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31 Mar 2008 : Column 674W—continued
—continuedVAT: Fraud
Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2008, Official Report, column 1227W, on VAT: fraud, which paragraph of the National Identity Scheme Delivery Plan 2008 provides an assessment of the potential contribution of the identity cards scheme to the tackling of missing trader intra-community fraud. [197096]
Jane Kennedy: The aim of the 2008 plan is to provide individuals with opportunities to protect themselves, including from identity fraud, and to access services more easily. It does not assess specifically the extent to which identity cards introduced on the proposed voluntary basis might protect the Government against missing trader intra-community fraud.
Voluntary Work
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2008, Official Report, column 1490W, on voluntary work, what special leave entitlement is available to staff to take time off to volunteer. [195917]
Angela Eagle: Staff in HM Treasury may be allowed to take one day's paid special leave in any leave year and if staff wish to extend this, they can trade unused days with colleagues up to a maximum of five days per staff member per leave year.
In addition to this entitlement, there is also a category of special paid leave of up to 10 days per leave year for activities which are a “valuable public service or which promote the general good of the Treasury”.
Welfare Tax Credits
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which of the Parliamentary Ombudsman's recommendations in (a) Tax Credits: Putting things right and (b) Tax Credits: Getting it wrong have been accepted; when each of those was implemented; and which (A) were rejected and (B) are under consideration. [194471]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 25 June 2007, Official Report, column 402-04W. All the ombudsman's recommendations were accepted. Details are given in my letter to the parliamentary and health service ombudsman of 29 January 2008 setting out the Government's response to her 2007 report on tax credits which is deposited in the Library of the House.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer at which locations staff operating the tax credit system are based; and how many staff worked at each site in each financial year since April 2003. [194479]
Jane Kennedy: Staff from a range of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) business areas work on tax credits.
It is not possible to isolate the numbers of staff deployed to tax credits work at each HMRC site in each year since April 2003.
The tax credit office operates from sites in Preston, Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow, Washington and Newcastle.
Welfare Tax Credits: Compensation
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) for what reasons HM Revenue and Customs pays compensation to tax credit claimants; and how the amount of compensation is determined; [194482]
(2) how many compensation payments have been made by HM Revenue and Customs to tax credit claimants for problems with their awards in each year since April 2003; what the sum of payments in each quarter was; and how many families have received (a) one, (b) two, (c) three and (d) more than three compensation payments. [194481]
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 C/FS ‘Complaints and Putting Things Right’ which is available at www.hmrc.gov.uk/factsheets/complaints-factsheet.pdf. The Department will pay compensation for reasonable costs incurred as a direct result of its mistakes or delays and to recognise
worry and distress caused by those mistakes and delays. The value of each payment is decided according to individual circumstances.
For the number and value of such payments made to tax credit customers I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for St. Albans (Anne Main) on 23 January 2008, Official Report , columns 2100-01W. The updated figures for 2007-08 to the end of February are:
| 2007-08 | |
Information on the number of such payments made to each family is not available in that level of detail requested.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
John Hemming: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax credit has been overpaid as a result of the claimant not providing an annual return to HM Revenue and Customs in each year since the commencement of tax credits; and how many people were overpaid. [197326]
Jane Kennedy: The information requested is available only at a disproportionate cost.
However, HMRC does produce estimates of the number of overpaid terminated awards, which will include those that were terminated due to claimants not returning their annual declaration form by the specified date. This information for 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 is available in the main aggregates table in the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. Supplement on Payments 2005-06”. This publication is available on the HMRC website at:
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average tax credit overpayment was in each year since 2003. [197977]
Jane Kennedy: Estimates of the number and amount of tax credit over and under paid awards in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 are produced in the Main Aggregates Table in the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. Supplement on Payments 2005-06”. This publication is available on the HMRC website at:
Information for over and under payments in 2006-07 will not be available until May 2008.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies: Finance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether academies will be included in the new funding regime announced in Raising Expectations: enabling the system to deliver; and if he will make a statement. [196427]
Jim Knight: Academies will continue to be funded directly by the DCSF on the basis of funding agreements. Like other providers, they will represent their interests and contribute expertise through local 14-19 Partnerships. We know for example that from September 2008, 54 per cent. of academies will be offering diplomas and from September 2009, 75 per cent. of academies will be offering diplomas. We expect academies to participate fully in these new arrangements. But where an individual academy is unable to agree with the local authority what its provision should be, the Secretary of State retains the right to fund the number of academy places which he deems to be appropriate, having first consulted the relevant local authorities. The academies will receive their funding directly from the DCSF in line with the agreed commissioning plan.
Apprentices: Enfield
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many apprenticeships were (a) available and (b) taken up in the London borough of Enfield in each of the last five years. [196793]
Jim Knight: Figures on the number of places available are not collected centrally.
Figures for those starting Apprenticeships can be derived from the Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) Individualised Learner Record (ILR) and are available at
Following the Machinery of Government announcements, the LSC is working to update its systems so that data by local authority area are readily available. Residence-based data at a local authority level are something that will be built into reporting systems, however historic data based upon the contracting local LSG area are provided in response to this question.
The following table shows the starts on apprenticeships and in advanced apprenticeships in the London North LSC for each of the last 5 years for which data are available (based on home post code of the learner).
| Advanced Apprenticeships | Apprenticeships | |
| Source: Learning and Skills Council (LSC) Individualised Learned Record (ILR). Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. | ||
Building Schools for the Future Programme
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he expects to (a) receive and (b) approve the first Building Schools for the Future proposal for (i) Barnet, (ii) Bexley, (iii) Birmingham, (iv) Bournemouth, (v) Bromley, (vi) Buckinghamshire, (vii) Calderdale, (viii) Cumbria, (ix) Devon, (x) Enfield, (xi) Essex, (xii) Gloucestershire, (xiii) Kent, (xiv) Kingston, (xv) Kirklees, (xvi) Lancashire, (xvii) Lincolnshire, (xviii) Liverpool, (xix)
Medway, (xx) North Yorkshire, (xxi) Poole, (xxii) Plymouth, (xxiii) Reading, (xxiv) Redbridge, (xxv) Slough, (xxvi) Southend, (xxvii) Stoke-on-Trent, (xxviii) Sutton, (xxix) Torbay, (xxx) Trafford, (xxxi) Walsall, (xxxii) Warwickshire, (xxxiii) Wiltshire, (xxxiv) Wirral, (xxxv) Wolverhampton and (xxxvi) the Wrekin local authority. [195595]
Jim Knight: In 2004, after wide consultation, we invited all authorities to submit expressions of interest for inclusion in the Building Schools for the Future programme. These included how their schools would be grouped into projects. Additionally, those authorities which wished early prioritisation were invited to provide evidence of their readiness to deliver the programme.
All projects were prioritised on the average educational and social need of the schools in them. For pathfinders and wave one authorities, we also appraised their readiness to deliver. All authorities were given an indication of where their projects are prioritised in the overall programme in early 2005. This information is available in the House Libraries.
We have now launched projects in the first six waves of the programme. In total, these include 90 projects in 72 authorities. These projects are being developed through several stages of development and scrutiny with the assistance of Partnerships for Schools, 4ps, the Sorrell Foundation and CABE, other bodies and the Department.
Bournemouth and Poole, Essex, Kirklees, Telford and Wrekin and Wolverhampton are now developing their proposals prior to submitting an outline business case.
Birmingham and Kent have had outline business cases agreed and are in procurement for their first projects.
Stoke-on-Trent is currently reviewing its proposals after the Council’s Children and Young People’s Services were placed under Government intervention in October 2006.
Lancashire and Liverpool have provided robust final business cases, and have signed procurement contracts and schools in their projects are now being built.
Details of the progress of projects in waves one to five can now be found on the Partnerships for Schools website, at: www.p4s.org.uk and following the ‘Programme’ and then ‘Progress’ links.
The following authorities are prioritised in waves seven to 15 of the programme and have not yet entered it: Barnet, Bexley, Bromley, Buckinghamshire, Calderdale, Cumbria, Devon, Enfield, Gloucestershire, Kingston upon Thames, Lincolnshire, Medway, North Yorkshire, Plymouth, Reading, Redbridge, Slough, Southend, Sutton, Torbay, Trafford, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, and Wirral. These authorities will be given the opportunity for revising their expressions of interest later this year when we have consulted on management of these later waves of the programme, and detailed prioritisation will follow.
Capita
Mr. Gibb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 18 December 2007, Official Report, columns 1254-5W, on Capita, what the contract compliance process applied
by his Department in monitoring contracts with Capita and its subsidiaries is. [177165]
Kevin Brennan: The contract for the administration of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme is managed in accordance with detailed governance arrangements set out in the contract. These include measurement against key performance indicators, service improvement plans and performance related payment. The management of these arrangements is subject to regular audit by internal and external auditors and assessment by the Office of Government Commerce, through its Common Assessment Framework. The same compliance process applies to the Capita contract for National Strategies. In this case there is no payment related to performance because it is difficult to relate the specific contractual outputs directly to the educational outcomes we are trying to achieve.
Children in Care: General Certificate of Secondary Education
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of 16-year-olds in care obtained (a) at least one GCSE at any grade, (b) at least one GCSE at grades A* to C, (c) five GCSEs at any grade, (d) five GCSEs at grades A* to C and (e) five GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [196882]
Kevin Brennan: Data collected since 2000 and published in ‘Outcome Indicators for Looked After Children twelve months to 30 September’ show the GCSE performance or equivalents of children who were looked after for at least 12 months. The available information for England is shown in the table.
| GCSE performance or equivalents of children who are looked after continuously for at least 12 months in Year 11( 1) , 12 months ending 30 September 2000 to 2006, England | ||||||
| 1 GCSE at grade A*-G or a GNVC | 5 A*-C GCSE (or equivalent) | 5 A*-G GCSE grades (or equivalent) | ||||
| Number | Percentage( 2) | Number | Percentage( 2) | Number | Percentage( 2) | |
| (1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 if under 1,000, and to the nearest 100 if over 1,000. (2) Expressed as a percentage of all locked after children in Year 11. Source: OC2 Survey | ||||||
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