---

15 Mar 2005 : Column 172W—continued

Stamp Duty

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the revenue raised (a) in total and (b) within each stamp duty band in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK. [221395]

Mr. Timms: Estimates of stamp duty revenues raised in the UK in each stamp duty band are given at:

http://www.inlandrevenne.gov.uk/stats/stamp_duty/ table15_3_october04.pdf

Estimates of revenue raised from transactions in Scotland are only available for 2003–04 and are given in the following table:
Estimated revenue from stamp duty land tax in Scotland in 2003–04

Stamp duty band	(£ million)
£250,000 or less	100
£250,001–£500,000	50
Over £500,000	250
Total	410

Source:
Land Valuation Unit of the University of Paisley (which receives data from Registers of Scotland Executive Agency)




 
15 Mar 2005 : Column 173W
 

Tax Credits

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library copies of past advice on tax credits that he has received from the Social Security Advisory Committee. [221766]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Inland Revenue and the Social Security Advisory Committee, dated 21 July 2004, a copy of which is available in the Library.

Tax Revenues

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total revenue impact has been of changes in (a) duty on whisky, (b) duty on road fuels, (c) national insurance contributions and (d) the rates and bands for income tax since May 1997. [221373]

Dawn Primarolo: The impact on Exchequer revenues of Budget decisions concerning direct and indirect taxes since May 1997 have been published at every Budget in chapter A of the Financial Statement and Budget Report. Copies of previous year Financial Statement and Budget Reports can be found in the House Library.

Taxation/Social Security

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the latest figure is for the level of net taxes and social security contributions as a proportion of gross domestic product; and if he will make a statement. [221586]

Dawn Primarolo: Table B15 in the 2004 pre-Budget report provides the latest figures for the level of net taxes and social security contributions as a proportion of GDP. Updated figures will be published in the Budget tomorrow.

Tobacco Taxes

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2005, Official Report, column 1187W, on tobacco taxes, when he will place the figures for duty receipts on the website. [221323]

Dawn Primarolo: Duty receipts are published once a month in the HM Customs and Excise Tobacco Bulletin', which can be found on the UK trade info website at: www.uktradeinfo.com

A further list of publication dates can be found at:

http://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm ?task= statdates

The next available publication date for the Tobacco Bulletin is 24 March 2005.

VAT (Hospices)

Lady Hermon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the Prime Minister in relation to making hospices exempt from the payment of VAT. [221633]

John Healey: The Chancellor and the Prime Minister meet regularly to discuss a wide range of issues. It has been the practice of successive Administrations
 
15 Mar 2005 : Column 174W
 
for many years not to make public confidential communications between Ministers. Doing so would harm the candour and frankness of internal discussions.

WALES

European Constitution

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs concerning publication of the Welsh translation of the Constitutional Treaty for the European Union. [220342]

Mr. Touhig: I am pleased to say that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs will be producing a Welsh translation of the Constitutional Treaty. This will be published on the FCO and the Wales Office websites.

I hope that the translation will help increase awareness of the contents of the Treaty and what it will mean for the people of Wales. My right hon. Friend has also produced a Welsh language version of the Guide to the EU Constitutional Treaty.

Surplus Assets Sales

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether his Department sold any surplus stock on the e-Bay auction website, in each year since 2000–01. [220943]

Mr. Touhig: The Wales Office has never sold surplus stock on the e-Bay auction website.

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the value of sales of surplus assets from his Department was in each year since 2000–01. [220961]

Mr. Touhig: There have been no sales of surplus assets by the Wales Office since 2000–01.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

BBC Regional Broadcasting Councils

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans the Government have to create regional broadcasting councils for the BBC; whether they are to be based on the Government Offices for the Regions regional structure; and if she will make a statement. [221762]

Estelle Morris: Under the terms of its Royal Charter the BBC currently has a Regional Advisory Council for each of its 11 English regions. These regions do not coincide with the Government's regional office structure.

The Government's Charter Review Green Paper discusses possible ways of improving the BBC's responsiveness to licence fee payers, including building on the Corporation's existing regional and national Councils.
 
15 Mar 2005 : Column 175W
 

Correspondence

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she will reply to the letter dated 3 February from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Colin Brierley. [221911]

Mr. Caborn: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State replied to the right hon. Gentlemen on 10 March.

Musical Instruments

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the benefit to children of learning to play musical instruments of (a) existing and (b) planned programmes funded by her Department designed to encourage children to begin or continue playing; and if she will make a statement. [222057]

Estelle Morris: Youth Music, a national charity set up in 1999 with £10 million per year of National Lottery money provided through Arts Council England, has granted over 1,500 awards nationally and reached over 880,000 participants. All projects funded through Youth Music are evaluated.

Youth Music has also funded seven Wider Opportunities pilots, in which schools have developed programmes to explore ways of delivering instrumental tuition to groups of young people. 'Creating Chances for Making Music', an evaluation of these pilots (and of a further six funded by DfES), has been sent to every primary school and LEA in England.

Ofsted produced an evaluation report of 12 Wider Opportunities pilot areas. Findings were sent to all schools and LEAs in the form of a report and DVD entitled 'Tuning In'.

Television Licensing Authority

Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what the cost of running the Television Licensing Authority was in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement; [221592]

(2) whether the running costs of the Television Licensing Authority are deducted from the total revenue derived from the television licence; and if she will make a statement. [221593]

Estelle Morris: The BBC is the television licensing authority. The Corporation contracts out the collection work to a number of agents and meets these costs directly. The collection costs for each of the last three years, as published in the BBC's annual reports and accounts, were:

	Amount (£ million)
2001–02	95.4
2002–03	146.4
2003–04	150.8

 
15 Mar 2005 : Column 176W
 

---