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2 Nov 2006 : Column 581W—continued
Director of Policy and Planning
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Director of Policy and Planning in his Department has met the Chair of the Labour party on official business in the last 12 months. [98222]
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the role is of the director of policy and planning in his Department. [98453]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 18 October 2006, Official Report, column 1253W.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the post of the director of policy and planning in his Department has replaced that of the chief economic adviser. [98454]
Euro Preparation Group
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library copies of the Treasury minute from HM Treasury's euro preparation group meeting of 21 February. [95817]
Ed Balls: I refer the hon. Member to the answer he received on 2 October 2006, Official Report, column 2534W, from the Minister for Local Government.
Free Travel (Pensioners)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport regarding the extension of free travel to pensioners. [98591]
Mr. Timms: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has had regular discussions with both the current Secretary of State for Transport and his predecessors on a wide variety of issues, including over his announcements at the 2005 and 2006 Budgets on the introduction of free bus travel for people over the age of 60 in England.
Gateway Reviews
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Gateway Reviews the Office of Government Commerce arranged for the Home Office during the tenure of each Home Secretary since 1997. [93453]
John Healey: The OGC Gatewayâ"¢ process was introduced in February 2001. Across Government, in excess of 1,470 reviews have been completed since then covering more than 700 projects and programmes and achieving more than £1.5 billion in efficiency savings since 2003, as calculated through an NAO approved methodology. The number of reviews arranged by OGC specifically for Home Office programmes and projects is:
| Member | Number of reviews | |
Hardcopy Teaching Pack
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 18 October 2006, Official Report, column 1260W, if he will place in the Library (a) a copy of the Red Box hardcopy teaching pack and (b) a copy of the publicity material used to raise awareness of the hardcopy teaching pack. [97815]
HMRC Staff
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time employees of HM Revenue and Customs worked in (a) detection, (b) intelligence, (c) special civil investigations and (d) criminal investigations in each year since 1997. [98224]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of full-time equivalent staff employed in each of these HMRC directorates at 1 April 2006 is shown in the table as follows:
| Number | |
Since then the structure of two of these directorates has changed. In September 2006 Intelligence became part of a new Risk and Intelligence directorate, and a new directorate was formed comprising National Teams and Special Civil Investigations.
Until this reorganisation the Detection and Intelligence functions had been broadly unchanged since they were set up in Customs and Excise in 2002-03. Figures for those Directorates were given in my answer of 8 June 2006, Official Report, column 856W.
There are no comparable figures for the Investigations Directorates for earlier years, for the reasons I gave the hon. Member in my answer of 12 October 2006, Official Report, column 876W.
Hypothermia
Sir Robert Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths linked with hypothermia there have been in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) England, (c) Scotland, (d) Wales and (e) Aberdeenshire in each year since 2004; and how many people in each area were aged (i) 60 to 64, (ii) 65 to 79 and (iii) over 80 years. [98749]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 2 November 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many deaths linked with hypothermia there have been in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) England, (c) Scotland, (d) Wales and (e) Aberdeenshire in each year since 2004; and how many people in each area were aged (i) 60 to 64, (ii) 65 to 79 and (iii) over 80. (98749)
Available information relates to the number of deaths where hypothermia was mentioned on the death certificate. The most recent year for which figures are available is 2005. The attached table shows the number of deaths where hypothermia was mentioned on the death certificate by age group for England, and Wales. Figures for Scotland and Aberdeenshire are the responsibility of the General Register Office for Scotland.
Income Tax
Mr. Walker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people paid income tax in each of the last eight years; and what percentage of those individuals were over the state retirement age in each year. [99086]
Dawn Primarolo: Information on the number of individuals that were liable to pay income tax can be found in Table 2.1 “Number of individual income taxpayers” on the HM Revenue and Customs website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_tax/table2_l. pdf The percentage of those individuals that were over state pension age can be calculated from the data provided in the table.
Muslim Council of Britain
Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much (a) financial support and (b) support in kind his Department and its agencies has given to the Muslim Council of Britain in each year since 1997. [96268]
John Healey: HM Treasury and its agencies have not provided any financial or support in kind to the Muslim Council since 1997.
Pensions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) present and (b) future retirement age arrangements are for each public sector pension scheme for which his Department has responsibility; and if he will make a statement. [96030]
Mr. Timms: HM Treasury is not responsible for making the rules of any individual public service pension schemes.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next plans to update the assumptions used to calculate future spending on public sector pensions; and if he will make a statement. [98867]
Mr. Timms: The assumptions for future spending on public sector pensions in the Long Term Public Finance (LTPFR) report are provided by the Government Actuary's Department in conjunction with HM Treasury. The updated assumptions will be made available on the GAD website after the publication of this year’s report.
Special Educational Needs
John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made in the review by his Department of the funding of children with complex special educational needs; and if he will make a statement. [99095]
Mr. Timms: In a written ministerial statement to Parliament on 5 July 2006, Official Report, columns 37-38WS, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury announced the Terms of Reference for a joint HM Treasury and Department for Education and Skills policy review of children and young people. The review will inform the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.
Tax Credits
Tim Farron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will review the provision of tax credit services in the Cumbria area. [97013]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 25 October 2006]: The Chancellor keeps all aspects of the tax system, including tax credits under review.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit compliance officers are based in contact centres; and if he will make a statement. [97651]
Dawn Primarolo: HMRC has embedded a number of compliance specialists in contact centres to provide additional support and specialist knowledge.
It would be inappropriate to disclose detailed information relating to staff engaged in working on fraud on the tax credit system as to do so could provide assistance to those engaged in criminal activity.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the tax credit e-portal will be fully functional; and if he will make a statement. [97666]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Ruffley) on 31 January 2006, Official Report, column 441W.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to publish an estimate of tax credit (a) fraud and (b) error for 2004-05; and if he will make a statement. [97839]
Dawn Primarolo: Information on the random enquiry programme for 2004-05 is planned to be published in 2007.
Mr. Walker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was overpaid in family tax credits in each year for which records are available; and if he will make a statement. [98082]
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, 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. Supplement on Payments in 2003-04” and “Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Awards.
2004-05. Supplement on Payments in 2004-05.” These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
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