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20 Dec 2004 : Column 1412W—continued
Stamp Duty
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate has been made of the revenue expected from stamp duty land tax on commercial leases in (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06. [206144]
Mr. Timms: Estimates of the revenue from stamp duty were published in Table B13 of the Pre Budget 2004 Report. http://www.hm-treasurv.gov.uk/media/92C/40/pbr04 chapB 32O.pdf. No reliable further breakdown is available.
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what mechanism is used to ensure that stamp duty collected by conveyancers is not collected in error in relation to properties that are subject to exemption; and if he will make a statement. [206306]
Mr. Timms: Disadvantaged Areas Relief from Stamp Duty Land Tax is due only if a valid claim is made in a Stamp Duty Land Tax Return or an amendment to such a return. The Inland Revenue provides advice, including a postcode search tool, on its website to help taxpayers and their professional advisers to decide whether they should claim.
Tax Credits
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the processing of tax credit claims. [205586]
Dawn Primarolo: Over 6 million families are now benefiting from tax credits and 10 and a half million children are benefiting.
The tax credits computer system captures data from claims, checks entitlement, calculates tax credit awards, sends out a decision notice and makes payments automatically.
The Inland Revenue aim to decide 55 per cent. of all tax credit claims, renewals and change of circumstances in five working days and 95 per cent. in 30 working days. It published its progress against Public Service
20 Dec 2004 : Column 1413W
Agreement (PSA) targets in the Board's Annual Report, published in October 2004, which is available on the internet at http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many interim giro payments for tax credits were made by the Inland Revenue in (a) 2003–04 and (b) the current tax year; and how many of these were made (i) to prevent hardship following the reduction of an award and (ii) as manual payments of tax credits. [205936]
Dawn Primarolo: For 2003–04, the numbers are shown at paragraph 2.14 in the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General attached to the Inland Revenue Report and Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2004.
Between April and November 2004 inclusive, about 280,000 manual payments were issued, of which about 3,000 were to prevent hardship following the reduction of an award.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Inland Revenue expects to introduce fully automated reconciliations of payments authorised against payments made with regard to the processing of tax credits. [205938]
Dawn Primarolo: A new reconciliation arrangement was introduced in August 2004. While not fully automated it allows us to ensure we complete the 2004–05 reconciliation shortly after 5 April 2005.
New software is being developed which will make possible a fully automated process. It should be available in late 2005/early 2006.
Mr. Wilshire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make a statement on the delays experienced by Mrs. Jennifer East, a constituent, in her dealings with the Tax Credit Office. [206293]
Dawn Primarolo: I understand that the Inland Revenue is making a thorough investigation of Mrs. East's case and will write to the hon. member's constituent shortly.
Dr. Kumar: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects of tax credits on the number of children living in poverty in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency. [206813]
Dawn Primarolo: The introduction of the Child and Working Tax Credits has led to a significant increase in the number of working families benefiting from financial support through tax credits in Middlesborough South and East Cleveland. In November 2002 2,845 families were benefiting from the Working Families' Tax Credit; by January 2004 4,000 working families were benefiting from more than the family element of Child Tax Credit, an increase of 41 per cent. It is not possible to estimate the number of children living in poverty in a particular constituency.
John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff have been seconded to the team dealing with overpayment of tax credits; and at what cost. [203144]
Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 7 December 2004]: None.
20 Dec 2004 : Column 1414W
Unemployment
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many people under 25 years of age were unemployed and claiming benefit in Burton on 1 December (a) 1997 and (b) 2004; [205538]
(2) how many long-term unemployed people aged (a) under 25 years and (b) over 25 years there were in Burton on 1st December (i) 1997 and (ii) 2004. [205539]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mrs. Janet Dean, dated 20 December 2004:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about unemployment in Burton. I am replying in his absence. (205538 & 205539)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of unemployment from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation definitions. However, the LFS sample size is too small to give reliable estimates in reply to your particular questions about unemployment in the Burton Constituency.
ONS also compiles statistics of those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for local areas including parliamentary constituencies.
The attached table gives the number of people aged under 25 years old resident in the Burton constituency claiming JSA benefits. It also gives the numbers aged under 25 years and those aged over 25 years claiming for over 12 months for November 1997 and November 2004.
| All claimants | People claiming for over 1 year(28) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| As at November each year | Aged under 25 | Aged under 25 | Aged 25 and over |
| 1997 | 520 | 50 | 425 |
| 2004 | 260 | 0 | 60 |
(28) Computerised claims only.
Source:
Jobcentre Plus Administrative system.
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the ratio of young jobless people, including those on New Deal programmes, to the total number of unemployed persons was in each of the last 10 years; [205328]
(2) how many young people over 16 years were not in education, employment or training in each of the last 10 years, expressed as a proportion of the total adult labour force. [205329]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Tim Boswell, dated 20 December 2004:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about employment. (205328, 205329)
Table 1 shows numbers of unemployed people aged 16 to 24 expressed as percentages of total unemployed aged 16 and over. Table 2 shows numbers of young people aged 16 to 24 who were
- not in education, employment or training expressed as proportion of working age population. Both tables cover the three month period ending in October for years from 1995 to 2004.
These estimates from the Labour Force Survey are, as with any sample survey, subject to sampling variability.
Source:
Labour Force Survey
(29) Working age population comprises men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59.
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey
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