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23 Jan 2008 : Column 2097W—continued
ASHE is carried out in April each year and is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. However, ASHE methodology cannot be used to provide estimates of the numbers of employees whose salary is more than a specific amount, but can be used to provide estimates of proportions of employees in that category.
| Proportion of UK employees earning more than £40,000 in 2007( 1) | |
| Percentage | |
| (1) Employees on adult rates who have been in the same job for more than one year. Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics. | |
Pregnant Women: Nutrition
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his predecessor’s statement on 6 December 2006, Official Report, column 308, if he will place in the Library evidence that nutrition for pregnant mothers is most important in the last months of pregnancy. [175391]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 18 December 2007]: There is a wide range of evidence that nutrition for pregnant mothers is important throughout pregnancy. The importance of maternal health during pregnancy was recognised by the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Nursing, in HM Treasury’s 14 November 2007 Press Notice on the Health in Pregnancy Grant, on the HM Treasury website.
Revenue and Customs: Data Protection
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recruitment process was used to select Kieran Poynter to head the review of security processes and procedures for data handling in HM Revenue and Customs announced on 20 November 2007. [173349]
Jane Kennedy: Kieran Poynter was appointed by the Chancellor to carry out the investigation into data handling in HM Revenue and Customs.
Taxation: Domicil
Harry Cohen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many days in each year people of non-domiciled tax status may spend in the UK without altering their status; and what arrangements his Department has to monitor the time such individuals spend in the UK. [180845]
Jane Kennedy: Domicile status is a general law concept which is distinct from nationality or residence. It is unaffected by the number of days an individual spends in the UK in a year.
Taxation: Energy
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on a proposed windfall tax on energy suppliers. [181125]
Angela Eagle: The Treasury receives numerous representations on a range of tax issues.
TNT
Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent by (a) his Department and (b) HM Revenue and Customs on services provided by TNT in each month since January 2005. [169429]
Jane Kennedy: The amounts spent on services provided by TNT by HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs for each month since January 2005 are set out as follows.
Valuation Office: Data Protection
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what physical or electronic mechanisms the Valuation Office Agency uses to transfer data between (a) its regional offices and (b) government departments and agencies. [176402]
Jane Kennedy: The VGA uses a variety of mechanisms and channels to transfer data within the organisation and to its clients, including paper, VOA network applications, VOA intranet, internet file transfer sites, e-mail, fax, and CD/DVD dependent on the protective classification required.
Valuation Office: Digital Technology
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the Valuation Office Agency’s guidance note Best Practice in the Use of Digital Photography. [176379]
Jane Kennedy: The Agency’s best practice guide in the use of digital photography is internal technical instructions on use of the Agency’s digital photography application and how, when and where to store digital photographs on the Agency's central database to ensure overall system performance is not affected. It is not appropriate to place these documents in the Library.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many photographs of non-domestic properties are stored in the Valuation Office Agency’s digital photography application. [176380]
Jane Kennedy: As at 9 January 2008, the Valuation Office Agency held 1,096,931 digital photographs relating to non-domestic properties in the 2005 Valuation List. This figure includes photographs that show more than one property, or a locality rather than a particular building.
Valuation Office: Information Officers
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons the number of communications staff included as working for the Valuation Office Agency in the Central Office of Information’s White Book differs from the answer of 8 October 2007, Official Report, column 241W, on Valuation Office Agency. [181329]
Jane Kennedy: The question asked by the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire (Mr. Gauke) referred to number of press officers employed by the Valuation Office Agency rather than number of communications staff.
Staff listed in the White Book are those involved in the full range of communications activities, both internal and external. Nine of those listed are involved in press office work, (averaging around 10 per cent. of their time) which together with a media relations manager, amounts to two full-time equivalent people with press officer responsibilities.
VAT: Fixed Penalties
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) people and (b) businesses had to pay penalties as a result of filing VAT returns one day late after the bank holiday Monday on 7 May 2007. [174902]
Angela Eagle: HM Revenue and Customs do not issue penalties for the late filing of VAT returns. A penalty is issued only where a return is not paid in full by the due date. A total of 27,067 penalties were issued in May 2007 for late payment of VAT. Information on the penalties issued for payments received on a particular day in May 2007 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Welfare Tax Credits
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 15 November 2007, Official Report, column 409W, on welfare tax credits, for what reason some tax credit overpayments resulting from official error have not been remitted. [181541]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander) on 25 October 2007, Official Re port, column 585W.
Welfare Tax Credits: Appeals
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) total and (b) average value is of consolatory payments made since April 2003 to tax credits claimants who have appealed against a decision of the HM Revenue and Customs. [180842]
Jane Kennedy: The circumstances in which HM Revenue and Customs will make compensation payments to its customers are explained in the Department’s fact sheet, ‘Complaints and Putting Things Right’, which is available at:
For the number and value of compensation payments made in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 January 2007, Official Report, column 427W to the hon. Member for St. Albans (Anne Main). The number and value of compensation payments made in 2006-07 and from April to December 2007 is shown in the following table.
| Value (£ million) | Number | |
The average payment made over the period April 2003 to the end of December 2007 was around £60.00.
Separate details of consolatory payments made to customers who have appealed against a decision of the Department are not available.
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