House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 24 Jan 2001 (pt 20)

Departmental Land (Harrow)

Sir Sydney Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the land owned by his Department bounded by Honeypot Lane, Whitchurch Lane, the Jubilee Line and Edgware Brook in the London Borough of Harrow, what was (a) the date upon which contracts were exchanged between the property agents for the civil estates and the Asha Foundation for the purchase of the property, (b) the purchase price of the property detailed in the contract, (c) the survey valuation of the property prior to the date of the contract and (d) the latest valuation of the property. [146281]

Mr. Andrew Smith [holding answer 22 January 2001]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Chief Executive to the Property Advisers to the Civil Estate (PACE). I have asked her to reply.

Letter from Vivien Bodnar to Sir Sydney Chapman, dated 24 January 2001:

Land at Honeypot Lane

The Chief Secretary of the Treasury has asked me as Chief Executive of the Property Advisers to the Civil Estate to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the land at Honeypot Lane, because PACE has responsibility for disposal of this property.

The contract with the Asha Foundation was exchanged on 26 January 2000.

The information that you requested on the purchase price and the survey valuation is commercially confidential and subject to contractual restrictions. There has been no valuation since the contracts were exchanged.

Motor Fuels

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how fuel tax is accounted for when motor fuels are delivered to retail petrol stations at temperatures in excess of 15 degrees centigrade. [146971]

Mr. Timms: Fuel duty is not accounted for when motor fuels are delivered to petrol stations, but when the fuel leaves the refinery or import warehouse. At that point both its volume and temperature are recorded. Using internationally agreed conversion tables, the volume for excise duty purposes is calculated as it would be at a standard temperature of 15 degrees Centigrade.

24 Jan 2001 : Column: 651W

Agricultural Vehicles

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the use of agricultural vehicles in public demonstrations means they are no longer used exclusively for agriculture for the purposes of the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979; and if he will make a statement. [146741]

Mr. Timms: Schedule 1 to the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 defines categories of vehicle allowed to use red diesel. Customs and Excise aim to interpret this law in a reasonable and proportionate way.

Single Parent Families

Mr. Cox: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many single parent families there are where the sole parent is (a) the mother and (b) the father; [144129]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from John Kidgell to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 24 January 2001:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Questions on the numbers of lone mother and lone father families and also the numbers of children aged under five within these families (144129, 144138). I am replying in his absence.

The latest available, most reliable estimates are from the 1996 General Household Survey. An explanation of the method used in making these estimates can be found in the article entitled "One-parent families and their dependent children in Great Britain" published in Population Trends 91.

Using this method, it has been estimated that there were 1.60 million lone-parent families with dependent children in Great Britain in 1996. From this provisional estimate, the numbers of lone mother and lone father families are estimated to be 1.46 million and 0.14 million, respectively.

The comparable 1996 estimate for the number of children aged under five living in one-parent families, in Great Britain is 0.73 million.

Earnings Statistics

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportions of full-time workers in (a) Britain, (b) Scotland and (c) each local authority area in Scotland have hourly gross earnings (i) including and (ii) excluding overtime, below (1) £7.15, (2) £6.58, (3) £4.94 and (4) £3.60 for the categories (A) male manual, (B) male non-manual, (C) all male, (D) female manual, (E) female non-manual, (F) all female, (G) all manual and (H) all non-manual; and what the figure is for all workers. [146240]

24 Jan 2001 : Column: 652W

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Alasdair Morgan, dated 24 January 2001:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on hourly earnings for workers in Britain, Scotland and the unitary authorities in Scotland (146240).

The best estimates for the number and proportion of jobs paid below low hourly rate thresholds are provided by combining data from the New Earnings Survey (NES) and Labour Force Survey (LFS). The following estimates on this basis are available:

All jobs paid at below (1) £3.60, (2) £4.90, (3) £6.60 and (4) £7.00 in UK

All jobs held by men/women paid at below £3.60 in UK.

For Scotland and areas within Scotland no information consistent with these estimates is available.

The estimates are posted on the National Statistics website at: www.statistics.gov.uk/themes/labour-market/nmw-lowpay-tables.asp.

Offshore Financial Centres

Mr. Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by whom Her Majesty's Government are represented on the working group on offshore financial centres established following the recent meetings held in Barbados. [147166]

Dawn Primarolo: High-level consultations on the OECD's harmful tax competition initiative took place in Barbados on 8-9 January 2001 between OECD and Commonwealth countries. A working group was established to carry forward the dialogue. Her Majesty's Government will be represented on the group by the Inland Revenue.

Far East Prisoners of War

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the compensation to former Japanese internees will be included in their estate for the purposes of calculating inheritance tax. [146488]

Dawn Primarolo: I am today announcing an Extra Statutory Concession which will protect these awards from IHT. In strict law, the compensation as such would not form part of a person's estate unless they die before the claim is paid out. Once they have received their compensation in cash, what shows up in their estate for IHT purposes would obviously depend on whether they choose to save it. In the very exceptional circumstances of these cases, however, we think that claimants should be able to decide that without concern for the IHT consequences. We will therefore be allowing an extra £10,000 relief from inheritance tax for every eligible claimant, whether or not they have yet received it, and whatever they choose to do with it subsequently.