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21 Apr 2008 : Column 1685W—continued
The abolition of this rule will mean that in most cases there will be no stamp duty land tax due upfront for shared ownership schemes. Indeed in the vast majority of cases no stamp duty land tax will be due until the purchaser has acquired at least 80 per cent. of
the property. This will support the Government's affordable housing agenda of assisting at least 25,000 households into homeownership through shared ownership and shared equity schemes.
The open market homebuy scheme is not a shared ownership scheme and will not therefore be affected by our amendment to the stamp duty land tax treatment of shared ownership purchasers. Shared equity schemes, such as the open market homebuy scheme, operate a different structure to shared ownership. Under shared equity schemes the purchaser owns one 100 per cent. of the property from the outset with the help of additional mortgage finance from the Government. The stamp duty land tax treatment of shared equity schemes is no different to the stamp duty land tax treatment of a property bought in the conventional way.
Tax Avoidance: Self-employed
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how HM Revenue and Customs defines bogus self-employment in the construction industry. [199094]
Jane Kennedy: There is no statutory definition for tax and national insurance purposes of employment or self employment. Whether a worker is employed or self-employed is determined on the basis of criteria established by judicial decisions. HM Revenue and Customs regards “bogus self-employment” as describing an engagement where the worker is incorrectly treated by the engager as self-employed.
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the number of construction workers who are bogus self-employed; [199096]
(2) what estimate he has made of the national insurance and tax revenue foregone to the Treasury as a result of bogus self-employment in the construction industry in each of the last five financial years. [199097]
Angela Eagle: HM Revenue and Customs believes that there could be up to 200,000 workers in the construction industry who are incorrectly being treated by their engagers as self-employed. We estimate that the consequent Exchequer loss currently is around £350 million per annum. No estimates of the Exchequer loss for earlier years have been made.
Information from the Office for National Statistics(1) for the fourth quarter of 2007 estimates that there are around 1,450,000 employees and around 850,000 self-employed working in the construction industry.
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, collects no specific data on workers within the construction industry.
(1)( )From the Labour Force Survey
Taxation: Aviation
Justine Greening: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the change in the number of flights into and out of UK airports in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11 as a result of the per plane duty due to come into effect from November 2009; [200049]
(2) what estimate he has made of likely changes in total carbon dioxide emissions from aviation in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11, as a result of the duty payable per plane due to come into effect from November 2009. [200050]
Angela Eagle: At pre-Budget report 2007, the Chancellor announced that air passenger duty would be replaced by a duty payable per plane, rather than per passenger, on 1 November 2009. This will ensure that the duty sends a stronger environmental signal, and is more closely correlated to environmental impacts. A consultation on the design of the new duty was published on 31 January 2008, and is available on the HM Treasury website.
The public consultation period will close on 24 April 2008. However, the final design of the new duty—and the associated rates—will not be decided until after all of the evidence submitted during the consultation period has been considered and the policy development process is complete. It is therefore not yet possible to estimate the changes in flight numbers as a result of the new duty. Similarly, it is not possible to calculate the changes in carbon dioxide level that will take place as a result of the new duty.
Taxation: Betting
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much taxation revenue was generated from machines in Tote betting shops in each of the last five years. [199015]
Angela Eagle: Due to HM Revenue and Custom's duty to maintain tax payer confidentiality information on tax revenues for individual operators cannot be released.
Taxation: Leisure
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what information his Department holds for tax purposes on the number of leisure centres which do not charge extra for the use of spas and saunas but include their cost within the charge for swimming; [199295]
(2) what assessment he has made of the likely effect of the levying of back-dated VAT charges on leisure centres which allowed free access to spas or saunas to British Olympic competitors and paralympic competitors. [199294]
Jane Kennedy: Neither HM Treasury nor HM Revenue and Customs hold such information.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 2 April 2008, Official Report, column 972W.
Taxation: Self-assessment
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individual self-assessment tax returns (a) completed online and (b) received in hard copy were recorded as lost in the last year for which figures are available. [199004]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 11 March 2008, Official Report, column 370W.
Valuation Office
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Chislehurst (Robert Neill) of 14 March 2008, Official Report, column 719W, on Valuation Office, what the timetable is for the Agency to decide whether to introduce a records management system. [198912]
Jane Kennedy: The Valuation Office Agency has commissioned its IT partner to investigate possible electronic document and records management (EDRM) solutions. Until the proposal in respect of this is received, there is no specified timetable for the Agency to reach a decision.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many householders in England received a visit from a Valuation Office Agency representative in 2007. [199113]
Jane Kennedy: Approximately 140,000 dwellings in England received a visit from a member of Valuation Office Agency staff in 2007 in the course of it undertaking its valuation responsibilities for council tax, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, 'right to buy' and other functions requiring the inspection of property.
Valuation Office: Cole Layer Trumble
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2008, Official Report, column 507W, on Valuation Office: Cole Layer Trumble, what the notional cost is to the public purse for the consultancy services provided by Cole Layer Trumble in the last 12 months; and how much of that cost was attributable to the ASPIRE contract. [198913]
Jane Kennedy: The notional cost for the consultancy services provided by Cole Layer Trumble in 2007-08 amounts to £63,271. This cost is attributable to the ASPIRE contract.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2008, Official Report, column 507W, on Valuation Office: Cole Layer Trumble, whether the consultancy work undertaken in the last 12 months on automated valuation modelling techniques related to (a) council tax valuations and (b) business rate valuations. [198914]
Jane Kennedy: Consultancy advice from Cole Layer Trumble related to various technical aspects of automated valuation modelling. It was not directly related to either (a) council tax valuations or (b) business rates valuations.
Valuation Office: Geographical Information Systems
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2008, Official Report, column 1226W, on Valuation Office: ICT, whether the proposed Geographic Information System will make use of data from (a) Ordnance Survey, (b) aerial photography, (c) satellite photography, (d) MOSAIC and (e) ACORN. [199114]
Jane Kennedy: The Valuation Office Agency's proposed Geographical Information System will make use of mapping data licensed from Ordnance Survey. The use of aerial photography, satellite photography, MOSAIC or ACORN data is not within the scope of the proposed solution.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) planned cost was and (b) most recently estimated cost is of the Valuation Office Agency's Geographical Information System. [199017]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury on 17 March 2008, Official Report, column 887W. No further cost estimates have been received.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) original completion date was and (b) most recent expected completion date is of the Valuation Office Agency's Geographical Information System. [199018]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury on 17 March 2008, Official Report, column 887W. No further amendments to the completion dates have been received.
Valuation Office: ICT
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 8 January 2008, Official Report, column 508W, on Valuation Office: ICT, what the average geographical size is of each of the 10,000 localities. [198918]
Jane Kennedy: There are approximately 10,000 localities covering the whole of England (approximately 50,350 square miles). Therefore the approximate average geographical size of a locality is 5.04 square miles.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) expected cost, (b) function and (c) expected completion date is of the Valuation Office Agency's electronic communications project. [198985]
Jane Kennedy: The VOA does not have an “electronic communications project”.
Valuation Office: Measuring Instruments
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) tape measures and (b) laser measuring devices the Valuation Office Agency has purchased in the last 24 months; and at what cost in each case. [199287]
Jane Kennedy: The Valuation Office Agency undertakes various types of valuation and surveying work on behalf of a number of public sector clients for a wide range of purposes and requires the appropriate professional equipment to perform these roles effectively.
The Agency purchases its surveying equipment from a designated supplier. The total annual spend in the last two financial years is as follows:
2006-07: £16,065
2007-08: £209,171
The nature of the equipment and the time it was purchased lead to annual variations in expenditure.
It is not possible to break these figures down into individual category purchases, except at disproportionate cost.
Valuation Office: Video Recordings
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any internal videos have been produced or updated by the Valuation Office Agency since 8 January. [198916]
Jane Kennedy: No videos have been updated; one video for internal use has been produced since 8 January 2008.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2008, Official Report, column 1018W, and 8 January 2008, Official Report, column 509W, on Valuation Office: video recordings, if he will place copies of the 23 other internal staff videos in the Library. [198917]
Jane Kennedy: The internal videos are both aimed at, and feature, VOA staff. Release of the videos would be considered unfair within the first data protection principle, as staff would have had a reasonable expectation that they were contributing to a video only for internal VOA use. The process of obtaining permissions and/or making necessary redactions could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Valuation: Conservatories
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many domestic properties in England are classified with a dwellinghouse code of (a) Conservatory Type: D, (b) Conservatory Type: S, (c) Conservatory Type: G and (d) Conservatory Type: U, according to figures held by the Valuation Office Agency. [199116]
Jane Kennedy: As at 2 April 2008 the number of domestic dwellings in England for which the Valuation Office Agency has assigned these dwellinghouse codes are (a) 106,497, (b) 43,576, (c) 62,469 and (d) 555,800.
VAT Exemptions
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2008, Official Report, column 371W, on VAT exemptions, what assessment he has made of the effects of VAT exemption for supplies of certain services linked to sport by not-for-profit organisations on competition in the market for local authority leisure management, as defined under Article 133(d) of the EC Principal VAT Directive. [198809]
Jane Kennedy: Officials from HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs have met with representatives of private sector leisure providers to discuss the current VAT exemption for supplies relating to sport and physical education, and its impact on competition. Officials are also in regular discussion with local authority representatives on a range of VAT issues. Like all taxes, this VAT exemption is kept under review against the Government's broader objectives, which include increasing participation in sport.
Voluntary Work
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2008, Official Report, column 50W, on voluntary pay, what the organisations are for which members of his Department have volunteered while on special leave. [199008]
Angela Eagle: The Treasury actively promotes employee volunteering and the 2007 Treasury staff survey reported that 30 per cent. of current Treasury staff volunteer. However the detailed information sought by the hon. Member is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Welfare Tax Credits: Telephone Services
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on the claimants' tax hotline returning calls to customers; and if he will place guidance issued to helpline operatives in the Library. [194474]
Jane Kennedy: The tax credit helpline along with other HMRC Contact Centre services are designed to deal primarily with a large number of incoming telephone calls. HMRC contact centres expect to handle around 59 million phone calls this year. HMRC do not have a formal policy to cover each and every circumstance when they may need to return calls to customers.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent on running the (a) claimants' and (b) hon. Members' tax credit helpline in each year since 2003, broken down by (i) staffing budget and pensions contributions, (ii) administration, (iii) facilities, (iv) training and (v) other. [194487]
Jane Kennedy: The staffing cost for the tax credit helpline is estimated to be £93.5 million for 2006-07. The full year figures for 2007-08 are not yet available. Figures for earlier years are not available.
The other data are not available in the format requested.
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