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7 Nov 2006 : Column 1021W—continued
The Treasury does not collect information centrally on the number of staff participating in volunteering opportunities because employees who spend time volunteering often do so in their own time.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff there are in each of his Department’s ministerial private offices, broken down by staff grade; and how many such staff there were in 1997. [99585]
John Healey: In 1997 there were 34 officials in post in ministerial private offices; in 2006 there are 35. A direct grade comparison cannot be made due to changes to the Treasury grading structure.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2005, Official Report, column 2275W, how much his Department spent on taxi travel and courier services in (a) 2005-06 and (b) each year since 1997. [83494]
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has spent on taxis in the last 12 months. [93105]
John Healey: The Treasury’s spending on taxi and courier services in 2005-06 was £181,000. For the earlier years, I refer to the answers given to the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T.C. Davies) on 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 105W, to the hon. Member for Buckingham (John Bercow) on 4 February 2002, Official Report, column 698W, and to the right hon. Member for Gordon (Malcolm Bruce) on 19 February 1998, Official Report, column 792W.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent on fauna, plants and flowers in his Department in the last 12 months. [83497]
John Healey: The Treasury spent £14,000 on the supply and maintenance of plants and flowers in 2005-06. There was no spending on fauna.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent on magazines and newspaper subscriptions by his Department in June 2006. [83574]
John Healey: The Treasury’s expenditure on newspapers and periodicals in June 2006 was £8,000.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on the inter-governmental courier service in the last 12 months. [97876]
John Healey: In the financial year 2005-06 the Treasury paid £5,093 (inclusive of VAT) to the Government Car and Despatch Agency for the provision of courier services.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department subsidises its refreshment facilities for staff. [97877]
John Healey: Under the agreement negotiated with contractors at the time of the opening of 1 Horse Guards road, the catering facilities in Treasury will be subsidised until 2008-09.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent on (a) stationery and (b) other promotional merchandise branded with his Department’s name in the last three years. [99348]
John Healey: The Treasury’s accounting system does not distinguish between branded and non-branded stationery. The Treasury’s total spending on stationery in the last three financial years was as follows. The Department’s accounting system does record spending on promotional merchandise as a separate category.
| £000 | |
Departmental IT
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has spent on the delivery of IT projects each year since 2001; and how much of this has been spent on web facing projects. [97541]
John Healey: Expenditure on IT projects completed in each year since 2001 was as follows.
In 2001, £3.087 million. In 2002, £4.748 million on projects including provision of new IT facilities for the new Treasury building. In 2003, £1.1 million. In 2005, £1.117 million. In 2006, £9.637 million including large projects to introduce a new records management system to meet the demands of the Freedom of Information Act and the introduction of COINS, the Government’s financial management database. There were no projects completed in 2004. During this period one project was the redevelopment of the Treasury’s public website in 2001, which accounted for £250,000.
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what percentage of information technology projects undertaken by or for his Department since 2001 have been delivered (a) over budget, (b) after their original deadline, (c) on budget, (d) under budget, (e) on their original deadline and (f) ahead of their original deadline. [97552]
John Healey: The majority of information technology projects undertaken by or for HM Treasury were completed on time and on budget. Eleven of the 16 projects undertaken since 2001 were completed to budget, with two coming in under budget and only three exceeding their budgets. The increase in the cost of these three projects was due to unforeseen increases in complexity and scope of the projects being undertaken. Ten of the projects were completed to their original deadlines and of the six projects completed after their deadline, three were completed within weeks of their intended deadline, and the extra time taken for one project resulted in cost savings.
Earning Statistics
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was earned on average by the (a) tenth, (b) fiftieth, (c) ninetieth and (d) ninety-fifth percentile of the working population in current prices in each year since 1992. [100238]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 7 November 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning how much was earned on average by the (a) tenth, (b) fiftieth, (c) ninetieth and (d) ninety-fifth percentile of the working population at current prices. I am replying in her absence. (100238)
Average earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay whose pay was unaffected by absence during the pay period. This is the standard definition used for ASHE. The ASHE does not collect data on the self employed and people who do unpaid work.
The attached table contains statistics on earnings percentiles from the ASHE for 2006 for all employees and for full time employees.
The ASHE, earned out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. It is a one per cent sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) schemes, but because of its sampling frame, it has difficulty capturing data on people with very low pay. It is therefore likely to under-represent relatively low paid staff earning below the tax threshold.
| Gross weekly pay for employee jobs( 1) : United Kingdom, 2006 | ||||
| £ | ||||
| Percentiles | ||||
| 10 | 50 (Median) | 90 | 95 | |
| (1 )Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an average of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent., we would expect the population average to be within the range 180 to 220. All estimates have a CV of less than 5 per cent. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics. | ||||
e-Government
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action his Department took in 2002 to implement the guidance on controls set out by the Office of the E-Envoy in the September 2002 report Registration and Authentication: e-Government Strategy Framework Policy and Guidelines, in respect of the tax credits e-portal; and if he will make a statement. [97676]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the evidence given to the Public Accounts Committee by the Acting Chairman of HMRC on 23 October 2006.
Entertainment Industry
Tony Baldry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the annual turnover of the UK entertainment industry in each of the last five years for which figures are available; what the tax revenue was for that sector for each of those years; what estimate he has made of the effect on future turnover and tax revenue of the Programme Making and Special Events sector of the industry of the potential sale of the 14 UHF TV bands by Ofcom following the digital switchover; and if he will make a statement. [98188]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government analyses Corporation tax liabilities in a variety of sectors, but it is not possible to provide data specifically on the entertainment industry, which is included within “Other Services” in the published HMRC statistics.
It also not possible to estimate either future turnover or tax revenues in the Programme Making and Special Events sectors as a result of any potential sale of parts of the broadcasting spectrum.
Financial Inclusion Fund
Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress he has made with the establishment of a growth fund to support third sector lenders as part of the Financial Inclusion Fund. [98680]
Mr. Plaskitt: I have been asked to reply.
My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the Growth Fund in October 2005. £34 million of the £36 million fund has now been allocated to 71 organisations (mostly credit unions) that are currently delivering the affordable credit service. We expect to commit the remainder of the fund by November, when agreements are finalised with those organisations that were not ready to start delivery of the service until January 2007. At 30 September, over 1,300 loans with a total value of over £500,000 had already been issued to financially excluded people.
Financial Services Industry
Ben Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of large bonus payments to people employed in the financial services industry on (a) inflationary pressures and (b) shareholder values. [99370]
Mr. Timms: No specific analysis has been undertaken on the implications of financial sector bonuses for either inflationary pressures or shareholder values. A full assessment of recent economic developments and prospects will be published in the forthcoming pre-Budget report.
Firearms
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of firearms illegally imported into the UK in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [100245]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs has not made any estimate of the number of firearms illegally imported into the UK in each year since 1997.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the merits of introducing a new Public Service Agreement target on tackling the illegal importation of firearms; and if he will make a statement. [100246]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs has concluded a public service agreement with objectives and performance targets for delivery by 2007-08. The current public service agreement does include a target for the conclusion and fulfilment of Service Level Agreements for all prohibitions and restrictions. A Service Level Agreement has been concluded for firearms and a process is in place for assessing the extent to which HM Revenue and Customs has fulfilled its responsibilities.
Former Civil Servants (Consultants)
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 9 October 2006, Official Report, column 267W, on former civil servants (consultants), how many civil servants in his Department have sought advice on the Business Appointment Rules when leaving to join consultancy firms in each of the last two years. [99609]
John Healey: The Treasury complies with the Business Appointment Rules and issues guidance on the matter to staff. Comprehensive records are not centrally maintained relating to prospective future employers of staff leaving the Treasury.
Fraud
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the regulations to protect credit card holders from fraud. [99038]
Mr. McCartney [holding answer 2 November 2006]: I have been asked to reply.
Section 83 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes clear that a debtor would not generally be liable for the misuse of their credit facility by a third party and I am satisfied that this is an appropriate protection against credit card fraud. In addition, I know this is an issue the industry as a whole takes extremely seriously. In recent times significant anti-fraud initiatives such as chip and PIN and a Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit have been put in place as part of an on-going campaign to tackle payment fraud in all its forms.
Fuel Smuggling
David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many vehicles in Northern Ireland were detected illegally running on red diesel in the period between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006; [100267]
(2) what percentage of fuel smuggling related detections in Northern Ireland made between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 were made by (a) the Police Service Northern Ireland and (b) HM Revenue and Customs; [100271]
(3) how many vehicles were seized by the authorities in Northern Ireland between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 as a result of being used for smuggling cross border fuel; what the total amount of fuel seized from these vehicles was; how many arrests were made in such seizures; and how many convictions were secured as a result of these arrests. [100273]
John Healey: HMRC work with a number of different agencies to tackle fuel fraud, including the Police Service Northern Ireland, which has led to a 28 per cent. reduction in the non-UK duty paid market in Northern Ireland since the introduction of the Oils Strategy. Details of detections, vehicles seized, fuel seized and prosecutions for 2004-05 can be found in the Annual Report available on the HMRC website. Figures for 2005-06 will be published later this year. All operational data relate to HMRC only and not to any other agencies.
David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many and what percentage of HM Revenue and Customs staff in Northern Ireland are involved in oil-related anti-smuggling work; [100268]
(2) what percentage of (a) time and (b) resources of HM Revenue and Customs in Northern Ireland were allocated to tackling illegal fuel smuggling in the last period for which figures are available. [100270]
John Healey: In April 2005 there were 2,500 staff employed by HMRC in Northern Ireland, 159 of whom were working to tackle the illegal fuel trade. This equates to 6 per cent. of total HMRC resource in Northern Ireland and is used to tackle all forms of fuel fraud including smuggling. The staff employed by HMRC are deployed across a wide range of activities including over 20 different taxes and payments, protecting the UK’s frontier, and facilitating trade across those frontiers, fighting smuggling, terrorism, fraud and drugs as well as enforcing the national minimum wage and managing student loans.
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