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29 Oct 2007 : Column 910W—continued
Valuation Office Agency: Freedom of Information
Alistair Burt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what requests have been made to the Valuation Office Agency under the (a) Freedom of Information Act (FOI) 2000 and (b) Environmental Information Regulations 2004 in the last six months; and what the (i) FOI case reference number, (ii) request summary, (iii) request outcome and (iv) where appropriate, reason for exemption was in each case. [150653]
Jane Kennedy: The Valuation Office Agency received 144 FOI requests in the first two quarters of the calendar year 2007.
The agency has no record of any requests under the Environment Information Regulations 2004 for the first two quarters of 2007.
A breakdown of the statistics, with the agency’s case reference number, has been placed in the Library.
VAT: Internet
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on levying VAT on eBay transactions; what mechanisms are in place to enforce his policy; and if he will make a statement. [160092]
Jane Kennedy:
eBay and other e-marketplace transactions are subject to the normal rules of VAT.
The Government are concerned that all businesses should comply with their tax obligations, irrespective of size, and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) continues to review and address risks relating to online trading, including using a series of advertising messages on its website to remind people of their tax obligations.
HMRC treats e-traders no differently to any other businesses. Where tax is found to have been evaded, HMRC takes steps to recover it, and civil or criminal proceedings can be brought in the UK courts.
VAT: Sight Impaired
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the annual cost was of the VAT exemption on software for blind and partially sighted people in the latest period for which figures are available. [159360]
Jane Kennedy: VAT is usually chargeable on computer software, even when sold to blind and partially sighted people. However, certain pre-installed software is VAT zero-rated when sold with computer peripherals and equipment, such as a processor or base unit, that are themselves eligible for relief.
HM Revenue and Customs does not collect data on VAT from individual goods and services, so the annual cost of VAT relief for computer software, equipment or peripherals is not available.
Tax Credits: Overpayments
Helen Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to ensure that the overpayments of tax credit to Mr T. Venables, of Bexhill Avenue, Warrington, are remedied as a matter of urgency. [160831]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 25 October 2007]: HMRC very much regret the delay in resolving this issue and have written to update you on your constituent's case.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when HM Revenue and Customs expect to complete the Transformation Programme in regard to the tax credits system. [161103]
Jane Kennedy: The Tax Credits Transformation Programme was established in November 2006 to improve the way tax credits are delivered through communications and services which are tailored to the needs and circumstances of the customer. It aims to have delivered the vast majority of these enhanced communications and services by April 2009.
The programme is delivering ongoing improvements, including, from 1 November 2007, significant improvements for customers reporting a household breakdown as announced on 18 October 2007.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the revised guidance on overpayments of tax credits issued to staff of HM Revenue and Customs on 17 August 2007. [161104]
Jane Kennedy: The updated guidance is available on the HM Revenue and Customs website at:
wvvw.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ntcmanual/payment_opayments/ntc0780300.htm
Following my report to the House on 18 October 2007, Official Report , column 944, further revisions to this guidance are now being made to ensure the changes to the reasonable belief test which HMRC plan to introduce in January are delivered in practice. Details of those further revisions will be published in due course.
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the number of (a) overpayments and (b) underpayments of tax credits in the past 12 months. [161111]
Jane Kennedy: Estimates of the number of in-work families with tax credit awards, including information on overpayments and underpayments, based on final family circumstances and incomes in 2005-06, for which the latest finalised figures are available, are published in “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards 2005-06. Supplements on Payments in 2005-06.” This publication is available on the HMRC website at:
Information on the level of over and underpaid tax credit awards in 2006-07 will not be available until May 2008.
Tax Credits: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individuals in Peterborough constituency were overpaid tax credits in each financial year since the inception of the scheme. [161383]
Jane Kennedy: Estimates of the number of families with tax credit awards, including information on overpayments and underpayments by constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes, for the years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 are available in the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. Supplement on Payments. Geographical Analysis”, for each relevant year. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
Information on the level of overpaid tax credit awards in 2006-07 will not be available until May 2008.
Tax Credits: ICT
Mr. Touhig:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many recorded instances of failure of the IT
system that deals with working tax credits there have been in the last 12 months. [161112]
Jane Kennedy: The information is not available in the format requested.
Home Department
Animal Experiments
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if she will replace the test used to assess the potential of chemical substances to cause irritation to human skin with the non-animal EPISKIN-SIT test; [160970]
(2) if she will amend the licences currently in operation allowing use of animals to test for skin irritancy to ensure that the EPISKIN-SIT test is used instead. [160971]
Meg Hillier: We will replace the test used to assess the potential of chemical substances to cause irritation to human skin with the non-animal EPISKIN-SIT test (or any other suitable and validated non-animal model) where scientifically justified and amend existing licences, as necessary, once the agreed protocols for regulatory testing are agreed and published.
The determination for regulatory purposes of a material's potential to cause skin irritation is currently largely done by animal testing. On 27 April 2007 the European Centre for the Validation of Alternatives Methods (ECVAM) Scientific Advisory Committee issued a validation statement with respect to two non-animal tests methods, EPISKIN and EpiDerm, for predicting skin irritation potential. The validation statement described the EPISKIN system as being a reliable and relevant stand-alone alternative method for this purpose, and the EpiDerm system as having the potential to reliably identify skin irritants within a tiered-testing strategy. Work is now under way within ECVAM to develop internationally agreed protocols for the use of these methods for regulatory purposes.
We have already advised the relevant project licence holders of the validation statement, and the need to use the in vitro methods once the agreed protocols for regulatory testing become available. Thereafter, it will be possible for the Home Office to authorise the use of the animal test only in cases where it can be demonstrated that the in vitro methods would not produce scientifically satisfactory results.
Antisocial Behaviour: Restaurants
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many take-away restaurants have been (a) temporarily and (b) permanently shut by the police as a result of antisocial behaviour since the Licensing Act 2003 came into force. [159700]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
We do not hold this information centrally. The Licensing Act 2003 devolved the administration of the licensing regime to individual licensing authorities, and each licensing authority should hold information about licensed premises in their area.
Anti-terrorism Control Orders
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2007, Official Report, column 786W, on anti-terrorism control orders, how many of those subject to control orders (a) remain subject to a control order, (b) have been prosecuted under terrorism legislation, (c) have been deported and (d) are now free of all restrictions. [160558]
Jacqui Smith: Of the 30 individuals ever subject to a control order:
(a) 14 are currently subject to a control order;
(b) One has been successfully prosecuted (under the Prevention of Terrorism Act);
(c) Nine individuals were served with notices of intention to deport and then either held in custody or granted bail subject to strict conditions, six of them have now been deported;
(d) Seven individuals are no longer subject to any control order restrictions because their orders have either been revoked, or not been renewed, or expired, or never been served.
Arrests
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research has been (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated by her Department on trends in the numbers of arrests made by police officers against the wishes of the victim of the crime; and if she will make a statement. [159684]
Mr. McNulty: The Home Office has not commissioned or conducted any research in this area to date.
The Ministry of Justice (and formerly the Home Office) does collect statistics on arrests for notifiable offences, by offence group, gender, age and police force area. However, this collection does not determine whether the arrest was against the wishes of the crime victim.
Asylum
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual expenditure has been on the Gateway Protection Programme since its establishment; how many officials are employed to administer the Gateway Programme; and how many refugees have been admitted under the Gateway Protection Programme since 2004, broken down by nationality. [160685]
Mr. Byrne: The Gateway Protection Programme became operational in 2004. Annual expenditure is calculated per financial year and (rounded to the nearest thousand) was £3,024,000 in 2004-05; £2,266,000 in 2005-06; and £5,349,000 in 2006-07.
At present 17 Border and Immigration Officials administer the Gateway Protection Programme in the UK. Since 2004, refugees of the following nationalities have been admitted under the Gateway Protection Programme: Liberian, Sierra Leoneon, Congolese (DRC), Mauritanian, Ethiopian and Burmese nationality.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people claimed asylum in the UK in 2006; what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the effect of those claimants on the UK economy; and if she will make a statement. [160711]
Mr. Byrne: Excluding dependants, the number of asylum applications received in 2006 was 23,610, 8 per cent. less than in 2005 (25,710), continuing the fall from the peak of 84,130 in 2002.
Ministers routinely discuss matters that may be of interest across their respective Departments. In addition, the Government have set up the Migration Impacts Forum to provide evidence to Government on the impacts of migration and produce best practice in dealing with these impacts. This forum is chaired jointly by Ministers from the Home Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Asylum: Housing
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what system she has put in place to ensure that accommodation supplied by private contractors for asylum seekers is of adequate quality; and if she will make a statement. [160832]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 25 October 2007]: There is a robust system in place to ensure that accommodation supplied by both private sector and public sector providers for asylum seekers under Target Contracts is of an adequate quality.
This is based upon the four weekly monitoring of key performance indicators (KPI’s) against an output based statement of requirements. The statement of requirements can be found on the internet at:
and a copy is also available in the House Libraries.
Babies: Sales
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward proposals for legislation to create an offence of advertising an unborn baby for sale over the internet; and if she will make a statement. [158337]
Mr. Coaker: The Government deplore the concept and practice of offering unborn babies for sale either on the internet or by other means.
Legislation is already in place. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 prohibits any form of movement and trafficking of children for any form of exploitation. I have been advised by the Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families that the advertisement of an unborn baby for sale for adoption over the internet would be an offence under the existing provisions of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 which restrict, in England and Wales, the arranging of adoptions and the making of payments for an adoption, and, in the whole of the UK, adoption-related advertisements including advertisements by means of the internet.
Bedfordshire Police: Standards
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what position Bedfordshire Police occupy in the 2006-07 Home Office ratings; what measures are being taken to improve its performance; and if she will make a statement. [157544]
Mr. McNulty [holding answer 15 October 2007]: The Police Performance Assessments 2006-07 were published on 9 October. These assessments are not a ranking of forces in terms of best and worst—they look at the quality of service delivered in each area, and whether forces have improved.
Bedfordshire in common with all constabularies is always seeking to improve performance, and the Home Office and HMIC will continue to help Bedfordshire—and other forces—to address the issues highlighted in the assessments. The chief constable is already addressing the issues raised by the assessment and has given her personal commitment to improving performance.
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