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23 Feb 2009 : Column 328W—continued
| (b) Duke’s House, Southport | |
| Age band | Headcount |
| (c) Birchen House, Birkenhead | |
| Age band | Headcount |
Revenue and Customs: Northern Ireland
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2009, Official Report, column 1273W, on Revenue and Customs: Northern Ireland, if he will take steps to ensure that appointments to HM Revenue and Customs offices in Northern Ireland more closely reflect the proportions of the working age population. [256818]
Mr. Timms: HMRC is committed to equality of opportunity and is taking the following steps to ensure that appointments reflect the economically active population of Northern Ireland and that any perceived barriers are minimised.
All recruitment processes within HMRC are designed to be fair and equitable and selection is based solely on merit.
HMRC is taking positive action by ensuring that all HMRC vacancy advertisements carry a ‘welcome’ message. This states that ‘we welcome applications from all sections of the community but, as members of the Protestant community are currently underrepresented, applications from this community are particularly welcome’.
HMRC Work Experience Programmes have been targeted to promote HMRC positively to the Protestant community. We anticipate that this will increase awareness of the opportunities that exist within HMRC and in turn lead to an increase in applications from the Protestant community.
HMRC has met with the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) and is currently working with the ECNI to agree an affirmative action plan to ensure fair participation of all sections of the community in its work force.
Royal Bank of Scotland: Directors
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many directors of the board of the Royal Bank of Scotland have left the board since the arrangements were made for UK Financial Investments to acquire a majority stake in the bank. [251619]
Ian Pearson: Since 13 October 2008, the date on which HMT's proposed investment in RBS was announced, four directors of the board have stepped down or retired and two directors have indicated their plans to leave the board in due course.
Schools: Uniforms
Mr. Evans:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer of 31 March 2008, Official Report, column 668W, on schools: uniforms, what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on the introduction of a reduced value added tax
(VAT) rate for items of school uniform that are not already VAT zero-rated since March 2008. [257483]
Mr. Timms: The Government have not discussed this issue further with European counterparts since this question was raised on 31 March 2008. There is currently no scope within EU VAT law to introduce a reduced rate for items of school uniform not already VAT zero-rated.
The European Commission published a legislative proposal on reduced VAT rates in July 2008 in order to provide greater flexibility for member states to apply reduced rates. This proposal did not include children's clothing.
Sports: Concessions
Mr. Illsley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on value added tax charges on concessionary admissions to sports centres. [257809]
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.
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Mr. Geoffrey Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the Exchequer receipts for stamp duty land tax for (a) residential and (b) commercial property for the period September 2008 to February 2009. [258176]
Ian Pearson: Receipts for stamp duties as a whole are published monthly at
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax receipts/table1-3.pdf
Receipts for stamp duties as a whole for January and February will be published at the end of February and March respectively. Receipts for stamp duty land tax for 2008-09, with separate estimates given for the residential and commercial components, will be published in September.
Tax Allowances: Pensions
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer of tax relief on pension contributions for both (a) employees and (b) employers in each financial year from 2009-10 to 2014-15. [257647]
Mr. Timms: Estimates on the costs of tax reliefs on pension contributions beyond 2008-09 are not available.
The estimate for the costs of tax reliefs on pension contributions for 2008-09 can be found at:
The latest information on the previous costs of tax relief on pension contributions to 2007-08 can be found at:
Tax Avoidance
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he plans to take to counter the practice of offshoring legal ownership of company trademarks to low-tax locations; and if he will estimate the loss to the Exchequer as a result of this practice in each of the last 10 years. [256623]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 12 February 2009]: The detailed figures requested are not available. The Government have measures in place to counter tax avoidance and to protect the UK tax base, for example the controlled foreign company rules.
The UK is working with other countries to increase transparency and clamp down on harmful tax practices. Anti-avoidance measures are kept under review to ensure that tax loopholes that provide avoidance opportunities are legislated on.
Tax Yields: Wales
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the proportion of UK tax receipts raised in Wales in 2008. [258169]
Mr. Timms: Figures for total tax receipts at regional level are not available.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish estimates of income tax, council taxes and vehicle taxes paid by households by region, which is available on:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme economy/Regional Disposable Household Income 1995-2006.xls
The relevant data can be found under “D.5 Current taxes on income, wealth etc” in Table NUTS 2:8.
Regional stamp duty receipts attributable to residential property are published by HMRC, available at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/stamp duty/tablel5-2.pdf
Valuation Office: Manpower
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff have been employed in the Valuation Office Agency in each year since 2003. [256929]
Mr. Timms: The numbers of full-time equivalent staff employed by the Valuation Office Agency as at the end of March each year are shown in the following table:
| Number | |
| (1 )As at 1 February 2009. | |
VAT
Mr. Byers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to the Exchequer in tax forgone of the reduction in the rate of value added tax to 15 per cent. in the period from 1 April 2009 to 1 January 2010. [257491]
Mr. Timms: The estimated cost of the temporary reduction in the standard rate of VAT was published in Table B5 of the 2008 pre-Budget report. The value for 2009-10 relates to the specified period.
Welfare Tax Credits
Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 22 January 2009, Official Report, column 1639W, on tax credit, how many current recipients of tax credits would see their entitlement reduced to zero in each scenario. [257092]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not currently available.
Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of tax credit payments were made to (a) working claimants and (b) claimants who were not working in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [257188]
Mr. Timms: The information is not available in the format requested.
Estimates of the average number of in-work and out-of-work families benefiting from tax credits in 2006-07, as well as their total tax credit entitlements are available in the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Annual Awards 2006-07”. This publication is available on the HMRC website at:
Estimates for 2007-08 are not yet available.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit claimants resident in Winchester were overpaid tax credits in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [257789]
Mr. Timms: Estimates of the number of families with tax credit awards, including information on overpayments by constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes, for the years 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 are available in the HMRC publications “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. Supplement on Payments. Geographical Analyses”, for each relevant year. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
Estimates for 2007-08 are not yet available.
Welfare Tax Credits: St. Albans
Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit claimants resident in St. Albans were overpaid tax credits in each of the last five years. [256974]
Mr. Timms:
Estimates of the number of families with tax credit awards, including information on overpayments by constituency, based on final family circumstances and incomes, for the years 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 are available in the HMRC publications “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised
Annual Awards. Supplement on Payments. Geographical Analyses”, for each relevant year. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
Estimates for 2007-08 are not yet available.
Welfare Tax Credits: Wales
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the working population in Wales was in receipt of tax credits in 2008. [258093]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available.
However, estimates of the number of in-work families benefiting from Tax Credits, by country and government office region, as at December 2008, are available in table 1 of the HMRC snapshot publication, “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Geographical Analyses. December 2008”, on the HMRC website at:
The latest published estimates of take-up rates of in-work families by country and government office regions are reported in table 9 of the HMRC publication, “Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit Take-up Rates 2005-06” which is available on the HMRC website at:
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