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Private Health Insurance
Mr. Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will update his answer to the hon. Member for York (Mr. Bayley) of 21 October 1994, Official Report, columns 373-74, on the cost and take-up of private health insurance. [19485]
Mr. Jack [holding answer 10 March 1997]: The information is given in the table.
| Year | Approximate number of contracts | Approximate number of individuals covered | Cost of tax relief (£ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990-91 | 350,000 | 500,000 | 40 |
| 1991-92 | 350,000 | 500,000 | 60 |
| 1992-93 | 350,000 | 500,000 | 70 |
| 1993-94 | 375,000 | 550,000 | 80 |
| 1994-95 | 375,000 | 550,000 | 95 |
| 1995-96 | 400,000 | 600,000 | 100 |
| 1996-97(17) | 400,000 | 600,000 | 110 |
(17) Provisional.
Advance Corporation Tax
Mr. Trotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much additional tax would be raised if pension funds were not able to recover advance corporation tax. [19843]
Mr. Jack:
Pension funds are unable to recover ACT. However, if they were not entitled to receive payments of tax credits on dividend payments there would be an Exchequer gain, before allowing for any behavioural effects, of nearly £4 billion.
13 Mar 1997 : Column: 323
Mr. Mackinlay:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if doctors completing death certificates are required to include in the certificate the fact that the deceased was a victim of MRSA, when this contributed to the cause of death. [19854]
Mrs. Angela Knight
[holding answer 11 March 1997]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Andrew Mackinlay, dated 13 March 1997:
Mr. Dalyell:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the impact of the century date change on his Department's information technology systems. [18698]
13 Mar 1997 : Column: 324
Mrs. Angela Knight:
The Treasury has work in progress to identify and test its computer systems to ensure that they will operate correctly at the turn of the century. It has not proved necessary to commission any additional external research.
Mr. Tim Smith:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of gross domestic product (a) was in 1978-79 and (b) he estimates will be in 1997-98 accounted for by income tax. [19891]
Mr. Jack:
The ratio of income tax receipts to GDP was 11 per cent. in 1978-79. The Budget forecast of the corresponding ratio in 1997-98 is 9 per cent. Over this period, the basic rate of income tax will have fallen from 33 per cent. to 23 per cent.--the lowest headline rate for nearly 60 years.
Ms Quin:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what new measures he is proposing to promote investment levels in the economy. [18523]
Mrs. Angela Knight:
Creating a stable economic environment with steady growth, low inflation, and low taxation is overwhelmingly the best way to encourage businesses to expand and invest with confidence.
Sir Wyn Roberts:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the privatisation programme. [18528]
Mr. Jack:
The UK privatisation programme has been a great success. We will continue to look for opportunities to return businesses to the private sector and to promote UK privatisation expertise internationally.
Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the latest figures for the number of applications for invalidity benefit which have (a) been initially refused, (b) gone to appeal and (c) been granted at appeal; and if he will make a statement. [17812]
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply to your recent question asking if doctors completing death certificates are required to include in the certificate the fact that the deceased was a victim of MRSA, when this contributed to the cause of death.
Section 22 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 places duties on medical practitioners as follows:
"in the case of the death of any person who has been attended during his last illness by a registered medical practitioner, that practitioner shall sign a certificate in the prescribed form stating to the best of his knowledge and belief the cause of death and shall forthwith deliver that certificate to the registrar."
This requirement is included in the Instructions to certifiers, which are at the front of every book of medical certificates of cause of death (MCCD). The instructions further ask the certifier to give the sequence of conditions or events which led directly to the death in part I of the certificate, and to list any other conditions which contributed to the death, in part II. Beyond this, it is up to the judgement of the attending physician to decide what should be included. No particular disease or event is specifically named as being required to be included on the death certificate, although there are instructions about which causes and circumstances of death require referral to the coroner. Death certification is covered in undergraduate and postgraduate training for doctors. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has recently produced a video (Death Counts) and documentation to help in this training.
If the certificate is completed correctly, the condition of the last used line of part I is the underlying cause of death, i.e. that condition or event which initiated the train of events leading directly to death. The underlying cause of death is selected and coded according to the rules of the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9), and this is the condition used in routine tabulations and statistics. When the ONS is asked for information on deaths owing to a particular condition, the answer is normally based on the underlying cause, because this is the cause most useful for public health and preventative purposes.
Since 1933, all the conditions mentioned on the approximately 580,000 deaths per year registered in England and Wales have been coded and stored in the mortality databases of ONS, where this additional information can be used for special analyses. Deaths due to methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection are coded to a variety of ICD-9 codes for staph. aureus infection, depending on the body site affected. There is no specific code to denote methicillin resistance of the infecting organism, so this can only be identified by searching the text from the certificate.
| Number of incapacity benefit recipients disallowed benefit | Number of appeals by incapacity benefit recipients received by Independent Tribunal Service | Number of appeals by incapacity benefit recipients cleared at hearing | Number of decisions in favour of appellant | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1995 to January 1997 | 185,400 | 102,600 | 43,400 | 19,700 |
Notes:
1. Incapacity benefit replaced sickness benefit and invalidity benefit from April 1995.
13 Mar 1997 : Column: 325
Mr. Alan Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people are currently claiming (a) incapacity benefit and (b) severe disablement allowance; and how many of these have an increase in benefit in respect of an adult dependant. [18977]
Mr. Burt: The information is in the table.
| Recipients at 31 August 1996 | Recipients of an adult dependency increase at 31 August 1996 | |
|---|---|---|
| Incapacity benefit | 1,780,000 | 332,000 |
| Severe disablement allowance | 355,000 | 4,000 |
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
2. Figures are taken from a 5 per cent. sample of the computer system and exclude a small number of cases not held on the system.
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is the average length of time the Benefits Agency currently takes to assess an application for incapacity benefit; and what benefit an applicant is entitled to while awaiting the outcome. [19634]
Mr. Burt: The administration of social security benefits is a matter for Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Jeremy Corbyn, dated 12 March 1997:
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