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26 May 2004 : Column 1708W—continued

TREASURY

Gun Trafficking

Ms Abbott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the level of priority given to gun trafficking by HM Customs. [175542]

John Healey: In the Government's response to the All Party Parliamentary Group's report, "Combating the Threat of Gun Violence", published in March, we said that HM Customs and Excise's prioritisation would be addressed as part of a joint action plan. Customs deploy their resources on the basis of risk assessment driven by intelligence, which maximises their impact in enforcing a range of prohibitions and restrictions, including those relating to firearms. They respond to all specific intelligence on firearms. Strategic threat assessments produced by NCIS and Customs will inform future action. Meanwhile Customs are working with NCIS and other partners in the ACPO Strategic Criminal Use of Firearms Group to improve intelligence gathering and assessment and to contribute to activity under the joint action plan.

Stroke Deaths

Andy King: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many deaths occurred in the last year due to    stroke in (a) Rugby and Kenilworth and (b) England; [174962]

(2) how many deaths occurred in the last year due to peripheral vascular disease in (a) Rugby and Kenilworth and (b) England. [174964]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
 
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Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Andy King, dated 26 May 2004:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions concerning the number of deaths due to peripheral vascular disease and stroke in the last year in (a) Rugby and Kenilworth and (b) England. I am replying in his absence. (174964, 174962)

The latest year for which figures are available is 2002. Figures in the attached table are provided for the local authorities of Rugby and Warwick. The parliamentary constituency of Rugby and Kenilworth contains the whole of Rugby local authority and part of Warwick local authority. To protect against the release of potentially disclosive information, figures have not been provided for the constituency as its electoral ward boundaries are not coterminous with the local authority boundaries.

Cause of death has been defined using the International Classification of Diseases. Within this there is a clearly agreed definition of stroke deaths but not of peripheral vascular disease. Following medical advice, the numbers provided in the table below are for all deaths from diseases of arteries, arterioles and capillaries, excluding thoracic aortic aneurysms.

Deaths from diseases of arteries, arterioles and capillaries, and from stroke⁽¹⁰⁾: England, and Rugby and Warwick local authorities⁽¹¹⁾, 2002–03 Number of deaths

Area	Diseases of arteries, arterioles and capillaries	Stroke
England	11,806	55,239
Rugby	19	88
Warwick	41	152

⁽¹⁰⁾   The cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10).
⁽¹¹⁾   Usual residents of these areas.
⁽¹²⁾   Deaths in the calendar year 2002.
The codes used were as follows:
ICD-10 170–178—Diseases of arteries, arterioles and capillaries:
170—Atherosclerosis
171—Aortic aneurysm and dissection, excluding:
171.1—Thoracic aortic aneurysm, ruptured
171.2—Thoracic aortic aneurysm, without mention of rupture
172—Other aneurysm
173—Other peripheral vascular diseases
174—Arterial embolism and thrombosis
177—Other disorders of arteries and arterioles
178—Diseases of capillaries
ICD-10160–169—Cerebrovascular disease (Stroke).

Airport Tax

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much airport tax was raised by passengers using Northern Ireland's three main airports in the latest financial year for which figures are available. [175855]

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 country or region. Air passenger duty revenue figures can be found in table 2.1 D of "Financial Statistics", published by the Office for National Statistics.

Bribery

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps the Inland Revenue has taken to identify economic sectors with a high incidence of
 
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trading with developing countries in which there would be an increased risk of companies seeking tax relief on illegal payments. [175939]

Dawn Primarolo: The UK does not allow tax relief for bribes. These payments are most likely to be distinguished in the profit and loss account as fees, commissions and entertaining, and therefore, would come to light through local initiatives looking at companies with large fees and commission entries plus evidence of business with countries where bribery can occur.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether overseas bribery is one of the risk factors taken into account when the Inland Revenue considers which tax returns to examine in detail. [175940]

Dawn Primarolo: For obvious reasons, the Inland Revenue does not publicise its risk assessment criteria.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps the Inland Revenue has taken to ensure that (a) UK companies do not claim bribes paid overseas as tax deductible and (b) its staff are trained to detect bribes paid overseas in UK company tax returns. [175941]

Dawn Primarolo: The UK does not allow tax relief for bribes. Claims to bribes would be detected as part of our normal risk assessment programme. The legislation covering non-deductibility of illegal payments is at section 577A of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act. Training on detection of bribes paid overseas by UK companies is included in the Inland Revenue's basic training for new tax inspectors and in the programme of technical updates for existing inspectors. In addition, extensive guidance is available in the "Business Income Manual", together with instructions for submitting suspect cases to Revenue Policy, Business Tax for advice.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many instances of overseas bribery the Inland Revenue has detected since February 2002; and what action it has taken. [175942]

Dawn Primarolo: Section 577A of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 disallows the deduction of any payment, the making of which would constitute the commission of a criminal offence in the UK. If the payment is made outside the UK, it is also disallowed if the same payment made in the UK would have been a criminal offence.

Where a claim for such expenditure is discovered, the amount would be added back in the tax computation and the additional tax would be recovered together with interest and penalties where due.

The Inland Revenue, as with many classes of expenditure, does not keep central records of expenditure disallowed under this provision.

Correspondence

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects a reply to be made to the letter to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, dated 6 April 2004, from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan, regarding import tax and antiques. [176135]

John Healey: I replied to the hon. Member on 14 May 2004.
 
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E-Government

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many management consultants have been employed on the Inland Revenue e-Government programme; from what dates they were employed; and what the cost to the Inland Revenue of the consultants has been to date. [174028]

Dawn Primarolo: Consultants have been employed for varying periods since the formal establishment of the Inland Revenue 'e' services programme in April 2001 to bring in specialist skills in 'e' as well as for the strategic development and management of its programme. There are now 39 consultants employed on either a part-time or full-time basis.

The estimated cost of consultants to date is £13.5million.

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