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EU Strategy

Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what request for consultation he has received from the Commission of the European Union concerning (a) its intention to consider future strategy for changes to (i) pan-community taxation, (ii) the

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Customs Union and (iii) changes to the current system of value added tax and (b) the views of the Government on the need for such changes. [121634]

Dawn Primarolo: The Commission, in considering what legislation to propose, consults member states continuously including through established working groups. The Government consider each proposal on its merits and details are lodged with the scrutiny committees.

Eurocheque System

Mr. Pollard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the withdrawal of British banks from the Eurocheque system on the cost and ease of transferring small payments within the European Union by (a) small businesses and (b) private individuals. [121484]

Miss Melanie Johnson: None. There has been an 80 per cent. drop in the use and acceptance of eurocheques in the 1990s. This has been matched by significant growth in the use of alternative methods--automated teller machines, debit cards and credit cards--of making payments and obtaining cash abroad. The Association for Payment Clearing Services, the industry body for the UK's banks and building societies which oversees money transmission systems, have advised that the majority of UK banks are able to offer cost effective alternatives to eurocheques.

Manufacturing Jobs

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many manufacturing jobs have ceased to exist in the United Kingdom since May 1997. [120869]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Estimates of manufacturing jobs are compiled by the Office for National Statistics. I refer my hon. Friend to tables B12 and B18 of Labour Market Trends.

Working Families Tax Credit

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many families are receiving the Working Families Tax Credit; and of these, how many were previously receiving family credit; [121689]

(2) how many Working Families Tax Credit recipients are men in couples where family credit was previously in payment to the female in the couple; and what is the average weekly value of the Working Families Tax Credit in payment in such cases. [121685]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 12 May 2000]: Up to the end of March 2000, there had been 1,030,200 awards made of the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC). The families in receipt of 574,300 of these awards had previously been in receipt of Family Credit (FC) awards that ended immediately before the start of the WFTC awards.

It is not possible, without incurring disproportionate cost, to estimate how many such WFTC awards are paid to men in couples where the previous FC award was paid to the female in the couple; or the average weekly value of such awards.

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Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the average amount by which the incomes of families with incomes of less than £12,000 per annum have increased as a result of the Working Families Tax Credit. [120971]

Dawn Primarolo: For awards of Working Families Tax Credit made by the end of March, the average award made to families with gross weekly earnings up to £230 was £81.53 per week.

Scanning Equipment

Mr. Corbett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what evaluation he has (a) made and (b) commissioned of the potential health risks from the use of (i) high-energy and (ii) low-energy scanning equipment for the detection of smuggled goods and substances at ports of entry. [121794]

Dawn Primarolo: Before any scanning equipment is used by Customs and Excise, a full health and safety evaluation is carried out by an independent consultant to ensure compliance with all UK health and safety legislation.

Child Care Credit

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the take-up of the child care credit in the Working Families Tax Credit. [120959]

Dawn Primarolo: The child care tax credit component of the Working Families Tax Credit has been particularly successful, with about 103,000 recipients in awards made to the end of March. At its peak, in August 1999, 47,000 families claimed the child care disregard in Family Credit.

Parliamentary Questions

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to raise the advisory cost limit of £500 for answering written parliamentary questions; and if he will make a statement. [122509]

Mr. Timms: The advisory cost limit was last increased in 1997--21 July 1997, Official Report, column 442W--and is to be further increased to £550 from today.

The purpose and application of the advisory cost limit remains unchanged. It is intended to act as a threshold for disproportionate cost parliamentary questions. Any written question where the marginal cost of preparing the answer is considered likely to exceed the threshold may be refused in whole or in part on the grounds of disproportionate cost. Alternatively the Minister may decide that the question is to be answered irrespective of cost. There is no advisory limit for oral questions.

The advisory limit continues to be based on eight times the average marginal cost for written questions, which is now £70, rounded down to the nearest £50 for convenience of application.

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the average cost of answering (a) oral and (b) written parliamentary questions in the last three months. [122070]

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Mr. Timms: As at April 1999, the latest date for which information is available, the average cost of answering an oral and written parliamentary question was £282 and £121 respectively.

State Pension

Mr. Stevenson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer further to his oral statement of 21 March 2000, Official Report, column 867, if the increases in the basic state pension forecast will be the minimum applied irrespective of the retail price index for September 2000. [120604]

Mr. Rooker: I have been asked to reply.

As our right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer said in his budget statement on 21 March:

Based on forecast rates of inflation, we can expect the pension rise in 2001 to be more than £2 for single pensioners and over £3 for couples--[Official Report, 21 March 2000; Vol. 346, c. 867.]

Our right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is required to review rates of benefit annually, the outcome of that review will be announced in the Autumn as normal.

European Institute of Public Administration

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the (a) level of public funding, (b) purpose and (c) United Kingdom-sponsored activities of the European Institute of Public Administration. [121503]

Mr. Vaz: I have been asked to reply.

The UK subscription to EIPA for the financial year 1999-2000 was 97,000 euros, equivalent to £67,550.

The EIPA is a non-profit making organisation, which serves public administration in member states of the European Union. It supports the practical management of European integration through the provision of training, applied research and consultancy at a European level as a complement to national and subnational programmes. It is also dedicated to supporting the process of the accession of future member states to the European Union. EIPA is currently undertaking a review of its structure and activities which is due to report in June.

There are no specific UK sponsored activities of the EIPA but the UK plays a full part in its activities by sending delegates to courses and seminars and through the Director of Recruitment and People Development in the Cabinet Office sitting in both the EIPA Board of Governors and the Review Committee.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Metropolitan Police Area Crime Rate

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by how much crime rose in the Metropolitan police area during the year to 31 March; and if he will make a statement. [122093]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis informs me that the total number of notifiable offences in the Metropolitan police district for the year ending 31 March 2000 was some 12.6 per cent. higher than that in the previous financial year.

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Chinese President (State Visit)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will deposit in the Library a copy of the Metropolitan Police Service's report on Policing during the Chinese state visit; what input Government Departments had to the report; and if he will make a statement. [121497]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Metropolitan Police Service's review into the policing arrangements for the state visit by the President of China was put into the public domain on 17 March 2000, and copies were placed in the Library.

The report was written without reference to any person or body outside the Metropolitan Police Service. Government Departments had sight of the report prior to publication.

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the admission by the Metropolitan police that some of its officers behaved unlawfully during the Chinese state visit of October 1999; [121801]

(2) for what reasons the Metropolitan police's review of policing of the Chinese state visit during October 1999 did not identify behaviour that it later found to be unlawful. [121800]

Mr. Charles Clarke: I understand that the statement made by the Metropolitan police in the context of court proceedings was based on further legal advice concerning the powers available to them under the byelaws applying in the Royal Parks.

This indicated that flags and banners could not be removed from protesters where such items were being used solely for peaceful protest purposes.

The review by the Metropolitan police concerned the operational policing arrangements for the visit and did not benefit from the additional legal advice.

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