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24 Jun 2003 : Column 727W—continued

Benefits Uprating

Mr. Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 30 April 2003, Official Report, columns 371–72W, on benefits uprating, if he will make a statement on the role intended for RPIX in the uprating of the basic state pension. [121552]

John Healey: I refer the right hon. and learned Gentleman to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 9 June 2003, Official Report, column 414, in which he confirmed that pensions and benefits will be calculated on exactly the same basis as now.

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 19 May from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Naveed Mahmid Zakaria. [121432]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue replied to my right hon. Friend on behalf of the Chancellor on 17 June 2003 and very much regret having been unable to do so sooner. The Tax Credit Office aims to reply to 80 per cent. of complaints within 15 working days and will measure their performance and report against that aim in due course.

Economic and Monetary Union

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his statement of 9 June 2003, Official Report, column 411, on Economic and Monetary Union, what estimate he has made of how long it would take to enable supply to balance demand in the housing market in the event of the introduction of simpler planning guidance, the speeding up of decisions, reserve powers to call in applications and binding local plans. [121418]

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Mr. Boateng: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. and learned Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard) on 20 June 2003, Official Report, column 457W.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what meetings he plans to attend with other EU finance ministers at which the interpretation of the Stability and Growth Pact will be discussed. [121538]

Mr. Boateng: The Chancellor has frequent discussions with his EU colleagues on a wide range of issues. The next meeting of the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers is on 15 July.

Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices

Claire Ward: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact upon inflation-linked pensions of the adoption of the harmonised index of consumer prices. [121051]

Dawn Primarolo: In his statement on 9 June the Chancellor confirmed that pensions and benefits and index-linked gilts would be calculated on exactly the same basis as now. The Chancellor had previously made clear that the Treasury review of the inflation target was being examined from a monetary policy perspective.

Income Tax

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the estimated yield would be in the current financial year of a top rate of income tax of 50 per cent. on incomes of £150,000 and above if all other rates and allowances were to remain the same. [120514]

Dawn Primarolo: The additional full-year yield of a 50 per cent. rate of tax on taxable income over £150,000 in 2003–04 is £3.6 billion. This estimate is based on the Survey of Personal Incomes 2000–01 and is consistent with the April 2003 Budget.

Inland Revenue (Scottish Charities)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations the Inland Revenue has received from Mr. Robert Winter of Wendover, Bucks, about the operation under Scottish charity regulations of (a) Solutions RMC Ltd. and (b) Breast Cancer Research Scotland; and what requests for information about the operation of charity law in Scotland the Inland Revenue has received from Mr. Winter. [121197]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue's Charity offices have not been able to trace any correspondence from Mr. Winter.

Israel

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) payments have been made and (b) responses have been received from the Government of Israel following the implementation of the Community Customs Code (Council Regulation EEC no 2913/92). [121671]

John Healey: Council Regulation EEC no 2913/92 provides for the customs rules to be applied throughout the Community. It places no obligations on Israel or any other third country to make payments or provide information.

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Job Advertisements

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans his Department has to advertise posts in the Scottish press. [120707]

John Healey: HM Treasury usually advertise posts in the national press and specialist publications as appropriate.

Lease Duty

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the total additional revenue that will be raised from the proposals to increase the charge to lease duty contained in Section 56 and Schedule 5 of the Finance Bill. [121446]

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the total additional revenue from the proposals to increase the charge to lease duty contained in Section 56 and Schedule 5 of the Finance Bill 2003 were given in table A2.1 of the Budget 2003 report.

Ministerial Meetings

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the request for information from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration concerning ministerial meetings. [120446]

John Healey: No such request has been received from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration.

National Insurance (Top-up Payments)

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people paid national insurance top-up payments in each year since 1992–03. [119916]

Dawn Primarolo: Numbers of people paying each class of national insurance contributions are published by ONS in the Annual Abstract in table 10.2. Copies are held in the Library of the House.

Public Service Agreements

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the (a) establishment and (b) operation of HM Treasury's on-line reporting of progress against public service agreements has cost per year. [121078]

Mr. Boateng: The on-line reporting of progress against public service agreements was launched in April 2003. The site was constructed using existing IT systems and no external resources were required, other than software procurement costing under £100. Going forward the operation of the website will be based around existing performance information streams, and will require little resource input.

Race Relations

Angela Eagle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made in his Department and non departmental public bodies on implementing the requirements of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000; and if he will publish the results of the monitoring required by the Act. [117468]

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John Healey: As part of our commitment to equality and diversity the Treasury published its Race Equality Scheme in May 2002. This identified a number of Treasury business priority areas relating to the requirements of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 including fiscal policy, improving the quality and cost effectiveness of public service provision and regulation of financial services. The Department will be reviewing progress on diversity this year and will report on our diversity objectives in our annual Departmental Report.

Sewel Motions

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list Sewel motions passed by the Scottish Parliament since May 1999 that apply to his Department's responsibilities and Government bills he has sponsored. [120700]

John Healey: Two Bills sponsored by the Treasury have been the subject of Sewel motions in the Scottish Parliament, as indicated:

Bill	Sewel motion approved
Financial Services and Markets	23 June 1999
Government Resources and Accounts	6 July 2000

Stamp Duty

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what study he has made of the likely economic effect on the leasehold property market and occupational business leases of the changes to stamp duty proposed by the Finance Bill 2003. [121438]

Dawn Primarolo: A wide variety of economic and statistical data was used in developing the changes proposed in Finance Bill 2003.

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Small Business Service about the impact of stamp duty on future business start-ups. [121439]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government have held, and are continuing to hold, discussions with a wide variety of representative bodies and individual businesses, large and small. The Small Business Service has participated in those discussions.

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received from the Small Business Service on his proposal to impose stamp duty on commercial leases. [121440]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government received no written representations from the Small Business Service. However we received representations from other representative bodies, and from individual businesses, large and small.

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