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18 Mar 2008 : Column 1017W—continued
Tax Credits
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the qualifying income level for tax credits is for (a) a single person earner household and (b) a single person earner household with (i) one, (ii) two and (iii) three children. [195190]
Jane Kennedy: From April 2008, single working adults without children will benefit from working tax credit up to annual incomes of around £12,000.
Single working adults with children, will benefit from tax credits up to annual incomes of around £58,000 (£66,000 if there is at least one child who is less than a year old). Families claiming the child care element of the working tax credit could benefit from tax credits on higher incomes, depending on the level of child care costs.
Tax Evasion
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to introduce legislation to enable HM Revenue and Customs to overrule any commercial arrangement which it deems has been set up primarily to reduce or avoid taxes. [194243]
Jane Kennedy: Artificial avoidance schemes are unfair on the majority of taxpayers who do pay their fair share, and undermine the funding of public services. The Government are determined to adopt a robust approach in countering these.
To be effective, anti-avoidance legislation needs to clear and well targeted. As part of the Anti-Avoidance Simplification Review the Government are considering how more generic approaches to anti-avoidance legislation, including a principles-based approach and targeted anti-avoidance rules, can best meet aims of simplicity and revenue protection.
A general anti-avoidance rule, or “GAAR”, is not currently under consideration but the Government keep this under review.
Valuation Office: Video Recordings
Robert Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2008, Official Report, column 509W, on Valuation Office: video recordings, if he will place in the Library copies of the internal staff videos (a) Message from CLG client September 2005 and (b) New Year Message-Tuesday 16 January 2007. [178659]
Jane Kennedy: I have placed in the Library a copy of the two internal videos recorded for Valuation Office Agency staff.
VAT
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many businesses filed valued added tax returns in each of the last five years, broken down by size of company; and how many businesses filed value added tax returns online in each year since the service's inception, broken down by size of company; [194129]
(2) how many businesses have filed value added tax returns by e-mail using third party software in each year since the service's inception, broken down by size of company. [194130]
Jane Kennedy: The requested information is not available.
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has received in VAT receipts from flood repair works carried out by insurance companies since the flooding of summer 2007 in (a) England and (b) the East Riding of Yorkshire; and if he will make a statement. [194942]
Jane Kennedy: HM Revenue and Customs does not collect data on VAT from individual goods and services.
Welfare Tax Credits
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many hours of overtime were worked by staff in the tax credit office in each year since 2003; and at what cost. [194476]
Jane Kennedy: For information up to and including 2004-05 I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor the Paymaster General gave the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 10 October 2005, Official Report, columns 307-08W.
Information for 2005-06 and 2006-07 is shown in the following table:
| Estimated hours (thousands-around) | Cost (£ million-around) | |
Welfare Tax Credits: Fraud
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what meetings officials from (a) his Department and (b) the Tax Credit Office have had with the police to discuss organised fraud by criminal gangs on tax credits. [194492]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC is responsible for investigating organised fraud by criminal gangs on the tax credits system. The criminal investigation arm of HMRC maintains close working relationships with the police service and with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). The aim is to build knowledge, share intelligence and ensure a co-ordinated response to organised criminal attacks, both on the tax credits system and any other area of the UK’s tax and duty systems.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit cases were subject to criminal investigation in each quarter since April 2003. [194497]
Jane Kennedy: It would be inappropriate to provide information on the number of cases under investigation since 2003 as this could provide assistance to those engaged in criminal activity.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit fraud cases were prosecuted in each year since 2003 relating to (a) individuals and (b) criminal gangs. [194498]
Jane Kennedy: Prosecution figures for tax credits up to 2006-07 can be found at table 7 part 2 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's Standard Report in the 2006-07 HMRC Accounts, which is available on the HMRC website at:
Figures for 2007-08 are not yet available. A breakdown of these figures could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people appealed against tax credit overpayments (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully in each year since 2003. [194500]
Jane Kennedy: This information is not available.
Customers can contact HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to appeal if they think their tax credits award is wrong. Information concerning appeals can be found in the HMRC leaflet WTC/AP “How to appeal against a tax credits decision or award” which is available on the internet at:
A decision to recover an overpayment does not carry the right of appeal. For information on the number of appeals received in each year since 2003, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) on 11 March 2008, Official Report, columns 371-72W.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Education: Literacy
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what recent steps the Government has taken to encourage adults to improve their reading skills. [174573]
Mr. Lammy: The Government are committed to improving adult reading and literacy skills through the Skills for Life strategy and we have set challenging targets to eradicate illiteracy by 2020. In 2005-06 (the last year for which we have confirmed figures) 516,000 adults completed literacy courses and improved their skills.
The Department has been working with partners to promote reading through the Quick Reads initiative, which has put around half a million books in the hands of adult emergent readers since March 2006. We have also supported and promoted the BBC’s RaW (Reading and Writing) campaign and the Reading Agency’s work with libraries. The national Get On campaign continues to engage learners in literacy courses and we also support a wide range of other initiatives to encourage learners to address their literacy needs, such as Adult Learner’s Week, Learning at Work Day, Family Learning Week and the 2008 National Year of Reading.
Computers
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of personal computers in the UK in (a) business and (b) domestic use in each of the last 10 years. [185513]
Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.
My Department has made no estimates of the precise information requested. However, according to ONS surveys, the number of employees(1) using a computer for their work at least once per week in the 2004-06 period was 7.6 million in 2004; 8.2 million in 2005; and 8.5 million in 2006 (no previous figures exist), and the approximate number of households(2) with a home computer in each of the 10 years up to FY 2005-06 was as follows:
Sources:
(1 )ONS e-commerce survey 2006 of UK businesses with 10 or more in employment.
(2) ONS Family Expenditure survey (prior to 2001-02 ONS Expenditure and Food Survey (from 2001-02)
| FY | Approximate number of households (million) |
Corporate Hospitality
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills on how many occasions he has accepted corporate hospitality in the last 12 months. [171301]
Mr. Lammy: Chapter 7 of the “Ministerial Code” sets out the rules on the registration of hospitality.
Departmental Manpower
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many and what proportion of posts in his Department have been recategorised from back office to frontline posts as classified by the Gershon efficiency review in each year since 2004. [172256]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is committed to achieving its workforce reduction target, shared with the Department for Children, Schools and Families, by the end of 2007/08. This is a net target and no posts will be reallocated to the frontline as part of it.
Departmental Marketing
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidelines issued to staff maintaining his Department’s and its agencies’ corporate identity; and what the estimated annual cost is of (a) producing and (b) complying with such guidelines. [170231]
Bill Rammell: The Department’s branding guidelines were published on the DIUS corporate website, www.dius.gov.uk/branding in January 2008. The guidelines are also published on the DIUS staff intranet site. The guidelines are intended to be viewed electronically and are best viewed this way but we will place a hard copy in the House Library.
The estimated cost to produce the DIUS branding guidelines is £20,000. At present there is no specific separate cost foreseen for complying with the guidelines, they simply represent the way materials and
communications from the Department will be formatted online and in print. The effectiveness of the guidelines will be reviewed continuously to ensure they meet the departmental needs. This will be done on a project by project basis and will not involve additional cost.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department and its agencies spent on end-of-year bonus payments in each of the last five years. [171532]
Mr. Lammy: The Department was created as a result of the June 2007 machinery of government changes and no employees have received end of year bonus payments. Information for staff from the former Department for Education and Skills will be provided by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Educational Institutions: First Aid
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what estimate he has made of the annual cost of providing first aid (a) facilities and (b) training at teaching establishments for which his Department is responsible; what the estimated cost was of such provision in 1997; and if he will make a statement. [180357]
Bill Rammell: The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was created as a result of Machinery of Government changes in June 2007. Information on first aid facilities and training is not held centrally in this Department and the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
ERASMUS
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many UK students studied abroad on ERASMUS programmes in each of the last 10 years. [190959]
Bill Rammell: The number of UK students who have studied abroad under the ERASMUS programme in each of the last 10 years is set out in the following table:
| Academic year | UK students participating in Erasmus |
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