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19 Oct 2009 : Column 1282W—continued
Outreach Workers
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many outreach workers are expected to be employed through the £79 million expenditure for outreach workers up to 2011 announced by his Department; [294111]
(2) how many outreach workers were employed in Sure Start Children's Centres in each quarter for which information is available; and what qualifications such workers are required to have. [294112]
Dawn Primarolo: The Department does not collect information on how many outreach workers have been, or are expected to be, employed by 2011 in Sure Start children's centres. Staffing levels in children's centres are a matter for local management by local authorities and their partner agencies. The Government's "Sure Start Children's Centres: Phase 3 Planning and Delivery" document suggests that in the most disadvantaged areas there should be at least three outreach workers per children's centre. In less disadvantaged areas, local authorities will decide on the best approach based on their assessment of local needs.
The additional funding which the Government have made available each year since 2008 means that local authorities can increase the number of outreach workers in centres serving the most disadvantaged communities by two, in addition to the funding for one outreach worker per children's centre that had already been included in local authorities' Sure Start early years and child care grant. Funding for outreach is not a separate sum of money allocated to local authorities-they decide how to allocate funding to individual children's centres in their area to meet the needs in each community.
The qualifications required for practitioners engaged in outreach in Sure Start children's centres will depend on the different job roles and purposes developed in each centre, which will be in response to local need. Relevant qualifications include those from child care, family support, social care, counselling, teaching and community work. The Sure Start children's centres practice guidance makes clear the expectation that children's centres should be working towards all staff being trained to at least NVQ level 2.
Pre-school Education
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the estimated cost is of extending the free early education entitlement to 250,000 extra two year olds; and from which budget the funding will be provided. [294109]
Dawn Primarolo: The extension of the free early education entitlement to 250,000 extra two-year-olds is being fully funded through savings from phasing out tax relief on child care vouchers at no extra cost to the taxpayer. More details will be set out in the pre-Budget report.
Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency: Finance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding he expects to allocate to the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11; and if he will make a statement. [293397]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's budget for 2009-10, which includes funding for Ofqual, is £188 million.
There has been no decision on funding for 2010-11.
Schools: Transport
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department has contributed to the Travelling to School Initiative in rural areas in each year since the initiative began. [294055]
Dawn Primarolo: Funding for the Travelling to School Initiative is allocated on a local authority wide rather than an area basis. Consequently we are unable to provide the data requested.
Treasury
Banks: Iceland
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the Icelandic government on its plans to reimburse the UK for expenditure incurred as a result of the collapse of Icelandic banks. [294040]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings and discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors 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 meetings and discussions.
Child Trust Fund: Bexley
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children in (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and (b) the London Borough of Bexley had received child trust fund payments on the latest date for which figures are available. [293131]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The latest statistics on child trust fund accounts, to be published in the near future, show that 5,587 children born before 6 April 2008 in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency and 15,480 children born before 6 April 2008 in the London borough of Bexley have a child trust fund account.
Previous years' statistics were published on 6 November 2008 and can be viewed on the HM Revenue and Customs website at:
Departmental Official Cars
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on hire vehicles in each of the last five financial years. [291507]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry:
Spending by the Treasury on car hire in the last five years is set out in the following table. In 2007 the Treasury and the Office of Government Commerce corporate services merged to create the Treasury
Group Shared Services, which works across two sites (one in London and one in Norwich) The programme realised savings of £1.9 million, as reported in table 4a of the addendum to the Autumn Performance Report 2008, available from:
| Amount ( £000 ) | |
Departmental Rail Travel
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on first class rail travel for civil servants in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [293094]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Information on the number and class of tickets purchased is not normally held, because the Treasury's accounting system records the costs of travel but not the number or type of tickets bought. However, the Treasury's travel management company provided information on the number and type of tickets purchased through them covering travel by all members of the Department, including Ministers.
The combined spending of HM Treasury and the Debt Management Office on UK and overseas first class rail travel was £546,000 in 2006-07, £447,000 in 2007-08 and £379,000 in 2008-09. Tickets bought but subsequently refunded are excluded and some tickets are bought directly by the traveller, so this information is not a complete record of all tickets purchased.
All travel is undertaken in accordance with the 'Civil service Management Code' and the 'Ministerial Code'.
Financial Services Authority's Retail Distribution
Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate has been made of the number of independent financial advisers who will be required to requalify as a result of implementation of the proposals in the Financial Services Authority's Retail Distribution Review. [293113]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Retail Distribution Review is a matter for the FSA, as the independent regulator. The FSA's current estimate is that less than half of Independent Financial Advisers will need to gain a new qualification. However, this estimate is made difficult because there is currently no register of the relevant information, the qualification requirements have not been finalised and Independent Financial Advisers gain new qualifications continually.
Members: Correspondence
Lynne Jones:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reason letters sent from his Department in 2009 to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak from (a) the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, dated 12 March (ref. A/852/08), 2 June (ref. 1/70557/09) and
17 August (ref. 3/10608/09), (b) the Financial Services Secretary, dated 17 June (ref. 5/3755/2008) and 25 July (ref. 5/04757/2009) and (c) the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, dated 15 June (ref. 4/33435/2009) and 4 August (ref. 3/10485/2009) were printed on one side of each sheet of paper only. [293872]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 12 October 2009, Official Report, column 252W. The Treasury continues to work towards further increasing the use of double sided printing.
Royal Mail
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 12 October 2009, Official Report, columns 23-28, on sale of Government assets, what consideration he gave to including all or part of Royal Mail in the portfolio of assets which are proposed to be sold. [293442]
Mr. Byrne: Royal Mail was not specifically mentioned in the portfolio of assets announced on 12 October because it and the postal market have already been subject to a wide ranging review led by Richard Hooper CBE which reported less than a year ago.
The proposed sale of a minority stake in Royal Mail is part of a wider package of measures to secure its future and to ensure that the universal postal service is maintained. Under this package Royal Mail would remain in public ownership.
Tax Allowances
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the estimated saving to the public purse is from removing the employer-supported childcare tax and national insurance exemptions. [294110]
Mr. Timms: Further details of the changes to income tax and NICs exemptions for Employer Supported Childcare (ESC) will be published alongside the 2009 pre-Budget report.
Taxation
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to businesses of submitting tax returns online in (a) ASCII and (b) XBRL formats. [293158]
Mr. Timms: No estimate of the cost to business of submitting tax returns online using ASCII has been made.
In April 2009 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published an updated impact assessment about online filing services, including the use of XBRL enabled software. The impact assessment is available at:
At that stage, the work on XBRL was largely qualitative rather then quantitative However there have been rapid developments in the XBRL market over the last six months. HMRC will publish an updated impact assessment reflecting this shortly.
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) requirements and (b) guidance apply to the promotion of tax avoidance schemes by banks in receipt of assistance under the (i) Asset Protection Scheme and (ii) Credit Guarantee Scheme. [293192]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: We cannot comment on the affairs of individual taxpayers due to taxpayer confidentiality. We expect all banks to comply fully with their tax obligations and although avoidance is not illegal we vigorously challenge it, through the courts if necessary, including where the bank is partly owned by the Government.
The Government and HM Revenue and Customs have always moved quickly and effectively to tackle tax avoidance in all its forms. The 2009 Budget announced further measures to tackle avoidance including disclosure regime enhancement, swift action to close down aggressive tax avoidance schemes, publicity for avoidance schemes which are considered ineffective, and new principle-based approaches to avoidance legislation. In June HM Revenue and Customs published a consultation document on a voluntary code of practice on taxation for the banking sector. The code seeks to ensure that banks comply with not just the letter, but also the spirit of the law.
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what terms and conditions apply to the agreements made by the Government for amnesties for British taxpayers with accounts in (a) Liechtenstein and (b) British overseas territories; what the reasons are for such terms and conditions in each case; and if he will make a statement. [293193]
Mr. Timms: Two separate arrangements-the New Disclosure Opportunity (NDO) and Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility (LDF)-were launched on 1 September 2009.
Both provide taxpayers with an incentive to disclose voluntarily income, gains and assets hidden offshore and pay back taxes together with interest and penalties. The NDO is the last opportunity for people to come forward voluntarily and receive favourable penalties. If they do not, they will be leaving themselves open to investigation and potential criminal prosecution after 30 November 2009 when the notification window closes.
Details of the terms and conditions of both of these arrangements are available on the HMRC website:
Taxation: Holiday Accommodation
Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what modelling his Department has undertaken on the likely effects the abolition of furnished holiday lettings tax relief will have on (a) tourism, (b) rural areas and (c) regional economies. [293437]
Mr. Timms: The Government announced the withdrawal of the furnished holiday lettings scheme from 2010 at the 2009 Budget in order to provide advance notice of the change, and allow those affected time to plan.
Estimates of the revenue impact of this change were published at Budget 2009. An impact assessment will be published at the 2009 pre-Budget report alongside draft legislation.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what legal advice his Department took in advance of the decision to abolish furnished holiday lettings tax relief. [293438]
Mr. Timms: As was the case with the previous Administration, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of its legal advice.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consultation his Department undertook with stakeholders in advance of the decision to abolish furnished holiday lettings tax relief. [293439]
Mr. Timms: The decision to repeal the Furnished Holiday Lettings relief from April 2010 was taken because the relief may not be compliant with EU law. It was therefore not appropriate to consult on whether a change should be made.
The repeal was announced in the Budget 2009 in order to provide advance notice of the change, and allow those affected time to plan.
Although a formal consultation is not planned, the Government do intend to publish draft legislation at the 2009 pre-Budget report, and will be happy to receive comments at that time.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of businesses which will be affected by the abolition of furnished holiday lettings tax relief. [293440]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) administrative systems do not record the number of companies with income from furnished holiday lettings. Based on information held by Companies House, we estimate that fewer than 500 companies have furnished holiday lettings as their main source of income. There may also be a number of companies who have a small amount of furnished holiday lettings income to supplement their main source of income.
More broadly, in 2007-08, the last full year for which information is available, approximately 60,000 individuals declared income from furnished holiday lettings to HMRC.
An impact assessment will be published at the pre-Budget report 2009 alongside draft legislation.
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