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Minimum Wage
Mr. Trickett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is his estimate of the number of people living in (a) Wakefield District and (b) West Yorkshire who will benefit from the introduction of a minimum wage; and what proportion of the employed population in each area this number represents; [74042]
- (2) what is his estimate of the number of people who will benefit from the introduction of a minimum wage, living in the Hemsworth constituency; and what proportion of the employed population this represents. [74038]
Ms Hewitt: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
| Percentage aged 18 to 21 on all rates earning less than £2.90 | Percentage aged 22 and over on adult rates earning less than £3.50 | |
|---|---|---|
| Hemsworth | (15)-- | (15)-- |
| Wakefield Local Authority | (15)-- | 5.5 |
| West Yorkshire | 4.4 | 4.5 |
(15) Denotes that a reliable estimate is not available
Building Industry Sub-contractors (Tax Owed)
Mr. Viggers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to enable sub-contractors in the building industry earning less than £30,000 a year to spread the payments of tax owed in relation to different years after 1 April. [74395]
Dawn Primarolo:
Building workers, as any other taxpayers, are expected to make proper arrangements to ensure their tax payments are made on time. Under
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existing arrangements, any person who has difficulty in making a tax payment can contact the Collector of Taxes to see whether it may be paid in instalments. Those arrangements will continue to apply to sub-contractors following the introduction of the new scheme.
Mr. Loughton:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the amount of money to be invested in ISA schemes by 5 April 2000; [R] [74047]
Ms Hewitt
[holding answer 2 March 1999]: The Government are introducing the ISA to develop and extend the saving habit and ensure that tax relief on savings is fairly distributed. Half the population currently has less than £200 in savings. We are confident that ISAs will be attractive to significant numbers of new savers over the coming years.
Mr. Loughton:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on sales of home insulation materials covered by local authority grant schemes of changes to the VAT rate in the last Budget. [74067]
Ms Hewitt
[holding answer 2 March 1999]: The extension of the reduced rate of VAT to certain grant funded installations of energy saving materials will have allowed more installations to be carried out within existing budgets.
Customs and Excise are currently assessing the effect of the change to the VAT rate, and have already written to a number of local authorities, trade bodies and grant providers seeking their views.
Mr. Loughton:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate how much money is currently invested in PEP schemes. [R] [74045]
Ms Hewitt
[holding answer 2 March 1999]: The latest estimate of the value of PEP funds is published in table 9.2 of "Inland Revenue Statistics 1998", a copy of which is in the Library.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of success in curing (a) lung, (b) breast, (c) testicular, (d) prostate, (e) ovarian, (f) bowel and (g) other cancers has been in the most recent period for which figures are available in (i) England, (ii) Wales, (iii) Scotland, (iv) Northern Ireland and (v) each other EU country. [74054]
Ms Hewitt
[holding answer 2 March 1999]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
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Letter from Tim Holt to Mrs. Claire Curtis-Thomas, dated 3 March 1999:
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the changes in assumptions made in the latest sub-national population projections. [73915]
Ms Hewitt:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
(2) how many non-PEP investors he now expects to open an ISA in the financial year 1999-2000. [R] [74046]
As Director of the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on rates of success in curing cancers.
It is not possible to say whether or not patients are cured--although when the relative survival curve "flattens off" the patients are dying at the same rate as the general population (same age and sex); and for most cancers five-year relative survival rates are often taken to be 'cure' rates.
The rates of survival from cancers diagnosed in England and Wales were most recently published in ONS Monitor MB1 98/1, a copy of which is in the library of the House. The survival rates for Scotland were most recently published in Trends in cancer survival in Scotland 1968-1990, ISD Scotland, 1993, while the rates for European countries (including England and Scotland) were published in the volume, Survival of cancer patients in Europe--the EUROCARE study, IARC Scientific Publications no.132. These publications are also held in the House of Commons library. Survival rates are not available for Northern Ireland.
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