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5 Jan 2010 : Column 156W—continued

Child Trust Fund

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much his Department has spent on advertising and promoting the Child Trust Fund in each year since its establishment; [307300]

(2) what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Minister of Finance on the operation of the Child Trust Fund in Northern Ireland; [307301]

(3) how many Child Trust Fund vouchers have been issued to people in North Belfast in each year since their introduction; [307304]

(4) how many Child Trust Fund accounts have been opened by people in each constituency in Northern Ireland; [307305]

(5) how much money has been paid into Child Trust Fund accounts in Northern Ireland. [307306]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Various statistical information regarding the Child Trust Fund is published on HM Revenue and Customs website at:


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The total number of accounts opened and vouchers issued in each constituency can be found within the constituency statistics. Information about each year's media expenditure can be found in the relevant statistical reports. The value of contributions to accounts by country can be found in the detailed distributional analysis.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings 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.

Christmas

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Christmas trees were purchased by his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years; what the cost was of those trees in each year; from where the trees were sourced; what account was taken of the sustainability of the sources of the trees; and by what process the trees were disposed of. [305633]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: One tree is supplied each year by the PFI provider for the offices at 1 Horse Guards Road at no direct cost to the department. In each of the past three years, the Department's office in Norwich has purchased one tree, sourced from a local forest, at a cost of approximately £150 each year. The tree is subsequently recycled.

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has budgeted for Christmas trees in 2009. [307654]

Mr. Timms: [holding answer 15 December 2009]: The Treasury does not have a budget for Christmas trees in 2009-10 as one is supplied by the building's PFI provider.

Climate Change Levy: Agriculture

Mr. Paice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the monetary value of the contribution to Climate Change Levy receipts to the Carbon Trust from the (a) horticulture, (b) pig and (c) poultry industry since 2001. [307500]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: In general, the Government do not hypothecate revenue. Income from taxes and other revenues are pooled in the consolidated fund so that spending can be prioritised across the range of Government activities in the most efficient way.

When the Climate Change Levy package was introduced in 2001 some revenue was notionally hypothecated to help establish the Carbon Trust-an independent body now sponsored by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). It is primarily grant-funded by DECC and the Devolved Administrations, and in 2008-09 also received grant funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Corporation Tax: Patents

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what revenue accrued to the Exchequer from corporation tax applied to patents in each year since 1997. [307408]


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Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available, as companies are not required to distinguish income from patents when assessing their liability to corporation tax.

Departmental Art Works

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on art works in the last 12 months. [306438]

Mr. Timms: Works of art form part of antiques spending, which is shown in note 11 to the 2008-09 annual report and accounts (HC 611), available from

Departmental Billing

Jenny Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of invoices submitted to his Department have been paid within 10 days in each month since October 2008; and if he will make a statement. [307965]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Information on the Treasury's performance against the Government's commitment to pay invoices within 10 days since October 2008 is set out in the following table.

Month Invoices paid within 10 working days Percentage of invoices paid within 10 working days

2008

November

582

90.09

December

570

93.75

2009

January

548

91.18

February

639

96.82

March

750

96.53

April

578

95.54

May

494

93.92

June

620

98.73

July

597

97.07

August

506

98.64

September

534

98.52

October

498

96.89

November

602

99.18


Departmental Conferences

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many (a) away days and (b) conferences that took place outside the Public Works Loan Board's buildings attended by civil servants in the Public Works Loan Board there have been since 2005; and what the cost was of each; [307450]

(2) how many (a) away days and (b) conferences that took place outside the Debt Management Office's buildings attended by civil servants in that Office there have been since 2005; and what the cost was of each. [307463]

Ian Pearson: No central records are held on Debt Management Office (including the Public Works Loan Board which is an operational unit of the DMO) away days and attendance at conferences. This information could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.


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Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) away days and (b) conferences that took place outside his Department's building attended by civil servants in his Department there have been since 2005; and what the cost was of each. [307523]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) on 14 December 2009, Official Report, column 850W.

Departmental Coordination: Scotland

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) written correspondence, (b) electronic correspondence, (c) meetings and (d) other communications he has had with the Secretary of State for Scotland on (i) the Scottish economy and (ii) road fuel duty taxation in 2008-09. [303897]

Mr. Byrne [holding answer 14 December 2009]: The Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Scotland communicated on a number of matters in 2008-09.

Departmental Information and Communications Technology

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what pay band his Department's Chief Information Officer (CIO) is employed; whether the CIO is employed on a fixed-term or permanent contract; and what the size is of the budget for which the CIO is responsible in the period 2009-10. [307557]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Treasury Group is employed on a permanent contract at senior civil service pay band 1. The budgets allocated to work related to these CIO responsibilities in 2008-09 total £20 million (rounded to the nearest £5 million).

Departmental Legal Costs

Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has spent on external legal advice in respect of (a) the Assets Protection Scheme, (b) bank bail outs, (c) the merger of HBOS and Lloyds TSB and (d) the Northern Rock rescue; and if he will make a statement. [307587]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the NAO report 'Maintaining financial stability across the United Kingdom's banking system', published in December (page 24, figure 7) which is available at:

Agreements between the Treasury and certain institutions mean that the majority of these fees are recoverable and this sum does not therefore represent a net cost to the Treasury.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what process is used to appoint or draw up contracts with external lawyers to advise his Department; and if he will make a statement. [307588]


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Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department uses a call-off process from any appropriate Collaborative Framework Agreement, or competitive tendering, to procure external legal services from solicitors' firms. For external counsel, the Department uses the Panel and nomination procedures approved by the Attorney-General, details of which are set out on the website of the Attorney-General's Office.

Departmental Legislation

Chris Huhne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what criminal offences have been (a) created and (b) abolished by secondary legislation sponsored by his Department since 1 May 2008. [307793]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: No offences were abolished during the relevant period.

The following offences were created during the relevant period by secondary legislation:

1. The Community Emissions Trading Scheme (Allocation of Allowances for Payment) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/1939), which came into force on 12 August 2008, inserted regulation 9B into the Community Emissions Trading Scheme (Allocation of Allowances for Payment) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/1825) which created an offence of breach of regulation 9A (wrongful disclosure).

2. The Landsbanki Freezing Order 2008 (SI 2008/2668), which came into force on 10 October 2008, created the following offences:

3. The Burma/Myanmar (Financial Restrictions) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/1494), which came into force on 18 June 2009, created the following offences:

4. The Terrorism (United Nations Measures) Order 2009 (SI 2009/1747), which came into force on 10 August 2009, created the following offences, in relation to financial sanctions imposed on persons for reasons in relation to terrorism:

5. To ensure the effective transposition of the Payment Services Directive (2007/64/EC) (in force on 1 November 2009) by the Payment Services Regulations ("PSR") (SI 2009/209), the following offences in Part 9 of the PSR were created:


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