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14 Dec 2009 : Column 843W—continued
Third Sector
Jenny Willott: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what discussions the Office of the Third Sector has had with (a) HM Treasury and (b) the Department of Health on the applicability to NHS charities of International Accounting Standard 27; and if she will make a statement. [307170]
Angela E. Smith: Officials from the Office of the Third Sector have regular discussions with HM Treasury colleagues on a range of matters relevant to the third sector, including the application of international accounting standards. No discussions have taken place on this subject between the Office of the Third Sector and the Department of Health.
The application of accounting standards and the regulation of charities are distinct matters. Policy in relation to the application of accounting standards is for HM Treasury, which is implementing international financial reporting standards across the central Government sector (including the NHS), advised by the independent Financial Reporting Advisory Board. If there were concerns about the independence of a charity, notwithstanding its accounting treatment, then it would be for the Charity Commission as independent regulator of charities in England and Wales to pursue those concerns.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much money has been allocated to charities from the Hardship Fund in each month since the fund's establishment; and if she will make a statement. [307185]
Angela E. Smith: To date, the Hardship Fund has offered grants to 181 third sector organisations worth a total of £15.95 million.
Examples of individual grants include £187,569 to a children's hospice, £185,000 to a homelessness charity, £163,000 to a community organisation that helps disadvantaged families and children and vulnerable adults and £250,000 to a mental health charity.
The monthly breakdown is set out in the following table.
| £ | ||
| Award value | Cumulative total | |
Unemployment: Young People
Mrs. May: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many and what proportion of people aged 16 to 24 years old (a) were unemployed and (b) claimed benefit in each (i) region, (ii) local authority area and (iii) parliamentary constituency (A) in May 1997 and (B) at the latest date for which information is available. [306367]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, dated December 2009:
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles unemployment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and its predecessor the Annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. Unfortunately the sample size does not support analyses of unemployment of 16-24 year olds for local authorities or parliamentary constituencies.
Table 1 shows the number and percentage of 16-24 year olds who were unemployed in each English Government Office Region, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in the 12 month period ending February 1998 from the Annual LFS and March 2009 from the APS. As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is given in table 1.
ONS compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. Table 2 shows the number of computerised claims of Jobseeker's allowance (JSA) for people, aged 16-24 resident in each of the requested geographies in May 1997 and October 2009.
It is not possible to provide the percentage of 16-24 year olds who were claiming JSA. As an alternative, table 3 shows the proportion of 18-24 year olds resident in each of the requested geographies who were claiming JSA in May 1997 and October 2009. This data is not available for parliamentary constituencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
As the information provided in these tables is extensive, a copy of the tables has been placed in the House of Commons Library.
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
Treasury
Bank Services: Pensioners
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate HM Revenue and Customs has made of the number of pensioners in (a) Chorley and (b) Lancashire who will be contacted with regards to an overpayment of tax on bank or building society interest. [306699]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: As part of the Taxback campaign announced at Budget 2009, HM Revenue and Customs have contacted all 3.4 million beneficiaries of pension credit to encourage those who are overpaying tax on their bank and building society interest to claim it back and, where eligible, to register to receive future interest payments without tax deducted. The latest information on the number of pension credit beneficiaries (May 2009), shows that there were 5,330 beneficiaries in Chorley and 68,710 in Lancashire.
Banks: Loans
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of (a) the number of buy-to-let mortgages outstanding and (b) the monetary value of those mortgages lent by (i) Bradford and Bingley, (ii) Northern Rock, (iii) Lloyds Bank and its subsidiaries and (iv) Royal Bank of Scotland and its UK subsidiaries. [305852]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The financial institutions in which there is public sector investment are managed by their respective boards at arm's length from the Government, on commercial principles. The publication of specific business information is a matter for each company's management.
Bradford and Bingley has published the value of buy-to-let mortgages held at the end of 2008 in its 2008 annual accounts:
Northern Rock has published the number and value of buy-to-let mortgages held at the end of 2008 in its 2008 annual accounts:
RBS has published the value of buy-to-let mortgages held at the end of 2008 in its 2008 annual accounts:
Lloyds Banking Group has not published figures relating to buy-to-let mortgages in its most recent accounts.
Budget April 2009
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he made at the time of Budget 2009 of the number of jobs supported as a consequence of his Department's (a) discretionary fiscal policy and (b) quantitative easing measures. [305755]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry:
On 4 November 2009, HM Treasury published a paper setting out the estimated effect on employment of discretionary economic stimulus
put in place since November 2008 see "Employment impact of Government interventions":
Child Benefit
Mr. Pope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the hon. Member for Hyndburn's constituent Mr. Ronald Howes' application for child benefit will be resolved. [305759]
Mr. Timms: The child benefit office replied to my hon. Friend on 9 December 2009.
Child Care Vouchers
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much and what proportion of the tax revenue foregone on childcare vouchers was accounted for by people paying tax at the basic rate in each year since the inception of that scheme. [306734]
Mr. Timms: Child care vouchers given to employees by their employers are exempt from income tax up to specified limits. Employers are not required to report to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) the amounts that they have provided, so HMRC has no administrative record of the proportion of tax foregone that relates to basic rate taxpayers.
However, published research, commissioned by HMRC in 2005, by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) estimated that 70 per cent. of employees receiving Employer Supported Childcare (ESC) were either basic or standard rate taxpayers. The Family Resources Survey (FRS), which is published by the Department for Work and Pensions, for 2007-08 indicates that over a third of employees receiving ESC were higher rate taxpayers, with the remainder basic or standard rate taxpayers.
The Government have published its estimates of the cost of tax and NICs relief on ESC in the pre-Budget report 2008 and the pre-Budget report 2009 Tax Ready Reckoner, available at:
The full title of the NatCen report, published in 2006, is "Monitoring of the Reform of the Income Tax and National Insurance Rules for Employer Supported Childcare". It is available on the HMRC website
Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the statement of 9 December 2009, Official Report, columns 359-86, on the pre-Budget report, what his policy is on the future of tax relief for employer-supported child care. [306971]
Mr. Timms: On 4 December the Prime Minister announced Government's policy in relation to employer supported child care.
The Prime Minister confirmed that all families who currently receive vouchers will continue to get the same support in the future. He also set out that tax relief will be retained for any new child care vouchers that are issued in the future and that, from April 2011, all new recipients of child care vouchers will get the same income tax relief as basic rate taxpayers do currently. This will ensure that the system does not disproportionately benefit higher rate taxpayers.
Child Trust Fund
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what expenditure HM Revenue and Customs incurred on advertising child trust funds in 2008-09. [305557]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Information in relation to the media costs incurred by HM Revenue and Customs for the child trust fund is contained in table 7 of the 2009 Statistical Report which can be viewed on HM Revenue and Customs' website:
Child Trust Fund: Operating Costs
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of (a) payments under and (b) administration of the Child Trust Fund scheme has been in each year since 2006. [305769]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The annual cost of making child trust fund payments can be found in HM Revenue and Customs' departmental accounts, published annually on the HM Revenue and Customs website. Reports for 2006-07 accounts and subsequent years can be found at:
The administration costs incurred by HMRC for the Child Trust Fund in 2008-09 and earlier years are set out in table 8 of the 2009 Statistical Report, which is available at:
Crown Estate Commissioners: Internet
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what redesigns of websites operated by the Crown Estate have been carried out since 27 June 2007; and what the (a) cost to the public purse and (b) date of completion of each such redesign was. [306202]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Crown Estate has not redesigned any websites it operates since 27 June 2007.
Crown Estate: Public Relations
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what payments the Crown Estate has made to Political Developments Limited in the last 12 months; for what purposes; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contract under which such payments were made. [305431]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Crown Estate has made two payments to Political Developments Limited in the last 12 months, one for £562.50 on 10 June 2009, and another for £4,033.75 on 7 August 2009. Both relate to media relations and engagement in respect of land-use issues with local authorities in and around the Luton area, where the Crown Estate has a major landholding. The work was not undertaken as part of a long-term contractual appointment.
Debt Management Office: Internet
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what redesigns of websites operated by the Debt Management Office have been carried out since 27 June 2007; and what the (a) cost to the public purse and (b) date of completion of each such redesign was; [306194]
(2) what redesigns of websites operated by the Public Works Loans Board have been carried out since 27 June 2007; and what the (a) cost to the public purse and (b) date of completion of each such redesign was. [306203]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: There have been no website redesigns since 27 June 2007.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on works and refurbishment to offices allocated to Ministers in his Department's buildings in the last 12 months. [305691]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: A full PFI refurbishment of 1 Horse Guards road was completed in 2002. Works and refurbishment to offices allocated to Ministers since that date is included in the annual unitary payment made to the PFI provider and is not recorded separately.
Departmental Conferences/Training Courses
Mr. Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) which conferences held overseas have been attended by civil servants based in his Department in the last three years; and what the cost to the public purse was of such attendance at each conference; [305874]
(2) how many overseas training courses were attended by his Department's civil servants in the latest period for which figures are available; how many civil servants attended each course; and what the total cost to the public purse was of each course. [305904]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Treasury does not hold a central record of attendances at training courses or conferences held overseas and the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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