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Fluoride Toothpaste

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the benefits of introducing a VAT zero rate on fluoride toothpaste. [160348]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 8 May 2001]: There are no plans to extend the existing VAT relief to include fluoride toothpaste. Price is not considered to be a disincentive to the use of fluoride rather than non- fluoride toothpastes.

European Insurance Directive

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the European Commission over compliance by Lloyd's with European Insurance Directive 73/239. [160402]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 8 May 2001]: Treasury Ministers have had no discussions with the European Commission over compliance by Lloyd's with European Insurance Directive 73/239.

Cross-border Smuggling

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the income through taxation being lost as a result of cross-border smuggling into Northern Ireland of petroleum fuel and related products. [160337]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 8 May 2001]: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Lagan Valley (Mr. Donaldson) on 21 March 2001, Official Report, column 234W.

Corporation Tax

Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement regarding the impact of advanced corporation tax credits on Scottish pensioners. [159297]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 8 May 2001]: The Government's package of corporation tax reforms included not only the withdrawal of payable tax credits,

11 May 2001 : Column: 433W

but also cuts in corporation tax rates. The withdrawal of payable credits removed a distortion in the tax system which encouraged companies to pay out their profits as dividends, rather than retain them for reinvestment in the business. These and other measures help to improve investment performance. The effect of these changes on the size of UK pension funds varies depending upon many factors, such as the type of scheme; the take-up of private pensions; the level of future contributions and the investment policy adopted by fund managers.

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SERCO Contracts

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the contracts that exist between SERCO and the Department, its executive agencies and associated public bodies; and if he will list those which have existed in the last three years. [151351]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The information is as follows:

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Department	Current contracts with SERCO	Contracts with SERCO over the last three years
HM Treasury	None	None
Inland Revenue	1. Contract for the provision of off-site records management for IR offices at Nottingham	1. Remote typing services for IR East Region 2. Typing, secretarial and administration services at IR offices in Nottingham
HM Customs and Excise	1. Provision of works manager services by way of a call-off contract to C&E offices in the South East (in existence throughout previous 3 years)
	2. Supply, installation and maintenance automatic number plate readers
The Office for National Statistics	None	1. July 1998--Consultancy services (installation of air conditioning) 2. January 1999--(minor works to server rooms)
Office of Government Commerce	None	None
PACE	None	None
TBA	None	None
CCTA	SERCO have been a contractor in the CCTA managed S-Cat Catalogue

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Census

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many callers to the Census Helpline have been asked to call back later; [158819]

(2) for what reason the Census Helpline does not permit callers to hold when operators are busy. [158818]

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. Nick Gibb, dated 11 May 2001:

The Registrar General for England and Wales has been asked to reply to your recent questions asking about callers to the Census Helpline (158818 and 158819). I am replying in his absence.

The Helpline was operational from 1 April and to date more than 2 million calls have been received, with 240,000 calls received on 23 April alone. In comparison, in 1991 only 125,000 calls were received by the Helpline before Census day and a further 85,000 calls after it.

Because of this unprecedented level of response in such a short period it has been necessary for the Helpline to advise callers to call back at a time that may be less busy rather than to hold. This was a significant problem for two days, however over 99 per cent. of calls are now getting through.

In a move to ensure that everybody has a form and to further improve the service:

A separate number was introduced for those who wish to request a form (500 lines);

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All other queries have been dealt with on the existing helpline number and the number of telephone lines was increased to 1000. With the additional operators, many more callers were able to pose questions not covered by the extensive range of recorded messages.

Information on the numbers of callers who have been asked to call back is not available.

Special Advisers

Mr. Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the combined cost of employing special advisers in his Department from 1997 to date. [160056]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 1 May 2001]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 1 May 2001, Official Report, column 607W.

Family Statistics

Mr. Leigh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of (a) families with dependent children are headed by (i) married couples, (ii) cohabiting couples and (iii) a lone parent by each type and (b) dependent children live in families which are headed by (1) a married couple, (2) a cohabiting couple, (3) a parent who has never married, (4) a widowed parent, (5) a divorced parent and (6) a separated parent. [160734]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 9 May 2001]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

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Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Edward Leigh, dated 11 May 2001:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question about dependent children and the marital status of heads of families. (160734).

Estimates of marital status and household composition are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) household datasets, which are available for the spring and autumn quarters of each year. The latest available LFS estimates of the marital status of heads of households are for the autumn (September to November) quarter of 2000 and are given in the following tables.

The first table gives non-seasonally adjusted LFS estimates of families with dependent children by the marital status of the head of the family unit; the second gives estimates of dependent children by the marital status of the head of the family unit.

Table 1: Families with dependent children⁽²⁷⁾ by marital status of head of family: United Kingdom, autumn 2000; not seasonally adjusted

	Percentage
Percentage of which headed by:
Married couple	67.3
Cohabiting couple	10.8
Male lone parents	2.3
Female lone parents	19.7
All families with dependent children = 100 per cent.	7,400,000

⁽²⁷⁾ Dependent children are defined as all 0-15 year olds and 16-18 year olds in full-time education.

Source:

ONS Labour Force Survey

Table 2: Dependent children⁽²⁸⁾ by marital status of head of family: United Kingdom, autumn 2000; not seasonally adjusted

	Percentage
	Percentage of dependent children in families headed by:
Married couple	70.7
Cohabiting couple	9.5
Single parent, never married	7.2
Widowed parent	1.2
Divorced parent	6.5
Separated parent	5.0
Dependent children in all family units = 100 per cent.	14,463,000

⁽²⁸⁾ Dependent children are defined as all 0-15 year olds and 16-18 year olds in full-time education.

Source:

ONS Labour Force Survey

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the questions from the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton which were tabled on 25 April 2001 (ref 158818, 158819). [160921]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I have already done so.

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