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24 Feb 2010 : Column 626W—continued
Food: Schools
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what funding his Department has allocated for the creation of school allotments for the purpose of growing food; [318512]
(2) what steps his Department has taken to assist teachers in setting up food-growing schemes in schools. [318513]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government have supported the "Growing Schools" programme since 2001. The programme provides easy access to a wide range of curriculum-based resources and a comprehensive continuous professional development programme for teachers. In the last three years this has been funded at £350,000 per annum. It is up to schools to identify suitable space for food growing.
DEFRA announced in the Government's new Food Strategy (Food 2030), published in early January, that it would be providing further support to the programme. The new DEFRA funding will build the capacity of the programme and enable a further 65,000 pupils, parents and staff to gain hands-on experience of growing food. This will be included as part of a forthcoming tender exercise which will appoint the contractor for the next phase of the programme.
Newspaper Licensing Agency
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what payments his Department's agencies made to the Newspaper Licensing Agency in each of the last 10 years. [315595]
Dan Norris: The following table shows payments made by the core Department to the Newspaper Licensing Agency in each of the last 10 years taken from central records.
| £ | |
Rats: Greater London
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 14 July 2009, Official Report, column 232W, on rats: Greater London, whether his Department holds a copy of the completed survey report for the period up to 2006. [317603]
Huw Irranca-Davies: The next report covering the period up to 2006 will be available soon. It has taken longer than anticipated to ensure comparability of analyses between years for the rodent data from the English House Condition Survey. This has delayed report publication beyond the previously indicated target of 2009.
Rural Payments Agency: Pay
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been paid in bonuses to staff at the Rural Payments Agency in each of the last five years. [318170]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) on 27 January 2010, Official Report, columns 874-75W.
Textiles: Waste Disposal
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to reduce the amount of textile waste going to landfill. [318518]
Dan Norris: The Government consider that landfill should be the last resort for most types of waste. We are assessing the case for restricting a number of biodegradable and recyclable wastes, including textiles, from landfill.
DEFRA and the devolved Administrations have commissioned further research on the options for landfill bans or restrictions in the UK, including the costs, benefits and practical implications. We will publish a consultation on these options in the coming weeks.
Treasury
Bank Services: Local Government
John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions his officials have had with (a) local authorities and (b) representatives of the government of Iceland on local authority investments in Icelandic banks in 2010. [318454]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: 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.
Bankruptcy: Business
Mr. Binley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer against how many businesses HM Revenue and Customs has initiated winding up or bankruptcy action in 2008-09; and how much debt such action recovered. [316843]
Mr. Timms: The total number of bankruptcy and winding up petitions filed by HM Revenue and Customs in 2008-09 in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland was 13,181. This has fallen from 2006-07 and 2007-08 when the totals were 17,936 and 14,716 respectively.
The information on the value of the debt contained within those petitions is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Banks: Pay
Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has for the distribution of money yielded by the one-off levy on any individual discretionary bonus above £25,000 paid by banks to their employees between the pre-Budget report and April 2010. [317327]
Mr. Timms: The Government set out their plans for tax and spending at the pre-Budget and Budget reports.
Economic and Monetary Union
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2010, Official Report, column 520W, on economic and monetary union, if he will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Standing Committee on Preparations for the euro. [318312]
Mr. Timms: A copy of the minutes requested has been placed in the Library of the House.
Inheritance Tax: Moray
Angus Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Exchequer received from inheritance tax on estates in Moray constituency in the last five years. [318005]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available at a sub-regional level. Inheritance tax data are based on a UK-wide sample of cases which is designed to produce national level figures and the size of the sample means that we could not currently estimate tax receipts reliably at constituency level.
Local Government: Cost Effectiveness
Robert Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 19 January 2010, Official Report, column 290W, on local government: cost effectiveness, what proportion of the estimated £550 million of savings he expects to result from efficiencies made in respect of waste collection and disposal. [317811]
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, including waste collection and disposal. It is for individual local authorities to make efficiencies based on local priorities and use of resources in these and other services.
Robert Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 19 January 2010, Official Report, column 290W, on local government: cost effectiveness, whether the proposed £800 million savings by 2012-13 will include efficiency savings made in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2011-12. [317878]
Mr. Byrne: The pre-Budget report sets out a number of areas where local government will be able to find £800 million per year efficiency savings by 2012-13. These are savings to be delivered by 2012-13 against a baseline year of 2010-11.
Maternity Benefits
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of take-up of the Health in Pregnancy Grant is among parents in each income decile group. [318387]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available. Income details are not collected on the Health in Pregnancy claim form.
Tax Collection
Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration he has given to the merits of centralising the collection of amounts owed to all Government Departments through one debt collection body. [317332]
Mr. Byrne: HMT currently has no plans to introduce one debt collection body, but Treasury Ministers continually have policy options under review and recognise the need for joined-up approaches.
Taxation
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) P14 and (b) P35 returns required clerical action in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007, (iii) 2008 and (iv) 2009. [316949]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is available only at disproportionate cost, as the data are not held centrally.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Steve Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many tax credit overpayments were written off in each month of (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2007-08 and (d) 2008-09; and if he will make a statement; [317179]
(2) how many disputed tax credit overpayments have resulted in no repayment (a) because of official error and (b) in total in each month of each year since their introduction; and if he will make a statement; [317180]
(3) how many tax credit overpayments were disputed in each month (a) between June 2007 and March 2008 and (b) since December 2008; and if he will make a statement. [317182]
Mr. Timms: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not separately record whether a tax credits overpayment is written off in part or in full so the precise information requested is not available. HMRC explains its approach to tax credits overpayments and the circumstances in which customers may not have to pay them back in its Code of Practice 26 "What happens if we've paid you too much tax credit?", available at:
For information about the numbers of disputed overpayment cases and the number of disputed overpayments written off in part or in full as a result of official error up to and including 2007-08, I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander) on 17 March 2008, Official Report, columns 901-02W, and 20 May 2008, Official Report, column 212W.
Information relating to disputed overpayments written off on grounds of official error in 2008-09 and 2009-10 can be found in the following table.
| New disputes (around) | Written off in part or full (around) | |
| Note: The figures for overpayments written off do not directly relate to those disputes that were received in the same period. | ||
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