| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
5 Jun 2006 : Column 185W—continued
Standpipes
Mr. Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with business on the economic impact of a stand-pipe regime introduced under a drought order in London and the South East. [73639]
John Healey: No such discussions have taken place with Treasury Ministers, so far as I am aware.
Student Loans
Mr. Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of interest incurred by people paying student loans which was attributable to delays by the Inland Revenue in transferring payments to the Student Loan Company in the last year for which figures are available. [74724]
Dawn Primarolo: Student loan borrowers do not pay any additional interest if there is a delay in their repayment information reaching the Student Loan Company. This is because repayments are credited to borrower's accounts retrospectively in the year that they were actually paid. There is no interest penalty because when the credit is made the account is adjusted to reflect the payment date and interest is adjusted accordingly.
Mr. Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what total amount payable to the Student Loans Company on behalf of graduates was retained at the Inland Revenue for (a) one month, (b) up to three months, (c) up to six months, (d) up to 12 months and (e) 12 months or more after the end of the tax year in question in each year since student loans were introduced; [74727]
(2) what period of time elapsed between the end of the tax year and payments being made by the Inland Revenue to the Student Loans Company on behalf of graduates in each year for which figures are available. [74730]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not make payments to the Student Loan Company (SLC). Employers deduct student loan repayments from earnings exceeding £15,000 during the year and send these to HMRC who make payments to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) every quarter.
Suicide Statistics
Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 26 April 2006, Official Report, columns 1177-78W, on suicide statistics, what the circumstances were of each case of death from injury to the ulnar artery; and what contributory factors led to the death in each case. [73990]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 5 June 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking, pursuant of 26th April 2006, Official Report, column 1177-8W, on suicide statistics, what the circumstances were of each case of death from injury to the ulnar artery; and what contributory factors led to the death in each case. (73990)
ONS does not release details of the circumstances of individual deaths, as this would compromise the National Statistics protocol on data access and confidentiality. However, ONS routinely publishes data by underlying cause and nature of injury. The table supplied in the previous answer were for all injuries occurring to the ulnar artery, of these 3 were suicides, 2 were accidents, and 1 had an underlying cause of injury of undetermined intent.
Background Note:
The table below was supplied in answer to the question ‘...how many individuals have died as a consequence of their ulnar artery being severed in each year since 1997.’
| Number of deaths from injury to the ulnar artery,( 1) England and Wales, 1997 to 2004( 2) | |
| Number of deaths | |
| (1) The cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision(ICD-9) code 903.3 for the years 1997 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes S55.0 and S65.0 for the years 2001 to 2004. (2) Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year. | |
Tax Credits
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average time taken to answer a call to the tax credit helpline was in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [70256]
Dawn Primarolo: For April to October 2005 I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 26 January 2006, Official Report, column 2248W.
| 2005-06 | Average waiting time (minutes: seconds) |
| (1) The figure for June 2005 given on 26 January 2006, Official Report, column 2248W, was only for the period up to 25 June 2005. | |
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many telephone calls there were to the tax credit
helpline in each month between January and May 2006; how many of these calls (a) were answered, (b) were abandoned, (c) received an engaged tone and (d) were missed; and if he will make a statement. [70257]
Dawn Primarolo: The following table shows the number of tax credit helpline calls that were (a) answered, (b) abandoned or (c) received an engaged tone.
| Thousand | |||
| 2006 | Handled( 1) | Abandoned( 2) | Engaged( 3) |
| (1) Where the caller spoke to an adviser. (2) Where the caller selected an option from the call steering menu and was put in a queue to speak to an adviser but the call was terminated before the caller spoke to an adviser. (3) Call attempts where the caller was played an engaged tone, before they were placed in a queue to speak to an adviser. | |||
HMRC contact centres do not report the number of “missed” calls and this information is therefore not readily available.
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the correspondence dated 26 January regarding incorrect tax credit payments to a constituent of the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire reference SLD 4/23386/2005, what the (a) system fault affecting the calculation of tax credit awards and (b) the further system fault affecting HM Revenue and Customs’ records of tax credit payments was. [50115]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows:
(a) The hon. Member refers to a system fault that caused details of working tax credit (WTC), payable by his constituent’s employer in 2003-04 and 2004-05, to be duplicated on HM Revenue and Custom’s (HMRC) records.
(b) The further system fault prevented a ‘stop notice’ being sent to his constituent’s employer and WTC payments continued to be made, after their entitlement had ended.
HMRC are working hard to put things right in the specific case raised by the hon. Member to ensure their constituent receives their correct entitlement as quickly as possible.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many manual payments have been made by the Tax Credit Office in each month since April 2004, broken down by (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit. [73178]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is not available in the format requested.
For the estimated number of manual payments between April 2004 and October 2005, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 29 November 2005, Official Report, columns 343-44W. The number of manual payments made in each month since November 2005 was around:
| Number of payment (Thousand) | |
The allocation of payments to precise payment dates requires a degree of estimation and are therefore rounded to the nearest 5,000.
Details for May 2006 are not yet available.
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of tax credits on (a) housing costs and (b) basic food costs in areas of high deprivation; and if he will make a statement. [75177]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government have not made any assessment of the impact of tax credits on housing or food costs at a local level, and are not aware of any evidence of such an effect.
However, tax credits have raised the incomes of six million families containing 10 million children, increasing the income available for housing, food and other expenditure.
As a result of the Government's reforms to the tax and benefit system since 1997, and the introduction of the national minimum wage, by October 2006, in real terms, families with children will be, on average, £1,500 a year better off, while those in the poorest fifth will be, on average, £3,400 per year better off.
Recent research by Gregg, Waldfogel and Washbrook has shown that low income families have been able to spend significantly more on housing services, and on food, as a result of tax credits and other financial support.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the total costs of tax credit (a) administration and (b) write offs of overpayments since April 2001; and if he will make a statement. [63044]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers I gave him on 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 101W, 10 October 2005, Official Report, column 282W, 18 October 2005, Official Report, column 949W, 27 October 2005, Official Report, column 497W, 15 November 2005, Official Report, column 1214W, 26 January 2006, Official Report, columns 2249-50W, and 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 567W, and to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG’s) standard report for 2003-04 attached to the Inland Revenue’s annual report for 2003-04 and the CAG’s standard report that formed part of the Inland Revenue’s accounts for 2004-05. Both publications are available in the Library of the House. Around £1.65 million was written off in March 2006 due to official error.
Tax Office (Isle of Wight)
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 17 May 2006, Official Report, column 1086W, on the tax office, Isle of Wight, what the core catchment area is of the Newport Isle of Wight tax office. [74461]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 17 May 2006, Official Report, column 1086W. HMRC’s inquiry centre at Newport serves the whole population of the Isle of Wight.
Tax Receipts
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the income tax receipts from pension income in the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [73829]
Dawn Primarolo: The estimated liability to income tax from occupational and personal pensions can be found in table 7.9 “Cost of relief for approved pension schemes” on HM Revenue and Customs website at http://www.hmrc.gov.Uk/stats/pensions/7_9_sep05.xls
VAT Registration Applications
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints HM Revenue and Customs received about the time taken to process VAT registration applications between (a) 1 March and 19 May 2005 and (b) 1 January and 28 February 2006. [75156]
Dawn Primarolo: Between 1 March and 19 May 2005, around 36 complaints were received by HMRC/Customs and Excise about the time taken to process VAT registration applications.
Between 1 January and 28 February 2006, HMRC received around 101 complaints about the time taken to process VAT registration applications.
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of complete and accurate VAT registration applications have been processed within 21 days of receipt since 1 March. [75159]
Dawn Primarolo: For VAT registration applications received during March and April that were complete and accurate at receipt, HMRC estimate that 65 per cent. were fully processed within 21 calendar days.
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 24 May 2006, to Question 73180, on VAT registration applications, how many such complaints were from companies seeking VAT registration to conduct business activities relating to (a) mobile telephones, (b) other electrical equipment and (c) other activities. [75215]
Dawn Primarolo: Of the 170 complaints that HM Revenue and Customs received about the time taken to process VAT registrations between 1 March 2006 and 19 May 2006:
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |