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Quality Protects Plans

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the outcome of the evaluation of the Quality

13 Apr 1999 : Column: 114

Protects management action plans submitted to his Department by local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [80518]

Mr. Hutton: All local authorities submitted their Quality Protects Management Action Plans (MAPs) to the Department by the end of January. The Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) have now completed their evaluation of the MAPs and we have considered their findings. I am pleased to announce that all the MAPs have reached an acceptable standard, and I have written today to local authority chief executives to confirm that they will receive payment of their allocation of the children's special grant for 1999-2000, subject to Parliamentary approval. We shall be publishing a national overview report, summarising the key findings from the evaluation of the MAPs and identifying the development needs which will be addressed over the three years of the Quality Protects programme. The team of Quality Protects Regional Development Workers in partnership with SSI will be assisting local authorities in their work to deliver the high quality children's social services which the Government require.

Pharmacy Remuneration

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the date of settlement of pharmacy remuneration negotiations for each year since 1994 and in each case the period covered; and when he plans to settle the next remuneration negotiations. [80101]

Mr. Denham: Pharmacy remuneration negotiations were settled on the following dates for the following financial years:

Financial year	Date
1994-95	4 May 1994
1995-96	28 June 1995
1996-97	21 October 1996
1997-98	7 October 1997
1998-99	30 November 1998

We hope to settle this year's remuneration negotiations as soon as possible.

Military District Hospitals

Mr. Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the answer of 18 March 1999, Official Report, columns 803-04, which health authorities are to be compensated for the loss of free provision of MOD staff, indicating the amounts involved in each case. [80618]

Mr. Denham: The following health authorities are to be compensated for the loss of free provision of MOD staff for 1999/2000:

	£
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly	348,000
South and West Devon	1,235,000
North and Mid Hampshire	309,000
West Surrey	926,000
North West Anglia	666,000

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TREASURY

Excise Duty and VAT (Fuel)

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the rates of (a) excise duty and (b) VAT on petroleum in each member state of the European Union, the United States of America and Canada, taking account of the changes in his Budget. [76568]

Ms Hewitt: The United Kingdom rates shown are those applying since the Budget on 9 March 1999, published in Customs & Excise Budget Notice 6/99.

For other European Union member states the figures relate to January 1999, as shown in the Oil Bulletin published by the European Commission. The rates for the United States of America and Canada are for the fourth quarter of 1998 from Prices and Taxes Table 1, published by the International Energy Agency.

	Leaded Petrol		Unleaded Petrol
	Excise Duty pence per litre	VAT per cent.	Excise Duty pence per litre	VAT per cent.
Austria	NA	NA	29.19	20.0
Belgium	39.83	21.0	35.73	21.0
Denmark	NA	NA	35.68	25.0
Finland	NA	NA	39.43	22.0
France	44.85	20.6	41.52	20.6
Germany	38.90	16.0	35.30	16.0
Greece	25.92	18.0	22.44	18.0
Ireland	32.22	21.0	26.68	21.0
Italy	40.73	20.0	38.16	20.0
Luxembourg	28.13	15.0	24.46	12.0
Netherlands	41.31	17.5	41.33	17.5
Portugal	37.21	17.0	35.12	17.0
Spain	28.51	16.0	26.18	16.0
Sweden	NA	NA	34.30	25.0
United Kingdom	52.88	17.5	47.21	17.5
United States of America	NA	NA	6.12	--
Canada	NA	NA	10.45	--

Notes:

NA: Leaded petrol is not available

The United States of America does not have a tax comparable to VAT. The federal excise and provincial sales taxes in Canada vary for each of the ten provinces, therefore the rate of excise tax in the table is an average of all the rates used. The average sales tax in Canada is 1.4 pence per litre.

The exchange rates used to convert foreign tax rates into sterling for the European Union member states are those published by the European Commission for 11 January 1999. Those for the United States of America and Canada are for January 1999, taken from the Office for National Statistics publication, "Financial Statistics, February 1999 edition", table 7.1A.

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the rates of (a) excise duty and (b) VAT on (i) diesel and (ii) ultra-low sulphur diesel in each member state of the European Union, the United States of America and Canada, taking account of the changes in his Budget. [76572]

Ms Hewitt: The United Kingdom rates shown are those applying since the Budget on 9 March 1999, published in Customs and Excise Budget Notice 6/99.

For other European Union member states the figures relate to January 1999, as shown in the Oil Bulletin published by the European Commission. The rates for the

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United States of America and Canada are for the fourth quarter of 1998 from Prices and Taxes Table 1, published by the International Energy Agency.

	Diesel
	Excise Duty	VAT
	Pence per litre	Percentage
Austria	20.41	20.0
Belgium	20.43	21.0
Denmark	21.67	25.0
Finland	21.46	22.0
France	26.87	20.6
Germany	22.33	16.0
Greece	18.07	18.0
Ireland	23.25	21.0
Italy	28.40	20.0
Luxembourg	17.81	15.0
Netherlands	24.37	17.5
Portugal	20.80	17.0
Spain	19.01	16.0
Sweden	20.51	25.0
United Kingdom	50.21	17.5
United States of America	7.03	--
Canada	7.10	--

Notes:

1. The excise duty rate in the United Kingdom for low sulphur diesel is 47.21 pence per litre and the VAT rate is 17.5%. Rates of excise duty and VAT on low sulphur diesel are not available for the other countries of the European Union, United States of America and Canada.

2. The United States of America does not have a tax comparable to VAT. The average sales tax in Canada is 1.4 pence per litre.

3. The exchange rates used to convert foreign tax into sterling for the European Union member states are those published by the European Commission for 11 January 1999. Those for the United States of America and Canada are for January 1999, taken from the Office for National Statistics publication Financial Statistics, February 1999 edition, table 7.1A.

Civil Servants (Appraisal)

Mr. McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the appraisal performance markings awarded to civil servants in 1998 for (a) each agency in his Department and (b) the Department broken down by (i) grade, (ii) gender, (iii) ethnicity, (iv) part-time/ full-time working and (v) disability; and for (1) each agency and (2) the Department whether the Cabinet Office's four fifths rule for detecting potential adverse impact was applied to the appraisal markings of civil servants in the 1998 report round. [78143]

Ms Hewitt: HM Treasury's appraisal year runs from 1 February to 31 January. The performance markings awarded in 1998 therefore apply to the 1997-98 appraisal year.

(i) Breakdown by grade

Below Senior Civil service (SCS)

	Box A	Box B	Box C	Box D	Box E
A	3	10	31	12	0
B	6	51	76	51	0
C	4	24	68	22	3
D	8	49	107	24	1
E	12	44	75	29	0

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SCS (To preserve anonymity, these markings cannot be provided by grade)

Box 1	Box 2+	Box 2	Box 3+	Box 3	Box 4	Box 5
6	16	30	16	0	0	0

(ii) Gender
Below SCS

	Box A	Box B	Box C	Box D	Box E
Female	12	86	162	56	1
Male	21	92	195	82	3

SCS

	Box 1	Box 2+	Box 2	Box 3+	Box 3	Box 4	Box 5
Female	0	3	6	3	0	0	0
Male	6	13	24	13	0	0	0

(iii) Ethnicity
Below SCS

	Box A	Box B	Box C	Box D	Box E
Ethnic minority	0	20	38	32	0
White	29	143	286	92	4
Unknown	4	15	33	14	0

SCS

The number of ethnic minority staff in the Senior Civil Service is too small to allow an anonymous breakdown of markings.


(iv) Part-time/full-time working

Below SCS

	Box A	Box B	Box C	Box D	Box E
Part-time	1	6	19	8	0
Full-time	32	172	338	130	4

SCS

The number of part-time staff in the Senior Civil Service is too small to allow an anonymous breakdown of markings.


(v) Disability

Below SCS

	Box A	Box B	Box C	Box D	Box E
Disabled	1	4	13	4	0
Not disabled	32	174	344	134	4

SCS

The number of disabled staff in the Senior Civil Service is too small to allow an anonymous breakdown of markings.

The Cabinet Office's four fifths rule was not applied to the 1997-98 appraisal markings. However, the Department's appraisal system will be reviewed in a wider equality audit in the Spring.

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