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Foresight
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when Foresight was established; which of its reports are placed in the public domain; how many (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental special advisers participate in its work; how many regular (i) non-departmental and (ii) departmental staff participate in its work; and how many of these work for Foresight on a full-time basis. [152037]
Mr. Alan Johnson: Foresight was established, and the first round launched in 1994, with a second round starting in 1999. All the reports produced by Foresight are in the public domain.
No departmental or non-departmental special advisers participate in the work of Foresight. (However, special advisers give advice to Ministers on the programme and its outputs from time to time as they do for any other Departmental activity.)
There are currently 40 people in the Foresight Secretariat in the Office of Science and Technology/DTI, and these are the only people fully occupied on Foresight. They are made up as follows:
| Organisation | Full-time | Part-time |
|---|---|---|
| DTI | 24 | 3 |
| Other Government Departments | 3 | -- |
| Research Council Secondees | 2 | -- |
| Industry Secondees | 1 | 1 |
| Consultant | 1 | -- |
| Temporary/Agency Staff | 5 | -- |
In addition, of the 500-600 people who were members of the 14 Foresight Panels and 64 associated Task Forces in the current round, 18 were DTI officials and 72 were officials from other Government Departments and the Research Councils.
Respiratory Disease Compensation Scheme
Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many claims have been received by former miners in the Cannock Chase area under the respiratory disease compensation scheme; and how many of these claimants have received (a) interim payments and (b) full and final payments. [152412]
Mr. Hain: In the area of Cannock, as defined by the postcodes WS11, WS12 and WA15, which encompasses the Cannock Chase constituency, IRISC, the Department's claims handlers, have registered 1,961 claims in respect of compensation for respiratory disease. To date, there have been 539 interim payments made, including bereavement awards, and 42 full and final settlements totalling together £1,685,000. Until now, it has not been possible to make full and final settlements in all cases because compensation for some heads of damages, e.g. pensions, had not been agreed. This has now been settled, as I announced last week, and more full and final awards can be made.
Rural Post Offices
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the post offices that have been closed in (a) North and (b) South Wales in the past year. [150521]
7 Mar 2001 : Column: 227W
Mr. Byers: This information is not available in the form requested.
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the post offices in Wales, indicating those he defines as rural. [150520]
Mr. Byers: Details of individual post offices are maintained at a local level and a centralised listing of the type requested is not available.
TREASURY
Government Investments
Barbara Follett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Government's investments. [152738]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Following a detailed review of the gold sales programme, which considered the recommendations made in the recently published National Audit Office Report on "The sale of part of the UK gold reserves", we have today confirmed our plans to sell 120 tonnes of gold in 2001-02. As in previous years the sales will be made through Bank of England auctions. There will be six auctions during 2001-02, which will be held every other month starting in May. The auctions will be of approximately 20 tonnes and will continue to be conducted on a single price basis.
Hourly Earnings
Mr. Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of workers on adult rates of pay in part-time employment have hourly earnings, including and excluding overtime pay, that are less than (a) £5, (b) £6, (c) £7 and (d) £3.60 in (i) Scotland, (ii) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (iii) Great Britain, broken down by (1) male manual, (2) male non-manual, (3) all male workers, (4) female manual, (5) female non-manual, (6) all female workers, (7) all manual, (8) all non-manual and (9) all workers; what the average weekly earnings are, including and excluding overtime, for part-time workers in (A) Scotland and (B) each of the local unitary local authority areas in Scotland for (X) all employment and (Y) non-manual employment. [152153]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Douglas Alexander, dated 7 March 2001:
- The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question on average weekly earnings and hourly earnings for workers in Great Britain, Scotland and the unitary authorities in Scotland (152153). I am replying in his absence.
- In order to address the issue of weekly pay, I have used data from the New Earnings Survey (NES). This survey can provide earnings data for small geographical areas. The release of NES data is restricted to figures that are derived from a sufficiently large sample of employees, and have an acceptable level of accuracy. I have provided the available data for average weekly earnings for part-time workers for Scotland and the unitary authority areas in Scotland. These are based on the 2000 NES, the latest survey for which data are available.
7 Mar 2001 : Column: 228W
- For hourly pay, I refer you to estimates which have been developed to measure low hourly pay more accurately. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published estimates of the number of jobs paid at less than specific hourly low pay thresholds for all workers in the United Kingdom for Spring 2000, and the number of jobs paid at less than National Minimum Wage rates for Spring 2000, desegregated by gender and full and part time. These estimates are based on an improved methodology using data from the NES and Labour Force Survey (LFS). This methodology provides the best estimates for the number of jobs in the UK paid below low hourly rate thresholds. These estimates are posted on the National Statistics website at:
- www.statistics.gov.uk/themes/labour market/nmw lowpay tables.asp.
- The improved methodology has been developed to overcome the deficiencies inherent in the two surveys, the NES and the LFS, in measuring low pay. Estimates based on this methodology are not available for the areas and population sub-groups requested.
- Whilst it is possible to produce estimates for the proportion of employee jobs earning less than the specified hourly thresholds from the NES, the NES underestimates the number of low pay jobs since it does not provide a comprehensive picture of the lower end of the earnings distribution.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Average earnings | |
| All employees | |
| Non-manual | 139.1 |
| All | 121.7 |
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Average earnings | |
| All employees | |
| Non-manual | |
| Edinburgh, City of | 136.7 |
| Glasgow City | 130.2 |
| All | |
| Edinburgh, City of | 122.4 |
| Glasgow City | 117.4 |
| South Lanarkshire | 111.4 |
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Average earnings | |
| All employees | |
| Non-manual | 145.6 |
| All | 128.2 |
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Average earnings | |
| All employees | |
| Non-manual | |
| Edinburgh, City of | 143.4 |
| Glasgow City | 134.9 |
| All | |
| Edinburgh, City of | 128.5 |
| Glasgow City | 122.7 |
| South Lanarkshire | 118.3 |
7 Mar 2001 : Column: 229W
Tobacco and Alcohol Smuggling
Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest assessment is of tobacco and alcohol smuggling and its impact on Government revenues; and what action he is taking to tackle it. [153056]
Dawn Primarolo: In March 2000, Customs and Excise forecast that tobacco duty revenues for 2000-01 would be £7.4 billion. In fact, tobacco duty revenues for 2000-01 are now expected to be £7.5 billion, the first time in four years that the forecast yield has been exceeded.
Last March, the Government announced their "Tackling Tobacco Smuggling" strategy, which is designed first to slow the growth in tobacco smuggling, which has been on a strong upward trend, and then to put it into decline within three years. The strategy provided £209 million for investment in 1,000 extra staff and a national network of X-ray scanners. This strategy is at an early stage but it is already beginning to show results. In the first nine months of 2000-01, Customs have seized more than 1.4 billion cigarettes in the UK and helped overseas enforcement agencies seize nearly 700 million cigarettes en route to the UK. Customs investigators have also broken up 38 major organised crime gangs involved in the smuggling and supply of huge volumes of illicit cigarettes. As more front-line staff are put in place, new X-ray scanners come on line, and tobacco pack marks come into force, Customs will be able to take even more effective action against the criminals involved in tobacco smuggling.
As part of the "Tackling Tobacco Smuggling" strategy, Customs are pursuing a target for 2000-01 of holding illicit market penetration to 21 per cent. of the UK cigarette market, equating to £2.8 billion in lost revenues. Customs' assessment for the calendar year 2000 suggests that 22 per cent. of the UK cigarette market is made up of smuggled cigarettes, equating to £2.9 billion in lost revenues. Customs also estimate that 70 per cent. of cigarette consumption in the calendar year 2000 was of UK tax paid product and 8 per cent. was legitimately purchased for personal consumption free of UK taxes.
Detailed estimates of revenue lost (excise and VAT) through cross-border shopping and smuggling of alcohol and tobacco for the calendar year 2000 and revised figures for 1999 are contained in the tables. In reaching these estimates using the best information currently available, Customs' assessment is that overall cigarette consumption in 2000 was approximately 81 billion cigarettes.
| £ million(6) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 2000 | |
| Cross-Channel smuggling of(7): | ||
| Hand rolling tobacco | 670 | 890 |
| Cigarettes and other tobacco | 320 | 470 |
| Total cross-Channel smuggling of tobacco | 985 | 1,360 |
| Tobacco smuggling by air passengers, internet and parcel | 110 | 120 |
| Freight smuggling of cigarettes(8) | 1,600 | 2,300 |
| Assessment of all forms of tobacco smuggling and evasion(9),(10) | 2,700 | 3,800 |
(6) Figures have been independently rounded to £5 million. Components may not therefore sum to the totals shown. Figures for freight smuggling and the overall assessment are rounded to the nearest £100 million.
(7) The 1999 cross-Channel smuggling figures have been revised to take into account new data on traffic flows from the ONS International Passenger Survey.
(8) Freight smuggling of cigarettes is calculated as the residual after the other forms of revenue loss have been subtracted from the overall assessment.
(9) Customs have only published assessments of all forms of tobacco smuggling and evasion for 1998 and 1999. Estimates of cross- Channel smuggling were first published in 1996.
(10) A comparable table of overall alcohol losses is being prepared and will be published in due course.
7 Mar 2001 : Column: 230W
| £ million | ||
|---|---|---|
| Product type | 1998 | 1999 |
| Cigarettes and other tobacco products | n/a | 185 |
| Hand-rolling tobacco | n/a | 35 |
| Total | 85 | 220 |
Notes:
1. Figures have been independently rounded to £5 million. Components may not therefore sum to the totals shown.
2. The figures shown for revenue lost assume that 100 per cent. of all tobacco purchased abroad substitutes for similar purchases in the UK.
3. The increase in the cross-border shopping estimates between 1998 and 1999 reflects the effects of the abolition of intra-EU duty free sale in July 1999. Prior to abolition duty free sales were not included in the estimates of cross-border shopping; from July 1999 onwards duty free sales have largely been replaced by EU duty paid sales, which are included in cross-border shopping. Because the switch from duty free sales to EU duty paid sales does not involve an additional revenue loss, the measured increase in cross-border shopping between 1998 and 1999 overstates the net additional loss of revenue.
4. Prior to 1999 the split between the different tobacco products was not robust enough to publish.
| 1999(11) | 2000 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product type | Revenue evaded | Revenue lost | Revenue evaded | Revenue lost |
| Beer | 190 | 140 | 245 | 185 |
| Wine | 45 | 30 | 65 | 50 |
| Spirits | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Total | 255 | 190 | 325 | 245 |
(11) Revised
| £ million | ||
|---|---|---|
| Product type | 1998 | 1999 |
| Beer | 55 | 60 |
| Wine | 180 | 220 |
| Spirits | 50 | 90 |
| Total | 290 | 370 |
Notes:
1. Figures have been independently rounded to £5 million. Components may not therefore sum to the totals shown.
2. The figures shown for revenue lost assume that between 70 per cent. and 80 per cent. of all alcohol purchased abroad substitutes for similar purchases in the UK.
3. The figures exclude any amounts for revenue lost on alcohol products smuggled in freight consignments or diversion fraud.
4. The 1999 cross-Channel smuggling figures have been revised to take into account new data on traffic flows from the ONS International Passenger Survey.
5. Prior to abolition duty free sales were not included in the estimates of cross-border shopping from July 1999 onwards duty free sales have largely been replaced by EU duty paid sales, which are included in cross-border shopping. Because the switch from duty free sales to EU duty paid sales does not involve an additional revenue loss, the measured increase in cross-border shopping between 1998 and 1999 overstates the net additional loss of revenue.
7 Mar 2001 : Column: 231W
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