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18 Dec 2006 : Column 1558W—continued
Public Expenditure
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what average public expenditure was per head in each region in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [109554]
John Healey:
Total identifiable expenditure on services by country and region per head, for 2000-01 to 2005-06 is given in Table 7.2 in Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2006 (Cm 6811). These regional spending statistics use the concept of identifiable spending where Government spending is allocated to the region or country that benefits from the spending.
Some spending cannot be allocated to a region or country as it is for the benefit of the UK as a whole (e.g. defence spending).
Red Box Website
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent on the (a) construction and (b) design of his Department’s Red Box website; and what funds were paid to Education Communications for its work on this website. [106540]
John Healey: Education Communications (EdComs) were contracted for design and construction costs of £107,391 for the Red Box website. It is not possible to break down the costs between design and construction.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the costs were of producing HM Revenue and Customs’ Red Box hard copy teaching pack, broken down by (a) the design of paper files, (b) video commissioning, scripting and other production costs, (c) copying and printing the paper files, (d) copying the video and (e) other costs. [106541]
John Healey: The costs of both the first and second edition of the Red Box publication total as follows:
(a) The design of paper files: £76,100
(b) Video commissioning, scripting and other production costs: £34,386
(c) Copying and printing the paper files: £61,820
(d) Copying the video: £7,800
(e) Other costs: £80,500
Red Diesel
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his plans are to introduce duty on red diesel; and at what rate duty will apply. [109770]
John Healey: Rebated gas oil, also known as “red diesel”, has been subject to duty since 1961. The current rate of duty is 7.69p per litre.
Retirement Age
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2006, Official Report, columns 189-90W, on the retirement age, what his Department’s policy is on the application of the national default retirement age to staff below the Senior Civil Service. [109541]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 13 December 2006, Official Report, column 1224W.
Secondments
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer from which private sector companies employees have been seconded to his Department in the last 12 months. [109493]
John Healey: Information regarding staff that are seconded to HMT is available on the HMT website:
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/about_secondee.cfm
Security and Counter-terrorism
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the total cost of his Department’s review of security and counter-terrorism across Government; [109187]
(2) how many officials from his Department have been appointed to liaise with the Home Office review of the UK’s counter-terrorism capacity, broken down by grade; [109188]
(3) how many officials from his Department are employed in his Department’s review of security and counter-terrorism across Government; and how many officials have been seconded to the review from other government departments, broken down by department; [109189]
(4) which (a) official and (b) Minister is leading his Department’s review of security and counter-terrorism across Government; [109190]
(5) whether his Department’s review of security and counter-terrorism across Government is considering (a) plans for ensuring essential supplies and services in the event of an emergency and (b) policy on protective and other security measures to counter the threat of terrorism in the United Kingdom and to British interests overseas. [109191]
Mr. Timms: The CSR review of the delivery of the Government’s counter-terrorism and security strategy was announced in July 2006. The review will report to me, as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
The Treasury review is currently led by a full-time senior civil servant, supported by four other Treasury officials on a part-time basis. The team is supplemented by two secondees, one from Cabinet Office and one from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The net additional staff cost to the Treasury of this review is estimated at around £30,000.
The Home Secretary led a more immediate review on behalf of the Prime Minister into the UK’s response to the threat from terrorism. I and other members of the Treasury’s review team supported that review alongside other Ministers and officials from the relevant departments, agencies and police service.
Protective and security measures and preparation for resilience are a core part of the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy, and as such are included within the policy and delivery areas that have been reviewed.
Tax Credits
Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will expedite the investigation into alleged overpayment of tax credits to Mrs. Dawn Ellison of St. Albans. [104964]
Dawn Primarolo: HMRC have no record of a tax credits claim from anyone of that name. However, I have asked HMRC to write to the hon. Member about the claim of a person with a similar name which matched the National Insurance Number the hon. Member has provided.
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the written ministerial statement made by the Paymaster General on 6 December 2006, Official Report, columns 14-15WS, on tax credits, what assessment he has made of the staffing implications of introducing an enhanced manual process to identify cases where a restriction is appropriate. [108785]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs constantly reviews its staffing needs.
For this specific issue, HM Revenue and Customs estimate that the staff resources to operate the enhanced manual process to April 2007 equate to around 55 FTE annualised across a whole year.
Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 5 December 2006, Official Report, column 405W, on tax credits, whether recorded calls have been used to resolve investigations of overpayment of tax credit. [108980]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to HMRC’s Code of Practice 26 “What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit?”
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the functional literacy rates of those claiming tax credits; what provision is made for services for these clients; and if he will make a statement. [109146]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available. HMRC is committed to providing support to all claimants. It provides a wide range of guidance on its website, and help through its contact centres and, if necessary, through face to face contact in its network of inquiry centres.
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many cases tax credit has been found to have been overpaid to individuals in Na h-Eileanan an Iar in each of the last three financial years; and in how many of these cases the overpayment has been contested by the claimant. [109252]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the number of overpaid awards at constituency level in 2003-04 and 2004-05 are published in “Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Awards 2003-04. Supplement on Payments in 2003-04. Geographical Analysis” and “Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Awards 2004-05. Supplements on Payments in 2004-05. Geographical Analysis” respectively. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
Estimates of the numbers of overpaid and underpaid 2005-06 awards at 3 April 2006 will not be published until spring 2007, after families have provided details of their circumstances and final incomes for 2005-06.
Information on the number of claimants disputing an overpayment is not available at constituency level.
Mr. Hayes:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total tax credit overpayments has been; what
the total value of the overpayments is; and how much of the overpayments has been written off. [109562]
Dawn Primarolo: The number and value of overpaid awards in 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. Supplements on Payments in 2004-05.” These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
Estimates of the numbers of overpaid and underpaid 2005-06 awards at 3 April 2006 will not be published until spring 2007, after families have provided details of their circumstances and final incomes for 2005-06.
The amount of overpayments written off up to5 April 2006 is shown in note 8.2 of the Trust Statement to the HM Revenue and Customs 2005-06 Accounts, which is also available on the HMRC website at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/reports.htm.
Tax Office Closure Programme
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what training courses have been specified by his Department for staff seeking retraining in preparation for the tax office closure plan; if he will consider including additional courses in the list; and if he will make a statement. [109170]
Dawn Primarolo: HMRC do not have a tax office closure plan.
HMRC provides a wide range of training courses for its staff depending on their skill needs. Where HMRC redeploys staff to other business units within its operations the necessary retraining is provided to ensure they can undertake their new roles. HMRC's training courses are regularly reviewed.
Terrorist Finance
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) advice was offered on issues relating to terrorist finance by the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit and (b) discussions were held on terrorists' exploitation of financial systems during the seminar held in April as cited on his Department's website. [110231]
Ed Balls: The Treasury participated in a confidential operational debrief by the NTFIU with financial institutions in April. In May this year, the Money Laundering Advisory Committee met to consider how Government and industry could work more closely together to combat terrorist finance and agreed to encourage greater information sharing on emerging threats.
Treasury Directors
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who the (a) directors and (b) managing directors are in HM Treasury; and which (i) have their own private office and (ii) sit in open plan areas. [109991]
John Healey: The Treasury's managing directors and directors are listed in the departmental report (Cm. 6830, May 2006). The Permanent Secretary and Second Permanent Secretary have private offices and both sit in open plan areas.
Trident Successor
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consultations his Department has had with the Ministry of Defence on the projected costs of (a) missiles and (b) strategic weapons systems equipment for a successor missile system to Trident on the basis of a fleet of four submarines. [109954]
Mr. Timms: Treasury Ministers and officials discuss a wide range of issues with their counterparts in the Ministry of Defence and other departments on a regular basis as part of the process of policy analysis, development and delivery.
VAT: Educational Bodies
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much VAT was reclaimed by public sector educational bodies in each of the last five years. [109776]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs does not collect information at this level of detail.
Voluntary Organisations
Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer from which charitable organisation his Department has seconded a member of staff; and what position that person holds in the Department. [104778]
John Healey [holding answer 5 December 2006]: The Treasury seconded a member of staff from the charitable organisation the Institute of Public Policy Research in June 2005. The member of staff currently works on productivity issues.
Prime Minister
Children's Pack
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the 10 Downing Street Children's Pack; and what the cost was per pack in 2005-06. [109556]
The Prime Minister: I have placed a copy of the children's booklet: “No. 10—A Guide to 10 Downing Street” in the Library of the House. There was no cost for this booklet in 2005-06.
Compensation Payments
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Prime Minister how much was paid in compensation payments by his Office in 2005-06; and what the reason was for each payment. [108206]
The Prime Minister: For these purposes my Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office today.
DHL
Anne Milton: To ask the Prime Minister how much his Office paid to DHL in each financial year between 1997-98 and 2005-06. [104173]
The Prime Minister: For these purposes my Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her by my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster, North (Edward Miliband), the Parliamentary Secretary Cabinet Office today.
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