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EU Taxation

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total level of tax raised was per head of population for each current EU country for the last year for which figures are available, taking into account all sources of taxation and National Insurance and equivalent revenue. [162870]

Dawn Primarolo: The OECD publishes figures for "Tax revenue in US dollars per capita" for each of its member countries, in its annual Revenue Statistics publication. The latest available figures are for 2001 (OECD Revenue Statistics 1965–2002, October 2003 edition, p.90, Table 34). A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House.

Euro

Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to continue to evaluate its five economic tests for entry to the euro; and what plans he has to publish findings on a regular basis. [162836]

Ruth Kelly: As the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his Budget speech, "while the Government does not propose an assessment be initiated at the time of this Budget, the Treasury will again review the situation at Budget time next year and report to the House."

Housing Market

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he intends to take to encourage more first time home buyers into the market. [162468]

Ruth Kelly: The Government announced in the Budget statement its intention to implement a programme of change, as recommended by the final report of the Barker Review "Delivering Stability: Securing our Future Housing Needs" published on 17 March 2004, in order to meet the key objectives of stability and improved housing market affordability.

Inland Revenue

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what efforts are being made to (a) enhance the services provided by the Inland Revenue and (b) facilitate its closer working with other government departments. [162225]

Dawn Primarolo: In July 2003 the Chancellor announced a major review of the Inland Revenue, HM Customs and Excise and the Treasury, led by Gus O'Donnell, which looked at these issues in detail. The O'Donnell Review delivered its conclusions on 17 March 2004 with recommendations to enhance customer service by integrating the work of the Revenue and Customs into a single, new department.

Pet Passports

Mr. Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what level of VAT is chargeable on (a) passports, (b) pet passports and (c) passports for horses. [161660]

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John Healey [holding answer 16 March 2004]: British Citizens' passports are issued under statute by the Passport Office. Public bodies are not engaged in business activities when they undertake their statutory duties, rendering these public services free from VAT.

Customs and Excise understand that certificates under the Pet Travel Scheme are issued by veterinary surgeons in the course of vaccinating the animal in question. Veterinary treatment is subject to 17.5 per cent. VAT.

If passports for horses are issued commercially by non-public bodies, they will also be subject to 17.5 per cent. VAT.

Financial Services (VAT)

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the types of financial transaction that are subject to VAT. [162452]

John Healey: In general, financial services are exempt from VAT. Group 5 of Schedule 9 to the VAT Act 1994 sets out in detail which supplies of financial services are exempt from VAT.

National Asset Register

Mr. Heath: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions the National Asset Register has been published since November 1997. [162865]

Ruth Kelly: The National Asset Register has been published on one occasion since November 1997, in July 2001.

Orphans Fund

Alan Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Financial Services Industry on the orphans funds held in respect of unclaimed matured policies. [163168]

Ruth Kelly: Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives from the financial services industry and discuss a wide range of issues.

Pensions

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average effect would be on an individual pensioner of adopting the harmonised index of consumer prices as a means of calculating inflation in respect of pensions in each year until 2007. [161374]

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is not currently available.

The effect on pensioners of adopting the harmonised index of consumer prices as a means of calculating inflation in respect of pensions in each year from April 2004 until 2007 would differ depending on the circumstances of each pensioner.

However, we have no plans to change the basis on which we uprate state pensions.

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many pensioners have been affected by the changes to the way inflation is calculated since the adoption of the harmonised index of consumer prices. [161375]

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Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.

The harmonised index of consumer prices is not used to uprate social security benefits, and there is no requirement to use it to uprate occupational or personal pensions.

Personal Debt

Jim Dowd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the current level of debt outstanding on (a) credit cards and (b) home loans and mortgages in the UK; and what the comparable figures were in each of the past five years. [159725]

Ruth Kelly: This data can be found within table A5 of the Bank of England's 'Monetary and Financial Statistics' publication, available from the Bank of England's website: www.bankofengland.co.uk.

Pre-owned Assets Tax

Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he received from tax practitioners during the consultation period on the proposed tax on pre-owned assets. [161237]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government has received over 100 responses from tax practitioners. Following consultation proposals to tackle tax avoidance using trusts were set out in Budget 2004 (paragraphs 5.87 to 5.90).

Procurement (Outsourcing)

Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make a statement on his Department's procurement policy with regard to offshore IT and call centre outsourcing; whether his Department is outsourcing IT and call centres jobs to offshore companies; to which countries his Department has outsourced these jobs; how much his Department has spent on this outsourcing in each of the last two years; and how much has been budgeted for this purpose for the next two years. [147586]

Ruth Kelly: The Chancellor of the Exchequer's Departments base their procurement decisions on obtaining goods and services that represent the best value for money and are in accordance with their public policy remits, within European legislation and the Government's UK procurement rules. These departments do not currently have outsourced IT or call centre contracts with offshore companies, with the exception of limited technical support provided under very strict security arrangements as part of the Inland Revenue's Self Assessment system. This arrangement will end in July 2004.

Residential Property Purchase

Hywel Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimates have been made of the cost of implementing the tax relief proposals on purchasing residential property through (a) SIPPS and (b) SAPPS in terms of tax forgone for each financial year until 2010; [161364]

(2) what estimates have been made of the number of people taking up proposals announced in the Pre Budget Report to purchase residential property through (a) SIPPS and (b) SAPPS. [161365]

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Ruth Kelly: The majority of pension savers—over 14 million—are members of schemes currently free to invest in residential property. The new rules will provide a level playing field by allowing some specialised pension funds (SIPPS and SAPPS), held by around 200,000 people, to invest in property for the first time. However for the vast majority of these people investing in property will have little or no attraction because all rental income must go into the pension fund and the property must be sold before the pension can be drawn. Neither do the proposed changes present a 40 per cent. tax break, as some have suggested, as any use of the property for personal use will incur a tax charge.

Self-Assessment

Bob Russell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many penalty notices were issued by the Inland Revenue to taxpayers for alleged late submission or non-submission of their 2003 self-assessment tax returns by the 31 January 2003 deadline in circumstances where they had been returned by this date; and if he will make a statement. [162324]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue does not currently hold figures of the number of Late Filing Penalty Notices issued for self assessment returns for 2002–03 which might have been issued in these circumstances.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will make a statement on the implementation by the Inland Revenue of the scheme whereby taxpayers who no longer need to submit a self-assessment return are informed of this; [147642]

(2) what percentage of taxpayers on low incomes have been removed from the self-assessment system since July 2002; and if he will make a statement; [147643]

(3) if he will make a statement on the simplification of the self-assessment tax return. [147644]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 5.102 of Budget 2004 (HC 301). In addition, the Inland Revenue estimates that up to one million people will be taken out of self-assessment altogether over the coming year. Letters will be sent to them automatically explaining that they will no longer be issued with returns.

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