HC Deb 07 December 1999 vol 340 c522W
Mr. Brady

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the net outflow of revenue from(a) the North West and (b) the North East of England under his revised proposals for a climate change levy. [101703]

Mr. Timms

The climate change levy is designed to be revenue neutral for the private sector as a whole, with all the revenues raised being fully recycled back to business through a cut in employers' National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and additional support for energy efficiency measures. The levy package is also expected to be broadly neutral between manufacturing and services.

It is not possible to say what the exact impact of the levy on specific regions will be. That will depend on a number of factors, including, for example, the future energy consumption of firms in the region, the level of employment in those firms, the number of energy intensive sectors in the region, what use firms in the region make of electricity generated from 'new' renewable sources of energy and in 'good quality' combined heat and power plants, and the extent to which firms in the region take advantage of the proposed introduction of a system of enhanced capital allowances for energy saving investments.