Treasury written question – answered at on 21 November 2013.
Nigel Evans
Conservative, Ribble Valley
To ask the Chancellor of the exchequer
(1) how many estates passed to the Crown under the rules of intestacy in each of the last five years;
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of people who died intestate in (a) Ribble Valley Constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the UK in each of the last five years.
Sajid Javid
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury
The Treasury does not hold records of the number of people who die intestate each year. However, in England and Wales (excluding the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall), the Treasury Solicitor administers the estates of deceased who die intestate and without known entitled relatives (known as bona vacantia) on behalf of the Crown. The number of estates that were administered and the amount collected in each of the last five years is:
| Number of estates | Amount collected (£ million) | |
| 2008-09 | (1)338 | 19.2 |
| 2009-10 | 527 | 24.4 |
| 2010-11 | 887 | 16.9 |
| 2011-12 | 840 | 33.5 |
| 2012-13 | 722 | 18.2 |
| (1 )Information held for December 2008 to March 2009 only. | ||
This information is available in the Bona Vacantia Division of the Treasury Solicitor's Department's annual accounts and is available on the division's website at:
Yes1 person thinks so
No1 person thinks not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.
The chancellor of the exchequer is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising government revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling overall government spending.
The chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget speech.
The chancellor is the most senior figure at the Treasury, even though the prime minister holds an additional title of 'First Lord of the Treasury'. He normally resides at Number 11 Downing Street.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
