| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
16 Sep 2009 : Column 2284W—continued
Private Finance Initiative
David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many private finance initiative contracts have been re-negotiated since September 2008; and whether the public sector liability has increased as a result of such re-negotiations. [291417]
Ian Pearson: We are not aware of any PFI contracts which have been re-negotiated since September 2008, this would be a matter for the relevant procuring authority in the first instance.
Public Expenditure: Armed Forces
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what payments to the Ministry of Defence have been made out of Treasury reserves to pay for equipment for military operations in (a) Iraq and (b) Afghanistan. [288561]
Mr. Byrne: Treasury expenditure on the net additional cost of military operations, including equipment, are broken down by theatre in the Ministry of Defence's annual report and accounts. For the most recent 2007-08 accounts the relevant table is listed under Operations and Peacekeeping (RfR2), sub-para 2.3 on page 292.
Public Expenditure: Banks
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the proportion of expenditure from the public purse in 2010-11 expected to be spent on Government (a) loans to and (b) purchase of equity or shares in banks. [288183]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: As set out in Budget 2009, the Government projects that the net effect of financial sector interventions on the central Government net cash requirement (CGNCR) will be zero in 2010-11.
Royal Mail
Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on services provided by Royal Mail in each of the last two years. [288738]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Treasury's spending with the Royal Mail in 2007-08 and 2008-09 was £57,058 and £61,310 respectively.
Scotland
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department plans to make a submission to the Scottish Executive's National Conversation consultation on Scotland's constitutional future. [288954]
Mr. Byrne: The Treasury has not submitted evidence to the Scottish Government's National Conversation.
The Commission on Scottish Devolution was established by majority vote in the Scottish Parliament and with the full support of the UK Government. UK Departments submitted evidence to the Commission during its first phase of evidence gathering.
The Commission recently published its final report, which can be found here:
A Steering Group has been established under the Chairmanship of the Secretary of State for Scotland to help the UK Government and the Scottish Parliament plan how to take forward the Calman recommendations and deliver stronger devolution within a stronger United Kingdom.
Social Security Benefit: Fraud
Mr. Steen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if HM Revenue and Customs will take steps to investigate instances of suspected benefit fraud perpetrated by EU nationals from former Soviet bloc countries. [291237]
Ian Pearson: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) takes all instances of suspected fraud seriously and is stepping up its work in this area. The Department is increasing its use of data matching using information from a wide variety of sources to identify those who attempt to abuse the system. HMRC also shares intelligence and investigates cases jointly with other Government agencies.
Those who are caught may face prosecution or in less serious cases, being charged a penalty and interest in addition to repaying the amount they defrauded.
To help prevent fraud from occurring in the first place, child benefit customers must provide HMRC with documentary evidence of the child being claimed for, such as a birth certificate, adoption certificate or passport.
All claims for child benefit are then subject to a wide range of checks throughout the life of each claim. It would be inappropriate to disclose a complete list as to do so may provide assistance to those attempting to defraud the system.
Details of suspected benefit fraud can be reported to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline (0800 854 440), the Child Benefit Helpline (0845 302 1444) or the tax credits Helpline (0845 300 3900).
Tax Credit
Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many tax credit cases payments have been affected by technical difficulties in the last year for which figures are available; and what the average length of time taken to resolve such cases was. [291350]
Mr. Timms: The information is not available. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) works with its IT provider to identify and resolve tax credits claims affected by technical difficulties.
Where necessary, HMRC maintains affected tax credits claims by sending manual cash cheque payments to its customers. At the end of August 2009, less than 9,500 households' tax credit claims were being processed clerically.
Taxation: Developing Countries
Mr. Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he plans to take to implement the G20 London Summit commitment to develop proposals by the end of 2009 to make it easier for developing countries to secure the benefits of a new co-operative tax environment; and whether discussion of such proposals will be on the agenda for the forthcoming G20 Summit in Pittsburgh. [291399]
Ian Pearson: The UK is working with its international partners to drive forward the G20 agenda to ensure that developing countries benefit from the new co-operative tax environment.
Earlier this month, G20 Finance Ministers lent further support to the proposal that developing countries should benefit from the new tax transparency, possibly through a multilateral instrument for information exchange, which would allow a wider group of countries-including developing countries-to access relevant tax information.
The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes has agreed to report to the next meeting of G20 Finance Ministers in November on how multilateral tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) work and what steps are necessary to accelerate full implementation of the international standard on tax information exchange. The UK will be pressing for early implementation of such an instrument. We expect this issue to be discussed at the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers in November.
UK Financial Institutions
Mr. Bone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what stakes the Government holds in UK financial institutions; how much each cost to purchase; what the present value of each is; what the earliest date is on which each could be repaid; and on what date it is anticipated each will be repaid. [291318]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Details of the Government's market investments in RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, including valuations and the Government's strategy for managing the investments over time, are set out in UK Financial Investments' Annual Report, available at:
Bradford and Bingley and Northern Rock were transferred into public ownership under the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 and independent valuers have been appointed to decide what, if any, compensation is payable to former shareholders.
Further financial information about the banks in which the Government have a stake is available in the Resource Accounts in the Treasury's Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09, available at:
UK Financial Investments: Training
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what training courses have been provided to staff of UK Financial Investments since its inception; and at what cost to the public purse. [289082]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: UK Financial Investment (UKFI) is a limited company wholly owned by HM Treasury. UKFI's costs are set out in their annual report and accounts, in line with Company's Act reporting requirements and FReM accounting standards. The annual report and accounts can be found on their website at:
UKFI staff have undertaken various training to ensure that staff are well trained to deliver UKFI's remit to manage the Government's shareholdings commercially and create and protect value for the taxpayer as shareholder.
Valuation Office Agency
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Valuation Office Agency treats bedsits (a) with and (b) without self-contained toilet and washroom facilities separately for the purposes of council tax valuations. [291335]
Ian Pearson: In deciding whether a property should have a single assessment or several, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) will consider whether the property contains self-contained units "constructed or adapted for use as separate living accommodation".
Individual flats or bedsits may be allocated their own council tax band, even though some of the facilities and accommodation may be shared with other residents of the same building. The VOA's judgment will depend on the specifics of the property in question and the nature of the occupation.
Further guidance on the treatment of bedsits for council tax is available at:
Mrs. Spelman:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer of 6 February 2006, Official Report, column 1036W, on Valuation
Office Agency, how many reports of convictions and related offences the Valuation Office Agency has received from the Cabinet Office in respect of its staff each of the last three years. [291339]
Mr. Timms: The Valuation Office Agency has received fewer than five reports of convictions and related offences from the Cabinet Office. All reports have been received within the period April to September 2009.
Valuation Office Agency: Publications
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the referencing guidance and manuals produced by the Valuation Office Agency for the inspection and valuation of (a) advertising rights and stations and (b) licensed property. [291243]
Mr. Timms: The manuals used by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) are routinely updated to reflect changes and new information. They are published online at:
The section of the VOA's Rating Manual relevant to advertising rights and stations can be found at:
Licensed property is covered in the following section of the VOA's Rating Manual:
http://www.voa.gov.uk/instructions/chapters/rating manual/vol5/sect825/frame.htm
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to page 33 of the Valuation Office Agency's Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09, HC 521, in which six process areas the Agency fell below minimum target standards in its information security high level assessment. [291244]
Ian Pearson: The six process areas are those related to the HMG information Assurance Maturity Model and Assessment Framework, specifically:
Leadership and Governance
Training, Education and awareness
Information Risk Management
Through-Life Information Assurance Measures
Assured Information Sharing
Compliance
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to page 33 of the Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09, HC 521, if he will place in the Library a copy of Deloitte's report on its high level assessment of the maturity and effectiveness of VOA information security, redacted for security reasons as necessary. [291245]
Ian Pearson: The Deloitte report assesses the Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) security maturity and identifies the areas for improvement to enable full compliance with the Poynter review, with the HMG Security Policy Framework and Minimum Mandatory Measures and ISO 27001-the industry standard measure for information security compliance.
The report has therefore been classified as restricted, and cannot be published. Redaction of material, which may aggravate security risks if published, would render the report meaningless.
Working Capital Scheme
Mr. Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the monetary value of the agreements with banks signed under the Working Capital scheme is. [291408]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply.
£2 billion of guarantees have been provided to banks under the Working Capital scheme to free up regulatory capital for new lending to UK companies. As a result of action by the Government and the regulatory authorities, leading to improvements in the capital position of the UK banking system since the introduction of the WCS, the Government have been able to allocate resource provision for the WCS to other measures to support businesses, including as announced at the Budget 2009 a trade credit insurance top up scheme and a possible new letters of credit scheme in the Export Credit Guarantee Department.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which banks have signed up to the Working Capital scheme to date. [291409]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I have been asked to reply.
Guarantees have been provided to Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (RBS), National Westminster Bank PLC (NatWest), and Lloyds TSB Bank PLC and Lloyds TSB Scotland PLC (Lloyds Banking Group) under the Working Capital scheme to free up regulatory capital for new lending to UK companies. As a result of action by the Government and the regulatory authorities, leading to improvements in the capital position of the UK banking system since the introduction of the WCS, the Government have been able to allocate resource provision for the WCS to other measures to support businesses, including as announced at the Budget 2009 a trade credit insurance top up scheme and a possible new letters of credit scheme in the Export Credit Guarantee Department.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |