---

18 Sept 2003 : Column 967W—continued

Personal Income Tax Allowance

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the cost of raising the personal income tax allowance to (a) £5,000, (b) £6,000, (c) £7,000 and (d) £7,500 per year; how many people would cease to pay income tax as a consequence; and if he will make a statement. [130560]

Dawn Primarolo: The full-year cost of making these tax changes in 2003–04 are set out in the following table.

Raising the under 65personal income taxallowance in 2003–04 to	Cost (£ billion)	Number of people cease to pay income tax (thousand)
(a) £5,000 per year	2.4	500
(b) £6,000 per year	8.3	1,800
(c) £7,000 per year	13.9	3,000
(d) £7,500 per year	16.6	3,500

These estimates exclude any behavioural response to the tax change and are based upon the 2000–01 Survey of Personal Incomes and consistent with Budget 2003.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the cost of raising the personal income tax allowance to £10,000 per year for people aged 65 years and over; and if he will make a statement. [130566]

Dawn Primarolo: The estimated full-year cost of raising the personal income tax allowance to £10,000 per year for those age 65–74 and 75 plus in 2003–04 is £2 billion.

This estimate excludes any behavioural response to the tax change and is based upon the 2000–01 Survey of Personal Incomes and consistent with Budget 2003.

18 Sept 2003 : Column 968W

Road Fuels

Mrs. Shephard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will quantify in pence per litre the value given to each of the main (a) environmental and (b) other benefits of road fuel gases which make up the rebate applied to such fuels. [130868]

John Healey: I refer the right hon. Lady to the answer I gave on 8 September 2003, Official Report, column 102W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Mr. Blizzard).

Savings Income

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his estimate is of the cost of abolishing income tax on (a) all savings income and (b) all savings income up to the start of the higher rate threshold; and if he will make a statement; [130562]

(2) what his estimate is of the cost of abolishing the existing capital gains tax and savings tax regimes, and taxing capital gains and savings as income under the existing income tax regime; and if he will make a statement. [130563]

Dawn Primarolo: The current tax yield from taxation of interest on savings in 2003–04 is set out in the following table.

The current tax yield in 2003–04 from taxation	£ billion
(a) All savings income	2.5
(b) All savings income up to the start of the higher rate threshold	1.4

Note:

This estimate is based the 2000–01 Survey of Personal Incomes and consistent with Budget 2003.

This yield would be lost if no tax was charged, but we are not able to provide the full cost of such a change as other behavioural effects will substantially distort the impact on costs of such a move.

Departmental Annual Report

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what procedures are used by his Department to brief officials appearing before select committees; [131381]

(2) if he will make a statement about the production of his Department's Annual Report; [131382]

(3) what accounting standards his Department used in producing the 2003 HM Treasury Annual Report; [131383]

(4) whether he plans to use an external auditor to audit the Treasury's Annual Report. [131386]

John Healey: The Treasury's annual report sets out the performance of the department against its Public Service Agreement targets. It includes the same standard information as all departmental reports.

As with all departments, the financial data for previous years contained in the report are based on the Treasury's accounts, which are prepared in accordance with United Kingdom generally accepted accounting principles (UK GAAP), modified as necessary for the public sector

18 Sept 2003 : Column 969W

following advice from the independent Financial Reporting Advisory Board (FRAB). These requirements are reflected in the resource accounting manual (RAM) (available at www.resource-accounting.gov.uk).

The Treasury's accounts are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Accounts for the financial year 2002–03 (HC 999) were laid before Parliament on 16 July, and are available on the Department's website.

The financial data for future years are based on the agreed departmental expenditure limit for the department, and compiled using the same accounting treatment.

Briefing for officials appearing before select committees is provided by a range of people across the Department.

Tax/NIC (South Gloucestershire)

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the amount of (a) income tax and (b) national insurance contributions paid by South Gloucestershire residents in the latest year for which figures are available. [130380]

Dawn Primarolo: South Gloucestershire residents paid an average of about £3,300 in income tax in 2000–01.

Data on National Insurance contribution paid in this area are not available.

Transport Infrastructure

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps are being taken actively to manage demand for transport infrastructure through tax increases. [130452]

John Healey: The Chancellor decides taxation policy after considering all relevant economic, social and environmental factors, including the implications for demand for transport infrastructure.

VAT (Church Repairs)

Helen Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made on his proposal to reduce VAT on church repairs to 5 per cent.; and if he will make a statement. [130927]

John Healey: The Government are particularly concerned about the position of listed places of worship. That is why we asked the European Commission to bring forward proposals to extend the categories of permitted reduced VAT rates to include their repair, maintenance and improvement.

We are continuing to press this case during the current EU review of VAT reduced rates and have, in the meantime, introduced the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme to provide an equivalent reduction in the cost of these repair projects.

Vehicle Excise Duty

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of differential rates of vehicle excise duty on promoting the

18 Sept 2003 : Column 970W

manufacture and sale of vehicles with improved pollution characteristics; and if he will make a statement. [130545]

John Healey: The Government have introduced a range of measures to encourage the use of cleaner vehicles and technologies, including graduated vehicle excise duty, vehicle labelling and graduated company car tax.

The effectiveness of all these policies are being evaluated including an assessment of graduated VED by the Department of Transport and the results will inform future policy advice.

HEALTH

Deep Vein Thrombosis

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward amendments to legislation to allow registered midwives to (a) sell or supply and (b) administer a range of medicines in the course of their professional practice, with particular reference to the provision of compression hosiery for pregnant women considered at particular risk of deep vein thrombosis. [127592]

Mr. Hutton: There are already provisions under medicines legislation which allow registered midwives to sell or supply and administer a range of medicines in the course of their professional practice. Midwives can also supply certain non-medicinal products including compression hosiery for varicosis during pregnancy at national health service expense.

Departmental Agencies

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the need for each departmental agency. [124698]

Mr. Hutton: The Department conducts reviews of its executive agencies in accordance with Cabinet Office guidance, amended following the 2002 Agency Policy review. It has merged the Medical Devices Agency and Medicines Control Agency to form the Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. There are no current plans to change the role of the three remaining agencies but they will be reviewed as the Department's strategic needs are reassessed.

---