Mr Raymond Hill
Mr Andrew Hogan
Mr Ben Jaffey
Mr Ian Jobling
Mr Tristan Jones
Mr Paul Lasok QC
Ms Sara Lee
Ms Maya Lester
Mr Clive Lewis QC
17 Oct 2011 : Column 690W
Mr Angus McCullough
Mr James Maurici
Mr Julian Milford
Mr Paul Newman QC
Mr Paul Nicholls
Mr Andrew O'Connor
Mr Ben Olbourne
Miss Carys Owen
Miss Naina Patel
Mr George Peretz QC
Mr Ben Pilling
Ms Melanie Plimmer
Mr Simon Pritchard
Miss Shaheen Rahman
Miss Deok-Joo Rhee
Mr Clive Sheldon QC
Mr Sharif Shivji
Miss Kassie Smith
Mr Richard Snowden QC
Ms Jemima Stratford QC
Mr Jonathan Swift QC (£85,000 to £90,000)
Mr David Thomas
Mr Robert Wastell
Sir Michael Wood
Samuel Wordsworth
Brick Court
HMRC (Fawcett JR)
Monkton Chambers
Wordwave International Ltd
Solicitors engaged for HM Treasury:
Clyde and Co
Field Fisher Waterhouse
Irwin Mitchell
Linklaters LLP
Sharpe Pritchard
Slaughter and May (£260,000 to £265,000)(1)
(1) These figures relate to work instructed upon in the previous financial year.
Procurement
Julian Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress his Department has made in eliminating pre-qualification questionnaires for procurements with a value of under £100,000. [73836]
Miss Chloe Smith: HM Treasury has eliminated pre-qualification questionnaires for procurements with a value under £100,000.
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what contracts of a monetary value of (a) between £100,000 and £500,000, (b) between £500,000 and £1 million, (c) between £1 million and £5 million, (d) between £5 million and £10 million, (e) between £10 million and £50 million, (f) between £50 million and £100 million, (g) between £100 million and £500 million, (h) between £500 million and £1 billion, (i) between £1 billion and £5 billion and (j) over £5 billion his Department has entered into with private suppliers in each year since 1990. [74201]
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Miss Chloe Smith: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Public Expenditure
David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on new furnishings in the last year. [73124]
Miss Chloe Smith: Details of the Treasury Group’s spending on furniture and equipment in 2010-11 is shown in the Department’s 2010-11 annual report and accounts (HC 984), table 13.1 on page 141. A copy of the report is available at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/annual_report _accounts140711.pdf
Sick Leave
Mike Freer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for how many days on average his Department’s staff in each pay grade were absent from work as a result of ill health in 2010-11. [75015]
Miss Chloe Smith: The following table lists the average working days lost per grade for HM Treasury employees due to sickness absence from April 2010 to March 2011.
| Grade | Average working days lost per employee |
Training
Dr Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many external training courses staff of his Department attended in the last 12 months; and what the cost to the public purse was of each course. [74376]
Miss Chloe Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to the hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie), on 13 September 2010, Official Report, column 788W.
Duchy of Cornwall
Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) which (a) organisations and (b) individuals in Cornwall have been consulted on the proposals in respect of the Duchy of Cornwall contained in the Sovereign Grant Bill; [75241]
(2) if he will take steps to ensure that the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are fully consulted on the proposed future arrangements for the support of the Duke of Cornwall and related matters as contained in the provisions of the Sovereign Grant Bill. [75243]
Miss Chloe Smith:
The Sovereign Grant Bill sets out how support for certain future Dukes of Cornwall is to be arranged if the heir to the throne is not the adult first
17 Oct 2011 : Column 692W
son of the monarch. These arrangements do not affect any person or organisation in Cornwall.
The Treasury consulted the Royal Household about the content of the Sovereign Grant Bill.
The Sovereign Grant Bill allows no discretion about how support for the Duke of Cornwall is to be provided. Therefore no consultation is envisaged should these provisions ever be used.
Economic Situation
Alison McGovern: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the oral answer of 10 October 2011, Official Report, column 51, on the Eurozone, if he will place in the Library a copy of any economic modelling his Department has undertaken to project the effects of the latest round of quantitative easing on inflation in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13, (c) 2013-14 and (d) 2014-15. [74561]
Miss Chloe Smith: The Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast, including a forecast for inflation, set out in its Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), is the official UK forecast. The next EFO will be published on 29 November 2011.
The independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England's forecasts of inflation take into account the monetary policy stance. The most recent MPC forecasts can be found in the August 2011 Inflation Report which is published on the Bank of England website. The next quarterly Inflation Report will be published on 16 November 2011.
The Bank of England has stated in its Quarterly Bulletin published in September 2011 that quantitative easing (QE) carried out between March 2009 and January 2010 raised UK inflation by around ¾ to 1½ percentage points and increased real GDP by around 1½% to 2%.
Enterprise Zones: Lancashire
Graham Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have had with their counterparts in the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation on the enterprise zone bid for Lancashire. [73794]
Miss Chloe Smith: HM Treasury, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government are in regular contact with the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership, on enterprise zone policy.
Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with former investors in Equitable Life on the length of the compensation scheme. [74593]
Mr Hoban: In accordance with the 2010 spending review, and the Equitable Life Payment Scheme Design published in June this year, the scheme intends to make all payments it can to non-with profits annuity policyholders—including estates—by April 2014.
17 Oct 2011 : Column 693W
It is intended that the scheme will remain open to make ongoing payments to eligible with profits annuity policyholders beyond this point.
Glenda Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether payments to Equitable Life policyholders under the 9 June 2011 scheme are being prioritised by (a) age, (b) years of investment or (c) any other criteria; and how many payments have been made to date; [74282]
(2) how many Equitable Life policyholders qualified to receive re-imbursement under the scheme introduced in June 2011 have received (a) full, (b) partial and (c) no payment to date; and if he will make a statement. [74147]
Mr Hoban: Payments under the Equitable Life Payment Scheme, which began on 30 June 2011, are being made in accordance with the payments criteria set out in the scheme rules, available at:
http://equitablelifepaymentscheme.independent.gov.uk/docs/pdfs/elps_main_doc_final.pdf
Hundreds of payments have been made to date. Payment volumes will continue to be ramped up over the coming months as the schemes complex payment processes are refined further.
European Central Bank
Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what timetable he has set for his challenge to the European Central Bank Eurosystem Oversight Policy Framework. [73531]
Mr Hoban: On 15 September 2011, the UK Government submitted a challenge to the European Central Bank's Eurosystem Oversight Policy Framework (5 July 2011), in so far as it sets out a location policy to be applied to financial market infrastructure such as central clearing counterparties. The timetable for this case is determined by provisions of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union and by the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in accordance with its rules of procedure.
Excise Duties: Biofuels
Thomas Docherty: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department plans to take to address duty avoidance in the production of biodiesel. [73968]
Justine Greening: The Government are aware of several cases where producers have tried to avoid registering to pay biofuels duty. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) strongly defends the position that suppliers are liable to account for the duty if they produce 2,500 litres or more and supply the oil for fuel production.
A small producers' biofuel duty exemption was introduced in 2007 and continues to offer effective tax relief to low volume biofuel producers, who are also asked to keep sufficient records of their production under 2,500 litres per year.
To assist members of the public in reporting cases of concern, HMRC has developed an email template, which is available online at:
https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/shortforms/form/AAG_TAI
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Excise Duties: Gaming Machines
Mr Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on the effect of machine games duty on British seaside (a) businesses, (b) employment and (c) tourism; and if he will make a statement. [74133]
Miss Chloe Smith: Treasury Ministers and officials meet with, and receive representations from, a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the usual policymaking process. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such representations.
Excise Duties: Motor Vehicles
Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much vehicle excise duty was collected in (a) Wales, (b) England, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [73386]
Miss Chloe Smith: Disaggregated national receipts data are not held and could be produced only at disproportionate cost. Information on overall UK vehicle excise duty receipts is published annually in the Budget.
Excise Duties: Petrol
Dr Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the tax payable on the average pump price of a litre of unleaded petrol was on 30 September 2011. [74038]
Miss Chloe Smith: The average pump price for petrol on 3 October, the nearest published date to that requested, was 135.02 pence per litre. The price includes fuel duty paid by fuel producers at 57.95 pence per litre and VAT paid by consumers at 20%or 22.50 pence per litre in this example. Published energy price statistics can be found on the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) website at:
www.decc.gov.uk
Financial Services Authority: Government Procurement Card
Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) date of purchase, (b) amount, (c) supplier and (d) level 3 or enhanced transaction entry was of each transaction undertaken by the Financial Services Authority using the Government Procurement Card in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10. [73492]
Mr Hoban: The Financial Services Authority does not use Government Procurement Cards.
Financial Services: Taxation
Mr Bain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on the adoption of a financial transactions tax by the (a) G20 and (b) G77. [73687]
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Mr Hoban: The Government believe that any financial transaction tax would have to apply globally to avoid transactions simply relocating to those countries not applying the tax.
Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on the future level of UK gold reserves. [74482]
Miss Chloe Smith: The UK Government have no plans to purchase or sell holdings of gold from their reserves.
Government Procurement Card
John Glen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the (a) purchase date, (b) transaction amount, (c) supplier and (d) level 3 or enhanced transaction entry if held for each individual transaction undertaken by HM Revenue and Customs using the Government Procurement Card in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10. [71395]
Mr Gauke [holding answer 14 September 2011]: Information to the level of detail requested is not available except at disproportionate cost. HMRC has available the posting date, category and amount spent via Government Procurement Card (GPC) for transactions over £500, shown in the following tables.
Information for the whole of the first year (2008-09) and part of the second year (2009-10) includes GPC used by staff prior to their transfer to UKBA under the relevant machinery of Government changes.
HMRC apply tight restrictions to both provision of GPC cards and their use.
In support of the Government's transparency agenda all Departments will publish GPC transactional level data on their own departmental website, posting a link on:
www.data.gov.uk
Publishing data will bring visibility to the use of payment cards and is a proactive step to evidence control and compliance within a payment card programme.
| (i) 2008-09 | ||
| Posting date | Category | Amount GBP (£) |
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17 Oct 2011 : Column 697W
| (ii) 2009-10 | ||
| Posting date | Category | Amount GBP (£) |
17 Oct 2011 : Column 698W
| Note: Many of the entries relate to hotels and accommodation bookings and are for multiple rather than single travellers, mainly overseas, where it is necessary to deliver the Department's objectives, including fiscal fraud enforcement, enforcement of prohibition and restrictions, and the provision of mutual administrative assistance. | ||
Chris Kelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Government Procurement Card transactions were made by his Department's officials withdrawing cash from automated teller machines from 2006-07 to 2009-10; at what cost; and on which dates. [73716]
Miss Chloe Smith: Cash withdrawal transactions using Government Procurement Cards held by Treasury staff are automatically blocked by the card issuer.
Housing: Sales
Joseph Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of homes in each price band in (a) London, (b) England and (c) the UK that were sold in the last (i) 12, (ii) 24, (iii) 36 and (iv) 48 months were bought or sold by or traded between offshore companies. [74311]
Miss Chloe Smith: It is estimated that during 2009-10, around 1% of UK land and property transactions valued at over £40,000 were to a purchaser with a foreign address. With a total of 990,000 transactions during that period, this suggests that around 10,000 were bought by a foreign purchaser.
This estimate includes both residential and non-residential transactions.
More detailed information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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Income Tax
Mr Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people liable for the highest rate of income tax have ceased paying income tax in the UK since the introduction of the 50p income tax rate. [73228]
Mr Gauke: This information is not available.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), has asked HM Revenue and Customs to assess the revenue from the 50% rate of income tax. As I outlined in debates on the 2011 Finance Bill, HMRC will consider all available evidence around the impact of the 50% rate including data from the 2010-11 self-assessment returns which will become available next year. Until then it is not possible to assess the impact of the introduction of the additional rate on taxpayer numbers.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer also made clear in his Budget 2011 speech that the 50% rate is a temporary measure. In an age when businesses, capital and people are increasingly mobile, high tax rates send a negative signal to those looking to work and invest in the UK.
National Insurance Contributions
Gloria De Piero: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses in Ashfield constituency have participated in the national insurance holiday scheme. [73449]
Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency have participated in the national insurance contributions holiday since the scheme came into effect. [73452]
Mr Gauke: A breakdown of successful applications for the NICs holiday by constituency will be published in the NICs holiday factsheet in the House of Commons Library in the autumn.
Natural Gas: Exploration
James Wharton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of tax revenues from fracking. [73169]
Miss Chloe Smith: There is currently no commercial shale gas production in the UK. The Treasury has made no recent estimate of potential tax revenues from fracking.
North Sea Oil: Tax Yields
Damian Hinds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the proportion of tax revenue which would have come from green taxes if he had not introduced the carbon price floor or the increase in the North sea oil supplementary charge in each of the next four years. [73126]
Miss Chloe Smith: The Government are currently finalising their definition of environmental taxes. This will establish a baseline against which the Government’s commitment to increase the proportion of revenue from environmental taxes can be measured.
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North sea oil taxes are not environmental taxes and have never been classified as such. The revenue forecast from the change in the supplementary charge was published in table 2.1 on page 42 of Budget 2011.
Office of Government Commerce: Government Procurement Card
Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) date of purchase, (b) amount, (c) supplier and (d) level 3 or enhanced transaction entry was of each transaction undertaken by the Office of Government Commerce using the Government Procurement Card in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10. [73494]
Miss Chloe Smith: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Central Government Departments plan to begin publishing Government Procurement Card transactions over £500 on their websites, starting with 2011-12 Quarter 1 (April to June) data at the end of October and then on a monthly basis.
PAYE: Administration
Dr Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many incorrect PAYE codes have been issued by HM Revenue and Customs to taxpayers in the last 12 months, and what estimate he has made on the amount of tax (a) overcharged and (b) undercharged as a result of tax code errors in that period. [74041]
Mr Gauke: The exact percentage of incorrect coding notices issued is not known. In any year a small percentage of codes are always incorrect as they do not reflect changes in an individual's circumstances. That is why HMRC send out coding notices well in advance of the start of the new tax year so that customers can review them and report any changes to HMRC.
The overwhelming majority of PAYE cases (more than 40 million) are correct, so most people have paid the right amount of tax.
Revenue and Customs
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to publish the Government’s response to the Treasury Select Committee’s Sixteenth Report of the Session 2010-12, on the Administration and Effectiveness of HM Revenue and Customs; and if he will make a statement. [72988]
Mr Gauke: The Government’s response to the Treasury Select Committee’s Sixteenth Report of the current session on the Administration and Effectiveness of HM Revenue and Customs was sent to the Committee on 30 September 2011. The Committee is now considering the response and will formally publish it in due course.
Revenue and Customs: Closures
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on the planned closure of HM Revenue and Customs offices; and if he will make a statement. [73331]
17 Oct 2011 : Column 701W
Mr Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced that it will be taking forward 14 office closures in 2012-13, including five offices already announced for closure as part of an earlier review. No representations have been received about these closures since the decisions were announced on 14 September.
On the same day, HMRC announced the office closure proposals under consideration for 2013-14. Eight offices are proposed for closure in 2013-14 and since the proposals were announced HMRC has received letters about two of them, Redhill and Stockport, each from an MP in a neighbouring constituency.
Feasibility on these proposals is under way and will inform the decisions to be announced in January 2012.
Revenue and Customs: Correspondence
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration he has given to allowing small businesses to communicate with HM Revenue and Customs by e-mail; and if he will make a statement. [73066]
Mr Gauke: HMRC is responding to customer requests for more e-mail contact by providing a wide range of structured and secure electronic contact services including e-mail. E-mail is now being used successfully in our day to day processes with our large and complex customers and HMRC are looking at how we can expand this to include small and medium enterprises and agents. HMRC are currently consulting:
http://hmrc.gov.uk/consultations/
on making an e-mail address a required element of a business's designatory data with a view to gaining greater understanding of, and being able to respond to, customer demands. We want to analyse responses (closing date 31 October) before taking consideration further. Electronic contact solutions are only introduced where HMRC is certain about the authenticity of the person sending the e-mail and where there are strong controls around the data, being sent.
Mr Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration he has given to ensuring that small businesses have a named officer in HM Revenue and Customs with whom they deal. [73067]
Mr Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs assigns a designated member of staff to those businesses whose size or complexity mean they need a relationship with HMRC involving regular, ongoing discussion on a range of issues. The level of tax at risk and the complexity involved make this the most cost-effective way of improving both tax compliance and the customer experience.
HMRC's 4.8 million small and medium sized enterprise (SME) customers tend not to have as complex affairs as those in the large business group, nor have the same need for regular discussion on an ongoing basis.
The cost of extending the relationship managed service to small businesses is not affordable, nor would it be practical given the needs of these customers.
Instead, HMRC aims to make it as easy as possible for compliant customers to self-serve with certainty, while providing additional help to those that need it.
17 Oct 2011 : Column 702W
Revenue and Customs: Finance
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what meetings he has had with trade unions to discuss the effect of the comprehensive spending review on HM Revenue and Customs. [73330]
Mr Gauke: Treasury Ministers and officials meet with a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the usual policymaking process. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Revenue and Customs: Government Procurement Card
Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) date of purchase, (b) amount, (c) supplier and (d) level 3 or enhanced transaction entry was of each transaction undertaken by HM Revenue and Customs using the Government Procurement Card in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10. [73493]
Mr Gauke: Information to the level of detail requested is not available except at disproportionate cost. HMRC has available the posting date, category and amount spent via Government Procurement Card for transactions over £500, shown in the following tables.
HMRC are not responsible for how the card supplier/merchant categorise goods/services and some descriptions may be misleading, e.g. Catering and Catering Supplies in 2007 was for accommodation; Restaurant and Bars relates in most cases to international business hospitality. Further investigation can be undertaken for specific items where required but not across the whole of the reported spend due to the disproportionate cost of doing so.
Many of the entries relate to hotels and accommodation bookings and in most cases are for multiple rather than single travellers, mainly overseas, where it is necessary to deliver the Department's objectives, including fiscal fraud enforcement, enforcement of prohibition and restrictions, and the provision of mutual administrative assistance.
Information for the whole of the 2007-08, 2008-09 and part of 2009-10 includes GPC use by staff prior to their transfer to UKBA under the relevant machinery of government changes.
HMRC applies tight restrictions to both provision of GPC cards and their use and spend is tightly controlled and strictly follows the rules and standards of Government Accounting.
| (i) 2007-08 | ||
| Posting date | Category | Amount (£) |
17 Oct 2011 : Column 703W
17 Oct 2011 : Column 704W
| (Ii) 2008-09 | ||
| Posting date | Category | Amount (£) |
17 Oct 2011 : Column 705W
17 Oct 2011 : Column 706W