§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the anticipated loss of revenue if exemption from VAT were raised from £5,000 to £8,000 and £9,000, respectively.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 6th February. If the exemption level were raised to £8,000 turnover a year the loss of revenue would probably be about £25 million a year.
§ Dr. Brayasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the annual cost of the collection of VAT at two rates rather than one.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonI regret the information is not available from which to make an estimate.
§ Mr. Newtonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the turnover exemption limits for the value added tax in the countries of the European Economic Community.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe information is as follows:
a prize or (b) alleging numerical or regional imbalances in prize draw results; and what is the general tenor of the replies sent to such letters.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesThe Bonds and Stock Office receives approximately 12,000 letters a year querying the prize draw. About 850 of these refer to the fairness of Ernie or of the prize draw processes. No detailed records are kept 257W of the nature of these queries. The general tenor of replies indicate that prize winning numbers are selected entirely at random and every eligible £1 bond unit in each draw stands exactly the same chance of winning a prize in that draw as every other bond unit participating, irrespective of where or when the bond was purchased; that the results generated by the prize draw are subject to independent checks by the Government Actuary for randomness. A copy of an explantory pamphlet entitled "Ernie" is generally enclosed with the reply.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total number of outstanding unclaimed premium bond prizes at the present time; and what is their total value.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesAs at 8th April there were 11,305 unclaimed prizes the total value being £356,400.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will list the printed information which is given to the purchasers of premium bonds regarding frequency of draws, the actual mechanics of the operation of Ernie and related matters; and when these publications were (a) written and (b) last revised.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesA prospectus showing, amongst other detail, the frequency of prize draws is attached to every purchase application form and is retained by the bondholder. A pamphlet entitled "Ernie" which gives details of how the prizewinning numbers are generated at random, and of the checks for randomness, is available to the public at most post offices or on application to the Bonds and Stock Office or National Savings Committee local office. The prospectus was last revised on 1st July 1974 when the interest rate forming the prize fund and the prize structure were last changed. The current "Ernie" pamphlet was rewritten in September 1974. There are several leaflets which give details of national savings securities, including premium savings bonds, available at post offices or from the various offices of the Department for National Savings. These are all revised regularly.
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§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total number of currently outstanding valid premium bonds which were purchased in the first month of issue in November 1956.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesI regret the information cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs as it would require the examination of several million documents.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total number of outstanding valid premium bonds at the present time.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesThe total number of eligible premium savings bond £1 units that participated in the May 1976 prize draw was 1,099,721,645.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the statistical probability of a premium bond included in the June 1957 draw, and every draw since then, winning any value of prize throughout that period; and what is the total number of prizes drawn by Ernie since June 1957.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesEach £1 bond unit participating in a weekly or monthly prize draw has exactly the same chance of winning a prize in that draw. The odds against any bond unit winning a prize were 2,095 to one in the first draw in June 1957 and thereafter have varied between 7,595 to one and 11,795 to one for the monthly draw, depending on the prize structure in force at the time. The current odds are approximately 10,500 to one. A £1 bond unit that participated in all the prize draws since June 1957 would have been included in each of 228 monthly draws and 400 weekly draws at the varying odds appropriate to each draw. Ernie has drawn 12,917,540 prizes value £515,102,400 up to and including the April 1976 draw.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will outline the administrative reasons which prevented him from answering fully four Written Questions from the hon. Member for Melton on 26th April regarding premium bonds; and why it would be disproportionately expensive for the Bonds 259W and Stock Office to provide him with this information.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesThe Bonds and Stock Office does not need to accumulate information about individual prizewinning bonds and such information could only be obtained by a physical examination of the numerical file of bonds. This file contains some 200 million documents of which 3–2 million represent bonds bought in November 1956. Bonds purchased in amounts of £10 and under are issued through 40,000 selling agents and those purchased in any one month would not, therefore, appear consecutively in the file. To get information from them would entail the examination of a large proportion of the 200 million items and would cost an estimated £10,000.