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National Lottery

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of Treasury receipts resulting from national lottery grants to fund capital building projects; and if he will make a statement. [7999]

Mr. Darling: The Treasury has not received any grants from the national lottery and no estimate has been made of tax paid by other recipients of lottery grants. It would be difficult to identify those receipts that arose purely from lottery grants. Receipts of lottery duty from November 1994 to date, however, total £1,446,434,000.

Sickle Cell Anaemia

Mr. McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the number of detected cases of sickle cell anaemia by each London health authority. [9184]

Mrs. Liddell: 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. John McDonnell, dated 23 July 1997:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply, as Director of the Office for National Statistics, to your recent parliamentary question on the number of detected cases of sickle cell anaemia in each London health authority.

I am afraid that no national register of patients having sickle cell anaemia is kept. The information is therefore unavailable centrally.

Debt Payment

Mrs. May: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the policy of his Department on the timely payment of debts; and what is his Department's record on the payment of debts in the current financial year. [9523]

Mrs. Liddell [holding answer 18 July 1997]: All Departments are required to pay all their bills within agreed contract terms, or 30 days from receipt of the goods or service or a valid invoice, whichever is the later, where no such terms exist. Information on payment performance for the current financial year could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Government will publish a league table of departmental payment performance for 1996-97 in the autumn.

Unemployment

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made in reviewing the methods by which the numbers of unemployed in the United Kingdom are quantified. [9772]

Mrs. Liddell: 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. Roy Beggs, dated 23 July 1997.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply, as Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), to your recent question on what progress has been made in reviewing the methods by which the number of unemployed in the United Kingdom are quantified.

23 Jul 1997 : Column: 588

The ONS produces two measures of unemployment. The first is derived from the quarterly Labour Force Survey, and is defined on a consistent and internationally recognised basis set out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It counts as unemployed those people who are a) without a paid job, b) available to start work within the next two weeks and c) have either looked for work in the last four weeks or are waiting to start a job already obtained.

The ONS also publishes the monthly claimant count, which is based on the administrative system and includes all people claiming unemployment-related benefits (i.e. Jobseekers Allowance or National Insurance credits) at Employment Service offices on the day of the monthly count, who on that day had signed on as unemployed and available to do any suitable work. Essentially, all people who attend an Employment Service office to sign on the designated day are counted.

The ONS consultation exercise on the future presentation and dissemination of labour market statistics has been completed. Responses are being collated and analysed, and the ONS hopes to announce its plans by the end of July.

Channel Island Trusts

Mr. Page: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the estimated revenue loss from the use by British companies of Channel Island trusts to hold shares in long-term executive performance plans. [9762]

Dawn Primarolo: There are no special tax allowances or exemptions for executives who receive shares under long-term performance plans, whether or not such shares have been held under trust in the Channel Islands.

Tax Avoidance Schemes

Mr. Prior: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if his plans to legislate against tax avoidance schemes include action against shares held in offshore trusts as part of a managerial incentive or bonus scheme; [10109]

(2) what proposals he is assessing for legislation in respect of the holding of shares under management incentive schemes in an offshore trust in Jersey. [9787]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 21 July 1997]: The Chancellor said in his Budget statement that he had asked the Inland Revenue to review all areas of tax avoidance. Specific measures arising from that review will be announced as necessary.

Computers (Century Date Change)

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the costs to public funds in (a) 1998-99, (b) 1999-2000 and (c) 2000-01 of the measures necessary to resolve the year 2000 problem in Government Departments. [9480]

Mrs. Liddell [holding answer 21 July 1997]: Government Departments are producing, by October 1997, fully costed plans for undertaking the work needed.

All computer systems are due to be modified and tested by 31 January 1998 subject, where appropriate, to a final check of end year financial systems by April 1999.

The cost of the work in 1998-99 will be met from within the published departmental expenditure plans.

Disposable Incomes

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the percentage change

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in the after-tax disposable income of United Kingdom households resulting from the changes announced in his recent Budget, broken down by each income decile; and if he will make a statement. [9484]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 21 July 1997]: The estimates are given in the table. These show changes in disposable income--that is income, including benefits less direct tax. That means that the figures include the effects of the change in mortgage interest relief in the Budget, but not excise duty or other tax changes.

The estimates made do not reflect the effect of new deal expenditure, such as measures helping young people into work, and the increased child benefit disregard for lone parents. This will increase disposable income, especially for households in the lower income deciles.

Household income decile	Percentage change in after-tax disposable income
Bottom	-0.15
2	-0.15
3	-0.15
4	-0.20
5	-0.20
6	-0.25
7	-0.25
8	-0.25
9	-0.20
Top	-0.15
Average	-0.20

Note:

Household incomes are adjusted for differences in composition in households before allocating households to deciles. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.05 per cent.

Gross Domestic Product

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were (a) average GDP per head and (b) 75 per cent. of average GDP per head in (i) the European Union and (ii) the United Kingdom during the last three years; and what was the average GDP per head in each region and nation of the United Kingdom during the last three years using (1) the former standard region boundaries and (2) the new Government office region boundaries. [10133]

Mr. Darling: 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. Jim Cousins, dated 23 July 1997:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply, as Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), to your recent parliamentary question on estimates of GDP per head for the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the regions of the United Kingdom.

23 Jul 1997 : Column: 590

Consistent information on GDP for the countries of the European Union is published by Eurostat in their annual "National Accounts ESA Aggregates". The latest edition gives figures up to 1993 as follows:

Gross domestic product per head of population, at market prices, current pricesPurchasing Power Parities

	United Kingdom		European Union 15
	GDP per head	75 per cent. of GDP per head	GDP per head	75 per cent. of GDP per head
1991	14,739	11,055	15,204	11,403
1992	15,448	11,586	15,753	11,815
1993	15,717	11,788	15,850	11,888

The ONS publishes estimates of regions' GDP in £ millions and £ per head valued at Factor cost and current prices. Latest estimates are for 1995. Estimates for Standard Statistical Regions were published in the January/February 1997 issue of Economic Trends, whilst those for Government Office regions were published in Regional Trends, 1997.

These publications are available in the House of Commons Library.

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