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17 Mar 2009 : Column 986W—continued
Treasury
1 Carlton Gardens
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Crown Estate plans to renew the lease for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's use of No. 1 Carlton Gardens. [263507]
Angela Eagle: This matter has not yet been decided.
Air Passenger Duty
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the average annual proportion of UK tax paid by non-domiciled UK residents which is accounted for by payment of UK air passenger duty. [263419]
Angela Eagle: The information to make an estimate is not available.
Banks: Fraud
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what mechanisms are in place to compensate people for financial loss incurred as a result of fraud in relation to retail banks. [264227]
Ian Pearson: The Financial Services Compensation Scheme will compensate persons who are eligible to claim under its rules in the event that a UK authorised bank is unable, or likely to be unable, to pay claims against it, including where the bank is unable to pay claims as a result of fraud.
British Brands Group
David Taylor: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have met the (i) British Brands Group and (ii) Anti-Counterfeiting Group in each of the last five years; and which subjects were discussed on each occasion. [263856]
Angela Eagle: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors. This forms part of the Department's processes for policy development and delivery. It is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Business: Government Assistance
Peter Luff: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what resources have been provided to Capital for Enterprise Ltd for the additional workload required for implementation of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme. [259157]
Ian Pearson: The Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme has been implemented within the existing 2008-09 budgeted resource provision for Capital for Enterprise Limited (CfEL). The Department is currently reviewing the resource requirement going forward through discussion with CfEL.
Departmental Lost Property
John Mason: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what property has been lost or stolen from his Department in the last 12 months; and what the estimated cost was of replacement of such property. [263106]
Angela Eagle: The following items of HM Treasury property were reported lost or stolen during 2008:
| Property lost or stolen | |
|
2 mobile phones 3 blackberry mobile devices 2 mobile phone chargers | |
The total cost of replacement is estimated at £1,000.
Departmental Surveys
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2009, Official Report, column 103W, on departmental surveys, if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of his Department's most recent annual staff survey. [263400]
Angela Eagle: The most recent annual staff survey was conducted in December 2008. As in previous years the survey suppliers are providing a summary of the results to be put on the HM Treasury public website. This will be made available by the end of March 2009.
I will place a copy of this summary in the Library once it is available.
Financial Services Authority: ICT
Tim Farron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of suppliers of systems integration services to the Financial Services Authority completed projects on time and on budget in each of the last five years. [264229]
Ian Pearson: This is an operational matter for the FSA. The FSA will respond to the hon. Member directly.
Government Departments: Procurement
Stephen Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of levels of procurement of office supplies from UK-based businesses by Government Departments. [263478]
Angela Eagle: The information requested is not held centrally.
Non-profit Making Associations
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Oxford, East of 24 February 2009, Official Report, column 530W, on non-profit making associations, if he will discuss with the Office of Government Commerce the scope for accelerating its work. [263350]
Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 9 March 2009, Official Report, column 105W, on Public Sector: Procurement. An update on the progress in implementing the Glover recommendations will be provided at Budget 2009.
VAT
Mrs. May: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the Exchequer of cutting VAT to 15 per cent. which is accounted for by expenditure by households in each income decile. [262311]
Mr. Timms: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to her on 10 March 2009, Official Report, columns 262-63W.
In addition, table 14 in “The Effects of Taxes and Benefits on Household Incomes, 2006-07”, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/elmr/07_08/downloads/ELMR_Jul08_Jones.pdf, presents information on spending on VAT, on average, accounted for by households in each income decile.
The Treasury has made no such assessment, but from these proportions it is possible to infer the estimated annual cost of the VAT rate reduction by income decile (although such estimates would be unreliable).
Mrs. May: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the Exchequer of reducing the rate of value added tax to 15 per cent. accounted for by households where the head of the household is aged (a) 25 or under, (b) 26 to 30, (c) 31 to 35, (d) 36 to 40, (e) 41 to 45, (f) 46 to 50, (g) 51 to 55, (h) 56 to 60, (i) 61 to 65, (j) 66 to 70, (k) 71 to 75, (l) 76 to 80 and (m) over 80. [264202]
Mr. Timms: No such estimate has been made.
VAT: Accountancy
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the annual (a) revenue cost and (b) cash flow impact on the Exchequer of making value added tax (VAT) cash accounting available to all VAT-registered traders. [255052]
Mr. Timms: It is estimated that making cash accounting available to all VAT-registered traders would have an accruals and cash cost to the Exchequer of £1.6 billion in the first year and negligible cost thereafter. The cash accounting threshold was doubled in 2007 and is already as high as is permitted under the UK's derogation from EU law.
Transport
Bus Services: Young People
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will bring forward proposals to introduce a pilot scheme for concessionary bus travel for young adults between the ages of 17 and 25 years. [263564]
Paul Clark [holding answer 13 March 2009]: There are no plans to make concessionary travel a statutory entitlement for young people. At present 48 per cent. of young people walk or cycle to school and there is a risk that a blanket England-wide concession could encourage young people who currently walk or cycle instead to take the bus.
Local authorities can use their existing powers to offer local concessionary travel to young people and many do offer some kind of concession. We believe local authorities are best placed to make this decision, based on their own assessment of needs and circumstances.
Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Tolls
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people have registered for the DART-Tag scheme for the Dartford Crossing. [261777]
Paul Clark: There were 91,684 accounts with 250,979 DART-Tags on 4 March 2009.
Departmental Bank Services
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with which banks his Department has or has had contracts for the provision of financial advice, for the financial year 2008-09. [262755]
Mr. Hoon: The Department for Transport has had contracts in place with UBS Ltd., Merrill Lynch International and Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. for the provision of financial advice in the financial year 2008-09.
Departmental Manpower
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which new policy areas for which his Department has acquired responsibility have resulted in headcount additions in his Department agreed with the Treasury and the Office of Government Commerce in the last two years. [262940]
Mr. Hoon: The Department for Transport has not acquired any new policy areas which have resulted in headcount additions agreed with the Treasury and the Office of Government Commerce in the last two years.
Departmental Travel
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's criteria for approving overseas business travel for senior civil servants. [262938]
Mr. Hoon: All official travel in the Department for Transport is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Service Management Code. The Department does not publish any separate criteria for senior civil servants.
Departmental Visits Abroad
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many visits (a) he, (b) other Ministers and (c) departmental officials made abroad in 2008. [262458]
Mr. Hoon: Ministers of the Department for Transport made 13 visits overseas in 2008. Of these, five were by the Secretary of State and eight by other Ministers.
The Department does not record the travel undertaken by officials by numbers of visits and the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Driving Offences: Fines
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been paid into the Consolidated Fund from each type of fine on motorists in each year since 1997. [262420]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Fixed penalties and certain other enforcement income in respect of non-payment of vehicle excise duty is paid to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). The amounts remitted by DVLA to the Consolidated Fund in recent years are given as follows.
The Department for Transport does not collect information on fines imposed by magistrates or Crown courts or by the police.
| Enforcement of vehicle excise duty: Fines and related income remitted by DVLA to HM Treasury Consolidated Fund | |
| £ million | |
Heathrow Airport
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2009, Official Report, column 1726W, on Heathrow Airport: air pollution, on what date Ministers concluded that air quality limits had been met in relation to the (a) third runway and (b) mixed mode scenarios consulted on in the Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport public consultation; and if he will make a statement. [263862]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 16 March 2009]: Further to my answer on 5 March, Ministers received advice in September 2007 confirming the position and subsequently agreed this for the purposes of consultation. Final decisions in the light of consultation responses were taken shortly before the announcement on 15 January 2009.
High Speed Trains
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what changes to transport infrastructure will be required to accommodate the new high speed railway tracks by 2013. [263878] [Official Report, 25 March 2009, Vol. 490, c. 3MC.]
Paul Clark: “Britain’s Transport Infrastructure: High Speed Two”, published on 15 January and available on the Department for Transport’s website and the Libraries of the House, sets out what we expect High Speed Two to deliver.
The remit of the company is to consider and to provide advice to the Government on the costs and benefits of:
(a) A proposed route between London and the west midlands with any options as appropriate;
(b) Options for a “Heathrow International” interchange station on the Great Western main line with an interchange also with Crossrail;
(c) Options for access to central London and the other cities served;
(d) Options for linking with HS1 and the existing rail network, including the potential for services to continental Europe;
(e) Financing and construction proposals.
In response to a letter dated 13 February from Sir David Rowlands, Chairman of High Speed Two, my noble Friend the Minister responsible for rail wrote to the company on 10 March setting out in more detail what the Government expect by the end of the year. Both letters have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
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