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13 Jun 2007 : Column 1121W—continued
Mr. Hoban:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the funding allocation was of private finance
initiative credits to each Department in each year since 1997. [141369]
John Healey: The allocation of PFI credits across Departments since 1997 has been as follows:
| £ million | |||||||||||
| Sponsoring Department | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
Public Expenditure
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) by which date he expects each policy review being undertaken as part of his Comprehensive Spending Review to be completed; [141295]
(2) which of his Comprehensive Spending Review policy reviews have reported; [141296]
(3) how many staff have been working as part of his Department’s Comprehensive Spending Review on the reviews of (a) counter-terrorism and security, (b) mental health and employment outcomes, (c) sub-national economic development and regeneration, (d) supporting housing growth and (e) future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration, broken down by payband. [141386]
Mr. Timms: As set out in Budget 2006, PBR 2006 and Budget 2007 a number of cross-cutting reviews will inform the decisions to be made in the CSR. A number of these have already reported:
Eddington Transport Study—published December 2006
Leitch Review of Skills—published December 2006
Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change—published October 2006
Barker Review of Land Use Planning—published December 2006
Lyons Review of Local government—published March 2007
Energy Review: meeting the energy challenge—published May 2007
Children and Young People’s Review
Aiming high for children: supporting families (both prevention and families in a cycle of low achievement)—March 2007
Aiming high for disabled children: better support for families—May 2007
Review of positive activities for young people—still to report.
No specific date has been set yet for the outstanding reviews to be published.
The cross-cutting reviews, listed are being worked on by officials across government. Within HMT a wide range of staff across teams are contributing to and working as part of these reviews—whether full-time, part-time or as an aspect of their team’s work. Each review is also guided by senior input and direction from team leaders, Directors, Managing Directors and Ministers.
Redundancy Pay: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 May 2007, Official Report, column 1360W to the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) on Redundancy Pay: Ministerial Policy Advisors, and the written statement by the Prime Minister of 26 July 2006, what calculation he has made of his Department’s contribution to the figure for severance pay. [141477]
John Healey: I have nothing further to add to my answer of 23 May.
Revenue and Customs: Manpower
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many pre-surplus staff there were at HM Revenue and Customs at the end of each quarter since 1 April 2005; and what the average length of service was for pre-surplus workers in the most recent quarter for which figures are available. [141171]
John Healey: The numbers of pre-surplus staff have been recorded since July 2005. The following table sets out the number of pre-surplus staff at the end of each quarter.
| Number | |
We do not record the average length of service for pre-surplus staff and this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
A range of measures are available for pre-surplus HMRC staff including early retirement schemes, redeployment support and training, priority access for staff to vacancies and incentives to re-train for other public sector posts.
Tax Allowances: Pensions
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the total cost to the Exchequer was of providing the tax relief for workplace pensions advice during (a) 2005-06 and (b) 2006-07; [141365]
(2) what cost benefit analysis was undertaken prior to introducing the workplace advice tax credit; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the measure in promoting access to financial advice in the workplace; [141366]
(3) many firms have been in receipt of the additional tax relief given to employers offering workplace pensions advice since the measure was introduced as part of the Pensions Act 2004. [141903]
Ed Balls: Encouraging employers to provide workplace pensions information and advice to their employees was part of the Government's informed choice programme. The proposals on the informed choices strategy can be found at:
and the DWPs subsequent evaluation of the effectiveness of different methods of providing pension information in the workplace can be found at:
The limited tax exemption introduced on 14 December 2004 ensured that, as long as the qualifying conditions were met, the provision of such information and advice would not give rise to a tax charge on employees. There are no records of the cost of this exemption as employers are not obliged to report them separately to HMRC as long as they meet the qualifying conditions.
Firms do not get additional tax relief for providing this workplace pension advice where the qualifying conditions are met but can include the cost in their accounts under employee costs as a deductible expense.
Tax Avoidance
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax shelter or mitigation schemes were notified to him in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many of these have been deemed not to be acceptable by HM Revenue and Customs. [141170]
John Healey: Details of arrangements notified under the Disclosure of Tax Schemes Regime are published at:
Those for the period to 31 March 2007, the latest available, indicate that just over 1,450 direct tax schemes (income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax and stamp duty land tax) and over 800 VAT schemes have been disclosed. These disclosures have both informed targeted anti-avoidance legislation and allowed HMRC to take swifter and more targeted action to counter deliberate abuse of the tax system. HMRC does not issue rulings as to the acceptability or otherwise of disclosed schemes.
Tax Avoidance: USA
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether HM Revenue and Customs (a) consult and (b) share information with the US Inland Revenue Service on tax shelter or tax mitigation schemes. [141155]
John Healey: Under the terms of the bilateral double taxation convention between the United Kingdom and the United States, the tax authorities of the two states have regular discussions about tax avoidance schemes, exchanging any information that is necessary for the assessment, collection and enforcement of the taxes covered by the convention.
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