Stamp Duty (Hansard, 24 July 1990)

§ Mr. William Ross

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will publish a table in theOfficial Report to show for each stamp duty office in the United Kingdom the income for stamp duty, the number of transactions, the other functions and the other income, for each of the last three years;

(2) if he will publish a table in the Official Report to show for each stamp duty office in the United Kingdom the sums of stamp duty raised on share transfers in each of the last three years and the number of such transactions in each of those years;

(3) if he will publish his estimate of the sums saved, in cash and percentage terms, in (a) the sums raised and (b) the number of transactions in each stamp duty office in the United Kingdom when those offices move to a system of paperless transactions in 1992;

(4) what is the anticipated cost of retraining staff in the Edinburgh stamp duty centre to comply with Northern Ireland stamp duty legislation;

(5) if he will publish a table in the Official Report to show the functions common to all stamp duty centres in the United Kingdom and indicate any other functions which are carried out in each of the others which are not common, with particular reference to the Belfast office;

(7) if he will publish a table in the Official Report to show the numbers of staff employed in each of the stamp duty centres in the United Kingdom at present and the total salaries of such staff in the current and past two years;

(8) which of the functions of the Belfast stamp office he proposes to transfer to Edinburgh;

(9) if he will publish a table in the Official Report to show how the anticipated saving of £160,000 by the transfer of functions of the Belfast stamp office to Edinburgh arises; whether the calculations take account of (a) extra training, (b) increased postage and (c) the cost of increased liaison between the stamp duty office in Edinburgh and Northern Ireland Government Departments; and if he will show the sums estimated for 128W each of the three above headings and for each Northern Ireland Government Department for the three years after his proposed transfer of functions;

(10) how urgent cases, requiring immediate registration to secure priority under section 4 of the Registration of Deeds Act (Northern Ireland) 1970, will be dealt with after transfer of the functions of the Northern Ireland stamp duty office in Belfast to Edinburgh;

(11) what estimate he has made of the increased costs to (a) the legal profession and (b) the general public if the proposed transfer of functions of the Belfast stamp office goes ahead.