House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 26 Apr 2007 (pt 0029)

26 Apr 2007 : Column 1318W—continued

Revenue and Customs: Serious Organised Crime Agency

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what studies have been made of the feasibility of transferring HM Revenue and Customs’ criminal investigative function to the Serious Organised Crime Agency. [133751]

John Healey: There have been no studies undertaken into the feasibility of transferring HM Revenue and Customs’ criminal investigative function to the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Smuggling

Mark Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what resources HM Revenue and Customs plans to allocate for making seizures of prohibited and restricted items at UK ports in each of the next five years. [133392]

John Healey: Information is not available in the format requested as HM Revenue and Customs does not specifically allocate resources to making seizures of prohibited and restricted goods. HMRC resources allocated to anti-smuggling work are multi-functional and are deployed flexibly against priorities that are subject to change at any time.

Tax Allowances

Harry Cohen: To ask Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment has been made of the appropriateness of tax breaks for (a) operations based on debt and (b) self-employment and sub-contracting which place those arrangements at an advantage over those for direct employment; and if he will make a statement. [133282]

Ed Balls: The Government monitor all aspects of the tax system on an ongoing basis and policy changes were announced in the recent Budget. In addition, on 8 March I announced a review of the current tax deductibility rules applying to the use of shareholder debt where it replaces the equity element in highly leveraged deals in the light of market developments. The review aims to ensure that existing rules are working as intended, consistent with the Government’s focus on ensuring that commercial decisions are taken on a level playing field, to maximise efficient working of the investment chain.

26 Apr 2007 : Column 1319W

Taxation

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department's most recent estimate is of the tax gap; and how the Treasury model is used to estimate the amounts. [133560]

Ed Balls: There are no reliable estimates of the total tax gap. However, estimates of revenue losses in indirect taxes are available and are reported in 'Measuring Indirect Tax Losses - 2006', which is published alongside the PBR and can be found in the House of Commons Library.

Taxation: Electric Vehicles

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax is paid on the purchase of a new (a) Toyota Prius and (b) Honda Accord hybrid car. [132819]

John Healey: [pursuant to the reply, 25 April 2007, Official Report, c.1163W]: The second paragraph of my answer stated that

“These vehicles are therefore subject to band B CO2 emissions graduated Vehicle Excise Duty. In Budget 2007 the Chancellor built on Budget 2006 changes by further reducing this rate to £35 and freezing it until 2010-11.”

My answer should have said

"These vehicles are therefore subject to the Alternative Fuel Car band B CO2 emissions graduated Vehicle Excise Duty rate. In Budget 2007 the Chancellor built on Budget 2006 changes by further reducing this rate from £30 to £15 and freezing it until 2010-11.”

I very much regret this inadvertent error.

Taxation: Personal Savings

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has any proposals for strengthening the EU savings tax directive. [133559]

Ed Balls: We have no proposals at present. A review will take place, in accordance with the directive, in 2008.

Taxation: Self-Assessment

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was received in fines for the late submission of self-assessment tax forms in each of the last nine years. [133327]

Ed Balls: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to a similar question from the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone) on 10 January 2006, Official Report, column 3138W.

26 Apr 2007 : Column 1320W

Penalties paid for the year to end of October 2005 was £39.40 million.

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people were fined for late submission of self-assessment tax forms in each of the last nine years. [133328]

Ed Balls: The total numbers of people to whom HM Revenue and Customs issued Late Filing Penalties in each of the last four years are as detailed in the following table. This information is not available prior to 2003-04.

	Number
2006-07	1,582,446
2005-06	1,468,476
2004-05	1,482,044
2003-04	1,424,416

A self assessment taxpayer may receive more than one penalty in each year. The table shows the total number of penalty notices issued less the number of penalties cancelled in each year.

Unemployment

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of youth unemployment was in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available, broken down by region; what the unemployment rate was for all age groups in each region in each year; and if he will make a statement. [133458]

John Healey [holding answer 23 April 2007]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 26 April 2007:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what has been the rate of youth unemployment in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available, broken down into regions and how these figures compare with the unemployment rate for all age groups. (133458)

For the purpose of this Parliamentary Question, we have taken ‘youth’ to mean people aged 16-24 years. Estimates of unemployment rates for people aged 16 to 24 by region are not available. Table 1, attached, gives unemployment rates for people aged 16 to 24 for the United Kingdom, as well as unemployment rates for people 16 and over, broken down by region.

This information is for the 3 months ending December each year from 1997 to 2006 (estimates for 1998 and 2000 are not available). The data are not seasonally adjusted.

Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.

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26 Apr 2007 : Column 1322W

Table 1: unemployment rates^{( 1)} by age and region of residence United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted
thousand
	16 to 24
Three months ending December each year	United Kingdom	United Kingdom	North e ast	North w est	Yorkshire and Humberside	East Midlands	West Midlands
1997	12.7	6.3	8.0	6.7	6.8	5.0	6.1
1998	13.1	6.0	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
1999	11.9	5.6	7.8	5.8	5.8	5.2	6.5
2000	11.8	5.1	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
2001	11.9	5.0	6.6	5.1	4.9	4.4	5.4
2002	11.8	5.0	6.9	4.7	4.8	4.6	5.5
2003	11.4	4.8	6.1	4.5	4.8	4.2	5.6
2004	12.1	4.6	6.3	4.5	4.5	4.0	4.6
2005	13.6	5.0	6.4	4.7	5.4	4.4	5.2
2006	13.8	5.4	6.4	5.2	6.0	5.5	6.5

thousand
	16 and over
Three months ending December each year	East	London	South east	South w est	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland
1997	5.2	9.2	4.3	5.0	6.8	6.9	8.7
1998	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
1999	4.1	7.0	3.9	4.0	7.1	6.7	6.6
2000	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—	⁽²⁾—
2001	3.8	7.3	3.3	3.5	5.9	6.4	5.8
2002	3.9	6.6	3.9	3.9	5.1	5.9	5.5
2003	3.3	7.0	3.7	3.0	4.9	5.5	6.2
2004	3.6	7.2	3.4	3.3	4.3	5.4	4.6
2005	4.4	7.4	4.1	4.0	5.0	4.9	4.5
2006	4.3	7.9	4.2	3.8	5.2	4.9	4.2
⁽¹⁾ Total unemployed as a percentage of all economically active persons in the relevant age group. ⁽²⁾ Data not available Source: ONS labour Force Survey (LFS)

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