| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
5 Mar 2009 : Column 1811W—continued
Departmental Training
Mr. Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2009, Official Report, column 586W, on departmental training, what the cost of the three courses was; and which Ministers attended each course. [260392]
Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 11 February 2009, Official Report, column 2102W.
Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue has accrued to the Exchequer from the tax on the sale of (a) beer and (b) other alcoholic drinks sold in public houses in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [261069]
Angela Eagle: Duty on alcohol is paid by alcohol manufacturers and not by retailers. As a result, HMRC statistics do not have figures for taxes and duties collected on beer and other alcoholic drinks sold in public houses. An estimate of this breakdown has not been produced, as excise duty revenues depend on alcohol volumes and in some cases alcoholic strength, whilst VAT revenues depend on the value of alcohol sales.
Total alcohol duty revenues are published in HMRC National Statistics bulletins for all alcohol types, copies of which can be found at:
Income Tax
Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people on half (a) mean and (b) median income have paid income tax in each of the last 12 years. [259410]
Mr. Timms: Estimates of the number of taxpayers for the period 1996-97 to 2006-07 with total income at or below half of the mean and median are in the following table.
| Individuals | ||||
| Half of mean income (£) | Taxpayers with total income at or below h alf of the mean annual income ( m illion ) | Half of median income (£) | Taxpayers with total income at or below hal f of the median annual income ( m illion ) | |
These estimates are based on the number of people facing tax liabilities. The estimates of taxpayers are based upon the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI). Estimates of half of mean and median income are at individual level and have been derived from the Family Resource Survey (FRS).
Some families have their tax liabilities offset by tax credits. Estimates based on the 2006-07 FRS show that there were:
around 4.1 million taxpaying families with income at or below half the mean family income. Of these, around 0.2 million families were entitled to more tax credits than their income tax liabilities; and
around 1.3 million taxpaying families with income at or below half the median family income. Of these, around 30,000 families were entitled to more tax credits than their income tax liabilities.
Caution should be exercised in drawing trends from these figures because sample estimates can demonstrate a large variability from year to year and the definitions of income from the two surveys are not necessarily the same.
Similar information for other years is not available.
Income Tax: Charitable Donations
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has undertaken an assessment of the likely effect of the proposed new 45 per cent. income tax rate on the level of charitable donations. [258373]
Mr. Timms: Impact assessments for changes in rates of tax are not ordinarily produced unless there are also significant changes to administrative costs and benefits.
Lloyds TSB: Halifax Bank of Scotland
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what advice his Department received from the Financial Services Authority on the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS before the merger took place; [260592]
(2) what alternatives to the merger with Lloyds TSB his Department considered for HBOS. [260593]
Angela Eagle:
The Financial Services Authority, the Bank of England and HM Treasury all undertook detailed assessments of the impact of the problems at
HBOS on the stability of the UK financial system. This included consideration of alternative options for responding to those problems.
Our positions were set out in detail in the representations we made to the OFT on the relevance of the proposed merger between HBOS and Lloyds TSB to the public interest of stability in the UK financial system. Those representations were attached to the OFT's subsequent report to the Secretary of State for BERR who was required to take a decision on whether to clear the merger or refer it to the Competition Commission.
A non-confidential version of the OFT's report and attached representations has been published and may be found on the BERR website.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 5 January 2009 on Mr. E. Warne. [260401]
Mr. Timms: 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 right hon. Member shortly.
Mike Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter dated 1 December 2008 from the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead on tax codes. [260812]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs replied to the hon. Member on 27 February.
Mr. Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford of 15 December 2008, on his constituent, Ms Pippa Cuckson of Great Leighs, Chelmsford. [260981]
Angela Eagle: 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.
Mr. Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford of 4 December 2008, on his constituent, Mr. Peter Lee, of Great Waltham, Essex. [260982]
Ian Pearson: I have replied to the hon. Member.
Mr. Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2009, Official Report, columns 907-08W, on Members: correspondence, when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford of 20 October 2008 on his constituent, Mr. Peter Vickers of Chelmsford. [261079]
Angela Eagle: 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.
Minimum Wage
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps HM Revenue and Customs plans to take to increase levels of compliance by businesses with the national minimum wage. [259882]
Mr. McFadden: I have been asked to reply.
The Government are committed to simple, effective enforcement of the national minimum wage (NMW) which removes the unfair competitive advantage that a small minority of businesses seek to gain by not paying the NMW. From 6 April this year, new measures brought under the Employment Act 2008, which aim to increase compliance, include:
new automatic penalties of up to £5,000 for employers found not to be complying with the NMW;
a new system for calculating repayment of arrears of NMW to a worker which takes account of the length of time the arrears have been outstanding; and
greater powers for officers enforcing the NMW in obtaining records.
Revenue and Customs: Absenteeism
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of working days was lost to absenteeism in HM Revenue and Customs call centres in each of the last five years. [260330]
Mr. Timms: HMRC contact centres are able to provide average working days lost to sickness, for the equivalent of each full-time member of staff, in the last four fiscal years.
| Fiscal year | Average working days lost |
Information for the year 2003-04 is not available.
Royal Bank of Scotland
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he was first informed of the financial difficulties at the Royal Bank of Scotland. [260264]
Mr. Timms: As the memorandum of understanding between HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authorities (FSA) sets out, the tripartite authorities have regular meetings to discuss financial stability.
As the MOU sets out, it is the FSA that is responsible for prudential supervision of individual banks.
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many residential properties were sold in (a) each of the six months before and (b) in each month since the introduction of the stamp duty land tax holiday; [260612]
(2) what assessment has been made of the effect of the stamp duty land tax holiday on residential property sales since its introduction; [260613]
(3) what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the Exchequer of the stamp duty land tax holiday. [260677]
Ian Pearson: The number of residential properties, priced at £40,000 or higher, sold in each month up to January 2009 is published at:
These statistics will be updated to February 2009 on 24 March.
The most recent published estimate of the cost to the Exchequer of the stamp duty land tax holiday was published in table B5 of the PBR report, available at:
An updated estimate will be published in the Budget report.
It is too early to make an assessment of the effect of the stamp duty land tax holiday on residential property sales.
Vulture Funds
Mike Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to cap the amount of profit attainable by vulture funds registered in the UK. [260558]
Ian Pearson: The Government deplore the activities of so-called vulture funds. We have taken a leading role in efforts to stop these funds profiting from the debts owed by poor countries. We continue to keep all options for tackling this problem under consideration.
Our action has focused on measures we believe will have the most impact in tackling this issue: preventing debts falling into the hands of vulture funds and helping countries to defend themselves in cases already under way.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |