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Appointments

Mr. Collins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many appointments he has made to public bodies since 7 June; and how many are in his gift. [15476]

Ruth Kelly: Information about the numbers of ministerial appointments to public bodies is included in the Cabinet Office's annual report, "Public Bodies". Copies of this are placed in the Library of the House and the report is published on the Cabinet Office's internet website. The next edition of "Public Bodies", which will include numbers of appointments at 31 March 2001, will be published around the end of the year.

Ministers of the Chancellor's Departments and agencies make (or in the case of Crown appointments recommend the making of) a total of 80 appointments to six of the public bodies listed in "Public Bodies". No new appointments or reappointments have been made to these bodies since 7 June.

Green Fuel Challenge

Mr. Heath: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to announce the result of the green fuel challenge. [15307]

Mr. Boateng: We expect to make a further announcement shortly.

Fuel Duty

Mr. Heath: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what account he takes of greenhouse gas emissions when

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determining excise duties for (a) biodiesel, (b) bioethanol, (c) compressed natural gas and (d) liquid petroleum gas. [15613]

Mr. Boateng: The Chancellor takes account of a wide range of social, economic and environmental factors when determining duty rates.

Single-parent Families

Mr. Cox: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many single parent families have more than (a) one child, (b) two children, (c) three children and (d) four children. [15337]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from John Kidgell to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 19 November 2001:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question on the number of single parent families who have more than one, two, three or four children (15337). I am replying in his absence.

Provisional estimates for Great Britain, from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for 2000 indicate that there were 1.6 million lone parent families in Great Britain in 2000. Of this total, 0.8 million families had 1 dependent child; 0.5 million families had 2 dependent children; 0.2 million families had 3 dependent children and 0.06 million families had 4 or more dependent children.

Drug Deaths

Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many deaths have been attributed to benzodiazepines in each year for the last 10 years for which records are available; [15585]

(2) how many deaths have been attributed to (a) heroin, (b) methadone, (c) cocaine, (d) morphine and (e) opiates in each year for the last 10 years for which records are available. [15589]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from John Kidgell to Andrew George, dated 19 November 2001:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions asking how many deaths have been attributed to various types of drugs in each year for the last ten years for which records are available (15585/9). I am replying in his absence.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics are available for 1993 to 1999 inclusive and indicate the number of times substances are mentioned on death certificates. The data are shown below.

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Number of deaths in England and Wales where heroin/morphine, methadone, cocaine, benzodiazepines or opiates were mentioned on the death certificate with or without other substances, persons, all ages, Calendar years 1993–1999

Year	Heroin/ Morphine(48)	Methadone	Cocaine	Benzodiazepines	Opiates(49)
1993	187	232	12	280	669
1994	277	269	24	279	820
1995	357	310	19	253	957
1996	466	368	19	230	1,157
1997	445	421	39	248	1,200
1998	646	364	66	245	1,334
1999	754	298	88	240	1,467

⁽⁴⁸⁾ As heroin breaks down in the body into morphine, the latter may be detected at post mortem and recorded on the death certificate.

⁽⁴⁹⁾ Opiates include heroin/morphine and methadone.

Source:

ONS database of drug-related poisonings

Balance of Payments

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the significance of the balance of payments deficit in goods in the second quarter of this year. [16164]

Ruth Kelly: The Government will publish their latest forecasts for the UK economy, together with an assessment of recent economic developments, in the pre-Budget report on 27 November.

Mortgages

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received in response to his proposals for (a) the new regulatory regime for mortgages and (b) the date for N3. [15899]

Ruth Kelly: I have received a number of representations from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, individual mortgage lenders and others on the scope of mortgage regulation, the arrangements set out in the Financial Services Authority draft rules, as well as on the timing of N3.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what will be the role of (a) the mortgage code and (b) the Mortgage Code Compliance Board under the proposed new regulatory regime for mortgages. [15900]

Ruth Kelly: Much has been achieved since the Mortgage Code came into being in 1997. The Mortgage Code Compliance Board has worked to set the standards for service delivery, training and competence, and to increase professionalism within the mortgage industry. All of this will stand the industry in good stead when statutory regulation of mortgages comes into force.

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment his Department has made of the consumer benefits accruing from the proposed implementation of Rule 4.7.1(1) in the draft mortgage sourcebook and the likely implementation of Rule 4.7.1(1) by mortgage lenders; and if he will make a statement. [15784R]

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Ruth Kelly: A cost benefit analysis of the proposals contained in the (draft) mortgage sourcebook was published as an annexe (annexe D) to the Consultation Paper (CP 98) published by the Financial Services Authority.

Euro

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the euro on stability in the UK housing market. [15935]

Ruth Kelly: The Government have said that they will produce an assessment of the five economic tests within two years of the start of this Parliament. The assessment will be comprehensive and rigorous; all relevant economic issues will be dealt with as part of the assessment.

Consumer Debt

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he last discussed the level of consumer debt with the Governor of the Bank of England. [15934]

Ruth Kelly: The Chancellor and the Governor are in regular contact about a full range of economic issues.

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of all non-mortgage consumer debt is held by each income quintile in the last year for which figures are available. [15937]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Howard Flight, dated 19 November 2001:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the percentage of all non-mortgage consumer debt that is held by each income quintile. (15937)

The information requested is not available.

Stamp Duty

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage and what amount in real terms of stamp duty paid by private investors on shares was paid by each income quintile for the last year for which figures are available. [15924]

Ruth Kelly: The information is not available.

Inheritance Tax

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage and what amount in real terms of inheritance tax was paid by each income quintile in the last year for which figures are available; [15923]

(2) what plans he has to reform tax avoidance in relation to inheritance tax liabilities for persons in the upper earnings quintiles. [15925]

Dawn Primarolo: No statistics are available linking inheritance tax liabilities with the relative income level either of transferors in their lifetime, or of transferees.

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The Government take tax avoidance seriously whoever practises it; experience does not suggest that inheritance tax avoidance is necessarily confined to the upper income quintiles, and if we find that action is needed it will apply across the board.

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