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30 Jun 2010 : Column 580W—continued
Young People: Voluntary Organisations
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what changes he has made to the Youth Sector Development Fund; what his policy is on the future role of the Fund; and if he will make a statement. [4081]
Tim Loughton: The Youth Sector Development Fund (YSDF) seeks to build the capacity and sustainability of Civil Society organisations delivering services to young people. 43 organisations currently receive YSDF support under the terms of grant agreements that expire in March 2011.
Plans to extend the programme in 2010-11 have not been carried forward and the savings that resulted formed part of the £6.2 billion savings announced on 24 May 2010.
Future policy on YSDF will be determined in due course as part of the forthcoming spending review.
Northern Ireland
Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland
12. Ms Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has for the introduction of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. [4218]
Mr Swire: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle).
Local Government
Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the First Minister on the effects of proposals for reorganisation of local government in Northern Ireland. [4216]
Mr Swire: Following confirmation from the Executive that the reorganisation of local government in 2011 will not now go ahead, I have written to the First and deputy First Ministers to express my disappointment at this outcome and to confirm that elections will now be held to the existing 26 councils next year.
Northern Ireland Assembly
David Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with the Ulster Unionist Party on the forthcoming elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly; and if he will make a statement. [4217]
Mr Paterson: As Secretary of State I have had discussions with all Northern Ireland political parties on a range of issues relevant to the ongoing political process.
Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries
Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent representations he has received on changes to parliamentary constituency boundaries in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [4213]
Mr Paterson: The Government have announced that legislation will be introduced to provide for the creation of fewer and more equal sized constituencies. Further details will be announced in due course, and Parliament will have the opportunity to debate the provisions in full. No representations have been received regarding changes to parliamentary constituency boundaries in Northern Ireland.
Treasury
Child Tax Credit: Stirling
Mrs McGuire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Stirling constituency claim child tax credit. [4116]
Mr Gauke: The latest information on the number of families with children who receive Child and Working Tax Credits, by each parliamentary constituency, is available in the HMRC snapshot publication "Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Geographical Analyses. April 2010", available at:
EU Grants and Loans
Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to ensure that sufficient UK match funding will be available to enable (a) the delivery of the EU convergence programme and (b) draw down of budgeted EU structural funding. [4419]
Justine Greening:
The emergency Budget set the overall path for the public finances to 2015-16. Departmental allocations will be set at the spending review, after which we will be in a position to make spending decisions
including for match funding for EU Structural Funds. The spending review will be published on 20 October and will cover the four-year period from April 2011 to March 2015.
Government Departments: Procurement
Dr Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will consider the merits of extending the role of the Office of Government Commerce in (a) the provision of contract management advice to government departments and (b) monitoring the performance of major suppliers under such contracts. [4339]
Mr Maude: I have been asked to reply.
The recently announced Efficiency Reform Group (ERG), which includes the Office of Government Commerce, will provide a stronger central focus on achieving efficiency savings, including through better contract management and monitoring the performance of suppliers.
Ministerial Statements
John Healey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what procedures apply to the length of time between a Minister in his Department making a Statement to the House and publication of that Statement on his Department's website; and when the Statement made on (a) 17 June 2010 and (b) 22 June 2010 will be published on the website. [4445]
Justine Greening: HM Treasury publishes Treasury Ministers' oral statements as soon as possible. Oral statements for the dates referred to were published on the Treasury website on the day they were made.
Personal Income
Liz Kendall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will publish estimates of the likely effect of direct tax, indirect tax and benefit and tax credit changes announced in Budget 2010 as an absolute amount by income decile by 2012-13, excluding both the effect of the 50 per cent. additional income tax rate and the effect of the increase in employee national insurance contributions introduced in April 2010; [4642]
(2) with reference to chart A1 of Budget 2010, whether his Department's analysis of the effect of direct tax, indirect tax and benefit and tax credit changes by income decile includes (a) the 50 per cent. additional rate of income tax and (b) the increase in employee national insurance contributions introduced in April 2010. [4643]
Mr Gauke: Analysis has been published in the Red Book showing the impact of measures to be in place in 2012-13 compared with those in place today. The Government believe that as they have chosen to retain some of the policies they have inherited while reversing other decisions that this is the most appropriate way to present the impact of June 2010 Budget decisions.
The policies that were introduced in April 2010, for example the 50% additional rate of income tax, are already included in the baseline and so they will have no impact when compared with April 2012.
A full list of policies included in the analysis is included on pages 11-12 of the Data Sources document published alongside the June 2010 Budget, available at:
Pregnant Women: Grants
Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many women in each (a) constituency and (b) local authority received the Health in Pregnancy grant in each year since its inception. [4832]
Justine Greening: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex) on 29 June 2010, Official Report, column 502W.
Revenue and Customs: Great Yarmouth
Brandon Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will review the decision of HM Revenue and Customs to relocate jobs held by staff at Havenbridge House in Great Yarmouth to Norwich for the purpose of retaining those jobs in Great Yarmouth. [4716]
Mr Gauke: The decision in December 2008 to close the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office in Great Yarmouth was made after extensive consultation and detailed feasibility work under the previous Government. There are no plans to revisit the decision and the office is expected to close for business during 2010-11. HMRC is committed to providing face to face advice for customers in Great Yarmouth at or near the existing location for those customers who need it.
Sheffield Forgemasters: Finance
Mr Betts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the amount of revenue accruing to the Exchequer that would have been paid in tax by employees in jobs created by the installation of a new press at Sheffield Forgemasters funded by the proposed £80 million Government loan; and if he will make a statement. [4498]
Mr Gauke: In order to estimate additional taxation revenue created by the projects, it would be necessary to consider net jobs created by the projects. This would take displacement of employment and taxation revenue from elsewhere into account.
Officials from the Department for Business are working with Sheffield Forgemasters to explore the possibility of raising private funding for this worthwhile project that does not make the existing shareholders worse off.
Strategy Insurance Ltd
Mr Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints (a) the Financial Services Authority and (b) the Financial Ombudsman Service has received on the activities of Strategy Insurance Limited in each of the last 10 years; and if he will publish (i) details of each investigation and (ii) their conclusions. [3866]
Mr Hoban [holding answer 22 June 2010]: The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is the independent regulator for the financial services industry in the UK and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is an independent body resolving financial services disputes.
I understand that Strategy Insurance Limited is not authorised by the FSA and is not covered by the FOS's compulsory or voluntary jurisdiction.
Tax Allowances: Video Games
Mr Watson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to introduce a tax relief scheme for the video games industry. [3536]
Mr Gauke: The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Budget statement that the Government will not introduce a tax relief for the UK video games industry.
The Budget announced a package of reforms to business taxation, reducing rates of corporation tax for all companies. Companies in all sectors will benefit from these changes, including those in the video games industry.
Taxation: Business
Mrs McGuire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses in Stirling constituency had used the Time to Pay programme operated by HM Revenue and Customs on the most recent date for which figures are available. [4070]
Mr Gauke: HMRC collates information on the number and value of Time to Pay arrangements granted through the Business Payment Support Service (BPSS). Data on the number of businesses using the service are not readily available at constituency level. At any point in time a business may have more than one arrangement covering its different tax liabilities. A business may be granted a number of successive arrangements.
Between 24 November 2008 and 20 June 2010, 510 arrangements spreading payments covering tax debts worth £7.4 million have been granted to businesses within the constituency of Stirling following contact with the BPSS.
VAT: Churches
Jim Dowd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has for the future of the Listed Places of Worship scheme. [4254]
John Penrose: I have been asked to reply.
The Listed Places of Worship (LPW) scheme, which makes grants equivalent to the VAT incurred in making repairs to listed buildings in use as places of worship, is expected to make grants of around £15 million UK-wide in 2010-11. I acknowledge the scheme's significant role in helping to keep our listed ecclesiastical buildings in a good state of repair. A decision on the scheme's future beyond the end of 2010-11 can only be made as part of the 2010 spending review, and will be publicised as soon as is possible.
Welfare Tax Credits
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the administrative cost of processing the proposed changes to the level of earnings disregard for tax credits. [4657]
Mr Gauke: The preliminary estimate of the administrative costs of introducing the reduction in the earnings disregard is estimated to be in the range of £1 million to £3 million per year.
This achieves an Exchequer saving in the costs of paying tax credits rising to £420 million in 2014-15, as set out in line 43 of Table 2.1 in Budget 2010, HC 61, 22 June 2010.
Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of persons likely to be affected by the proposal to changes to the level of earnings disregard for tax credits. [4658]
Justine Greening: The disregard for income rises will be reduced from £25,000 to £10,000 in 2011-12, and then to £5,000 in 2013-14.
Based on information on finalised 2008-09 tax credit awards and the number of income changes reported in that year, it is estimated that around 155,000 families will have an income rise of more than £10,000, and 275,000 families will have an income rise between £5,000 to £10,000.
Communities and Local Government
Consultants
John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent meetings Ministers in his Department have had with representatives of the think tanks (a) Localis and (b) Policy Exchange. [4441]
Grant Shapps: Since the Coalition Government was formed, no CLG Minister has met with representatives of either (a) Localis or (b) Policy Exchange.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many officials in his Department are working on renegotiating contracts for the supply of goods and services to the Department as a result of recently announced reductions in public spending; what savings are expected to accrue to his Department from such renegotiations; how much expenditure his Department will incur on such renegotiations; and when such renegotiations will be completed. [3655]
Robert Neill:
There is a core of procurement staff (23) within the Department's corporate procurement division (CPD) plus a total of 17 further staff with delegated authority in communications and research areas who will involve numerous stakeholders within different business units to undertake the negotiations and make decisions. The Department's target for savings
in 2010-11 is £50 million. As existing officials are primarily involved in renegotiation no additional expenditure is expected. Negotiations are currently taking place and are expected to be concluded by the end of the current financial year.
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