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10 July 2008 : Column 1785W—continued
Revenue and Customs: Buildings
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what projected savings HM Revenue and Customs plan to obtain through the sale of buildings over the next three years. [216719]
Jane Kennedy: HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Change Programme is designed to consolidate the estate following the merger of Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise and to match the accommodation to future business needs. The overall aim of the programme is to provide better service at a lower cost to the taxpayer and although estate savings are important they are not the primary driver.
HMRC does not plan to obtain any further savings through the sale of buildings over the next three years.
Under the Strategic Transfer of the Estate to the Private Sector (STEPS) outsourcing deal with Mapeley STEPS Contractor Limited in April 2001, ownership of most of the properties formerly owned by Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise transferred to Mapeley.
HMRC does not make savings as a result of the sale of a property transferred to Mapeley.
Revenue and Customs: Wales
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what savings HM Revenue and Customs plans to make through (a) staff headcount reductions and (b) asset disposal at its Brecon tax office in the next 12 months. [217147]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 8 July 2008]: Proposals for the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office at Government Buildings, Brecon, along with other individual locations in Wales, were published on 11 June 2008. The office is proposed for vacation, but final decisions are not expected until later this year.
Valuation Office: Standards
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Valuation Office Agency's targets for (a) elapsed time on council tax reports, (b) banding accuracy and (c) rateable value loss are. [217801]
Jane Kennedy: This information is provided in the VOA forward plan available from the Library and in the listed publications on the VOA website:
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 22 May 2008, Official Report, column 440W, on tax credits to deceased claimants, if he will publish the data for the cost to the public purse of tax credits paid to deceased persons for 2006-07. [215386]
Jane Kennedy: Around £2 million was overpaid in tax credits in 2006-07, where the award ceased due to the death of an applicant.
This can occur due to the time taken to notify HMRC of a death.
Justice
Dangerous Driving: Prosecutions
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for causing death by careless driving in the last 12 months. [217650]
Maria Eagle: Section 20 of the Road Safety Act 2006, which introduced the new offence of causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving has not yet been implemented. The new offence will be implemented after the Sentencing Guidelines Council has published guidelines for the courts. Any information on the number of prosecutions and convictions for this offence will not be available before late 2009.
Employment Tribunals Service
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance his Department has issued on whether it is appropriate for an employment tribunal to be chaired by a relative of the person who has brought the case under consideration. [216904]
Bridget Prentice: It is central to the justice system that decisions are taken by independent individuals and this is the policy for employment tribunals. Issues of conflict of interest or appearance of bias are taken into consideration when a panel is appointed.
Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act: Prosecutions
Mr. Love:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prosecutions have been brought under the
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000; how many convictions there have been for offences under the Act; what the sentences were in each case; what the donations were in each such case; how many such cases involved late declarations; and what the delay in declaration was in each such case. [216814]
Maria Eagle: The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts, found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA), for the years 2004 to 2006 can be viewed in the following table.
There were no prosecutions or convictions under PPERA between 2000 and 2003.
The data held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on court proceedings does not contain information about the circumstances behind each case, beyond the description provided in the statute under which prosecutions are brought. For example, it is not possible to identify: how many such cases involved impermissible donations; or what donations were in each case.
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 came into force in November 2000.
These data are on the principal offence basis. The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available in the autumn of 2008.
| Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts, found guilty and sentenced at all courts for offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 in England and Wales, 2004 to 2006( 1,2,3,4,5,6) | ||||
| Statute | Offence description | Proceeded against | Found guilty | Sentenced |
| Sentence breakdown | ||||||||
| Statute | Offence description | Absolute discharge | Conditional discharge | Fine | Community sentence | Fully suspended sentence | Immediate custody | Otherwise dealt with |
| (1) There were no prosecutions or convictions under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 between 2000 and 2003. (2) These data are on the principal offence basis. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) The sentenced column may have different figures compared to found guilty, as it may be the case that a defendant found guilty and committed for sentence at the Crown court may be sentenced in the following year. (5) The following sections of the Act are triable either way offences: 43(7) Failing to deliver report of auditor removal/resignation 44(4) Making false statement to auditor 54(5) Fail to provide information about donation/donor to party 54(6) Agent failing to provide information to party about donor 56(3) & Sch. 20 Registered party fail to return impermissible donation 56(3) & Sch. 20 Treasurer fail to return impermissible donation 56(3) & Sch. 20 Treasurer fait to return donation by unidentifiable donor 61(1) & Sch. 20 Enter arrangement facilitating impermissible donation 61(1) & Sch. 20 Act in furtherance of an arrangement facilitating impermissible donation 61(2)(a) & Sch. 20 Give treasurer false information about donation 61(2)(b) & Sch. 20 Withhold from treasurer false information about donation 65(4) & Sch. 20 Fail to comply with donation reports requirements 66(5) & Sch. 20 False declaration in donation report 68(5)(a) & Sch. 20 Individual donor fall to report multiple small donations 68(5)(a) & Sch. 20 Non-individual donor fail to report multiple small donations 68(5)(b) & Sch. 20 Deliver out of time/complete report declaring multiple donations 66(5)(c) & Sch. 20 Failure to declare multiple small donations 73(85) & Sch. 20 Make false declaration of campaign expenditure. (6) The following sections of the Act are summary offences: 24(8) Political party treasurer convicted of offences 39 Making false statement to electoral commission 47(l)(a) Fail to deliver proper statement of accounts 47(l)(b) Fail to deliver statement of accounts before end of relevant period 65(3) & Sch. 20 Treasurer fail to deliver donation report within 30 days 65(3) & Sch. 20 Treasurer fail to deliver donation report within seven days. Source: CJEAU—Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice. | ||||||||
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