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20 Jan 2009 : Column 1290W—continued
Water Charges: Religious Buildings
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will meet representatives of (a) churches, (b) voluntary and community groups and (c) charities to discuss surface area water charges; and if he will make a statement. [248857]
Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA is in contact with interested parties. The Government are aware of the problem of affordability faced by some customers as a result of the switch to site area charging for surface water drainage and are looking at what can be done.
White Fish
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his most recent estimate is of the biomass weight of North sea stocks of (a) cod, (b) haddock, (c) plaice, (d) hake and (e) sole. [249045]
Huw Irranca-Davies: Spawning stock biomass (SSB) is often used to give a measure of the size of particular fish stocks. Figures for the SSB of major North sea stocks are available from the most recent scientific advice provided by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). These are given in the following table.
| Estimated spawning stock biomass at the start of 2009 for some North sea stocks | |
| Stock SSB ( Thousand tonnes) | |
It should be noted that hake caught in the North sea are considered to form part of a biological stock (“Northern Hake”) that covers a much larger area, including the Bay of Biscay, the Western approaches, the Irish Sea and West of Scotland.
Treasury
Construction: Procurement
Mr. Olner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Office of Government Commerce will publish the review of construction contracts it commissioned in July 2008 from the consultants Arup; and if he will make a statement. [248899]
Angela Eagle: The report has already been shared with the stakeholders involved in the study and also with members of the Public Sector Construction Clients' Forum (PSCCF) who discussed the issue on 11 December 2008. Arrangements have also been made to place the note of the PSCCF meeting, together with the Arup report, on OGC's website.
Credit Unions
Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to increase public access to credit unions through post offices as part of the new Saving Gateway. [248612]
Ian Pearson: The Saving Gateway Accounts Bill is currently going through Parliament. It proposes a cash saving scheme for working age people on lower incomes. Accounts will be offered by a range of financial institutions such as banks, building societies and credit unions. The Government also announced in the 2008 pre-Budget report that accounts will be available through the Post Office.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Scott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent on (a) maintaining, (b) decorating and (c) otherwise improving departmental buildings in the last five years; how much has been spent on wallpaper since 2001; and what plans there are for further spending on departmental decoration. [248799]
Angela Eagle: A full PFI refurbishment of 1 Horse Guards Road was completed in 2002. Maintenance and decoration related expenditure since that date is included in the annual unitary payment made to the PFI provider and is not recorded separately.
The amount spent on such building related services at other departmental buildings over the last five years is approximately £6 million.
Nothing has been spent on wallpaper since 2001.
Plans for future redecoration are included in the normal forward planned maintenance schedules compiled for each building.
Departmental Finance
Mr. Hunt: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department received from Ofcom in remitted fines in each of the last five years; and what use has been made of these funds. [249676]
Angela Eagle: Since assuming its powers on 29 December 2003, Ofcom has received and passed to the Consolidated Fund the following amounts in fines:
| £ | |
| (1 )29 December 2003 to 31 March 2004 (2) To 31 December 2008 | |
Departmental Pay
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy that temporary and permanent employees of his Department employed at the same grade receive the same hourly rate of pay. [248420]
Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 18 December 2008, Official Report column 932W.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when a reply will be sent to the hon. Member for West Chelmsford's letter of 13 October 2008, Treasury Reference: 1/6189/2008, concerning Mr. Richard Macaskill of Chelmsford; and what the reasons are for the time taken to reply. [248583]
Ian Pearson: Due to the large volume of correspondence received on these issues there has been a delay in sending some responses. The Treasury hopes to be in a position to reply to the hon. Member shortly.
National Insurance Contributions
Mr. Philip Hammond:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid to HM Revenue and Customs in Class 3 National Insurance contributions in respect of the financial year 2006-07; and what his latest estimate is of the proportion of those payments
that were above the level needed for the individuals in question to have a full national insurance contribution record for that year. [248555]
Mr. Timms: Information on the amount of Class 3 contributions paid in respect of the 2006-07 is not yet available as contributors normally have six years to pay.
Information on the proportion of Class 3 contributions paid that were above the level needed for a full national insurance record for that year is not available.
Revenue and Customs: Audit
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many audits of businesses were undertaken by HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last three years; and what proportion were of businesses classified as (a) low risk and (b) not low risk. [248554]
Mr. Timms: The total number of enquiries and interventions undertaken by HM Revenue and Customs in respect of direct taxes and VAT was:
| Number | |
The low risk relationships with businesses dealt with by our Large Business Service were only established during 2007-08 and therefore we are unable to provide a breakdown as requested.
The enquiry figures show a downward trend over the period as a result of better use of risk assessment. This reflects the department's strategy of deploying compliance resources to tackling areas of highest risk while reducing the burden on those who are compliant.
This approach has resulted in increases in additional liabilities secured from our compliance activities, details of which are published in our departmental autumn performance reports.
Revenue and Customs: Yorkshire and the Humber
Mr. Graham Stuart:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices in Yorkshire and the Humber are to
close as a result of HMRC's reorganisation programme. [247323]
Mr. Timms: 23 offices of the 41 offices reviewed in Yorkshire and the Humber are to close as a result of HMRC's regional review programme to align its estate with future business requirements. However, all enquiry centres offering face to face advice to the public will be maintained either in their present building or in a suitable alternative location nearby.
Tax Credit: Telephone Services
Jenny Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the (a) longest, (b) shortest and (c) average length of call to (i) the claimants’ and (ii) hon. Members’ tax credit helpline was in each of the last 24 months; [241462]
(2) how long on average it took for calls to (a) the claimants’ and (b) hon. Members’ tax credit helpline to be answered in each of the last 24 months; [241463]
(3) how many calls were (a) received, (b) handled and (c) unanswered by (i) the claimants’ and (ii) hon. Members’ tax credit helpline in each of the last 24 months; [241464]
(4) how long on average it took to answer calls made to the tax credits helplines for (a) claimants and (b) hon. Members in each of the last 24 months; what the duration of the (i) longest and (ii) shortest call to each was in each month; and what the average call duration was; [246894]
(5) how many calls were (a) received on, (b) handled by and (c) unanswered by the tax credit helplines for (i) claimants and (ii) hon. Members in each of the last 24 months; [246896]
(6) how many calls have been received via the tax credit helpline for hon. Members in each month since it was established. [246897]
Mr. Timms: The information requested about the (a) longest and (b) shortest length of call is not readily available and could be provided only at a disproportionate cost. I would also refer the hon. Member to previous answers provided by my right hon. Friend the then Paymaster General—25 June 2007, Official Report, column 418W, 31 January 2008, Official Report , column 682W, and 14 July 2008, Official Report, column 152W—where elements of the requested information have been provided. The remaining information is detailed in the following table.
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