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27 Jan 2003 : Column 601W—continued

Affordable Housing

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what advice he has received about the likely impact of the introduction of tax-transparent property investment trusts on the supply of affordable housing in the UK. [92568]

27 Jan 2003 : Column 602W

Dawn Primarolo: The Government are aware of the arguments for and against the introduction of tax transparent property investment vehicles, including those submitted by the property industry itself. Proposals on tax are a matter for consideration by the Chancellor in the Budget.

Capital Modernisation Fund

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the amounts of the capital modernisation fund allocated for financial years (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06; and if he will make a statement. [92792]

Ruth Kelly: As shown in table B15 of the pre-Budget report 2002, the allocations to the capital modernisation fund are £1.2 billion, £0.9 billion and £1 billion in 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06 respectively.

Of the £1.2 billion in 2003–04, £0.8 billion has already been allocated to Departments.

Details of all capital modernisation fund projects announced to date are available on the Treasury website (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk).

CAT Standard

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on the introduction of a common recognisable logo for products which meet the CAT standard. [92566]

Ruth Kelly: The Government decided that setting appropriate standards would be the best way to establish a range of straightforward financial products that are simple, clear and fair.

These standards have had a positive influence in the market on behalf of consumers.

Cigarettes

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 16 January 2003, Official Report, column 748W, on cigarettes, what assumptions he made regarding affordability and profitability of trips; and if he will make a statement. [92777]

John Healey: The profitability and affordability of trips depend on several factors, including the price of tobacco products, the cost of passage to other EU member states and the level of disposable income available to different shoppers. Variations in cost between routes and products, in shoppers' income and in their understanding of existing unlimited shopping rights, prevent explicit or quantifiable relationships being derived about the likely response—in terms of the

27 Jan 2003 : Column 603W

number of shoppers, the frequency of their trips and the scale of their purchases—to changes in indicative levels for tobacco. The assumptions used to inform the estimates of the revenue impact of the new indicative levels reflect Customs' best judgment on the basis of the available evidence.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 16 January 2003, Official Report, column 748W, on cigarettes, what proportion of travellers who previously purchased at the indicative level were expected to increase their purchases to the new indicative level; and if he will make a statement. [92797]

John Healey: As I stated in my answer of 16 January 2003, HM Customs and Excise's survey data of cross-channel travellers shows that the majority of travellers make no purchases of cigarettes and that, of those who do make purchases, two-thirds purchase below the previous indicative level of 800 cigarettes, and that a further 15 per cent. purchase above. The recent change to the levels can be expected to have little effect on the shopping patterns of these travellers.

The assumptions for the public finance forecasts relate to the impact on behaviour of those travellers purchasing at the previous indicative levels for tobacco. For this group of travellers it was assumed that:

those who are purchasing with intent to resell illegally in the UK would increase their purchases to the new indicative level; and


the remainder would increase their purchases to an average level of 1,600, equivalent to a three-month supply for an average smoker.

Company Accounts

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to issue a report on the new approach to investigations of company accounts. [92816]

Dawn Primarolo: In consultation with representative bodies, the Inland Revenue has recently extended the framework developed for inquiries into Income Tax Self Assessment returns to cover Corporation Tax Self Assessment inquiries. The framework does not involve any new powers and does not affect taxpayers' rights. Rather, it is designed to enhance co-operation in inquiries between the Inland Revenue and tax practitioners. Details of the framework, as it extends to Corporation Tax, will be published in a 'Working Together' newsletter in February or early March 2003. The Working Together Group is a partnership between the Inland Revenue and those bodies who represent tax practitioners. There are no plans to issue a separate report.

Computer Misuse

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases of computer misuse there were in his Department in each of the last five years, broken down by each category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [93051]

Ruth Kelly: The information is as follows.

27 Jan 2003 : Column 604W

HM Treasury

	Cases of potential misuse investigated	Disciplinary action
1998	Nil	Nil
1999	1	1
2000	3	3
2001	1	1
2002	1	1

The Treasury has about 1,200 employees all of whom have access to the Departmental office IT system.

Inland Revenue

	Cases of potential misuse investigated	Disciplinary action
1998	61	56
1999	239	166
2000	300	233
2001	226	188
2002	211	205

The Inland Revenue has over 70,000 employees the vast majority of whom have access to customer records to carry out their duties.

The Department's records of these cases are not broken down by category of misuse.

HM Customs and Excise

	Cases of potential misuse investigated	Disciplinary action
1998	2	0
1999	1	0
2000	11	11
2001	37	18
2002	101	42

The cases of potential misuse break down as follows:

	IT systems	Database access	E-mail	Internet	Total
1998	—	1	—	1	2
1999	—	—	1	—	1
2000	6	1	4	—	11
2001	10	5	21	1	37
2002	6	4	83	8	101

HM Customs and Excise employs over 20,000 people. The majority of staff have access to internal e-mail and external Internet services. A limited number of staff have access to databases that contain information regarding the business activities of registered traders. This access is required to enable staff to undertake their duties.

Congestion Charge

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether payments made by public sector employers to employees working within the Central London congestion charging zone by way of reimbursement of congestion charges incurred on travel to their place of work will be treated as taxable emoluments, subject to (a) tax and NI payments by the recipient employee and (b) employers' NI contributions. [92569]

27 Jan 2003 : Column 605W

Dawn Primarolo: Yes, in the same way as other payments made by employers to employees for travel costs to their normal place of work.

Corporate Profitability

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the levels of UK corporate profitability were in each year since 1996. [92819]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Howard Flight, dated 27 January 2003:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on levels of UK corporate profitability in each year since 1996.

Information on profits and rates of return for private sector non-financial companies is available in the "Profitability of UK Companies" First Release which is published by the Office for National Statistics and is available from the House of Commons Library. It is also available from the National Statistics website: www.statistics.gov.uk.

Tables 1 to 7 give data back to 1989 or earlier. The latest currently available data cover the 3rd quarter of 2002. Data for the whole of 2002 will be published on 2nd April 2003.

The ONS does not produce estimates of rates of return for financial companies, but estimates of profits for this period are in table A3 of "United Kingdom National Accounts" which is also available from the National Statistics website.

Departmental Staff

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the total excess working hours worked by staff in his Department in each year from 1997–98; and if he will make a statement. [93448]

Ruth Kelly: Information before January 1999 is not available. Information from January 1999 is available in the Library of the House and was referred to in the answer I gave on 25 February 2002 to the hon. member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) Official Report, columns 1045–46W.

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