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20 Oct 2008 : Column 138W—continued
Equitable Life
Mr. Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to respond to the Parliamentary Ombudsman's report on the regulatory supervision of Equitable Life; and if he will make a statement. [227289]
Ian Pearson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 13 October, Official Report, column 1000W.
Excise Duties: Fuels
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what net revenue was generated in 2007-08 from excise duty on (a) petrol, (b) diesel and (c) red diesel. [227884]
Angela Eagle: Historical excise duty receipts from diesel, petrol and red diesel (also referred to as gas oil) can be found in table 3 of the HM Revenue and Customs Hydrocarbon Oils Bulletin, a copy of which can be found at:
Housing: Owner Occupation
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment the Financial Services Authority has made of the level of risk of buying a house. [225444]
Ian Pearson: The FSA publishes information for consumers aimed at highlighting the risks involved in buying a home, available at:
Interest Rates
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next expects to meet the Governor of the Bank of England to discuss the level of UK interest rates; and if he will make a statement. [228790]
Ian Pearson:
The Government do not comment on or have input into, individual interest rate decisions taken by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of
England. To do so would compromise the arrangements for independence of the Bank of England that the Government put in place in 1997 and would squander the credibility gains that have resulted from those arrangements.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer regularly has meetings with the Governor of the Bank of England, to discuss a wide range of issues.
Pension Funds: Housing
Mr. Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to review his Department's decision not to allow the inclusion of residential property in pension funds. [227080]
Ian Pearson: The Government support the ability to choose a diverse range of assets to support pension saving in registered pension schemes.
Most registered pension schemes can already invest directly in residential property without any tax disadvantage and all pension schemes can invest indirectly in residential property without tax disadvantage.
Scheme members may not use tax relieved funds for personal use items such as second homes.
Private Finance Initiative
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many private finance initiative projects have not met their contractual obligations; for how many projects contracts have been re-registered; and how many projects have reverted to public ownership. [226335]
Yvette Cooper: A principle of PFI contracts is to protect the public sector from poor service delivery. This is achieved through the operation of the payment mechanism. Should a service provided through a PFI contract not meet the standard specified, the authority may make reductions in payments to the contractor in order to create an incentive to improve performance. Where this proves insufficient, it is possible that the PFI provider may be replaced by the funders. If that fails to resolve matters, it is possible for the contract to be terminated by the authority.
The Treasury does not hold information centrally on projects where this has occurred.
Tax Credit
James Duddridge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of those registered for tax credits were receiving payments in the most recent period for which figures are available. [225753]
Mr. Timms: Information on the number of families benefiting from tax credits as at April 2008 is reported in the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics April 2008”. This publication is available on the HMRC website at:
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many TC647 forms have been produced since their introduction; and how many unused forms have been (a) discarded and (b) recycled since their introduction; [227947]
(2) whether tax credits claimants are entitled to receive form TC647 on request. [227948]
Mr. Timms: For information on the number of forms produced up to and including 2007-08 I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor gave him on 21 May 2008, Official Report, column 307W. Around 1,000 such notices have been issued in 2008-09 to date.
TC647 calculation notices for tax credits awards made prior to 6 April 2006 are produced as a result of requests made by tax credits customers. Information is not kept on the number of TC647s discarded or recycled.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures his Department has taken to ensure that staff working in tax credit helpline call centres are trained about claimants’ entitlement to be sent TC647 forms. [227949]
Mr. Timms: Advisers working on the tax credits helpline have access to on-line support and advice tools to help them in answering customers’ questions. This is kept up to date and advisers are informed when changes are made to the tax credits system or when this guidance is amended.
Tax Yields: Betting
Mark Durkan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue was received from betting on (a) horse racing and (b) greyhound racing in Northern Ireland in the latest period for which figures are available. [228234]
Angela Eagle: HMRC do not have geographic data on general betting duty, or a breakdown of the data into revenue received from betting on horse racing and greyhound racing. Total general betting duty is published in the HMRC Betting and Gaming bulletin, a copy of which can be found at:
Taxation: EC Action
Ann Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Government was informed by the European Commission that it was considering proposing amendments to the Capital Adequacy Directive. [227653]
Ian Pearson: As outlined on page 4 of the European Commission’s proposal to amend the Capital Requirements Directive, the Commission has been developing proposals since 2005.
The document can be found here:
Ann Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Government received a copy of the European Commission’s proposed amendments to directives 2006/48/EC and 2008/49/EC. [227654]
Ian Pearson: The Commission published its proposal to amend the Capital Requirements Directive on 1 October 2008.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Government has had discussions with the Leader of the Opposition and leaders of other UK political parties on the European Commission's proposals to amend EU directives 2006/48/EC and 2008/49/EC. [227656]
Ian Pearson: There have been no such discussions as far as I am aware.
Taxation: Property
Mr. Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many capital gains calculations were apportioned under principal private residence rules in each of the last five years; [227598]
(2) how many principal private residence elections have been made in each of the last five years; and how many such elections represent individuals making (a) two, (b) three and (c) four or more elections; [227600]
(3) what estimate has been made of the cost to the Exchequer in terms of tax revenue foregone of allowing individuals to elect their principal private residence in each of the last five years; [227599]
(4) what estimate he has made of the effect on capital gains tax revenues of trends in the sales of residential properties following the reforms to capital gains tax announced in the October 2007 Pre-Budget report. [227597]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available.
It is not possible to determine from HM Revenue and Customs sources the number of principal private residence relief elections made nor the cost to the Exchequer of such elections. The latest estimates for the cost of principal private residence relief excluding taxpayer behaviour are published in table 7 of the Tax Ready Reckoner on the HM Treasury website at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr_csr07_tax readyreckoner.pdf
Capital gains tax paid depends on the taxpayer’s total gains, losses, and reliefs claimed so it is not possible to attribute amounts of tax to separate disposals. The latest available figures for the number of disposals, disposal value and gains made on assets disposed of in 2004-05 by type of asset, including residential property, are available in National Statistics table 14.4 on the HM Revenue and Customs website at:
Equivalent data for 2008-09, following the reforms to capital gains tax announced in the October 2007 pre-Budget report, will not be available until at least October 2011.
Mr. Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the amount of revenue foregone each year from not taxing capital gains by non-UK residents in relation to UK real estate in each of the last five years. [227605]
Mr. Timms: No estimate of the revenue foregone from not taxing capital gains on UK real estate owned by non-UK residents is available.
Work and Pensions
Pension Credit
13. Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect on recipients of pension credit of the reduction of the backdating period for the credit. [227684]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department published an Equality Impact Assessment in respect of the proposed changes to the time for claiming pension credit from 12 months to three months. The report is available on the Department for Work and Pensions website.
19. Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to increase take-up of pension credit. [227692]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We want every pensioner to claim the benefits they are entitled to which is why we have made claiming more straightforward. Many claims can now be made in one phone call with no forms to fill in and we are always looking at ways to make the application process simpler. We have a range of initiatives such as sophisticated data matching to ensure older people are aware of and take up their entitlements.
Remploy
15. Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on the modernisation of Remploy; and if he will make a statement. [227687]
Jonathan Shaw: Remploy's modernisation plan was announced to the House by the Secretary of State on 29 November 2007.
Remploy are currently implementing their five-year modernisation plan, which will see a greater emphasis on supporting more disabled people into mainstream jobs. This will be around 20,000 people per year by 2013.
The modernisation plan saw the closure of 18 factories and the merger of 11 sites with other local factories.
17. Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department's policy is on the modernisation of Remploy; and if he will make a statement. [227690]
Jonathan Shaw: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill).
Post Office Card Account
18. Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department expects to announce the successful bidder for the contract to provide the Post Office card account. [227691]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by the Secretary of State to the hon. Member for St. Ives (Andrew George).
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department will announce the result of the competition for the contract to provide the Post Office card account. [227672]
James Purnell: This is a commercial tendering process, bound by UK and European law. We will announce the outcome when that is completed.
Benefit Backdating
20. Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of (a) the number of people who will be affected by and (b)
the financial effects of reducing the backdating period for pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit. [227693]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department published an Equality Impact Assessment in respect of the proposed changes to the time for claiming pension credit from 12 months to three months. The report is available on the Department for Work and Pensions website. The financial effects of the changes to the backdating rules are included in the Command Paper which was laid in Parliament alongside the Regulations on 15 September.
Unemployment
16. Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to assist the long-term workless to enter employment. [227689]
Mr. McNulty: Since their introduction, new deal for young people and new deal 25 plus have helped over a million job seekers into work.
We are modernising jobseeker's allowance and introducing the flexible new deal to build on our success, providing more personalised employment support matched with increasing expectations of someone as a claim continues.
Our recent Green Paper sets out a further range of options to reduce welfare dependency and support more people into work, to provide greater support and control for disabled people and to strengthen parental responsibility.
21. Mr. Mackay: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of future trends in the level of unemployment in the UK. [227694]
Mr. McNulty: The jobseeker’s allowance count rose last month to 939,000. There are 608,000 vacancies in the economy and 80 per cent of claimants leave jobseeker’s allowance within six months..
While we do not predict future levels of unemployment, we are planning for the impact of higher levels of jobseeker's allowance claims in the coming months. Clearly this is a sensible approach given the expected trends during a time of slower economic growth.
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