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15 Dec 2008 : Column 437W—continued
Revenue and Customs: Security
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East of 7 October 2008, Official Report, column 593W, on departmental security, how many departmental passes were (a) lost and (b) stolen, in the same period, amongst (i) HM Revenue and Customs and (ii) the Valuation Office Agency. [241929]
Mr. Timms: In the 24 months up to 7 October 2008 the number of passes reported as lost by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) staff was 653 and 32 were reported as stolen. For the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) only one pass was lost over the same period. There are in total over 90,000 HMRC and VOA staff.
HMRC provides a helpdesk facility that enables staff to report such losses, and allows the Department to take appropriate steps to maintain security across all its estate, including the quick disabling of ID and building passes.
Royal Mint
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the market value of the (a) Royal Mint and (b) Land Registry. [242785]
Angela Eagle: In the PBR we announced studies which will explore the potential benefits of alternative future models for the Royal Mint, and the operating framework for the Land Registry, as part of the wider operational efficiency programme’s asset strand. The studies will report progress at Budget 09.
Small Brewers Relief Scheme
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the cost to his Department was of the Small Brewers Relief Scheme in each of the last five years; [240645]
(2) what estimate he has made of the percentage of brewers that are eligible for the Small Brewers Relief Scheme; how many breweries took advantage of the scheme in each year since 2002; and if he will make a statement. [240646]
Angela Eagle: Information on the cost to the Treasury of the Small Brewers Relief Scheme is published at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax expenditures/menu.htm
and is only available for the last two financial years.
The numbers of brewers eligible for the Small Brewers Relief (i.e. that produce less than 5,000 HL of beer per year) in each of the last six years were:
| Number | |
The number of brewers that took advantage of Small Brewers Relief (i.e. that paid a duty rate of £6.63 before Budget 2007 and £6.85 after Budget 2007) in 2007 was estimated to be 419.
Small Businesses: Beer
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of singleton breweries which produce between (a) 30,000 and 49,999, (b) 50,000 and 99,999, (c) 100,000 and 149,999 and (d) 150,000 and 200,000 hectolitres per year. [240644]
Angela Eagle: HM Revenue and Customs estimates the number of brewers in each category, in 2007, to be as follows:
| Number and percentage share of brewers, 2007 | ||
| Category | Number of brewers | Percentage of brewers |
VAT: Christmas Cards
Mr. Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether VAT is charged on sales of charity Christmas cards. [243966]
Mr. Timms: A donation that is freely given, and for which nothing is received in return, is outside the scope of VAT. Therefore, where an element of the purchase price for charity Christmas cards is optional and is clearly set out as a donation to charity, no VAT is chargeable on that part of the payment.
In addition, Christmas cards donated to a charity for sale are VAT zero-rated when sold by that charity (or its trading subsidiaries).
In all other circumstances, VAT is chargeable on the full price paid for charity Christmas cards. This position reflects the requirements of our European VAT agreements.
VAT: Housing
Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the income to his Department from value added tax from (a) self-installed energy efficiency improvements and (b) housing renovation and repair was in each year since 1997. [242744]
Ian Pearson: HM Revenue and Customs does not collect data on VAT from individual goods and services.
VAT: Registration
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the year on year change in the rate of VAT registrations (a) in 2008-09 and (b) in each of the previous five years has been; and what estimate he has made of the revenue lost to his Department as a result. [242749]
Ian Pearson: The number of offices processing VAT registrations was reduced from around 30 to four in 2000-01, and again from four to two in 2008.
The number of new VAT registrations has fluctuated over those years, but overall has risen from 201,015 in 2000-01 to 263,936 in 2007-08. Net VAT receipts have risen from £58 billion to £80 billion over the same period.
No estimate has been made for lost revenue, as H M Revenue and Customs does not believe that the reduction in offices has had any impact on the number of businesses registering for VAT or on total revenue received.
Working Tax Credit
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the take-up rate for working tax credit by (a) single people and (b) childless couples. [243939]
Mr. Timms: Estimates of Working Tax Credit take-up rates for singles and couples without children for 2005-06, which are the latest available estimates, are provided in table 13 of the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credit Take-up rates 2005-06”. This publication is available on the HMRC website at:
The Government are taking steps to ensure that childless workers claim and receive the support they are entitled to. The 2008 pre-Budget report announced proposals including HMRC aiming to double its partnership marketing coverage of Working Tax Credit (WTC) in the coming year.
Health
Abortion
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the basis was for his Department's estimate of the number of illegal abortions contained in paragraph 2.4 of the partial regulatory impact assessment on the Termination of Pregnancy Bill of Session 2006-07; and if he will make a statement. [241141]
Dawn Primarolo: As stated in paragraph 2.4 of the partial regulatory impact assessment (PRIA), this estimate came from the Lane Committee report (the report of the Committee on the Working of the Abortion Act set up under the chairmanship of Mrs Justice Lane and presented to Parliament in 1974) which found evidence that between 20,000 and 60,000 illegal abortions were carried out annually before the 1967 Act came into force. Therefore, in the PRIA we considered 20,000 to be a realistic minimum estimate. Furthermore, during the period 1964 to 1966 (prior to the Abortion Act) 98 women (32 a year) died as a result of illegal abortions.
Allergies: Food
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the labelling of food in restaurants and fast food outlets in relation to potential allergens; whether he plans to take steps to raise awareness of the risk of nut derivatives and other allergens in food served by such outlets; and if he will make a statement. [242628]
Dawn Primarolo: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and other Government Departments, in considering the new European Food Information proposal, which aims to increase the availability of allergen information for foods sold loose, including in catering establishments, within the European Union.
The FSA already provides best practice guidance to help businesses selling food that is not pre-packed to meet the needs of their food allergic customers and has recently introduced an interactive training module on its website that is freely available for such businesses to use. The FSA has also worked with the Sector Skills Council to ensure that training for those working in the hospitality sector covers food allergy issues as part of the food safety training.
Cancer: Medical Treatments
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps he plans to take to facilitate access to information on treatment choices for those with cancer; [242860]
(2) what plans he has to improve post-treatment support for cancer patients. [242940]
Ann Keen: We highlighted in the “Cancer Reform Strategy: Maintaining momentum, building for the future—first annual report” published on 1 December 2008, that major progress has been made over the past year on providing high quality information to cancer patients at each step in the care pathway. A copy of the strategy has been placed in the Library.
The National Cancer Action Team (NCAT), with Cancer Networks across England and over 13 cancer charities, has been working to develop national cancer patient information pathways to support the delivery of information prescriptions to cancer patients.
There are plans in early 2009 to look at a primary care module of the cancer patient information delivery tool for general practitioners and other community staff, to help them to ensure that patients living with cancer have access to high quality co-ordinated information.
Dental Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) root fillings and (b) individual tooth extractions have been carried out under the NHS dental contract in each year since 2006. [241598]
Ann Keen: This information is not collected in the form requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
Information on the incidence of certain treatments (including root-fillings and extractions) is available for a sample of courses of treatments (CoTs) processed in 2007-08, by treatment band, in Table 4a (adult courses of treatment) and Table B4 (child courses of treatment) of the Dental Treatment Band Analysis, England and Wales 2007-08 report. This information is available at England level.
The information is presented as the percentage of CoTs that included particular items of treatment, the number of items of treatment per 100 CoTs, and the average number of treatment items per CoT where the treatment occurs.
This report, published on 21 August 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
Dental Services: Enfield
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding was provided for dental services in the Enfield Primary Care Trust area in each year between 1997 and 2008. [242272]
Ann Keen:
Prior to April 2006, most primary dental services were provided under former General Dental Service (GDS) arrangements. These were demand-led
services where the pattern of dental expenditure was largely determined by where dentists chose to practice, and how much national health service work they chose to undertake. Primary care trusts (PCTs) were not given fixed GDS funding allocations, except for those situations where individual Personal Dental Service pilots were established to test alternative, local commissioning arrangements and new forms of contract remuneration.
The former GDS arrangements were replaced with effect from 1 April 2006, when the Government introduced a fundamental reform programme for primary dental care services. PCTs were given responsibility for planning and commissioning primary dental services and provided with local, devolved, dental budgets. The primary dental service funding allocations made to Enfield PCT for each of the three years since PCTs assumed full responsibility for primary dental care services are in the following table. These are net of income from dental charges paid by patients, which are retained locally to supplement the resources available for dentistry. Actual expenditure levels are determined by the pattern and type of services commissioned by each PCT. PCTs may also dedicate some of their other NHS resources to dentistry if they consider this an appropriate local priority.
| Primary dental service net funding allocations for Enfield PCT | |||
| £000 | |||
| 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
| Note: PCTs are awarded separate funding allocations to meet the cost of any dental vocational trainees who may be placed with dental practices in their area. | |||
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS dentists were registered in the Enfield Primary Care Trust area in each year between 1997 and 2008. [242275]
Ann Keen: The number of national health service dentists in England, as at 31 March, 1997 to 2006 is available in annex E of the “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006” report. The information is provided by primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA).
This measure relates to the number of NHS dentists recorded on PCT lists as at 31 March each year. This information is based on the old contractual arrangements, which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006. This report, published on 23 August 2006, has already been placed in the Library and is also on the website of The Information Centre for health and social care at:
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