prime Minister. The sponsor Minister for the PIU voluntary sector review is the Home Secretary. In the course of normal business the PIU are in close touch with a range of Treasury officials on issues of common concern.

Meat Imports

Mr. Paice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Customs officials were employed to check personal imports of meat and meat products on 1 January (a) 2002, (b) 2001, (c) 2000 and (d) 1999. [36584]

Mr. Boateng: Customs law enforcement officers deal with the full range of prohibitions and restrictions where Customs has an enforcement responsibility. No Customs officials are employed specifically for meat and meat product checks where local and port health authorities and DEFRA have the lead responsibilities.

Customs officers do however participate in joint exercises organised by the lead agencies to target illicit meat as well as seizing meat found in the normal course of their duties.

Global Crossing

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the dates that Ministers in his Department have received hospitality in their ministerial capacities since 1 January 1999 from Global Crossing; and if he will make a statement. [37684]

Ruth Kelly: Offers of hospitality which are accepted are registered in line with the requirements of paragraph 139 of the Ministerial Code.

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Departmental Development

Mr. Luff: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how often the Department has applied the special urgency provisions in paragraph 22 of Circular 18/84 (Development by Government Departments) to a development by the Department; and if he will make a statement. [38710]

Ruth Kelly: The Treasury has not applied these provisions.

Catering Services

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was of (a) in-house canteen and (b) other catering services provided by his Department in each of the last four years. [38926]

Ruth Kelly: Expenditure on services provided by the Treasury's caterers was as follows.

	£
In-house staff restaurant and associated facilities:
1997–98	52,709.85
1998–99	39,643.51
1999–2000	129,978.39
2000–01	146,236.35
Other catering services:
1997–98	86,095.73
1998–99	111,245.58
1999–2000	93,426.23
2000–01	106,466.30

This period covers the provision of additional facilities in a second Treasury building, Allington Towers, and the provision of additional snack bar facilities in the main Treasury building. In addition, this period saw the loss of subsidy contribution when other occupants of main Treasury building moved out.

Euro

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the countries pegged to the euro which are outside the Eurozone. [39642]

Ruth Kelly: This information was published in the European Central Bank's "Review of the International Role of the Euro", in October 2001.

Smuggling

Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people have been prosecuted for smuggling tobacco and alcohol into the country during the past five years; and what forms of punishment were administered to these individuals. [39764]

Mr. Boateng: Each prosecution case can involve a number of defendants. Customs central records collate the number of prosecution cases rather than the number of people prosecuted.

For the number of prosecutions relating to tobacco and alcohol smuggling for the period 1996–96 to 1999–2000, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) on 15 January 2001, Official Record, column 123W.

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In 2000–01, Customs prosecuted 764 cases. Details of the penalties levied for excise and single market offences are contained in the Customs and Excise Annual Reports from 1996–97 to 1999–2000. The same information for the period 2000–01 will be detailed in the Customs and Excise Annual Report for 2000–01, due to be published shortly.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individuals have been found guilty by a court of law of smuggling non-excise paid tobacco and alcohol into this country; how many of these individuals received a penalty fine as a result; and what was the average level of this penalty in the last three years. [39810]

Mr. Boateng: Customs do not hold centrally information in the format requested. However, details of the penalties levied for excise and single market offences are contained in the Customs and Excise Annual Reports for 1996–97 to 1999–2000. Information for the period 2000–01 will be detailed in the Customs and Excise Annual Report for 2000–01, due to be published shortly.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many websites offering the sale of non-duty paid tobacco and alcohol have been shut down within the past five years. [39765]

Mr. Boateng: As part of the Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy published in March 2000, Customs actively started targeting websites selling non-UK duty paid tobacco. Customs do not hold records of all websites operating prior to the start of the Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy.

Customs estimate that as a result of their actions since March 2000, 85 of these websites have ceased trading.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the number of cigarettes that will be seized as a result of scanner operations in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03. [38626]

Mr. Boateng: Customs targets for the overall number of cigarettes to be seized in the years 2000–01 to 2002–03 are included in the Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy published in March 2000—a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House. In 2000–01 Customs substantially exceeded their target. An estimate for the revenue value of seizures in these years resulting from the installation of scanners is included in this document.

The Government will publish annually details of the outcomes from the Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy. The results from the first year of the strategy were included in the Tackling Indirect Tax Fraud paper published in November 2001—a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what methods he has used to measure the effectiveness of HM Customs and Excise's publicity campaign about tobacco smuggling. [38629]

Mr. Boateng: In common with most major Government publicity campaigns, effectiveness is measured through detailed creative development and tracking research. The outcome of the research is taken into account in planning further phases of the campaign.

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Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what quantities of unmarked tobacco products have been seized and detained by trading standards officers, since June 2001. [38619]

Mr. Boateng: Trading Standards Officers do not currently maintain central records of cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco seizures, but Customs and Excise are requesting them to provide an annual return.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to review his target for 2001–02 for asset seizures in connection with tobacco smuggling. [38618]

Mr. Boateng: The Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy published in March 2000 set Customs, for the first time, financial targets against tobacco smuggling involving asset seizures. Customs regularly review performance against these targets, monitoring the contribution made to the achievement of the overall outcome of reducing the size of the illicit cigarette market.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) private light goods vehicles and (b) other private vehicles used for smuggling were seized by Customs and Excise in (i) 1999–2000, and (ii) 2000–01; and how many in each category were restored to their owners in each year. [38628]

Mr. Boateng: Customs centrally held information on vehicle seizures does not differentiate between the types of private vehicle seized. For the total number of vehicles seized across the UK in 1999–2000 I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 15 January 2001, Official Report, column 125W. Figures for the number of vehicles seized by Customs across the UK during 2000–01 are contained in the Government's response to the independent report by John Roques into "The Collection of Excise Duties in HM Customs and Excise" (House of Commons command 5329, July 2001), a copy of which was placed in the Library on 19 July 2001.

I regret that Customs does not centrally hold information on the number of vehicles restored.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many private and light goods vehicles have been seized by HM Customs and Excise in the last five years for suspected smuggling offences; and, of these, how many were (a) confiscated indefinitely and (b) returned for a fee. [39769]

Mr. Boateng: Customs records of the number of vehicles seized do not disaggregate between the nature of the offence or the type of the vehicle involved in each case. For the number of vehicles seized across the whole of the UK from 1996–97 to 1997–98, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given on 18 June 1998, Official Report, column 274W. For the number of vehicles seized across the UK in 1998–99, 1999–2000, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given on 15 January 2001, Official Report, column 125W. Figures for the number of vehicles seized across the UK during 2000–01 are contained in the Government's response to the independent report by John Roques into "The Collection of Excise Duties in HM Customs and Excise" (House of Commons command 5329, July 2001), a copy of which was placed in the Library on 19 July 2001.

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Customs do not centrally hold information on vehicle restoration.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints have been received by HM Customs and Excise in the past five years relating to the seizure of private and light goods vehicles at UK ports for suspected smuggling offences. [39768]

Mr. Boateng: Customs do not maintain in the form requested a central record of the number of complaints received.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many heavy goods vehicles used for smuggling have been seized by HM Customs and Excise since the introduction of the new policy in July 2001; how many of those seizures were for (a) first and (b) second or subsequent offences; and if he will make a statement. [38627]

Mr. Boateng: This information is currently unavailable. Customs expect to collate and publish it on an annual basis.

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