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Energy Efficiency

Mr. Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his Department's energy efficiency performance target expressed as a percentage change in comparison to 1990-91 for each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement. [118993]

Mr. Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Environment on 22 March 2000, Official Report, columns 548-49W. It was explained then that a new target had been set across the Government estate to apply from 2000-01, of a 1 per cent. per annum reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. My Department will aim to meet this target. It represents a change against the previous cross Government target to 31 March 2000 which was expressed in terms of reductions in energy expenditure. Measurement in greenhouse gas emissions provides a much better fit with the current climate change programme and the UK's Kyoto targets. The base year will be 1999-2000 as it was the final year to which the previous target applied. Figures

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will be released when they are available on performance in 1999-2000 against the target to 31 March 2000 with 1990-91 as the base year.

Mr. Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the percentage change compared to 1990-91 in his Department's energy efficiency in each year since 1990-91; and if he will make a statement.[118992]

Mr. Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Mr. Meale), on 22 July 1999, Official Report, column 582W which reports progress for all central government departments by 31 March 1998. I hope to publish shortly results for the period up to March 1999.

Exports

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 15 March 2000, Official Report, columns 187-88W, what assessment he has made of the recent trends in export volumes; and if he will make a statement. [118849]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 14 April 2000]: I refer the hon. Member to Chapter B (The Economy) of the Financial Statement and Budget Report published on 21 March 2000.

Tobacco Duties

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the hypothecated expenditure in the current financial year for the NHS resulting from the increase in tobacco duties announced in the Budget. [119214]

Mr. Andrew Smith [holding answer 14 April 2000]: The extra £2 billion in 2000-01 allocated for the National Health Service by the Chancellor in the Budget is inclusive of £235 million, which is the anticipated yield for the 5 per cent. real terms increase in tobacco duty in that year.

Anti-depressants

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on death caused by (a) Dothiepin and (b) other anti-depressant drugs. [118889]

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

Letter from John Kidgell to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 17 April 2000:

The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), has been asked to reply to your recent question on the causes of death from Dothiepin and other anti-depressant drugs. I am replying in the Director's absence.
Information on the underlying causes of drug-related deaths where Dothiepin or other antidepressants are mentioned is given in the attached table. The data has been extracted from the ONS drug-related deaths database.

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Number of drug-related deaths with a mention of Dothiepin or other anti-depressants by underlying cause, England and Wales usual residents, 1993-97

Underlying cause of death(23)	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
Dothiepin(24)
Drug dependence/abuse	3	1	4	5	2
Accident	40	38	34	44	37
Suicide and Undetermined	155	207	190	218	261
Drug Psychoses/assault	0	0	0	0	0
Total	198	246	228	267	255
	Other Anti-depressants(25)
Drug Dependence/abuse	3	5	5	5	6
Accident	59	37	47	68	52
Suicide and Undetermined	194	183	206	197	221
Drug Psychoses/assault	0	0	0	0	0
Total	256	225	258	270	279

(23) The underlying cause of death are categorised as follows:

Deaths with the underlying cause codes 304, 305.2-9, using ICD9 where the named substance was mentioned on the death certificate

Deaths with the underlying cause codes E850-E858, using ICD9 where the named substance was mentioned on the death certificate

Deaths with the underlying cause codes E950.0-5, E980.0-5, using ICD9 where the named substance was mentioned on the death certificate

Deaths with the underlying cause codes 292, E962.0, using ICD9 where the named substance was mentioned on the death certificate

(24) These figures for Dothiepin include all deaths where drugs containing Dothiepin Hydrochloride were mentioned (including any mention of the brand name Prothiaden)

(25) Death with a mention of antidepressants but with no mention of drugs containing dothiepin hydrochloride

Office for National Statistics

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out the reasons for the time taken to outsource Office for National Statistics projects as recommended by the Treasury Taskforce; and if he will make a statement on the current policy in respect of outsourcing work at the Office for National Statistics. [118885]

Mr. Timms: In February 1999, the then Economic Secretary announced a programme of efficiencies for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which was expected to release £20 million through a combination of internal efficiency and outsourcing. These savings would be reinvested in the ONS to improve the range and quality of the statistical information it produces.

The programme of internal efficiency has proceeded and is releasing savings. The outsourcing of the facilities management services is also nearing completion, according to the original timetable, and should offer the ONS considerable savings.

However, before any outsourcing of other activities, we have asked the ONS to review their business strategies and to consider to what extent the private sector can contribute to their achievement. Government policy remains to draw on the best of the public and private sector to deliver modern, high quality, public services.

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to improve the efficiency of the Office for National Statistics, with particular reference to the in-sourcing of work that can be undertaken cost-effectively there. [118886]

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Mr. Timms: The Office for National Statistics is currently undertaking an Efficiency Programme which aims, through a combination of internal efficiencies and outsourcing of central services, to release £20 million to improve the quality and range of its statistics.

The internal efficiencies achieved, since the beginning of the Programme in February 1999 are summarised as follows:

	Amount in 2000-01
IS development	205,000
IS consolidation	750,000
Accounts processing	100,000
Merge Marketing/Press	100,000
Merge Personnel/HRD	100,000
Reduce property holdings	300,000
Total	1,555,000

The ONS is also reviewing a range of other areas to achieve more internal efficiency savings. Examples of the activities involved include finance and planning, general administration and document output. In addition, business areas such as Business and Prices and the Registration service are undergoing major efficiency reviews which will consider the most cost effective approach to these areas of work.All of these internal efficiencies, together with the rest of the ONS Efficiency Programme, will help ensure that resources are focused towards the delivery of a high quality statistical service.

Environmental Taxes

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the losses to the National Insurance Fund from the reductions of employers' contributions resulting from the introduction of the landfill tax, the climate change levy and the aggregates levy (a) separately and (b) in total, for each year from their introduction to 2010-11; and what proposals he has to compensate the Fund for that loss. [118934]

Dawn Primarolo: Budget 2000 confirmed that the climate change levy will be introduced from April 2001 and the aggregates levy from April 2002. The revenues from these levies will be recycled to business through cuts in employer NICS of 0.3 and 0.1 percentage points respectively. This is consistent with the Government's approach to shifting the burden of taxation from "goods" such as labour to "bads" such as environmental pollution.

The estimated costs of the reduction in employer NICS for each year until 2010-11 are shown in the table. This represents the costs of a 0.3 percentage point reduction in employer NICS from April 2001 and a 0.4 percentage point reduction from April 2002.

£ billion

Year	Exchequer cost of reduction in employer NICS
2001-02	1.0
2002-03	1.4
2003-04	1.5
2004-05	1.6
2005-06	1.7
2006-07	1.7
2007-08	1.8
2008-09	1.9
2009-10	2.0
2010-11	2.1

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The Treasury Grant provides a mechanism for the balances on the fund to be maintained at the level recommended by the Government Actuary as the appropriate minimum balance.

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