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Government-authorised Expenditure

Mr. Kenneth Clarke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes have been made since May 1997 to the classification of items of Government-authorised expenditure for the purposes of producing (a) the control total, (b) the public sector borrowing requirement and (c) the reserve. [26520]

Mr. Darling: Recent classification changes affecting the published aggregate Control Total are described in paragraph 4B.14 of the "Financial Statement and Budget Report", July 1997 (HC85) and paragraph S2.23 of "The Economy and the Public Finances: Supplementary Material", November 1997 (HM Treasury). No change has been made to the definition of the Control Total since then. None of these classification changes affects the PSBR. Expenditure provision in the Reserve is made on the same definitional basis as the rest of the Control Total.

Tax Law

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the progress of the tax law rewrite project. [26175]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 29 January 1998]: The tax law rewrite project continues to make good progress. The project aims to rewrite the UK's direct tax legislation so that it is clearer and easier to use. It commands widespread support from tax professionals and is overseen by a small high-level Steering Committee, chaired by the right hon. Lord Howe of Aberavon CH, QC. In addition a Consultative Committee of representative bodies and other interested parties meets every month to consider issues in more detail.

There will be full consultation throughout the life of the project. The first example of rewritten legislation (on trading income of individuals) was published for consultation last July. It was very well received. A response document will be sent later this week to all who offered comments. A Discussion Document to confirm that our rewrite techniques work on complex provisions, was published in November. A second Discussion Document, examining possible purposive approaches to drafting will be published next month.

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This is a highly innovative project, which involves Revenue officials working closely with drafters from the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and tax professionals recruited from the private sector. It continues to command the Government's support.

Housing

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what economic instruments are available to him to promote housing development on brownfield sites in preference to greenfield ones. [26178]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 29 January 1998]: There are a number of possible economic instruments that could be used to help promote housing developments on brownfield sites in preference to greenfield sites. These are being considered in the Comprehensive Spending Review, alongside other economic instruments that offer potential scope for improving the efficiency of the land-use planning system. My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister will shortly be making a statement on the Government's policy on the issues raised in the consultation paper. "Household Growth: Where Shall We Live".

Drug Deaths

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total number of deaths of children aged 13 to 16 years resulting from ingesting (a) heroin, (b) alcohol, (c) ecstasy, (d) speed, (e) glue, (f) Temazepam, (g) cannabis and (h) LSD in each of the last five years. [26470]

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. Paul Flynn, dated 2 February 1998:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me, as Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), to answer your recent question asking for the total number of deaths to children aged 13 to 16 years in each of the last five years resulting from ingesting ¹ (a) heroin, (b) alcohol, (c) ecstasy, (d) speed, (e) glue, (f) temazepam, (g) cannabis and (h) LSD.

Data for 1992 may be obtained from Table 10 of "Mortality Statistics: Injury and Poisoning 1992", Series DH4 no. 18, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library. This table lists all substances mentioned in the records of deaths assigned to accidental and other poisoning by solid or liquid substances.

The table shows deaths to people aged under 20, data for children aged 13-16 are only available at disproportionate cost.

The following table shows the remaining data for 1992 and also data for 1993-1996.

Deaths in England and Wales to children aged 13-16 years, 1992-96

	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
(a) Heroin	--	0	1	2	2
Alone	--	--	0	0	2
With other drugs(4)	--	--	1	2	0
(b) Alcohol(6)	0	2	0	1	3
(c) Ecstasy	--	0	0	0	3
Alone	--	--	--	--	2
With other drugs(4)	--	--	--	--	1
(d) 'Speed' (Amphetamines)	--	0	2	3	0
Alone	--	--	1	0	--
With other drugs(4)	--	--	1	3	--
(e) Glue(5)	22	17	13	15	n/a
(f) Temazepam	--	0	2(1)	2	0
Alone	--	--	0	0	--
With other drugs(4)	--	--	2(1)	2	--
(g) Cannabis	--	1	0	2	0
Alone	--	0	--	0	--
With other drugs(4)	--	1	--	2	--
(h) LSD	--	0	0	0	0
Alone	--	--	--	--	--
With other drugs(4)	--	--	--	--	--

The figures in brackets are those deaths with a mention of alcohol and are included in the non-bracketed figures.

Deaths from alcohol for 1992 are those that were registered in the year, deaths for the years 1993-96 are those that occurred.

(3) The route of administration (i.e., whether swallowed, injected, inhaled, etc.) of a toxic substance is not usually specified on the death certificate. The data above represent all mentions of drugs, however administered, where the death was certified as due to poisoning, drug dependence or non-dependent abuse of drugs.

(4) If, for example, both heroin and cannabis are mentioned on a death certificate, the death will occur twice in the table, once under 'Heroin with other drugs' and once under 'Cannabis with other drugs'.

(5) Data supplied by St. George's Hospital Medical School and are those deaths involving all volatile substances, including glue.

(6) Deaths certified as due to alcoholic psychoses, alcohol dependence syndrome, non-dependent abuse of alcohol, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, and toxic effects of alcohol.

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Pre-payment Meters

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the percentage of pensioners who pay their fuel costs with pre-payment meters. [26172]

Mrs. Liddell [holding answer 29 January 1998]: 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. David Rendel, 2 February 1998:

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply to your recent question on the percentage of pensioners who pay their fuel costs with pre-payment meters.

An estimate from the 1996-97 Family Expenditure Survey is that seven per cent of households headed by a pensioner (including cases where the sole person in the household is a pensioner) made payments for gas and/or electricity using slot meters, cards, discs or tokens.

Correspondence

Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how long on average it takes his Department to answer letters from hon. Members; what target date his Department sets; what percentage receive replies within the target date; and what assessment he has made of how long it takes to deliver a letter after it has been typed. [27028]

2 Feb 1998 : Column: 464

Mr. Gordon Brown: The Department has an 18 working day deadline for answering correspondence. The percentage receiving replies within the target date is reported annually to Cabinet Office. Figures for average time taken to answer letters are not recorded. No assessment has been made of how long it takes to deliver a letter after it has been typed.

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