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25 Jun 2007 : Column 368W—continued
Council Tax Benefits: Scotland
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the funds allocated to the Scottish Executive for council tax benefit will continue to be made available for the equivalent purpose to the Scottish Administration if the Administration moves ahead with plans to replace council tax. [145221]
Dawn Primarolo: Council tax benefit is a reserved matter.
Council Tax: Valuation
Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) road wheels and (b) measuring tapes the Valuation Office Agency has purchased in the last 36 months; and what the cost has been. [143645]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows.
(a) Measuring Road Wheels—36 at a cost of £2,934
(b) Measuring Tapes—111 at a cost of £1,075
Cox Review
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps have been taken to implement the five key recommendations of the 2005 Cox Review. [143987]
Margaret Hodge: I have been asked to reply.
The Government are working closely with the Design Council to ensure that the five key recommendations of Sir George Cox’s Review of creativity in business are implemented effectively. Good progress is being made in all five areas:
Raising the awareness, understanding and performance by making widely available a Design Programme for Business—Regional Development Agencies are committed to implementing the Design Council’s Designing Demand Programme and a full roll out across UK regions is
expected by end 2007-08. The programme has already been rolled out in South Yorkshire, South East and West Midlands.
Educating the next generation of business leaders, creative specialists and engineers while in higher education—The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is appraising applications from six Higher Education Institutions to act as Centres of Excellence for the development of multidisciplinary courses. In May 2007 HEFCE awarded funding towards £5.8 million for the first centre of excellence, in London. Design-London at RCA-Imperial will create an ‘innovation triangle’ between design (represented by the Royal College of Art), engineering and technology (represented by Imperial College Faculty of Engineering) and the business of innovation (represented by Imperial’s Tanaka Business School).
Improving effectiveness of R and D Tax credits—Specialist units within HMRC launched in November 2006 are improving the consistency and certainty for firms claiming the R and D tax credit. Furthermore, in Budget 2007 the Government announced that it intends to increase the support available under R and D tax credits. The rate of relief for large companies will increase to 130 per cent. of qualifying R and D expenditure. In the case of the SME R and D tax credit scheme, the rate of relief will increase to 175 per cent. for companies claiming enhanced deductions against profits. The value of the payable credit available will remain broadly at its current value (24 per cent. of qualifying expenditure). The SME credit will also be extended to companies with 250-500 employees. Changes to the SME scheme are subject to State Aid clearance by the European Commission.
Raising the profile of the UK's creative capabilities through a network of Centres of Creativity across the UK—A feasibility study by the London Development Agency (LDA) concluded that there is a strong case for an International Design-Business Exchange to act as an international market place for design led innovation, ideas and expertise. The Design Council is working with the LDA on how a prototype programme might operate.
Maximising the power of public sector procurement by encouraging more imaginative solutions from suppliers—The Office of Government Commerce is leading on this recommendation and there has been positive activity on early procurer engagement with suppliers, simplifying pre-qualification and forthcoming guidance on finding and procuring innovative solutions.
Crown Estate: Research
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value was of applications made to the Crown Estate’s Research Committee for research proposals in financial years 2005-06 and 2006-07; how many applications were made for funding; what the value of research funding allocated was; and how many applications were successful in each of those years. [140471]
John Healey: The Crown Estate does not invite open applications for research, rather, areas of research are decided by the Crown Estate through discussions with industry.
The figures for research funding are:
| £000 | ||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
Financial information for 2006-07 is not yet available.
It has been drawn to my attention that the answer given by the former Financial Secretary on 14 September 2004, Official Report, column 1506W, was incorrect. The figures given in that answer were for applications for funding from the Communities and Renewables Fund which finances community projects in areas where there are marine renewable energy developments; and from the Marine Stewardship Fund, which funds community initiatives that further good management of the marine estate. These are not applications for research. As stated above, funding for research comes from the Scottish Aquaculture Research Fund, the Aquaculture Research Fund and the Offshore Research Fund.
The table includes the revised figures for 2004-05.
Debts: Developing Countries
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of money from the UK public purse which has been lost to vulture funds from aid paid (a) directly to other countries and (b) through the EU. [144267]
Ed Balls: My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made a statement on 10 May, setting out actions the Government are taking to tackle the problem of so-called vulture funds. As he made clear, we are deeply concerned by the extent to which aggressively litigating creditors deplete the resources of developing countries, that might otherwise be used for productive social expenditures and poverty reduction. We are also concerned that these creditors are free-riding on the efforts of the international community, including through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), to cancel the debts of the world’s poorest countries.
Along with debt relief, the UK provides direct bilateral development assistance and multilateral development assistance, including through the EU, to the world’s poorest countries. These countries also have other sources of revenue—not least from domestic taxation. In these circumstances, it is not possible for us to quantify a loss to the UK public purse. However, I share my hon. Friend’s concern about the diversion of
the limited resources of these countries away from productive social expenditures.
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