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3 Jun 2003 : Column 192W—continued
EU Savings Tax Directive
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will make a statement on the decision-making process regarding who will decide whether overseas and dependent territories should implement the EU Savings Tax Directive; [115336]
- (2) whether Bermuda will be excluded from the EU Savings Tax Directive. [115318]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my reply to the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) on 12 December 2002, Official Report, column 475W.
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans the Treasury has to undertake an assessment on the impact of the EU Savings Tax Directive on the UK's Overseas Territories. [115337]
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Dawn Primarolo: The Government keep under review the impact of all international developments on the Overseas Territories.
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the agreements the EU has made with Switzerland in exchange for her signing up to the EU Savings Tax Directive. [115338]
Dawn Primarolo: Formal links between the EU and Switzerland are governed by separate agreements. 73 such agreements have been signed since 1956. There are currently negotiations at different stages of progress on 10 agreements, one of which concerns the taxation of savings.
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which overseas territories have expressed a position to the Treasury on the EU Savings Tax Directive; and what those positions are. [115339]
Dawn Primarolo: All overseas territories covered by the Feira agreement have expressed a position to the Treasury on the EU Directive on the Taxation of Savings. Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands have all made commitments to introduce automatic exchange of information. The Cayman Islands Government has not made such a commitment.
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the introduction of the EU's Savings Tax Directive on the competitiveness of Britain's Overseas Territories. [115664]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General gave to the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) on 12 December 2002, Official Report, column 475W.
Foster Carers
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on Government plans to ease the tax burden on foster carers. [116806]
Dawn Primarolo: Clause 175 and Schedule 36 of the Finance Bill 2003 provide for a income tax relief for foster carers from April 2003. Foster carers will be exempt from income tax if their total receipts from foster care do not exceed an individual amount. The individual amount will consist of £10,000 per residence plus an additional amount per week per child of £200 a week for each child aged under eleven and £250 a week for each child aged eleven or over. This will ensure that benefits for these carers are applied consistently across the UK, and that they are not unfairly taxed upon the legitimate expenses they incur.
Free School Meals
Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children he estimates benefit from free school meals in Brent as a result of the child tax credit. [111449]
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Dawn Primarolo: It is estimated that 40,000 children in London will be expected to benefit from free school meals as the result of receiving Child Tax Credit, and meeting other conditions for eligibility.
Garages and Lock-ups
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether VAT is levied on (a) the rental of garages and lock-ups by homeowners and (b) council tenants whose house includes a garage or lock-up. [115820]
John Healey: Rental charges for garages or lock-ups separate from a house are subject to VAT at the standard rate. Charges levied by private landlords for the letting of houses combined with a garage or lock-up are considered a single supply exempt from VAT, while similar charges levied by councils as part of their statutory obligation are non-business activities, outside the scope of VAT. In either case, no VAT is charged.
Higher Rate Taxpayers
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many higher rate taxpayers there were in (a) the Twickenham constituency, (b) the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and (c) London as a proportion of the total tax-paying population in each area in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [105548]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the number of higher rate taxpayers as a proportion of the total tax-paying population in (a) Twickenham constituency, (b) the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and (c) London are shown as follows.
| Twickenham(25) | Richmond upon Thames | London(26) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–96 | — | 25.3 | 12.4 |
| 1996–97 | — | 21.2 | 12.3 |
| 1997–98 | — | — | 12.2 |
| 1998–99 | — | — | 13.0 |
| 1999–2000 | — | — | — |
| 2000–01 | 29.3 | 29.8 | 15.7 |
(25) Parliamentary constituency.
(26) Government office region.
Estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI). Constituency level estimates were not compiled before 1998–99, and sub-regional estimates are not available for 1997–98 and 1998–99. Statistics based on the 1999–2000 SPI have been withdrawn temporarily following concerns over the reliability of this survey. Revised estimates will be available as soon as the re-compilation of the 1999–2000 SPI has been completed. These will follow the release of results based on the 2001–02 SPI in October 2003.
Honours
Mr. Pope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many officials in his Department have received honours; and how many honours are held by his officials, broken down by category of honour. [111493]
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John Healey: Our records show that 14 Treasury officials have received awards. It should be noted, as follows: 1
| Number | |
|---|---|
| K | 2 |
| CB | 3 |
| CMG | 1 |
| CBE | 3 |
| OBE | 4 |
| MBE | 1 |
(27) Records are maintained only of awards relating to official duties and do not include any awards held by staff before joining the Department. The figures also exclude retired Treasury officials.
Illegal Meat Imports
Matthew Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent changes have been made to the Port Inspection System to combat the illegal import of meat. [116218]
John Healey: From 11 April Customs took over responsibility for anti-smuggling controls at the frontier for meat and animal products arriving directly from third countries. This implements one of the recommendations of a Cabinet Office Office Study, whose conclusions were announced in the House of Commons by Margaret Beckett in November 2002, into the organisation of controls on products of animal origin, fish, plants and forestry products commissioned following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001.
The Government have provided £25 million for the years 2003- 06 to tackle illegal imports of meat, other animal products, plants and plant products, and foodstuffs. From the £6 million allocated for 2003–04 Customs will receive £4 million. This will be used by Customs to help fund:
- Four new mobile anti-smuggling teams;
An expansion of the detector dog programme from the existing two dogs transferred to Customs from Defra, to six;
Extra intelligence activity;
A publicity campaign at ports and airports in the UK and overseas.
Iraq
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the US Administration on the restoration of the US dollar as Iraq's oil currency. [115897]
John Healey: Several currencies currently circulate in Iraq, including the US dollar. The UK Government has been in close contact with the US Government on a range of issues related to Iraqi reconstruction. There are no plans to make the US dollar the currency of Iraq.
3 Jun 2003 : Column 196W
Low Incomes (Cars)
Mr. Walter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of household income is spent on running a car by those in the lowest income decile. [116274]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Robert Walter, dated 3 June 2003:
- The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question on the percentage of household income spent on running a car by those in the lowest income decile. 1 am replying in his absence. (116274)
- Estimates have been provided for the lowest income quintile because of the relatively small sample size for the lowest decile and data quality problems because income and expenditure data recorded in the EFS are not fully compatible because they are recorded in different ways. Households were ranked by equivalised disposable income.
- The percentage of gross household income spent on purchasing a car or van on average by households in the lowest income quintile was 5 per cent. and on running a vehicle was 10 per cent. Separate figures, for purchasing a car or a van and for running a vehicle, have been supplied because it is not possible to supply estimates solely on the money spent on running a car. In particular, expenditure on petrol, diesel and other motor oils cannot be estimated solely for cars.
- The estimates given are based on the analysis "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income 2001–02" which was produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and published on the ONS website on 11 April 2003 and in Economic Trends in the May 2003 edition. They are based on data from the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS).
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