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17 Jul 2003 : Column 459W—continued
EU Budget
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the UK's gross receipts from the EU Budget were in 2002. [126496]
Dawn Primarolo: Details of the United Kingdom's public sector receipts from the EC Budget in 2002 can be found in Table 3 (page 40) of the annual White Paper "European Community Finances" (Cm 5800, ISBN 0–10–158002–9) which was published on 30 April.
Financial Services and Markets Act
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he intends to make his assessment of the effectiveness of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000; who will conduct that review; and when the review is expected to be completed. [126655]
Mr. Boateng: No decisions have yet been taken in this matter.
Gift Aid
Mr. Cameron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of revenue which would be lost if the Gift Aid declaration was replaced by allowing all personal donations to charities to be free of tax; and if he will make a statement. [124909]
Dawn Primarolo: The Gift Aid scheme allows charities to reclaim basic rate tax paid on donations made to them. The donor must give a declaration that they have paid income or capital gains tax at least equal to the amount which the charity will reclaim. If the requirement for the donor to give a declaration and to have paid sufficient tax on the donation were removed and charities simply claimed the equivalent of basic rate tax on all personal donations, the additional cost to the Exchequer is estimated at about £1 billion.
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
Mr. Caton:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he is taking to increase the transparency
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of (a) World Bank and (b) IMF decisions about countries coming off track with the heavily indebted poor countries initiative. [125815]
John Healey: The UK continues to be at the forefront of promoting transparency at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. We strongly support country-owned Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and have continually supported the publication of country programme documents and HIPC documents. We have also supported the publication of specific information on the status of all HIPC country cases and PRSPs which is now regularly provided in the context of meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) and Development Committee.
Income Tax
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to ensure that the Inland Revenue obtains accurate declarations from employees of that part of their taxable income derived from the sale of gifts from their employer given to them as an employment benefit. [126743]
Dawn Primarolo: Employees are taxable on the value of benefits or gifts they receive from their employer, regardless of whether they subsequently retain or sell them. Employers are obliged in law to report to the Inland Revenue the value of gifts and benefits they provide to employees, in order that these may be properly taxed.
Inland Revenue
Mr. Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what positions have been held since January 2000 by (a) Mr. Graham Dean, former Inland Revenue Officer in the International Division and (b) Mr. Robert Fudge, former Inland Revenue Officer in the Special Compliance Office. [124954]
Dawn Primarolo: It would be inappropriate to disclose information relating to members of the staff of the Inland Revenue. Exemption 8 (Public employment, public appointments and honours) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information applies. I have, however, written in the last few days to the hon. Member about the matter which is of concern to him.
IT Contracts
Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many outsourced IT contracts have been signed by his Department in each year since 1997; how much each of these contracts is worth; with whom they are signed; how many have been renegotiated; how many are still in place; and if he will make a statement. [126200]
John Healey: The Treasury has not outsourced any IT contracts since 1997.
The Inland Revenue (IR) has one outsourced contract which has been awarded since 1997. The NIRS2 contract was signed by the DSS in 1997 but subsequently transfered to the IR in 1999, following the transfer of the Contributions Agency. Over the lifetime
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of the contract its value has been £200 million. The contract is with Accenture. The contract has been renegotiated during the period, and is still in place.
HM Customs and Excise has let two outsourced IT contracts since 1997. One contract was awarded to Fujitsu C and E Services Ltd., under the Private Finance Initiative in 1999 for 10 years. The contract is for the provision of an outsourced IT and telephony infrastructure. The advertised value of this contract was £500 million. This contract is currently being reviewed under the existing contract change provision, with Fujitsu C and E Services Ltd. The other outsourced IT contract let by Customs in 2000 is with Syntegra. This contract is for the provision of processing import and export freight, which facilitates the collection of duty revenues. The value of this contract is estimated as £53 millionover five years. This contract has not been renegotiated.
IT Licences
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he spent on IT licences in the last financial year. [125776]
John Healey: The following table gives the amount spent by the Chancellor's Departments and their agencies on IT licences during the 2002–03 financial year, with the exception of OGC Buying Solutions, for which the information requested is not available.
IT Projects
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what major IT projects with a value in excess of £10,000 he authorised expenditure on in each of the last three financial years. [125720]
John Healey: The information is today being placed in the Library.
Manufacturing Employment
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people were employed in the manufacturing sector in (a) 1979, (b) 1997 and (c) 2003; and what percentage of the workforce this represents in each case. [126862]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Lindsay Hoyle, dated 17 July 2003:
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The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question about how many people were employed in the manufacturing sector in (a) 1979, (b) 1997 and (c) 2003; and what percentage of the workforce this represents in each case. (126862)
The table below shows the number of workforce jobs in the manufacturing sector in March for the specified years.
| Manufacturing (Section D) | Percentage of workforce | |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 7,104 | 26.4 |
| 1997 | 4,456 | 16.0 |
| 2003 | 3,781 | 12.8 |
These estimates are based on the results of regular sample surveys of employers which count the number of employee jobs, Data on self-employment are obtained from the Labour Force Survey.
Redundancy Pay
Rachel Squire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to review the tax threshold for redundancy pay; and if he will make a statement. [126274]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government keep the £30,000 tax exemption limit for redundancy payments under review along with all other aspects of the tax system.
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