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17 Jan 2005 : Column 714W—continued

GDP (Underground Activity)

Keith Vaz: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the recorded gross domestic product in the UK is estimated to be generated by underground activity. [209142]

Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Keith Vaz, dated 17 January 2005:

As National Statisician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what percentage of the recorded Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the UK is estimated to be generated by underground activity.(209142)

The Office for National Statistics does not make an estimate of the proportion of GDP generated by underground activity.

Government Van Requirements

Mr. Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates the Office of Government Commerce has made of government requirements for new light vans in (a) 2004–05, (b) 2005–06 and (c) 2006–07; and if he will make a statement. [208782]

Mr. Boateng: The Office of Government Commerce is not responsible for making estimates of government requirements on new light vans.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Paris Club at its recent deliberations on Iraqi debt considered to be the amount of interest accumulated to that debt by individual countries; what the total estimated interest is on Iraq's debt; what the level of debt would be if interest is excluded; what the average period of time is that the interest has been accumulating; how much debt and interest Iraq owes to (a) the UK, (b) Saudi Arabia and (c) Kuwait; and if he will make a statement. [208733]

Mr. Timms: No debts have formally been reconciled between the Government of Iraq and its creditors. On the basis of creditor estimates, the Paris Club agreement of November 2004 applies to $38.9 billion, of which approximately half is interest. Iraq's total debt is estimated to be $124 billion. For the UK, the total amount owed to ECGD (which is the only debt owed by Iraq to HM Government) is estimated to be £595.8 million in Principal and £541.8 million in Moratorium Interest The average length of time that
 
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this interest has accumulated over is 14 years. HM Government have no information on the debts owed to Saudi Arabia or Kuwait.

Ministerial Cars

Mr. Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which manufacturers have been selected to supply cars for the ministerial car pool over the last 12 months; and what are the volumes of vehicles which have been contracted for. [208781]

Mr. Boateng: The Office of Government Commerce is not responsible for the selection of manufacturers for the ministerial car pool and does not hold information on the volumes of vehicles, which have been contracted for.

Parking Spaces

John Mann: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer how many car parking spaces are provided for those (a) working in and (b) visiting his Department. [208939]

 
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Mr. Timms: The Treasury building at 1 Horse Guards road has 25 car parking spaces.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the cost of answering (a) an oral and (b) a written parliamentary question. [208695]

Mr. Timms: As at April 2004, the average costs of answering an oral parliamentary question and a written parliamentary question were £345 and £148 respectively.

Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the total cost in each of the last 10 years of answering parliamentary questions. [208696]

Mr. Timms: The information requested in respect of House of Commons questions for each of the last 10 parliamentary sessions is given in the following table:
£

	Oral question			Written question
	Number	Average cost	Total	Number	Average cost	Total	Sessional total
1994–95	4,903	230	1,127,690	44,924	99	4,447,476	5,575,166
1995–96	4,464	244	1,089,216	35,843	105	3,763,515	4,852,731
1996–97	2,622	249	652,878	18,439	107	1,972,973	2,625,851
1997–98	8,113	260	2,109,380	52,652	112	5,897,024	8,006,404
1998–99	5,008	267	1,337,136	32,149	115	3,697,135	5,034,271
1999–2000	5,747	282	1,620,654	36,781	121	4,450,501	6,071,155
2000–01	2,780	285	792,300	16,716	123	2,056,068	2,848,368
2001–02	6,528	299	1,951,872	72,905	129	9,404,745	11,356,617
2002–03	4,118	313	1,288,934	55,436	135	7,483,860	8,772,794
2003–04	3,687	322	1,187,214	54,875	138	7,572,750	8,759,964
—	—	—	—	—	—	—	63,903,321

Secondments

Alan Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the people working within his Department on secondment from the private sector, broken down by (a) the organisation or industry they came from and (b) the policy responsibilities they have been given. [208632]

Mr. Timms: The following table gives details of the people on secondment to the Treasury from the private sector and their responsibilities.

Name	Organisation	Policy responsibility
Richard Abadie	PWC	Senior advisor on corporate and private finance projects
Charlotte Armstrong	Deloitte	Business tax specialist
Elizabeth Corrin	PKF	Accountancy support to financial reviews announced by the Chancellor
Caroline Cowan	Deloitte	VAT policy advisor
Daniel Daniels	Partnerships UK	Consultancy advice on PFI projects
Duncan Farrow Smith	Deloitte	Corporate finance adviser
Richard Weaver	PWC	Accountancy specialist for prospectus directive implementation

Details of all secondees are a matter of public record and full details are available on the Treasury's public website and can be found at: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/about_secondee.cfm

Software Procurement

Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which Government Departments and agencies currently use open source software procurement; and what the total value was of open source software procured by Government in 2004. [208614]

Mr. Boateng: The information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Stamp Duty

Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the revenue implications of restructuring stamp duty on residential property sales to charge marginal rates of (a) 0 per cent. on property sales of £60,000 or less, 1 per cent. on sales between £60,000 and £249,999, 3 per cent. on sales between £250,000 and £499,999 and 4 per cent. on sales of £500,000 and above, (b) 0 per cent. on property sales of £60,000 or less, 2 per cent. on sales between £60,000 and £249,999, 3 per cent. on sales between £250,000 and £499,999 and 4 per cent. on sales of £500,000 and above,
 
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(c) 0 per cent. on property sales up to £100,000, 1 per cent. on sales between £100,000 and £249,999, 3 per cent. on sales between £250,000 and £499,999 and 4 per cent. on sales of £500,000 and above, (d) 0 per cent. on property sales up to £120,000, 1 per cent. on sales between £120,000 and £249,999, 3 per cent. on sales between £250,000 and £499,999 and 4 per cent. on sales of £500,000 or above, (e) 0 per cent. on property sales up to £120,000, 2 per cent. on sales between £120,000 and £249,999, 3 per cent. on sales between £250,000 and £499,999 and 4 per cent. on sales of £500,000 or above and (f) 0 per cent. on property sales up to £120,000, 2 per cent. on sales between £120,000 and £249,999, 3 per cent. on sales between £249,999 and £499,999 and 5 per cent. on sales of £500,000 or above. [208526]

Mr. Timms: The estimated revenue cost, in 2005–06, of restructuring stamp duty on residential property sales according to the six schemes described in the question is given in the tables:

Price of residential	Marginal rates
property (£)	Tax regime 1	Tax regime 2
0–59,999	0%	0%
60,000–249,999	1%	2%
250,000–499,999	3%	3%
500,000 and above	4%	4%
Revenue cost (£m)	2,330	1,080

Price of residential	Marginal rates
property (£)	Tax regime 3
0–99,999	0%
100,000–249,999	1%
250,000–499,999	3%
500,000 and above	4%
Revenue cost (£m)	2,760

Price of residential	Marginal rates
property (£)	Tax regime 4	Tax regime 5	Tax regime 6
0–119,999	0%	0%	0%
120,000–249,999	1%	2%	2%
250,000–499,999	3%	3%	3%
500,000 and above	4%	4%	5%
Revenue cost (£m)	2,940	2,290	2,130

This does not include any allowance for behavioural changes and changes to reliefs.

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