| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
8 Oct 2007 : Column 237W—continued
Tax Credit Act 2002
Peter Viggers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many breaches of section 18 of the Tax Credit Act 2002 have occurred since it came into force; and what sums of money were involved in each case. [155408]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 17 September 2007]: As set out in my statement of 25 July, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimate that 250,000 awards will need to be reviewed. HMRC estimate that around £20 million in recovered sums will need to be refunded in total.
Tax Credits
Peter Viggers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax credit has been reclaimed in each of the last five years; from how many individuals tax credits payments were reclaimed in each such year; and what estimate he has made of the amount to be reclaimed in 2007-08. [155409]
Jane Kennedy: For information on tax credit debt and recovery in years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06, I refer the hon. Member to table 4, section 2, of the Comptroller and Auditor Generals Standard Report in the HM Revenue and Customs 2006-07 accounts, which is available on the HMRC website at:
Information on overpaid tax credit awards and debt recovery for 2006-07 and 2007-08 will be published in future annual reports.
Information on the number of individuals who have had their tax credit overpayment recovered is not available except at disproportionate cost.
An estimate of the recovery of overpaid tax credits in 2007-08 is not available.
Tax Evasion: Telephone Services
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the Tax Evasion Hotline cost to administer in each month since its inception; [153985]
(2) how many calls the Tax Evasion Hotline received in each month since its inception; [153986]
(3) what proportion of calls received by the Tax Evasion Hotline resulted in prosecutions for tax evasion in each month for which figures are available. [153987]
Jane Kennedy: HM Revenue and Customs does not currently have a separate record of the cost to administer the Tax Evasion Hotline in each month since its inception. These data could be collated only at disproportionate cost.
The number of calls received by the Tax Evasion Hotline each month since its inception are detailed in the following table. HM Revenue and Customs advertising campaigns can significantly affect the volume of calls received in any month.
HM Revenue and Customs are unable to provide this information. The exemption at section 31(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act on ‘law enforcement’ also provides an exemption from disclosure in respect of the proportion of calls received resulting in prosecution.
| Calls received by the Tax Evasion Hotline | |
| Month comm. | Calls received |
Taxation on Gambling
Mr. Bone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the effective rate of tax is for bingo played in a licensed bingo premises; [154443]
(2) what the effective rate of tax is for player-to-player poker played in a casino; [154444]
(3) how much VAT was paid by licensed bingo clubs in each of the last five years for which figures are available; [154615]
(4) how much VAT was paid by casinos in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [154616]
Angela Eagle: Total VAT receipts are published in the Financial Statement and Budget Report 2007. It is not possible to give the breakdown requested. Player-to-player poker played in a casino is subject to VAT at the standard rate of 17.5 per cent. Duty is levied at 15 per cent. on gross profits from bingo and participation fees for mainstage bingo are subject to VAT at the standard rate. The casino and bingo industries are also subject to the usual taxes imposed on business.
Taxation: Overseas Residence
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will update the information contained in paragraphs 2.14 and 2.15 of the April 2003 background paper on reviewing residence and domicile rules in individual taxation for the most recent date for which the information is available. [145041]
Jane Kennedy: It is not possible to update these figures on a directly comparable basis due to changes in the methodology applied since the publication of the background paper. Specifically, whereas the figures set out in the background paper were based on a 10 per cent. sample of the self-assessment system, current data draws on all available self-assessment returns.
On that basis, data drawn from the 2005-06 self-assessment returns show that some 143,000 have a residence or domicile status which would enable them to benefit from the remittance basis of taxation. Of
these, some 114,000 are non-domiciled residents, with the remainder being resident but not ordinarily resident.
The most recent analysis suggests that around 83,000 individuals completed an employment schedule with UK employment income of about £9.7 billion, giving an average annual employment income of just under £120,000. A smaller subset of 17,000 also returned foreign earnings totalling £900 million which were not remitted to the UK and therefore not liable to tax, giving an average foreign earnings figure of just over £50,000.
As the data contained in paragraph 2.15 of the background paper was the result of a one-off analytical exercise which has not been repeated, an update is therefore not available.
Terrorism: Finance
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value of suspected terrorist funds frozen and then unfrozen was in each of the last 10 years for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [153863]
Kitty Ussher: Since 2001, when the UN's terrorist asset freezing regime was established, 282 accounts totalling approximately £630,000 have been frozen in the UK. Approximately £25,000 has been unfrozen since 2002(1). The Treasury does not publish a historic breakdown of frozen or unfrozen funds for each year, due to the need to avoid the identification, directly or indirectly, of personal or operationally sensitive information. However, we make quarterly statements to Parliament on the operation of the asset freezing regime.
(1) These figures include approximately $58,000 of suspected terrorist funds frozen in the UK and approximately $31,000 of unfrozen funds. This has been converted using current exchange rates. Future fluctuation in the exchange rate may impact on the contribution this sum makes to future totals of suspected terrorist funds frozen.
Trading Funds
Mr. Todd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the economic review of trading funds will include a consultation process with public and private sector stakeholders. [154391]
Andy Burnham: We expect the experts commissioned to undertake the study to consult with all stakeholders they consider necessary to inform their work.
Valuation Office
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what data the Valuation Office Agency has purchased from the Landmark Information Group in the last five years; and for what purposes. [153807]
Jane Kennedy: The Valuation Office Agency’s Mineral Valuer provides advice to central Government Departments and public sector clients in respect of valuation issues arising from the re-development of contaminated or potentially contaminated and brownfield land.
The initial stage of the provision of such advice involves the collation of information from available record sources to establish the previous use history of the subject site.
The Agency procured the services of the Landmark Information Group as it considers their Enviro Check Report offers the Agency’s clients the most efficient and cost-effective solution to the gathering of this information at this time.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Valuation Office Agency has made representations to have access to the energy performance certificate register. [153808]
Jane Kennedy: The Valuation Office Agency has not made any representations to have access to the energy performance certificate register.
Valuation Office Agency: Information Officers
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many press officers are employed by the Valuation Office Agency. [154421]
Jane Kennedy: The Valuation Office Agency employs two (full-time equivalent) people with press officer responsibilities.
Valuation Office: Vetting
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether staff of the Valuation Office Agency who undertake inspections of domestic dwellings for council tax valuation purposes are required to have (a) basic and (b) enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks. [153804]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the written answer that my right hon. Friend the former Paymaster General gave the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 6 February 2006, Official Report, columns 1036-37W.
Since April 2007, one in five of new staff has been subject to basic criminal record bureau checks in line with the HM Government baseline personnel security standards.
Water Charges: South West Region
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the average proportion of household income spent on water bills in each county in the South West. [154767]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 20 September 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what estimate has been made of the average proportion of household income spent on water bills in each county in the South West. (154767)
Estimates of household expenditure and income are based on the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS), which is based on a sample of approximately 7,000 households in the UK. Statistics on household expenditure are published in ‘Family Spending’,
the latest edition of which was published on 18th January 2007 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=361). An analysis of the household income data collected in the EFS also appears in the ONS analysis ‘The effects of taxes and benefits on household income’, the most recent analysis being published on 17th May 2007 (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/taxesbenefits). The survey sample is not sufficiently large to allow reliable results to be produced for counties. However, using the data underlying these reports, estimates have been calculated of the proportion of household income spent on water bills in the South West region, compared to the UK as a whole.
In 2005/06, average household expenditure on water charges was £329 per year for the South West compared to £277 for the UK. In the same year, the average household disposable income in the South West of England was £25,197, compared to £26,039 for the UK as a whole. So the proportion of disposable household income spent on water bills was 1.3% in the South West and 1.1% for the UK as a whole.
Welfare Tax Credits
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Government have written off in misplaced tax credits in (a) Hampshire and (b) England in each year since their inception. [153631]
Jane Kennedy: The total value of disputed overpayments in the UK written off as a result of official error was around the following:
| Value (£ million) | |
The value of disputed overpayments written off in 2005-06 was greater because HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) cleared a large number of cases from the first year of tax credits where error rates were much higher. HMRC details of the procedures adopted between April 2005 and 30 September 2005 were published in the Supplementary memorandum submitted by HMRC in the Treasury Select Commission’s report: “The administration of tax credits: sixth report of session 2005-06: Volume 2 Oral and written evidence (page Ev193), House of Commons papers 811-II 2005-06”.
The information requested is not available at county level or for England.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of people who were underpaid tax credits in 2005-06 were living on incomes of less than 60 per cent. of UK median earnings. [153981]
Jane Kennedy: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, information on the number of underpaid tax credit awards in 2005-06 by level of income used for calculating tax credit entitlement is available in Table 5 of the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards 2005-06. Supplement on Payments in 2005-06”, which is available on the HMRC website at:
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit claimants had their entitlements wrongly calculated in each year for which figures are available. [153992]
Jane Kennedy: Information on error and fraud in the Child and Working Tax Credits can be found on HMRC’s website at:
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |