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4 July 2006 : Column 997W—continued
Poverty
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department has taken to reduce poverty in Yeovil constituency since 1997. [82147]
Dawn Primarolo: The Treasury has, in partnership with other Government Departments, tackled poverty and promoted economic opportunity through:
Promoting macroeconomic stability
Supporting work for those who can and ensuring that work pays, through the new deals, a national minimum wage and the working tax credit
Providing financial support for groups at particular risk of poverty, such as child benefit and the child tax for families, and the pension credit for pensioners.
Across the UK, these measures have helped lift more than a million people out of poverty since 1997. Tax credits are benefiting more than 380,000 families in the South West region, and in Yeovil claimant unemployment has fallen by over 50 per cent., youth unemployment has fallen by 67 per cent. and long-term unemployment has fallen by over 90 per cent.
Remittances
Helen Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the total amount of remittances sent abroad by UK-based foreign nationals over the last five years, broken down by country. [82565]
Ed Balls: The UK authorities do not produce official statistics of workers’ remittances disaggregated on the basis of destination country. The breakdown of the size of immigrant communities in the UK provides one indicator on the destination of the bulk of remittance flows out of the UK. Estimates of the size of UK remittance market can be found in the report of the UK Remittances Working Group(1), established in 2004 by the Department for International Development (DFID). This shows that DFID believes the most reliable estimate for total remittances from the UK to developing countries to be £2.3 billion in 2005 and that—based on the size of diaspora communities—the primary developing country recipients of UK remittances are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Caribbean, Kenya, Nigeria and China.
(1) Available at www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/uk-remittances-report.pdf
Sun Care Products
Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will reduce the VAT on children’s sun care products to an essential rating of 5 per cent. [82276]
Dawn Primarolo: All taxes are kept under review and any changes are announced by the Chancellor as part of the Budget process. To date the Government have been sparing in our use of reduced rates of VAT and have only introduced them where they offer the best targeted and most cost effective support for Government objectives, when considered against alternative policy instruments.
Outside the VAT system the Government have provided funding to Cancer Research UK’s national skin cancer prevention campaign, ‘SunSmart’. This campaign includes raising awareness of skin cancer and highlights the need for early detection and presentation.
Tax Credits
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax credit overpayment has been written off due to hardship in each quarter since April 2003; and if he will make a statement. [76489]
Dawn Primarolo: Audited details of new tax credit overpayments written off are compiled annually to the end of October. Available figures for overpayments written off due to hardship are shown in the following table.
| £ | |
| Year to end of October | Amount written off |
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what procedures are in place to tackle fraud in the claiming of (a) research and development tax credits and (b) vaccines research relief; and if he will make a statement. [82153]
John Healey: HM Revenue and Customs manages non-compliance through a process of risk assessment and deploys resources according to the risks identified.
As with other elements of companies' tax or computations, claims for R&D tax credits and vaccine relief research are subject to risk assessment procedures. When significant risks are identified they are pursued through a variety of interventions, one of which involves the opening of an enquiry into the company tax return or claim. If as a result of the inquiry a return or claim is found to be incorrect, steps will be taken to recover the tax due. In such circumstances interest will be charged and penalties will be considered where appropriate.
The document published at PBR “Supporting growth in innovation: next steps for the R&D tax credit” announced that HMRC would set up specialist units to handle all claims dealt with outside the Large Business Service.
The new units are intended to ensure greater consistency in the handling of claims. This should include a more consistent and effective approach to tackling non-compliance.
Where serious fraud is identified the Department will adopt its normal civil or criminal investigation procedures.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the administration costs of (a) research and development tax credits and (b) vaccines research relief; and if he will make a statement. [82154]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his previous question on 1 November 2005, Official Report, column 991W.
Treasury Select Committee
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when his Department will provide the information requested by the Treasury Select Committee in paragraph 109 of volume one of its fourth report of session 2005-06 (HC994-1), The 2006 Budget; and if he will make a statement. [82093]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government's response to the Treasury Committee's report on the 2006 Budget was issued yesterday.
Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 4 July 2006
Education and Skills
Adult Education
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to which institutions his Department has given funds for adult education in (a) Lambeth and (b) Vauxhall in the last three years; and what the amount was in each case. [78591]
Bill Rammell: In 2003/04 the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) allocated £25.5 million to providers in the Lambeth area for adult provision, £26.8 million in 2004/05 and £26.75 million in 2005/06. Separate figures for the Vauxhall area are not available. The individual provider allocations are set out in the following table.
| £ million | |||
| 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | |
Apprenticeships
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in Year 10 and above in Yeovil constituency are on the apprenticeships scheme. [82178]
Phil Hope: There are no Key Stage 4 pupils in Yeovil currently on the Young Apprenticeship Programme. 30 Year 10 pupils are scheduled to start the programme in September 2006, with that number divided between Young Apprenticeships in engineering and in hospitality.
Baccalaureate
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in maintained schools in England took the International Baccalaureate in each of the last 10 years. [82001]
Jim Knight:
Figures for the number of pupils in maintained schools in England entered in the International Baccalaureate each year since 1995/96 are given in the following table.
| Number of pupils in maintained schools in England entered in the International Baccalaureate | |
| Number | |
Bullying
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance he has issued to schools on tackling bullying via mobile phone; and if he will make a statement. [81695]
Jim Knight: This Government have made clear that all forms of bullying, including bullying via mobile phone, are unacceptable and should be punished.
Misuse of mobile phones was one of the specific issues considered by the Practitioners’ Group on School Behaviour and Discipline, in its report “Learning Behaviour” (October 2005). The report points to the fact that, while mobile phones are now a part of daily life, head teachers need a clear policy on their possession and use on school site. The current Education and Inspections Bill re-enacts and strengthens the duty on schools to establish a behaviour policy. The accompanying Explanatory Notes require
“the head teacher to determine measures (which may include rules and provision for enforcing them) that promote self-discipline and a proper regard for authority, encourage good behaviour and respect for others, prevent bullying, secure that tasks are completed, and generally secure an acceptable standard of behaviour by pupils” (Clause 76).
We will be producing guidance on that duty which will specifically address the issue of mobile phone misuse.
The seriousness with which bullying by mobile phone should be treated is referred to in our anti-bullying guidance pack for schools “Don’t Suffer in Silence”. This resource is currently being revised to ensure that schools are provided with the most up-to-date information available.
Child Care
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps the Government are taking to increase the number of child care places in Swindon. [82409]
Beverley Hughes: Statistics collected from local authorities (LAs) from 1999 to 2003 and from Ofsted from 2003 to March 2006 show that almost 2,000 new child care places were created in Swindon during that period.
From 1999 to March 2005 LAs were set child care place creation targets. Since then, the emphasis has been on LAs obtaining a close match between supply and demand and working with providers to develop a sustainable child care market.
General Sure Start Grant funding of more than £9.3 million has been awarded to the LA for 2006 to 2008, much of which may be used to help create places to meet the current and future demands of families in Swindon.
City Academies
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills with which (a) businesses, (b) charities, (c) individuals and (d) voluntary groups Ministers have corresponded about sponsoring city academies since 16 March 2006. [81715]
Jim Knight: My noble Friend Lord Adonis has sent letters to the following organisations:
(a) Businesses
Sunderland Housing Group
Northumbrian Water
Leighton Group
Bee Bee Developments Ltd.
Catalyst Corby
(b) Charities
(Bishop of Warrington) The right Rev. David Wilfred Michael Jennings
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Liverpool
The Girls’ Day School Trust
Edge Foundation
The London Diocesan Board of Schools
United Learning Trust
Garfield Weston Foundation
(c) Individuals
David Dangoor
(The Bishop of Leicester) The Very Reverend Tim Stevens
Lord Harris of Peckham
Community Education
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received on the level of community education in 2006-07. [81836]
Phil Hope: There have been no formal representations on the level of community education in 2006-07. However, my colleagues and I have regular meetings about adult learning, including community education, with providers and stakeholders, including the Association of Colleges, the Local Government Association, the Workers’ Educational Association, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes.
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