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30 Apr 2008 : Column 471W—continued
Treasury
Bankruptcy
Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will re-evaluate what the appropriateness of the length of the time that statutory demands normal term is before an action for bankruptcy is pursued. [202426]
Mr. McFadden: I have been asked to reply.
The ability to ask the court to make a bankruptcy order on the basis of the failure to comply with a statutory demand within the required period has been a feature of insolvency legislation for over 20 years.
The Insolvency Service has recently been conducting a review of its secondary legislation. In that process, it has consulted a wide-ranging group of stakeholders on proposed changes, sought views generally and has received no representations on this subject. We see no reason for any change.
Child Benefit
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of increasing child benefit for the first child by (a) £3, (b) £3.25, (c) £3.50, (d) £3.75, (e) £4, (f) £4.25, (g) £4.50, (h) £4.75 and (i) £5 for (i) 2009, (ii) 2010, (iii) 2011 and (iv) 2012. [200257]
Jane Kennedy: The estimated annual cost of increasing the first child rate by the requested amounts is shown in the following table:
| Estimated increase in annual expenditure (£ billion) | |
Population projections imply a relatively constant number of families claiming child benefit each year, around 7.4 million, so we would not expect this cost to vary considerably for each year to 2012.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value of child benefit for the first child was as a proportion of average earnings in each year since 1997. [200841]
Jane Kennedy: The value of child benefit for the first child as a proportion of employee median earnings is shown in the following table.
| Child benefit first child rate (£) | All employee median weekly earnings (£) | Proportion (Percentage) | |
Child benefit first child rate will increase to £20 per week in April 2009.
Child Benefit: Expenditure
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of likely expenditure on child benefit in each year until 2012. [200258]
Jane Kennedy: The projected annual expenditure on child benefit is shown in the following table:
| Expenditure (£ million) | |
These projections are based on indexation of the current first and subsequent child rates of child benefit in line with prices, and projections of the number of children in the UK from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It also takes into account the Budget 2008 measure of increasing the first child rate to £20.
Retail Price Index assumptions may be found in Table C3: Economic assumptions for the public finance projections in Budget 2008:
ONS population projections may be found at:
The projections are not a statement of Government policy in relation to financial support for children, and the Government remains committed to meeting its targets to halve child poverty by 2010-11 and eradicate it by 2020-21.
Child Benefit: Personal Records
James Brokenshire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many officials of (a) his Department and (b) HM Revenue and Customs have been disciplined or dismissed for (i) alleged breaches of data protection requirements and (ii) inappropriate use of personal or sensitive data in each of the last three years for which information is available. [167991]
Jane Kennedy: HM Treasury predominately hold personal data for their staff in connection with their responsibility as an employer. In the last three years, no HM Treasury staff have been disciplined or dismissed for inappropriate access to personal or sensitive data.
HMRC has a strict policy forbidding staff to access customer records, unless they have a legitimate business need. Breaches of this policy are taken seriously and any breach will result in the commencement of disciplinary proceedings. Each case is treated on its merits but in many cases the disciplinary penalty for breach is dismissal.
The number of HMRC staff who have been disciplined or dismissed for inappropriate access to personal or sensitive data during the three years since HMRC was established in April 2005 are as follows and reflect the strength of HMRC’s internal disciplinary procedures.
| Number | |
However, these figures still represent less than 1 per cent. of total staff for each of the three years in question.
Cycling
Rob Marris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether (a) his Department and (b) his Department’s non-departmental public bodies provide (i) tax-free benefits and (ii) other allowances for their staff to purchase bicycles under the Cycle to Work Scheme; and if he will make a statement. [197000]
Angela Eagle: The Treasury does offer a cycle to work scheme to its employees. This scheme supports employees in taking greener journeys, by enabling employers to loan a cycle to an employee. In HM Treasury the period of loan is 12 months.
The Treasury also offers an interest free loan repayable over up to 12 months for employees to purchase a cycle.
Data Protection
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 27 February 2008, Official Report, column 1642W, on data protection, whether there is a separate line management process for HM Revenue and Customs data guardians. [195910]
Jane Kennedy: Data guardians sit within each HMRC business units’ usual line management chain. The director of each business unit in HMRC is ultimately accountable for the data security arrangements in their respective business unit and as the principal accounting officer for HMRC, the chairman has ultimate responsibility for data security.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2008, Official Report, column 1642W, on data protection, how many full-time equivalent data guardians HM Revenue and Customs has. [195912]
Jane Kennedy: All staff in HMRC have a personal responsibility for protecting the data in their care in line with the Data Protection Act. For further advice staff can refer to their data guardian, each of whom has responsibility for the data security arrangements in a particular HMRC business unit.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employees of each grade in his Department (a) have access to confidential or sensitive data and (b) are authorised to download such data to disc; how many of his Department’s employees have undergone data protection training in the last 12 months; what the average length of time is that each employee of (i) his Department and (ii) his Department’s agencies has spent on data protection training; how many investigations of employees of his Department for improperly accessing confidential information have taken place in the last 12 months; how many such investigations resulted in cases of disciplinary action; and what the circumstances of each of those cases were. [168284]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC provides its staff with controlled access to customer information to facilitate the delivery and maintenance of service to customers.
Access to HMRC systems is assigned according to user-roles within the organisation, and not grade. Information on users according to grade is not available and could be collated only at a disproportionate cost.
HMRC and its agency the Valuation Office Agency have in place a range of measures and procedures in relation to training and guidance on data protection and data security and transfer. Information on number of staff who have undergone training, the length of time spent by each and the cost of training is not available and could be collated only at a disproportionate cost.
HMRC has a strict policy forbidding staff to access customer records, unless they have a legitimate business need. Breaches of this policy are taken seriously and any breach will result in the commencement of
disciplinary proceedings. Each case is treated on its merits but in many cases, the disciplinary penalty for breach is dismissal.
During the year ended 31 December 2007, 192 HMRC staff—from a headcount of just over 90,000—were disciplined or dismissed for inappropriate access to personal or sensitive data, reflecting the strength of HMRC’s internal disciplinary procedure. However, this represents less than 1 per cent. of total staff for each of the three years in question.
No other information is available on the breakdowns requested in this question.
Mr. Vara: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many breaches of data protection security there were in (a) his Department and (b) his Department’s agencies in each of the last five years; and if he will provide details of each breach. [168940]
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many security breaches relating to access to personal data occurred within his Department in each year since 1997. [169712]
Mr. Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many confirmed data security breaches there have been in his Department in the last 36 months; and what action was taken after each occurrence. [170244]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC records security incidents and does not record information in the form requested.
Since April 2005, HMRC has discussed 11 data security incidents involving customer information with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a matter of good practice and to ensure appropriate lessons are learned from such incidents.
HMRC has introduced more stringent controls which require that transfers of bulk data on removable media only take place where there is adequate security protection. The transfer of personal data only takes place when it is essential to do so due to a business critical need or in order to meet the HMRC’s legal obligations.
No such security incidents have been recorded by the Treasury, the Office of Government Commerce or the Debt Management Office.
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