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EU Tax Harmonisation

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 2 December 1999, Official Report, column 318W, if he will list those elements of tax harmonisation which have been identified by member states. [105613]

Dawn Primarolo: My answer of 2 December 1999, Official Report, column 318W, concerned Council discussions on tackling harmful tax competition.

Charitable Giving

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the extent of charitable giving is calculated; how much charitable giving there was in (a) 1998, (b) 1978 and (c) 1988; and how the age, gender, race and occupational profile of charitable giving has changed over this period. [105476]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Information on the full extent of charitable giving is not available from administrative sources. The Charities Aid Foundation estimates overall income donated by individuals to be around £5 billion to £6 billion per year. Research on donations to charities by individuals or households has been carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies

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(using the Family Expenditure Survey), and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, from which further details are available.

Economic and Monetary Union

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the level of preparedness for the introduction of the Euro among (a) small and medium-sized enterprises and (b) other enterprises on (i) 30 June 1999 and (ii) 31 December 1999. [105814]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Treasury has commissioned a number of surveys of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to measure the level of euro preparations across the UK. The most recent survey, carried out in April 1999, shows 27 per cent. of SMEs with European Union trading links had prepared for the euro.

The Treasury does not carry out euro preparations surveys of larger companies. The surveys focus on SMEs because they are the prime target of the Treasury's euro preparations information campaign to help businesses prepare for the euro.

Taxpayers (Shropshire)

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many taxpayers there are in (a) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (b) Shropshire. [105524]

Dawn Primarolo: The latest estimates for the number of income tax payers in Shrewsbury and Atcham and in Shropshire are 47,000 and 204,000 respectively. The estimate for Shrewsbury and Atcham is uncertain because of the small survey sample size.

These estimates are for 1996-97 and are based on the Inland Revenue Survey of Personal Incomes.

Government Debt

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) nominal and (b) market value of central Government gross debt was on the latest date for which information is available. [105838]

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Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Matthew Taylor, dated 19 January 2000:

As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on central government gross debt.

Monthly data for the nominal value of central government gross debt are published in Table 18 of the Bank of England publication Monetary and Financial Statistics (the December 1999 edition providing data up to end-November 1999). At end-November 1999, it was £388.7 billion.

The market value of central government gross debt can be estimated from Quarterly balance sheet data published as part of the National Accounts dataset (in Financial Statistics and United Kingdom Economic Accounts). Market value of central government gross debt at end-1999 Q3 was £427.1 billion (nominal value at that date was £395 billion).

Winter Deaths

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 20 December 1999, Official Report, column 436W, on winter deaths, if he will assess the contribution of influenza and related conditions to the statistics for excess winter deaths. [105432]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 19 January 2000:

As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question, pursuant to my answer of 20th December, Official Report, column 436W, on winter deaths, to assess the contribution of influenza and related conditions to the statistics for excess winter deaths.

A breakdown of deaths by influenza, and other selected causes, is given in the attached table for the last five winters for which final figures are available. Influenza activity is known to lead to an increase in respiratory deaths generally, and not just influenza deaths.

The figures presented are for all deaths occurring in England and Wales. These include deaths of non-residents, which were not included in the regional figures provided in the previous response.

Excess winter deaths are defined by ONS as the difference between the number of deaths during the four winter months (December to March) and the average number of deaths during the preceding autumn (August to November) and the following summer (April to July).

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Excess winter deaths by underlying cause of death, England and Wales, winter 1993-94 to winter 1997-98

	1997-98	1996-97	1995-96	1994-95	1993-94
	Number of deaths
All causes	22,900	47,680	40,190	27,290	25,900
Influenza	30	370	250	50	110
Pneumonia	5,800	15,290	11,080	6,260	6,550
Acute respiratory infections	80	180	150	100	110
Other respiratory diseases	3,850	7,640	6,320	3,950	3,830
Other causes	13,150	24,200	22,400	16,930	15,300
	Percentage of total deaths
All causes	100	100	100	100	100
Influenza	0	1	1	0	0
Pneumonia	25	32	28	23	25
Acute respiratory infections	0	0	0	0	0
Other respiratory diseases	17	16	16	14	15
Other causes	57	51	56	62	59

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Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 20 December 1999, Official Report, column 436W, on excess winter deaths, if he will provide a breakdown by age for each year of data. [105431]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 19 January 2000:

As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question, pursuant to my answer of 20 December 1999, Official Report, column 436W, on excess winter deaths, to provide a breakdown by age for each year of data.

The information requested is provided in the attached table for all deaths occurring in England and Wales. These figures include deaths of non-residents, which were not included in the regional figures provided in the previous response.

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Excess winter deaths are defined by ONS as the difference between the number of deaths during the four winter months (December to March) and the average number of deaths during the preceding autumn (August to November) and the following summer (April to July).

Excess winter mortality, winter 1988-89 to winter 1997-98, England and Wales

Year	0-64	65-74	75-84	85+	All ages
1988-89	1,720	4,260	8,090	7,100	21,160
1989-90	3,930	8,580	18,510	16,180	47,200
1990-91	2,960	7,070	14,660	13,250	37,940
1991-92	2,740	6,360	13,500	12,250	34,850
1992-93	2,120	4,720	9,330	9,490	25,650
1993-94	2,120	4,160	9,290	10,330	25,900
1994-95	2,200	5,490	9,700	9,910	27,290
1995-96	2,900	7,070	14,370	15,850	40,190
1996-97	3,040	6,970	17,540	20,140	47,680
1997-98	1,700	4,200	7,870	9,130	22,900

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