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1 Feb 2010 : Column 111W—continued
VAT: Channel Islands
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the value added tax revenue lost as a result of the routeing of purchases of goods through the Channel Islands in the last 12 months; and what steps he has taken to prevent such losses. [313902]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available, as HM Revenue and Customs do not have the information to identify whether goods routed through the Channel Islands were originally produced there.
The Government have agreed with the Channel Islands' authorities that they will restrict the operations of businesses that establish there solely to supply goods to the UK and apply restrictions on the setting up of new businesses. The islands' authorities have also agreed to cap the annual sales of goods to the UK of some large businesses established there. The Government are keeping the operation of these arrangements under review.
Welfare Tax Credits: Ashford Kent
Damian Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children in Ashford constituency are in households in receipt of (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit. [313510]
Mr. Timms: Child and working tax credits were introduced in April 2003 when they replaced working families' tax credits.
The latest information on the number of children in households benefiting from tax credits, by each parliamentary constituency, is available in the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) snapshot publication "Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Geographical Analyses. December 2009", available at:
HMRC do not produce these statistics separately for child tax credit and working tax credit.
Damian Green: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the number of families in each ward of Ashford constituency in receipt of (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit. [313513]
Mr. Timms: The following table shows for each ward within Ashford constituency snapshot estimates for the number of households benefiting from tax credits as at 1 December 2009.
Separate information on the number of households receiving working tax credits and child tax credits in each ward is not available due to the small sample sizes available.
However, estimates of the number of families benefiting, by award type, for 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 | |
Working Tax Credit
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of changing the threshold for eligibility of the working tax credit to (a) five, (b) 10, (c) 20 and (d) 25 hours a week. [313570]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 26 January 2010]: No such estimate has been made.
Justice
David Kelly Death Inquiry
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice who determined that the medical reports and photographs connected to the death of Dr. David Kelly should be closed for 70 years; and on what legal basis this determination was made. [313785]
Mr. Wills: No determination has been made that the medical reports and photographs connected to the death of Dr. David Kelly should be closed for 70 years. Rather, Lord Hutton noted in his statement on 26 January that he had requested that the post mortem examination report relating to Dr. Kelly not be disclosed for 70 years in view of the distress that could be caused to Dr. Kelly's wife and daughters.
The Ministry of Justice is now considering the most appropriate course of action. The options available will need to be considered carefully.
Debt Collection: Regulation
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to establish an independent regulator of bailiffs. [313888]
Bridget Prentice: I announced on 17 March 2009, Official Report, column 46WS that the Government will produce a consultation paper which will set out its intentions for a package of measures which will address concerns that have been raised about the behaviour of bailiffs and proposals for the regulation of the bailiff industry.
It remains the Government's intention to commence this consultation exercise with a view to implementing the changes in April 2012.
Departmental Public Expenditure
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on (a) new furnishings, (b) works of art and (c) new vehicles in each of the last two years. [312542]
Mr. Wills: The information requested is as follows:
The expenditure on furniture and fittings by the Ministry is:
| £000 | |
These figures represent expenditure on both furniture and fittings by the Ministry of Justice headquarters, HM Court Service, the Tribunals Service, the Office of the Public Guardian, and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). For NOMS, the totals exclude expenditure on items costing less than £5,000 as they are recorded within a more general category of expenditure and can be separately identified only at disproportionate cost by scrutinising numerous individual invoices held locally.
Of the amounts above, £3,983,000 in 2008-09 and £2,015,000 in 2007-08 were capitalised on the departmental balance sheet and are disclosed as additions to furniture and fittings in note 14 of the departmental resource accounts available at:
Furniture is typically used for a period of 20 years within the Department. Major acquisitions usually occur only where a new building is taken on following the expiry of building leases and in accordance with the Ministry's estates rationalisation programme which is a key element of its savings plans.
Art is a recognised part of public buildings and the commissioning or purchase of suitable artworks is included in the overall cost of building or refurbishment. For new buildings, such as courts, artwork is normally integrated into the fabric of the building and does not have a separately identifiable cost. The only distinct expenditure on artwork incurred in 2007-08 and 2008-09 and relates to installations within the Ministry of Justice's newly refurbished headquarters building at 102 Petty France. This work was commissioned in 2001 at an estimated cost of £470,000 which was later revised down to £290,000. The final actual cost on completion of the works was £208,000.
The amount spent on new vehicles by the Ministry of Justice and its executive agencies is:
| £000 | |
Expenditure represents vehicles bought outright by the Ministry of Justice and its executive agencies or held on finance leases. The figures above exclude vehicles rented under operating lease arrangements. They also exclude vehicles used by NOMS for escorting prisoners. NOMS has contracted with various suppliers to provide a prisoner escorting service. Within the terms of those contracts, it is for the suppliers to determine the vehicles necessary to deliver the contracted service.
Vehicles owned by the Ministry are typically used within the business for between three and seven years, depending on vehicle type and use. They are often bought and replaced in bulk to achieve discounts, resulting in differences in expenditure from year to year. The main reason for the increase in expenditure in 2008-09 is the acquisition by HM Courts Service of a substantial fleet of secure cell vehicles to enable the safe and secure transportation by civilian enforcement officers and county court bailiffs of defendants under arrest to court.
Offenders: Deportation
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the oral answer of 5 January 2010, Official Report, columns 11-12, on compulsory transfer agreements, (1) with which countries negotiations to establish arrangements for prisoner transfers without consent are continuing; and how many foreign national prisoners there are from each such country; [312635]
(2) how many foreign national prisoners have been returned to each of the 35 countries with which the UK has arrangements for prisoner transfers without consent since the inception of such arrangements; [312636]
(3) how many foreign national prisoners there are from each of the 35 countries with which the UK has arrangements for prisoner transfers without consent. [312637]
Maria Eagle: The United Kingdom is in negotiation with Nigeria and Rwanda with a view to signing compulsory prisoner transfer agreements (PTA). As at 18 December 2009, 752 Nigerians and 11 Rwandans where detained in prisons in England and Wales.
The United Kingdom brought into force the additional protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons on 1 November 2009. Under the additional protocol the United Kingdom can transfer prisoners without their consent to 34 signatory countries providing the prisoner is subject to a deportation order. The consent of the receiving state is required in each case. To date no prisoners have been transferred under these arrangements.
On 17 November 2008 the United Kingdom and the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya signed a PTA which provides for transfer without the consent of the prisoner concerned. To date no prisoners have been transferred under these arrangements.
The following table lists the countries with which the United Kingdom has compulsory PTA and the number of recorded foreign nationals in prison custody in England and Wales. It should be noted that where there is no direct evidence of nationality this is recorded as self declared by the prisoner;
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