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25 Jan 2010 : Column 595W—continued
Government Departments: Procurement
Mark Hunter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to ensure Government procurement policies provide equal opportunities to businesses regardless of size. [311286]
Ian Pearson: Government procurement policy requires that contracts be awarded through fair and open competition, in compliance with EU treaty principles and UK regulations implementing the EU procurement directives.
Government are taking action to remove potential barriers to SME participation in public procurement. An OGC/BIS programme, Access for All, is currently making good progress in implementing the recommendations made in the Glover Committee report "Accelerating the SME Economic Engine".
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which Government departments and agencies have participated in electronic auctions facilitated by (a) the Office of Government Commerce and (b) OGC.buyingsolutions in the last 12 months. [312273]
Ian Pearson: In the 12 months between 1 January to 31 December 2009 the Office of Government Commerce has facilitated two electronic auctions which have involved the following Government Departments and related agencies:
HM Treasury
Department for Transport
London Development Agency
In addition, 66 bodies for the wider public sector participated including local government, police forces and health bodies. These two e-auctions had a combined value of £75 million going into the auction and generated savings of £16.55 million.
The following Government Departments and Agencies have participated in electronic auctions facilitated by Buying Solutions (formerly OGCbuying.solutions) in the same 12 month period:
Department for Communities and Local Government
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
In addition, 32 bodies from the wider public sector also participated. The e-auctions facilitated by Buying Solutions had a combined value of £248.7 million going into the auction, and generated savings of £47.9 million
Holiday Accommodation
Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of owners of furnished holiday letting properties who are over the state retirement age. [310262]
Mr. Timms: An estimated 16,000 individuals over state retirement age owned properties used for furnished holiday lettings in 2007-08.
Hotels
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many hotel room nights were booked by officials in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in each year
since 2007; and how much (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies have spent on fees of third party agents in relation to booking hotel accommodation in each such year. [309233]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: In 2008-09 the following room nights were booked by Ministers and officials through the booking firm used by the Department and its agencies-HM Treasury 1,074, the Debt Management Office 11 and the Office of Government Commerce 1,990. This information may not be a complete record of all room nights booked as accommodation can be booked by directly by staff. Information on room nights booked in 2007-08 is not available. The Department does not pay third party agency fees but does receive a share of the commission earned by the booking firms.
Housing: Finance
Robert Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on the contribution of that Department towards the housing expenditure in the Draft Legislative Programme for 2009-10. [308705]
Mr. Byrne: The Government announced via Building Britain's Future on 29 June 2009 that they would invest a further £1.5 billion over the next two years to build an extra 20,000 new energy efficient, good quality, social and affordable homes, and a further 10,000 additional homes for private sale. The funding of the measure included a contribution from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) of £100 million, with a possible further contribution as part of the £340 million anticipated capital underspends in the Department of Health, DCSF, and the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Housing: Valuation
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the Valuation Office Agency's Rent Service handbook for valuing rental property for housing benefit purposes. [311660]
Ian Pearson: The Valuation Office Agency's Rent Officer Handbook has been published on the VOA website and can be accessed via the following link:
In addition a hard copy will be placed in the Library.
Imports: Morocco
Mark Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much has been received by the Exchequer in duties collected from companies importing (a) produce and (b) goods into the UK from Moroccan settlements in occupied Western Sahara in the last 12 months for which figures are available; [312310]
(2) how many consignments of Moroccan goods entered the UK in each of the last three years. [312464]
Mr. Timms:
As a member of the European Union, the UK operates European Union customs legislation and tariff measures at its borders. European customs procedures do not contain a separate country code for
Western Sahara. The absence of a specific country code means that the information requested is not available, and it is not possible to put in place the monitoring procedure requested.
The information requested on imports into the UK from Morocco are provided in the following table.
| Consignments imported into the UK from Morocco | ||
| Number | Value (£) | |
Income Tax: Low Incomes
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his Department's most recent estimate is of the number of working (a) men and (b) women earning less than the income tax personal allowance threshold in each local authority area; [313099]
(2) what his Department's most recent estimate is of the number of working (a) men and (b) women earning less than £10,000 per annum and paying income tax resident in each local authority area. [313100]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available, due to the small sample sizes at local authority area with the Survey of Personal Incomes and non-representative data for non-taxpayers.
Information on income tax by unitary authority can be found in table 3.14 "Income and tax by borough and district or unitary authority", available at:
www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income distribution/menu-by-year.htm#314
These estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes, of which 2006-07 is the latest available period.
Any inference from the information in table 3.14 should take into account the confidence intervals in table 3.14a "Income and tax by borough and district or unitary authority, Confidence Intervals".
Local Government: Cost Effectiveness
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to page 109 of the pre-Budget report 2009, Cm 7747, whether the expected £550 million of savings from local government are to be achieved from local government in (a) England or (b) the UK. [311549]
Mr. Byrne: The £550 million of savings identified in the 2009 pre-Budget report relate to local government in England only.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to page 109 of the pre-Budget report 2009, what proportion of the planned £550 million of local government savings will be from more efficient waste collection and disposal; and how such savings will be achieved. [311622]
Mr. Byrne:
The pre-Budget report sets out a number of areas where local government will be able to find significant efficiencies by 2012-13. Treasury officials have worked closely with Communities and Local Government and DEFRA officials to establish that waste collection and disposal is one area where significant
savings are achievable. However, it is for individual local authorities to make efficiencies based on local priorities and use of resources in these and other services.
Mortgages: Repossession Orders
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tenanted properties were repossessed by mortgage lenders from landlord owners in (a) England and (b) Coventry between 2005 and 2009; what assistance his Department provides to tenants who are evicted as a result of such repossessions; and what recent representations his Department has received on the matter. [313046]
Mr. Ian Austin: I have been asked to reply.
The issue of tenants being evicted at short notice as a result of landlord repossession was raised with the Department in early 2009. Representations were received from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Shelter, Crisis, Citizens Advice and the Chartered Institute of Housing. The problem of short notice eviction of tenants is due to a legal gap in protection.
Tenants who receive notice that their landlord is to be repossessed by their lender should make themselves known to the lender as soon as possible in order that the lender can take them into account.
In August 2009 the Government issued a consultation document-"Lender repossession of residential property: protection of tenants". As a result of this consultation the Government are supporting a Private Members Bill being taken forward by Dr. Brian Iddon. Second reading of the Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Bill is to take place on 29 January. The Bill gives tenants the opportunity to request a delay to possession while they find alternative accommodation. The Bill was published on 22 January. The associated Impact Assessment was also made available on this date. The Impact Assessment makes some estimates of the numbers of tenants who have suffered short notice eviction as a result of landlord repossession.
There are two independent sources of data on actual numbers of mortgage possessions: The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA). However both are only available for the United Kingdom as a whole.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders latest press release on repossessions is on their website at:
The Financial Services Authority data are available on their website at:
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of tenants who were evicted as a result of repossession of property by a mortgage lender in cases where landlords had not obtained the lender's permission to rent in the latest period for which figures are available. [313047]
Mr. Ian Austin: I have been asked to reply.
There are two independent sources of data on actual numbers of mortgage possessions: The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
The Council of Mortgage Lenders latest press release on repossessions is on their website at:
The Financial Services Authority data are available on their website at:
Dr. Brian Iddon is taking forward a Private Members Bill The Protection of Tenants (Mortgage Repossessions) Bill which will have its second reading on 29 January. The associated Impact Assessment (which is available in the Library of the House) contains estimates of tenanted properties which were repossessed by lenders.
PAYE
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many income sources (a) terminated and (b) commenced during (i) 2006, (ii) 2007, (iii) 2008 and (iv) 2009. [312320]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is available only at disproportionate cost, as the data are not centrally held by HM Revenue and Customs' systems.
Portsmouth Gunwharf: Repayments
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the owners of the Gunwharf site in Portsmouth have paid to the Exchequer in clawback payments; and on what date each instalment of such payments was received. [311290]
Mr. Kevan Jones: I have been asked to reply.
Clawback payments totalling some £4 million were made in financial year 2002-03 by the owners of the Gunwharf site in Portsmouth. The precise details of those payments are regarded as commercially confidential, therefore, I am withholding the information as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.
Private Finance Initiative: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many private finance initiative projects have been undertaken by his Department in (a) Hertfordshire and (b) Hemel Hempstead constituency in the last five years. [311030]
Mr. Byrne [holding answer 18 January 2010]: The full list of all signed PFI projects can be found on HM Treasury's website at:
For each PFI project, this list details the project name, the capital value, the constituency, the procuring authority and the annual unitary charge that needs to be paid over the life of the contract.
Public Expenditure
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of preparing whole of Government accounts was in each year since 2000. [310557]
Mr. Byrne: The costs of preparing whole of Government accounts is not readily available, as the information is spread and held across the approximate 1,200 bodies that contribute to the account. The information could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate expense.
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