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15 Sept 2003 : Column 602W—continued
Research and Development Tax Credit
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the cost of the research and development tax credit for each year from 1999–2000 to 2005–06; what assessment he has made of the additional research and development expenditure which has occurred because of this policy; and if he will make a statement. [130145]
Dawn Primarolo: Latest estimates of the cost, on an accruals basis, of the research and development tax credit for each year from 2000–01 to 2002–03 are available on the Inland Revenue's website at http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/taxexpenditures/q t06 1.htm.
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Residential Property Sales
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the number of annual residential property sales of (a) under £100,000, (b) under £200,000, (c) under £300,000, (d) under £400,000, (e) under £500,000, (f) under £600,000, (g) under £750,000, (h) under £1 million and (i) over £1 million; and if he will make a statement. [130151]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the number of residential property sales in 2002 are given in the table:
| Price band (£s) | Number of transactions £000s |
|---|---|
| Under 100,000 | 777 |
| 100,000—199,999 | 425 |
| 200,000—299,999 | 160 |
| 300,000—399,999 | 47 |
| 400,000—499,999 | 21 |
| 500,000—599,999 | 6 |
| 600,000—749,999 | 5 |
| 750,000—1,000,000 | 4 |
| Over £1 million | 4 |
| Total: | 1,450 |
Source:Survey of Property Transactions
Savings
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of savings certificates and savings deposits issued through the Post Office which are unlikely to be claimed or cashed. [128877]
Ruth Kelly: We estimate that there is a potential £710 million forgotten or unclaimed funds held in matured Savings Certificates, and £525 million forgotten or unclaimed deposits held in savings accounts (where no transactions have been made in the last five years).
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions between 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003 (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental special advisors have travelled abroad in an official capacity; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost. [126661]
Ruth Kelly: Between 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003 special advisers in the Treasury Department travelled abroad on official business on eight occasions, at an average cost of £4,330 per trip. Countries visited are USA on 19–22 April 2002, 30 May to 2 June 2002, 3–5 September 2002, 26–30 September 2002 (X2), 5 March 2003; France on 11 September 2002 and 16 January 2003. All travel by special advisers is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code.
Tax Credits
Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many child tax credit recipients have made an application for reassessment; and of that number how many were on the basis of (a) the award being an overpayment and (b) the award being an underpayment. [122699]
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Dawn Primarolo: Awards of child and working tax credits are adjusted if claimants report a change in the circumstances on which the award is based. Claimants may also ask for their award to be adjusted to reflect their expected income for the current tax year.
The tax credits award for 2003–04 is initially based on the family's income for the tax year 2001–02. The final tax credits award will be based on 2003–04 income if it is lower, or more than £2,500 higher, than 2001–02 income. Even if income does rise, the first £2,500 of the rise is ignored in finalising the award. To allow awards to be adjusted to reflect current income, claimants can ask during the year for their tax credits to be based on their expected 2003–04 income, which is checked against actual income after the year end.
Table 6.1 of "Child and Tax Credits Quarterly Statistics. July 2003" shows the number of families with awards who have asked for their awards to be adjusted to reflect their expected 2003–04 income. This publication is available on the Inland Revenue website, at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people who are eligible for each of the new tax credits have yet to apply; and how many (a) applications have been received and (b) eligible people there are in (i) the Teesside region and (ii) the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency. [128670]
Dawn Primarolo: In total, 6 million families are expected to receive new tax credits. Already, after just 5 months, over 5.8 million families are benefiting, which is over 95 per cent. of those expected to be reached over the entire year.
The available estimates of the number of families in each local authority and constituency receiving child and working tax credit appear in "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Geographical analyses. July 2003". This is on the Inland Revenue website, at www.inlandreveneue.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm.
Estimates of the numbers of people expected to receive new tax credits are not available below the regional level.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are in receipt of (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit, in each London constituency; how many claims are outstanding; and if he will make a statement. [128758]
Clive Efford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many families in Eltham have benefited from the child tax credit; and what the overall amount paid out through the credit to families in Eltham was in the last 12 months; [129430]
- (2) what the average gain of families in Eltham has been from the child tax credit; [129431]
(3) how many families he estimates will benefit from the working tax credit in Eltham; and what will be the average gain per family (a) in the UK and (b) in Eltham. [129433]
15 Sept 2003 : Column 605W
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in the Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency are in receipt of (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit; and how many claims are outstanding. [129215]
Dawn Primarolo: The available estimates of the number of families in each local authority and constituency receiving child and working tax credit appear in "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Geographical analyses. July 2003". This is on the Inland Revenue website, at www.inlandreveneue.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm.
Any claims outstanding are ones where the Revenue is awaiting for further information, or are being verified. There is no breakdown of such claims by constituency.
Statistics on average awards will be published after the end of the tax year, when awards have been finalised.
Clive Efford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to encourage families to claim (a) the working tax credit and (b) the child tax credit. [129434]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb) on 10 February 2003, Official Report, column 604W, regarding child tax credit. Since that date further publicity has included television, press, radio and online advertising as well as direct mail.
Third World Debt
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on progress with cancellation of Third World debt by (a) the UK and (b) other countries. [129744]
Mr. Boateng: The UK government have been at the forefront of the international debate on debt relief issues, and continues to press for the rapid and full implementation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
Of the 38 countries that stand to benefit from enhanced HIPC debt relief, there are now 27—23 from Africa and 4 from Latin America—that already benefit from debt relief, which will amount in total to over $70 billion. This is a significant step towards achieving the $100 billion commitment made at the Cologne summit in 1999, and will reduce their debts to below the average for developing countries. For these 27 countries, the UK is providing 100 per cent. relief on their debts. Furthermore, the Chancellor has announced that any payments from countries yet to reach Decision Point would be held in trust for the day they can be returned to fund poverty reduction. Since 1999, the total UK commitment to multilateral institutions such as the World bank, the African Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support the HIPC initiative has been $474 million.
At their recent Summit in Evian, G8 governments reaffirmed their commitment to the HIPC initiative. They recognised the need to encourage and assist eligible countries in taking the steps necessary to complete the HIPC process. They urged the IMF and World bank to intensify their efforts to secure full
15 Sept 2003 : Column 606W
participation of all creditors in the initiative, and reaffirmed their objective of ensuring debt sustainability for countries reaching completion point. Following on from discussions at Evian, the Chancellor will be working with other G7 Finance Ministers to agree the methodology for calculating the amount of "topping-up" debt relief available to countries. The UK has been pushing for a change in the rules of HIPC to exclude additional voluntary bilateral debt relief from the calculation of topping-up at Completion Point and the Chancellor will be working with other G8 Finance Ministers to review mechanisms to encourage good governance and the methodology for calculating the amount of topping-up debt relief available to countries—a measure that could provide an estimated $1 billion extra debt relief to HIPCs. In addition, the Treasury and the Department for International Development is seeking international support to establish the International Finance Facility, which could raise $50 billion annually to fund the Millennium Development Goals. This money could be disbursed in the form of concessional loans and grants, including debt relief.
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