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13 Oct 2009 : Column 785W—continued
Treasury
Banks: Regulation
Mr. Cash: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taken in the last three months to require banks to provide (a) financial resources and (b) credit lines to companies and businesses which wish to purchase construction and agricultural vehicles and equipment from UK companies. [247883]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 15 January 2009]: I have been asked to reply.
The Government recognise that the current economic climate is causing significant difficulties for established businesses and start-up firms alike.
The recapitalisation of the banks and subsequent measures to support bank lending, are essential to secure and sustain a competitive UK lending market. This is essential for businesses given that the vast majority looking for finance will continue to seek support from mainstream lenders, and not from Government supported schemes.
The UK is the first country in the world to have negotiated legally binding lending commitments with banks receiving state support. The Royal Bank of Scotland have committed to £25 billion of additional net lending over the next 12 months, including £16 billion for lending to businesses. Lloyds have committed to an additional £3 billion of gross mortgage lending and £11 billion of additional net lending to businesses over the next 12 months. Both agreements are in effect immediately.
While supporting lenders to continue lending, the Government have also introduced targeted support for viable businesses who continue to struggle to raise finance from commercial sources. For small and medium businesses who find themselves on the margins of commercial lending decisions, the £13 billion Enterprise Finance Guarantee encourages lenders to extend their usual lending criteria by providing them with additional security in the form of a Government backed guarantee.
The Government continue to work with the banks and business representative bodies, through fora such as the Small Business Finance Forum, and we continue to monitor bank lending to SMEs, with the Bank of England.
The measures delivered by the Government are across all sectors, including the construction and agricultural sectors.
Business: Government Assistance
Lorely Burt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses have had an application for assistance from the business payment support service declined in each month since the scheme was introduced. [291968]
Mr. Timms: The business payment support service was introduced on 24 November 2008. To 27 September 2009 6,119 requests for time to pay tax due have not been agreed by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), representing 1.9 per cent. of the total requests received. Some businesses will have submitted more than one request.
The following table provides the monthly breakdown.
| Period | Requests not agreed |
| Notes: (1) Disaggregated figures are not available prior to 2 March 2009. (2) Validation work in July 2009 led to the data capture of requests for time to pay agreements that had been processed but not previously entered on HM Revenue and Customs' management information systems. | |
Charities
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what grants his Department made to charitable organisations in each of the last five years. [292658]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Treasury does not hold a central record of payments made to charitable organisations and the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Child Benefit
John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much child benefit was paid to children living in each other EU country in the latest period for which figures are available. [292011]
Mr. Timms: According to the latest statistics there are 30,068 child benefit awards in payment in respect of 50,586 children resident in other member states. A geographical breakdown of these awards by member state can be found in the following table.
| Country | Number of awards at 8 October 2009 | Number of children included in awards |
The value of the benefit paid is only available at disproportionate costs because under the EC social security co-ordinating regulations (EC Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72) not all awards of child benefit in respect of children living in other member states are made at the full UK rate.
Departmental Incentives
Justine Greening: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what employee reward schemes are offered to staff of his Department; what the purpose of each scheme is; how many staff participate in each scheme; and what the cost of operating each scheme was in each of the last five years. [290604]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: HM Treasury offers a wide range of benefits to all of its employees. A summary of these is published on its recruitment website:
Performance related pay increases and non-consolidated performance awards for all eligible staff are linked to the annual performance appraisal system. All staff below the Senior Civil Service are assessed against their peers in relation to the Treasury competency framework and the achievement of their performance objectives. Awards are paid in recognition of excellent performance throughout the appraisal year. Reward arrangements for staff in the Senior Civil Service are based on recommendations by the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.
HM Treasury also pays non-consolidated special performance awards to recognise exceptional performance for specific contributions or pieces of work during the year, or for situations outside the normal expectations of a post.
The following table gives details of the amounts paid and number of recipients of non-consolidated performance awards paid in 2008-09. For details of previous years, I refer the hon. Lady to the answer my predecessor gave to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 17 November 2008, Official Report, column 164W.
| HM Treasury non-consolidated performance pay awards paid in 2008-09 | ||
| No of staff( 1) | Amount paid (£000)( 2) | |
| (1) Non-consolidated awards were paid in 2008-09 in respect of staff performance in the 2007-08 performance appraisal year. (2) Special performance awards are paid at various times during the year, and may relate to specific contributions or pieces of work completed in the previous year. (3) The number of staff receiving bonuses includes individuals who received more than one bonus in the period. (4) The amounts paid by HM Treasury excludes amounts recovered from external organisations to which staff were seconded at the time of payment. | ||
Departmental Pay
John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff in his Department had a salary of more than £64,000 in the latest year for which figures are available. [291999]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: 91 members of staff currently working at HM Treasury have a full-time equivalent consolidated base salary of more than £64,000.
Departmental Redundancy
Justine Greening:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff have (a) been dismissed and (b) had their contract terminated by the Department in each of the last five years; what the
reason cited in each case was; and what the severance costs in relation to (i) dismissal and (ii) contract termination in each year were. [290600]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: HM Treasury defines a dismissal as either the termination of a permanent contract for a major breach of its terms, or the non-renewal of a fixed-term contract. HM Treasury does not provide information relating to numbers of staff fewer than five where to do so might lead to the identification of protected information concerning individual cases.
In each of the five years to 2008-09, fewer than five permanent staff were dismissed from HM Treasury. The table below shows the number and costs of non-renewals of fixed-term contracts in those years; of these 351 contracts, 167 related to staff working at HM Treasury under its student placement schemes.
| Fixed-term contracts not renewed at HM Treasury 2004-05 to 2008-09 | ||
| Number | Costs (£000) | |
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