Excise Duties: Beer
Tracey Crouch: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of the reduction in beer duty announced in the March 2013 Budget passed on to customers; and if he will make a statement. [176733]
Nicky Morgan: An estimate of the proportion of the reduction in beer duty passed on to final consumers could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Infrastructure
Mr McKenzie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many infrastructure projects in (a) Scotland and (b) Wales have been awarded a UK guarantee to date. [176496]
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Mr Gauke: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement of 22 October 2013, Official Report, column 9WS, from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander).
A full list of projects and status can be found on the gov.uk website.
Office for Budget Responsibility
Mr McKenzie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on reform of the Office for Budget Responsibility; and if he will make a statement. [176498]
Nicky Morgan: The Chancellor regularly receives representations on a wide range of matters, including on the role of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.
Smuggling: Fuels
Mr Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the amount of revenue foregone as a result of illegal fuel being transported over the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. [174626]
Nicky Morgan: No assessment has been made of the loss of revenue as a result of illegal fuel being transported over the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. However, tax gap figures published in the document at the following link give estimates of revenue lost to illicit fuel on the GB mainland, and the non-UK duty paid market share in Northern Ireland, which includes both legitimate cross border shopping and illicit fuel.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/tax-gaps/mtg-2013.pdf
HMRC fights fraud on a wide range of fronts, from special units performing thousands of roadside checks to raiding laundering plants. HMRC have also recently concluded the evaluation of a possible new marker for rebated fuel, which will make it harder to launder marked fuel and sell it at a profit.
Taxation: Agriculture
Dr Thérèse Coffey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration has been given by HM Revenue and Customs to the tax status of agricultural land used for energy projects, including solar farms; and what guidance has been issued. [175723]
Mr Gauke: There are no specific reliefs for agricultural land used for energy projects but relief may be available in a number of ways.
Capital gains tax roll-over relief may be available where a person carrying on a trade disposes of land occupied and used for the purposes of the trade (such as energy generation) and the proceeds of the disposal are applied in acquiring new assets for use in the trade. Relief is not available where the trade is carried on by another person.
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Inheritance tax agricultural property relief (APR) is available for land used for agricultural purposes although if the land is primarily used for energy projects and not for the cultivation of food then relief will generally not be available.
Alternatively, business property relief (BPR) may be due if the land is used in a trading business whose main activity was energy generation providing the land was not let out and the conditions for the relief were met. Guidance on what qualifies for APR and BPR and the conditions to be met to qualify for the relief is available on the HMRC website.
Education
Kings Science Academy
Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) if he will publish the police crime reference number obtained by his Department on reporting the findings of the investigation into Kings Science Academy, Bradford to Action Fraud in April 2013; [176495]
(2) if he will publish recordings of all telephone conversations between his Department and Action Fraud in relation to the investigation into Kings Science Academy, Bradford; [176532]
(3) if he will publish the Improvement Notice issued by his Department to the Kings Science Academy, Bradford. [176757]
Mr Timpson: The crime reference number given to the Department by Action Fraud is NFRC130400222669.
The Department does not hold recordings of telephone conversations with Action Fraud, regarding Kings Science Academy.
The warning notice issued to Kings Science Academy was published on the Department’s website on 20 November:
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http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/executiveagencies/efa/efafundingfinance/b00212647/external-assurance/academiesfraud/investigation-reports
Mr Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what information his Department provided to Action Fraud regarding fraud at Kings Science Academy in Bradford; [176533]
(2) what information his Department provided to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau regarding fraud at Kings Science Academy in Bradford; [176534]
(3) pursuant to the answer of 7 November 2013, Official Report, column 339W, on Kings Science Academy, for what reasons his Department did not provide the Internal Audit Unit's full unredacted report into Kings Science Academy when Action Fraud reported that there was not enough information to progress the case further; [176914]
(4) what information was provided to Action Fraud by his Department when his Department first reported fraudulent activity at the Kings Science Academy, Bradford. [176917]
Mr Timpson: Evidence of possible fraud was reported to Action Fraud in April and a follow-up inquiry was made in September. Only the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) can make a decision on whether or not to investigate. The Department supplied Action Fraud with all the critical information in the Education Funding Agency’s investigation report and all the information it requested.
All contact relating to the case was with Action Fraud, which is the UK’s national fraud reporting centre.
Action Fraud notified the Department on 1 November by telephone that the information provided had been wrongly classified as an information report rather than a crime report. This error has been rectified by Action Fraud and West Yorkshire police have confirmed they are now investigating. The Department is co-operating fully with their inquiries and has provided the West Yorkshire police with an unredacted copy of the investigation report, at their request. Action Fraud has apologised to the Department for this error.