Treasury

Banks

Lady Hermon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he last met the chief executives of (a) Danske Bank, (b) the Ulster Bank and (c) First Trust Bank; and what was on the agenda for those meetings. [172610]

Nicky Morgan: Treasury Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

The Treasury publishes a list of ministerial meetings with external organisations. This is available online at:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Banks: Standards

Mr Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the levels of satisfaction amongst (a) commercial clients and (b) non-commercial clients with regard to the performance of banks in which UK Financial Investments has a stake. [172471]

Sajid Javid: The Government's shareholdings in Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are managed on a commercial and arm's length basis by UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI).

UKFI's role is to manage the Government's shareholdings and not to manage the banks.

Satisfaction among commercial and non-commercial clients is a matter for the banks themselves. The Government is therefore unable to comment on this matter.

Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Equitable Life policyholders who are eligible for a one-off payment of £5,000 have been contacted to date; and how many policyholders he expects to be eligible for compensation. [172147]

Sajid Javid: Around 11,000 policyholders are eligible and they were all written to earlier this year with more detail on the payments.

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Patents

Mr Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the Patent Box is not altered as a result of representations from the German government to the European Commission. [172548]

Mr Gauke: This Government introduced the Patent Box as part of a wider set of reforms aimed at creating the most competitive corporate tax system in the G20. Specifically the Patent Box has been introduced to encourage high value business investment in R&D and the commercialisation of technologies in the UK. We are confident that the Patent Box does not contravene any rules on harmful tax practices, and stand ready to make that case within the EU.

The Patent Box regime is about fair and open tax competition which this Government support as tax is a matter of national sovereignty and domestic tax rates and rules are rightly the preserve of national Governments.

Royal Sussex County Hospital

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the likely timescale between submission of the full business case for the redevelopment of the Royal Sussex Hospital put forward by Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and (a) final approval and (b) release of funding; and if he will make a statement. [172158]

Danny Alexander: The development at the Royal Sussex County Hospital is at the outline business case

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stage. The outline business case is currently being reviewed by the Government, alongside supplementary information to demonstrate the affordability of the project. Once the outline business case has been approved, it is the Trust's responsibility to develop and submit a sound full business case. The timetable for reviewing the case will depend on the level of risk carried by the project, and the extent to which it satisfies HM Treasury Green Book evaluation criteria. If the Government are content with the full business case, final approval will be given to release funds.

Taxation: Property

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many enveloped properties are expected to be subject to the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings; [171285]

(2) how much the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings is expected to raise for the Exchequer in each year to 2017-18. [171286]

Mr Gauke [holding answer 17 October 2013]: At Budget 2013, HM Revenue and Customs estimated that around 1,100 properties would be subject to the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) in 2013-14, falling to around 600 in subsequent years. This was based on an assumption that around 2,100 properties would be removed from envelopes prior to the introduction of the new tax, followed by a further 500 during 2013-14.

The expected yield from ATED was published in table 2.1 and table 2.2 of Budget 2013 as part of the costing for the wider package of measures to address enveloping of property. This costing is shown in the following table.