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Fireworks

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many reported incidents of injuries to (a) domestic pets and (b) other animals due to the sale of fireworks have been reported (i) prior to 5 November,

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(ii) on 5 November and (iii) after 5 November in each of the last five years in (A) Scotland and (B) the United Kingdom; [13179]

(2) how many reported incidents of damage to property with fireworks in each of the last five years have involved (a) minors and (b) adults as alleged perpetrators of the incidents in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK; [13191]

(3) how many incidents of damage to property with fireworks in the last five years have occurred (a) prior to 5 November, (b) on 5 November and (c) after 5 November in each year in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK; [13192]

(4) how many incidents of injuries to (a) domestic pets and (b) other animals have been reported due to the sale of fireworks in each of the last five years in (i) Scotland and (ii) the United Kingdom. [13183]

Ms Hewitt [holding answers 8 November 2001]: I have been asked to reply because of my Department's responsibility for consumer and product safety which includes fireworks.

I regret that the information requested is not held by my Department.

Royal Parks Constabulary

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civilian and uniformed staff of the Royal Parks constabulary have left employment in police service on grounds of ill health or disability in the last five years. [15654]

Dr. Howells: I have been asked to reply.

Responsibility for the subject of this question has been delegated to the Royal Parks Agency and I have asked its Chief Executive, William Weston, to reply.

Letter from William Weston to Mr. Peter Bottomley, dated 21 November 2001:

I have been asked by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of RPC officers who have left on health grounds, because this is an operational matter which is the responsibility of the Royal Parks Agency.

Fifteen civilian and uniformed staff of the Royal Parks Constabulary have left employment in police service on the grounds of ill health or disability in the last five years.

TREASURY

VAT

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for the financial years (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) 2001–02 to the most recent date for which information is available to him (i) the number of VAT returns received by HM Customs and Excise, (ii) the number of trader visits made by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise and (iii) the additional net tax found on visits. [11372]

Mr. Boateng: The information is as follows.

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	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02(28)
Number of VAT Returns	7,330,747	7,344,453	3,566,462
Number of visits made	170,718	166,305	82,653
Additional tax found (£ billion)	1.9	2.3	1.0

⁽²⁸⁾ September 2001

Regulation

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many regulations were introduced by his Department in each year since May 1997. [14427]

Dawn Primarolo: Regulatory Impact Assessments (Compliance Cost Assessments for measures introduced before August 1998) have been completed in respect of all measures which have significantly imposed or reduced costs on businesses, charities or voluntary bodies. These are available from the House Libraries.

Stamp Duty

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made in introducing zero rates of stamp duty in deprived areas. [15942]

Mr. Boateng: The Government have been considering how best to implement this exemption and an announcement will be made shortly.

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to reform stamp duty on shares. [15920]

Ruth Kelly: The Government keep the whole tax system under regular review in order to meet their objectives for a fair and efficient tax system.

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the impact of stamp duty on shares on financial exclusion. [15921]

Ruth Kelly: There is no evidence that stamp duty on shares has any impact on financial exclusion.

Financial Services and Markets Act

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the impact on the status of friendly societies of the coming into force of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. [15916]

Ruth Kelly: The constitutional status of friendly societies as member-owned mutual societies will be unchanged by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). That Act will harmonise the regulation of friendly societies and other insurance business under a single regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

EU Moneys (Scotland)

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for each year since 1979 in (a) cash terms, (b) real terms and (c) as a percentage of the UK total, the total value of EU moneys spent in Scotland. [16178]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Details of all EC receipts which have been paid in Scotland are not held centrally for this period. However, table 14d of the Departmental Report of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Departments (Cm 5116) contains information on receipts from the EC budget, by Department, and fund, since 1995–96 including for the Scottish Office (now Scottish Executive)

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(the UK's EAGGF Guarantee receipts are shown in the table under the Intervention Board). Similar information for earlier years was published in previous reports.

Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what involvement his Department has had with the renegotiation of the Ministry of Defence contract with EDS for the Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency; and if he will make a statement. [16590]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The Ministry of Defence was responsible for the reconstruction of the Armed Forces Personnel and Administration Agency (AFPAA) contract with EDS and HM Treasury was not involved. The Ministry of Defence required my approval as Chief Secretary to the Treasury to proceed with reconstructing the contract. This approval was given following discussions between the Ministry of Defence and the Office of Government Commerce, who are represented on the AFPAA Owner's Board.

Departmental Staff

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employees of (a) his Department and (b) agencies sponsored by his Department work in (i) London, (ii) areas benefiting from EU objective 1 status, (iii) areas with objective 2 status and (iv) other areas. [16112]

Ruth Kelly [holding answer 19 November 2001]: The information is as follows:

Department/Agency	London	Objective 1	Objective 2	Other
HM Treasury	1,049	0	0	0
Office for National Statistics	919	614	1,026	911
Customs and Excise	5,984	2,837	1,941	12,694
Inland Revenue	6,517	8,134	36,885	16,519
Valuation Office Agency	766	194	1,197	2,000
Royal Mint	10	1,007	0	0
National Savings	101	0	15	0
Government Actuary's Department	104	0	0	0
Total	15,450	12,786	41,064	32,124

Earnings Statistics

Julie Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the hourly earnings of women as a proportion of the earnings of men for graduates who graduated in the years (a) 1990, (b) 1991, (c) 1992, (d) 1993, (e) 1994 and (f) 1995 at the latest available date. [16136]

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

Letter from John Pullinger to Julie Morgan, dated 21 November 2001:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the hourly earnings of graduates by year of graduation. I am replying in his absence (16136).

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) provides estimates of average gross hourly earnings for graduates of working age, ie men aged 16–64 and women aged 16–59. However, the LFS does not ask people what year they graduated. Therefore, it does not provide estimates of graduates' earnings by year of graduation.

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