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Aviation Industry

27. Ian Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what fiscal measures he is considering to lessen the economic effects of international terrorism on the aviation industry. [18712]

Mr. Boateng: The Government keep all taxes under review and decisions will be made as part of the normal Budget process.

PSBR

28. Mr. MacDougall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the role of the public sector borrowing requirement in deciding on monetary union. [18713]

Ruth Kelly: The Government have said that they will complete 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.

Minimum Income Guarantee

30. John Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to improve the minimum income guarantee for the poorest pensioner households. [18715]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The minimum income guarantee benefits around 1.8 million of the poorest households. In April, we reformed the capital rules to reward those who have saved and we abolished the age-related lower rates so that everyone on the MIG is entitled to the highest rate of support. We are committed to raising the MIG in line with earnings throughout this Parliament to ensure that pensioners can share in rising prosperity.

To provide greater support not only for the very poorest but also for those on low and modest incomes, we have decided to proceed with the introduction of the Pension Credit from 2003 at a cost of £2 billion in the first full year. The Pension Credit will tackle the unfairness and complexities of the current system. It will bring pensioners up to a guaranteed minimum income and it will reward those who have saved for retirement to ensure that it pays to have saved even quite modest amounts.

Climate Change Levy

31. Gillian Merron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will exempt combined heat and power from the climate change levy; and if he will make a statement. [18716]

6 Dec 2001 : Column: 518W

Mr. Boateng: As announced in last week's pre-Budget report, subject to legal and other constraints, the Government will consider the environmental case for providing more favourable treatment for CHP within the climate change levy, taking account of the role which CHP might play in meeting the UK's climate change targets.

Euro

32. Mr. Hopkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will include the achievement of a competitive and sustainable final exchange rate of the pound against the euro in his assessment of the economic tests for UK membership of the euro. [18717]

Ruth Kelly: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Matthew Taylor) on 20 July 2001, Official Report, column 561W.

Tom Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the recent meetings he has had with the Prime Minister to discuss the introduction of the euro. [18695]

Ruth Kelly: The Prime Minister and the Chancellor meet regularly to discuss a wide range of issues.

Mr. Alan Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Matthew Taylor), of 19 July 2001, Official Report, column 381W, what exchange rate between the pound and the euro will be stable and competitive in the medium term. [18698]

Ruth Kelly: The Government believe the best contribution they can make to a stable and competitive exchange rate is low and stable inflation with sound public finances.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the extent to which the pound sterling was overvalued against the euro on 27 November; and if he will make a statement. [20309]

Ruth Kelly: The Government believe the best contribution they can make to a stable and competitive exchange rate over the medium term is low and stable inflation with sound public finances.

Research and Development Tax Breaks

33. Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the utilisation of research and development tax breaks. [18718]

Dawn Primarolo: Figures for the number of firms that have taken advantage of the research and development tax credit for small and medium enterprises introduced in the last Budget will not be available until 2002, when firms incurring research and development expenditure have sent in their tax returns for the first year of operation of the scheme.

Exports

35. Mr. Swayne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the impact the economic slowdown in Europe will have on UK exports in the next 12 months. [18721]

6 Dec 2001 : Column: 519W

Ruth Kelly: The Government's latest forecast for UK export growth in 2002, which takes into account all relevant influences, was published in the pre-Budget report (Cm 5318).

Commissioner Bolkestein

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he last met European Commissioner Bolkestein; and if he will make a statement on the issues discussed. [19367]

Ruth Kelly: The Chancellor met Commissioner Bolkestein on 20 November. They discussed a number of current tax dossiers and preparations for the Barcelona European Council.

Smuggling

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the proportion of the market share of UK consumed cigarettes accounted for by smuggled product for the latest year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [20339]

Mr. Boateng: I refer the hon. Member to page 11 of the Customs and Excise paper "Measuring Indirect Tax Fraud" published on 27 November 2001, a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

The Customs and Excise paper, "Tackling Indirect Tax Fraud", also published on 27 November 2001 and a copy of which is also in the Library of the House, sets out the results of the first year of the Government's Tackling Tobacco Smuggling strategy. These results show that the Government's strategy is on target to achieve its aim of putting cigarette smuggling into decline within three years.

Railtrack

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 19 November 2001, Official Report, columns 143–44W, under what exemptions of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information he did not provide the information requested. [20134]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The answer was in accordance with Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, which was introduced in April 1994, and the Resolution of the House of March 1997. These specifically provide for the exclusion of internal consultation and discussion, and confidential communications between Government Departments.

Working Age Inactivity Rate

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the change in the working age inactivity rate over the past 12 months; what reasons underlie this change; and if he will make a statement. [20223]

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. David Laws, dated 6 December 2001:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the change in working age inactivity rates. (20223)

6 Dec 2001 : Column: 520W

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) provides estimates of the economic inactivity rates of working age people, ie. men aged 16–64 and women aged 16–59. The working age economic inactivity rate is the number of working age people who are economically inactive as a percentage of all working age people.

The latest available seasonally adjusted estimates are based on a three month rolling average for July to September 2001. The seasonally adjusted LFS estimate of the working age economic inactivity rate for July to September 2001 is 21.4 per cent. This is 0.4 percentage point higher than the estimate for July to September 2000. The inactivity rate for women rose by 0.6 percentage points over this period to 27.6 per cent, and the rate for men rose by 0.1 percentage point to 15.8 per cent.

Capital Gains Tax

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates he has made of the level of capital gains tax paid in each year from 1997–98 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [20307]

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of capital gains tax receipts in 2001–02 to 2002–03 are published in the November 2001 pre-Budget report. Estimates for earlier years are available from the Inland Revenue website.

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