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Working Families Tax Credit
22. Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families are in receipt of the Working Families Tax Credit; and how many families were in receipt of family credit in May 1997. [159900]
Dawn Primarolo: At November 2000, 1,168,000 families were in receipt of the Working Families Tax Credit. At May 1997, 775,000 families were in receipt of Family Credit.
Pensioners (Taxation)
23. Mr. Viggers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his policy on the tax paid by pensioners. [159902]
Dawn Primarolo: As a result of the Government's policies on tax, seven out of 10 pensioners pay either no tax, or pay tax only at the 10p rate. Following our personal tax and benefit changes, pensioner households will be £600 a year better off on average compared to 1997.
European Monetary Union
24. Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what account he will take of public opinion in making a recommendation to replace the pound with the European single currency. [159903]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The determining factor underpinning any Government decision on membership of the single currency is the national economic interest and whether the economic case for joining is clear and unambiguous. The Government believe that, if a decision to recommend joining is taken by the Government, it should be put to a vote in Parliament, and then to a referendum of the British people.
25. Mr. Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent change there has been to his policy on British participation in the European single currency. [159905]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Government's policy on membership of the single currency remains as set out by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in October 1997, and restated by the Prime Minister in February 1999. The determining factor underpinning any Government decision on membership of the single currency is the national economic interest and whether the economic case for joining is clear and unambiguous.
Mr. Gill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received from farming organisations about the appropriate exchange rate for joining the single European currency. [159891]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The Chancellor meets representatives from the farming industry to discuss a wide range of issues.
10 May 2001 : Column: 279W
Public Service Agreements
27. Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the implementation of public service agreements. [159907]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Public service agreements detail the Government's commitments for the next three years, in return for the resources put in. Performance against these targets has been set out in the recently published annual departmental reports.
Child Poverty
28. Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of his Department's policies on child poverty. [159908]
Dawn Primarolo: Tax and benefit reforms announced in this Parliament will lift over 1.2 million children out of relative poverty.
As a result of the measures, families with children in the poorest fifth of the population will on average be £1,700 a year better off, a real increase of around 15 per cent. in their incomes.
Public Investment
29. Judy Mallaber: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Government's approach to investment in public services. [159909]
Mr. Andrew Smith: When this Government came to power, public sector net investment was equal to 0.5 per cent. of national income. The plans set out in the 2000 Spending Review will increase net investment to 1.7 per cent. of GDP by 2003-04. This Government are turning around 20 years of under-investment to modernise our public services.
Telecommunications
30. Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the amount of tax paid by the telecommunications industry and the mobile phone manufacturers in each of the last three years. [159910]
Dawn Primarolo: The UK corporation tax liability of companies in the telecommunications industry and among mobile phone manufacturers, taken together, is as follows in respect of the latest three financial years for which estimates are available:
| £ billion | |
|---|---|
| 1996-97 | 1.2 |
| 1997-98 | 1.0 |
| 1998-99 | 1.3 |
Annuities
31. Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received from interested organisations on annuities. [159911]
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on his policy on annuities. [159893]
10 May 2001 : Column: 280W
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested is set out in Section 5.67 of the Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report published on Budget Day, copies of which are in the Library.
Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 21 March 2001, Official Report, column 236W, regarding annuity reform, what his estimate is of the costs to the Exchequer involved in introducing the recommendations of the McDonald report, with particular reference to the (a) minimum income requirement and (b) continued investment and management of the remaining pension funds available. [155963]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 28 March 2001]: The information requested is set out in Section 5.67 of the "Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report" published on Budget Day, copies of which are in the Library.
New Build and Renovation
32. Mr. Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on VAT on new build and renovation. [159912]
Dawn Primarolo: The Chancellor's Budget announcement included a cut to 5 per cent. in the rate of VAT on the cost of converting residential properties into a different number of dwellings and on the renovation of homes that have been empty for three years or more. The zero rate of VAT is also to be adjusted to provide relief for the sale of renovated houses which have been empty for 10 years or more.
Minimum Wage (Glasgow)
Mr. Davidson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish estimates of the number of jobs paid at less than the national minimum wage rate for (a) 1998-99 and (b) 2000, for (i) Glasgow, Pollok constituency and (ii) the City of Glasgow; and if he will make a statement. [160827]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Ian Davidson, dated 10 May 2001:
- As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question about the number of jobs paid at less than national minimum wage (NMW) rates in Glasgow, Pollok constituency and City of Glasgow for 1998-99 and 2000. (160827)
- The Office for National Statistics has published estimates of the number of jobs paid at less than NMW rates for 1998, 1999 and 2000. These estimates are based on an improved methodology using data from the New Earnings Survey (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 and was developed to overcome the deficiencies inherent in using the NES and LFS separately for measuring low pay.
- Estimates for the United Kingdom and Government Office Regions are posted on the National Statistics website at: www.statistics.gov.uk/nbase/themes/labour-market/nmw-lowpay-tables.asp
- Estimates for Parliamentary Constituencies and Unitary Authorities of numbers of jobs paid below NMW rates are not available on the basis of the methodology applied for producing the national and regional level figures.
10 May 2001 : Column: 281W
Suicide (Aspirin and Paracetamol)
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people (a) committed suicide and (b) attempted to commit suicide by taking an overdose of (i) aspirin and (ii) paracetamol in each year since 1995. [161000]
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 Fiona Mactaggart, dated 10 May 2001:
- The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question about how many people (a) committed suicide and (b) attempted to commit suicide by taking an overdose of (i) aspirin and (ii) paracetamol in each year since 1995. I am replying in his absence. (161000)
- Figures for the number of suicides from aspirin and paracetamol since 1995 are presented in the attached table.
- Figures are not available for attempted suicides by taking an overdose of aspirin or paracetamol.
| 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (i) Aspirin | |||||
| Without mention of other drugs | 28 | 24 | 32 | 24 | 13 |
| With mention of other drugs(10) | 19 | 19 | 13 | 11 | 8 |
| (ii) Paracetamol | |||||
| Without mention of other drugs | 155 | 125 | 162 | 141 | 104 |
| With mention of other drugs(11) | 98 | 86 | 97 | 101 | 110 |
(9) Includes suicide and poisoning of undetermined intent classified according to the International Classification of Disease, ninth edition, and are selected using ICD codes E950.0-E950.5 and E980.0-E980.5.
(10) Includes compounds containing aspirin
(11) Includes compounds containing paracetamol
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