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2 Feb 2006 : Column 736W—continued
Construction Industry Scheme
James Duddridge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of (a) small, (b) medium and (c) large contractors were contacted by his Department during consultations on the forthcoming reforms to the Construction Industry Scheme. [47258]
John Healey: The information in the form sought is not available. However, as part of the consultation exercise starting in November 2002, over 20 meetings were held nationwide with industry representatives. We distributed over 1,000 hard copies of the consultation document. Our website containing an electronic version of the document received more than 3,000 hits. Over 200 individuals and businesses responded.
At a national level, ongoing formal consultation has taken place through the Construction Industry Reform Implementation Panel (CIRIP), which meets monthly under a HMRC chair. CIRIP represents a wide cross-section of trade professional and software house interests.
James Duddridge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much HM Revenue and Customs has spent since the introduction of the Construction Industry Scheme in 1999 on (a) informing the construction industry about the correct determination of employment status and (b) enforcing compliance on employment status. [47259]
John Healey: No specific data is held on the cost to HM Revenue and Customs (and the former Inland Revenue) since 1999 of informing the construction industry about the correct determination of employment status.
HM Revenue and Customs police employment status as part of their general employer compliance activity.
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They do not routinely collect data in respect of the policing of specific types of employer obligations. It is therefore not possible to identify the amount spent on enforcing compliance with employment status.
James Duddridge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many workers from (a) Great Britain and (b) the European economic area have registered for the Construction Industry Scheme in each year since 1999; [47262]
(2) how many and what percentage of individuals from European economic area countries who are registered under the Construction Industry Scheme are also registered for national insurance. [47263]
John Healey: In 2004–05 there were around 900,000 active subcontractors registered for the Construction Industry Scheme. No records are kept of the country of origin of subcontractors registered for the Construction Industry Scheme.
Contractors
James Duddridge: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many contractors identified under the leverage exercise by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs came under investigation in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005; and how many he expects to come under investigation in 2006. [47261]
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John Healey: The CIS leverage exercise was undertaken on a two-year basis for 2004–05 and 2005–06. The number of cases selected for review were 2,192 in 2004–05 and 2,280 in 2005–06. Some cases selected for review, particularly those commenced in late 2005–06, will not be concluded until 2006–07.
Council Tax
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 19 July 2005, Official Report, column 1681W, on council tax, following the postponement of the council tax revaluation in England, if he will place in the Library the remaining written advice. [47044]
Dawn Primarolo: There is nothing I can usefully add to my earlier answer. For reasons I gave then, it would not be appropriate to disclose the advice concerned.
Departmental Expenditure
David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of Government spending in each year since 1997 was allocated to (a) Her Majesty's Court Service, (b) predecessor judicial institutions and (c) magistrates courts. [39964]
Ms Harman: I have been asked to reply.
The information can be found in the following table.
1. 2005–06 was the first year of operation of the HMCS inclusive of the magistrates courts. The figure shown here represents the latest delegated budget position.
2. Prior to 2005–06, DCA allocated funds to local authorities to cover only 80 per cent. of the funding of the Magistrates Courts Committees. The balance of funding came from the LA themselves and this figure is not reported above.
3. Unification changes funded in 2005–06 relating to harmonising of the magistrates courts into the central Government accounting framework. The key changes to the magistrates costs included 20 per cent. balance of funding from ODPM (£87 million), capital charges introduced with the new resource accounting methodology applied to the magistrates element (£73 million) and in addition there were also some DCA HQ departments transferred across into HMCS (£24 million).
4. Figures are shown in terms of net costs, i.e. after netting off any income from fees and fines. Capital spend is included within both comparators and depreciation is subtracted from the combined figures, with the exception of the magistrates courts which did not charge depreciation on the assets before 2005–06. Note that estimated depreciation figures have been used.
5. The 2004–05 figures represent latest estimated provisional outturn and are subject to change.
6. Figures for 1996–97,1997–98 and 1998–99 have been drawn from previous years DCA departmental reports, which did not report on a Resourcing Accounting and Budgeting Stage 2 basis. Therefore we have attempted to put these figures.
Earnings
Stewart Hosie:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the (a) average and (b) median (i) hourly and (ii) weekly gross earnings (A) including and (B) excluding overtime were for (1) male, (2) female and (3) all (x) employees, (y) full-time employees and (z) part-time employees aged (aa) 16 to 17 years, (bb) 18 to 21 years, (cc) 22 to 29 years, (dd) 30 to 39 years, (ee) 40 to 49 years and (ff) over 50 years in (I) Scotland and (II) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland in the last period for which figures are available; [46135]
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(2) what the (a) average and (b) median (i) weekly and (ii) hourly gross earnings were (A) including and (B) excluding overtime of (1) male, (2) female and (3) all employees (aa) working in the private sector, (bb) working in the public sector and (cc) not classified in (I) Scotland and (II) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland was in the last period for which figures are available. [46143]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply. His responses will be placed in the Library.
Economic Activity (South-West)
Mr. Wills: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to increase the rate of economic activity in (a) Swindon, (b) Wiltshire and (c) the south-west. [46826]
John Healey: The Government has put in place policies that will raise the trend rate of growth for all English regions and local areas, including Swindon, Wiltshire and the south-west.
GVA statistics show that between 1989, when comparable regional records began to 2004, the south-west region enjoyed the highest average annual GVA growth of all the English regions bar the south-east. It is also experiencing employment levels close to record highs, after increasing by 184,000 since 1997. The employment rate in Swindon of 80.1 per cent. and Wiltshire of 80.5 per cent., are well above the national average of 74.3 per cent.
The Neighbourhood Statistics Service provides a wide range of statistical information at parliamentary constituency level, taken from the 2001 census and other sources. This service is available on the National Statistics website at http://neighbourhood.statistics. gov.uk./
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