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3 Nov 2005 : Column 1246W—continued
Pensions
Chris Huhne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 24 October 2005, Official Report, columns 51–52W, on pensions, what further information he would need to collect to enable estimates to be broken down by (a) decile and (b) taxable income band. [24492]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: To provide estimates of the cost of tax relief on contributions to approved pension funds by decile and income band, we would require better information on the income distribution of those contributing to occupational schemes.
Most contributions to approved pension funds are into occupational schemes. As we do not have administrative data on contributions to these schemes, our estimates of the cost of income tax relief for pension contributions make use of ONS estimates of total contributions by individuals to approved occupational schemes.
We then make broad assumptions about the income distribution of those contributing to approved occupational schemes using evidence from the Family Resources Survey. Although this approach is adequate
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for an approximate split between higher rate taxpayers and others, we do not consider it sufficiently robust for detailed distributional information on pension reliefs.
Petrol/Diesel (Duties Revenue)
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of how much revenue will arise from (a) fuel duty and (b) VAT from the sale of petrol and diesel for financial year 2005–06; and what estimate for these revenues informed the Budget in March. [24633]
John Healey: Fuel duty revenue projections for 2005–06 were published in the financial statement and Budget report 2005 table C8, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. These projections will be up-dated in the forthcoming pre-Budget report 2005.
HM Revenue and Customs does not collect data on VAT revenues raised from specific goods and services. Projections of VAT revenues are based on estimates of overall expenditure.
Public Spending
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of public spending per head was in the UK in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) Government office region and (b) local authority area. [24616]
Mr. Des Browne: Public expenditure per head by NUTS1 region (equivalent to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Government office regions of England) for the years 1999–2000 to 2004–05 is shown in table 8.2 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) 2005 (Cm 6521). Comparable data for 1998–99 are shown in table 8.2 of PESA 2004 (Cm 6201). Equivalent data for 1997–98 are not available on a comparable basis because of changes to the definition of expenditure that can be identified as benefiting a particular region, and changes to the methodology departments follow when allocating expenditure to regions.
Public expenditure data per head by local authority area are not available.
Tax Credits
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he proposes to introduce a cap on the deduction of gross pension contributions in tax credit income assessments. [24265]
Dawn Primarolo:
The income assessment for the child and working tax credits is based generally on income tax rules and for tax credit purposes, we have no plans to cap contributions to approved pension schemes.
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Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of (a) telephones, (b) telephone calls and (c) other telephone charges relating to the tax credits helpline were in each year from 1999–2000 to 2004–05. [13713]
Dawn Primarolo: The tax credits helpline handled its first calls in 2002. Costs incurred in each financial year since 2000–01 are shown in the following table:
(b) Telephone system and apparatus rental and telephone call charges. Call charges and rental charges cannot be separated.
(c) Other telephone charges (e.g. equipment purchases, consumables, mobile phone subscriptions, recoverable VAT, operator charges, and maintenance).
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| Telephone capital costs | 840 |
| Telephone call/rental charges | 0 |
| Telephone other charges | 0 |
| Total | 840 |
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| Telephone capital costs | 0 |
| Telephone call/rental charges | 0 |
| Telephone other charges | 0 |
| Total | 0 |
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| Telephone capital costs | 5,250 |
| Telephone call/rental charges | 1,750 |
| Telephone other charges | 170 |
| Total | 7,170 |
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| Telephone capital costs | 1,330 |
| Telephone call/rental charges | 3,390 |
| Telephone other charges | 1,660 |
| Total | 6,380 |
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| Telephone capital costs | 330 |
| Telephone call/rental charges | 2,020 |
| Telephone other charges | 930 |
| Total | 3,280 |
3 Nov 2005 : Column 1249W
HOME DEPARTMENT
Community Offender Panels
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on (a) the performance of piloted community offender panels and (b) proposals for their wider implementation. [23698]
Hazel Blears: With funding from the Home Office, a pilot community offender panel has been set up in Chard in Somerset. This is a local initiative run by volunteers and overseen by a paid probation officer. Early indications suggest this joint volunteer and agency approach is working well. We await a full evaluation.
We are also funding a number of other community justice related initiatives, including the Liverpool community justice centre and the Salford community justice initiative. We hope these initiatives will encourage criminal justice agencies to work with local authorities and voluntary and community organisations across the country to develop the community justice approach further.
Departmental Websites
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent on updating the Department's website www.homeoffice.gov.uk since it was established. [6914]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The investment in maintaining the Home Office website is as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 2005–06 (up to 31 July 2005) | 708,996.86 |
| 2004–05 | 876,072.04 |
| 2003–04 | 560,281.47 |
| 2002–03 | 112,817.67 |
| 2001–02 | 54,305.00 |
| 2000–01 | 26,064.10 |
| 1999–2000 | 10,735.55 |
In the last few years costs have increased as the site is being redeveloped to ensure it meets the needs of all users and is more accessible.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the websites that come under his Department's responsibility; what the cost was of each in the last year for which figures are available; and how many visitors there were to each site in that year. [15902]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The chart lists all sites the Home Office currently has and visits to those in the last year. We are aiming to consolidate our sites so that more information is accessible on our central sites rather than separate sites. The information on costs for all Home Office websites is not held centrally and could not be collected without disproportionate cost.
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(2) 31 August 2004 to 1 August 2005
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