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26 Feb 2007 : Column 1082W—continued

Websites: Regulation

Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Government plan to increase the regulation of websites based in the UK. [111260]

Margaret Hodge: I have been asked to reply.

I refer to the answer of 2 February 2006, Official Report, column 599W, given by the Minister of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality. At the national level, there are no plans to increase regulation in this area. Creation and use of websites is not a regulated activity. However, arrangements are in place under the Electronic Commerce Regulations to enable internet service providers in the UK to take down
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inappropriate content when they are notified of its existence. Activities conducted through websites are subject to the general law in the same way as any other offline activity.

All published material including violent pornography, is subject to the Obscene Publication Act 1959, which makes illegal the publication of an article whose effect, taken as a whole, is to tend to deprave and corrupt those likely to read, see or hear it. Responsibility for the prevention of the physical importation of obscene material lies with HM Revenue and Customs under the terms of the Customs Consolidation Act 1876 and section 170(2) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.

The Obscene Publication Act applies equally to material published over the internet, though the overwhelming majority of obscene material published on the internet originates abroad and beyond our jurisdiction. This raises a challenge to our controls on obscene material. The Government are therefore proposing to make illegal the possession of a limited category of extreme pornographic material in measures to be introduced in the forthcoming Criminal Justice Bill.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) supported by the UK industry and the European Union works to minimise the availability of illegal internet content, particularly child abuse images, by means of a telephone hotline to report incidences of potentially illegal content on websites. Reports are passed on to the relevant authorities for action. Since 1996 the amount of potentially illegal content hosted in the UK has declined from 18 per cent. to less than 1 per cent. The work of the IWF is an example of responsible self-regulation by the UK internet industry.

Treasury

Child Benefit

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the cost of raising child benefit for all children to the rate of the youngest child; and what estimate he has made of the number of children this would lift out of poverty. [121844]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 25 October 2006, Official Report, column 1942W.

Child Benefit: Disabled

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make an estimate of the annual cost of increasing child benefit for each disabled child by £5 per week; what estimate he has made of the number of children who would be removed from relative poverty under such a policy; and if he will make a statement. [121744]

Dawn Primarolo: The cost in 2006-07 of raising the value of child benefit by £5 per week for all disabled children is around £100 million.

It is not possible to provide reliable estimates of the possible impacts on child poverty of increasing child benefit for disabled children using existing HMT/HMRC tax and benefit models.


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Child Care Tax Credit

Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the ratio is of child care tax credit payments to full child care costs (a) in each region, including London, and (b) in West Ham constituency. [122958]

Dawn Primarolo: The child care element of working tax credit is available to lone parents working for at least 16 hours per week and to couples where both adults work for at least 16 hours per week. These families can receive up to 80 per cent. of their reported eligible child care costs.

As not all families report their full child care costs, we do not know what the ratio is of child care tax credit payments to full child care costs.

Correspondence

Mr. Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to reply to the letter of 22 November 2006, from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford (Ref. 2006/11 008756), on Dr. Kent; what the reasons are for the time taken to reply; and if he will make a statement. [122283]

Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs very much regrets the delay and replied to the hon. Member's letter on 21 February 2007.

Data Protection

Mr. Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons the report of the review performed in August 1999 by Messrs. Attwood (International Division) and Bishop (Large Business Office) of his Department of Mr. Gerard Churchhouse’s contribution to the transfer pricing review of IBM has not been disclosed to Mr. Churchhouse under his Data Protection Subject Access Request (SAR 2090/06) of March 2006. [122714]

Dawn Primarolo: The Data Protection Act 1998 confers the right of access on data subjects but this is subject to certain exemptions. HM Revenue and Customs, in common with other data controllers is entitled to apply these exemptions where permitted. There is no requirement for data controllers to disclose which, if any, exemptions have been applied and it is not departmental policy to do so.

Departments: Complaints

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many complaints were received by his Department and its executive agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2001-02, (c) 2005-06 and (d) 2006-07 to date; [121677]

(2) how many independent bodies existed to hear appeals on decisions made by the Department and executive agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2001-02, (c) 2005-06 and (d) 2006-07 to date; [121678]

(3) how many staff worked in dedicated complaints units in the Department and executive agencies in (a) 1997-98, (b) 2001-02, (c) 2005-06 and (d) 2006-07 to date. [121679]


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John Healey: The Treasury and its associated bodies have recognised complaints handling procedures in line with the Civil Service Code. Information is not held centrally on complaints received and on staff working directly on complaints handling.

Departments: Retirement

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employees from his Department were asked to retire upon reaching 65 years of age as a result of the Department's mandatory retirement policy in each year since 1997. [121739]

John Healey: None to date.

Departments: Theft

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what items valued at above £100 were reported as stolen from his Department’s buildings or premises in the last 12 months. [121972]

John Healey: One laptop was reported as stolen in the period.

Export Controls: Weapons

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many breaches of the arms exports controls were reported in each of the last five years; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which this figure accurately reflects the actual number of breaches that took place. [122609]

Dawn Primarolo: HMRC calculate breaches of the arms export controls as the total number of:

Financial Year HMRC seizures Referrals from the DTI Total number of breaches

2001-02

80

27

107

2002-03

67

21

88

2003-04

63

31

94

2004-05

37

28

65

2005-06

34

42

76


HMRC assess that the majority of UK exporters comply with the export control legislation.

John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people were prosecuted for breaches of arms exports controls in each of the last five years. [122610]

Dawn Primarolo: Since 1 April 2001 there have been a total of seven prosecutions for breaches of arms export controls. Three individuals and four Limited companies have been prosecuted for breaches of arms export controls. There was one prosecution in each of the financial years 2001-02, 2003-04, and 2004-05. Two
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prosecutions took place in 2005-06 and two so far in the current financial year. All seven prosecutions have resulted in convictions.

Gift Aid

Mr. David Hamilton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what steps he has taken to increase the number of charitable donations using the Gift Aid scheme; [122756]

(2) what the total contribution of the Government to charities through the Gift Aid scheme was in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many people gave to charity through the scheme in each year. [122757]

Dawn Primarolo: In 2000 the Government made substantial improvements to the Gift Aid scheme as part of a wider package of measures to make the tax system simpler for charities and their donors and to encourage greater charitable giving. This included the abolition of the minimum limit on donations that qualify for Gift Aid, a simpler declaration procedure, and the ability to make oral declarations. Since 2000 the Government have made a number of additional improvements to the scheme to increase its flexibility and remove barriers to giving.

Donations using Gift Aid have increased from £905 million in 1999-2000 to £3.4 billion in 2005-06. The amount of Gift Aid tax relief paid to charities has increased from £208 million in 1999-2000 to £750 million in 2005-06.

HMRC does not collate figures for the total number of people giving using Gift Aid but sector estimates for 2004-05 suggest that around 10 million UK adults use Gift Aid for one or more of their donations in an average month.

Details of charitable donations and Gift Aid relief are available to the public on the HMRC website at:

Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what work was carried out by the Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre since 2004; [122255]

(2) what the cost was to the UK of its share of the Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre in each year since 2004. [122256]

Dawn Primarolo: The Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre (JITSIC) was set up in 2004 by the tax administrations of Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States to help participants identify and curb abusive tax schemes and identify those promoting them.

Member countries have specialists in the JITSIC office in Washington DC who share expertise and experiences, and analyse a wide range of tax shelters and schemes with co-ordinated, real time exchanges of information.

HMRC's share of JITSIC running costs from 2004 has been as follows:


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£

2004-05

214,000

2005-06

234,000

2006-07

(1)261,000

(1) January year to date

Minimum Wage

Mr. Touhig: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many enforcement notices were issued by HM Revenue and Customs inspectors to employers for failure to pay the national minimum wage in the last 12 months. [122717]

Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs compliance officers issued 81 enforcement notices in 2005-06 and have issued 60 enforcement notices in 2006-07 up to the end of January 2007.

Minimum Wage: Advisory Services

Mr. Touhig: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many calls were logged with the National Minimum Wage helpline in each of the past five years. [122713]

Dawn Primarolo: The numbers of inquiries received at the National Minimum Wage Helpline are as follows:

Number

2002-03

53,676

2003-04

53,226

2004-05

57,733

2005-06

61,355

2006-07

42,808


PAYE

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many taxpayers had (a) negative Pay As You Earn (PAYE) K codes and (b) negative PAYE K codes in addition to payments on account in (i) 2003-04, (ii) 2004-05 and (iii) 2005-06; [122259]

(2) what the average overpayment or underpayment of taxpayers with negative Pay As You Earn K codes as well as payments on account was in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06; [122260]

(3) whether HM Revenue and Customs correspondingly reduced any requests for payments on account when calculating negative Pay As You Earn K codes in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06. [122261]

Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold this information.


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