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Financial Services Authority
Mr. Efford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taken to ensure that the Financial Services Authority's single ombudsman service is sufficiently funded to protect the interests of consumers; and if he will make a statement. [106514]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The Financial Services and Markets Bill, in paragraph 2 of Schedule 14, requires the Financial Services Authority to take such steps as are
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necessary to ensure that the operator of the Ombudsman scheme is capable of exercising the functions conferred by the Bill. The Bill also provides that funding should be provided by the industry. The FSA are in the process of consulting on the detailed arrangements of the Ombudsman Scheme.
Mr. Efford:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received regarding the eligibility of companies to complain to the Financial Services Authority's single ombudsman service; and if he will make a statement. [106513]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
While the Financial Services and Markets Bill sets the general framework for the ombudsman scheme, the detailed operation of the scheme will be determined in rules made by the Financial Services Authority. It will be open, as specified in Clause 201(7) of the Bill, to the Authority to define certain categories of firms as eligible complainants. The FSA is currently consulting on this matter and has proposed that firms should be eligible to use the scheme if they have a turnover of up to £1 million and no more than four staff.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the number and percentage of higher rate taxpayers in (a) each county in England and (b) each local authority area in (i) Scotland, (ii) Wales and (iii) Northern Ireland. [106745]
Dawn Primarolo:
I regret that reliable estimates for the number of higher rate taxpayers are not available for each county in England, but they are available at Government Office Region level which are shown in the table:
| Number of higher rate income taxpayers | Total number of income taxpayers | |
|---|---|---|
| North East | 60 | 1,000 |
| North West and Merseyside | 200 | 2,900 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 140 | 2,200 |
| East Midlands | 140 | 1,900 |
| West Midlands | 145 | 2,200 |
| East of England | 300 | 2,600 |
| London | 420 | 3,100 |
| South East | 515 | 3,900 |
| South West | 175 | 2,300 |
| Wales | 65 | 1,200 |
| Scotland | 170 | 2,400 |
| Northern Ireland | 35 | 600 |
| Address abroad | 15 | 100 |
| All | 2,400 | 26,600 |
These estimates are based on the 1997-98 Survey of Personal incomes and consistent with the November 1999 pre-Budget Report forecast.
Departmental Smoking Policy
Mr. Crausby:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he is taking to reduce smoking in his Department. [105802]
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Miss Melanie Johnson:
HM Treasury has an established policy on smoking intended to strike a balance between the interests of smokers and of non-smokers. Smoking is largely restricted to dedicated ventilated smoking rooms and is not permitted in common areas, with the exception of an area of the staff restaurant.
Mr. Dobbin:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans his Department has to encourage the growth of credit unions; and if he will make a statement. [105199]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
I announced on 16 November 1999, a range of measures--increased flexibility, better regulation, and the establishment of a central services organisation--to encourage the growth of credit unions.
Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the revenue lost to the Exchequer in each of the last three years. [105550]
Dawn Primarolo:
Much of the revenue lost relates to the impact of the hidden economy. Estimates of revenue lost to the Exchequer due to the hidden economy are notoriously difficult to make. Although there have been attempts to do so, there is no reliable estimate available.
Mr. Maude:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what advice the Financial Secretary received from the Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury regarding his shares declared in the Register of Members' Interests. [105433]
Mr. Gordon Brown:
By long-standing convention, any advice which Ministers seek from civil servants is confidential and is not made public, as provided for under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures his Department has developed of efficiency improvements in delivering the Treasury's outputs over the three year Comprehensive Spending Review period. [105815]
Mr. Andrew Smith:
The Treasury monitors those outputs which can be measured, such as replies to Parliamentary questions, letters or other communications with the public, payment performance, and so on.
However the Treasury's primary output is policy advice. Such outputs are difficult to measure. Here, the Treasury has adopted a benchmarking approach, applying the European Foundation for Quality Management's business excellence model.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which projects relating to his Department that appeared in the Private Finance Panel's list of 29 November 1995 (a) have been completed, (b) are still pending, (c) have been dropped and (d) are being pursued by means other than a public private partnership. [105876]
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Mr. Andrew Smith:
The Treasury is responsible for the activities of the now-disbanded Private Finance Panel, so I will answer the right hon. Member's series of questions on this issue for the Government as a whole.
The information currently available is given in a table, a copy of which I am placing in the Library of the House.
Following disbandment of the Private Finance Panel and Executive, the Treasury Taskforce adopted a database designed only to cover those projects with a realistic change of being achieved through PFI.
The coverage of this database is therefore not identical to that of the 29 November 1995 table. In particular, the database cannot identify the anonymised projects referred to in that table, and the information sought could be obtained (if at all) only at disproportionate cost. In the case of DETR this is true of all projects.
What the present table clearly shows is the great progress made by this Government since 1 May 1997 in reinvigorating PFI. Of the 250+ signed PFI deals since 1986, only 70 were achieved in the seven years prior to the election. In the first two and a half years of this administration, we have broken the logjam and are delivering much needed, high quality, value for money public services.
Mr. Keetch:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reason the national insurance records of the hon. Member for Hereford's constituents Mr. John Farren and Mrs. Ann Farren are not up to date; and if he will make a statement. [106167]
Dawn Primarolo:
It would be inappropriate to make publicly available personal information about the hon. Member's constituents, as provided for under Exclusion 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. I am, however, writing to the hon. Member about this matter.
Mr. Key:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list by English county since 1995 (a) total suicides and (b) suicides among the agricultural workforce. [106181]
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.
(35) International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes E950-E959 and E980-E989 excluding E988.8.
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(36) International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes E950-E959 and E980-E989 excluding E988.9.
(37) Deaths of those aged 16 to 74 whose last gainful occupation was in occupation units 160, 900, 901, 902, as defined in OPCS, Standard Occupational Classification, 1991, London HMSO.
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