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27 Jan 2009 : Column WA27
Written Answers
Tuesday 27 January 2009
Access to Work Scheme
Question
Asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are taking steps to ensure that people who become disabled during the course of their employment, and their employers, know about the Access to Work scheme. [HL792]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): Jobcentre Plus is committed to supporting disabled people or individuals with a health condition, including those who become disabled during the course of their employment. Any individual concerned about losing their current employment because of their health condition can be seen by a disability employment adviser. Disability employment advisers work with the individual and their employer to explore practical ways to help them to keep their job. They can also signpost individuals and their employers to the support available from Access to Work.
The Access to Work national delivery team is currently implementing an internal marketing strategy to ensure that all Jobcentre staff involved with disabled customers are fully aware of Access to Work. Internal presentations have been given to the Jobcentre Plus national sales team, which works with larger national employers. An online aide-memoire about Access to Work is being produced, which Jobcentre Plus employer-facing staff can use to raise the profile of Access to Work.
Access to Work is also being promoted through presentations and exhibitions, as well as through close working partnerships developed with the major disability groups such as the Royal National Institute for Blind people, the Royal National Institute for Deaf people and MIND. Partnerships with the Employers' Forum on Disability and with large employers such as the Royal Mail Group have been developed. An initial dialogue has begun with Remploy, Unison and Unite to discuss making their members more aware of Access to Work. Exploratory work has begun with Skill (National Bureau for Students with Disabilities) on how best Access to Work can support the transition of disabled students from education to employment.
Information about Access to Work is available on the Jobcentre Plus and Directgov websites. Directgov, as a source of information about Jobcentre Plus services for disabled people, is widely publicised.
Airports: Heathrow
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Infrastructure Planning Commission will be operational in time to consider any planning application the operator of Heathrow Airport may bring forward for a new runway. [HL786]
27 Jan 2009 : Column WA28
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): The Government envisage that the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) will be established and able to start giving advice to potential applicants this autumn and ready to begin receiving applications from spring 2010. The timing of any application for a new runway is a matter for the operator of Heathrow Airport, not the Government. Whether or not the IPC would act as the decision-maker on such an application is also dependent on the availability of a designated national policy statement on airports, which is planned for publication in draft by 2011.
Alcohol
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they still intend to increase alcohol duties by 2 per cent over the next four years, as announced at the 2008 Budget, in the light of the greater increases announced in the Pre-Budget Report. [HL738]
The Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Myners): Decisions on alcohol duty rates will be made by the Chancellor as part of the Budget process.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will take steps to ensure that alcohol duty increases are passed on to consumers in full; and what assessment they have made of the health effects that would have. [HL739]
Lord Myners: Pricing decisions by alcohol manufacturers, retailers, pubs and bars are determined by competitive conditions in the relevant markets.
The revenue forecast published in the PBR assumes that changes in duty are passed on in full to consumers, as explained in annexe A, paragraph A.2.3 on page 131 of the 2008 Budget document. The Government do not see taxation primarily as a tool for reducing alcohol-related harm. However, the Government remain committed to tackling problem drinking.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the research by the University of Sheffield which found that a 10 per cent alcohol tax increase will usually generate a price increase of between 10 and 20 per cent. [HL741]
Lord Myners: The review of the impact of alcohol pricing and promotion carried out by the University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research was a systematic review of international evidence. This work reflects the assumption made in a number of other studies that alcohol duty increases are passed on in full to consumers.
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In practice, pricing decisions by alcohol manufacturers, supermarkets, pubs and bars are determined by competitive conditions in the relevant market. Therefore, the extent to which duty increases are passed through to consumer prices will vary across different markets and different sectors.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the calculations and assumptions made in terms of (a) consumption and (b) revenue, ahead of the changes to alcohol duties announced in the Pre-Budget Report. [HL742]
Lord Myners: The calculations and assumptions on the effects of changing alcohol duties at the Pre-Budget Report were based on a HM Customs and Excise working paper, which is published on the HMRC website. The paper is available at http://customs.hmrc. gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/downloadFile? contentID=HMCE_PROD_008459.
A copy of this paper will be placed in the Library of the House. Although the Pre-Budget Report measures were intended to leave alcohol prices broadly unchanged, the analysis in this paper still applies as prices of non-excise goods will fall relative to alcohol prices due to the VAT rate cut.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much revenue was received from alcohol duty for (a) beer, (b) wine and (c) spirits in each month since January 2007. [HL743]
Lord Myners: The revenue received from alcohol duty for beer, wine and spirits in each month since January 2007 can be found in the HM Revenue and Customs national statistics bulletins for beer and cider, made wine, spirits and wine of fresh grape, which are available from the HM Revenue and Customs website addresses at:
www.uktradeinfo.co.uk/index.cfm?task=bullbeer
www.uktradeinfo.co.uk/index.cfm?task=bullmadewine
www.uktradeinfo.co.uk/index.cfm?task=bullspirits
www.uktradeinfo.co.uk/index.cfm?task=bullfreshgrape
The figures are shown in the table below:
| Revenue £ million | ||||
| Year | Month | Total Beer | Total Wine* | Total Spirits |
Banking
Question
Asked by Lord Campbell-Savours
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will issue guidance to United Kingdom deposit-taking institutions advising them that the maintenance of an address within the United Kingdom by British subjects should not be necessary for opening a deposit account in the United Kingdom. [HL221]
The Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Myners): The law is clear. There is no legal bar to accepting deposits from non-residents. The decision by a bank whether to accept deposits from non-residents is therefore a commercial one on which it would not be right to issue guidance.
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