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16 Oct 2006 : Column 1074W—continued
Lone Parents
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many lone parents entered employment in each (a) county, (b) constituency and (c) region of the UK in each of the last 30 years, grouped by region; and what percentage of the workforce each figure represents. [93500]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 16 October 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about numbers of lone parents entering employment. (93500)
Information in the form requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Long-term Unemployment
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many long-term unemployed there were in each (a) constituency and (b) county in each of the last 30 years, grouped by region. [93501]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 16 October 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about long-term unemployment. (93501)
Information in the form requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of long-term youth unemployment was in each (a) constituency and (b) county in each of the last 30 years, grouped by region. [93498]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 16 October 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about long-term youth unemployment. (93498)
Information in the form requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Non-profit Making Organisations (VAT)
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much VAT revenue was collected on merchandise sold by non-profit-making organisations on behalf of charities in each of the last five years for which records are available; [93492]
(2) if he will seek to allow VAT (a) exemptions and (b) reductions on merchandise sold by non-profit-making organisations on behalf of charities. [93493]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available. HM Revenue and Customs does not collect data on VAT relating to individual goods and services.
The sale of merchandise at certain fundraising events organised by, or to raise funds for, charities and certain non-profit-making bodies is already exempt from VAT. In addition, the sale of donated goods by a non-profit-making organisation or a charity subsidiary is zero rated when any profits from the sale are transferred to a charity.
Under agreements governing the application of VAT reliefs throughout the EU, successive Governments have agreed with European partners not to extend any existing VAT zero rates or introduce any new ones. The scope of the exemptions from VAT and reduced rates is also limited by European VAT agreements. It is therefore not possible for the Government to introduce any new VAT zero rates, or to extend the existing exemption for fundraising supplies. Similarly, our European VAT agreements would not allow a reduced rate of VAT that applied only to sales of merchandise by non-profit-making organisations on behalf of charities.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any special VAT exemptions have been allowed to any non-profit-making organisations not registered as charities in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [93494]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 12 July 2006, Official Report, column 1845W.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer why the Paymaster General gave instructions to the Chairman of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) that all draft parliamentary answers to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) were to be cleared first by the Chairman of HMRC; when this instruction was given; whether it is still in effect; and if he will make a statement. [93503]
Dawn Primarolo: Officials are involved as necessary in the process of preparing answers to parliamentary questions. Ministers are responsible for the answers they give to hon. Members.
Retired Women (Self-assessment)
David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many retired women between the ages of 60 and 65 years in (a) North West Leicestershire, (b) the East Midlands and (c) England were required by the Inland Revenue and HM Revenue and Customs to complete self-assessment return forms in each year since 2001. [92684]
Dawn Primarolo: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Sports Bodies (Corporation Tax)
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much corporation tax was paid by the (a) Football Association, (b) English Cricket Board, (c) Rugby Football Union, (d) Rugby Football League and (e) Lawn Tennis Association in each of the last five years. [94231]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs are statutorily debarred from disclosing information relating to the tax affairs of individuals, companies and other organisations.
Sterling Valuation
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of the value of sterling on the UK manufacturing sector and manufacturing jobs. [93823]
John Healey: Manufacturing output and employment is influenced by many factors. As a result, the impact of the current level of the sterling exchange rate on manufacturing output and employment is difficult to isolate with precision.
Manufacturing output has risen for four consecutive months and has grown over 1Â3/4 per cent. in 2006 to date.
Sunglasses
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on the removal of value added tax from the sale of sunglasses for children. [93032]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 26 June 2006, Official Report, column 91W, to the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr. Davey)
Tax Credit Verification Rule 12
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer why tax credit verification rule 12 was suspended for 18 months from April 2003; who (a) made and (b) approved this decision; and if he will make a statement. [93504]
Dawn Primarolo: The tax credit verification rule 12 was not suspended.
Tax Credits
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether his Department plans to change the way that tax credit overpayments are recovered; [92725]
(2) whether he has made an assessment of the merits of a system of suspending payments until the overpayment is cleared for dealing with tax credit overpayments. [92726]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to my remarks and those of my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the House on 7 June 2006, Official Report, column 293 and columns 326-27.
HMRC's policy is set out in CoP26, “What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit.” When HMRC seek recovery of an overpayment they seek to do so in a manner which will not put a family in financial difficulty. PBR 2005 announced that from November 2006 HMRC will apply automatic limits on recovery of excess amounts paid where awards are
adjusted in-year following a reported change. These limits will be the same as the current limits on cross-year overpayment recovery, and will ensure that no low- to middle-income family faces unexpected reductions in tax credit payments.
Tax Investigations
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax investigations have been carried out by HM Revenue and Customs in each year since 1997; and how many of those were VAT-related investigations. [93687]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of criminal and civil investigations conducted each year by HMRC is published in the Departmental Annual Report and, prior to the creation of HMRC, was published each year in the Annual Reports of both the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise. Copies of the Annual Reports are available in the Library of the House.
Tax Revenue
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue was raised by stamp duty in (a) share transactions and (b) property sales in (i) 2005-06, (ii) 1997-98 and (iii) 1979-80; and what each figure represents as a percentage of the total tax paid in each year. [91437]
Ed Balls: Receipts of stamp duty from property and share transactions from 2000-01 can be found at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/stamp_duty/table15-1.pdf.
Total receipts data from 1999-2000 are published in table C4 of the Public Finances Databank, which can be found at:
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/economic_data_and_tools/finance_spending_statistics/pubsec_finance
The series in the databank which most closely reflects “total tax paid” is ‘Net taxes and National Insurance Contributions’.
The total revenue raised and the revenue raised from stamp duty in 1979-80 and 1997-98 is shown in the following table.
| £ billion | ||
| 1979-80 | 1997-98 | |
Taxation Rules
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes have been made to residence and domicile rules relating to taxation as a consequence of the review of such rules in April 2003. [92808]
Dawn Primarolo: The review is ongoing.
Tourism
Mr. Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many tourists came to the UK from (a) the USA, (b) Canada, (c) India, (d) Pakistan, (e) China and (f) the United Arab Emirates in each of the last five years; [94038]
(2) how many tourists came to the UK from each European country in each of the last five years. [94039]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 16 October 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions concerning the numbers of tourists visiting the United Kingdom from various countries around the world in the last five years (94038, 94039).
Visits made abroad by UK residents are estimated from data collected on the International Passenger Survey (IPS). The survey is conducted at all major airports, and on major sea and tunnel routes. The data collected are weighted up to national estimates provided by the CAA, the Department for Transport, Eurotunnel and Eurostar. Note that the numbers refer to the number of visits by residents of the countries in question and not to the number of visitors from these countries which is information that is not available.
| Number of visits by residents of (a) USA, (b) Canada, (c) India, (d) Pakistan, (d) China, (e) United Arab Emirates, 2001-05( 1) | |||||
| Number of visits to the UK (Thousand) | |||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
| (1) The figures for China are separated into Hong Kong and Other China | |||||
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