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Death Statistics

Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many deaths were recorded in the (a) Bromley and (b) North Cumbria Health Authority area in each month for the last five years. [122367]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information 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. Tom Brake, dated 18 May 2000:

The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your recent question about the number of recorded deaths in Bromley and North Cumbria Health Authority for the last five years. I have been asked to reply in the Director's absence.
The table below gives the number of deaths that occurred in Bromley and North Cumbria Health Authorities each month, for the last five years. The 1999 Health Authority boundaries have been used to give consistent areas over the last five years.

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Numbers of deaths by month of occurrence 1994-98, Bromley and North Cumbria Health Authorities

	Bromley					North Cumbria
	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
January	300	319	316	402	284	455	397	433	435	326
February	235	243	276	241	226	332	308	357	318	297
March	267	302	274	235	261	295	350	312	286	377
April	247	229	226	217	279	295	285	317	291	352
May	228	250	250	212	232	306	338	288	299	291
June	247	229	223	236	245	291	287	276	321	285
July	244	253	221	206	252	290	254	300	242	299
August	232	234	235	229	213	280	267	265	241	318
September	253	236	204	229	212	273	290	279	294	276
October	258	252	224	253	242	308	326	278	298	315
November	264	260	258	246	259	304	339	279	309	301
December	276	368	352	262	319	389	400	372	363	369

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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Civil Servants

Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what was the average percentage increase in salaries of non-industrial civil servants, excluding members of the senior Civil Service, in her Department for 1999-2000; and to what extent the pay awards were staged. [121657]

Clare Short: The headline pay settlement was 2.5 per cent. on the paybill and, together with the additional funds from staff turnover, staff in post received performance-related increases averaging 4 per cent. The increases were not staged.

Green Transport

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the key buildings for which her Department (a) submitted and (b) did not submit green transport plans by March. [122618]

Mr. Foulkes: The Department for International Development has UK offices in London and East Kilbride. In line with the target set in the Integrated Transport White Paper the Green Transport Plan for the Department's London offices (94 Victoria Street, plus annexes at 20 Victoria Street and at Glen House) was completed and published before the end of March 2000. The Green Transport Plan for the East Kilbride office was completed before the end of March, but printing problems slightly delayed its publication until April 2000.

Ethiopia

Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what is the value of (a) food aid and (b) other aid which her Department has provided

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to Ethiopia during the last month; how much she expects to provide during each of the next three months; and if she will make a statement. [120214]

Mr. Foulkes: Since January 2000 we have committed over £9.0 million of bilateral food and non-food relief for Ethiopia. Food aid so far promised this year totals over 32,000 metric tonnes (MT), of which over half has been distributed or is in the process of being distributed. In addition, we contribute about 17 per cent. of the cost of EC food aid, estimated to be some 432,000 MT in 2000. 46,665 MT of EU food has already arrived in Djibouti. Non-food inputs often form part of the food aid package and have included the provision of seeds, water tankering and capacity building.

Departmental Contracts

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department makes of the human rights records of companies applying for her Department's contracts. [122146]

Mr. Foulkes: We are currently working with various bodies on ethical aspects of procurement activity. In awarding contracts, we operate within the Government's procurement policy based on value for money.

SCOTLAND

Open Government

Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many applications for information he received under the Open Government: Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in the last parliamentary session; and how many were granted. [121851]

Dr. Reid: I refer my right hon. Friend to the reply given today by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, Official Report, columns 216-17W.

18 May 2000 : Column: 247W

ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND

THE REGIONS

Index of Local Deprivation

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what weighting the geographical access to services domain has been given in the compilation of the new Index of Local Deprivation. [121576]

Ms Beverley Hughes: The consultation paper on the methodology released in December 1999 proposed that the geographical access to services domain be given a weight of 10 per cent. in the compilation of the overall index. The final weightings of the domains will be announced when the new index is published.

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions on what date he plans to publish the new Index of Local Deprivation; and if he will make a statement. [121573]

Ms Beverley Hughes: The Index of Local Deprivation review is on-going. The new index will be published within the next few months.

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list those local authorities who have risen over 10 places in the latest Index of Local Deprivation and are now in the top 65 places. [121574]

Ms Beverley Hughes: The review of the Index of Local Deprivation is on-going. The new index will be published once it is finalised and agreed. A consultation exercise on the methodology of the new index, which included a draft index, closed in January. This draft index showed illustrative rankings of all local authorities in England if the proposals contained in the methodology document were to be adopted. The rankings in the draft index may change as a result of further data checking, further testing of the index and the outcome of the consultation.

Mr. Coleman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what percentage of those regeneration funds allocated in England and Wales on the basis of the Index of Local Deprivation were allocated to London Boroughs in 1999-2000; and if he will estimate what percentage would have been allocated to London boroughs if the new Index had been used as the key determinant of the allocation of those resources. [121575]

Ms Beverley Hughes: A number of factors determine the allocation of budgets for regeneration programmes including the total amount of resources available, national priorities and the relative needs of each region. One measure used to determine the needs of each region is the Index of Local Deprivation, which is used to inform the allocation of the Single Regeneration Budget and the New Deal for Communities.

The indicative allocations of resources to regions for all rounds of SRB have been based on the following formula: 50 per cent. according to the regions' share of 1993 population in areas with above average deprivation (based on the 1991 Index of Local Conditions score for each Local Authority district); and 50 per cent. based on the district level deprivation score, for areas with above average deprivation. The SRB is a competitive programme and the

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final distribution of resources in each year is dependent upon the quality of bids received for new schemes, together with the pattern of commitments from earlier SRB rounds. A national target, introduced under Round 5 of the SRB in 1998, is for 80 per cent. of new money to be allocated in the most deprived areas which, for this purpose, are taken to be the local authority district areas included in the top 50 on one or more of the four measures of deprivation in the 1998 Index of Local Deprivation. The indicative SRB regional allocation for London represented 27 per cent. of total SRB resources for 1999-2000 in England.

Thirty nine areas have been identified in England in two rounds of the New Deal for Communities programme, of which ten are based in London Boroughs. 26 per cent. of NDC funding, under the first round of the programme, was allocated to London Boroughs in 1999-2000.

The Review of the Index of Local Deprivation is still on-going. The new Index will be published once it is finalised and agreed. A consultation exercise on the methodology of the new Index, which included a draft index, closed in January. This draft index showed illustrative rankings of all local authorities in England if the proposals contained in the methodology paper were adopted. The figures contained in the draft index may change as a result of further data checking, further testing of the index and the result of the consultation.

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