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26 Jan 2006 : Column 2255W—continued
EU Committees
Angus Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings of the EU (a) Advisory Committee for coordination in the internal market field, (b) Advisory Committee on opening up public contracts, (c) Customs Cooperation Subcommittee—EEC-Albania and (d) Customs Cooperation Subcommittee—EEC-Bulgaria have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; which other UK representatives were present; what provisions were made for representation of the devolved Governments; and if he will make a statement. [39023]
Dawn Primarolo: The Internal Market Advisory Committee met once on 18 November 2005, chaired by a senior official from the European Commission. The UK was represented by an official from the Department for Trade and Industry.
The Advisory Committee on opening up public contracts met on 25 October 2005, chaired by the European Commission. The UK was represented by the Office of Government Commerce. Agendas for meetings of this group are forwarded by the OGC to the Scottish Executive, who may attend at their discretion. No representative of the Scottish Executive attended on 25 October.
There have been no meetings of the Customs Cooperation Subcommittee—EEC-Albania during the UK presidency.
There have been no meetings of the Customs Cooperation Subcommittee—EEC-Bulgaria during the UK presidency.
With the exception of the Advisory Committee on opening up public contracts, these working groups deal with reserved matters and as such no provision was made for representation of the devolved Administrations.
Angus Robertson:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings of the EU (a) Customs Cooperation Subcommittee-EEC-Israel, (b) Customs Cooperation Subcommittee-EEC-Hong Kong, (c) EEC-
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Mexico Special Committee on Customs Cooperation and (d) Advisory Committee on the Communities' own resources have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; what other UK representatives were present; what provision was made for representation of the devolved governments; and if he will make a statement. [39024]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows:
(a) There have been no meetings of the Customs Cooperation Subcommittee-EEC-Israel during the UK presidency.
(b) There was one meeting of the EC-Hong Kong Joint Customs Cooperation Committee during the UK presidency on 18 November, Co-chaired by European Commission and Hong Kong Customs. Officials from Foreign and Commonwealth Office and HMRC represented the UK presidency. No provision was made for representation of the devolved governments.
(c) The EEC-Mexico Special Committee on Customs Cooperation met once during the UK presidency on the 21 October 2005 in Brussels, chaired by the Commission.
The UK was represented by officials from the UK Permanent Representation to the EU. This was attended by UKRep.
(d) There were three meetings of the Advisory Committee on the Communities' own resources during the UK presidency, on 7 July, 13/14 October and 8 December. The Commission chaired these meetings. The UK representatives were officials from HMRC.
These working groups deal with reserved matters and as such no provision was made for representation of the devolved Administrations.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings of the EU (a) Customs Cooperation Committee-EEC-San Marino and (b) EEC-Denmark-Faroe Islands Joint Committee have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; what other UK representatives were present; what provision was made for representation of the devolved governments; and if he will make a statement. [39025]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows:
(a) There have been no meetings of the Customs Cooperation Committee-EEC- San Marino during the UK presidency.
(b) There has been one meeting of the EEC-Denmark-Faroe Islands Joint Committee during the UK presidency on 8 December 2005. The Commission represents the EC—apart from Denmark, no member state attended.
Angus Robertson:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings of the EU (a) Joint Committee (EEC-Switzerland) on the simplification of inspections and formalities (and working party), (b) Customs Section of the Joint Committee (EEC-
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Norway), (c) Customs Section of the Joint Committee (EEC-Iceland) and (d) Customs Section of the Joint Committee (EEC-Switzerland-Liechtenstein) have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; which other UK representatives were present; what provisions were made for representation of the devolved governments; and if he will make a statement. [39027]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows:
(a) There has been one meeting of the Joint Committee (EEC-Switzerland) on the simplification of inspections and formalities (and working party) and the (d) Customs Section of the Joint Committee (EEC-Switzerland-Liechtenstein) during the UK presidency on 27 October 2005. The Commission represents the EC.
(b) There were no meetings of the Customs Section of the Joint Committee (EEC-Norway) during the UK presidency.
(c) There have been no meetings of the Customs Section of the Joint Committee (EEC-Iceland) during the UK presidency.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings of the EU (a) European Area Joint Committee, (b) Joint Committee with the countries of the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland), (c) Joint Committee on the Agreement concerning products of the clock and watch industry between the EEC and Switzerland and (d) Joint Committee on the Agreement between Switzerland and the EEC on the processing traffic in textiles have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; what other UK representatives were present; what provisions were made for representations of the devolved governments; and if he will make a statement. [39030]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows:
(a) The European Economic Area Joint Committee is made up of representatives of the EEA EFTA States and the European Commission and met on 8 July, 30 September, 21 October and 2 December. The UK did not attend.
(b) We are not aware of any meetings of the Joint Committee with the countries of the European Free Trade Association" during the UK presidency; however representatives of the Finance Ministries of the EFTA countries met in Brussels alongside the ECOFIN
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Council meeting on 8 November. The Paymaster General chaired a meeting with EFTA on behalf of the EU Presidency.
(c) The Joint Committee on the Agreement concerning products of the clock and watch industry between the EEC and Switzerland did not meet during the UK presidency.
(d) There was one meeting of the Joint Committee on the Agreement between Switzerland and the EEC on 27 October 2005. The Commission represents the EC.
These working groups deal with reserved matters and as such no provision was made for representation of the devolved Administrations.
Financial Services Authority
Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the financial impact of the work of the Financial Services Authority on firms of independent financial advisers with (a) up to five employees and (b) with more than five employees; and if he will make a statement. [45612]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The FSA is working with independent consultants to assess the cost of financial regulation on firms. The Chairman of the FSA will write with more details of this work.
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many letters of complaint the Department received about the Financial Services Authority in (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003 and (d) 2004. [46218]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Treasury does not keep this information and could obtain it only at disproportionate cost.
HMRC
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the full-time equivalent staffing complement is of each HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office in (a) the Isle of Wight and (b) Hampshire; what proportion of that complement is filled in each office; what percentage of those employed have worked for HMRC for (i) less than one year, (ii) one to two years, (iii) three to five years, (iv) six to 10 years and (v) more than 10 years; and what the annual expenditure was by each office on job advertising in each of the last three years for which information is available. [45713]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is given in the tables.
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| Percentage | Percentage length of service | |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 1 year | — | 0.00 |
| 1 to 2 years | 6.4 | 9.10 |
| 3 to 5 years | 3.0 | 4.30 |
| 6 to 10 years | 3.8 | 5.46 |
| Over 10 years | 56.7 | 81.15 |
| Totals | 69.8 | 100.00 |
Information relating to recruitment advertising costs is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the lease will expire on the HM Revenue and Customs office in Newport, Isle of Wight; how many premises are under consideration for its relocation; and how many (a) full-time equivalent employees and (b) employees are expected to be accommodated in the premises being sought. [45832]
Dawn Primarolo: The lease at 33 St. James Street, Newport, Isle of Wight will expire on 24 March 2006 although HMRC occupation of the building has been extended until 31 May 2006.
There are three premises under consideration for staff relocation, all located in Newport.
There are approximately 56 staff located at 33 St. James Street. HMRC also occupy 88/91 St. James St where approximately 14 staff are based. There is additional capacity in that building to accommodate another eight to 10 staff. The department is therefore looking to acquire a new building that can accommodate the balance, taking into account our projections of staff likely to remain on the island in both the short and long-term.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the evidence of the Chairman of HM Revenue and Customs to the Public Administration Committee on 20 October 2005, question 78, on the tax credit IT system, if he will list those improvements and interventions made; and on what date each came into effect. [45834]
Dawn Primarolo: There have been two releases for the tax credit IT system during 2005, the first in spring 2005 and the second in autumn 2005.
The tax credits release in spring 2005 made improvements to the following areas:
functionality for managing overpayments, including functionality to enable Tax Credit Office to adjust the level of payments to avoid hardship for customers
This release also created new functionality to ensure that children from low-income families can receive the additional child trust fund endowment to which they are entitled.
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The tax credits release in autumn 2005 made improvements to the following areas:
data matching to increase protection against non-compliance while reducing unnecessary delays for compliant customers
This release also created new functionality for civil partnerships and gender recognition.
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