My right hon. Friend Baroness Ashton, the Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State has made the following statement in the other place.

"I have made an Order under Section 2 (6) of the Taxes Management Act 1970 amalgamating a number of Divisions in Dorset, Hampshire, London, West Sussex, Gwent and the Tees Valley as follows:

with effect from 1 February 2007,

New Forest East Division and Wessex Division are merged into New Forest East and Wessex Division;

St Paul Covent Garden Division and St Giles in the Fields and St George Bloomsbury Division are merged into Bloomsbury and Covent Garden Division;

North Dorset Division and West Dorset and Weymouth Division are merged into North Dorset, West Dorset and Weymouth Division;

Bedwellty Division, Monmouth Division, Newport Division and Pontypool Division are merged into Gwent Division.

Part of the West Sussex Western Division (that part being the area which formerly constituted the Shoreham Division) is merged into the West Sussex Northern Division

Aldershot Division and Basingstoke Division are merged into Aldershot and Basingstoke Division;

And with effect from 25 April 2007,

Hartlepool with Stockton Division and Teeside South with Langbaurgh Division are merged into Tees Valley Division

"All the amalgamations were made at the request of the General Commissioners in all the Divisions with the aim of improving the organisational efficiency of the Divisions concerned. I have placed copies of the Order amalgamating the Divisions in the Libraries of both Houses".