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Ministerial Directions

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many times in each year since 1994 his Department has been notified of a ministerial direction as provided for in the procedures set out in paragraphs 12 to 15 of the Treasury document, entitled "The Responsibilities of an Accounting Officer"; and if he will make a statement. [130312]

Mr. Andrew Smith [holding answer 13 July 2000]: The Treasury has been notified of the following number of directions, under the procedures set out in paragraphs 12 to 15 of the Treasury document entitled "The Responsibilities of an Accounting Officer".

Year	Number of directions
1990	1
1991	2
1992	4
1993	1
1994	0
1995	5
1996	0
1997	2
1998	5
1999	5
2000	1

Jobs (Shrewsbury and Atcham)

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the number of new jobs which will be created in Shrewsbury and Atcham in 2000-01; [131140]

(2) how many new jobs have been created in Shrewsbury and Atcham in each year since 1997. [131141]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Paul Marsden, dated 24 July 2000:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions about jobs created in Shrewsbury and Atcham since 1997, and future projections for 2000-01 (131140/1). I am replying in the absence of the National Statistician.

The Annual Employment Survey (AES) gives an estimate of the number of employee jobs in September of each year. Between September 1997 and September 1998 (the latest year for which figures are available), the AES shows that the number of employee jobs in Shrewsbury & Atcham increased from 39,000 to 41,000. Forecasts for future years are not made.

Heavily Indebted Poor Countries

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much debt owed by poor countries has been cancelled by the United Kingdom since May 1997; [130813]

(2) how much debt has been cancelled to date under the HIPC initiative. [130812]

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Miss Melanie Johnson: The total amount of debt relief agreed to date under the HIPC Initiative is in excess of $16 billion. Since May 1997, the UK has provided in the region of £250 million of debt relief to the heavily indebted poor countries. With the additional 11 countries expected to qualify under the HIPC initiative by the end of the year, the UK will have provided approximately £660 million in debt forgiveness. This is in addition to the £400 million of relief provided prior to May 1997 in the context of multilateral rescheduling agreements.

Pensions

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to change the tax rules on compulsory annuitisation of money purchase pensions. [130824]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 17 July 2000]: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb) on 29 November 1999, Official Report, column 78W.

Aggregates Tax

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the effect on employment in rural areas of the introduction of the proposed aggregates tax; [131609]

(2) what assessment he has made of the effect on employment in the aggregates and construction industry of the proposed aggregates tax; [131610]

(3) how the proposed aggregates tax will differentiate between quarrying operations with good and bad environmental performance; [131613]

(4) what assessment he has made of the benefits of linking the taxation of aggregates to environmental performance of quarrying operators; [131611]

(5) if he will exempt some quarrying operations from the proposed aggregates tax on the basis of defined environmental targets. [131612]

Mr. Timms: The aggregates levy is based on independent research which verified that there are significant environmental costs associated with quarrying, including noise, dust, visual intrusion, loss of amenity and damage to biodiversity. The Government decided to address these costs through the introduction of the aggregates levy. It will be introduced at a uniform rate in order to keep it simple and to give a clear signal to purchasers of primary aggregates to use more sustainable materials. It will reward quarry operators who invest in equipment for recycling, and ensure that all users of aggregates are taking responsibility for the costs that the production of their inputs imposes on the rest of society. This is consistent with the polluter pays principle.

There would be a number of practical difficulties with a levy which attempted to differentiate between quarries with different environmental performance. These relate to assessing compliance, defining environmental performance, the treatment of imports, EU state aids rules and UK competition policy. A uniform levy was therefore considered to be the most viable option.

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All the revenues raised from the levy will be recycled back to business through a cut in employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and a new 'Sustainability Fund' aimed at delivering local environmental benefits. It is not possible to say precisely what the effect of the levy, the cut in employer NICs and the Sustainability Fund will be on the aggregates and construction industries, since this will depend, among other things, on future employment trends and the degree to which firms switch to recycled materials.

Pleasure Yachts

Mr. Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many owners of pleasure yachts have been prosecuted in the last 12 months for which figures are available for the unlawful use of rebated heavy oil. [131608]

Mr. Timms: Private pleasure craft (including yachts) are not road going vehicles and as such qualify to use rebated heavy oil as motor fuel.

Burning oil which is fully rebated is not allowed for use as motor fuel. I am not aware of any prosecutions of pleasure yacht owners for such misuse in the past 12 months.

Fuel and Tobacco Smuggling (Northern Ireland)

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many seizures there have been of smuggled fuel and tobacco products in Northern Ireland in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [129861]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 19 July 2000]: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr. Ross) on 5 July 2000, Official Report, column 201W.

18,585,438 cigarettes have been seized.

Household Incomes

Mr. Berry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the average annual net disposable income was, at 2000 prices, calculated on the basis of Table 8.2 in the annual reports of the Family Expenditure Survey, in the

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lowest and highest quintiles in each year from 1990 to 1999, only for households with children in those quintiles; and how many and what proportion of the population households in each quintile represented; [131960]

(2) what the average annual (a) net disposable and (b) gross income was of the lowest and highest quintiles in each of the years from 1990 to 1999, calculated on the basis of Table 8.2 in the annual report of the Family Expenditure Survey, but for Great Britain only, and showing, for the two quintiles, the percentage gain or loss over the preceding year. [131959]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Roger Berry, dated 24 July 2000:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions concerning net disposable and gross income. The first question concerned average annual net disposable and gross income for 1990 to 1999 for Britain only in the highest and lowest quintile groups on the basis of Table 8.2 in the annual report of the Family Expenditure Survey (131959). The second question concerned annual net disposable income over the same period at 2000 prices in respect of households with children, for the same quintiles (131960).

In answer to your first question the information readily available relates to the United Kingdom, from Table 8.3 in the ONS annual publication "Family Spending 1998-99" and equivalent tables in the reports for earlier years. They are shown in the attached table at figure 1.

The United Kingdom is England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, while Great Britain does not include Northern Ireland. The equivalent information for Great Britain for the complete run of years could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However the figures for Great Britain for 1998-99 are very close to those for the UK. They are shown in the attached table at figure 2.

Like all estimates from sample surveys, the figures in this answer are subject to sampling variability. For the lowest quintile this is generally about plus or minus 1.6% and for the highest quintile about plus or minus 3.5%. Estimates of percentage change from one year to another are subject to higher sampling error: plus or minus 2 percentage points for the lowest quintile and plus or minus 5 percentage points for the highest. For the highest quintile, for example, an estimated change of 7% indicates that the true change is unlikely to be outside the range 2% to 12%. The sampling variability quoted is in the 90% confidence interval.

In answer to your second question the information requested requires a special computing run for each year and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

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Figure 1--Annual disposable and gross income for the lowest and highest income quintiles in the UK for the calendar years 1990 to 1993 and the financial years 1994-95 to 1998-99

	Lowest 20 per cent.				Highest 20 per cent.
	Disposable income (£)	Percentage change	Gross income (£)	Percentage change	Disposable income (£)	Percentage change	Gross income (£)	Percentage change
1990(1)	3,560	0	3,790	0	31,100	0	39,900	0
1991(1)	3,900	10	3,950	4	33,500	8	42,900	8
1992(1)	3,730	-4	3,790	-4	31,400	-6	40,900	-5
1993(1)	3,900	5	3,940	4	32,700	4	42,800	5
1994-95	4,060	4	4,110	4	33,500	2	44,400	4
1995-96	4,290	6	4,350	6	34,300	2	45,500	2
1996-97	4,360	2	4,410	1	36,800	7	47,800	5
1997-98	4,520	4	4,580	4	39,200	7	51,000	7
1998-99	4,780	6	4,890	7	42,000	7	55,000	8

⁽¹⁾ In 1994-95 the Family Expenditure Survey moved from a calendar year basis to a financial year basis

Source:

ONS, Family Expenditure Survey 1990 to 1993 and 1994-95 to 1998-99

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Figure 2--Disposable and gross income for the lowest and highest quintile groups in Great Britain, 1998-99(£)

	Disposable income	Gross income
1998-99
Lowest 20 per cent.	4,790	4,870
Highest 20 per cent.	42,000	55,100

Source:

ONS, Family Expenditure Survey 1998-99

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