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20 July 2006 : Column 621W—continued
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive
Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the Government voted when the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive was adopted on 21 April 2004 by the European Council. [86471]
Ed Balls: On 7 April, the Council adopted, by written procedure, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. The UK supported the adopted text.
Ministers (Personal Tax)
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taken to ensure that Ministers do not receive special treatment in respect of their personal tax affairs. [87587]
Dawn Primarolo: HMRC is responsible for handling the personal tax affairs of Ministers and for ensuring that they pay tax in accordance with tax law, as for any other individual.
Nuclear Deterrent
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the next generation of the nuclear deterrent will be (a) wholly and (b) partly financed by funding additional to the normal defence budget. [87095]
Mr. Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 July 2006, Official Report, column 1842W.
Parliamentary Questions
Lynne Jones:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when he will reply to (a) Question
80066 and (b) Question 80067 on tax credits tabled on 20 June 2006 by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak; [86341]
(2) when he will reply to Question number 80066, on tax credits, tabled by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak on 20 June 2006. [87598]
Dawn Primarolo: I answered question 80067 on 18 July 2006, Official Report, column 364W, and hope to be in a position to answer question 80066 very shortly.
Scottish Salmon Farming (Crown Estate)
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps the Crown Estate has taken to support sustainable salmon farming in Scotland. [86048]
John Healey: The Crown Estate has a three year programme of measures to support the Scottish salmon industry with investment of £600,000. The Crown Estate is also supporting the aquaculture industry through its Marine Stewardship Programme with £100,000 annual contributions to the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum over the same period. In addition, the Crown Estate supports some individual research projects.
Smuggling
Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to improve coastline surveillance on the South West coast to tackle smuggling of illegal drugs and firearms. [86465]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) use risk assessment to deploy intelligence-led, flexible and mobile teams—including the HMRC Cutter fleet—to locations in the South West and throughout the UK where they will have the greatest impact on modern smugglers. HMRC also works in partnership with other agencies, including the UK immigration service and special branch, to provide a co-ordinated response to all frontier threats.
Subject Access Request
Mr. Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the interim response of Mr. Michael Armstrong of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Data Protection Unit, of 17 May, (reference SAR 2090/06), to the hon. Member’s constituent Mr. Gerard Churchhouse’s Subject Access Request, when the further documents are expected to be supplied; why further documents already obtained by HMRC have not been supplied to date; when Mr. Churchhouse may inspect the original files on which a decision was made; and if he will make a statement. [86743]
Dawn Primarolo: The search process is now being urgently completed and the Department will write to Mr. Churchhouse within the next 14 days, together with an apology for the delay.
Tax Credits
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many claimants were discovered to have given incorrect information (a) fraudulently and (b) by error in relation to a tax credit claim in each year for which figures are available, broken down by (i) type of tax credit and (ii) region; and what estimate he has made of the amounts incorrectly paid as a result. [43757]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. member to “Child and Working Tax Credits: Error and fraud statistics 2003-04” available on the HMRC website at www.hmrc.gov.uk/news/index.htm Reliable estimates at regional level are not available.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 25 April 2006, Official Report, column 1050W, on tax credits, what information is available on the level of tax credit manual payments in 2005-06; and if he will make a statement. [75751]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 5 June 2006, Official Report, columns 188-89W. For the estimated value of manual payments made up to and including October 2005, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 29 November 2005, Official Report, columns 343-44W.
The estimated value of manual payments (rounded to the nearest 100,000) made from November 2005 to March 2006 inclusive was:
| Estimated value of manual payments made (£000) | |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit claimants were receiving regular manual payments as at (a) 31 March and (b) 31 May; and if he will make a statement. [75752]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of tax credits claimants receiving manual payments were around:
(a) 17,300
and
(b) 15,000
Mark Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many tax credit decisions on overpayment have been appealed to (a) the Regional Director, (b) the Independent Adjudicator and (c) the Ombudsman in (i) Ceredigion, (ii) Wales and (iii) the UK in each of the last five years; [76296]
(2) in how many tax credit decisions on overpayment in (a) Ceredigion, (b) Wales and (c) the UK the
overpayment have been waived in each of the last five years. [76297]
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many tax credit decisions on overpayment have been appealed to (a) the Regional Director, (b) the Independent Adjudicator and (c) the Ombudsman in (i) Tamworth, (ii) England and (iii) the UK in each of the last five years; [80129]
(2) in how many tax credit decisions an overpayment in (a) Tamworth, (b) England and (c) the UK the overpayment has been waived in each year since the scheme began. [80130]
Dawn Primarolo: Tax credits claimants have a right of appeal against decisions about their tax credit entitlement but HM Revenue and Custom’s (HMRC) code of practice 26 ‘What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit’ gives the reasons why claimants might be able to dispute an overpayment and how they should do this.
The Department began recording the intake of disputed overpayment requests in May 2004.
For the numbers of disputed overpayment requests HMRC’s Tax Credit Office received and the number written off for Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a whole, I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 18 July 2006, Official Report, column 360W.
The information requested is not available at constituency level, for Wales or at regional level.
For information about the Independent Adjudicator and the Ombudsman, I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr. Goodman) on 30 January 2006, Official Report, column 143W.
The information requested at (a) and (b) is not available.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) by what date he estimates that Electronic Data Services will have made full payment of the £71.25 million owed in compensation to HM Revenue and Customs for tax credit system problems; and if he will make a statement; [76429]
(2) what payments have been made to date to his Department by Electronic Data Services in aggregate settlement of HM Revenue and Customs’ claim in respect of tax credit IT; and if he will make a statement. [76431]
Dawn Primarolo: The terms of the agreement between HMRC and EDS to settle HMRC’s claim for compensation are commercially sensitive and therefore confidential. Details were provided to the Public Accounts Committee in a closed session.
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the net effect on households in (a) Houghton and Washington East constituency and (b) Sunderland city council area of the introduction of tax credits since 1997. [87364]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the administration of tax credits in North Yorkshire. [87089]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates for 2003-04 and 2004-05 of the numbers of in-work families with tax credits awards, including information on overpayments and underpayments by region, based on final family circumstances and incomes for 2003-04 and 2004-05 are published in “Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Awards 2003-04 Geographical Analysis” and the “Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Awards 2004-05 Geographical Analysis”. These publications and provisional estimates for the number of in-work families by region with tax credit awards as at selected dates in 2005-06 are available on the HMRC website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm.
David Heyes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many people in (a) the UK and (b) Ashton-under-Lyne have been overpaid working tax credits since their introduction; [84850]
(2) how many overpayments of (a) working and (b) child tax credit have been made to claimants in Ashton-under-Lyne since the credits were introduced; what the value of those overpayments was; how many of the overpayments have not been recovered; and what the value was of unrecovered overpayments. [84852]
Dawn Primarolo: For numbers of tax credit overpayments I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) on 16 June 2006, Official Report, column 1421W.
We do not produce statistics separately for child and working tax credits.
In answer to the number of overpayments to claimants from Ashton-under-Lyne that have not been recovered, and their value, the information is not available in the format requested.
David Heyes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures his Department has taken to reduce poverty in Ashton-under-Lyne since 1997. [84851]
Ed Balls: 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 550,000 families in the North West, and in Ashton-under-Lyne claimant
unemployment has fallen by 42 per cent. youth unemployment has fallen by 68 per cent. and long-term unemployment has fallen by 88 per cent.
David Heyes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many payments have been made in (a) the UK and (b) Ashton-under-Lyne under HM Customs and Revenue’s code of practice for (i) causing worry and distress to claimants, (ii) delay in answering queries and (iii) costs incurred by the claimant in making contact in each year since tax credits were introduced; and what the annual cost was of payments in each category in each area. [84853]
Dawn Primarolo: The circumstances in which the former Inland Revenue and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will make compensation payments to its customers are explained in the Department’s Code of Practice 1 ‘Putting things right’ which is available at www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/cop1.pdf. The Department will pay compensation for reasonable costs incurred as a direct result of their mistakes or delays and to recognise worry and distress caused by those mistakes and delays.
Information about the number of payments made under each category is not available.
For the total number of payments made in 2003-04 and their value I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Hamilton, South (Mr. Tynan) on 20 July 2004, Official Report, columns 191-92W.
For the total number of payments made in 2004-05 and their value I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 4 July, 2005, Official Report, columns 95-96W
In 2005-06 around 15,000 compensation payments were made with a value of around £1.1 million.
Information is not available at constituency level.
World Bank/IMF
Mr. Tom Clarke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the salaries are of (a) the President of the World Bank and (b) the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; and if he will make a statement. [86835]
Ed Balls: The total annual remuneration of both the president of the World Bank and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund was $443,760 (£242,780)(1) in July 2004. The latest figures will be available in the 2006 annual reports of the World Bank and the IMF respectively.
(1) Dollar-Sterling spot market rate at close 18 July 2006
Constitutional Affairs
Postal Voting
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many postal votes were issued by Tamworth borough council for the local elections in May; and what percentage were returned as valid votes. [86740]
Bridget Prentice: The total number of postal votes issued by the returning officer for Tamworth borough council local elections on 4 May 2006 was 5,323.
The percentage returned as valid postal votes was 66 per cent. (3,493).
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