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2 Nov 2006 : Column 586W—continued
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-quarterly-stats.htm
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) on what basis bonuses were paid to tax credit staff in 2005-06 and 2006-07; and if he will make a statement; [98097]
(2) what criteria are used to determine bonus payments to employees of the Tax Credit Office; [98330]
(3) whether bonus payments made to employees of the Tax Credit Office are based on (a) relative and (b) absolute levels of performance; [98331]
(4) what quotas are set for the (a) number of people and (b) proportion of the pay budget in the Tax Credit Office in relation to bonus payments; [98332]
(5) what the maximum budget available for bonus payments to employees of the Tax Credit Office was in each year since 2001; and what the total amount of bonuses paid to employees of the Office was in each such year. [98333]
Dawn Primarolo: Bonus payments were made to a small proportion of staff in the Tax Credit Office (TCO) recognising exceptional performance during the past year.
There are no quotas set for the number of staff eligible for a bonus. Bonuses for exceptional performance in 2005-06 and 2006-07 were available to all staff in HM Revenue & Customs. Between 2003 and 2006, this allowed for up to 0.1% of the pay bill of individual business units, to be paid as a bonus. This was increased to 0.2% as part of HMRC’s 2005-2007 pay agreement agreed with the Department’s Trade Unions.
For the number and value of bonus payments made since new tax credits were introduced in 2003, I refer the hon. Member of the answers I gave him on23 October 2006 Official Report column 1646W,25 July 2006, Official Report column 1393W, 29 June 2006, Official Report column 587W and 12 December 2005 Official Report columns 1792W-1793W.
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit overpayments were made in 2005; what their total value was; what the value of each decile of the total number of overpayments was; and what proportion and value of overpayment have been written off (a) as unreclaimable and (b) not reasonably ascertainable by the recipients. [98894]
Dawn Primarolo: Overpayment statistics are published by year of entitlement. The latest estimates are for 2004-05 and are published in “Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Awards. 2004-05. Supplement on Payments in 2004-05”. This publication provides information on overpayments and underpayments, based on final family circumstances and incomes for 2004-05. This publication and provisional estimates for the number of in-work families 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-quarterly-stats.htm
Final estimates for 2005-06 will not be available until 2005-06 awards have been finalised.
Decile distribution of 2004-05 overpayments is shown in the following table.
| Deciles (10 per cent.) | Number of families (Thousand) | Value of overpayments (£ million) |
| Notes: 1. The table includes terminated awards and does not include overpayments less than £10. 2. The analysis is based on the £1.7 billion total overpayment figure, which is the outstanding stock of overpayments ‘at April 2005’. Total overpayments, including overpayments arising after April 2005 were £1.8 billion. | ||
Information on amount of tax credit overpayments written off in 2004-05 and 2005-06 is published in paragraph 2.18 of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Standard Report on the HM Revenue and Customs 2005-06 Accounts.
Treasury Reform Industry Group
Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what fiscal changes are being considered to the farm landlord-tenancy agreement as a result of the new regulations following the work of the Treasury Reform Industry Group. [97951]
John Healey: The Tenancy Reform Industry Group (TRIG) recommended a number of changes to taxation. One concern has been addressed in that in Budget 2003 Capital Gains Tax business asset taper relief was extended to property let to unincorporated traders for their business use (such as individual farmers) from 6 April 2004.
All taxes are kept under constant review, and any changes are made and announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as part of the Budget and pre-Budget report (PBR) process. The Group's other suggestions, therefore, continue to be noted.
Treasury Staff
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has a staff magazine. [98034]
Widows Pensions
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the rights of widows in respect of pensions. [98588]
Ed Balls: Treasury Ministers regularly meet DWP Ministers to discuss a range of issues, including the rights of widows in respect of pensions.
Winter Fuel Payments
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to increase winter fuel payments. [98589]
Ed Balls: The Government have committed to winter fuel payments of £200 for households with someone aged 60 or over, and £300 for households with someone aged 80 or over, for the remainder of this Parliament.
Tax and welfare policy is reviewed annually as part of the Budget process, and any decisions related to the winter fuel payments will be announced at the PBR.
World Bank
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the World Bank fund for investment by developing economies in alternative sources of energy and greater energy efficiency is expected to be established; and how much additional money the UK has contributed to this fund on top of money that the UK already contributes to the World Bank. [97967]
Ed Balls: At the Gleneagles summit the UK Government was instrumental in establishing, with the World Bank and the Regional Development Banks, an Energy Investment Framework to mobilise the necessary resources for investment in clean energy projects in developing countries using IFI loans, grants and carbon finance to catalyse private sector investment.
The World Bank completed the first phase of the implementation programme in the run up to the Development Committee Meeting in September. It will roll out the second phase in the period up to the G-8 summit in 2008. The UK has already announced support for one of the first projects to be developed under the EIF framework, an investment in wind power in Mexico. The Chancellor has also announced, with President Wolfowitz of the World Bank, and the four leading regional development banks, a partnership with the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development to explore how to stimulate private sector investment through the Energy Investment Framework.
The UK has already committed over £15 million specifically to support the EIF, including: £3 million for technical support in developing the EIF and supporting regional dialogue; £10 million to fund posts and programme budgets across the multi-lateral development banks and UNDP over the next three years; and, £3 million to the EBRD’s Sustainable Energy Initiative.
Leader of the House
Carbon Footprint
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Leader of the House what measures he is taking to reduce his Office’s carbon footprint. [98380]
Mr. Straw: The majority of the staff of the Privy Council Office (PCO), including my office, are located in premises which are managed by other Government Departments or in the Palace of Westminster. The one building wholly managed by the PCO has not had a specific assessment of its carbon footprint, but is run in accordance with a green procurement policy which seeks to minimise its carbon footprint in a variety of ways. These include the use of energy efficient light bulbs and electrical equipment, minimising energy use and evaluating, as appropriate, the environmental performance of tenderers when relevant to any contracts.
Departmental IT
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Leader of the House (1) which of the Privy Council Office’s databases are (a) wholly and (b) partly operated by external organisations or individuals; and which organisations and individuals own those databases; [97773]
(2) which databases operated by his Office are located (a) wholly and (b) partly outside the UK; and where each of those databases and parts of databases is located. [97774]
Mr. Straw: The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons owns the databases it operates. They are hosted, within the UK, by the Cabinet Office via a service level agreement with Hewlett Packard and Domain Technologies, who maintain and develop them.
Early-day Motions
Mr. Amess: To ask the Leader of the House if he will bring forward proposals to establish a requirement for Government departments to respond to Early-day Motions; and if he will make a statement. [97919]
Mr. Straw: I have no plans to do so.
The Procedure Committee is currently examining matters relating to EDMs, including the uses currently made of EDMs by Members and others, and exploring what opportunities presently exist, and what others might be introduced, to allow EDMs to be brought before and debated by the House. I look forward to the Committee’s recommendations.
House of Lords
Mr. Laws: To ask the Leader of the House what his estimate is of the total costs of the House of Lords for each year since 1990-91, broken down by main budget headings; and if he will make a statement. [97316]
Mr. Straw: The figures are given in the following table. Expenditure is stated in cash or near-cash equivalents, including capital expenditure, to provide comparison across the period. Non-cash expenditure, e.g. depreciation and cost of capital, accounted for from 2001-02 has been excluded.
| House of Lords Expenditure (Net) | |||||
| Accommodation costs( 1) | General administrative costs, including staff salaries( 1) | Members' attendance expenses | Police and security staff( 2) | Total | |
| (1) Prior to April 1992 certain services including IT, printing and publications, works and accommodation services were provided by or through Government Departments and agencies on an allied service basis. From April 1992 each House took over responsibility for its share of the expenditure at that time. (2) The percentage of the total security costs for the Parliamentary Estate attributable to the House of Lords is reviewed periodically and has changed over the period of this report. | |||||
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