Special Purpose Vehicles (Hansard, 29 November 2001)

§ Mr. Andrew Smith

The Treasury does not monitor special purpose vehicles (SPVs). Where it is directly involved in individual public-private partnerships, the Treasury will take a close interest in the performance of the contractual counterparties, including where these are SPVs. Its role in agreeing broad strategies and approaches to the use of SPVs will not involve it in advising Departments in special cases.

As part of its operational and business guidance for Departments, the Office of Government Commerce published in October guidance on the financial appraisal of suppliers, which includes advice on assessing bidders' financial and economic standing, whether they are SPVs or single companies.

Recipients of (a) tax credits and (b) certain income related benefits in the Arundel and South Downs constituency
	Working families tax credit (WFTC)/family credit (FC)	Disabled persons tax credit/disability working allowance (DWA)	Income support (IS)	Jobseeker's allowance (income based) (JSA)	Total
May 1997	700	10	3,500	600	4,800
May 1998	500	17	3,100	200	3,800
May 1999	600	20	3,000	300	3,900
May 2000	700	20	2,900	200	3,069
May 2001	900	17	3,200	100	3,324

Notes:

1. Apart from DPTC and DWA, the figures are based on a 5 per cent. sample. They are subject to sampling error and therefore shown to the nearest hundred.

2. Recipients of WFTC/FC or DPTC/DWA who also receive IS or JSA are included only in the first two columns. This eliminates double counting in the total.

3. WFTC and DPTC replaced FC and DA from October 1999.

4. DPTC and DWA figures are for April.

Sources:

Income Support Quarterly Statistical Enquiries May 1997–May 2001

Jobseeker's Allowance Quarterly Statistical Enquiries May 1997–May 2001

Working Families' Tax Credit/Family Credit Quarterly Statistical Enquiries May 1997–May 2001

Disabled Person's Tax Credit/Disability Working Allowance Quarterly Statistical Enquiries April 1997–April 2001