| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
21 July 2008 : Column 726W—continued
Occupational Health: Costs
Jo Swinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to (a) the economy and (b) the Exchequer of stress-related illnesses in the last year. [220749]
Angela Eagle: Dame Carol Black's review of the health of Britain's working age population estimated that the cost to the economy of sickness absence and worklessness associated with working age ill-health are over £100 billion a year, which includes stress related illness.
Olympic Games
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) Ministers and (b) officials from his Department plan to attend the Beijing Olympic Games; to what purpose in each case; and what estimate he has made of the cost. [212117]
Angela Eagle: I refer to the answer given to the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid-Kent (Hugh Robertson), the Shadow Sports and Olympics Minister on 19 May 2008, Official Report, columns 5-6W.
The number of Government officials attending has not yet been finalised.
Public Expenditure
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has set a date for the publication of the Government's factual paper on the Barnett Formula. [220077]
Yvette Cooper: No decision has been made yet on the date of publication.
Public Sector: Pay
Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) economic models and (b) mechanisms his Department uses to estimate the effect of average public sector pay increases on inflation. [203567]
Yvette Cooper: Government policy is to ensure that public sector pay settlements:
Reflect the individual labour market position of workforces, particularly their recruitment and retention position;
Are consistent with the achievement by the Bank of England of its CPI inflation target of 2 per cent.;
Are affordable for departments; and
Represent value for money for taxpayers.
Consistency with the inflation target does not mean that there is a specific number which is the target for pay awards. But it does mean that pay awards need to support low and stable inflation.
A wide range of factors can potentially impact on inflationary pressure. These factors are considered by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank England when setting interest rates to meet the inflation target. An assessment of inflationary pressures is available in the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report. The Treasury publishes its own inflation forecast in the Budget and the pre-Budget report.
Public Transport: Rural Areas
Mr. Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on spending on public transport in rural areas. [220311]
Yvette Cooper: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with their colleagues in other Departments and with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Revenue and Customs: Leave
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many HM Revenue and Customs staff or call centre staff have been asked to postpone leave arrangements in the last six months; how many have agreed to do so; and what (a) financial and (b) other compensation has been offered to them. [219866]
Jane Kennedy: The information requested is not available.
Revenue and Customs: Salisbury
Robert Key: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when in 2009 HM Revenue and Customs' lease on Alexandra House, Salisbury terminates; whether the office will be co-located with Jobcentre Plus officials at Summerlock House, Salisbury following the termination of the lease; and if he will make a statement. [219553]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC currently occupies Alexandra House, Salisbury under an agreement with HM Court Services who own the building but there is no lease arrangement. Court Services are seeking to sell the building and have recently given HMRC notice to leave by 29 May 2009. The sale of the building will not prejudice the outcome of a national review currently being carried out on the Department's property needs to match future business requirements. HMRC is seeking alternative accommodation in Salisbury to meet its future business requirements and is considering the suitability of a number of options, including the availability of Summerlock House. No decision about HMRC's future location in Salisbury has been taken yet.
Revenue and Customs: Vacancies
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in which HM Revenue and Customs operational areas in Wales there are staff shortages, broken down by role. [219970]
Jane Kennedy: Work is in progress through HMRC's Workforce Change Programme to address staff distribution requirements aligned to business transformation.
There is an ongoing recruitment exercise for a number of HMRC contact centres including Cardiff. In Wales specifically HMRC currently have 15 vacancies and these breakdown into the following grades: 11 higher officers, four officers.
These vacancies are in a number of business areas and are being advertised to existing staff, with priority given to pre-surplus staff.
Smuggling: Wildlife
Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many products made from endangered wildlife sources have been seized by HM Revenue and Customs in 2008 to date. [220039]
Jane Kennedy: HM Revenue and Customs made the following seizures of endangered species between 1 January 2008 and 31 March 2008:
CITES seizures are recorded by number of items seized or by weight, whichever is the most practical. Apart from the live specimens, all of the above categories may include products of endangered species.
The total number of seizures of endangered species items for the financial year 2007-08 can found at Annex F of HMRC's Departmental Report 2008 at:
Stamp Duty Land Tax: Tax Allowances
John Battle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many dwellings in (a) Leeds Metropolitan District and (b) Leeds West constituency have been subject to stamp duty tax relief on zero carbon homes. [220759]
Kitty Ussher: Since the stamp duty land tax relief for zero carbon homes was introduced in October 2007 nobody in the Leeds Metropolitan District or the Leeds West constituency has claimed the relief.
Taxation: Aviation
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made for benchmarking purposes of levels of taxes on passengers and flights in other European Union member states. [217988]
Angela Eagle: The Government are currently developing policy options following the announcement at pre-Budget report 2007 that air passenger duty would be replaced by a per plane duty in November 2009 and the formal consultation on this new tax, which considered all aspects of the operation of the duty, closed on 24 April. As part of this process, the Government will of course assess the level of taxes on passengers and flights in other European Union states.
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made for benchmarking purposes of aviation taxation systems in other European Union member states which generate revenue other than on an individual flight or passenger basis. [217989]
Angela Eagle: The Government are currently developing policy options following the announcement at pre-Budget report 2007 that air passenger duty would be replaced by a per plane duty in November 2009 and the formal consultation on this new tax, which considered all aspects of the operation of the duty closed on 24 April. As part of this process, the Government will of course assess systems of aviation taxation in other European Union states.
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent studies he has commissioned on the economic effects of aviation duty on the aviation industry. [217990]
Angela Eagle: The Government are currently developing policy options following the announcement at pre-Budget report 2007 that air passenger duty would be replaced by a per plane duty in November 2009 and the formal consultation on this new tax, which considered all aspects of the operation of the duty, closed on 24 April. As part of this process, the Treasury is working with the Department for Transport and with key industry stakeholders to assess the economic effects of the aviation duty on the aviation industry.
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent studies he has commissioned to evaluate the effect of UK aviation taxation on UK businesses competing with other businesses in Europe and globally. [217991]
Angela Eagle: The Government are currently developing policy options following the announcement at pre-Budget report 2007 that air passenger duty would be replaced by a per plane duty in November 2009 and the formal consultation on this new tax, which considered all aspects of the operation of the duty, closed on 24 April. As part of this process, the Government are working with key stakeholders to assess the likely effects of the aviation duty on the wider economy.
Taxation: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many compliance enquiries following the receipt of a P810 form were carried out in Wales in each of the last five years. [219968]
Jane Kennedy: The requested information is not available.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate HM Revenue and Customs has made of the loss of revenue to the Exchequer arising from (a) unprocessed and (b) destroyed P810 forms in each of the last five years. [219969]
Jane Kennedy: The information requested is not available.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many P810 forms have been received from people resident in Wales in each month of the last five years; on how many of these forms action has not been taken; how many such forms have been destroyed; and on what date the destroyed forms were (a) received and (b) destroyed. [219971]
Jane Kennedy: The requested information on the numbers of Welsh residents who have received or completed a form P810 is not available.
Once a form P810 (Tax Review Form) has been dealt it is retained for the tax year it was received plus two full tax years.
Valuation Office
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2008, Official Report, column 1629W, on the Valuation Office, how many households in England received a visit from a Valuation Office Agency official in the most recent (a) year and (b) other period for which figures are available. [218268]
Jane Kennedy: For the last year, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 21 April 2008, Official Report, column 1688W. The approximate number of visits in other periods for which figures are available are 110,000 in 2005 and 125,000 in 2006.
Working Tax Credit
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which HM Revenue and Customs enquiry centres are piloting the face to face interviews in working tax credit take-up. [219759]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC’s Enquiry Centres at Belfast, Cosham (near Portsmouth), Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Newport (Gwent) participated in a pilot during May and June 2008 designed to encourage the take-up of working tax credit.
Working Tax Credit: Halifax
Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Halifax received working tax credit in 2007-08. [220148]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC do not produce these statistics separately for child tax credit and working tax credit.
Estimates of the number of families with tax credit awards in 2006-07 in each constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes, are available in the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards 2006-07. Geographical Analyses”. This publication is available on the HMRC website at:
The same information for 2007-08 is not yet available because awards have not yet been finalised.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |