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29 Nov 2006 : Column 725W—continued
Inheritance Tax
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the threshold for inheritance tax was in each of the last 10 financial years. [103758]
Dawn Primarolo: The thresholds for inheritance tax in each of the last 10 financial years are given in Table A.8 of HMRC National Statistics, available from the HMRC website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/inheritance_tax/appendix__a8.pdf.
At Budget 2006 the Chancellor pre-announced more than expected statutory indexation increases in the threshold for all tax years up to 2009-10, when the threshold will be £325,000.
Landfill Tax
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the proportion of landfill tax revenue that comes from (a) local authorities and (b) their agents. [104078]
John Healey: Reliable estimates are not available for the proportion of landfill tax revenue from local authorities and their agents. Registered landfill site operators pay the tax to HM Revenue and Customs and information on the source of the waste and the customer is not recorded on the landfill tax return.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of landfill tax was in each year since 1997; what the landfill tax take was in each year; and what estimate he has made of revenue in the next two financial years. [104317]
John Healey: Information on revenue and rates for landfill tax can be found in Table 2 and Table 3 of the HM Revenue and Customs ‘Landfill Tax Levy Bulletin’ on the HM Revenue and Customs website:
http://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=landfill
The revenue projection for 2006-07 can be found in Table C8 of the HM Treasury Financial Statistics and Budget Report published in March 2006. A revised estimate and projection for 2007-08 will be available in the upcoming pre-Budget Report.
Low Value Consignment Relief
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Paymaster General expects to make a decision on whether to alter the operation of low value consignment relief; and if he will make a statement. [105834]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 28 November 2006]: As set out in para 5.107 of the FSBR, published in March 2006, the Government are keeping the operation of the low value consignment relief under review.
Migration
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes have been made to the Office for National Statistics’ estimates of the absolute level of anticipated yearly net inward migration into (a) England and (b) the United Kingdom in each year since 1997. [104310]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 29 November 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question asking what changes have been made to the Office for National Statistics’ estimates of the absolute level of anticipated yearly net inward migration into (a) England and (b) the United Kingdom in each year since 1997. (104310)
National population projections were formerly the responsibility of the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD). In January 2006, this responsibility transferred to the Office for National Statistics. A comprehensive database of past national projections, as well as the current 2004-based set published in October 2005, is provided on the GAD website at:
http://www.gad.gov.uk/Population/index.asp.
The migration assumptions requested are available from this database.
Ministerial Travel
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Government Car Service has ordered a Toyota Prius for use by him in the last 12 months. [103567]
John Healey: The Government Car and Despatch Agency has not ordered any vehicle in the last 12 months to replace the 2002 Vauxhall Omega which it makes available to the Chancellor. This vehicle is in good condition and it would be inappropriate on cost and environmental grounds for it to be replaced or scrapped now.
Ministerial Visits
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many overseas visits were undertaken by (a) the Paymaster General, (b) the Financial Secretary and (c) the Economic Secretary in each of the last three years; and what the (i) destination, (ii) purpose, (iii) number of officials accompanying the Minister and (iv) total cost was for each visit; [103588]
(2) what the purpose was of the visit by the Economic Secretary to the United Arab Emirates on 9 November; what meetings he held; how many staff accompanied him; and what the total cost of the visit was. [103589]
John Healey: All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the “Ministerial Code” and “Travel by Ministers”, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House. Since 1999, the Government have published on an annual basis the total cost of overseas travel by all Ministers.
Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he last visited a tax credit (a) contact centre, (b) office and (c) IT development office. [104246]
Dawn Primarolo: I opened the new contact centre for handling tax credits enquiries at Queen's Dock, Liverpool and then visited the Tax Credit Office at Imperial Court on 19 October 2006.
Muslim Council of Britain
Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list meetings between (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department and representatives of the Muslim Council of Britain since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [103184]
John Healey: Treasury Ministers and officials meet a wide range of individuals and organisations in the public and private sectors to discuss a variety of issues as part of the process of policy analysis and development. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's normal practice to provide details of all such meetings.
National Identity Register
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which datasets held by his Department have been identified as suitable for use in the National Identity Register database. [103214]
Mr. Timms: No datasets held by the Chancellor's Departments have been identified as suitable for use in the National Identity Register database. The National Identity Register database will only hold identity-related information. Section 9 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 provides for the Home Secretary to request information from departmental systems for validating the register. Any order under this section must be approved in draft by a resolution of each House.
National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent by the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre in the 2005-06 financial year, broken down by main budget heading. [103524]
Mr. McNulty: I have been asked to reply.
Overall, NISCC spent £10 million during the financial year 2005-06. Its four main business streams are: threat assessment; outreach; response; and capability development. It is difficult to provide a meaningful further breakdown of costs as all of these work streams are highly interdependent, with activity in one area contributing to outputs in another.
National Insurance
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the merits of refunding those who have made voluntary national insurance contributions and who will have accrued the maximum pension benefit that they can if the White Paper proposals are implemented. [103797]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given by the Economic Secretary to the hon. Member for Vale of York (Miss McIntosh) on 24 October 2006, Official Report, column 1837W.
Orphan Assets
Harry Cohen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government’s position is on the distribution of orphan assets in the private sector; and if he will make a statement. [105958]
Ed Balls: The Financial Services Authority has introduced rules to ensure policyholders are treated fairly in any reattribution of a life insurance company’s inherited estate or orphan assets. This includes requiring the appointment of an independent policyholder advocate to represent policyholders’ interests.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library copies of HM Treasury internal guidance documents on (a) answering parliamentary questions for written answer and (b) responses to Freedom of Information requests. [103545]
John Healey: The documents concerned have been placed in the Library. Both sets of guidance are in the process of being updated, in the case of parliamentary questions to take account of recent changes in parliamentary procedure and in respect of freedom of information to reflect the Treasury’s experience since January 2005 in implementing the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Mr. Francois: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department uses an internal traffic light or colour-coded system in relation to written parliamentary questions; and whether his Department operates any system of classification of written parliamentary questions according to (a) political sensitivity, (b) media interest and (c) other factors. [103564]
Mr. Laws: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has a traffic light system in place for processing parliamentary questions, where questions are categorised using a colour code. [103162]
John Healey: The Treasury has neither a traffic light nor a colour-coded system for classifying parliamentary questions and it has never categorised questions according to their political sensitivity, media interest or other factors.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many written parliamentary questions his Department received in each parliamentary Session since 2001; how many were not answered because of disproportionate costs; how many answers referred back to a previous answer (a) asked by the same hon. Member and (b) asked by another hon. Member; and how many were not substantively answered in each session. [103974]
John Healey: The number of written questions received in each of the last six parliamentary Sessions and the number of questions not answered substantively at prorogation are given in the table:
| Session | Written questions | Not answered substantively |
Information is not available relating to questions which could not be answered wholly or in part on disproportionate cost grounds and to referrals back to previous answers.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many written parliamentary questions to his Department were grouped together for answer in each parliamentary Session since 2001; [103976]
(2) how many written parliamentary questions each Minister in his Department has answered in each parliamentary Session since 2001; and how many were answered (a) within seven days, (b) within 14 days, (c) within 28 days and (d) after 28 days, broken down by Minister. [103977]
John Healey: The information requested relating to answers which were grouped and to answers given by particular Ministers is a matter of public record. The analyses sought of time-lags between the tabling and answering of questions could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Pensions
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of national insurance contributions in respect of state second pension accruals, based upon the Pensions White Paper proposals, for each year between 2006 and 2052. [103667]
Dawn Primarolo: Class 1 national insurance contributions build up entitlement to both the basic pension and the state second pension. Contributions are not levied separately in respect of the latter.
Premium Bonds
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many premium bonds were (a) bought, (b) held and (c) cashed in in each year since 1997. [103948]
Ed Balls: The number of premium bonds which were bought, held, and cashed in in each year since 1997 is shown in the following table:
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