| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
11 Oct 2005 : Column 438W—continued
Government Debt
Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of UK Government debt was raised in sterling; what currencies the remainder was raised in; how much was raised in each; how the exchange risk is managed; and if he will make a statement. [16333]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The following table sets out the gross nominal liabilities of the national loans fund (formerly known as the national debt) broken down by currency as at 25 August 2005.
| Currency | Amount (£ billion) | Percentage of total |
|---|---|---|
| Sterling | 449.11 | 99.6 |
| Canadian dollar | 0.03 | 0.0 |
| US dollar | 1.79 | 0.4 |
| Euro | 0.001 | 0.0 |
| Total | (1)450.93 | 100.0 |
(1) Figures may not sum due to rounding
UK Government foreign currency borrowing accounts for 0.4 percent. of total borrowing. The majority of this foreign currency borrowing relates to a US dollar bond issued in June 2003. All the money raised from UK Government foreign currency borrowing is used to finance foreign currency assets held in the exchange equalisation account (EEA). Exchange rate risk is managed by either purchasing assets of the same currency as the liabilities with which they are associated or by using foreign currency swaps to match the currency exposure of the assets with the liabilities.
Non-oil Gross Value
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the estimates for each quarter since Q1 1997 of (a) actual non-oil gross value added and (b) non-oil gross value added if it had grown according to trend, that underpin chart 4.1 of the Treasury publication, Evidence on the UK Economic Cycle. [16335]
John Healey: The trend rate of growth assumed in the 'post-30 June revisions' line of chart 4.1 of the Treasury publication 'Evidence on the UK economic cycle' is the average rate of growth of non-oil gross value added between the estimated on-trend points in 1997H1 and 2001Q3, and the assumed rate of 2¾ percent. a year thereafter. The requested information is as follows:
11 Oct 2005 : Column 439W
Taxation
Mr. Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of gross salary was paid in tax for each decile of income in each year from 1979; and if he will make a statement. [10411]
Dawn Primarolo: The information for taxpaying employees is in the table. Information for earlier years is not readily available.
Estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI) and 2002–03 is the latest survey year.
11 Oct 2005 : Column 440W
The survey is based on information held by the HM Revenue and Customs tax offices on persons who are liable to UK tax.
These estimates exclude information on working families' tax credits (now replaced by working tax credit) and employees with earnings below the tax threshold—both of which enhance the progressivity of the tax system.
Tsunami Appeal
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax the Government have received from the tsunami appeal (a) in total and (b) broken down by individual taxes. [16858]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Charities do not pay tax on donations they receive, but many fund-raising events for the tsunami appeal were subject to VAT.
In January the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Treasury would make a special contribution to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to match the VAT collected on fund-raising events and sales. In August, having collected information on the amount of VAT raised on tsunami related fundraising events, the Treasury made a donation of £2 million to the DEC. This was in addition to the minimum of £15 million the DEC estimates has been given in tax relief on public contributions to the appeal made through the Gift Aid scheme.
Gift Aid, enables charities to reclaim the basic rate tax on donations they receive, adding 28p to every £1 donated. The donor must give the charity a declaration that they want their donation to be subject to Gift Aid.
DEFENCE
FRES
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the Future Rapid Effects System to complete its assessment phase; and what he expects the final costs of this phase to be. [15406]
Mr. Ingram: The initial assessment phase is scheduled to complete in November 2006 at an estimated cost of £113 million. As with all projects, however, completion of the assessment phase will be determined by project maturity.
Military Vehicles
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) FV430 series, (b) Scimitar, (c) Sultan, (d) Samson, (e) Samaritan, (f) Spartan, (g) Striker, (h) Sabre, (i) Scorpion and (j) Saxon vehicles are in working order. [10439]
Mr. Ingram:
I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
11 Oct 2005 : Column 441W
Substantive answer from Adam Ingram to Ann Winterton:
I undertook to write to you in response to your Parliamentary Question of 13 July 2005, Official Report, Column 1081W, about the number of Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) CVR(T) vehicles in working order.
As I am sure you will appreciate the number of CVR(T) vehicles available at any one time is a constant variable and depends upon a wide range of factors such as breakdowns, battle damage, availability of labour, spare parts and programmed repair activity. The table provides details about the CVR(T) fleet as at 29 April 2005. The Scorpion and Sabre variants have not been shown as these vehicles were withdrawn from service in 1995 and 2004 respectively.
It might be useful if I explain in a little more detail how each of the column headings has been defined for the purpose of answering your question:
Column 2—the quantity of vehicles held by our Land Forces is the number of vehicles that were available to LAND Command units on the date given. This equates to those in working order and those in first and second line maintenance (see below).
Column 4—this shows the number of those vehicles held locally by LAND Command units undergoing maintenance.
Column 6—this figure refers to vehicles that are currently being used for training, trials and testing with the Design Authority, in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and Cyprus, with RAF Units or undergoing Bowman conversion. Unfortunately we are unable to provide more specific details for this group of vehicles as the information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
By way of background, you may wish to be aware that first and second line maintenance for our vehicle fleet is provided by the local Light Aid Detachment (LAD) and REME Battalions or by the local army base repair organisation (ABRO) district workshop. First line maintenance can range from simple tasks such as replacing a blown bulb to changing an entire engine. Tasks conducted at second line repair are generally more complicated and time consuming and may require specialist tools and facilities. Fourth line repair is provided by ABRO and is generally programmed in depth repair (base overhaul) or structural repairs such as repairs to battle damaged vehicles. Fourth line repair is the most complex and in depth repair often involving stripping the vehicle of its components and paint removal before the whole vehicle is repaired and reassembled.
It is worth noting at this point that all our vehicle fleets require regular maintenance and for this reason it is MOD policy not to have all of its vehicles available to the front line when not on operations. MOD maintenance and support policies are designed to ensure we maintain our Forces at the appropriate readiness state. Our maintenance programmes are sufficiently flexible to ensure that we can meet increased demands for vehicles from Front Line Commands to meet operational need.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |