Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total saving to his three departments has been in each of the years to April (a) 2002, (b) 2003 and (c) 2004 arising from the STEPS agreement.
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the revenue change to the Treasury arising from the implementation of the EU Savings Directive.
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much in total has been paid to external commercial, legal and financial advisers in respect of the STEPS agreement.
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid by the Department to Mapeley STEPS Contractor Limited in each year to April (a) 2002, (b) 2003 and (c) 2004.
Mr Denzil Davies: Given that the activities of the claim handlers seem to generate claims and therefore more work for solicitors, would it not be fairer if their fees were paid out of the solicitors' pockets, and not by the unfortunate claimants?
Mr Denzil Davies: Unlike the right hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr. Lilley), I welcome the Budget. I congratulate the Chancellor on his eighth Budget and, more importantly, on a remarkable seven to eight years of stability in the British economy, with good rates of growth and low inflation and unemployment. Before I turn to the Budget itself, I should like to refer to the Chancellor's announcement...
Mr Denzil Davies: My hon. Friend is right—we did not call it site value taxation but development land tax. If my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and, indeed, the hon. Member for Twickenham wish to have the benefit of my experience, I am prepared to pass it on—obviously, in private. To return to the Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced that next year the growth rate...
Mr Denzil Davies: It is not a question of wrong or right. It is a statement of fairly clear fact that if prices go down—including the price of domestic goods, because if domestic manufacturers have to compete with lower-priced imported goods, they have to try to reduce their prices—that must reduce the yield from VAT, unless the volume is sufficient to carry that reduction and VAT stays at 17.5 per cent....
Mr Denzil Davies: That is absolutely right, and the movement is much more rapid. To digress, I am reminded of something that I read some time ago about Karl Marx. Apparently, his mother, who was not a disciple of his theories, wrote to him and said, "Karl, you have talked a lot about capital. Why don't you now try to make some?" I apologise for that digression. My hon. Friend may be right, but there is now a...
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who the Chairperson and members of the Executive Board of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia are.
Mr Denzil Davies: Given the reasonable assumption that the defence of necessity must have been based upon a belief by the defence that the war was illegal, and since my right hon. and learned Friend has said that the Government would not be able to rebut that defence, does it not follow that the Government are not able to disprove the assertion that the war was illegal?
Mr Denzil Davies: My right hon. Friend may not have heard this yet, but in the past 24 hours a car component factory in my constituency, which is traditionally known as Camford Pressings, has announced about 90 redundancies. Many of those jobs will, in the vogue jargon, be "outsourced" to what have been described as low-cost economies in eastern Europe. Should the request be made, will he meet a small...
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total amount raised from VAT charged on goods imported into the United Kingdom was in each of the last three available financial years.
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total value was of the taxable income from employment in each of the last three financial years for which figures are available.
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many persons applied for the recently advertised post of non-executive director to serve on the Management Board and Audit Committee of the Planning Inspectorate.
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish guidelines setting out the circumstances in which general practitioners can record MRSA as a secondary cause of death.
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to his Answer of 8 December, Official Report, columns 350–51W, on the Electoral Commission, how potential applicants for the position of Chair and/or member of the Electoral Commission were informed that an open competition would be held; and how many applicants indicated that they wished to be considered for...
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs pursuant to his Answer of 8 December 2003, Official Report, columns 350–51W, on the Electoral Commission, if he will list the members of the selection panel which decided who should become Chair of the Electoral Commission.
Mr Denzil Davies: To ask the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many persons were interviewed for the position of Chair of the Electoral Commission when it was first established.
Mr Denzil Davies: The Government rightly deserve credit—perhaps they have not been given much in the debate—for the prudent, if I may use that word, way in which they have managed the British economy over the past six and a half years. They have been able to maintain a reasonable growth rate of about 2 to 2.5 per cent. combined with low inflation and low unemployment. That compares very well with most, if...
