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Tax Returns

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment the Inland Revenue has made of the trends in revenues from (a) the special investigation, (b) late filing, (c) company non compliance, (d) pre SA intelligence work, (e) company aspect enquiries, (f) non business SA inquiries and (g) section SA investigations, non compliance and full business reviews; and if he will make a statement. [94879]

Dawn Primarolo: The total revenue from the Inland Revenue's work in these areas increased from £865 million in 1999–2000 to £990 million in 2000–01 and again to £1,090 million in 2001–02. The trends in revenue are therefore firmly upwards.

Tobacco Smuggling

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 4 February 2003, Official Report, column 185W, on tobacco smuggling, what the costs of the research undertaken for (a) the 2000 report on tobacco smuggling and (b) the 2002 reports were; and if he will make a statement. [97251]

John Healey: A mixture of internal and external research was undertaken for the 2000 report "Tackling Tobacco Smuggling" and the two reports published by Customs and Excise in November 2002. The estimated cost to HM Customs and Excise of the external research used in "Tackling Tobacco Smuggling" is £55,000. The estimated cost to HM Customs and Excise of external research used in the two reports published by HM Customs and Excise in November 2002 is £100,000. No estimate is available of the cost of the internal research. The measures announced in "Tackling Tobacco Smuggling" were expected to yield additional revenues of £435 million (in 2000–01), £1,120 million (2001–02), £1,630 million (2002–03), and £2,015 million (2003–04).

Treasury Stress Audit

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was of the HM Treasury stress audit carried out in 1999; and what plans there are to carry out another such audit. [93449]

Ruth Kelly: The stress audit carried out in 1999 cost 40,901.05. The Department will be carrying out a follow up audit in April 2003.

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Unpaid Tax

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the amount of tax unpaid each year since 1995–96, broken down by (a) tax avoidance, (b) tax evasion, (c) late payment and (d) other causes; and if he will make a statement. [95429]

Dawn Primarolo: No reliable overall measure is available in relation to tax evasion and avoidance. In the last 10 years, in proportion to the tax involved, tax unpaid at the end of the Inland Revenue's accounting year has approximately halved, and tax remitted or written off has reduced from around 2 per cent. to around 0.3 per cent. The figures for tax unpaid and tax remitted or written off are set out each year in the Inland Revenue's Annual Report, copies of which are in the Library.

Working Families Tax Credit

Mr. Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the tax burden is on a single earner family on average earnings with two children, claiming the working families tax credit. [98254]

Dawn Primarolo: As set out in Table 13.10 of the 2002–03 Tax Benefit Reference Manual, which is placed in the House of Commons Library, the direct tax burden on a single earner family on male mean earnings with two children was 18.7 per cent. in 2002–03, lower than it was in 1997–98 or any previous year since 1972–73.

Zambia

John Barrett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if it is his policy that increased multilateral debt relief for Zambia be dependent on the privatisation of (a) the Zambia National Bank, (b) the power utility Zesco and (c) the telephone company Zamtel. [98586]

John Healey: Multilateral debt relief for Zambia is provided through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Under the HIPC initiative a country receives interim debt relief on payments due when it reaches Decision Point and subsequently the debt is irrevocably cancelled at Completion Point. The UK supports this internationally agreed policy.

To reach Decision Point and demonstrate its commitment to poverty reduction, a country must prepare an Interim-Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). To reach Completion Point it needs to develop a full PRSP, and usually make progress in implementing it for one year.

The PRSP is drawn up by the country, with the participation of civil society, to show how debt relief and other resources will be targeted on reducing poverty. The country must also be on track with its IMF programme for which there will be a range of conditions, for example on macro-economic stability or public sector management.The IMF is committed to ensuring that the social impact of key macro-economic reforms is analysed to ensure that reforms are designed appropriately and negative consequences addressed. For example, the IMF carried out an analysis of the possible social impact of the privatisation of the Zambia National Bank and the Zambian Government plans to develop a strategic plan that will consider the future of

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rural branches and design an appropriate institutional structure for rural services, which might include seeking technical and financial assistance from donors for the purpose.

Hence to reach Completion Point countries must demonstrate a commitment to poverty reduction and economic reform by meeting key conditions (or Completion Point triggers). These conditions may include privatisations or reforms that address the effectiveness and financing of parastatal companies, and thus support the country's strategy for reducing poverty.

For Zambia the key conditions, for multilateral debt relief through the internationally agreed HIPC initiative, include progress in combating HIV/AIDs, education and health sector reform along with macro-economic and structural reforms. The Completion Point triggers in relation to the Zambia National Bank and the power utility Zesco require the issuance of international bidding documents for the sale of a majority (controlling) interest. The telephone company Zamtel no longer has a domestic monopoly, and while the sale of a substantial share is part of Zambia's overall poverty reduction strategy it is not a Completion Point trigger.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Bail Conditions

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offenders broke the terms of their bail conditions last year and were not recaptured; and what action he is taking to reduce this number. [96007]

Hilary Benn: In 2001, about 77,700 people who had been bailed to appear at court failed to do so, representing 13 per cent. of defendants at magistrates' courts and 10 per cent. of Crown Court defendants (13 per cent. overall). Figures are not available for what proportion of those failing to appear were subsequently re-arrested and brought back to court, or how many defendants broke the terms of bail conditions.

The Government is working with criminal justice agencies to reduce the number of defendants who fail to surrender to bail and to ensure that failure to surrender is dealt with robustly by the prosecution, the courts and the police. In particular we are examining what more can be done to ensure effective enforcement of bench warrants.

It is important that bail should be used appropriately, and the Government keeps the legislation relating to bail under review in order to ensure that it does everything possible to ensure this. The Criminal Justice Bill now before Parliament makes several changes, including extending the prosecution's right to appeal against a decision by magistrates to grant bail.

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers whose applications are awaiting determination have received work permits in each of the last three years. [94481]

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Beverley Hughes: Where an employer applies for a work permit for an overseas national who is already in the United Kingdom, the Home Office will first consider whether the application meets the criteria of the work permit arrangements before considering whether, under the Immigration Rules, the overseas national may be granted leave to remain for the purpose of work permit employment. If the overseas national has an outstanding application for asylum, the usual course would be to defer consideration of granting leave to remain for the purpose of work permit employment until the overseas national's asylum application was resolved.

However, the outcome of the initial consideration of the application against the work permit criteria is recorded on a separate database to that which holds the immigration application against the work permit criteria is recorded on a separate database to that which holds the immigration status and it is, therefore, not possible to match the data on these separate databases in order to provide the information requested.

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will conduct a review of persons granted (a) exceptional leave to remain and (b) indefinite leave to remain in the last five years; if he will assess whether any such persons have breached the conditions of their leave as part of the review; and if he will make a statement. [98644]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 25 February 2003]: Grants of exceptional leave to remain (ELR) are not normally subject to conditions, and indefinite leave to remain (ILR) cannot be made subject to conditions. The question of a breach of conditions attached to such leave does not therefore arise.

The cases of those granted ILR are reviewed if they come to serious adverse notice. The cases of those granted ELR are considered when they apply for further leave, or if they come to serious adverse notice in the

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meantime. It would be impractical to review all grants of ILR and ELR made in the past five years but we will continue to review individual cases where appropriate.

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff in (a) his Department and (b) other bodies are working (i) full-time and (ii) part-time in connection with the removal of rejected asylum seekers from the UK. [98647]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 25 February 2003]: The Home Office liaises with a number of different Government Departments and external agencies when dealing with the removal of failed asylum seekers. For example we have links with the Lord Chancellor's Department, Police, Inland Revenue, Department of Works and Pensions and local authorities.

In total, 12,155 staff work within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. There are 3,969 staff working within the Integrated Casework Directorate, which deals with casework and decision making for asylum, after-entry, nationality and work permits, and 6,213 in the Immigration Service.

We estimate that around 1,220 full time equivalents are working on direct operational activity and 1,260 providing support to operational activity. Around a further 170 full time equivalents are working on intelligence and 160 on contact management.

A breakdown of how many staff both in the Department and in other agencies specifically dealing with failed asylum claims may be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

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