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15 Mar 2004 : Column 100W—continued
EU Budget
Mr. Spring: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list (a) EU member states' gross contributions to the EU budget, (b) EU member states' net contributions to the EU budget and (c) the United Kingdom's abatement, for the last two financial years. [161463]
Ruth Kelly: Based on the most recent information published by the European Commission the gross and net contributions of member states for the years 2001 and 2002 are set out in the following tables.
| EU15 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 3,532 | 3,018 |
| Denmark | 1,778 | 1,688 |
| Germany | 19,727 | 17,582 |
| Greece | 1,350 | 1,338 |
| Spain | 6,592 | 6,551 |
| France | 14,471 | 14,152 |
| Ireland | 1,211 | 1,019 |
| Italy | 11,613 | 11,280 |
| Luxembourg | 257 | 184 |
| Netherlands | 5,517 | 4,467 |
| Austria | 2,091 | 1,809 |
| Portugal | 1,266 | 1,187 |
| Finland | 1,233 | 1,185 |
| Sweden | 2,338 | 2,086 |
| United Kingdom | 7,743 | 10,153 |
| EU15 | 2001 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | -518 | -1,475 |
| Denmark | 429 | 216 |
| Germany | 9,380 | 5,897 |
| Greece | -4,391 | -3,357 |
| Spain | -7,057 | -8,666 |
| France | 2,720 | 1,929 |
| Ireland | -1,108 | -1,581 |
| Italy | 2,920 | 3,039 |
| Luxembourg | -644 | -791 |
| Netherlands | 3,830 | 2,876 |
| Austria | 688 | 255 |
| Portugal | -1,681 | -2,686 |
| Finland | 213 | -18 |
| Sweden | 1,245 | 841 |
| United Kingdom | 1,805 | 3,985 |
(21) Minus sign denotes net recipient.
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The figures for the UK Abatement, which are included within the figures in the tables, are:
| United Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 7,343 |
| 2002 | 4,934 |
The UK abatement for the financial years 2001–02 and 2002–03 was:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 4,427 |
| 2002–03 | 3,234 |
Mr. Spring: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value of the EU rebate to the UK has been since its agreement in 1984. [161461]
Ruth Kelly: By the end of financial year 2002–03 the UK abatement has been worth around £37 billion since its introduction.
Customs and Excise
Mr. Alan Reid: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many detector dogs are engaged in detecting illegal imports of (a) meat and (b) other animal products. [161407]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) on 3 December 2003, Official Report, column 60W. The six dogs trained to detect meat and other products of animal origin are now deployed in operational use.
Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Customs and Excise staff are employed to tackle illegal imports of meat; and if he will make a statement. [160631]
John Healey: Customs has over 3,000 front-line detection staff, all of whom have responsibility for detecting illegal imports, including meat and other products of animal origin, as part of their normal duties. In addition, the £4 million funding for 2003–04 provides for four new specialist detection teams and allows the detector dog complement to be increased from two to six.
These staff are also supported by others who work on intelligence, analysis, publicity and overall policy development.
Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many prosecutions for illegal import of meat have taken place in each of the last 10 years. [160632]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers I gave to the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) on 3 December 2003, Official Report, columns 58–61W. Customs brought no prosecutions between 1994 and 2000.
15 Mar 2004 : Column 102W
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what national standards apply to time limits for the handling by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise of recoverable debt cases; and what the performance of debt management units in meeting these standards was in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; [160863]
- (2) how many staff were employed in Her Majesty's Customs and Excise debt management units in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; and how many new staff were recruited to the units in each of those financial years; [160864]
(3) what the cost was of the specialist asset recovery teams set up to pursue 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 each of those financial years; and what assets were realised by these teams in each case; [160865]
(4) how much missing trader fraud debt owed to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise was outstanding at the end of 2002–03; [160867]
(5) what the value of new debt owed to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise notified to the debt management units in 2002–03 was; and how much of that new debt was represented by VAT missing trader fraud; [160868]
(6) how much debt was owed to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise on 31 March 2003 (a) in total and (b) broken down by type of debt; what percentage that total formed of the total amount of taxes and duties collected by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in 2002–03; and what the change in the number of unresolved debts since 31 March 2002 was. [160869]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 20 November 2003, Official Report, columns 1328–29W.
Iraq
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what contributions were made after 2 December 1992 by overseas Governments in respect of costs incurred by the UK during the Gulf War. [158652]
Mr. Boateng [holding answer 4 March 2004]: None are recorded.
Project Funding
Mr. Colman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many (a) solely state-financed and (b) public-private partnership and private finance initiative projects for which his Department is responsible have been launched in each region in each of the last 10 years; [160973]
- (2) how much was spent by (a) the Government on solely state-financed projects and (b) the (i) Government and (ii) private sector on public-private and private finance initiative projects for which his Department is responsible in each of the last 10 years, broken down by region. [160974]
Mr. Boateng: Information on signed private finance initiative projects is submitted to the Treasury by Departments. A spreadsheet of these data, which were
15 Mar 2004 : Column 103W
last submitted in July 2003, is available from the HM Treasury website at http://www.hm-treasurv.gov.uk/documents/public private partnerships/pop pfi stats. cfm. The spreadsheet can be searched by sponsoring Department, capital value and region.
Information on individual conventionally procured capital projects is not held centrally and is a matter for individual Departments.
The Treasury itself has not launched any conventionally procured capital projects in the last 10 years.
Business Regulation
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2004, Official Report, column 1209W, on the EU regulatory burden, whether he has received a copy of the CBI's top 10 regulatory threats; and how many of these regulations derive from the EU. [161514]
Dawn Primarolo: The Treasury is aware that the CBI has published a list of 10 "regulatory threats". These include six European regulations, one issue of UK application of EU law, two cases of UK policy, and one issue relating to United States legislation.
Small Business
Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the support programmes for small businesses that (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have directly financed, including lower rate tax reliefs, in each of the last five years; how much money was allocated for each scheme in each year; how much money has gone unclaimed under each scheme; and how many small businesses have benefited from each scheme. [161256]
John Healey: The cross-cutting review of Government services for small business was published by the Government in December 2002, and outlines the services provided to small businesses from Departments and agencies across Government. A copy is available in the Library of the House.
15 Mar 2004 : Column 104W
Further details of Government expenditure allocated by the Treasury, incorporating expenditure upon small business support, are set out within departmental estimates, which are also available in the Library of the House. Details of the tax treatment of small business are set out annually in the Chancellor's Budget statement.
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