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2 Mar 2004 : Column 821W—continued

Inland Revenue

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Inland Revenue local tax offices there are; what their running costs were in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [156760]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue has approximately 350 local Tax Offices. However many are located in multi-occupied buildings with other Revenue Offices. For example, a building might house a Tax Office but it could also house a Contact Centre, Tax Enquiry Point, Working Families Tax Credit Office etc.

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It would therefore require a disproportionate amount of effort to manually extract and disaggregate the running costs attributable to local Tax Offices.

Population Growth

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the growth of the population up to 2031; what that estimate would be if there were no net immigration in future; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of expected population growth which is due to net immigration and dependants. [156194]

Ruth Kelly: The Government Actuary's latest (2002-based) principal population projection was published in December 2003. The Government Actuary also published a range of variant projections based on alternative assumptions in January 2004. The variant projections included a 'Natural Change' projection which assumes zero net migration in future. Relevant results from the principal projection and the natural change variant projection are summarised in the following table.

Projected population change, United Kingdom 2002–31Million

	Principal projection	Natural change variant projection
Population at mid-2002	59.2	59.2
	Population change (2002–31)
Natural change(7)	2.6	0.9
Net migration	3.8	—
Other changes(8)	-0.8	—
Total change	5.6	0.9
Population at mid-2031	64.8	60.1

⁽⁷⁾ Births less deaths.

⁽⁸⁾ The principal projection includes a downward adjustment for unattributable population change. Not migration and other changes are both assumed to be zero in the natural change variant projection.

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Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what contribution was made to each of the figures in Table B5 of the pre-Budget report 2003 by Private Finance Initiative or associated schemes that have been accounted for on the balance sheet of the public sector client; and whether the data underlying Table B5 are updated when a particular Private Finance Initiative scheme subsequently moves on- or off-balance sheet to the public sector client. [156158]

Mr. Boateng: The assumptions used for the spending projections underlying Table B5 are set out in paragraph B27 on page 208 of the pre-Budget report. Current and capital expenditure under PFI contracts is fully recorded in the expenditure rows of Table B5, and hence in the fiscal aggregates consistent with independently set accounting and reporting standards. Accordingly, these tables will fully reflect the balance sheet treatment of assets once this treatment has been determined.

PFI contracts where the assets concerned are on departmental balance sheets are reported in departmental accounts, together with disclosure of information relating to any contracts assessed as off balance sheet.

Research and Development Tax Credits

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to publish claims from large companies for research and development tax credits. [157203]

Dawn Primarolo: The research and development tax credit for large companies was introduced in April 2002. Claims are made as part of a company's corporation tax self assessment. Consequently, the first claims under this scheme have only just started to be received by the Inland Revenue.

Spirit Duty

Angus Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list each bonded warehouse licensed by Customs and Excise which stocks spirits, including (a) geographic location and (b) gross volume turnover of spirits for each financial year since 1994. [155841]

John Healey: Customs and Excise approve warehouses to stock excise goods in duty-suspension. Quantities of spirits released for consumption in the UK, and UK production volumes, are published in Customs' Annual Report. Details of individual warehouses are not available; Exemptions 6 (Effective management of the economy and collection of tax) and 13 (Third party's commercial confidences) of the Open Government Code apply.

The numbers of excise warehouses approved to stock alcoholic drinks which may include spirits, in each country of the United Kingdom are shown in the following table.

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Country	Approved warehouses
England	467
Scotland	213
Northern Ireland	32
Wales	21

The more detailed data requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Taxation

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to public funds would be of reducing corporation tax to (a) 25 per cent. and (b) 20 per cent. [157572]

Dawn Primarolo: Reductions in the main rate of corporation tax of this magnitude would be likely to have indirect as well as direct effects on tax revenues. The "Tax Ready Reckoner and Tax Reliefs" published with the pre-Budget report in December showed the direct effects of a one percentage point change in the main rate of corporation tax in April 2004 as £650 million in 2004–05 and £1,300 million in 2005–06.

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to public funds would be of raising the threshold for inheritance tax to £1 million. [157575]

Dawn Primarolo: The PBR projection of inheritance tax yield is £2.8 billion for 2004–5. The full year cost of raising the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million in 2004–5 would be £2.5 billion.

Thalidomide Trust

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to announce the conclusion of his Department's discussions with the trustees of the Thalidomide Trust about the tax treatment of payments to the beneficiaries. [157221]

Dawn Primarolo: The tax affairs of the Thalidomide Trust are a matter for the Trust and the Inland Revenue. I can confirm that discussions between the Trust and officials of the Inland Revenue are currently taking place on a number of issues to ensure the Trust pays the correct amount of tax and the beneficiaries claim all the tax repayments and Tax Credits to which they are entitled. If the Trust wish to make an announcement about the outcome of those discussions then that is a matter for the trustees.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on recent discussions with the trustees of the Thalidomide Trust. [157687]

Dawn Primarolo: I can confirm that discussions between the Thalidomide Trust and officials of the Inland Revenue are currently taking place on a number of issues to ensure the Trust pays the correct amount of tax and the beneficiaries claim all the tax repayments and Tax Credits to which they are entitled. However the tax affairs of the Thalidomide Trust are confidential and a matter for the Trust and the Inland Revenue. If the Trust wish to make a statement about those discussions then that is a matter for the trustees.

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FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan

13. Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the results of efforts to reduce poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. [157425]

Mr. Rammell: The UK Government has regular discussions with the Afghan Government, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and international partners about progress on measures to reduce opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. There are no immediate solutions and no single approach to address the variety of factors which influence farmers to grow poppy. The UK is supporting the Afghan Government in implementation of their national drug control strategy with £70 million committed over three years and a dedicated counter narcotics team in place in Kabul. We also co-hosted last month a counter narcotics conference in Kabul to increase Afghan and international awareness and engagement in tackling this problem.

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his assessment is of the current security situation in Afghanistan. [157023]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The security situation in Afghanistan remains fragile. The two lethal bomb attacks on Canadian and UK IS AF personnel in January in Kabul followed the killing of four German ISAF personnel in a similar attack in June 2003. Other attacks, such as the murder of a UN employee in November 2003 and the attack near Kandahar on 22 February in which an Australian pilot was killed and a British aid worker wounded, have targeted the international community and NGO operations outside the capital. Security in the south continues to cause concern, especially near the border with Pakistan, where extremist groups are operating. There have been fewer problems in the north, but long-standing tensions persist and these can flare up into violence.

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