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10 Dec 2009 : Column 582W—continued
Imports
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance HM Revenue and Customs has issued to ensure that goods or produce imported to the UK is designated according to place of production rather than location of company headquarters. [305174]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs publishes guidance across a wide range of customs matters. This includes advising UK importers of the need to check that goods imported under the EU-Israel agreement actually originate in the state of Israel. The guidance includes Customs information papers which are published on the HMRC website.
Imports: Israel
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by what means HM Revenue and Customs ensures that the labelling of produce in mixed consignments of imports containing produce from both Israel and from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories for the purposes of customs duties is consistent with that used for supermarket tracking systems. [305194]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs undertakes the physical examination of goods imported under the EU-Israel Agreement at the time of importation to establish whether the place of production shown on packaging is the same as that in the accompanying proof of preferential origin. Such checks would only involve reference to a supermarket tracking system, where the supermarket concerned is shown as the importer on the Customs import declaration.
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by what mechanism HM Revenue and Customs ensures that produce identified by supermarket tracking systems as originating in Israeli settlements on the occupied Palestinian territories does not benefit from the trade preference under the EU-Israel Trade Agreement. [305254]
Mr. Timms: When carrying out verification checks, HM Revenue and Customs only has access to the supporting documents, systems and records which relate directly to the import declaration. This may not include access to the supermarket tracking system as checks reveal that, in most cases, a supermarket is not the actual importer of the goods.
Non-Domestic Rates: Valuation
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what factors the Valuation Office Agency takes into account when making rating assessments for petrol filling stations; and if he will make a statement. [305980]
Ian Pearson: The Valuation Office Agency adopts the rental comparative method of valuation when valuing petrol filling stations for rating purposes. Valuations reflect the four main elements of a petrol filling station; the petrol sales forecourt, the forecourt shop, the car wash facilities and other sources of income from non-forecourt buildings such as workshops and showrooms and the like. The factors considered when making such a valuation include the fair maintainable throughputs and turnovers, which are derived from factors such as the location, layout of the site, and number of pumps.
Royal Bank of Scotland
Lorely Burt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he intends to take following the National Audit Office's conclusion that net lending to business by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will not meet the legally binding targets agreed between RBS and the Government in negotiating the Asset Protection Scheme. [306057]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The lending commitments are legally binding on the banks and include sanctions such as restricting access to the Credit Guarantee Scheme. If the banks fail to meet their commitments and cannot satisfactorily demonstrate that this is due to insufficient demand for lending, the Government will impose these sanctions.
Welfare Tax Credits
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many cases were handled by the Tax Credit Office in each year since 1997; [305315]
(2) what percentage of cases handled by the HM Revenue and Customs were handled by the Tax Credit Office in each year since 1997. [305316]
Mr. Timms: The Tax Credit Office (TCO) was set up by the former Inland Revenue in October 1999.
Detailed information about the administration of tax credits for all years can be found in the Department's reports, trust statements and the Comptroller and Auditor General's standard reports which are all available on the HMRC website at:
Statistical information on tax credits can be found at:
Welfare Tax Credits: Complaints
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many complaints from members of the public the Tax Credit Office received in each year since 1997; [305317]
(2) what percentage of complaints received by HM Revenue and Customs concerned the Tax Credit Office in each year since 1997. [305318]
Mr. Timms: Information about the number of complaints handled by the different HMRC business areas, including tax credits, is broken down in the annexes of the departmental reports available at:
Complaints to the Tax Credit Office are about 40 per cent. lower in the current year then for the same period last year.
Communities and Local Government
Fire Prevention
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations on measures to improve fire safety his Department has received from coroners in each of the last three years. [304157]
Mr. Malik: The Department has received three representations on measures to improve fire safety from coroners in the last three years. These representations were made under Rule 43 of the Coroners Rules 1984 and as amended by the Coroners (Amendment) Rules 2008.
The representations received were from:
8 March 2007 Mr. E Thomas, Coroner for Hertfordshire, after the inquests into the death of Michael Miller; Jeffrey Wornham and Natalie Close
1 July 2009 Dr. E Carlyon, Coroner for Cornwall, after the inquests into the death of Joan Harper, Peter Harper and Monica Hughes
14 July 2009 Mr. C Dorries, Coroner for South Yorkshire, after the inquest into the death of Margaret Wilson
Fire Services
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has to transfer Fire and Rescue Service operational command and control arrangements to regional level in England. [305419]
Mr. Malik: The responsibility for operational command and control will remain, as is now, with local Fire and Rescue Services.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what duties are performed by fire brigade control rooms; and if he will make a statement. [305420]
Mr. Malik: The primary duties of the fire brigade control rooms are operations such as call handling and mobilising resources. They may also provide other duties but this is for individual Fire and Rescue Services to determine.
Fire Services: Emergency Calls
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) genuine and (b) bogus fire emergency calls have been received in Leeds North West in each year since 2006. [305770]
Mr. Malik: This information is held centrally only to Fire Authority level. The numbers of malicious false alarm calls and other emergency calls to West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service are shown in the following table.
| Total emergency calls and malicious false alarms calls to West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service 2006-07 to 2008-09 | |||
| 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
| Source: Data returns to Communities and Local Government | |||
Fire Services: Finance
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the cost to date of the FiReControl project in the (a) South West, (b) South East, (c) East of England, (d) West Midlands, (e) East Midlands, (f) Yorkshire and the Humber, (g) North West and (h) North East regions. [303722]
Mr. Malik: Estimated costs to date of the FiReControl Project in each of the regions are set out in the following table:
| Region | Total by region (£) |
This includes costs associated with the Regional Control Centre buildings up to end of November 2009. It also includes funding provided to Fire and Rescue Authorities and local authority controlled companies for local and regional implementation activity up to the end of financial year 2009-10.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department has allocated for the purposes of meeting new burden costs associated with the implementation of regional fire control centres since 2002; and for what activities such funding has been allocated. [305401]
Mr. Malik [holding answer 9 December 2009]: We are committed to meeting all the upfront costs of implementing the regional control centre network. A total of £68,753,000 has been provided to fire and rescue authorities for implementation of regional control centres. This funding has been allocated in recognition of the costs of all local and regional implementation activities including project management and coordination, transition activities such as data capture and migration and preparation for new ways of working. This includes funding to cover regional control centre staffing and accommodation.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost to the public purse was of the report by Mott McDonald on the (a) Future of Fire Service Control Rooms and Communications in England and Wales, April 2000 and (b) Future of Fire and Rescue Service Control Rooms in England and Wales 2003; what the cost, including value added tax has been of all consultants' fees in respect of the FiReControl project; what his most recent estimate is of his Department's total expenditure on such fees in respect of that project; and when he expects all contracts for consultancy services in respect of that project to have ended. [305402]
Mr. Malik [holding answer 9 December 2009]: The Department does not hold individual figures for the reports referred to at (a) and (b).
Estimated fees reflecting support provided in a range of specialist areas such as procurement, contract management, building services and system development, up to end of October 2009 is £43 million. Current estimates of remaining fees up to the end of 2012 are around £6.2 million. Specialist support is expected to be needed up to various different points in the project and some until the end of the project.
John McDonnell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has
been spent on bonuses paid to officials of his Department who have worked on the FireControl Project team in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [305403]
Mr. Malik [holding answer 9 December 2009]: Bonuses paid to officials who have worked on the FiReControl Project team in the last three years are
2006-07: £733.00
2007-08: £8,600.00
2008-09:£9,505.00.
These payments have been made in line with the department's pay and reward policy.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding his Department allocated to each fire authority in each region for the purposes of meeting (a) new burdens and (b) other costs in respect of the FiReControl Project in each year since 2002. [305404]
Mr. Malik [holding answer 9 December 2009]: All local and regional costs associated with the implementation of FiReControl are met under the New Burdens principle. No funding was provided prior to financial year 2005-06. The following table indicates funding provided to meet local costs:
| Transition funding | |||||
| FY05-06 | FY06-07 | FY07-08 | FY08-09 | FY09-10 | |
|
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority | |||||
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