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Service Company Workers
Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the tax position of service company workers overseas. [122226]
Dawn Primarolo: Many other countries have rules that are similar to IR35 which discourage the use of service companies to disguise employment. Others are developing such rules at the present time.
In some countries, a worker will be worse off than if they had stayed in the UK and fallen within IR35. These include Norway, Belgium and Germany.
In the US, a service company worker may achieve a marginally higher level of take home pay, but this will be eroded by the additional expense of items such as health care insurance.
In the Netherlands, a service company worker will be substantially worse off than in the UK. The Netherlands do have a generous tax regime for IT workers, but this regime applies only to those who work properly as employees and not to those who work through service companies.
EU Budget
Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the average daily cost of the United Kingdom's net contribution to the European Union budget over the last three years. [121451]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The United Kingdom's net contribution in each of the year's 1996-97 to 1998-99, the latest three years for which outturn data are available, can be found at Table 13a, page 120, of the Departmental Report of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Departments (Cm 4615) published on 7 April 2000.
Demutualisation
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when and in what form the report of the Government Actuary and the Financial Services Authority into the demutualisation of Standard Life will be published; [121046]
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- (2) if he will make a statement on the Government Actuary's duty to safeguard reasonable expectations of existing policyholders in the case of demutualisation of life insurers; [121048]
Miss Melanie Johnson: There is no specific procedure for demutualisation laid down in insurance legislation. In practice, a mutual life insurer proposing to demutualise normally transfers its insurance business to a proprietary company. Such a transfer of business requires court approval under the procedure in Schedule 2C to the Insurance Companies Act 1982. An independent actuary's report on the terms of the scheme is considered by the court. Anyone, including policyholders, with an interest can be heard by the court, as the regulator. If demutualisation is achieved, there is no statutory role for the Government Actuary in the process, but the regulator decides whether to make representations to the court or take any other action after appropriate actuarial advice. One important factor which is addressed is the safeguarding of policyholders' reasonable expectations.
There is no formal proposal before the court to demutualise Standard Life.
Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Mr. Prosser: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to respond to the submission made by the Ministry of Defence on behalf of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in respect of the current annual pay review for its seagoing officers and ratings. [121363]
Mr. Andrew Smith: I have just done so.
Mr. Prosser: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will ensure that future submissions made by the Ministry of Defence on behalf of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in respect of annual pay reviews will be responded to in time for the annual pay negotiations to be concluded by the agreed anniversary date. [121364]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Our aim is to respond within three weeks of receipt, unless additional information is required.
Household Statistics
Mr. Leigh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of families with dependent children are headed by (a) married couples, (b) cohabiting couples and (c) a lone parent by each type; [121365]
- (2) what percentage of dependent children live in families which are headed by (a) a married couple, (b) a cohabiting couple, (c) a parent who has never married, (d) a widowed parent, (e) a divorced parent and (f) a separated parent. [121366]
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.
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Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Edward Leigh, dated 11 May 2000:
The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent questions on dependent children and the marital status of heads of families. I am replying in the Director's absence.
Estimates of marital status and family composition are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) household datasets, which are available for the spring and autumn quarters of each year. The latest available LFS estimates of dependent children and the marital status of heads of family units are for the autumn (September to November) quarter of 1999 and are given in the tables attached.
The first table gives non-seasonally adjusted LFS estimates of dependent children by the marital status of the head of family unit, the second gives estimate of families with dependent children, again by the marital status of the head of family unit.
| Number | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dependent children in all family units (thousands) = 100 per cent. | 14,638 | |
| ntage of dependent children where head of family is: | ||
| Married | 71.1 | |
| Co-habiting | 8.7 | |
| Single, never married | 7.0 | |
| Widowed | 1.1 | |
| Divorced | 6.9 | |
| Separated | 5.2 | |
| Number | ||
|---|---|---|
| All families with dependent children (thousands) = 100 per cent. | 7,471 | |
| Percentage of which headed by: | ||
| Married couple | 67.9 | |
| Co-habiting couple | 10.0 | |
| Male lone parent | 2.2 | |
| Female lone parent | 19.9 | |
(4) Dependent children are defined as all 0 to 15-year-olds and 16 to 18-year-olds in full-time education
Source:
Labour Force Survey, ONS
Mr. Leigh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of households is headed by a person who is (a) married, (b) cohabiting, (c) single, (d) widowed, (e) divorced, (f) separated and (g) cohabiting with someone of the same sex. [121367]
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 John Pullinger to Mr. Edward Leigh, dated 11 May 2000:
The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent question about the marital status of heads of households. I am replying in the Director's absence.
Estimates of marital status and household composition are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) household datasets, which are available for the spring and autumn quarters of each year. The latest available LFS estimates of the marital status of heads of households are for the autumn (September to November) quarter of 1999 and are given in the table attached.
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| Number | |
|---|---|
| Total households (thousands) = 100% | 24,433 |
| Percentage of which whose head is: | |
| Married | 51.3 |
| Cohabiting | 7.6 |
| Single | 14.7 |
| Widowed | 14.1 |
| Divorced | 8.5 |
| Separated | 3.6 |
| Cohabiting with same sex | 0.2 |
Source:
Labour Force Survey, ONS
Mr. Leigh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the usual gross weekly household incomes as referred to in table 3.8 of Living in Britain 1998, of households headed by a person who is (a) married with dependent children, (b) married with no children or non-dependent children, (c) cohabiting with dependent children, (d) cohabiting with no children or non-dependent children, (e) a lone mother with dependent children, (f) a
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lone mother with no children or non-dependent children, (g) a lone father with dependent children, (h) a lone father with no children or non-dependent children, (i) a single person, (j) a same sex couple and (k) not in any of the categories above. [121319]
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 John Pullinger to Mr. Edward Leigh, dated 11 May 2000:
The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent question about the usual gross weekly household income according to the status of the head of the household. I am replying in the Director's absence.
The attached table shows data from the General Household Survey. The GHS is a continuous, multi-purpose survey based on a random sample of the general population resident in private households in Great Britain. It has been carried out by the Social Survey Division of ONS since 1971, and is commissioned by a number of Government Departments and is widely used for policy and planning purposes.
Interviewing took place during the period April 1998 to March 1999. Interviewers collected information from 15,853 adults aged 16 and over in 8,636 households.
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| Married with dependants (%) | Married with no dependants (%) | Cohabiting with dependants (%) | Cohabiting no dependants (%) | Lone mother with dependants (%) | Lone father with dependants (%) | Lone parent no dependants (%) | Single person (%) | Same sex | Total (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nil | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | (6)-- | 1 |
| £0.01-£50.00 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | (6)-- | 2 |
| £50.01-£100.00 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 27 | 4 | 23 | (6)-- | 10 |
| £100.01-£150.00 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 24 | 15 | 7 | 15 | (6)-- | 10 |
| £150.01-£200.00 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 11 | (6)-- | 9 |
| £200.01-£250.00 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 9 | (6)-- | 7 |
| £250.01-£300.00 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 6 | (6)-- | 6 |
| £300.01-£350.00 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 15 | 6 | (6)-- | 6 |
| £350.01-£400.00 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | (6)-- | 5 |
| £400.01-£450.00 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 4 | (6)-- | 5 |
| £450.00-£500.00 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | (6)-- | 5 |
| £501.01 or more | 58 | 39 | 37 | 57 | 6 | 20 | 29 | 13 | (6)-- | 32 |
| Total cases | 1,571 | 2,332 | 224 | 338 | 542 | 60 | 206 | 2,759 | 32 | (5)8,064 |
(5) Bases exclude cases where income is not known
(6) These are number of cases and not percentages as the total number of cases is too small for reliable analysis
Source:
General Household Survey 1998
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Mr. Leigh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the percentage of women with a child aged (a) four years or under, (b) between five and nine years and (c) between 10 and 15 years who (i) work full-time, (ii) work part-time, (iii) are unemployed and (iv) are economically inactive. [121325]
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 John Pullinger to Mr. Edward Leigh, dated 11 May 2000:
The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent question about the economic status of women with young children. I am replying in the Director's absence.
Estimates of economic status are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) which is the major ONS source of labour market data
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on individuals. The table attached gives non-seasonally adjusted LFS estimates of the economic status of women of working age (16-59 years) with young children in the winter (December to February) quarter of 1999-2000.
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 are temporarily away from their current job. 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.
Classification by whether a person works full or part-time is based on the respondent's own assessment.
The measure of unemployment derived from the LFS is defined on a consistent and internationally recognised basis set out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). It counts as unemployed people who are a) without a paid job, b) available to start work within the next two weeks and c) have either looked for work in the last four weeks or are waiting to start a job already obtained.
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People aged 16 or over are classed as economically inactive by the LFS if they are not in employment and do not satisfy the criteria for ILO unemployment. This includes those who want a job but who
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have not been seeking work in the last 4 weeks, those who are seeking work but are not available to start and those who do not want a job (for example, students not working or seeking work).
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| With youngest dependent child aged | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All women | 0-15 | 0-4 | 5-9 | 10-15 | |
| All women (thousands = 100 per cent.) | 17,277 | 6,913 | 3,050 | 1,977 | 1,885 |
| All in employment(7) | 68.8 | 63.3 | 52.9 | 68.8 | 74.3 |
| --part-time(8) | 39.0 | 24.6 | 18.3 | 23.9 | 35.3 |
| --full-time(8) | 29.7 | 38.7 | 34.6 | 44.9 | 39.0 |
| ILO unemployed | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 3.6 |
| Economically inactive | 27.5 | 32.9 | 43.4 | 26.8 | 22.1 |
(7) Includes those who did not say whether they worked full or part-time.
(8) Classification based on respondent's self-assessment.
Source:
Labour Force
Survey, ONS
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