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Transport Spending
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if any real terms increases in spending on public transport and the road network that result from real terms increases in revenues from fuel duties will be in addition to the planned increases in real terms spending on transport that were announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review. [107980]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Yes, within the total of managed expenditure determined by the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Comprehensive Spending Review
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if any real terms spending on the NHS that results from real terms increases in revenues from tobacco will be in addition to the planned increases in real terms spending on the NHS that were announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review; [107982]
- (2) if spending on public transport and the road network during the period of the second Comprehensive Spending Review, excluding any increases in spending that result from real terms increases in revenues from fuel duties, will not be cut in real terms. [107981]
Mr. Andrew Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave him on 20 January 2000, Official Report, column 569W.
Climate Change Levy
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what help is being given to those wood fibre particleboard and wood fibreboard producers who will be adversely affected by the climate change levy. [107938]
Mr. Timms: Sites in these sectors which are covered by the Integrated Pollution Prevention Control Directive, as defined by reference to Part A of the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations, will be eligible for an 80 per cent. discount from the levy if they sign up to a negotiated agreement to improve energy efficiency that meets the Government's criteria.
More generally, all firms in these sectors will benefit from the other modifications to the design of the climate change levy announced by the Chancellor in the Pre-Budget Report, including the lower overall rates of the levy; the exemptions for electricity generated from 'new' forms of renewable energy and 'good quality' combined heat and power plants; and the trebling of support for energy efficiency measures under the levy package.
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 685W
Mr. Hood:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the outcome of the ECOFIN Council held in Brussels on 31 January; and if he will make a statement. [108322]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The Chancellor of the Exchequer attended the Economic and Finance Council of Ministers.
The Portuguese Presidency presented their work programme. The main emphasis will be on preparation for the Special European Council at Lisbon, which will set a new agenda for economic policy reform. Other key themes of the Presidency are continuing work on economic policy co-ordination, including the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines, promoting the single market, particularly in financial services, improving financial management, and tackling money laundering.
The Presidency also undertook to continue work on the tax package. The Chancellor emphasised the importance of continuing to take measures that genuinely combat harmful tax competition, through the work of the Code of Conduct Group, as work is taken forward on the conclusions of the Helsinki European Council, which established the very clear principle that all citizens resident in the EU should pay the tax due on all their savings income.
As part of Stage III of EMU, member states are obliged to submit stability (for the Outs) and convergence (for the Ins) programmes annually, as updates to their original programmes submitted in March 1999. The deadline was end December 1999, and the programmes are now being examined by ECOFIN Ministers over three meetings. The programmes for Sweden, Greece, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands were discussed and agreed.
Mr. Hilary Benn:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the percentage of adults who have bank accounts. [108213]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
Various surveys indicate that the percentage of adults who have either a current account or a savings account is in the range 91 to 94 per cent.
Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what studies his Department has carried out to quantify (a) the trade and competition effects of the United Kingdom entering the euro and (b) the impact of the euro on trade and competition in the Euro Zone. [108374]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The Government have set out five economic tests which define whether an economic case can be made for membership of EMU. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has said we will make another assessment of the five economic tests early in the next Parliament.
Mr. Field:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of working age people were in employment in the spring quarter of (a) 1998 and (b) 1999. [108355]
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 686W
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. Frank Field, dated 3 February 2000:
Mr. Field:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what proportion of working-age people lived in a household where no adult worked in (a) 1998 and (b) 1999; [108354]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The information 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. Frank Field, dated 3 February 2000:
3 Feb 2000 : Column: 687W
Mr. Field:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the healthy life expectancy of people aged 65 years. [108356]
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.
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on proportions of working age people in employment.
Estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the main source of labour market data on individuals, give the proportion of working age people in employment for spring 1998 as 73.4 per cent, and for spring 1999 as 73.9 per cent. These estimates are seasonally adjusted and are taken from Table 2a of the ONS Labour Force Survey Quarterly Supplement Vol. 6, which is held in the House of Commons Library.
Employment rates express the total of working age in employment as a percentage of all of working age. Working age is defined as men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59.
People aged 16 or over are classed as in employment by the LFS if they have done at least one hour of paid work (as an employee or self-employed) in the week prior to their LFS interview or if they have a job that they are temporarily away from. People who do unpaid work in a family business and people on Government-supported training and employment programmes are also included according to the International Labour Organisation convention.
(2) what proportion of children aged under 16 years lived in workless households in 1998 and 1999. [108351]
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary questions on working age people in workless households and children aged under 16 in workless households.
In August 1998 the ONS introduced Labour Force Survey (LFS) databases especially designed for analyses of labour market data on households. Workless households in the LFS are defined as households with no-one in employment. People aged 16 or over are classed as in employment by the LFS if they have done at least one hour of paid work (as an employee or self-employed) in the week prior to their LFS interview or if they have a job that they are temporarily away from. People who do unpaid work in a family business and people on Government-supported training and employment programmes are also included according to the International Labour Organisation convention.
The estimates below have been restricted to working-age households, which are defined as households including at least one person of working age, i.e. a man aged 16 to 64 and a woman aged 16 to 59.
For spring 1998, the estimate of the proportion of working-age people living in workless households was 13.0 per cent. For spring 1999 it was 12.6 per cent. For spring 1998, the estimate of the proportion of children aged under 16 living in workless households was 18.2 per cent. In spring 1999 it was 17.6 per cent. Both sets of figures were published in an article in the January 2000 issue of Labour Market Trends (pp 25 - 34) which is held in the House of Commons Library.
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