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24 Jan 2005 : Column 153W—continued
Corporation Tax
Hugh Robertson:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2004,
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Official Report, columns 981–82W, on corporation tax, if he will provide the information which he collects for the most recent years for which it is available. [210635]
Dawn Primarolo: It is not possible separately to identify from central corporation tax records national governing bodies for sport or international sporting headquarters in the UK. These governing bodies are grouped under 'recreational services' which include many other service types such as radio and television, leisure facilities and self-employed artists.
Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the letters from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton dated (a) 13 December 2004 with regard to Ms Amaal Azi, (b) 9 December 2004 with regard to Mr. Ken Wych and (c) 10 December 2004 with regard to Ms Jade Summer. [209853]
Dawn Primarolo: I have replied to letters referred to under (a) and (c). Letter regarding Mr. Ken Wych, dated 6 December, was transferred to the Department for Works and Pensions on 9 December and notified to you.
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he intends to answer the letter dated 23 November 2004 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Carl Walker. [210832]
Dawn Primarolo: I have done so.
Council Tax
Mr. Fisher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many dwellings in Stoke on Trent are in council tax bands (a) A, (b) B, (c) G and (d) H; and what percentage of all dwellings in Stoke on Trent each represents. [209912]
Dawn Primarolo: As at 25 October 2004 the number of dwellings banded in Stoke-on-Trent totalled 109,716.
| Number of dwellings banded | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| (a) Band A | 68,809 | 63 |
| (b) Band B | 21,207 | 19 |
| (c) Band G | 123 | 0.1 |
| (d) Band H | 46 | 0.04 |
Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value of the council tax rebate grant paid to Scottish local authorities was (a) this year and (b) in each of the last three years. [210364]
Mr. Boateng: Council tax benefit is paid by the Department for Work and Pensions to council tax payers in Scotland in the same way as in the remainder of Great Britain; grants to Scottish local authorities are a devolved matter for the Scottish Executive.
Death Certification
Dr. Whitehead:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he proposes to take regarding the
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release of certified death records to appropriate private sector bodies in order to facilitate the prevention of fraud through impersonation of the deceased. [209840]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Registrar General, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Dr. Alan Whitehead, dated 24 January 2005:
As Registrar General for England and Wales, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the release of certified death records to the private sector for fraud prevention purposes. (209840)
The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 is quite specific as to the means of access to records of deaths held by registration officers and myself. The Act gives persons the right to search the indexes in order to identify the entries they are looking for and to obtain certified copies (certificates) on payment of the statutory fee. Neither registration officers nor I have any powers to disclose or share information in any other way.
Proposals in the form of the draft Regulatory Reform (Registration of Births and Deaths England and Wales) Order 2004, presented to Parliament on 22 July 2004, contained a draft provision that would have enabled me to provide list cleaning services that would have assisted the private sector in combating fraud relating to impersonation of the deceased. The House of Commons' Regulatory Reform Committee and House of Lords' Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, whose first scrutiny reports were published in December 2004, decided that the draft Order should not proceed to its second stage scrutiny as it was an inappropriate use of the order-making powers in the Regulatory Reform Act 2001. The Government is now considering its next steps for modernisation of the civil registration service.
My officials continue to be in contact with representative Private Sector Bodies to discuss how this issue can be addressed.
Debt Relief
Mr. Alan Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has held discussions with experts in institutions in the City of London to seek advice on new methods of restructuring and financing international debt. [210284]
Mr. Timms: Treasury Ministers and officials regularly exchange views with financial sector experts on a wide number of issues, including new methods of restructuring and financing international debt.
Mr. Alan Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the effect that debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries will have on (a) foreign direct investment and (b) private bank lending; [210285]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect that debt relief will have on the international credit standing of each heavily indebted poor country; [210286]
(3) what research he has conducted into the effect on each heavily indebted poor country's credit standing of debt relief by (a) Paris Club countries and (b) other countries. [210287]
Mr. Timms:
The majority of HIPCs have no access to the capital markets, and are dependent on grants and concessional financing from the official sector. The Enhanced HIPC Initiative, and our proposals for deeper multilateral debt relief, are designed to deliver genuine debt sustainability to the world's poorest countries, and
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to free up resources for the investments in health, education, and infrastructure necessary to achieve the millennium development goals.
Countries need the right preconditions in terms of physical infrastructure and human capital to be able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by international trade and investment. That means increased levels of public sector investments are the essential counterparts to private investment. The World Bank estimates that effective aid 'crowds in' private investment by $2 for every $1 of aid.
Mr. Alan Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the balance of trade figures were between the UK and each heavily indebted poor country in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [210288]
Mr. Timms: Balance of trade figures between the UK and each HIPC country for each of the last five years can be found in the Overseas Trade Statistics published by HM Customs and Excise, which is available in the Library of the House.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the cost of travel within the UK for the Department was in each year since 1997; and how much of this was spent on (a) hire cars, (b) helicopter hire, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence; [206466]
(2) how much the Department spent on first class travel in each year since 1997; [206573]
(3) how many overseas trips, and at what total cost, have been made by his Department in each year since 1997; and what the costs of (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence were of each trip. [206652]
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on travel in each of the last seven years. [209506]
Mr. Timms: The costs for the Treasury of all travel and all subsistence within the UK, all travel and all subsistence overseas over the last two years, and all first class travel for 2003–04 are given in the table. In respect of total costs for earlier years, I refer to the answer given by the then Financial Secretary to the hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (David Davis) on 22 July 2004, Official Report, column 482W. Further detail in respect of the earlier years could be provided only at disproportionate cost. All travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the "Ministerial Code", the "Civil Service Management Code" and the "Code of Conduct for Special Advisers".
Note:
The costs of first class travel are sourced from the Treasury's travel management contract, which began in July 2002. 2003–04 is therefore the first year for which a complete figure can be given without incurring disproportionate cost.
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