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1 Jun 2009 : Column 49W—continued
Treasury
Banks: Finance
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will consider the merits of directing those banks in public and part-public ownership to increase lending to projects promoting a sustainable future. [270347]
Ian Pearson: UK Financial Investments Ltd. (UKFI) has been set up to manage the Government’s investments in financial institutions as an active and engaged shareholder, operating on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from Government.
The framework document between HM Treasury and UKFI sets a requirement that UKFI will not intervene in the day-to-day management decisions of investee companies. The companies will retain their own independent boards, which will manage the banks and determine their strategy. Decisions relating to whether to lend to individuals or firms, and the terms of those loans, remain commercial matters for banks.
However, where financial institutions take part in the Asset Protection Scheme, the Government have negotiated quantified lending agreements. RBS and Lloyds have, as part of this, agreed to make substantial extra lending available to individuals and firms in the coming year.
HM Treasury and UKFI does not comment on individual products offered by or commercial decisions taken by its investee companies.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the cost to the public purse of the Government buying shares in banks. [276619]
Ian Pearson: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given on 28 April 2009, Official Report, column 687, to the hon. Member for Gosport (Sir Peter Viggers).
Capital Gains Tax
Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has accrued to the Exchequer in capital gains tax receipts in each financial year since 2004. [277434]
Mr. Timms: Annual receipts of capital gains tax are available in the National Statistics Table 1.2 available at:
Church of Scientology: Non-domestic Rates
Robert Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) of 7 May 2009, Official Report, column 382W, on the Church of Scientology, whether the Valuation Office Agency recognises venues of the Church of Scientology as places of public worship eligible for an exemption from non-domestic rates. [277023]
Mr. Timms: It is for the Valuation Officers of the Valuation Office Agency to decide whether any hereditament is a place of public religious worship which is exempt from non-domestic rates in accordance with Paragraph 11 of Schedule 5 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988. In general, following an Appeal Court decision in 1970, Valuation Officers do not regard premises occupied by the Church of Scientology as being so exempt.
Climate Change
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what timetable he has set for updating his Department's Green Book guidance to enable climate change adaptation to be taken into account in his Department's decision-making processes. [277395]
Angela Eagle: Officials from DEFRA and a number of other Departments including the Treasury have been working on supplementary Green Book guidance to enable adaptation to climate change to be taken into account in the decision process. It is planned that this will be issued during the summer and made available to all Departments through the Treasury's Green Book website.
Committee of European Securities Regulators
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what recent discussions he has had on the role and powers of the Committee of European Securities Regulators; and if he will make a statement; [277185]
(2) what recent discussions he has had on the role and powers of the Committee of European Banking Supervisors; and if he will make a statement. [277186]
Ian Pearson: The Government have regular discussions with European colleagues on EU supervisory and regulatory arrangements.
Departmental Billing
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies paid in interest to suppliers under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 in the last three years for which figures are available. [275193]
Angela Eagle: Neither the Treasury nor its agencies have any record of interest payments having been made under the Late Payment of Commercial Debt (Interest) Act 1998.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time equivalent staff are employed in the private office of each Minister in his Department; and at what annual cost to the public purse. [271174]
Angela Eagle: Public sector staffing costs are set out annually as part of Departments’ annual resource accounts. The Treasury Group’s audited accounts for 2008-09 will be published later this year.
The following table sets out details of the number of staff employed in each ministerial office in the Treasury. This includes five members of staff on secondment who continue to be paid by their home Departments.
| Minister | Number of full-time equivalent staff |
Excise Duties: Fuel Oil
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his Department’s estimate is of the amount which will be raised in revenue from (a) private cars, (b) light commercial vehicles, (c) heavy goods vehicles and (d) public service vehicles by the two pence increase in fuel duty announced in the 2009 Budget in its first 12 months. [276148]
Angela Eagle: As fuel duty is paid by fuel producers at the point when finished fuel products leave the relevant refinery or import terminal, the Treasury does not hold data for fuel duty revenues disaggregated by end use. Forecasts of the overall revenue gain expected from the 1 September 2009 fuel duty increase can be found in Table A.1 on page 153 of the 2009 Budget.
Food
Tim Farron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make an estimate of the (a) monetary value and (b) quantity of waste food disposed of from his Department's premises in the last 12 months. [273435]
Angela Eagle: There is no methodology currently in place to assess the value of waste food disposed of from Treasury buildings.
For 2008-09, 21,040 kg of waste food was disposed of as part of the food waste recycling programme, introduced in March 2008. Through this, food waste is removed from the building and transported to a biogas plant where it is subjected to an anaerobic digestion process. In addition, the process produces fertilizer and electricity as by-products.
Housing: Expenditure
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what spending on housing was as a percentage of Government spending in each year since 1997. [277666]
Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 21 May 2009, Official Report, column 1509-10W.
Income Tax
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the merits of altering the basic rate of income tax. [276663]
Mr. Timms: All taxes are kept under review. Any decisions taken are announced in the usual manner at Budget or in the pre-Budget report.
Landfill Tax
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the retention of landfill tax receipts by local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [274930]
Angela Eagle: The Treasury has regular discussions with Defra about a wide range of issues. The costs of landfill tax from the Budget 2007 announcement were taken into account when agreeing the local government settlement in the 2007 comprehensive spending review. Decisions on future funding of local authorities are a matter for the next spending review.
Public Expenditure
Mr. Hague: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2009, Official Report, column 419W, on public expenditure, on what date his Department’s withdrawal of support for the Overseas Price Mechanism took effect; and if he will make a statement. [267825]
Yvette Cooper: HM Treasury included the final OPM adjustment in the 2008 spring supplementary estimate.
Regional Ministers
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Permanent Secretary of his Department has authorised expenditure on travel costs for the Parliamentary assistant to the Minister for the North East in accordance with the circumstances envisaged in the Cabinet Secretary’s letter to Permanent Secretaries of 2 December 2008. [267160]
Angela Eagle: The role of Minister for the North East is within the portfolio of my right hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, East and Wallsend (Mr. Brown), who is assisted in those duties by my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Dr. Blackman-Woods). The duties and responsibilities of the Minister for the North East are not matters for the Treasury. I can confirm though that my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham (Dr. Blackman-Woods) has met her own travel costs and no claims for expenditure on travel have been submitted.
Revenue and Customs: Complaints
Mr. Gale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the level of compliance of the complaints system in place at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Ty-Glas with the national HMRC complaints procedures. [277105]
Mr. Timms: There is no site-specific assessment for the level of compliance with the complaints system for Ty-Glas. Assurance that HMRC’s complaints handling IT system is used in line with national guidelines is managed by Directorate rather than geographical site. Several HMRC Directorates have operations at Ty-Glas.
Revenue and Customs: Manpower
John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time equivalent staff were employed in HM Revenue and Customs enquiry centres in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [277510]
Mr. Timms: The following table provides the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed in HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Inquiry Centres since they became a single business stream in July 2005 shortly after HMRC came into being in April 2005.
| As at 31 March: | Inquiry centre FTE staff |
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) of 12 March 2009, Official Report, column 722W, on stamp duty land tax, what assumptions were made about the take-up rate of the stamp duty land tax holiday in calculating the estimated cost of £280 million; [275773]
(2) what recent assessment has been made of the effect on the housing market of the temporary £175,000 stamp duty land tax threshold. [275859]
Ian Pearson: The stamp duty holiday announced on 2 September 2008 provides Government support for homebuyers at a time of difficult conditions. Data on property transactions can be found at
The estimated cost of the stamp duty holiday of £280 million was based on the most recent SDLT receipt data and accounting for expected changes in house prices, transactions and behavioural effects available at the time of the pre-Budget report. The Treasury does not publish forecasts of house prices or transaction volumes.
The cost was updated at Budget 2009 to take account of the latest information available and the extension of the holiday to 31 December 2009. Our latest estimate puts the cost of the original holiday at £250 million, with an additional cost of £90 million for the extension to December 2009.
Around 90,000 transactions (in addition to those falling below the original £125,000 threshold) have already been exempted from stamp duty by the holiday. Looking ahead the Treasury expects that around 210,000 transactions will benefit from the holiday in total, and that around 60,000 of these will benefit as a result of the extension announced at Budget.
Taxation: Construction
Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to incentivise the use of reclaimed materials by granting value added tax rebates for building projects that incorporate recovered or salvaged materials; and if he will make a statement. [277495]
Mr. Timms: No. The Government have encouraged the use of reclaimed materials in building work through the Aggregates Levy. The levy has been a significant factor in reducing sales of virgin aggregates in England by around 18 million tonnes between 2001 and 2005, with an estimated increase in the use of recycled aggregate of nearly 6 million tonnes.
Valuation Office
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the Valuation Office Agency’s Locality Adjustment Factor table referred to in the MAT2 Case Worker Application User Guide. [270434]
Mr. Timms: The figures included in Locality Adjustment Factor tables are used by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) as an input to automated valuation modeling. The release of this information would prejudice the commercial interests of the VOA.
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