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20 Jan 2010 : Column 391W—continued
Housing: Leaseback Arrangements
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many sale and rent back transactions of domestic properties have been recorded by the Financial Services Authority in each of the last 10 years. [311707]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Operational issues are a matter for the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which is independent of Government.
The FSA has started gathering data on the number of sale and rent back agreements entered into by regulated firms since the outset of the interim regime in July 2009. However, figures are not available at this early stage.
Inheritance Tax
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the revenue implications of the introduction of the transferable nil-rate band for inheritance tax. [311215]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 18 January 2010]: Estimates of the revenue implications of the introduction of the transferable nil-rate band for inheritance tax can be found in table A.2 of Budget 2008, available at
Landfill Tax
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the High Court ruling in the case of the Waste Recycling Group v. HM Revenue and Customs on landfill tax. [309514]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The effect of the Court of Appeal's judgment in the Waste Recycling Group case was to reduce the revenue yield from landfill tax and render certain waste materials non-taxable, even though they have a detrimental environmental impact. We estimate that around £300 million will be repaid on related claims for periods before 1 September 2009. The Exchequer could also have lost as much as £60 million this financial year and a further £140 million for each subsequent year, if the Government had not made the legislative changes to the landfill tax introduced on 1 September 2009. These changes brought uses of waste materials covered by the Court of Appeal judgment back within the scope of the tax.
Opposition
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many man-hours were spent by staff in his Department undertaking cost analysis of Opposition policies over the last 12 months; and at what cost. [308574]
David Howarth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many hours have been spent by his Department's officials on the production of costings of opposition party policies in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [311654]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: There have been long-standing arrangements under successive administrations applying to the costing of policies and pledges of Opposition parties. Information relating to time spent by Treasury officials in undertaking analysis, including costs analyses, is not held in a disaggregated form.
Share Fisherman's Scheme: Duty
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much duty has been collected at each location from the Share Fishermen's Scheme in each of the last five years. [311962]
Mr. Timms: Payments received under the Share Fisherman's Scheme in the last five years are provided in the following table.
| £ | ||
| England, Wales and Northern Ireland | Scotland | |
Taxation: Debts
John Penrose: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of winding-up petitions of companies have been lodged by HM Revenue and Customs since 1 April 2008; and how much debt is owed to the Exchequer through such petitions. [311422]
Mr. Timms: The number of winding up petitions filed in England and Wales by HM Revenue and Customs from 1 April 2008 to 30 September 2009 was around 5,800 which equates to around 30 per cent. of those lodged overall.
The information on the value of debt contained within those petitions is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Taxation: Gaming Machines
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment was made of the effects of the implementation of the Joint Statement between HM Revenue and Customs and the Gambling Commission in relation to amusement machines which offer games designed to look like recognised games of chance on (a) the revenue collected by the Exchequer in relation to these amusement machines, (b) the amusement and pub sectors and (c) the traditional British seaside economy; who was consulted on the terms of the joint statement before it was made; and what assessment has been made of whether the terms of the joint statement comply with the Hampton principles of better regulation. [310569]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: HMRC is under an obligation to apply existing legislation. The joint statement was prepared with the Gambling Commission and clarifies existing legislation; therefore, no impact assessment was required or done. HMRC is not required to and did not assess whether the joint statement complies with the Hampton principles of better regulation.
Valuation Office: Local Government
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer of 30 June 2009, Official Report, column 204W, on council tax: Valuation Office Agency, whether the Government have taken a decision on the recommendation to establish a statutory information gateway between the Agency and billing authorities. [308840]
Ian Pearson: Before the recommendation on the information gateway can be implemented, the costs and benefits must be considered and the opportunity for enabling legislation must be identified. This work is ongoing.
Valuation Office: Pay
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to page 30 of the Valuation Office Agency's Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09, what the reasons are for the increase in the salary of the then Chief Executive from 2007-08 to 2008-09. [308350]
Ian Pearson: The VOA chief executive's base pay increased by 3.4 per cent. between 2007-08 and 2008-09. The overall salary including bonus increased by 15.4 per cent., with the remainder of the increase being accounted for by a higher non- consolidated performance related award in 2008-09 than 2007-08.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the current salary is of the chief executive of the Valuation Office Agency. [308351]
Ian Pearson: The base pay of the current VOA chief executive is in the band £100,00 to £105,000.
Welfare Tax Credits: Lewes
Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the number of families in each ward of Lewes constituency in receipt of (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit. [311175]
Mr. Timms: A number of the electoral wards within Lewes constituency are also part of other parliamentary constituencies within the local authority of Lewes. Therefore the following table shows, for each ward within the local authority of Lewes, as at 1 December 2009, estimates of the number of households benefiting from tax credits. Due to small sample sizes, separate information on the number of households receiving working tax credits and child tax credits in each ward is not shown.
In addition, estimates of the number of families benefiting in each local authority and parliamentary constituency are provided in the HM Revenue and
Customs snapshot publication "Child and Working Tax Credits. Geographical Analysis, December 2009", available at:
| Ward | Number of households in receipt of tax credits( 1) |
| (1) Due to small sample sizes, the figures for some wards are not shown. | |
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Mr. Benyon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what criteria his Department uses in deciding whether to write off tax credit overpayment debts for the tax years 2003-04 and 2004-05; and if he will make a statement. [311393]
Mr. Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Judy Mallaber) on 21 May 2009, Official Report, column 1516W.
Cabinet Office
Central Office of Information: Contracts
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office with reference to the Central Office of Information press release of 22 April 2008, what estimate has been made of the monetary value of contracts to be let under the (a) Gypsies and Travellers and (b) Refugees and Asylum Seekers elements of the Central Office of Information's Marketing Aimed at Culturally Diverse Audiences Framework; what contracts have been awarded under those elements of the framework; in respect of which public bodies they have been let; and what the monetary value of contracts let under the Framework Agreement is. [311804]
Angela E. Smith: I have asked the chief executive of the Central Office of Information to reply to the hon. Member.
Letter from Mark Lund, dated 18 January 2010:
As Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question [311804] asking which public relations companies were awarded contracts arising from the COI Framework Agreement with the contract reference 2007/S 156-194886.
A copy of the information requested from the framework is given below;
a) Defra Horse ID Passports-Gypsies & Travellers £40,000 (Linstock Communications)
b) Office of National Statistics-Census-Gypsies & Travellers £45,000 (Linstock Communications)
FCO AVR-Refugees & Asylum Seekers £21,862 (Rich Visions)
Cinemas
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many cinemas have (a) opened and (b) closed since 1997 according to Office of National Statistics' records of enterprise deaths and births. [312046]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Dennis Roberts, dated January 2010:
The Director General for the Office for National Statistics has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning how many cinemas have (a) opened and (b) closed since 1997 according to the Office of National Statistics' records of enterprise deaths and births. I am replying in his absence. (312046)
Figures provided are at the enterprise level. The enterprise is the smallest combination or legal units that is an organisational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. It carries out one or more activities at one or more locations, and may be a sole legal unit.
Annual statistics on business births, deaths and survival are available for 2002 onwards from the ONS release on Business Demography at
The table below contains the latest statistics available on business births and deaths for the Motion Picture Projection industry in the UK. Local units which are part of an enterprise (e.g. individual cinemas which are part of a chain) are not available from Business Demography, and therefore are not included in the figures.
| Motion Picture Projection | ||
| Births | Deaths | |
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