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21 Oct 2008 : Column 338W—continued
Departmental Civil Service Agencies
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many agencies were sponsored by his Department in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 1997-98. [228516]
Angela Eagle: The Next Steps Report 1997 (Cm3889) provided information on all Executive Agencies as at 31 December 1997. The most up-to-date list of Executive Agencies is published in the Cabinet Office publication The List of Ministerial Responsibilities. The latest version, incorporating recent ministerial changes, will be published shortly.
Fireworks: Imports
Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures are in place to ensure that containers of imported fireworks leaving UK ports of entry are taken directly to the licensed site address provided to HM Revenue and Customs by the importer. [226686]
Mr. Thomas: I have been asked to reply.
Regulation 11 of the Fireworks Regulations 2004 requires all firework importers to notify HM Revenue and Customs of their name and address, the name of the person who is to store the fireworks following importation and the address of the premises at which the fireworks are to be stored following their importation. This information is passed to Suffolk county council trading standards department who act as national co-ordinators and pass this information on to the relevant local authorities and or the Health and Safety Executive to notify them to expect a consignment of fireworks to a company in their area. This trigger should ensure that a company is visited to make sure that the fireworks have arrived.
Income Tax: Prisoners
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 6 October 2008, Official Report, column 376W, on income tax: prisoners, what his policy is on the payment of income tax by prisoners. [228971]
Mr. Timms: Like other individuals, prisoners pay income tax in accordance with the law.
Inspections
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many inspectors were employed by his Department in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 1997-98. [228095]
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the chief executive of HM Revenue and Customs received the letter dated 24 September from the right hon. Member for Birkenhead on his constituent, reference chm/09440/2008; and when he expects the matter to be resolved. [228968]
Mr. Timms: The acting chief executive received a letter dated 16 September from my right hon. Friend on 22 September, to which he replied on 21 October.
Mortgages: Compensation
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has considered the merits of setting up a compensation scheme to assist mortgage holders facing negative equity as a result of the mis-selling of mortgages by banks. [227926]
Ian Pearson: In 2004 the Government extended the scope of Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulation to cover mortgages. FSA regulation ensures that borrowers are afforded suitable protections. FSA regulation also provides appropriate means of redress for borrowers through recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The Financial Service Compensation Scheme (FSCS) provides compensation for borrowers in case a financial institution is unable to meet its liabilities.
Powers of Entry
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many powers of entry have been established in legislation introduced by his Department since 1997; and how many have been abolished. [228060]
Angela Eagle: I refer the right hon. and learned Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East (James Duddridge) on 14 October 2008, Official Report, column 1060W. All of the provisions referred to in that reply are still in force.
As the reply given by the Minister of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker) to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East on 7 October 2008, Official Report, column 577W said, his review into powers of entry is establishing the continuing need for existing powers.
Private Finance Initiative
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 7 October 2008, Official Report, column 5796W, on the private finance initiative, on how many occasions one party has failed to meet its obligation under a contract; on how many occasions a contract failure has led to contract re-negotiations; and on how many occasions a contract failure has led to a reversion to public ownership. [227879]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 17 October 2008]: The information requested is not available.
Public Finance
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost was of Government in the UK, including local government, in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 1997-98. [227883]
Yvette Cooper: Latest figures for total managed expenditure are (a) £583.0 billion for 2007-08 and (b) £322.0 billion for 1997-98. This information can be found in the latest Public Sector Finances Databank at (Table B1):
Total managed expenditure is a measure of current and capital expenditure for the whole of the public sector, including public corporations and local government.
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government's overall potential financial liability is as a result of the measures taken to support the British banking system in the last 12 months. [227886]
Ian Pearson: The extent to which additional financial liabilities will come on to the public sector balance sheet depends on decisions over classification yet to be taken by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS). On 16 October 2008 the ONS made an announcement on the process—see:
However, as the Chancellor set out in his statement the House on 13 October 2008 any additional borrowing and debt incurred by the Government is either in return for assets, charged at commercial rates or in the form of a temporary loan to the banks. So the most appropriate measures of Government borrowing and debt to judge the position of the public finances will be ones that exclude the Government's stake in the banking sector.
Mr. Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when his Department last reviewed the notional cost of capital used in departmental resource accounts; what recent estimate he has made of the difference between the notional cost and the actual cost of financing Government borrowing; and when he plans next to review the notional cost used. [227912]
Yvette Cooper: The cost of capital charge in departmental resource accounts is set at the social time preference rate. This is the rate at which society values spending in the present compared to the future. It was set in 2003 and operation of the charge is kept under review.
Repossession Orders
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many repossessions have been (a) sought and (b) secured by Northern Rock in each (i) week and (ii) month since May 2008; and if he will make a statement. [227726]
Ian Pearson: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for Carmarthen, East and Dinefwr (Adam Price) on 21 July 2008, Official Report, column 728W.
Shipping: Pay
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the average financial effect on seafarers if the seafarers’ earnings deduction is removed; [228223]
(2) if he will review the decision of HM Revenue and Customs to remove the seafarers’ earnings deduction. [228224]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is not removing seafarers’ earnings deduction (SED). Rather HMRC will revise its guidance on SED to reflect a decision made by the Special Commissioners, an independent appellate body, in the case of Torr and Others v. CIR (SpC679). The great majority of seafarers who claim SED will not be affected by this decision.
I am aware of the concerns raised by the Special Commissioners decision in this case, which centred on whether the vessel on which the appellants performed their duties was a ship or an ‘offshore installation’ within the meaning of the legislation. The Special Commissioners decided it had been operating as an offshore installation, and refused the appellants’ claims to SED.
Broadly speaking, an offshore installation is a vessel that is engaged in exploiting mineral resources and is not mobile while doing so.
HMRC has written to tax practitioners about this decision and will discuss implementation with interested stakeholders before the revised guidance is issued.
Tax Havens
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking in association with his international counterparts to extend financial regulation to tax havens. [227967]
Ian Pearson: The Government's policy is to encourage all offshore financial centres to meet the highest standards of regulation and supervision, and to comply with international initiatives to eliminate unfair tax practices. To this end the Government have been working with international organisations such as the Financial Stability Forum, the Financial Action Task Force, the OECD, and also with EU partners.
Taxation: Aviation
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the proposed new aviation duty on (a) regional airports and (b) regional economies related to them. [228403]
Angela Eagle: I refer to the answer I gave to my hon. Friends the Members for Jarrow (Mr. Hepburn) and for Newcastle Upon Tyne, North (Mr. Henderson) on 13 October 2008, Official Report, column 1008W.
VAT: Imports
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between HM Revenue and Customs, Guernsey Post and the Government of Guernsey which establishes the conditions for participation in the scheme to allow low value consignment relief from value added tax for imports of products to the United Kingdom from Guernsey; and what assessment he has made of the applicability of that scheme to products which (a) contain illegal ingredients and (b) about which claims are made which would be illegal were the products to have been placed on the United Kingdom market; [227746]
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between HM Revenue and Customs, Jersey Post and the Government of Jersey which establishes the conditions for participation in the scheme to allow value consignment relief from value added tax for imports of products to the United Kingdom from Jersey; and what assessment he has made of the applicability of that scheme to products which (a) contain illegal ingredients and (b) about which claims are made which would be illegal were the products to have been placed on the United Kingdom market. [227747]
Mr. Timms: The Memorandum of Understanding with Jersey and Guernsey is currently under review. The MoU establishes an administrative arrangement for import VAT to be collected at the point of sale by the Guernsey postal authorities rather than at import into the UK.
Companies exporting to the UK from Guernsey include the import VAT in their charges to the customer and pass it on to the Guernsey postal authorities, who in turn pay it to HM Treasury.
This arrangement is separate from the low value consignment relief rules, which are set out in EU legislation and transposed into UK law as the Value Added Tax (Imported Goods) Relief (Amendment) Order 1995.
This provides relief from import VAT on consignments of goods not exceeding £18 in value. No customs duty is due on goods imported into the UK from the Channel Islands because, although the Islands are outside the EU for fiscal purposes, they are members of the EU Customs Union.
All imports from the Channel Islands are subject to the standard Customs checks for illegal goods, irrespective of whether they have been imported under the low value consignment relief and/or pre-payment of VAT arrangements.
Working Tax Credit
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of those eligible for the child care element of the working tax credit received it in each year since it was introduced. [228967]
Mr. Timms: Estimates of the average number of families benefiting from the child care element of working tax credit are provided in table 2.4 of the HMRC publications “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised annual awards”, for each relevant year. These are available on the HMRC website at:
Information on the total number of families eligible for the child care element is not available.
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