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24 Feb 2003 : Column 217W—continued
Mobile Phones
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many mobile phones have been used and at what cost by (a) himself and Ministers in his Department, (b) Special Advisers in his Department and (c) his departmental officials in each year since 1997; [98577]
- (2) how many mobile phones used by (a) himself, his Ministers of State, and Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State, (b) his Department's Special Advisers and (c) his Department officials have been listed as lost or stolen on an annual basis since 1997. [98579]
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Ruth Kelly: Comprehensive information about mobile phone costs is not available in the form requested.
Information on thefts of mobile phones is not disaggregated, although the global costs to the Treasury of theft and fraud for the last five years were given in my answers of 21 January 2002, Official Report, column 651W and 27 January 2003, Official Report, column 611W.
Money Laundering
Mr. Tyler: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 11 February 2003, Official Report, column 651W, whether discussions with the Law Society about the new money laundering regulation, and the EU second money laundering directive, have taken full account of the matters raised in the solicitors tribunal hearing in the matter of Sir Gerrard Anthony Neale on October 2002. [98410]
Ruth Kelly: The Treasury have been in consultation with the Law Society about the form of the proposed money laundering regulations 2003, which will implement the second EU directive on money laundering. The Treasury understand that the Society has already issued interim guidance to solicitors and is in the process of preparing detailed guidance on the application of the new regime to solicitors.
This case did not feature in the Law Society submissions or discussions.
Secondments
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individuals are loaned to HM Treasury from private accounting firms; how long the secondment is of each one; and what their responsibilities are. [99026]
Ruth Kelly: There are currently three people seconded into HM Treasury from private accounting firms.
| Date | Duties |
|---|---|
| 2 January 2002 to 30 June 2003 (18 months) | Finance Regulation and Industry Directorate—Head of Public Enterprise Partnership Team |
| 24 September 2001 to 23 September 2003 (2 Years) | Budget and Public Finance Directorate—Advice on Tax policy |
| 22 July 2002 to 21 July 2004 (2 years) | Financial Management, Reporting and Audit Directorate—Central Accountancy |
Special Purpose Vehicles
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will impose a special tax on special purpose vehicles sold by tax advisers for tax avoidance purposes. [98427]
John Healey: The Government have demonstrated their strong commitment to combating tax avoidance by countering it with legislation on over 40 separate occasions since 1997. They continue to keep the tax system under review and have already announced their intention to legislate to counter a number of tax avoidance schemes in the forthcoming Finance Bill.
Spending Review
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will update Table 1.3, page 16, of the 2002 Spending Review (Cm. 5570) to show changes to budgets and expenditure allocations made since the publication of this document; and if he will make a statement. [98431]
Mr. Boateng: Table B15 in the pre-budget report shows equivalent information. An updated table B15 will be published in this year's financial statement and budget report.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will announce the results of the next spending review; which years that will cover; and if he will make a statement. [98432]
Mr. Boateng: Spending plans for the financial years 2003–4 to 2005–6 were set out in the July 2002 Spending Review White Paper. Spending reviews are normally held every two years.
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Student Work Placements
Mr. Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many university students his Department and associated agencies have supported or sponsored with a work placement in the last year; what his policy is on work placements; what plans he has to develop such schemes; and what his policy is on paying their university fees. [98537]
Ruth Kelly: A total of 104 university students undertook a work or training placement in one of the Chancellor's Departments and agencies in the last year 1 .
Under the Civil Service Commissioners Code, policies and plans on recruitment and work placements are delegated to individual departments and agencies. For example, these range from a plan by HM Treasury to continue to provide 'sandwich' work placements for students studying for economics or IT degrees, and to offer two summer development training placements in 2003; to plans by the Inland Revenue to offer up to 40 summer development training placements, four Windsor Fellowship placements, two placements for disabled students, and 10 internship placements this summer.
The Chancellor's departments and agencies do not contribute towards university fees, but provide paid work placements instead.
- 1 The answer includes figures from HM Treasury, Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise, Office of Government Commerce, Debt Management Office, Valuation Office, Government Actuary's Department, Department of National Savings and Investments, and the Office of National Statistics, for students who began their placements during the period February 2002 to February 2003.
Tax Revenue Forecasts
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 10 February 2003, Official Report, column 607W, what plans he has to make forecasts of total tax revenues associated with GDP growth rates which fall outside his Department's GDP growth forecasts made in the pre-Budget report. [99126]
Ruth Kelly: In accordance with the requirements of the Code for Fiscal Stability, an interim forecast update, including projections for current revenues, was presented in the 2002 pre-Budget report. Projections will also be published in the forthcoming Budget.
There are no plans to make forecasts for total tax revenues associated with GDP growth rates that fall outside the forecast range. However, as set out in paragraph B17 of the 2002 pre-Budget report, if GDP growth were one percentage point higher than assumed over the coming year, public sector net borrowing might be approximately 0.5 percentage points lower in the current year and a further 0.2 percentage points lower in the following year.
Telephone Call Prices
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the potential loss in tax revenue resulting from lower telephone call prices following the Competition Commission Report on mobile termination charges. [94393]
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John Healey: It is not possible to estimate the impact for the Exchequer as this will depend on the commercial decisions of the companies affected.
Unemployment (Nottingham)
Mr. Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what change there has been in the unemployed totals in Nottingham, North since June 1997. [98320]
Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Graham Allen dated 24 February 2003:
- As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about unemployment in Nottingham North. (98320)
- The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles unemployment statistics from the Labour Force Survey following the internationally standard International LabourOrganisation definition. For Parliamentary Constituencies, information about unemployment rates, but not levels, is available. This information is available on a yearly basis, but not for calendar months. The unemployment rate for the Nottingham North Constituency decreased by 7.6 percentage points from 15.6 per cent in the twelve months ending February 1998 down to 8.0 per cent in the twelve month period ending February 2002.
- ONS also compiles statistics of claimants of unemployment-related benefits. The number of people in the Nottingham North Constituency claiming Jobseeker's Allowance decreased by 1,349 from 3,947 in June 1997 down to 2,598 in January 2003.
Working Families Tax Credit
Ann Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in the Dewsbury area (a) are eligible for the working family tax credit and (b) have benefited from the working family tax credit in the last year for which figures are available. [98319]
Ruth Kelly: Information about the numbers eligible for working families tax credit (WFTC) is not available by constituency or by local authority.
The number of recipients of WFTC and disabled person's tax credit in each local authority and in each constituency are shown in "Working Families' and Disabled Person's Tax Credit Statistics. Geographical analyses" for each quarter. Copies are on the Inland Revenue website, www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk.
Mr. Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) families and (b) individuals in Nottingham benefit from the working families tax credit. [98255]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of families with children in each local authority receiving Working Families Tax Credit or Disabled Person's Tax Credit in each quarter is shown in "Working Families' and Disabled Person's Tax Credit Statistics: Geographical analyses", which is available on the web site www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk. This also shows how many of these families are headed by lone parents, the rest being headed by couples, and the number of dependent children in the families.
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