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29 Jun 2010 : Column 497W—continued
Treasury
Bank Services: Fees and Charges
Martin Horwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions his Department has had with the Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Services Authority on a framework for bank charges since 2009. [4878]
Mr Hoban: The Treasury has regular meetings and discussions with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and Financial Services Authority (FSA) on bank charges as part of the process of policy development.
The Government stated in the coalition agreement that
"we will introduce stronger consumer protections, including measures to end unfair bank and financial transaction charges."
We are considering how best to implement this commitment and will bring forward proposals, in consultation with OFT and FSA, in due course.
Capital Investment: Redcar
Ian Swales: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much public sector capital funding his Department allocated to Redcar constituency in each of the last five years. [4689]
Danny Alexander: Monitoring of capital expenditure at a constituency level is not undertaken centrally.
For the North East region, capital expenditure for the last five years is as follows:
| North East England | |
| £ million | |
Child Tax Credit
Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families are in receipt of the baby element of tax credits (a) nationally and (b) in Newcastle North constituency. [4735]
Mr Gauke: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Table 1: Number of families receiving the baby element of tax credits in (a) England and (b) Newcastle-upon-Tyne North constituency | ||
| Thousand | ||
| All out of work | All in work | |
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:
Child Tax Credit: Scotland
Tom Greatrex: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in (a) Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency, (b) South Lanarkshire Council area and (c) Scotland claim child tax credit. [4332]
Mr Gauke: The latest information on the number of families with children benefiting from child and working tax credits, by each parliamentary constituency, local authority and region is available in the HMRC snapshot publication "Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Geographical Analyses. April 2010", available at:
Child Trust Fund: Hartlepool
Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many child trust fund accounts at the (a) standard and (b) higher rate have been opened in Hartlepool constituency in each year since the inception of the fund; and how much the Exchequer has contributed to those accounts to date. [3234]
Mr Hoban: Statistical information about child trust funds is published on HM Revenue and Customs' website at
Departmental Official Cars
Mr Watson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Government (a) cars and (b) drivers are allocated to Ministers in his Department. [295]
Justine Greening: All Treasury Ministers except the Chancellor (for security reasons) have cancelled their allocated ministerial cars and drivers, following expiry of the contracted notice periods. Prior to May 2010, HM Treasury had contracts for six cars for Ministers (including the Chancellor) to be provided by the Government Car and Dispatch Agency, with five drivers.
The new Ministerial Code, published on 21 May 2010, contains changes that affect Ministerial entitlement to travel by Government car. It states that
"the number of Ministers with allocated cars and drivers will be kept to a minimum, taking into account security and other relevant considerations. Other Ministers will be entitled to use cars from the Government Car Service Pool as needed".
The Department for Transport and its Government Car and Despatch Agency are working with Departments to effect the transition to the new arrangements.
Ian Austin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) make, (b) model and (c) place of manufacture is of the car allocated for the use of each Minister in his Department. [1481]
Justine Greening: The Treasury inherited six cars from the previous Government allocated to its Ministers. The cars comprise two Honda Civic ES Hybrid manufactured in Japan, two Toyota Prius T3 Hybrid made in Japan, one Vauxhall Vectra Design CDTi made in Germany and one Jaguar XJ TDVi Sovereign made in the United Kingdom.
These arrangements are changing following the publication of the new Ministerial Code which contains changes that affect ministerial entitlement to travel by Government car. The code states that
"the number of Ministers with allocated cars and drivers will be kept to a minimum, taking into account security and other relevant considerations."
The expectation is that Ministers not in the Cabinet will use the Government Car Service Pool and Cabinet Ministers who have an allocated car will consider how that car might be utilised by other Ministers within the Department before calls are made on the pool.
Energy: Subsidies
Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the outcomes were of his discussions with G20 counterparts at the recent meeting on energy subsidy reform; [4624]
(2) what contribution his Department made to the Joint Report of the International Energy Authority, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank on energy subsidy reform. [4685]
Justine Greening: The Chancellor attended a meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Korea on 4-5 June 2010. At that meeting they welcomed the strategies and timetables provided by many G20 members for phasing out and rationalising inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption. They also received a draft report on the scope of energy subsidies and suggestions for implementing the G20 commitment made at the Pittsburgh Summit. The report was produced independently by the International Energy Agency, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank.
Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation
Mr Woolas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 26 May 2010, Official Report, columns 51-52WS, on Equitable Life, what progress he has made on his plans to make fair and transparent payments to Equitable Life policyholders, through an independently designed payment scheme; and if he will make a statement. [4510]
Mr Hoban: Sir John Chadwick is advising the Treasury on the relative losses suffered by Equitable Life policyholders in relation to those accepted cases of maladministration resulting in injustice. He will submit his report by mid-July.
At that time, the Government will publish Sir John's report alongside a detailed update on the next steps towards implementing an independently designed payment scheme.
Green Investment Bank
Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what criteria will apply for (a) companies and (b) projects to be eligible to receive support from the planned Green Investment Bank. [4746]
Justine Greening: As announced in the Budget, the Government are considering a wide range of options for the scope and structure of the Green Investment Bank. We will put forward detailed proposals following the spending review.
Income Tax: Tax Allowances
Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the income tax personal allowance will be for those aged over 65 years who are in employment in 2011-12. [4837]
Mr Gauke: This Government will announce the amount of the personal allowances for those aged 65 and over for 2011-12 in the autumn, when September's inflation figures are known.
Income Tax: Weaver Vale
Graham Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make an estimate of the number of people resident in Weaver Vale constituency who will no longer pay income tax consequent on the proposed increase in the personal allowance from April 2011. [4347]
Mr Gauke: A total of 880,000 individuals are estimated to be taken out of income tax. However, the information requested is not available at parliamentary constituency level due to small survey sample sizes at this level of geography, and because the information is based on 2007-08 survey data which would not be reliable for this purpose.
Available information on incomes and tax by parliamentary constituency based on the latest available Survey of Personal Incomes (2007-08) can be found in Table 3.15 "Income and tax by Parliamentary Constituency" at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income distribution/menu.htm
Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander: Isle of Man
Bob Russell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Government of the Isle of Man and (b) the Isle of Man regulator on the repayment to UK depositors of savings placed with the Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander Bank; and if he will make a statement. [4573]
Mr Hoban: Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander Isle of Man (KSF IoM) is a subsidiary of the Icelandic parent company Kaupthing Bank hf and is incorporated in the Isle of Man. As such, oversight of KSF IoM was the responsibility of the Isle of Man's Financial Supervision Commission and therefore compensation arrangements for retail depositors in KSF IoM are a matter for the Government of the Isle of Man.
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.
Personal Savings
Gregg McClymont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he intends to take to encourage the providers of cash ISA products to provide a more responsive service to consumers wishing to switch their (a) product and (b) provider; and if he will make a statement. [4908]
Mr Hoban: Over 17 million people now hold cash ISAs and it is important that they are simple, transparent, competitive and flexible.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have today issued a response to the Consumer Focus "super-complaint" on the market for cash ISAs, including on the time taken for transfers to take place.
The Government welcome the OFT's report and the commitment from the ISA industry to reduce the time limits for cash ISA transfers in its guidance.
The Government also accept all of the OFT's recommendations for them to act. The Government will include the reduced time limits for cash ISA transfers in HM Revenue and Customs guidance, and will also consider changing the ISA regulations to reflect this.
Poverty: Children
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects on levels of child poverty of the measures announced in his recent Budget in each of the next five years. [4295]
Justine Greening [holding answer 28 June 2010]: This Government are committed to transparency and for the first time have published estimates of the distributional impact of announced tax and benefit measures at Budget 2010, available at:
The Budget announced a package of reforms to support low and middle-income earners, tackle welfare dependency and unaffordable spending and support the most vulnerable. This included measures to better target support to low-income families including an above-indexation increase in the child tax credit. The Budget will have no measurable impact on child poverty in the next two years.
The Government's strategy will focus on all aspects of child poverty. The right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) been asked to lead a review into poverty, including how to measure and make progress on non-financial elements of poverty.
Andrew Gwynne: To ask Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects of the proposed freeze on child benefit on the likelihood of achieving Government's objective to end child poverty by 2020. [4676]
Justine Greening:
The Budget had twin aims: to reduce the deficit in a fair manner, and to ensure that the most vulnerable were protected. At Budget, the Government
chose to freeze child benefit for three years, while ensuring better targeted support to low-income families by increasing the child element of the child tax credit by £150 in 2011-12 with a further £60 in 2012-13. These increases will happen over and above indexation. The freeze in child benefit is part of the overall Budget package and any assessment made refers to the package as a whole. As a result of all Budget measures, there is no overall measurable impact on child poverty for the next two years.
The Government are committed to eradicating child poverty by 2020, and will set out its strategy to do so before end of March 2011.
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the 2010 Budget what assessment he has made of the likely effects of his proposals on the likelihood of achieving Government's objective to end child poverty by 2020. [4677]
Justine Greening: The Budget had twin aims: to reduce the deficit in a fair manner, and to ensure that the most vulnerable were protected. This included measures to better target support on low income families including an above indexation increase in the child tax credit by £150 in 2011-12, and a further £60 in 2012-13. The Budget will have no measurable impact on child poverty in the next two years.
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