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28 Jun 2010 : Column 454W—continued


National School of Government: Finance

Nick de Bois: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will publish the terms of the National School of Government's private finance initiative agreements. [3774]

Mr Hurd: The National School of Government is a non-ministerial department which I have responsibility for in Parliament. Consequently, I have asked the chief executive for the National School of Government to assist by writing to you.

Letter from Rod Clark:

New Businesses: Bexley

Mr Evennett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the number of new businesses in the London borough of Bexley in the last 12 months. [3312]

Mr Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck:

Count of enterprise births in 2008 for the London borough of Bexley

Number

Bexley

810


Special Advisers Remuneration Committee

Mr Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) which Ministers are members of the Special Advisers' Remuneration Committee; [2846]

(2) on which dates the Special Advisers' Remuneration Committee has met since 6 May 2010. [2845]

Mr Maude: The Ministers on the Special Advisers, Remuneration Committee are the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Chairman), myself, and the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Members).

Information relating to meetings of internal committees is not normally disclosed.

Third Sector

Pete Wishart: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what definition of a voluntary and community organisation his Department uses. [3516]

Mr Hurd: The Government do not have a strict definition of a voluntary and community organisation as they are so wide-ranging. However, they include organisations that work for a social or cultural aim and are not primarily for profit. These organisations may trade as part of their work, employ paid staff or work with volunteers.

Treasury

Capital Gains Tax

Gordon Banks: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had on the definition of non-business assets in respect of the application of capital gains tax; and if he will make a statement. [4705]


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Mr Gauke: The Government received a number of representations, including discussions with interested parties, on the Coalition Agreement proposals regarding capital gains tax. It is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such representations.

Child Tax Credit

Liz Kendall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many households with annual incomes of over £40,000 are in receipt of child tax credit in (a) England, (b) Leicester and (c) Leicester West constituency; [4603]

(2) how many households are in receipt of the baby element of child tax credit in (a) England, (b) Leicester and (c) Leicester West constituency. [4605]

Mr Gauke: The information requested is shown in the following table.

Table 1: Number of families receiving tax credits by region
(thousand)

In-work families with incomes over £40,000 receiving child tax credit Families receiving the baby element

England

495.9

405.6

Leicester

1.5

3.4

Leicester West constituency

0.5

1.2


These estimates are based on provisional information on families receiving tax credits as at April 2010. Further details about this data can be found in the HMRC snapshot publication "Child and Working Tax Credits. Geographical Analysis, April 2010", available at:

Departmental Pay

Mr Watson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 7 June 2010, Official Report, column 68W, on departmental manpower, what the salary range is of staff employed at each grade in the private office of each Minister in his Department. [3253]

Justine Greening: The following table gives detail of the salary range of staff employed at each grade in the private offices of Treasury Ministers:

Pay grade Salary r ange (£)

AO

18,116 to 21,663

EO

21,621 to 26,720

HEO/SEO

26,910 to 38,255

Grade 6/7

44,835 to 57,801

SCSI

58,200 to 117,800


Financial Services: Pay

Mr Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the oral statement of 7 June 2010, Official Report, columns 1056-58, on banking reform, what assessment he has made of the effect of his proposals on remuneration practices in the financial services sector; and if he will make a statement. [4161]


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Mr Hoban: As part of the work being undertaken to reform the financial services sector the Government will take action to tackle unacceptable bonuses. This will include the Government looking at structural and non-structural measures to reform the banking system and promote competition. As announced in the Budget we will consult on a remuneration disclosure regime in the financial services sector and will explore the costs and benefits of a financial activities tax on profits and remuneration, in addition the Government will ask the FSA to examine further options the forthcoming review of its remuneration code.

Financial Services: Regulation

Mr Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what account his Department and the Bank of England have taken of the recommendations of the Bingham report on the Bank of Credit and Commerce International in determining the future role of the Bank in financial regulation. [4173]

Mr Hoban [holding answer 24 June 2010]: The Treasury has considered a wide range of views in developing the Government's proposals for financial regulation. The Treasury will publish a consultation document on these proposals before the summer recess.

Insurance: Construction

Mr Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what investigations the Financial Services Authority has conducted into the Masterbond warranty scheme operated by the Federation of Master Builders in the last 10 years; and if he will publish the conclusions of each such investigation. [3867]

Mr Hoban [holding answer 22 June 2010]: The Financial Services Authority is the independent regulator for the financial services industry in the UK. I understand that for legal and policy reasons the FSA cannot comment specifically on action that it may or may not have taken. If, following due process, the FSA takes formal disciplinary action against a firm and imposes a sanction, its standard practice is to issue the outcome in a press notice.

Members: Correspondence

Mr Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to reply to the emails of 27 May and 4 June 2010 and to the letter of 8 June 2010 from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay on the Ford loan guarantee. [4635]

Danny Alexander: I have replied to the hon. Member.

Office for Budget Responsibility

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to the public purse has been of establishing the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR); what mechanism was used to appoint its staff; where such staff posts were advertised; what qualifications are required for each post; what powers the OBR will have to require papers and financial data from (a) his Department and (b) other departments; and whether the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will apply to the OBR. [1086]


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Justine Greening: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given to the hon. Member for Southport (Dr Pugh) on 3 June, Official Report, column 103W.

Identifiable costs associated with the interim Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) include the building and facilities management costs involved in the establishment of the new office in May 2010 and the creation of its website. Full details of these costs are not available prior to processing and reporting.

No staff posts have been advertised and there have been no new staff appointments to the OBR.

The provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 apply to the interim OBR as they do to the Treasury.

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps were taken to ensure that appointments made to the Office of Budgetary Regulation were compliant with policy on the appointment of women to public bodies. [3708]

Justine Greening: The appointments to the interim Budget Responsibility Committee (BRC) of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) were undertaken on an expedited basis to ensure the OBR could perform its functions for the emergency Budget. These appointments were made on an interim basis and are not appointments to a permanent BRC.

Sir Alan Budd, as chair of the interim BRC, will be advising the Chancellor on the arrangements for the permanent OBR, including on the appointments process.

Personal Income

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Financial Statement of 22 June 2010, Official Report, columns 166-80, what estimate he has made of the percentage change in net income at each level of income distribution as a result of each proposal for changes to benefits in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15. [4649]

Mr Gauke: This Government are committed to transparency and, for the first time, have published estimates of the distributional impact of announced tax and benefit measures in the Budget document.

Estimates of the distributional impact of tax credit and benefits changes implemented in 2012-13 are set out in annex A of the Budget document:

As no pre-announced tax credit and benefit changes have been modelled, estimates show the impact of this Budget measures. "Budget 2010: Data sources" provides a full list of modelled measures:

Estimates for later years are not available due to greater uncertainty surrounding longer term economic forecasts underpinning the modelling.

Pregnant Women: Grants

Helen Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of previously eligible women who will not be entitled to claim health in pregnancy grant under the Government's proposals in each year to 2014-15. [4662]


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Justine Greening: It is estimated that there are around 750,000 qualifying pregnancies each year, based on national statistics projections of births.

Public Finance

Dr Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the savings to accrue from implementation of shared services in Government in the next two financial years. [3804]

Mr Maude: I have been asked to reply.

There are currently no specific estimates around what each Department is likely to save from the implementation of shared services in the next two financial years.

As part of the preparation process for the spending review this summer, Departments are being challenged to consider a variety of different ways in which they can deliver services, and we expect this to include the use of shared services.

Public Finance: Redditch

Karen Lumley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will include in the Budget measures to protect vulnerable and poor people in Redditch. [3973]

Mr Gauke: The Budget met its twin aims of tackling the deficit fairly, while supporting those in most need.

The Budget announced a package of measures to promote work, tackle welfare dependency and support the most vulnerable. The Budget will have a statistically insignificant impact on child poverty over the next two years. For example, while child benefit was frozen for three years, the child element of the child tax credit will be increased by £150 in 2011-12, and a further £60 in 2012-13. These increases will happen above indexation.

Budget announced that the basic state pension will be uprated by a triple guarantee of earnings, prices (CPI) or 2.5%, whichever is highest, from April 2011. However, the Government will increase the basic state pension in April 2011 by at least the equivalent of RPI.

To ensure that pensioners on the lowest incomes benefit from the triple guarantee, the standard minimum income guarantee in pension credit will increase in April 2011 by the cash rise in a full basic state pension.

At Budget, we also announced a £1,000 cash-terms increase in the income tax personal allowance for those aged under 65, taking it from £6,475 in 2010-11 to £7,475 in 2011-12. It is estimated that this will remove 880,000 of the lowest-income taxpayers from tax altogether and will benefit around 23 million basic-rate taxpayers by up to £170 per year compared to the previous Government's plans.


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