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14 July 2009 : Column 363W—continued
Taxation: Gaming Machines
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what timetable he has set for his Department's consultation on proposals to introduce of a gross profit tax in place of amusement machine licence duty; and if he will make a statement; [286080]
(2) what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of introducing a gross profit tax in place of amusement machine licence duty; and if he will make a statement; [286083]
(3) what estimate his Department has made of the likely change in revenue accruing to the Exchequer consequent on the introduction of a gross profit tax on gaming machines; and what methodology was used to determine that estimate; [286099]
(4) what assessment his Department has made of the likely effects on the amusement machine industry of the introduction of a gross profit tax to replace the amusement machine licence duty system. [286104]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Government plan to launch the consultation and a consultation stage impact assessment soon. The Government will produce and publish a final stage impact assessment after the consultation has closed.
Taxation: Repayments
Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) in how many and what proportion of tax credit cases in which tax credits were overpaid those overpayments were being repaid by claimants in each year since their introduction; [286071]
(2) how many and what proportion of tax credit claimants have been required to repay tax credits in each year since they were introduced. [286066]
Mr. Timms: This information is not available.
The latest estimates of the number of families with tax credit awards, including information on overpayments based on final family circumstances and incomes are published on the HM Revenue Customs website at
VAT: Garages
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the rules on value added tax liability of garages rented by local authorities to householders have been amended since 1997. [286518]
Business, Innovation and Skills
Apprentices
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprenticeship places have been created as a result of the awarding of new public procurement contracts since January 2009; and if he will make a statement. [283898]
Kevin Brennan: We do not have a central record of how many apprenticeship places have been created as a result of the award of new public sector contracts. There is no formal requirement in place in the Apprenticeships programme to record this information.
A number of Departments and agencies have already brought forward firm, quantified commitments to creating apprenticeship opportunities through their procurement processes. The Olympic Delivery Authority has pledged to create an extra 250 apprenticeship places through the development of the Olympic Park and Village. Through Building Schools for the Future procurement, we expect to create an additional 1,000 apprenticeship places, building on existing commitments in Building Colleges for the Future where we estimate that on average one in every 20 workers employed on college construction projects is an apprentice.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what guidance his Department has issued on the inclusion of apprenticeship opportunities in criteria for Government procurement contracts. [283899]
Kevin Brennan: The Government are committed to using the unique leverage of their £175 billion procurement programme to promote skills training and apprenticeship opportunities.
In April the then Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Office of Government Commerce published "Promoting Skills through Public Procurement", a new guide to provide procurers across the public sector with practical advice on how skills training and apprenticeships can be promoted through public procurement processes-both when letting new contracts, and working with existing contractors on a voluntary basis.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the average number of apprentices in training was in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [286220]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 13 July 2009]: There were 224,800 apprenticeship starts in 2007/08, the latest year for which we have full-year information. In total, there were 418,900 learners participating on apprenticeship programmes in 2007/08. This includes learners who had started their programme in previous academic years. In the first nine months of 2008/09 (1 August 2008 to 30 April 2009, provisional), there were 196,600 apprenticeship starts.
In "World-Class Apprenticeships", we announced that we were changing the way we count apprenticeships, moving to counting the number of people starting an apprenticeship in the year ('starts') and the percentage who complete an apprenticeship ('completion rate').
Apprentices: Finance
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with the Learning and Skills Council on funding the Council has allocated to training providers for the provision of new apprenticeship places in 2009-10. [284682]
Kevin Brennan: The Government have made clear to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) that apprenticeships are a key route to building the national skills base. The Government are committed to significant growth in apprenticeships for young people and adults.
The LSC has issued final allocations to providers for apprenticeships for the academic year 2009/10. Funding for apprenticeships has increased by almost a quarter between 2007-08 and 2009-10, to over £1 billion.
Government funding will provide for over 250,000 new apprenticeship starts in the academic year 2009-10, including an additional 30,000 of the 35,000 new starts announced by the Government in January 2009.
Companies Act 2006
Bob Russell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) what progress his Department has made in its assessment of the merits of using provisions of the Companies Act 2006 to protect the use of the word college; [285603]
(2) if he will take steps to restrict the use of the word college to educational establishments providing education to recognised standards. [285604]
Ian Lucas: The new offence under the Companies Act 2006 of carrying on business under a name that gives so misleading an indication of the nature of the business's activities as to be likely to cause harm to the public will come into force on 1 October 2009. As this will address the problem of bogus colleges, I do not intend to add "college" to the list of words for which the Secretary of State's prior approval is required for their inclusion in either a company's registered name or any person's business name.
Consumer Protection Act 1987
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many requests for communications data were made by trading standards officials to communication service providers (CSPs) under the (a) Consumer Protection Act 1987, (b) Fair Trading Act 1973, (c) Trade Descriptions Act 1968 in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001, (iii) 2002, (iv) 2003, (v) 2004, (vi) 2005, (vii) 2006, (viii) 2007 and (ix) 2008; and how many of these requests resulted in the requested communications data being disclosed by the relevant CSP. [284864]
Kevin Brennan: Local authorities will make requests to service providers for subscriber details as part of their enforcement activities on a case by case basis. This information is held by the respective local authorities and is not collected by central Government.
Consumers: Protection
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department takes to ensure that consumers entering into contracts with (a) utilities, (b) communications providers, (c) internet service providers, (d) media services, (e) banks and (f) software companies are provided with comprehensible forms to protect them from agreeing to unfair terms. [284735]
Kevin Brennan: The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 (UTCCRs) protect consumers when entering into contracts. Companies who deal with consumers and use standard form contracts must ensure they do not use unfair terms. Under the UTCCRs, an unfair term is defined as one which, contrary to the requirements of good faith, causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract to the detriment of the consumer.
The UTCCRs require that all contract terms are expressed in plain, intelligible language. The indicative list of terms which may be unfair includes terms with which the consumer has had no real opportunity of becoming acquainted before the conclusion of the contract.
Departmental Energy
Gregory Barker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much (a) electricity and (b) gas was used (i) on his Department's predecessors' estate and (ii) by his Department's predecessors' agencies in each year from 2004-05 to 2008-09. [280515]
Mr. McFadden: Electricity and gas consumption figures for BIS and its predecessors are as follows:
| kWh | ||
| Electricity | Gas | |
The figures shown for 2007-08 and 2008-09 include consumption by DIUS who occupied floors in a BIS managed building, Kingsgate House, in London. The figures do not include DIUS consumption in buildings managed by DCSF where DIUS also occupied space.
I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service, Companies House, National Weights and Measures Laboratory and UK Intellectual Property Office and they will respond directly to you.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 14 July 2009:
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service in relation to how much (a) electricity and (b) gas was used (i) on his Department's predecessors' estate and (ii) by his Department's predecessors' agencies in each year from 2004-05 to 2008-09.
The table shows the amount of electricity and gas consumption (in kilowatt hours) that has been directly billed to the Insolvency Service by utility providers.
| Financial year | Electricity | Gas |
In about half of its offices, The Insolvency Service is billed indirectly via a building services charge and where this is the case we are unable to identify energy, consumption separately.
Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 14 July 2009:
I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 12 June 2009, UIN 280515, to the Minister of State for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.
The amounts of electricity and gas used by Companies House are as follows:
| Year | Electricity (kwh) | Gas (kwh) |
Letter from Peter Mason, dated 25 June 2009:
I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office (formerly National Weights and Measures Laboratory) to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 12 June 2009 [reference 280515] to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, asking how much (a) electricity and (b) gas was used (i) on his Department's predecessors' estate and (ii) by his Department's predecessors' agencies in each year from 2004-05 to 2008-09.
The expenditure by the National Weights and Measures Laboratory on electricity and gas as recorded in the Agency's accounts over the relevant years was:
| £ | |||||
| 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
Letter from Ian Fletcher, dated 24 June 2009:
I am responding on behalf of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 12 June 2009, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
In the last 4 years the following quantities of gas and electricity were used within the Intellectual Property Office; 05/06 through to 08/09 as follows:
Gas: 4,451,422 kwH
Electric: 2,952,075 kwH
Gas: 4,065,852 kwH
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