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20 Nov 2003 : Column 1322W—continued
Air Passenger Taxes
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue was raised from air passenger taxes in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years. [140387]
John Healey: The information is not available in the format requested. Revenue figures for air passenger duty are collected for the UK as a whole and are not broken down by devolved region. Air passenger revenue duty receipts for the UK as a whole are published in table 1.20 of Financial Statistics published by the Office for National Statistics.
Household Incomes
Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the average weekly income of households in each council tax band. [140006]
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Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 20 November 2003:
- As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking for the average weekly income of households in each council tax band. (140006)
- Estimates in the following table are based on the analysis "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income 2001–02" produced by the Office for National Statistics and published on 21 October 2003 on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/taxesbenefits.
- The analysis includes measures of income inequality for the United Kingdom as a whole based on data from the Expenditure and Food Survey (EPS), formerly the Family Expenditure Survey (FES). This is a sample survey covering about 7,500 households in the UK and sample sizes for each council tax band are only sufficient to give approximate estimates. The Family Resources Survey would have been an alternative source with a larger sample size, but the taxes and benefits analysis has been used for consistency with answers to other recent parliamentary questions.
- The table shows the average weekly gross income received by households in Great Britain in houses in each council tax band. Council tax is not paid in Northern Ireland. The sample size is only sufficient to allow a breakdown to be given for households living in bands G and H combined. A small number of households in properties which did not have a separate council tax valuation have been excluded from the analysis. Gross income includes income from earnings, occupational pensions and investments and cash benefits such as state retirement pensions and income support. It does not take account of deductions for taxes.
| Council Tax band | Average weekly gross income |
|---|---|
| A | 310 |
| B | 430 |
| C | 520 |
| D | 650 |
| E | 770 |
| F | 930 |
| G and H | 1,460 |
Source:Office for National Statistics, based on the analysis 'The effects of taxes and benefits on household income'.
Aviation Kerosene taxation
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the cost of not taxing aviation kerosene in financial year 2002–03. [140200]
John Healey: Aviation turbine fuel (AVTUR), is a heavy hydrocarbon oil used in virtually all aircraft on scheduled flights within the UK, and the majority of international commercial flights.
Although AVTUR is not currently taxed, the UK recognises that there is a case for taxing fuel used in international aviation and supports action through the International Civil Aviation Organisation to remove the current worldwide exemption.
Assuming no decrease in demand from a higher fuel price, levying duty on 2002–03 quantities of aviation turbine fuel would have raised the following amounts of revenue:
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| Duty levied | Revenue raised |
|---|---|
| If the rebated kerosene duty rate were levied | 0.4 |
| If the ULSD duty rate were levied | 5.8 |
| If the heavy diesel duty rate were levied | 6.6 |
Child Support Agency
Mr. Todd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what re-examination of the Office of Government Commerce Gateway review process he has undertaken as a result of the implementation of the Child Support Agency's reform programme. [140039]
Mr. Boateng: There has been no re-examination of the OGC Gateway Review Process as a direct result of the implementation of the Child Support Agency's reform programme.
Child Trust Fund
Mrs. Liddell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of families in Airdrie and Shotts constituency who will benefit from the Child Trust Fund. [140378]
Ruth Kelly: All children born since 1 September 2002 in families awarded Child Benefit will receive a Child Trust Fund (CTF). Based on census data for children under five living in the constituency of Airdrie and Shotts, about 900 children a year will benefit from the initial endowment. As an indication of the eventual position, 9,870 families were receiving Child Benefit for 16,585 children as at 30 November 2002, in the constituency of Airdrie and Shotts
The CTF is intended to encourage parents and children to develop the savings habit. It will ensure that every child, whatever their family background, will have access at the age of 18 when they begin their adult life, to a stock of assets which they can invest in their future.
It will also help children and their parents to understand the benefits of saving and investment and how to engage with financial institutions.
Customs and Excise
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the cost was of specialist asset recovery teams in Customs and Excise used for the recovery of assets from directors involved in fraudulent companies in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; how many staff were deployed in these teams in (i) 2001–02 and (ii) 2002–03; and what assets were realised by these teams in (A) 2001–02 and (B) 2002–03; [140183]
- (2) how many staff were employed in Customs and Excise debt management units in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; and how many new staff were recruited in (i) 2001–02 and (ii) 2002–03; [140184]
(3) if he will set out the Customs and Excise National Standards time limits for handling recoverable debt cases; and what the outturn against target was of debt management units in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; [140185]
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(4) how much debt was owed to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise on 31 March (a) in total and (b) broken down by type of debt; how much debt was owed as a percentage of the total amount of taxes and duties collected by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise; and what the change was in the number of unresolved debts between 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003; [140269]
(5) what the value of new debt owed to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise notified to the debt management units in 2002–03 is; and how much of that new debt was represented by VAT missing trader fraud; [140270]
(6) how much missing trader fraud debt owed to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise was outstanding at the end of 2002–03. [140271]
John Healey: 20 staff were employed in Customs' asset recovery teams in 2001–02 and 25 in 2002–03. They secured £23.5 million in assets in 2001–02 and £17.8 million in 2002–03. It is not possible to identify the overall cost of operating these teams. 929 staff were employed in debt management in Customs in 2001–02 and 892 in 2002–03. This includes staff involved in security, insolvency, civil recovery and other debt management work outside the debt management units. There was turnover of staff within these figures, with individuals moving into and out of the function, but it is not possible to identify the number of new staff recruited in those years.
The National Standards for debt management did not include timescales for handling recoverable debt in either 2001–02 or 2002–03. Current standards require a positive outcome on recoverable debt within three months for first time and occasional defaulters, or six months for persistent defaulters recruited in those years.
Total debt owed to Customs at the end of the 2002–03 accounting period was £2,311 million. This was 1.5 per cent. of the total amount of taxes and duties collected by Customs, and included £1,159 million suspended debt and £1,152 million recoverable debt. The number of unresolved debts was not measured in 2001–02, but Customs had 344,983 cases on hand at the end of the 2002–03 accounting period.
During 2002–03 £4,974 million in new debt was advised to debt management units. Of this £824 million resulted from MTIC fraud, although some of this figure related to cases opened in previous years.
At the end of 2002–03 £546 million in missing trader fraud debt was still owed to Customs.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff were deployed by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise to tackle VAT missing trader fraud in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; what the cost of deploying such staff was in each case; and what other costs there were in pursuing the VAT missing trader fraud strategy in each case. [140272]
John Healey: The number of staff deployed to tackle VAT missing trader fraud can be found in "Tackling Indirect Tax Fraud" (November 2001), a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.
The figure for 2002–03 will be published later this year.
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Customs does not maintain information about the costs in the format requested and it could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 6 November 2003, Official Report, column. 800W, with regard to Customs, whether the prohibited firearm was (a) produced to Customs from (i) the person and (ii) baggage, (b) loaded with ammunition and (c) ready to fire; for how long Customs exercised their control over the firearm; and by what means it left the United Kingdom. [140446]
John Healey: The records still available show that the importation referred to in my earlier answer was correctly declared in accordance with established regulations and procedures, and that there were no irregularities.
Some of Customs' records relating to regulatory controls on importations of firearms at Farnborough in 1999 have been destroyed under Customs' obligations in relation to the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Public Records Acts, as they relate to legitimate movements and are no longer required for administrative purposes. Following further investigation of the remaining records, I have now been informed that the single importation referred to in my previous answer related to four firearms and a quantity of ammunition, rather than a single firearm, and I regret that inadvertently this was not made clear to the hon. Gentleman. These firearms were surrendered by one or more passengers on a flight which arrived at Farnborough in March 1999.
The additional information requested is no longer available, and Customs cannot say with certainty how the items were taken into control, how long the firearms were in Customs' control or how and when they were re-exported from the United Kingdom.
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