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Public Expenditure (Health)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of raising public expenditure on health to the EU average by 2005. [19980]
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Mr. Andrew Smith: Health service expenditure plans for the period between 2003–04 and 2005–06 will be set in the 2002 spending review.
Tax Credits
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what basis he determines whether a tax credit is classed as public expenditure. [19808]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The Treasury's calculation of net taxes and social security contributions treats all tax credits as reductions in tax collected since working families and business tax credits appear as reductions in their tax bills.
The Treasury's calculation of public sector receipts, drawn from ONS's national accounts, treats some tax credits as public expenditure, as explained in the ONS publication "National Accounts Concepts Sources and Methods", Doggett 1998, 21.69 to 21.71.
Debt Repayment
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his oral statement of 7 March 2001, Official Report, column 297, on debt repayment, on which lines in which tables in the March 2001 Financial Statement and Budget report his statement is based. [17307]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The 2001 Budget estimate for the public sector net cash requirement (PSNCR) in 2000–01 is given in the net cash requirement line of table C20 of the March 2001 Financial Statement and Budget report. A negative figure for PSNCR implies the repayment of debt. Historical estimates of the PSNCR from 1963–64 are available from the Office for National Statistics. For the years 1951–52 to 1962–63, ONS estimates of public sector net borrowing have been used. These were positive in each year, implying no significant repayment of debt.
E-mail Information Service
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reason subscribers to the Treasury's e-mail information service do not receive e-mails automatically informing them of news releases, services or documentation being made available by the Treasury; and if he will make a statement. [16708]
Ruth Kelly: The Treasury has an e-mail information service which provides subscribers with e-mails notifying them of news releases from the Treasury. The service is currently available and can be accessed by visiting the Department's website at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk.
Public Expenditure
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the value for money of public expenditure on (a) education, (b) defence and (c) health care; and if he will make a statement. [18882]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Departments publish performance against their value for money targets in their spring departmental reports or, in the case of the Ministry of Defence, in its autumn performance report.
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HOME DEPARTMENT
Parliamentary Ombudsman
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many formal notices his Department has received in the last year from the Parliamentary Ombudsman expressing an intention to carry out an investigation; and in respect of each notice how long it took to respond. [18764]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 27 November 2001]: Information on the outcome of statutory investigations which were concluded during 2000–01 are set out in the Parliamentary Ombudsman's Annual report for 2000–01, copies of which are available in the Library, or on the Parliamentary Ombudsman's website at www.ombudsman.org.uk/pca/document/par01/index.htm.
Between 1 April 2001 and 31 October 2001, the Home Office has received seven new statutory statements of complaint from the Parliamentary Ombudsman. So far, we have responded to six of these cases, and the average time taken to respond overall is 27 and a half days.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his assessment is of the average additional cost of supporting an asylum seeker if the EC draft directive laying down minimum standards in the reception of applicants for asylum in member states were implemented. [6060]
Angela Eagle: The European Commission draft directive laying down minimum standards on the reception of applicants for asylum is currently under negotiation. The costs of implementation remain to be quantified and will depend on the final terms of the directive.
Mr. Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people applied for asylum to the UK this year from (a) Russia, (b) Ukraine, (c) Latvia, (d) Lithuania, (e) Estonia and (f) Georgia; and of these how many have been granted leave to stay. [19934]
Angela Eagle: The number of asylum applications from nationals of Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Georgia this year is shown in Table 1.
| Month | Asylum applications |
|---|---|
| Russia | 335 |
| Ukraine | 340 |
| Latvia | 85 |
| Lithuania | 170 |
| Estonia | 35 |
| Georgia | 90 |
(3) Figures rounded to the nearest five
(4) Provisional figures
The number of initial decisions made this year on applications for asylum from nationals of these countries are shown in Table 2, however information regarding initial decisions does not necessarily relate to applications made in the same period.
(5) Levels rounded to the nearest five
(6) Provisional figures
(7) 1 or 2
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Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of those who have failed in their application for asylum status have been removed from the UK in 2001; and if he will make a statement. [20160]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 3 December 2001]: The latest available information is given in the table.
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 2001 | 2001 | |
| Principal applicants removed | 2,070 | 2,375 | 2,385 |
| Dependants removed(10) | (11)— | 215 | 355 |
| Total asylum seekers removed | (11)— | 2,590 | 2,745 |
(8) Provisional figures, rounded to the nearest five. Figures may not sum due to rounding
(9) Includes persons departing 'voluntarily' after enforcement action had been initiated against them and persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return Programmes run by the IOM
(10) Data on dependants of asylum seekers removed have only been collected since April 2001
(11) Not applicable
Information on the number of asylum removals is published on a quarterly basis. The next set of data will be published on 28 February 2002 on the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website http:// www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.
Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his target is for removing asylum seekers whose application for asylum in the UK has failed; if this target has recently changed; and if he will make a statement. [20162]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 3 December 2001]: The current Service Delivery Agreement target relating to the removal of failed asylum seekers from the United Kingdom is to remove 3,000 in 2001–02; 33,000 in 2002–03; and 37,000 in 2003–04. The totals include dependants.
The 30,000 target for this year has always been extremely ambitious and high risk. No European country has achieved levels of this kind and the Home Secretary announced in the House as early as 27 June that the target would not be met. We aim to remove at the rate of 2,500 per month from early next year.
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