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21 Jan 2009 : Column 1475W—continued
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter of 25 November 2008 from the hon. Member for Christchurch on behalf of Mr Richard Bell. [248813]
Ian Pearson: Due to the large volume of correspondence received on these issues there has been a delay in sending some responses. The Financial Services Secretary hopes to be in a position to reply to the hon. Member shortly.
Mortgages: Interest Rates
Mr. Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to encourage lenders to pass on recent Bank of England interest rate cuts to mortgage holders. [249833]
Ian Pearson [holding answer 20 January 2009]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Coventry, South (Mr. Cunningham) on 26 November 2008, Official Report, column 1900W.
National Insurance Contributions
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many letters have been sent in error by HM Revenue and Customs wrongly advising individuals that they have made insufficient national insurance contributions in respect of the financial year 2006-07. [248574]
Mr. Timms: The exercise to issue contributors with deficiency notices advising them of shortfalls in their national insurance contributions for the tax year 2006-07 started on the 31 August 2008 and ended on the 12 January 2009. A total of 2,862,065 letters were issued. No information is held on the number sent in error.
National Insurance Fund
Mr. Swire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how surplus funds from the National Insurance Fund have been allocated over the last five years. [247559]
Mr. Timms: Under the provisions of Section 161(3) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, any surplus in the NIF is invested by the Commissioners for the reduction of the national debt (CRND) The role of the CRND is (in accordance with section 161(3) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992) to invest money which is paid over from the fund.
Public Expenditure
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government’s total expenditure on (a) services to the public and (b) services purchased by the Government has been in each year since 1997-98. [248520]
Yvette Cooper:
Total Managed Expenditure (TME) is a measure of total public sector current and capital spending drawn from the National Accounts. It therefore represents total government spending on providing services
to the public. TME has most recently been published in Table B1 of the monthly Public Sector Finances Databank at:
The purchase of services by the public sector is not separately identified from the purchase of goods. The combined figures were most recently published in Table 5.6 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) 2008, available at
These figures, as with most in PESA08, are available back to 2002-03. Figures for previous years are not available on a consistent basis.
Sustainable Development: Finance
Colin Challen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to page 125 of the pre-Budget report for 2008, which three years are to be covered by the £50 million of funding for the low-carbon sector; and if he will break down this funding by (a) year and (b) project. [240318]
Angela Eagle: The figure of £50 billion brings together Government spending, fiscal support and private investment driven by Government regulation in energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies and public transport over the period of the comprehensive spending review (2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11). The estimated breakdown for the full three-year period is set out by theme, as follows:
Estimated at £1,200 million including the domestic Environmental Transformation Fund, Research Councils, Technology Strategy Board, Carbon Trust, Energy Technologies Institute and Enhanced Capital Allowances.
Estimated at £5,800 million including private sector investment in renewables and the renewables obligation.
Estimated at £9,800 million, made up of CERT, the Community Energy Saving Programme, Warm Front, Decent Homes, the Energy Saving Trust, Smart metering for SMEs and public sector sites, Reduced VAT for Energy Savings Materials, Landlord Energy Savings Allowance, incentives for thermal insulation in industrial installations, and the value of CCL exemptions.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from municipal waste
Estimated at £2,200 million including PFI programme and capital grants to local authorities for recycling.
Transmission and electricity distribution infrastructure
Estimated at £7,600 million, including funding to link low carbon power generators to the national grid.
Public transport and low carbon and electric vehicles
Estimated at £23,200 million including spending on rail, Crossrail, TFL and public transport in the devolved Administrations, as well as spending on low carbon and electric vehicles.
The figure published is not exhaustive as it does not include:
The value of ‘EU ETS allowances’ over this period;
‘R and D tax credits’ for low carbon R and D;
The significant low carbon investment by ‘local authorities’ or much of the investment by ‘devolved Administrations’ and ‘RDAs’;
Low carbon investment driven ‘by building standards regulations’;
Low carbon investment driven by ‘minimum efficiency standards’ for products;
Investment in the ‘gas distribution grid’ even where this brings new homes on to the gas grid, replacing higher CO2 oil heating systems;
‘Stamp duty exemption’ for new zero carbon homes;
‘Enterprise Investment Scheme’ (EIS) and ‘Venture Capital Trusts’;
Private or public sector spend on other low carbon electricity sources, such as ‘nuclear’ or preliminary work on the demonstration of ‘carbon capture and storage’; and
‘UK spend on low carbon technologies in developing countries’.
Tax Credit
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many cases relating to tax credits the Parliamentary Ombudsman has found maladministration as part of the Adjudicator’s Office in each year for which figures are available. [245587]
Mr. Timms: In 2007-08, the ombudsman accepted 68 complaints against the Adjudicator for investigation. Further details, including a breakdown of tax credits cases is available upon request to the ombudsman, an officer of Parliament.
Tax Havens: Research
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to questions 245836, 245837, 245838 and 245839, how much was spent on the research study to explore customer experiences of the offshore disclosure facility before work was halted. [249296]
Mr. Timms: The postal cost incurred as a result of HMRC writing to potential participants was £640. The only other HMRC cost was a limited amount of staff time.
Taxation: Business
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses have (a) sought and (b) been granted a deferral of tax liability by HM Revenue and Customs since the pre-Budget report 2008 was published. [249308]
Mr. Timms: HMRC's business payment support service is a demand-led service, available to businesses seeking to defer payment of taxes owed. It is currently receiving, on average, 1,000 calls each day from businesses. Since the introduction of the service at the pre-Budget report, it has helped over 20,000 businesses spread tax payments worth over £350 million through time to pay agreements.
VAT
Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment has been made of the effect on the economy of recent changes to value added tax rates; what recent representations he has received on this issue; from whom; what responses he gave; and if he will make a statement. [247994]
Mr. Timms:
We reduced the standard rate of Value Added Tax to 15 per cent. from 1 December 2008 to 31 December 2009 as part of a wider fiscal stimulus putting £12.5 billion back into the economy. It would be
premature to attempt to make an assessment now of the effect of this 13 month reduction in stabilising the economy.
We have received numerous representations from businesses, business representatives and consumers on issues associated with the reduction in the rate of value added tax to 15 per cent. and its impact. We are acknowledging comments and responding to specific queries.
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the Exchequer of the reduction in value added tax announced in the pre-Budget report 2008 in the next 12 months. [249306]
Mr. Timms: The estimated cost of the temporary reduction in the standard rate of VAT remains as published in table B5 of the 2008 pre-Budget report.
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses have paid value added tax (VAT) receipts to the Exchequer since the pre-Budget report was published; and what estimate he has made of the effect on consumer spending of the reduction in VAT announced in the pre-Budget report 2008. [249307]
Mr. Timms: The total number of VAT registered traders is available from the VAT National Statistics bulletin published at:
An assessment of the anticipated impact of the reduction in the VAT rate on consumer spending behaviour can be found in paragraphs 2.40 to 2.45 in the 2008 pre-Budget report.
VAT: Innovation
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on the levying of value added tax on payments made to projects under the New Technologies Demonstrator Programme. [249175]
Mr. Timms: Treasury Ministers and officials receive representations from a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such representations.
Welfare Tax Credits
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of people in (a) Castle Point constituency, (b) Essex and (c) England are claiming (i) childcare tax credit and (ii) working tax credit. [249642]
Mr. Timms: Take-up rate estimates for the childcare element are not available, and take-up rates of working tax credit are only available down to regional level.
Information on the average number of in-work families benefiting from the childcare element in the areas mentioned based on final family circumstance and incomes is
published in the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards 2006-07 Geographical analyses”. This publication is available on the HMRC website at:
Estimates of child and working tax credit take-up rates for 2005-06, which are the latest available estimates, are published on the HMRC website at:
Take-up rates for working families with children at regional level are shown in table 9.
Home Department
Assaults on Police
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many recorded offences of assault on a police constable per 100,000 population there were in each police force area in each year from 2005 to 2007. [247151]
Mr. Coaker: The available information on recorded offences relates to 2005-06 to 2007-08 and is given in the following table. The data covers offences of assault without injury on a police constable. Offences in which police officers suffer injury will be recorded as a more or less serious wounding offence depending on the severity of the injury sustained.
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