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20 Mar 2009 : Column 1411W—continued
Housing: Low Incomes
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what representations she has received on (a) the Homes and Communities Agency's £93 million affordable housing programme for London and (b) the London and Quadrant Up2You portfolio; [263031]
(2) whether she received an invitation to attend the launch of the £135 million funding package for affordable housing in London on 3 March 2009. [263041]
Mr. Iain Wright: My officials first received information relating to the Mayor's announcement from the Homes and Communities Agency during the week commencing Monday 23 February 2009. My office received a telephone call of invitation to attend after ordinary working hours on Friday 27 February. No detailed information on the event could be obtained then or subsequently. I later received a letter from the Mayor of London regarding these proposals i.e. on Wednesday 4 March.
Infrastructure Planning Commission
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the cost of the Infrastructure Planning Commission in its first full year of operation. [265063]
Margaret Beckett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) on 17 March 2009, Official Report, column 1108W.
Robert Neill:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what the (a) salaries, (b) pension package and (c) other benefits in
kind will be of the Infrastructure Planning Commission’s (i) Chairman, (ii) Chief Executive, (iii) board members and (iv) commissioners; [265065]
(2) which recruitment consultants have been employed to fill Infrastructure Planning Commission positions; and at what cost; [265062]
(3) what notice periods are specified in the contracts for the Infrastructure Planning Commission (a) Chairman, (b) Chief Executive, (c) board members and (d) commissioners; [265061]
(4) how much has been spent on recruitment for members of the Infrastructure Planning Commission; and how much has been allocated in total for such expenditure. [265060]
Margaret Beckett: For the remuneration package of the Chair, Deputy Chairs and Commissioners I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr. Wright), the Under-Secretary of State, to the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) on 17 March 2009, Official Report, column 1108W. None of the posts are pensionable. There are no other benefits in kind.
The post of Chief Executive has been advertised recently as a full time post offering a salary in the range £120,000 to £160,000 per annum. The appointment will be pensionable. The structure of the IPC Board will be determined by the Chair when his appointment commences on 1 May.
A notice period of three months has been specified in the contract agreed with the Chair. The notice to be given by the CEO, Commissioners and board members will be determined when the individuals are identified following the recruitment exercises.
Veredus were appointed as the recruitment consultants following a competitive tendering process to recruit the Chair, Chief Executive as well as two Deputy Chairs and three Commissioners. The contact cost is £130,630 which is the total amount allocated for recruitment of Commission members. To date £22,466.25 has been paid. It is expected that a further recruitment exercise for Commissioners will be run during 2009. No funds have been allocated at present.
Treasury
Departmental Billing
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of its suppliers his Department has paid within 10 days of receipt of invoice in the last four months. [264931]
Angela Eagle: For information on performance between November 2008 and January 2009, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 February 2009, Official Report, column 2099W, to the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie). For February 2009, the Department paid 96.82 per cent. of invoices not in dispute within 10 days.
Efficiency in Public Services Review
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was of the Gershon Review; and how many civil servants provided support to the review. [265430]
Yvette Cooper: In Annex D of “Releasing resources to the front line, Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency”, Sir Peter Gershon thanked the 35 members of the Efficiency Review Team, and set out the organisations from which they were loaned or seconded. Given the cross-cutting nature of the review and the number of organisations involved, HM Treasury does not centrally hold figures showing the total cost. Annex D of the report is available online at:
Members: Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, dated 29 January 2009, transferred from the Department for Communities and Local Government on 9 February 2009, on business diversification grants. [264879]
Angela Eagle: The correspondence was transferred from the Department for Communities and Local Government to the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, not HM Treasury.
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 6 January 2009 (Treasury reference: 04014/2009) concerning a constituent, Mr Laurence Kyan of Chelmsford. [265428]
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.
Network Rail and BBC: Public Appointments
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Government were consulted on the external comparators most appropriate to determine the (a) salary and (b) benefits of the (i) chief executive of Network Rail and (ii) director-general of the BBC; and if he will make a statement. [264331]
Yvette Cooper: These are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Transport and for Culture, Media and Sport. The Treasury has no role in determining the salary or benefits of either the chief executive of Network Rail or the director-general of the BBC.
Personal Savings
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on the promotion of long-term personal savings in the UK. [265179]
Ian Pearson: The Government recognise the importance of savings and assets in providing people with independence throughout their lives, security if things go wrong and comfort in retirement.
The Government have improved incentives to save by introducing Individual Savings Accounts and Child Trust Funds. Meanwhile, the Saving Gateway will be introduced nationally in 2010 to promote saving among working age people on lower incomes. The Government have also legislated for reforms to the private pensions system that will encourage and enable more people to save for their retirement. The reforms include a duty on employers to automatically enrol all eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension and, for the first time, employers will also be required to contribute to workers pensions. In addition, personal accounts will be introduced to give those currently without access to a good quality workplace pension scheme—in particular, low to moderate earners—the opportunity to save.
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will hold discussions with UK financial institutions on the competitiveness of their savings products and the incentives they offer to savers. [265180]
Ian Pearson: Competitiveness in banking and other markets is governed by competition law and overseen by the Office for Fair Trading and the Competition Commission. Savers can ensure they get the best possible income from their savings by shopping around. The Financial Services Authority publishes comparative tables of savings accounts and the interest rates as part of its Money Made Clear initiative.
Revenue and Customs: Chorley
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many members of staff the HM Revenue and Customs office in Chorley may accommodate at its full capacity. [264885]
Mr. Timms: The HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office in Chorley is Lingmell House. It has a net internal area of 1,068m(2). For planning purposes, HMRC would assume a maximum occupancy of 107 based on 10m(2) per head. The actual number would depend on the type of activity being carried out and the design of the building.
Revenue and Customs: Operating Costs
Miss Begg: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of operating HM Revenue and Customs' Debt Management and Banking Unit has been in each year since the introduction of tax credits; and how much was spent on the management and recovery of tax credit overpayments in each year. [264207]
Mr. Timms:
HMRC's Debt Management and Banking Directorate (DMB) was formed in April 2005 following the creation of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The total operating costs for DMB since formation are as follows:
| Net operating costs (£ million)( 1) | |
| (1) Totals comprise paybill, net administration and legal costs for each year. The figures do not include any departmental overheads such as accommodation, IT or other centralised corporate services. The figures quoted include activities undertaken by the directorate not directly associated with debt pursuit and recovery—principally those concerned with general payment processing and banking operations. | |
Responsibility for the management and recovery of tax credit overpayments is shared between a number of directorates, with DMB taking the lead where direct recovery of an established debt is appropriate.
Disaggregating the costs for the management or recovery of tax credit overpayments from other tax credit and debt management expenditure could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Royal Mint
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has appointed external advisers to advise on the possible sale of the Royal Mint. [265503]
Angela Eagle: The Shareholder Executive has appointed external advisers to support the review of the strategic options for the Royal Mint that is being conducted as part of the Operational Efficiency Programme.
Smuggling: Tobacco
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many illegal cigarettes were seized by HM Revenue and Customs in (a) the UK and (b) Northern Ireland in 2008; and what the number seized per head of population was in each case. [264775]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 19 March 2009]: High level data on tobacco seizures are published in the HMRC annual reports—available on the HMRC website:
The latest report contains details for 2007-08. However, the information is not collated and recorded in a way that would enable the level of detail requested to be identified.
Taxation: Pensions
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what rate of tax is being applied by HM Revenue and Customs to the remaining lump sums currently being returned by the Government to members of the Bus Employees Superannuation Trust who are aged over 75 years. [265504]
Ian Pearson: Taxpayer confidentiality rules mean that I cannot comment on particular cases. However, I understand the rules that apply to lump sums paid to members of the Bus Employees Superannuation Trust are the same as those that apply to other individuals. Guidance on those rules can be found in HMRC’s Register Pension Scheme manual, a copy of which can be found on HMRC’s website at:
Taxation: Self-assessment
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many people with a BT postcode missed the 31 January deadline for filing their tax returns in each of the last three years; and how much HM Revenue and Customs received in penalties from such persons in each such year; [265181]
(2) what steps he is taking to reduce the numbers of people who do not meet the annual deadline for filing their tax returns. [265182]
Angela Eagle: 28,323 people with a BT postcode missed the 31 January 2009 deadline for filing 2007-08 self assessment tax returns. I would refer to the answer given on 20 May 2008, Official Report, column 209W, which provided figures for 2006-07. The detail for 2005-06 is not known.
HMRC does not hold information on how much was received in penalties from such persons in each year.
The filing deadline is prominently displayed on the tax returns and notices to file, and HMRC issue reminders in advance of the deadline. In addition, HMRC ran a comprehensive publicity campaign to inform both customers and agents of the change in filing dates for the 2007-08 tax return—to 31 October for paper returns and 31 January for returns filed online. This included TV, radio and press advertising, posters and billboards, and online advertising. There was also extensive media coverage.
VAT: Clothing
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government’s policy is on inclusion of school uniforms in Annex III of Directive 2006/112/EC in the current reduced VAT rate negotiations at EU level. [265184]
Mr. Timms: The UK’s zero VAT rate for young children’s clothing, including school uniforms is based on Article 110 of Directive 2006/112/EC. There is currently no scope within Annex III of Directive 2006/112/EC for a reduced VAT rate for school uniforms or children’s clothing. Any change to European VAT agreements to allow the introduction of a new reduced rate of VAT to the current list, would require the unanimous agreement of all 27 member states.
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