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Mr. Best: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will repeal the aviation industry's exemption from fuel duty and VAT. [116952]
John Healey: The Chicago Convention prohibits the imposition of taxes or charges on fuel kept on board aircraft and consumed on international flights. The UK is also bound by bilateral air service agreements, which impose further restrictions. Although air fares, in common with all public transport fares, are zero-rated for VAT, air travel is subject to a separate tax, air passenger duty, which is charged at rates from £5 to £40 per flight, depending on the country of destination and the class of travel.
The 2002 pre-Budget Report announced that the Government would discuss with stakeholders the most effective economic instruments for ensuring that the industry is encouraged to take account of, and where appropriate reduce, its contribution to global warming, local air and noise pollution.
These discussions will be used to inform the Government's views, which will be set out in its Air Transport White Paper later this year.
Mrs. Shephard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which of the Government Departments for which he is accountable is responsible for developing tax policy on the use of biofuels. [117592]
John Healey: HM Customs and Excise and HM Treasury work closely together on developing the taxation policy for biofuels.
HM Customs take the lead on providing policy advice while HM Treasury has strategic responsibility for taxation matters.
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Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the establishment figure for Customs and Excise officers was in 1995; and what the latest available figure is. [118046]
John Healey: Customs and Excise employed the full time equivalent of 24,132 officers in April 1995. The latest published figure is for April 2002 when Customs had 22,120 full time equivalent employees.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to ensure that teenagers and children who have had cancer treatment are not excluded from access to financial services later in their lives. [118167]
Mr. Boateng: I refer my hon. Friend to the Written answer I gave the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Sir Nicholas Winterton) on 10 February 2003, Official Report, column 603W.
Mr. Norman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from (a) trades unions and (b) other bodies concerning his plans to introduce a stronger local and regional element to pay in the public sector. [116941]
Mr. Boateng: The Chancellor of the Exchequer regularly receives representations from trade union leaders and others concerning a wide range of issues including public sector pay.
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information he has collated on the take up rate of working family tax credits in the Borough of Islington in each of the past five years and the applicant rate for tax credits in the current year, the number paid out, the value outstanding and the number of complaints. [117809]
Dawn Primarolo: Working Families' Tax Credit (WFTC) was introduced in October 1999. The number of recipients in Islington at each quarter since May 2001 appears in "Working Families' and Disabled Person's Tax Credit Statistics. Geographical analyses". Estimates based on sample data appear for earlier quarters back to May 2000 in "Working Families' Tax Credit Statistics. Quarterly Enquiry". All these documents are available on the Inland Revenue web site, inlandrevenue.gov.uk, under "National Statistics".
National estimates of WFTC take up rates appear in "Working Families' Tax Credit. Estimates of Take-up rates in 200001", which can be found on the Inland Revenue web site under "National Statistics". No estimates are available at local authority level. I regret that the other figures requested are not available, or not
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available at the local authority level. Statistics on awards of the Child and Working Tax Credits will be published in August.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what amendments to the draft EU constitution he will propose in order to protect the rights of the UK Government to determine its own tax regime. [117081]
Dawn Primarolo: Any changes to the provisions of the existing EU Treaties require the unanimous agreement of all member states. The Government have made it clear that they will not accept any changes that move away from unanimity on tax matters.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his Answer of 8 April 2003, Official Report, column 133W, on autism, what consultations have been held on, and what definition will be used for, the collection of special educational needs data from schools and Local Education Authorities. [114503]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: On 29 November draft guidance, including a draft set of descriptions of each of the types of SEN we will be collecting, was sent out to a sample of 50 schools, 30 LEAs and 50 voluntary organisations for consultation. At the same time the information was placed on the DfES Consultation website. Comments were requested on both the accuracy and the clarity of the descriptions and respondents were also asked to make general comments. The consultation closed on 6 March 2003 and 120 responses were received. Amendments to the guidance have now been made in the light of the responses received.
A final version will be sent to LEAs and published on the DfES SEN website in the near future and a copy will be placed in the Library.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has commissioned on the effects of introducing further education allowance to support 19 to 30-year-olds in returning to education. [116585]
Margaret Hodge: My Department has not commissioned specific research on the effects of introducing a further education allowance for 19 to 30-year-olds. The key statistical and research evidence underpinning work to develop the National Skills Strategy to be launched later this month was summarised in the Evidence Paper we published on 26 March this year.
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Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures he plans to introduce to widen participation in higher education for (a) ethnic minorities, (b) people with disabilities and (c) those of working class backgrounds. [108270]
Margaret Hodge: We are committed to widening participation in higher education for under-represented groups. While ethnic minorities are generally well represented in higher education, we recognise that there are pockets of under-representation. The Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service are looking to see what data are available for monitoring purposes.
Through amendments to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, which came into effect in September 2002, we have made it unlawful for institutions to discriminate against disabled students in their admissions procedures. HEFCE has, since last year, included benchmark figures for participation by disabled students in its performance indicators for higher education. We have improved the assessment of Disabled Students Allowances, which are now being completed well before the start of the course, giving disabled students confidence about the level and nature of support.
In order to widen participation to those from working class backgrounds, we need to raise levels of attainment, raise aspirations and encourage more applications. Our Aimhigher programme helps universities, colleges and schools to work together to achieve this, and we have recently announced an extension of this programme into 86 new areas over the next three years. The Office for Fair Access will encourage further improvements to widening access through access agreements, which will set out the universities' plans to offer bursaries and other financial support, encourage more applicants from less advantaged backgrounds, and which will include their own ambitions. If there are any particular issues around specific groups relating to any one university, we would expect that university to have plans to address the problem.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the funding of higher education after the introduction of top-up fees. [116586]
Margaret Hodge: As set out in the White Paper 'The future of higher education' (Cm 5735), the funding for higher education will increase by over 6 per cent. a year in each of the three years to 200506 as a result of the 2002 Spending Review settlement, so that total spending in England in that year will be almost £10 billion. The funding in 200607 will be determined through the forthcoming Spending Review, and will be supplemented by additional income generated through the introduction of a graduate contribution scheme for differential fees. The White Paper also made clear, however, that in order to meet the challenges of the future, universities need to develop other non-governmental funding streams. Therefore, in addition to the Graduate Contribution Scheme, the White Paper set out proposals in connection with the development of endowments and maximising donations from alumni.
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