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TREASURY
Pesticide Tax
Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions his Department has had with trade representatives over the proposed pesticide tax. [97256]
Mr. Timms: HM Treasury Ministers and officials have held a number of recent discussions with trade representatives on the possible tax on pesticides. I met representatives of the British Agrochemicals Association on 25 October. These discussions, and the responses to the recent consultation on the design of a tax or charge scheme for pesticides, will be taken into account in the Government's consideration of its options.
Departmental Expenditure Limit
Ms Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes are proposed to the Customs and Excise departmental expenditure limit or running costs limit for 1999-2000. [97918]
Dawn Primarolo: There are currently no plans to change the overall Departmental Expenditure Limit of HM Customs and Excise. However, subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class XVI, Vote 3 (HM Customs and Excise: administration) the Voted element of the Departmental Expenditure Limit will be increased by £14,270,000 from £897,293,000 to £911,563,000. The increase reflects changes arising from a barter deal transaction associated with the award of a PFI contract for the provision of IT services. This increase will be offset by a matching reduction in the non-voted element.
Ms Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes are proposed to the Office for National Statistics departmental expenditure limit/running cost limit for 1999-2000. [97920]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary Estimate for Class XVI, Vote 11 (Office for National Statistics) the DEL will be increased by £1,000,000 from £110,242,000 to £111,242,000 and the running cost limit by £4,437,000 from £102,208,000 to £106,645,000.
The increase is the net effect of (a) the carry forward of £1,000,000 under the end year flexibility scheme as announced in the House of Commons by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 27 July 1999, Official Report, column 393, and (b) the transfer of £3,437,000 from capital to Running costs due to the implementation of ESA 95 and the 2001 Census Open Options Procurement.
The net increase will be charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
5 Nov 1999 : Column: 350
Ms Lawrence:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes are proposed to the Treasury's departmental expenditure limit and running costs limits for 1999-2000. [97921]
Dawn Primarolo:
Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class XVI, Vote 1 (HM Treasury), the Departmental Expenditure Limit for 1999-2000 will be increased by £6,328,000 from £140,875,000 to £147,203,000.
The increase is the net effect of the take up of running costs EYF (£2,000,000) to meet the additional costs of the Treasury's planned programme of work; capital EYF (£2,328,000) mainly due to an increased requirement for the Debt Management Office's cash management project; and from the Capital Modernisation Fund (£2,000,000) for the costs of examining policy options in relation to the Partnerships UK and for work associated with the passage of the Bill which will establish this new body.
The running costs limit for HM Treasury will accordingly be increased by £11,748,000 from £56,965,000 to £68,713,000. The increase is mainly for work leading to the creation of Partnerships UK and the Office of Government Commerce, a direct recruitment campaign, consultancy costs on the project to refurbish the Treasury Building, the costs of the Public Services Productivity Panel, and a small increase for the Debt Management Office.
The increases will be offset by transfers or charged to the Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Mr. Baldry:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the proceeds of the climate change levy will be used to encourage energy-saving measures. [96959]
Mr. Timms:
In the March 1999 Budget it was announced that £50 million of the revenues from the £1.75 billion climate change levy would be used to provide direct additional support for energy efficiency measures and renewables, with the remaining £1.7 billion being recycled to business through a cut in employers' National Insurance Contributions. This additional support for energy efficiency measures represents a step change in the level of support provided by existing schemes.
Mr. Dismore:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will make a decision on the plan to build a new hospital at Edgware. [94424]
Mr. Denham:
Progress is being made by Barnet Healthcare National Health Service Trust on the completion of a full business case for this important development which will be progressed in line with the normal NHS planning process. A decision will follow completion of the business case.
5 Nov 1999 : Column: 351
Mr. Hammond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what actions he has taken to achieve 95 per cent. population coverage for measles, mumps and rubella immunisation. [96257]
Mr. Hutton:
We have set a national target of 95 per cent. coverage for the routine childhood immunisations (including MMR) by age 2. Adverse publicity about the safety of MMR vaccine led to uptake falling from an annual peak of 92 per cent. over the past 3 years. Recent quarterly data from the Public Health Laboratory Service show that this earlier fall appears to have stabilised. For the quarter April to June 1999, 88 per cent. of children at age 2 had received the vaccine (up to 0.4 percentage points on the previous quarter). Most encouragingly, the percentage of children immunised at age 16 months at August 1999 stood at 79.1 per cent., an increase of 3.5 percentage points on April 1999.
Our recommendations on immunisation are based upon the advice of independent experts. All new evidence on the safety of MMR vaccine is carefully considered by independent groups of scientific and medical experts and subjected to the same rigorous scrutiny as was given to the evidence on which the advice to parents on protecting their children through MMR immunisation is based. The views of these independent experts, as well as those of experts from around the world, including the World Health Organisation, remain unequivocal that there is no evidence of any link between MMR vaccine and inflammatory bowel disease or autism.
We aim to make factually accurate scientific information freely and widely available. As new scientific data has become available--for example, the publication in June of a further two new studies supporting the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and showing no evidence of links to autistic spectrum disorders or bowel problems--this has been widely publicised. The Chief Medical Officer regularly provides health professionals with summaries of the relevant pieces of research emphasising the safety of the vaccine. Ministers have addressed the concerns of the constituents of hon. Members both formally in the House, through correspondence and also through a series of meetings.
The information provided to the public seeks to address anxious parents' calls for factually accurate scientific information and to provide support for doctors dealing with them. In considering what public information to provide, the Department has taken account of research conducted through the Health Education Authority (HEA) on parental attitudes to immunisation and the data on uptake of vaccines provided by the PHLS. The Department's activities on the MMR vaccine reflect the views of parents consulted through this research. The Department has worked with the HEA to provide leaflets for parents, factsheets for professionals and posters for surgeries that have been widely distributed.
Locally, immunisation co-ordinators have been supported with information and material for use in health authority-based campaigns to publicise the facts about MMR vaccine.
5 Nov 1999 : Column: 352
The Department will continue to respond promptly to any parental concerns about the vaccine and to make the facts available emphasising that MMR remains the safest way for parents to protect their children against these diseases.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what methods of depreciation his Department will apply in the current financial year to fixed assets in the preparation of departmental resource accounting balance sheets. [97038]
Mr. Denham:
In the Department's resource accounts for the financial year 1999-2000, it is intended that fixed assets will be depreciated using the straight line method i.e. adjustments for changes in price aside, the same amount of depreciation will be charged each year over the life of an asset. This treatment is in line with HM Treasury's Resource Accounting Manual. The requirements in the Manual relating to depreciation methods will be underpinned by Financial Reporting Standard 15, "Tangible Fixed Assets", issued by the Accounting Standards Board.
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