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8 Apr 2010 : Column 1600W—continued
HM Revenue and Customs is unable to provide the same data for 2005-06 and 2006-07 because data for staff on no pay as a result of sickness absence were not linked to office locations.
Answers received for publication 8 April 2010
Aggregates Levy: Wind Power
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the aggregates levy applies to the construction of outside tracking and hard standings in wind farms when using materials excavated from (a) a borrow pit and (b) the foundations for turbine towers. [325855]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The aggregates levy is a tax on the commercial exploitation of primary aggregates (sand, rock, gravel) in the UK. There is no specific relief for aggregates used in the construction of wind farms.
Bank Services: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will direct UK Financial Investments to request from (a) Northern Rock, (b) Halifax, (c) Bank of Scotland, (d) Lloyds Bank and (e) Royal Bank of Scotland (i) the number of (A) businesses and (B) retail account holders of each who were resident in York in 2009 and (ii) an estimate of the monetary value of the holdings in each bank by residents of York at 31 December 2009. [325841]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: UK Financial Investments manages the Government's holdings in financial institutions at arm's length and on a commercial basis. In line with its role as a shareholder, UKFI requests only information necessary to achieve its objective as set in its Framework Document and Investment Mandate. The Government believe that these arrangements are vital to ensure that the taxpayer receives value for money from the investments.
Banks: Finance
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to Box C4, page 213 of the Budget 2010, what estimate he has made of the net fiscal cost of the Government's financial sector interventions as at 24 March 2010; and when he expects to publish the detailed calculations. [325869]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Budget 2010 set out that:
"At current market prices the cost of the financial sector interventions net of fees and other income would total £6 billion"
(Financial Statement and Budget Report 2010, p213). Details of the derivation of this figure are given in the text on pages 213 and 214.
Child Care Vouchers
Ms Keeble: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many parents who use childcare vouchers also claimed the childcare element of working tax credit in the last 12 months. [301762]
Mr. Timms: Robust data are not available, but analysis of survey data suggests that only a small proportion of parents using child care vouchers also claim the child care element of the working tax credit.
Civil Servants: Location
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Horsham of 12 March 2010, Official Report, column 516W, on civil servants: location, what targets were set for (a) the Cabinet Office, (b) the
Department for Transport, (c) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (d) HM Revenue and Customs and (e) the UK Statistics Authority in respect of (i) percentage relocation and (ii) 2003 baseline staffing figures; and what the performance of each against these targets has been to date. [323537]
Mr. Byrne: Relocation targets were set for the Lyons Programme as an absolute number of civil service posts, not as percentages of staff based in London and the south-east, or as a percentage figure of the total work force.
The following table records: the 2003 national staffing figure as recorded in the annual report on civil service staffing figures produced by the Cabinet Office; the London and the south-east staffing figure; the numerical target for posts to relocate; and progress towards that target as of 30 June 2009, for (a) the Cabinet Office, (b) the Department for Transport, (c) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (d) HM Revenue and Customs and (e) the UK National Statistics (then known as the Office for National Statistics).
| 2003 national staff figure | 2003 London/SE staff figure | Numerical target for posts to relocate | Performance against target as of 30 June 2009 | |
The Budget statement on 24 March 2010 reported that by December 2009 over 21,500 civil service posts had been relocated against the target of 24,000. More detail on this progress is available on the OGC website:
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has incurred expenditure on (a) foreign exchange derivatives and (b) consulting on currency hedging strategies in each of the last five years. [325121]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry [holding answer 30 March 2010]: Under the Credit Guarantee Scheme, HM Treasury uses foreign exchange derivatives to hedge fee income received for debt issued in foreign currencies. HM Treasury does not incur explicit expenditure on these transactions; any fees charged for the use of these derivatives would be reflected in the level of the foreign exchange gain received. HM Treasury reports on the Credit Guarantee Scheme, and its financial impacts, annually in its Resource Accounts.
HM Treasury has not incurred any expenditure on consulting on currency hedging strategies.
Green Investment Bank
Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether community-based social enterprises will be eligible for investment from the Green Investment Bank announced in Budget 2010.[325812]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Green Investment Bank (GIB) will specifically address the risk of an emerging gap in the provision of equity capital to large, complex infrastructure projects within the next few years. It is likely the initial focus of the GIB will be on offshore wind generation. However, it will also consider the case for investing in other infrastructure as appropriate as investment needs arise. Infrastructure UK will be consulting on the establishment of the GIB in the summer.
Income Tax: Young People
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many 16 and 17 year-olds resident in Scotland pay income tax; [315045]
(2) how much income tax liability there was in respect of those resident in Scotland under the age of 18 years between 6 April 2008 and 5 April 2009. [315046]
Mr. Timms: In 2008-09, the number of 16 and 17-year-olds in Scotland with income tax liabilities is estimated at around 6,000, with total income tax liabilities for those under 18 years estimated at £3.7 million.
The figures are based on the 2006-07 Survey of Personal Incomes and projected in line with 2009 pre-Budget report assumptions. The figures should be treated with caution given the small sample size.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to reply to the letter dated 3 March 2010 from the right hon. Member for Banff and Buchan regarding his constituent Mr. L. Stridgen. [325873]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: A reply has been sent to the hon. Member.
National Insurance Contributions
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has made an assessment of the merits of (a) reducing National Insurance contributions for businesses taking on a graduate employee and (b) providing a National Insurance contribution rebate to businesses with fewer than 50 members of staff in 2010-11; and if he will make a statement. [323564]
Mr. Timms: All tax and national insurance policy is kept under constant review. Previous experience of schemes with special arrangements for national insurance contributions for specific groups suggests administrative costs could limit take up.
Budget 2010 announced that the Government will extend the £1.3 billion Young Person's Guarantee after March 2011 to ensure young people adversely affected by the recession continue to be offered a Future Jobs Fund job, training or work experience if they cannot find employment within six months.
Non-domestic Rates: Garages and Petrol Stations
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Mole Valley of 5 February 2010, Official Report,
columns 643-45W, on non-domestic rates: garages and petrol stations, how many of the hereditaments in each category are in each billing authority area. [319111]
Ian Pearson: It has not proved possible to answer the hon. Member's question before Parliament is prorogued later today.
Non-domestic Rates: Ports
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of a moratorium on payments of retrospective rates on port businesses. [325712]
Barbara Follett: I have been asked to reply.
It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many companies have registered for his Department's scheme to enable retrospective business rate charges to be paid over eight years; and how many such companies are (a) newly-rated port companies and (b) located outside ports. [325713]
Barbara Follett: I have been asked to reply.
It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Non-domestic Rates: Post Offices
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many post office branches were on the rating list in (a) 1997 and (b) 2010, according to Special Category code information held by the Valuation Office Agency. [315035]
Ian Pearson: It has not proved possible to answer the hon. Member's question before Parliament is prorogued later today.
Revenue and Customs
Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the remissions and write-offs included in the HM Revenue and Customs Trust Statement (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09 including (i) the amounts not collected and (ii) the reasons for the remissions and write-offs. [325747]
Mr. Timms: The information is as follows:
(i) Table 8.2 on page 100 of HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) 2008-09 Annual Accounts sets out the amounts of revenue that HMRC remitted and wrote off in 2007-08 and 2008-09. HMRC's Annual Accounts are available at:
(ii) Tax debts are remitted where they are capable of being recovered but HMRC decides not to pursue a liability. It does this: when the value of a debt is small compared with the likely cost of recovering it; when enforcing payment would cause an individual, or his or her dependents, to suffer financial hardship; or where an earlier error by HMRC would make it inappropriate or unfair for it to enforce payment.
HMRC writes off debts when they have become irrecoverable because there are no practical means for pursuing the debt. This applies where taxpayers have gone missing and HMRC has not been able to trace their current whereabouts or where they have moved overseas to a territory outside the European Union with which the UK has no reciprocal recovery rights.
Debts are also written off where individuals or companies have become insolvent. When this happens, HMRC aims to recover a proportion of what it is owed consistent with its legal rights as a creditor, and it writes off the tax that cannot be recovered in this way. Around 90 per cent. of all HMRC remissions and write offs come from this last category.
Tax Allowances: Housing
Kitty Ussher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2010, Official Report, column 195W, on tax allowances: housing, if he will estimate the number of (a) UK taxpayers and (b) hon. Members who varied the nomination of a main residence in order to obtain private residence relief from capital gains tax in each of the last 10 years. [325826]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is available only at disproportionate cost, as the data on main residence nominations are not centrally held on HMRC's systems.
Tax Allowances: Pensioners
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many claims for higher rate tax relief on pensions were rejected by HM Revenue and Customs in financial year 2009-10 on the basis that the period within which claims were required to be submitted had expired. [325858]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available.
Taxation
Mr. Leech: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the effect on domestic tax revenue rates of relocating offshore (a) public and (b) private sector jobs. [323940]
Mr. Timms: No such estimate has been made.
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