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12 Oct 2009 : Column 244W—continued
Written Answers to Questions
Monday 12 October 2009
Treasury
Air Passenger Duty
Mr. Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 14 September 2009, Official Report, column 2131W, on air passenger duty, what assessment his Department has made of the effect that the proposed increase in air passenger duty will have on (a) passenger numbers at airports in the South East of England, (b) passenger numbers at regional airports and (c) passenger numbers on other routes. [292300]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department for Transport published overall passenger demand forecasts for regional airports on page 130 of its Air Passenger Demand forecasts report:
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate his Department has made of the effect of an increase in air passenger duty on levels of employment. [292495]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Government's impact assessment is set out on Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs website and can be accessed via:
Banks: Finance
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 13 May 2009, Official Report, column 847W, on banks: finance, how much of the first loss in respect of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Lloyds Banking Group has been written down; and when he expects the Asset Protection Scheme to be fully operational. [289917]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The announcements made in February and March set out an in principle agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and the Lloyds Banking Group (Lloyds) with regard to their participation in the Asset Protection Scheme (APS). Details about the financial performance of RBS and Lloyds, since they agreed in principle to participate in APS, are set out in their interim management statements of 5 August and 7 August respectively.
The final agreements remain under negotiation. Further announcements will be made in due course.
Mr. Hoban:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 11 May 2009, Official Report, column 535W, on banks: finance, which banks are participating in the Asset-backed Securities
Scheme; and what the total monetary value is of the additional loans made available to each such bank. [289918]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The ABS guarantee scheme was made available at Budget 2009, extending funding options open to banks and building societies alongside other Government support schemes, including the existing Credit Guarantee Scheme. Demand for the guarantees will depend on eligible institutions' access to alternative sources of funding and demand for mortgage credit in the economy.
A list of eligible instruments guaranteed under the scheme will be made available by the DMO at:
Banks: Government Shareholding
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what position the Government holds in relation to other shareholders in the ranking for settlement in respect of (a) Bradford and Bingley and (b) Northern Rock. [289460]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Mr. Meale) on 17 June 2009, Official Report, column 323W.
Cheques
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what recent discussions he has had with the Payments Council on electronic payments by mobile telephone payments as an alternative form of payment to cheques; [291467]
(2) what discussions he has had with clearing banks on proposals to cease the use of cheques as methods of payment; and what assessment he has made of the risks to security of financial transfers of methods of payment other than cheques. [291745]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors to discuss as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.
Child Care Tax Credit
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1385, on child care tax credit, what estimate he has made of the cost of distributing the child care element of the working tax credit had all those eligible to claim done so in 2008-09. [289300]
Mr. Timms: The information is not available.
HMRC does not have data on the total number of families eligible for the child care element.
Child Tax Credit
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to improve take-up of child tax credit. [288442]
Mr. Timms: The Government's aim is to ensure that everyone receives all of the help that they are entitled to.
Tax credits are benefiting around 6 million families and 10 million children. Take-up is now higher than for any previous system of income-related financial support, at 81 per cent. for the child tax credit, rising to 92 per cent. for the poorest fifth of families. HM Revenue and Customs is pursuing a comprehensive strategy to sustain and increase these high levels of take-up, using methods such as:
placing tax credit advisers in 100 children centres;
joining up marketing of parents' entitlements through the Payments for Parents campaign; and
offering information for new mothers in Bounty packs.
Child Trust Fund
Mike Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children in (a) Hemel Hempstead constituency and (b) Dacorum had received child trust fund payments on the latest date for which figures are available. [289420]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 20 July 2009, Official Report , column 893W.
Civil Service: Location
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Civil Service jobs have been relocated to the north-west of England in the last four years. [291472]
Mr. Byrne: Under the Government's Relocation programme 3,951 posts had been relocated out of London and the south-east to the north-west of England by December 2008.
Climate Change
Gregory Barker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research projects the International Development and Climate Change Team of his Department's International Finance Directorate (a) has undertaken and (b) plans to undertake on matters related to energy and climate change. [289823]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Research on matters pertaining to energy and climate change is led by the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Officials in the International Development and Climate Change team work in cooperation with their counterparts at DECC.
Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the email from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, dated 9 June 2009 on banks. [289864]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: A reply has been sent to the hon. Member.
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to reply to the letter of 7 September 2009 from the hon. Member for Walsall North concerning a constituent; and for what reason no acknowledgement was sent at that time. [292307]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: An acknowledgement was sent to my hon. Friend on 10 September and a reply to the correspondence on 4 October.
Departmental Advertising
Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on newspaper advertising carried in each newspaper in the most recent year for which figures are available. [289514]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: A breakdown of expenditure on newspaper advertising could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Buildings
Greg Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the (a) display energy certificate and (b) advisory report for public buildings issued in respect of each property occupied by (i) the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, (ii) the Government Actuary's Department, (iii) HM Revenue and Customs and (iv) the Public Works Loan Board. [289844]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: A copy of the Display Energy Certificates (DEC) and associated advisory reports in respect of each property occupied that requires a DEC for (i) the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt (CRND), (ii) the Government Actuary's Department and (iv) the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) will be placed in the Library. CRND and PLWB are both part of the UK Debt Management Office and occupy the same building and therefore have the same DEC and advisory report.
Due to the size of its estate, HM Revenue and Customs will place an electronic record of DECs and associated advisory reports for all properties it occupies that require a DEC in the Library as soon as possible.
It may be helpful to note that the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has published central government department's Display Energy Certificate (DEC) operational ratings. This building level detail can be accessed through the OGC website
http://www.ogc.gov.uk/sustainability_programme_ progress.asp
and includes DEC reference numbers for each building which can be used to access relevant advisory reports on the Non-Domestic Energy Performance Certificate Register
https://www.ndepcregister.com/home.html
Justine Greening: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many properties owned by his Department were liable for payment of (a) business rates and (b) empty property rates in each of the last five years; and what the cost to the public purse was in each such year. [290603]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Information on the number of properties owned by the Department that attracted business rates and the cost in each year since 2005-06 is shown in the following table. There has been no spending by the Department on empty property rates since 2005-06.
| Number of properties | Cost of business rates (£) | |
Departmental Cost-effectiveness
Mr. Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which Minister in his Department has been assigned responsibility for overseeing the delivery of value for money in his Department; whether his Department has established a public sector reform team to implement service reforms; and if he will make a statement. [289749]
Mr. Byrne: The Minister assigned responsibility for overseeing the delivery of value for money in HM Treasury is the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury co-ordinates the work of value for money Ministers across the Government.
HM Treasury is committed to reforming public services to improve services for the citizen and that various teams are working closely with colleagues in the centre of Government on this important agenda.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer of 26 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1889-90W, how much (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) HM Revenue and Customs has spent on (i) flat screen televisions, (ii) DVD players and (iii) stereo equipment since December 2008. [289070]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The information requested is set out in the following table.
| £000 | |||
| Organisation | Flat screen televisions | DVD players | Stereo equipment |
| (1) Information in relation to the Treasury is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. (2) HMRC figures may exclude flat screen televisions bought as part of a package e.g. video conferencing or closed circuit television equipment. It is not possible to identity the cost of the television element of such packages. | |||
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