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26 Feb 2007 : Column 1087W—continued

PFI

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will make a statement on the Financial Reporting Advisory Board's position on moving off-balance sheet private finance initiative projects onto balance sheet; [123338]


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(2) when the Financial Reporting Advisory Board's report on private finance initiative accounting will be published; [123339]

(3) what recommendations the Financial Reporting Advisory Board has made regarding Technical Note 1 of the Treasury's Accounting Guidance; [123346]

(4) if he will make a statement on the Financial Reporting Advisory Board's position on the Government's estimate of its liabilities, including under the private finance initiative. [123351]

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board's meeting with Treasury representatives on Monday 13 February 2007. [123096]

Mr. Timms: I refer to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 23 February 2007, Official Report, column 981W.

Public Expenditure

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which price indices he uses for determining annual uprating of public spending; and what the reasons are for each one's use for that purpose. [122308]

Mr. Timms: There is no general uprating of public expenditure. Specific parts of public expenditure (e.g. state pensions) are uprated as specified in relevant legislation.

GDP deflators are used to allow for inflation when comparing public spending across years in real terms. The figures and background information on the GDP deflators are available on HM Treasury's public website:

Revenue and Customs

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average time taken to process an HM Revenue and Customs 64-8 agent's authorisation form was in the last period for which figures are available. [122254]

Dawn Primarolo: The target for processing 64-8s is 15 days. Across January and February 2007 the average time taken to process paper 64-8 forms was 3.77 days. Online 64-8s are automatically registered on SA and COTAX and, over the same period, the average time to register on the remaining HMRC systems was 9.78 days.

Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he last reviewed the wording of HM Revenue and Customs' standard letter SA251; and for what reasons HM Revenue and Customs sends such letters to individuals from whom it also requires a tax return. [123276]

Dawn Primarolo: The SA251 letter was first issued in April 2004 when the criteria for including taxpayers within the self assessment system were revised. It is
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issued to people who are being taken out of self assessment to tell them that they no longer need to complete a tax return and what they need to do in the future should their circumstances change.

The wording of the letter was last changed in October 2004. Since then an explanatory leaflet has also been issued with the letter. The detailed criteria are set out on the reverse of the letter. They are reviewed annually.

Revenue and Customs: Manpower

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the projections for staff members in each HM Revenue and Customs office until 2010; how many of the offices he expects to have the minimum staff number during this period; and if he will make a statement. [122398]

Dawn Primarolo: Assuming that the hon. Gentleman’s question relates to the table of projected staff numbers by location published on HMRC’s website (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/offices/index.htm), the figures give an initial indication only of HMRC’s restructuring proposals and the projections are rounded. It is too early in the planning and consultation process to say what final staffing figures will be in 2010 in any specific office.

Smuggling: Tobacco

Mr. Breed: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether he expects to make an announcement on the introduction of a technological innovation in tackling the smuggling and counterfeiting of tobacco products in the United Kingdom in the 2007 Budget; [121821]

(2) whether he expects a technological innovation in tackling smuggling and counterfeiting of tobacco products in the United Kingdom to be based on a voluntary agreement with the tobacco industry or introduced by legislation. [121822]

John Healey: HM Revenue and Customs have been working closely with the tobacco manufacturing industry and identified a range of options that could be introduced for tobacco products intended for sale in the UK duty paid market.

However, a number of factors need to be considered to determine the most appropriate option, and how any technological solution could be introduced. The Chancellor takes all relevant factors, including market trends, into consideration when taking decisions at Budget.

Taxation

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many HM Revenue and Customs inquiries into 2004-05 tax returns have been started in each month. [122258]

Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs does not keep a record of inquiries taken up by tax return year. Most enquiries into 2004-05 tax returns would have commenced during the 2005-06 tax year. The
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monthly figures for inquiries started on the tax returns of self-employed taxpayers and individuals are as follows:

Number

2005

April

13,063

May

13,083

June

12,214

July

14,743

August

12,025

September

16,318

October

13,999

November

15,289

December

18,008

2006

January

25,031

February

5,082

March

5,623


Taxation: Channel Islands

Kate Hoey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue lost to the Treasury as a result of (a) the value added tax exemptions available to businesses based in the Channel Islands supplying unlicensed medicines to UK mainland consumers and (b) the ability of such businesses to avoid UK corporation taxes. [122306]

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is as follows:

Taxation: EC Countries

Mr. Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has identified any proposals for tax harmonisation in Europe, as referred to on page six of Prospects for the EU in 2007, Cm 7024, which would not harm UK interests. [123521]

Dawn Primarolo: Article 93 of the EC Treaty states that the Council shall adopt provisions for the harmonisation of indirect taxation, only to the extent that such harmonisation is necessary to ensure the establishment and functioning of the Internal Market. The Government assess all indirect tax proposals against this test and the impact of the proposal on the UK and publishes its assessment in the Explanatory Memoranda submitted to the Scrutiny Committees. The Government consider that the proposals that make up the VAT Package (changes to the place of supply of services, the one-stop scheme and reform of the 8(th) VAT Directive on cross-border refunds) would be in the interests of the UK.

The Commission tabled a proposal on 30 December 2003 for an amendment to the Council Directive on the Common System of Taxation Applicable to Interest and Royalty Payments made between Associated Companies of Different Member States (the “Interest
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and Royalties Directive”) (2003/49/EC). The Government have no objection to this targeted measure.

The Commission has, in addition, tabled a recast of Council Directive 69/335/EEC of 17 July 1969 which regulates the levying of indirect taxes on the raising of capital. This proposal contains no changes of substance which impact on UK law and therefore has no material policy implications for the UK.

Welfare Tax Credits

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people received each tax credit administered by his Department for each year since 1997-98; and what estimate he has made of the number of such people in 2007-08. [121842]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 8 June 2006, Official Report, column 862W.

Mike Wood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to make correspondence and award notices simpler and clearer for tax credit claimants. [121861]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 7 November 2006, Official Report, columns 1044-45W.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of uprating tax credit awards for six months with no income disregard; and if he will make a statement. [121897]

Dawn Primarolo: The uprating of tax credit elements is done on an annual basis. After the end of each financial year, provisional awards are based on the uprated elements for the new financial year.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the financial effect on the Exchequer of introducing tax credit awards which are fixed for periods of six months; what changes in administrative costs would result from such a reform; and if he will make a statement. [122399]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer to the answer I gave the hon. Gentlemen on 19 July 2005, Official Report, columns 1698-99; and on 14 June 2006, Official Report, column 1273.

Health

“Your Health, Your Care, Your Say”

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of the “Your Health, Your Care, Your Say” consultation process; and how much was spent on consultants. [117116]

Andy Burnham: The cost of the nationally organised elements of the “Your Health, Your Care, Your Say” listening exercise was £1.39 million, which was funded
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from the Department’s running costs budget. The main component was £1.05 million paid to Opinion Leader Research to deliver a major research programme, which included the costs of a series of regional deliberative events and a national citizens’ summit attended by nearly 1,000 members of the public. OLR’s costs were incurred in the delivery of a service, rather than the provision of consultancy.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 910W, to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on accident and emergency departments, at which 12 trusts there are no plans to consult on changes to services. [121785]

Andy Burnham: The national health service has told us that there are no plans to consult on changes to accident and emergency (A and E) facilities in the following 12 trusts:

Air Ambulance Services: Hampshire

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what agreements remain to be put in place before the Hampshire Air Ambulance Service can be implemented; and if she will make a statement. [122706]

Andy Burnham: The establishment of an air ambulance service is a local matter, with services provided by charities and funded through public donations and corporate sponsorship, and with clinical costs met by the national health service. Information on what agreements remain to be put in place before the Hampshire Air Ambulance Service can be implemented is not collected or held centrally.

Artwork Purchases

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much each NHS trust spent on purchasing artwork in each of the last 10 years. [115573]

Andy Burnham: This information is not available centrally in the form requested. Returns have been collected from trusts on a voluntary basis since 2004-05 on overall expenditure on arts and arts projects. However this cannot be disaggregated in a way which enables expenditure on the purchase of artwork to be identified, and we intend to discontinue the collection of information on this issue.


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Blood

David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether her assessment of NHS Blood and Transport's strategic outline case for the consolidation of blood production facilities at three sites will include an evaluation of the costs and risks associated with training new staff to replace experienced staff who will not relocate to the proposed sites. [123204]

Caroline Flint: The strategic outline case for the reconfiguration of blood production facilities is currently being developed. The National Blood Service (NBS) is already building a new blood centre in Filton (Bristol) to carry out blood processing and testing for Birmingham and the south west area.

The NBS has established a group comprising of senior managers and staffside representatives to discuss the implications and implementation of the changes. The NBS expects to manage many of the post reductions through natural turnover and minimise the impact on staff.

The NBS is currently undertaking detailed workforce planning, which will include a thorough analysis of training and development requirements. This will ensure that the NBS is in a position to staff new or expanded centres with a high-calibre workforce.


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