| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
9 Mar 2005 : Column 1803W—continued
Inland Revenue
Mr. Key: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) telephone calls, (b) e-mails, (c) letters and (d) personal visits were recorded on an average working day at the Inland Revenue office in Alexandra House, Salisbury in the last period for which figures are available, broken down by subject; and if he will make a statement. [219777]
Dawn Primarolo: 1,100 telephone calls were received by Inland Revenue in Alexander House, Salisbury, in January 2005 (approx 55 calls per working day).
There is no facility for e-mails to be received from customers at this location.
3,440 letters from customers were received in Dorset Area, in which Salisbury office is included, in January 2005 (approx 172 per working day). It is not possible to provide a breakdown by subject.
There were 10,305 personal callers (approx 48 per working day) at the Inquiry Centre for the 12 months to 31 December 2004 as follows:
Licensing Act
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2005, Official Report, column 724W, on the Licensing Act, if he will list the grounds on which a justice's licence may be revoked by licensing justices; and if he will make a statement. [220513]
Mr. Caborn:
I have been asked to reply.
9 Mar 2005 : Column 1804W
Under the Licensing Act 1964 any person or the police may ask the licensing justices to revoke a licence at any time. The licensing justices may revoke a justices' licence at any licensing sessions (other than at sessions at which an application for renewal of the licence falls). The power is exercisable on any ground on which the justices might refuse to renew a justices' licence, namely that the licensee is disqualified under the Act or is not a fit and proper person to hold a licence.
Ministerial Stationery
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent on official Ministerial (a) business cards, (b) headed paper and (c) compliment slips in each year since 1997. [214957]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available. Expenditure on these items is not accounted for separately.
Personal Debt
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of individuals in each region of the UK that were more than £10,000 in debt in each month since January 1990; and if he will make a statement. [220677]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Dr. Ashok Kumar, dated 9 March 2005:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on the number of individuals in each region of the UK that were more than £10,000 in debt. (220677)
The only information available is national data on debt per person. Annual data from 1997 was recently given in a reply to a Parliamentary Question from Dr Vincent Cable MP (214789, Hansard of 7 February 2005, Column 1241W).
Public Spending
Mr. Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) the gross domestic product (GDP), (b) his estimate of the output gap, (c) total public spending, (d) public spending per capita and (e) public spending as a proportion of regional GDP were for each English region, in each of the last five years. [220075]
Mr. Boateng: The information is as follows:
(a) Gross value added (GVA), a measure closely related to GDP (which is not available on a regional basis), for each English region for the calendar years 1999 to 2003 is published on the ONS website (www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/regionalGVA.pdf).
(b) The output gap is currently only available on a national basis so regional figures do not exist.
(c) Total public spending by region that can be identified as benefiting a particular region for 1998–99 to 2002–03 is published in table 8.1 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) 2004 (Cm6201). Public spending can be split into that which
9 Mar 2005 : Column 1805W
can be identified as benefiting a particular region and that which is for the benefit of the UK as a whole, for example defence spending. Therefore, the figures in PESA 2004 do not represent total England public spending, which is not available by region.
(d) Total identifiable public spending by region, for the same years, on a per capita basis is shown in table 8.2 of PESA 2004 (Cm6201).
(e) Public spending as a proportion of GVA (GDP) is not available as GVA is produced on a calendar year basis whereas identifiable public spending is produced according to financial years.
Staff Transfers
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax policy staff were transferred from Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise to the Treasury in each of the last three years; and what their (a) general areas of work, (b) grades and (c) work programmes were in each case. [220380]
Dawn Primarolo: Fifteen staff in 2002–03, and 13 in 2003–04, came to HM Treasury on loan or secondment from the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, entering a variety of Treasury teams, primarily those related to tax or Ministerial support.
During 2004–05, following the O'Donnell review of the Revenue Departments, HM Treasury has taken lead responsibility and accountability for tax policy development, with support from Revenue and Customs who lead on policy maintenance. So far in 2004–05, 81 staff have come in on loan from Revenue and Customs to the Treasury's Budget and Public Finances Directorate as a result of this change, to ensure the right balance of skills and expertise within the new tax teams. Details of numbers and grades are set out in the table as follows:
(3) new tax teams
Student Loans
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the annual cost of making student loan repayments for graduates tax-deductible. [220919]
Mr. Timms:
No such estimate has been made.
9 Mar 2005 : Column 1806W
Tax Credits (Overpayment)
Mr. Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to which Department of the Inland Revenue hon. Members should write in respect of representations relating to the desirability of remitting overpayments of tax credit caused by incorrect award notices. [220870]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 8 March 2005]: For constituents in Great Britain, hon. Members should write to the Overpayments Team, Tax Credit Office, Preston, PR1 OSB. For constituents in Northern Ireland, hon. Members should write to the Overpayments Team, Tax Credit Office, Dorchester House, 52–58 Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7WF.
The Inland Revenue's approach to tax credits overpayments is explained in their Code of Practice 26, What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit?". The Department also provides form TC846, Request to reconsider recovery of tax credits", which claimants can use to explain why they think they should not be expected to pay back their overpayment. Both the Code of Practice and the form are available on the Department's website at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |