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7 Nov 2006 : Column 1027W—continued
Guardian's Allowance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the cost of the guardian's allowance; and if he will make a statement. [99748]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Putney (Justine Greening) on 10 October 2006, Official Report, column 725W.
HM Revenue and Customs
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost was of the HM Revenue and Customs corporate and social responsibility conference of 24 October 2006. [99350]
Dawn Primarolo: HMRC's Corporate Responsibility Summit of 24 October brought together 100 business leaders from across the public, private and voluntary sectors to discuss what is needed to generate greater cross-sector collaboration and sustainable social change.
The costs incurred total £7,393.02 for printing, catering, photography and administration charges.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2006, Official Report, column 540W, on HM Revenue and Customs staff, if he will express the data in terms of full-time equivalent staff; and if he will make a statement. [100243]
Dawn Primarolo: The figures in my earlier answer related to full-time equivalent staff.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2006, Official Report, column 540W, on HM Revenue and Customs staff, if he will list the prohibitions and restrictions contained in the category ‘Other P and R's'; and if he will make a statement. [100244]
Dawn Primarolo: The summary list of HM Revenue and Customs’ prohibition and restriction responsibilities contained in the category Other P and R’s, from my Answer of 1 November 2006, Official Report, column 540W, on HM Revenue and Customs staff, are:
Ammonium nitrate
Animal furs
Animal pathogens
Chemicals: prior informed consent and persistent organic pollutants
Chemical weapons, chemicals and precursors
Cultural goods
Dangerous substances
Endangered species covered by CITES
Explosives
Firearms
Fireworks
Fruit and vegetable quality controls
Hops
Human pathogens
Indecent and obscene material
Intellectual property rights
Kimberley diamonds
Medicines: trade diversion
Offensive weapons
Ozone depleting substances
Patagonian toothfish and tuna controls
Plant products including forestry/wood packaging
Prison made goods
Products of animal origin (regulatory controls)
Radioactive materials
Radio transmitters
Sanctions and arms embargoes
Strategic goods
Trans-frontier shipment of waste
Unsafe products
Tim Farron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when decisions are expected to be made about the long-term future of the HM Revenue and Customs office in Kendal; who will make those decisions; and what options are being considered. [99547]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 6 November 2006]: HM Revenue and Customs is currently reviewing its operational and accommodation requirements. A full consultation process will be undertaken before any final decisions are made.
Home Computer Initiative
David Lepper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress his Department has made with the Confederation of British Industry in developing a scheme to replace the home computer initiative; and if he will make a statement. [100017]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government are undertaking specific and targeted fiscal interventions to address its digital inclusion strategy. These interventions include:
£50 million over the next two years (2006-07 and 2007-08) for schools to invest in home access to ICT for their students;
a further £10 million (£5 million/£5 million) to provide Internet connectivity to the home access network;
and in SR2004 period we are spending £25 million on UK online centres. There are now over 6,000 online centres in the UK, over half of which are located in the 2,000 most deprived wards in England. So 95 per cent. of the population live within 5 kilometres of one.
More broadly, the Government's policies of competition and liberalisation, underpinned by an effective regulatory regime, have led to greater choice and lower prices for consumers and have led to a situation where over 99 per cent. of the UK have access to broadband. The number of broadband connections has doubled in the past two years to over 10 million and is continuing to grow rapidly.
Income Statistics
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the median income in real terms was in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) Wales, (d) Scotland and (e) Northern Ireland for each year since 1992. [100109]
Dawn Primarolo: The information on median income of taxpayers in 2005-06 prices for 1996-97 to 2003-04 is given in the following table.
| £ | |||||
| UK | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
Figures are obtained from the Survey of Personal Incomes of which 2003-04 is the latest available.
Geographical level information is unavailable prior to 1996-97 due to small sample sizes.
Estimates may be subject to sampling error due to year-on-year sampling variation in the survey. Estimates for later years should be more accurate and subject to less sampling variation, due to the sample size of the survey increasing from around 75,000 in 1996-97 to over 400,000 by 2002-03.
Similar information including non-taxpayers is unavailable.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the real income for (a) men, (b) women and (c) in total was for the (i) lowest, (ii) median and (iii) highest decile in each year since 1992. [100110]
Dawn Primarolo: Available information for taxpayers with incomes at the median and lowest and highest deciles is available on HM Revenue and Customs’ website in table 3.1 “Percentile points for total income before and after tax, 1990-91 to 2003-04” at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu-by-year.htm#31.
Similar information including non-taxpayers is not available.
Income Tax
Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people on (a) half average and (b) half median income have paid income tax in each of the last 15 years. [80068]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the number of taxpayers for the period 1996-97 to 2004-05 with total income at or below half of the mean and median are in the table.
| Half of mean income (£) | Taxpayers with total income at or below half of the mean annual income (million) | Half of median income (£) | Taxpayers with total income at or below half of the mean annual income (million) | |
These estimates are based on the number of people facing tax liabilities. The 1996-97 to 2003-04 above estimates of taxpayers are based upon the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI) and the 2004-05 figures are based upon the 2003-04 SPI projected forward to 2004-05 in line with Budget 2006 assumptions. Estimates of half of mean and median income are at individual level and have been derived from the Family Resource Survey.
Some families have their tax liabilities offset by tax credits. Estimates based on the 2003-04 Family Resource Survey (FRS) show that there were:
around 3.8 million taxpaying families with income at or below half the mean. Of these, around 0.4 million families were entitled to more tax credits than their income tax liabilities;
and around 1.4 million taxpaying families with income at or below half the median. Of these, around 0.2 million families were entitled to more tax credits than their income tax liabilities.
Caution should be exercised in drawing trends from these figures because sample estimates can demonstrate a large variability from year to year and the definitions of income from the two surveys are not necessarily the same.
Similar information for other years is not available.
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