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30 Mar 2004 : Column 1352W—continued

TREASURY

Bushmeat

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he is taking to control the import of bushmeat. [164495]

John Healey: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Selby (Mr. Grogan) on 29 March 2004, Official Report, column 1232W.

Civil Service

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost savings arising from the reduction of 40,500 Civil Service jobs in (a) each of the years between now and 2008 and (b) the following five years; and if he will make a statement. [163855]

Mr. Boateng: The Budget announced that the Department for Work and Pensions has put forward plans to reduce its total staffing by 30,000 between now and 2008. These staff reductions will achieve a total gross administration saving of around £600 million a year in 2003–04 prices.

The Budget also announced the integration of HM Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue. The creation of a single revenue department, along with existing plans and proposed efficiency reforms, will create scope for an overall staff reduction equivalent to 10,500 posts by 2008. The location and nature of staffing changes will be determined in detailed business planning to be undertaken by the revenue departments and their new Executive Chairman, when appointed, who will be consulting as appropriate with all key stakeholders including trade unions.

Gift Aid

John Barrett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what steps his Department is taking to make heritage and conservation charities aware of his plans to amend Gift Aid rules on day memberships; [164472]

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John Healey: The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in this year's Budget that the Government will continue to consult with charities to develop a new definition of the special statutory exemption from the Gift Aid rules for heritage and conservation charities.

The Inland Revenue has since written to all charities and representative bodies who participated in the first stages of consultation following last year's pre-Budget report. A copy of this letter has also been posted on the Inland Revenue website. Charities have until 11 June to contribute to this extended consultation.

The Government aim to announce the results of the consultation around the time of the Spending Review giving charities the opportunity to take account of the changes in their financial planning.

It is not possible to establish the number of charities that might be affected by, nor the revenue effect of, any changes which might be proposed following this consultation since charities are not required to differentiate on their Gift Aid claims the amounts they are claiming for 'day membership' income from other amounts they are claiming. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Leominster (Mr. Wiggin) on 15 January 2004, Official Report, columns 865–66W.

Government Debt

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of servicing total Government debt was in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [163858]

Mr. Boateng: The latest available figures for debt interest are published by the Office for National Statistics in Table 1.1C of Financial Statistics. A copy of this table has been placed in the Library of the House.

Government Revenue Deficit

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of servicing the Government revenue deficit in financial year 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [163857]

Mr. Boateng: The latest available estimate of debt interest is in Table C11 on page 266 of Budget 2004 (HC 301).

Head Teachers

Lady Hermon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his commitment in the Budget in relation to

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direct payment of (a) £55,000 to primary school and (b) £180,000 to secondary school headteachers includes Northern Ireland. [164387]

Ruth Kelly: The Budget announcement related to schools in England only. Funding in Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.

Income Tax

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much income tax was collected from each income tax bracket in the last fiscal year for which figures are available. [162466]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to table 2.6 "Income tax liabilities, by taxpayer's marginal rate" on the Inland Revenue website www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/income taxAable-26.pdf.

Public Sector Employees

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employees there were in the public sector in each year since 1995. [163879]

Mr. Boateng: The information requested is published in Labour Market Trends, a copy of which is available in the Library and which can also be accessed through the Office for National Statistics' website: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme labour/LMT september03.pdf

Public Sector Relocation

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which Government Departments suggested York to Sir Michael Lyons' review of public sector relocation as a possible place for relocating their staff; and which groups of staff were mentioned in this context. [163802]

Mr. Boateng: Sir Michael Lyons' review was carried out on the basis that Government Departments who identified possible locations for dispersal of activity should not be named until such time as their plans have been fully worked up and they are ready to make an announcement.

Spirits Tax

Mr. Alan Reid: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the tax stamps schemes for bottles of spirits (a) run by the United States Administration prior to 1985 and (b) proposed by the Norwegian Government in 1997. [164497]

John Healey: Tax stamps have been introduced in forty different countries for a variety of reasons ranging from quality assurance to tackling fraud. The wide range of different schemes and reasons for their introduction or withdrawal means that comparisons between countries cannot easily be drawn.

The USA withdrew its federal tax stamps in 1985 when a 1954 law governing marks on spirits was repealed. However, some States within the USA continued to use tax stamps for a number of reasons including the collection of state duties.

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Norway passed enabling legislation for tax stamps in 1997 but has not yet introduced stamps, so it is difficult to make any meaningful assessment of its proposed scheme.

We have received information from over 20 countries about the operation of their tax stamps schemes. Of eight European Union and accession countries where direct inquiries have been made, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic have no plans to withdraw their schemes. Poland in particular emphasised the anti-fraud benefits of their scheme.

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will estimate the impact of the introduction of strip stamps upon the competitiveness of UK distillers, with particular reference to the Scotch whisky sector; [161642]

John Healey: The Government announced in the Budget that, owing to continued high levels of spirits duty fraud, it would legislate to implement the Roques report recommendation to introduce tax stamps for spirits. In doing so, the Government will help the trade financially with compliance costs by deferring payment for tax stamps, assisting firms with capital investment and freezing spirits duty for the remainder of this Parliament. Further announcements will be made once detailed options have been considered in discussion with the trade.

A regulatory impact assessment, to be published alongside the Finance Bill, will set out the anticipated impacts, costs and benefits of the tax stamp regime. The impacts on compliance costs, competitiveness, employment and consumer prices will all depend on the detailed measures taken to implement tax stamps, on the measures the Government will introduce to offset the impact on legitimate business and on business decisions taken by companies involved in the spirits production and supply industry.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what discussions have taken place with the spirits industry about introducing tax stamps; and when he expects to publish full details and costs of the proposals for tax stamps; [164824]

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John Healey: There has been extensive consultation with the spirits industry since December 2001 when a formal consultation on tax stamps issues was launched. Following the Chancellor's announcement in last year's Pre-Budget Report (Cm 6042) that he would implement at the Budget the Roques report recommendation of tax stamps for products subject to the spirits rate of duty when an equally effective alternative could be found, Ministers and officials have received a wide range of representations and held more than 40 meetings with industry representatives. These discussions are continuing and joint industry Government working groups have been established to progress the implementation of tax stamps.

It is the Government's intention to publish a full Regulatory Impact Assessment alongside this year's Finance Bill on 8 April.

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