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6 Oct 2008 : Column 379W—continued
The latest staffing projections for Southend were published in May 2008 and indicate that about 1,600 HMRC staff will be needed there by 2011.
Schools
Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of materials his Department has distributed to schools in the last three years. [223958]
Ian Pearson: HM Treasury has not published or distributed any publications to schools in the last three years.
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the effect of trends in the levels of house prices on stamp duty receipts. [222936]
Ian Pearson: Data on stamp duty receipts up to 2007—the most recent year for which figures are published—can be found at
Data on house prices up to the end of quarter 2 of 2008 can be found at
The Treasury does not publish forecasts of house prices and transactions.
Stamp Duty Land Tax: Tax Allowances
Justine Greening: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many homes qualified for the zero carbon home stamp duty relief since its inception, broken down by constituency; and if he will make a statement. [222727]
Ian Pearson: The Treasury does not publish the information broken down by constituency.
Stamp Duty: Marriage
Mr. Todd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on the effects of the application of stamp duty to the transfer of property on the separation of unmarried partners who own a property jointly; and if he will make a statement. [221696]
Ian Pearson: No representations have been received recently regarding the application of stamp duty to the transfer of property on the separation of unmarried partners who own a property jointly.
Stress
Mr. Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements his Department has in place to assist officials to overcome the effects of stress experienced in the workplace. [222180]
Angela Eagle: HM Treasury is committed to the well-being of its employees. It has policies and services in place to manage stress at work. Information and training is being provided to all employees on the prevention, recognition and management of stress at work. A Stress Steering Group, chaired by a senior official and involving the trade unions is leading the implementation of the Health and Safety Executive's stress management standards.
Taxation: Fuels
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the effect on revenue to the Exchequer of (a) petroleum revenue tax and (b) value added tax from increased oil prices since the 2008 Budget. [222943]
Angela Eagle: Updated estimates for petroleum revenue tax and value added tax receipts will be published in the forthcoming pre-Budget report.
Valuation Office
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the Answer to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath of 12 October 2006, Official Report, column 887W, on the Valuation Office Agency, and the Answer to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 8 October 2007, Official Report, columns 226-27W, on housing: valuation, whether the ACORN data were used in whole or in part by the Valuation Office Agency to assist with the division of the country into the 10,000 localities. [222877]
Jane Kennedy: ACORN data were found to be of limited practical value to this task and was not a key determinant of the extent of localities.
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 30 October 2006, Official Report, column 51W, on the Valuation Office Agency, how much has been spent by the Valuation Office Agency on ACORN data from CACI Ltd; and when the last dataset update was provided to the Agency. [222878]
Jane Kennedy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) on 12 October 2006, Official Report, column 881W. No dataset update has been provided and, accordingly, the Agency has spent no additional money on acquiring ACORN data.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of the meeting of the Valuation Office Agency’s National Ratepayers’ Valuation Forum of 11 March 2008. [222916]
Jane Kennedy: The minutes of the meeting of the National Ratepayers Forum of 11 March 2008 are available on the Valuation Office Agency website at:
Valuation Office: Databases
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 24 June 2008, Official Report, columns 258-9W, on the Valuation Office: databases, whether the information being provided to the Valuation Office Agency by Ordnance Survey is in respect of (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) both. [223077]
Jane Kennedy: The information being provided to the Valuation Office Agency by Ordnance Survey is in respect of both England and Wales.
Valuation Office: ICT
Mrs. Lait:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Fareham of 3 July 2008, Official Report, column
1015W, on departmental ICT, what contracts with an IT component the Valuation Office Agency has entered into in the last five years. [223078]
Jane Kennedy: The primary ICT contracts for the VOA are via the HMRC Aspire and Sprint contracts; the majority of 3rd party procurement is through these existing contract frameworks, although a small system contract has been entered into separately:
Development and maintenance of time recording and case management system (TRACS software (incl. Panasonic data (barcode) scanners)) with TMS.
Valuation Office: Rightmove
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 19 June 2008, Official Report, columns 1106-07W, on the Valuation Office Agency: Rightmove, whether Rightmove.co.uk plc is supplying current property data to the Valuation Office Agency. [223079]
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 19 June 2008, Official Report, columns 1106-07W, on the Valuation Office Agency: Rightmove, what the date is by which the Valuation Office Agency and HM Revenue and Customs acting on the Agency’s behalf must take an operational decision on whether to extend the contract with Rightmove. [223080]
Jane Kennedy: No date is specified in the contract relating to when a decision to extend must be taken.
Welfare Tax Credits
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effectiveness of tax credits in meeting their objectives in the last three years. [222834]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC undertakes a range of research about the tax credits system. Details of planned and ongoing research as well as research findings are published on the HMRC website at:
Welfare Tax Credits: Bolton
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many residents of Bolton North East constituency made a claim for a tax credit in (a) 2006 and (b) 2007. [222833]
Jane Kennedy: Information on the number of applications made for tax credits by constituency is not available.
However, estimates of the average number of families with tax credit awards in 2005-06 and 2006-07 in each constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes, are available in the HMRC publications “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics
Finalised Annual Awards. Geographical Analyses”, for each relevant financial year. These are available on the HMRC website at:
The same information for 2007-08 is not yet available because awards have not yet been finalised.
Welfare Tax Credits: ICT
Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many cases of tax credit administration the computer system has been incapable of producing a result and the case has been transferred to manual management in the latest period for which figures are available. [222025]
Jane Kennedy: Out of the six million households in receipt of tax credits, around 20,000 were being dealt with clerically at the end of June 2008.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to answer Question 210664 on vehicle excise duty tabled on 9 June 2008 by the hon. Member for Southend West; what the reason for the time taken to reply is; what steps he (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to answer written parliamentary questions within a working week of them being tabled; and if he will make a statement. [222369]
Angela Eagle: I answered the hon. Gentleman’s question on 21 July 2008, Official Report, columns 722-6W and regret not being in a position to have done so earlier. Treasury Ministers endeavour to answer parliamentary questions promptly, wherever possible.
Written Answers to Questions
Monday 6 October 2008
Health
Abortion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2008, Official Report, column 521W, on abortion, for what reasons a written record of discussions with the organisations referred to is not available; and if he will make a statement. [222228]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department does not hold a formal record of each of the individual interviews that took place. However, some of the information obtained from those discussions was used to develop the partial regulatory impact assessment.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 15 July 2008, Official Report, column 330W, on abortion, if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidance listed; and if he will make a statement. [222229]
Dawn Primarolo: Further to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) on 15 July 2008, Official Report, column 330W, a copy of the listed guidance has been placed in the Library, as requested.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 15 July 2008, Official Report, column 330W, on abortion, on what date the document Good Practice Guidance for the Commissioning of Contraception and Abortion Services will be published; if he will place copies of this document in (a) the Vote Office and (b) the Printed Paper Office; and if he will make a statement. [222230]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Department's forthcoming document "Good Practice Guidance for the Commissioning of Contraception and Abortion Services" will be published in the autumn. A publication date is yet to be agreed. Copies will be placed in the Library and will be made available to hon. Members and Peers in the Vote Office and Printed Paper Office as requested.
Accidents
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the work undertaken by the Accidental Injury Prevention Programme in his Department; and how many officials in his Department have responsibility for this programme, broken down by (a) pay band and (b) location. [222235]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department, in partnership with stakeholders including other Government Departments, has been working to prevent accidental injury and to promote safety. For example, the National Service Frameworks for Children and Older People, through their standards for health and well-being, recognise the importance of unintentional injury and the need for prevention initiatives led by the NHS in partnership with local authorities. The Department has also asked the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to develop a suite of guidance on the prevention of unintentional injury in children under 15 year olds. It is also working with Department for Children, Schools and Families on its cross-government Public Service Agreement to improve children and young people's safety.
There are five officials in the central Department who, as part of their duties, have direct responsibility for the coordination of accident prevention, as shown in the following table .
| Pay Band | Number | Location |
Alcoholic Drinks: Consumption
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what account was taken of the conclusions of his Department’s inter-departmental working group on sensible drinking published in December 1995 in formulating the Government’s policy on alcohol consumption; and if he will make a statement. [222325]
Dawn Primarolo: The report of the conclusions of the Department’s inter-departmental working group on sensible drinking, “Sensible Drinking”, were published in December 1995 and drew upon a wide range of research, epidemiological evidence, expert consensus and advice, including reports from various Royal Colleges, in considering the relative risks and potential benefits of alcohol consumption to both health and mortality.
The Government fully accepted the group’s conclusions and their findings remain the basis for our advice, that men should not regularly exceed 3-4 units daily and women 2-3 units daily.
The Government continue to keep under review the emergence of any major new evidence on risks relating to alcohol consumption, to ensure guidance remains up to date. For example, when new evidence concerning alcohol and pregnancy was identified the CMO issued revised advice on 25 May 2007.
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effects on health of moderate alcohol consumption and its contribution to the prevention of coronary heart disease; and if he will make a statement. [222327]
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