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26 Oct 2009 : Column 76W—continued
VAT
Gordon Banks: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what consultation HM Revenue and Customs undertook with businesses prior to the decision to phase out paper-based value added tax returns; [295188]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of posts in HM Revenue and Customs which will no longer be required as a result of the decision to phase out paper-based value added tax returns; [295189]
(3) whether HM Revenue and Customs assessed effects on costs of small businesses of the phasing out of paper-based value added tax returns. [295380]
Mr. Timms: In addition to consultations carried out as part of Lord Carter's review of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Online Services, published at Budget 2006, HMRC conducted a 12 week consultation-concluding on 3 July 2009-on the draft regulations to implement the phasing out of paper-based VAT returns.
HMRC's estimate of the benefits from phasing out paper VAT returns is subject to periodic updating. The staff saving is currently estimated at 26 full-time equivalent staff posts, but this does not include certain areas where the business change effect is still being evaluated.
Very small businesses that are already registered for VAT will not be affected by the proposal to phase out paper VAT returns from 1 April 2010, but any business registering on or after 1 April 2010 will not have the option of making paper based VAT returns. The Impact Assessment undertaken does not differentiate between different sized businesses.
Research has shown that internet use is highest among new businesses and projections indicate that by 2010 internet usage among new businesses will be almost universal.
Energy and Climate Change
Carbon Trust: Bedfordshire
Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what funding the Carbon Trust has provided for (a) local authorities, (b) NHS bodies, (c) higher and further education institutions and (d) other public bodies in (i) Mid Bedfordshire constituency and (ii) Bedfordshire in the last 12 months. [295409]
Joan Ruddock: The Carbon Trust have advised me that at this time it is not possible to provide a comprehensive funding breakdown at a constituency level. However, the total value of carbon management and energy efficiency advice services provided by the Carbon Trust to the public sector in Bedfordshire to date is approximately £202,500, of which £37,500 was in the last 12 months.
Christmas
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many Christmas functions arranged by his Department (a) he and (b) officials of his Department (i) hosted and (ii) attended in 2008; and if he will make a statement. [295449]
Joan Ruddock: (a) There were no Christmas functions arranged by the Department that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State attended.
(b) This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Climate Change
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment the Government has made of the effects on climate change of (a) black carbon and (b) improvements in air quality. [292139]
Joan Ruddock
[holding answer 12 October 2009]: Research reported in the intergovernmental panel on climate change's fourth assessment report suggest a
small, but significant, total warming effect since 1750 from black carbon emitted into the atmosphere by fossil fuel (the main source), biofuel and biomass burning. This effect is estimated to be the equivalent of about one seventh of the total climate warming effect from long lived greenhouse gases. There is also an additional but smaller warming effect due to the deposition of black carbon on surface snow and ice. Recent work by the Met Office Hadley Centre, funded by DECC, suggests black carbon emissions have potentially the second largest warming influence on climate, after greenhouse gases.
The "Air Quality and Climate Change: A UK Perspective, 2007" report by the Air Quality Expert Group considered the effects of air pollutants on air quality and climate change. Improvements in air quality will have a complex influence on climate change, as some pollutants have a direct or indirect warming effect while aerosol emissions other than black carbon have a cooling effect.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when the Under-Secretary of State expects to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, dated 16 June 2009, on climate change. [293846]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 15 October 2009]: I replied to the hon. Member for West Worcestershire on 23 October and apologise for the unacceptable delay.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for what reasons letters sent from Ministers in his Department to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak dated 5 March (ref. DM/117961) and 3 February 2009 (ref. PM/111604) were printed on one side of each sheet of paper only; if he will make it his Department's policy to use two-sided printing for its correspondence; and whether he has made an estimate of the potential savings in respect of paper use consequent on the implementation of such a policy. [293873]
Joan Ruddock: The Department uses duplex (two-sided) printers, and the default setting is for two-sided use. Following older convention, a proportion of letters from my Department has been sent single-sided. However, we are implementing a policy of all correspondence being printed on two-sided paper for the future. We estimate this will lead to a monthly saving of £10.50 in paper costs.
Monitor Group: Meetings
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department has had discussions with the Monitor Group. [294648]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 20 October 2009]: No.
Power Failures: Bexley
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions his Department has had with (a) EDF Energy and (b) Ofgem on the power cuts across Bexley and North West Kent in July 2009. [295183]
Mr. Kidney: Officials from the Department were in regular contact with EDF Energy during the incident to track progress with supply restoration. Following the incident discussions are ongoing to assess compliance with statutory duties and to explore options to prevent a reoccurrence.
Ofgem has informed officials about the impact on regulatory performance targets and the handling of compensation claims for the incident.
Renewable Energy
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the evidential basis is for each assumption underlying the determination in the Low Carbon Transition Plan that energy demand will remain at 370TWh in 2020. [294376]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 20 October 2009]: The projections used in the Low Carbon Transition Plan are produced using the DECC Energy Model. This uses the latest assumptions of economic growth, fuel prices, estimated policy impacts and elasticities of demand.
The energy demand of 370 TWh relates to electricity demand. In the baseline scenario, electricity demand is projected to increase by 53 TWh between now and 2020 but policies announced in the Low Carbon Transition
Plan are estimated to save 54 TWh in 2020. These projections use economic growth assumptions consistent with the 2009 Budget and fossil fuel price assumptions published by DECC.
Justice
Coroners: Armed forces
Mr. Ingram: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for each member of the armed forces killed in action overseas in respect of whom the inquest has not started, when (a) the body was repatriated and (b) the inquest is expected to begin. [295336] [Official Report, 14 January 2010, Vol. 503, c. 9-14MC.]
Bridget Prentice: The following table shows the dates on which service personnel fatalities were repatriated, and the current position regarding the resumption of inquests which have been opened and adjourned pending service inquiries or other investigations. On 27 October my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces (Bill Rammell) and I will make the latest in the series of quarterly statements to the House about the inquests of service personnel and others who have died overseas.
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