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15 Jan 2009 : Column 907W—continued
Insolvency: EU Action
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on the provisions of the EU Solvency II Directive; what assessment he has made of those provisions; and if he will make a statement. [244309]
Ian Pearson: The Government have supported the core principles of the Commission's proposal for the Solvency II Directive throughout the negotiations. In particular, capital requirements should be imposed on a consistent basis for all quantifiable risks and diversification effects should be recognised. These principles provide the basis for combining high standards of policyholder protection with value for money for consumers.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when he plans to reply to the letter of 10 October 2008 (reference: 3/07508/2008) from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford on Mr. Mark Osborne of Chelmsford; and what the reasons are for the time taken to reply; [247895]
(2) when he plans to reply to the letter of 20 October 2008 from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford on Mr. Peter Vickers of Chelmsford; and what the reasons are for the time taken to reply; [247894]
(3) when he plans to reply to the letter of 21 October 2008 (reference: 2/01979/2008) from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford on Mrs. G. Fisher of Chelmsford; and what the reasons are for the time taken to reply; [247892]
(4) when he plans to reply to the letters of 27 October 2008 and 5 December 2008 from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford regarding Mr. M. Whitwell of Chelmsford; and what the reasons are for the time taken to reply. [247891]
Ian Pearson: Due to the large volume of correspondence received on these issues there has been some delay in response. The Treasury hopes to be in a position to reply to the hon. Member shortly.
Official Cars: Procurement
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what public procurement contracts are planned involving the purchase of cars, vans and trucks over the next 12 months; and whether the vehicles purchased will be British-built in each case. [247026]
Mr. Timms: The majority of vehicles to be purchased by the public sector over the next 12 months will be made through the numerous existing framework agreements. There is no centrally-held list of those that are organisation-specific, but those in the following table are collaborative agreements listed on the OGC Contracts Database. The contracts are with a variety of suppliers and are based on best value for money. Some of the vehicles purchased through these contracts will be wholly or partially built in the United Kingdom, but it is illegal under EU procurement legislation to mandate British-only vehicles.
| Lead Authority | Contract |
Revenue and Customs: Pay
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of (a) the average full time equivalent pay and (b) the staff turnover rate of HM Revenue and Customs employees in (i) Scotland, (ii) Wales, (iii) Northern Ireland and (iv) each region of England in the latest period for which figures are available. [246366]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is as follows:
(a) The mean Full-Time Equivalent pay (using available figures) for HMRC is estimated as follows:
(i) Scotland £22,054
(ii) Wales £22,789
(iii) Northern Ireland £23,567
| (iv) | £ |
Revenue and Customs: Wales
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made (1) of the annual savings accruing to HM Revenue and Customs as a result of the closure of its Haverfordwest office; [247839]
(2) of the costs of closing the Haverfordwest HM Revenue and Customs office and relocating staff. [247843]
Mr. Timms: The closure of the HMRC office in Haverfordwest will contribute to estimated annual estate savings of £4 million in Wales. Specific estate savings for a particular office cannot be supplied for reasons of commercial sensitivity relating to the accommodation and facility contract between HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and its business partner, Mapeley.
Estate savings are only part of the overall savings HMRC expects to achieve as a result of business efficiencies arising from restructuring.
While HMRC recognises that there will be short-term costs, including staff relocation costs, associated with the closure of Haverfordwest, reliable figures will only be established once solutions have been found for all staff and the building has been vacated.
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Justine Greening: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many homes have attracted the zero rate of stamp duty on zero carbon homes in each month since October 2007, broken down by stamp duty band; [248101]
(2) how much stamp duty relief has been claimed since October 2007 in relation to zero carbon home purchases. [248102]
Ian Pearson: The Government have set a deliberately stretching target that all new homes must be zero carbon by 2016. The stamp duty land tax relief (SDLT) for zero carbon homes was introduced to help kick-start the market for new highly efficient technologies in homes, both for the fabric of the building and in the use of microgeneration, and sets a gold standard for green homes. Few currently exist, but the purpose of the relief is to act as a signal. We have always made it clear that the SDLT relief for zero carbon homes would evolve and we expect to see more of these homes built in the future. Eighteen homes have qualified for the zero carbon homes relief since October 2007, broken down by month and stamp duty band as follows. The total amount of relief given since October 2007 is around £70,000.
| Band (percentage) | ||||
| 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
Tax Credit
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people claimed (1) working tax credits in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since their inception; [247498]
(2) child tax credits in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since their inception. [247499]
Mr. Timms: Estimates of the average number of families benefiting from tax credits in each Government office region, local authority and parliamentary constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes, are available in the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised annual awards. Geographical analyses”, for each relevant year. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
HMRC do not produce these statistics separately for child tax credit and working tax credit.
International Development
Departmental Air Travel
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many business class, work-related flights taken by members of his Department's staff through the flexible travel scheme were (a) eligible for downgrade to economy class and (b) downgraded to economy class in January 2008. [245463]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Training
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the (a) location, (b) duration, (c) purpose, (d) number of attendees and (e) date was of each of his Department's staff retreats in each of the last three years. [245464]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Sight Impaired
Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what guidelines his Department follows in respect of making printed materials and forms accessible to people suffering red/green colour blindness. [245720]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) seeks to follow COI Informability guidance wherever possible on the production and design of publications.
Justice
Bail Accommodation and Support Service
Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) if he will list the address of each property used for the Bail Accommodation and Support Service; [248084]
(2) how much has been paid to ClearSprings for the provision of bail and home detention accommodation since June 2007; [248085]
(3) if he will list the outward part of the postcode of each property used for the Bail Accommodation and Support Service; [248086]
(4) how many Bail Accommodation and Support Service properties there are in each Parliamentary constituency in England and Wales; [248087]
(5) how many (a) offenders on home detention curfew and (b) defendants on bail have used the Bail Accommodation and Support Service since June 2007. [248088]
Mr. Straw: ClearSprings has been paid £8.3 million for the provision of the Bail and Accommodation Support Service from June 2007 to the end of November 2008.
Lists of the outward part of the property post code for each property currently in use for this service and of the numbers of properties by constituency are set out in the following lists. However, we do not disclose the private addresses of defendants or offenders. The properties used in the Bail Accommodation and Support Service are the private rented homes of those receiving the service.
As at 12 January, 1,051 offenders on home detention curfew and 1,338 defendants on bail have used the Bail Accommodation and Support Service since June 2007.
B18
B18
B18
B21
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