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TREASURY

Child Tax Credit

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many mistakes have been made in payment to people who have applied for child tax credit. [180405]

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available.

Tax credits continue to play a key part in meeting the Government's objectives to abolish child poverty and make work pay, and 6.0 million families are benefiting from them (as at 5 April 2004.)

Where mistakes are made, the Inland Revenue makes every effort to put them right as quickly as possible.

European Union (UK Employment)

Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of jobs in each region of the UK (a) directly and (b) indirectly dependent on trade with the European Union. [184525]

Ruth Kelly: The Treasury estimates that 3 million jobs in the UK are linked, directly and indirectly, to the export of goods and services to the European Union. This figure is based on the assumption that the share of total UK employment associated with UK exports to the EU is equal to the share of total UK value added (GVA) generated by UK exports to the EU. The information necessary to apply the same method to derive comparable estimates for each region of the UK is not available.

Parliamentary Answers

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 15 June 2004, Official Report, column 836W, on trade (endangered species), if he will break down the information provided by species; and whether animals which have died in transit are included in the figures. [184607]

John Healey: HM Customs and Excise seized specimens from approximately 400 genera or species in the years 2001 to 2003. I am arranging for a full list to be placed in the Library of the House.

Customs seizure records include any that are found to be dead at the times of seizure.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 8 July 2004, Official Report, column 816W, what representations he has made to the European Commission about the extension of the derogation relating to red diesel. [184769]

John Healey: The derogation is due to expire on 31 December 2006. We will be considering the UK's position before then, including views expressed by stakeholders and in light of all relevant social, environmental and economic factors.

Pension Contributions (Tax Relief)

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the amount of tax relief on
 
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pension contributions to be provided in financial years (a) 2004–05, (b) 2005–06 and (c) 2006–07 in (i) the UK and (ii) Scotland. [184574]

Dawn Primarolo: The information in the format requested is not available. Available estimates of the cost of tax relief for private pensions in the UK are published in table 7.9 of Inland Revenue Statistics. The latest version is on the Inland Revenue website: http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/pensions/table7 9.pdf

These estimates are due to be updated in September 2004 and will cover financial years 1998–99 to 2003–04.

Pension-age Taxpayers (Scotland)

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many state retirement pension age taxpayers there were in Scotland in (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02, broken down by constituency. [184571]

Dawn Primarolo: It would be possible to provide a reliable answer only at disproportionate cost.

Tax System

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent research his Department has evaluated relating to reform of the taxation system. [184017]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government are committed to developing the evidence base to help inform future policies. Tax measures are informed by in house research and analysis or, in some cases, research commissioned from consultants and academics. The Government also maintains good links with academics, researchers, research institutes and research councils working on tax policy and delivery in this and other countries and carefully consider their work and its relevance for us in the policy development process.

Recent research that has been published can be found on the relevant departmental website.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Brazil

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance the Government are giving to the Government of Brazil to alleviate poverty. [184179]

Hilary Benn: In 2004–05 DFID will provide £4.45 million through its bilateral programme in Brazil. This concentrates on four of the poorest states in the North and North East. Its principal aims are to enable poor people to benefit from economic development, and to make public service allocation and delivery more responsive to the needs of poor people.

DFID provides about £12 million a year to Brazil through its share of the activities of the European Commission and United Nations agencies. In addition, the UK is a shareholder of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank which both lend about $1.5 billion a year to Brazil.
 
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DFID also supports non-governmental organisations working in Brazil. Under DFID's Civil Society Challenge Fund, we are providing £204,000 in 2004–05 for activities in Brazil. From 2005 onwards DFID will be providing £7 million for the Latin America and Caribbean region through major UK based NGOs through our Partnership Programme Agreements. A number of these organisations currently support activities in Brazil.

Departmental Publications (Storage)

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many departmental publications are in storage; and where they are located. [183861]

Hilary Benn: DFID currently has some 630,000 publications in stock. These include a range of Assistance Plans, Strategies, Reports and Evaluations totalling 1,500 titles.

An average of 18,000 publications are sent out each month. They are stored at EC Logistics in Sevenoaks, Kent.

EU Markets

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent representations he has received from officials in less developed countries regarding opening up European Union markets to assist development. [184069]

Hilary Benn: I speak regularly with many developing country Ministers and officials, including on trade. Many of them have formed alliances and come together to agree common positions on trade, for example under the G90 banner, which comprises members of the Africa Union, the group of African Caribbean and Pacific Countries, and the group of Least Developed Countries. Their position on agriculture for example, as set out during a recent meeting they held in Guyana, is that they want progress in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the three key issues of reducing export subsidies, reducing trade distorting domestic subsidies, and increasing market access for developing country exports.

They recognise however that increasing market access through general tariff reductions will have an impact on those developing countries that benefit from trade preferences—the problem of so-called preference erosion. The main focus now is on the WTO General Council that will meet at the end of July in Geneva, where I hope a satisfactory agreement will be reached to provide a framework for more detailed negotiations later in the year.

PFI/PPP Contracts

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many contracts have been let by his Department in each financial year since 2001–02 to (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte and Touche, (c) KPMG and (d) Ernst and Young for advising his Department on private finance initiative and public-private partnership contracts; and what fees were paid in each case. [182267]

 
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Hilary Benn: DFID has let no contracts since 2001–02 to these consultants for advice on private finance initiative and public private partnership contracts. DFID issued an earlier contract to PricewaterhouseCoopers for advice on tax matters relating to CDC (formerly known as the Commonwealth Development Corporation) and paid fees of £87,000 in FY 2001–02 and £74,000 in FY 2002–03.

CDC, which is wholly owned by DFID but has its own board and management and takes its own operational decisions, has engaged some of these consultants to advise on its reorganisation as follows.

Financial year	Consultant	Fees paid (£)
2001	None	—
2002	KPMG	200,000
2003	KPMG	1,120,000
2003	Ernst and Young	17,000
2004	KPMG	21,000
2004	Deloitte and Touche	3,000

Ernst and Young are also the CDC's auditors.

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