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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 26 June 2000
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Public Lending Right
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations he has received concerning the level of remuneration received by authors through public lending right. [127824]
Mr. Chris Smith: I have seen the case for increased funding produced by the Public Lending Right Advisory Committee; I have also received around 160 letters, mainly from authors via their MPs. I am considering these representations carefully as part of the Department's current spending review.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what was the value of his Department's funding of public lending right in (a) 1983 and (b) 2000 in (i) cash and (ii) real terms. [127828]
Mr. Chris Smith: Public Lending Right (PLR) received grant-in-aid funding of £2 million in 1983-84, which would equal £3.921 million in real terms. My Department provided funding of £5.15 million for PLR in 2000-01.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of library book withdrawals is represented by children's books; and if he will make a statement. [127826]
Mr. Chris Smith: Information about the number of book withdrawals is not collected centrally. The annual CIPFA Public Library Statistics, which are held in the House Library and are likely to be available in the larger public library reference libraries, provide information about the total bookstock, including children's books, at 31 March each year. At 31 March 1999, children's bookstock was 19.3 million compared with 19.2 million at 31 March 1998.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of his departmental budget was spent on Public Lending Right in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999 and (d) 2000. [127827]
Mr. Chris Smith: The following table shows the proportion of the Department's budget allocation to Public Lending Right as grant-in-aid:
| DCMS PES total | Public Lending Right grant in aid | PLR grant in aid as a proportion of DCMS PES total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial year | £000 | £000 | Percentage |
| 1997-98 | 904,790 | 4,921 | 0.54 |
| 1998-99 | 924,478 | 5,000 | 0.54 |
| 1999-2000 | 1,002,139 | 5,051 | 0.50 |
| 2000-01 | 1,014,886 | 5,150 | 0.50 |
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Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Public Lending Right money was paid to authors of children's books in the last year for which figures are available; and what proportion this represented of total spending on Public Lending Right. [127825]
Mr. Chris Smith: The Public Lending Right (PLR) computer system does not break down payments to authors by the type of book that they write. However, children's books represented 28 per cent. of registered books borrowed last year, an increase of 30 per cent. in the last ten years. It is therefore estimated that 28 per cent. of payments went to children's writers, which in the last payment round would have amounted to £1.2 million--23 per cent. of the whole PLR fund.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding the level of funding available for Public Lending Right payments. [127823]
Mr. Chris Smith: We have no scope at present to raise further the allocation to Public Lending Right (PLR) beyond the increases already announced as part of PLR's current three-year funding agreement. However, we have agreed to consider the case for an increase in funding as part of our current Spending Review which will deal with funding for the next three years.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Debt Relief Programme
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the countries which have had their debts to the United Kingdom cancelled as part of the debt relief programme for the poorest countries; and what the cost of the programme to the UK has been to date. [126970]
Clare Short: To date, the Government have provided approximately £450 million on export credit debt relief to the following countries, which are classified as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC):
- Benin;
Bolivia;
Burkina Faso;
Central African Republic;
Cameroon;
Cote d'Ivoire;
Ethiopia;
Guyana;
Mali;
Mauritania;
Mozambique;
Nicaragua;
Niger;
Senegal;
Sierra Leone;
Tanzania;
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Vietnam;
Yemen; and
Zambia.
So far, Bolivia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda have reached Decision Point, the first milestone under the enhanced HIPC framework at which debt relief starts to flow. Between them, these countries still owe the Export Credits Guarantee Department some £140 million. This will be cancelled when they complete the HIPC process.
Aid debts to the poorest countries have already been cancelled.
Sexual and Reproductive Health Projects
Ms McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her answer of 23 May 2000, Official Report, column 408W, on sexual and reproductive health projects, what proportion of the UK bilateral aid contributions for reproductive health care for the years (a) 1997, (b) 1998 and (c) 1999 were for (i) HIV/AIDS and (ii) family planning and reproductive health. [127214]
Clare Short: In many cases it is not practical to distinguish between the sexual and the reproductive health/family planning elements. There is also often no clear distinction between assisting with work in HIV/AIDS and in other sexual health issues. However, the following is an approximate breakdown of my Department's bilateral contributions to health/family planning and HIV/AIDS in 1997-99:
| Reproductive health/ family planning | HIV/AIDS | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 38 | 15 |
| 1998 | 42 | 16 |
| 1999 | 40 | 17 |
SOCIAL SECURITY
Vibration White Finger
Mr. Rowlands: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many men in South Wales were diagnosed by his Department and agencies as suffering from vibration induced white finger in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999 and (d) 2000 to date. [126655]
Mr. Bayley: I refer my hon. Friend to the written answer I gave my hon. Friend on 14 June 2000, Official Report, column 651W.
Winter Fuel Payments
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how he identified the two million men aged
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between 60 and 64 years whom he deemed likely to be newly eligible for winter fuel payments resulting from the European Court ruling. [126875]
Angela Eagle: We do not hold up to date records for all of those who do not receive any pension or benefit at the moment--especially men aged 60-64 who have no need to contact the Department. Therefore, to ensure that the right money is paid to the right person in respect of each year a Winter Fuel Payment is due, it was necessary to develop a claims process.
We wrote to around 24,000 people in April who had already registered their details with the Department, enclosing a claim form for completion. During May and early June we also wrote to around 1.7 million newly eligible people who we could identify through the departmental central index. Again, in each case we enclosed a claim form and invited a claim.
For those who we are not able to identify, our information and advertising campaign will continue to help ensure that they are fully aware of how to claim. In addition, people can download claim forms from the Department's own website www.dss.gov.uk or they can obtain claim forms on request from the Winter Fuel Payment helpline.
Pensions
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the amount of pension which would be received on retirement by (a) a person who leaves school in 2000-01, who earns average earnings throughout their working life and who remains a member of the state pension scheme throughout, and (b) a man and (c) a woman, who leaves school in 2000-01, who earns average earnings through his or her working life, and who immediately takes out a stakeholder pension into which he or she puts only the value of the National Insurance rebates. [126628]
Mr. Rooker: The information is in the table. The figures are in 1999 earnings terms. In 1999 price terms the figures would be more than double the amounts shown.
| Basic pension | Additional pension | Total pension | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All--State scheme (a) | 31.00 | 56.00 | 87.00 |
| All--Stakeholder | 31.00 | 71.00 | 102.00 |
| Man--State scheme | 31.00 | 57.00 | 88.00 |
| Man--Stakeholder (b) | 31.00 | 73.00 | 103.00 |
| Woman--State scheme | 31.00 | 55.00 | 86.00 |
| Woman--Stakeholder (c) | 31.00 | 67.00 | 98.00 |
Notes:
1. Figures, which are in 1999 earnings terms, are rounded to the nearest £ and may not sum as a result.
2. The estimates are based on average earnings of (i) all full-time employees; (ii) all male full-time employees; and (iii) all female full-time employees (whose average earnings are 74 per cent. of the average earnings of male employees).
3. The estimates are based on a person beginning work at 16 and working for 49 years until age 65.
4. The estimates for stakeholder pension schemes are based on the amount of state scheme pension foregone, which determines the level of at which the National Insurance rebates are set by the Government Actuary's Department. However, when the State Second Pension becomes a flat-rate scheme for those who remain in it, the rebates will continue to be earnings-related, and so will be based on the state scheme pension which would be foregone if the scheme were fully earnings-related.
5. The final amount from a funded stakeholder pension will depend on investment returns, market performance and annuity rates oat pensionable age, together with the value of any voluntary contributions. (Annuity rates for a rebate-only stakeholder pension will be the same for both men and women).
6. The estimates are based on the Department's Lifepen model and the following assumptions:
Stakeholder pensions state April 2001; State Second Pension starts April 2002; State Second Pension becomes flat-rate from April 2006; earnings grow 1.5 per cent. a year faster than prices; basic State pension is uprated in line with prices.
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