HC Deb 08 February 1999 vol 325 cc28-9W
Mr. Baker

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the(a) Ministers and (b) officials, indicating the departments represented, who were present at the ECOFIN meeting on 26 January. [69249]

Mrs. Roche

[holding answer 4 February 1999]: There was no meeting of the Economic and Finance Council (ECOFIN) on 26 January. The Chancellor of the Exchequer attended a meeting of ECOFIN on 18 January, accompanied by a number of officials.

Mr. Baker

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the EU countries which, at the ECOFIN meeting in Brussels on 26 January, declared(a) in favour and (b) against ecological tax reform; and if he will make a statement on the Government's policy. [69306]

Mrs. Roche

[holding answer 4 February 1999]: The ECOFIN Council agreed at the meeting held on 1 December 1998 to mandate officials to continue work on a framework of energy taxation based on the draft Energy Products Directive. The meeting held on 26 January was a technical working group discussion on the draft Directive. Member States were not asked to say whether they were in favour or against ecological tax reform. The working group is expected to report back to ECOFIN in due course.

The Government's position on the Energy Products Directive is that we favour some aspects of the proposal, such as higher minimum rates of tax on road fuels.

However, we could not accept, for social policy reasons, any obligation to impose new taxes on domestic fuel and power. Our attitude to new taxes on business use of energy will depend on the decisions we take in the light of Lord Marshall's report on 'Economic Instruments and the Business Use of Energy' which was published on 3 November 1998.