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Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the total external spend by her Department was on private finance initiative consultants in each of the last four years; how many full-time equivalent consultants were employed over this period; how many billed consultancy days there were per year; what the implied average cost of each PFI consultant was; how many consultancy firms were used by her Department over this period; and if she will make a statement. [31036]

Clare Short: DFID has no private finance initiative projects and we have not engaged external PFI consultants.

TREASURY

Euro

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 17 January 2002, Official Report, column 437W, if he will list the Treasury management units which are involved in the preliminary technical work for evaluating the five economic tests for membership of the euro; and if he will make a statement. [30700]

Ruth Kelly: A wide range of officials from several Treasury management units is contributing.

Spectacles

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to review the partial exemption from VAT of prescription spectacles; and if he will make a statement. [30880]

Mr. Boateng: Customs and Excise are to hold discussions with the optical industry about the implications of the recent legal rulings about the exemption from VAT of opticians' dispensing services provided at the same time as spectacles or contact lenses.

Eurozone

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 17 January 2002, Official Report, column 439W, on eurozone, if he will list the interest rate forecasts prepared by the Treasury which are not for publication; and if he will make a statement. [30666]

Ruth Kelly: The Treasury makes interest rate assumptions for the UK and an aggregate for the G7 for the purposes of constructing the pre-Budget and Budget forecasts. In line with the practice of previous Governments, we do not publish the interest rate paths underlying the economic forecasts.

Adjudication Officer

Sue Doughty: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the full remit for the Adjudication Officer. [30366]

Dawn Primarolo: The remit of the Adjudicator for the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise is shown in detail in the booklets AO1 for the Inland Revenue and AO2 for Customs and Excise. Those booklets show what the adjudicator can and cannot do, copies of which are

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available from the Adjudicator's Office and most Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise offices; and is also set out in the joint Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise Service Level Agreement with the Adjudicator's Office. Under the agreement the adjudicator provides an independent adjudication service into unresolved complaints about the way in which Inland Revenue or Customs and Excise have handled a person's tax etc. affairs but excludes matters arising out of a commercial or employment contract, or matters relating to their tax liability, valuation affairs, national insurance contributions or any issue to be determined by any court or tribunal.

ECOFIN Council

Mr. Hood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the outcome was of the ECOFIN Council held in Brussels on 22 January; what the Government's position was on each issue discussed, including its voting record; and if he will make a statement. [30373]

Mr. Andrew Smith: I attended the ECOFIN on 22 January.

The incoming Spanish presidency and the Commission introduced their work programmes. In the ensuing debate, I stressed the need for the EU to pursue vigorous structural reforms in product, labour and capital markets to stimulate growth and create jobs.

ECOFIN adopted Opinions on the Stability and Convergence Programmes of Austria, Belgium, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Ministers endorsed the Economic Policy Committee's report on Research and Development, and agreed that it should be sent to the March European Council in Barcelona. The Government support the report's proposals for boosting innovation in the EU.

The European Commission gave an oral update on the transition to euro notes and coins. ECOFIN welcomed the smooth progress achieved so far.

Ministers discussed the state of ratification of the Own Resources Decision. This was due to take effect from 1 January 2002, but has still to be ratified by some member states. The UK completed the process of ratification on 4 December 2001.

The European Commission gave an oral update on negotiations with third countries regarding the draft directive on the taxation savings. ECOFIN agreed a statement on Argentina, in response to the economic crisis there.

No votes were taken at the meeting.

Minimum Wage

Mr. Tom Harris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employers in Glasgow, Cathcart constituency his Department identified in 2001 as paying less than the national minimum wage to their employees. [31213]

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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. Tom Harris, dated 29 January 2002:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question about the number of employers in Glasgow, Cathcart constituency who pay their employees less than the national minimum wage (NMW). (31213)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not collect information on the number of employers who pay their employees less than NMW rates. However, estimates of the number of jobs paid less than NMW rates are available for the United Kingdom and Government Office Regions on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/themes/labour_market/pay_and_earnings/ measuring_low_pay.asp

Estimates for Parliamentary Constituencies are not available.

Births, Marriages and Deaths

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what proportion of records of births, marriages and deaths held by the General Record Office have been micro-filmed; [31476]

(2) when he plans to make micro-filmed copies of births, marriages and deaths held by the General Records Office available to the public; [31475]

(3) what charges he will make for public access to micro-filmed records of births, marriages and deaths held by the General Records Office. [31474]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Registrar-General. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Dr. Murrison, dated 29 January 2002:

As Registrar General for England and Wales, I have been asked to reply to your recent questions on microfilmed records of births, marriages and deaths. (31474, 31475, 31476)

The General Register Officer holds paper copies of all records of births, deaths and marriages registered in England and Wales from 1837 to September 2001. Those for the remainder of 2001 are expected from registrars very shortly. All records up to and including those for 2000 have been microfilmed. Microfilming of birth and death records for 2001 is underway. However, an index is essential to find the appropriate record. Computerised indexes are only available for records dating from 1983.

On 22 January, the Government published the White Paper — 'Civil Registration: Vital Change'. It includes proposals on access to registration records and their computerisation.

Legislation is needed to implement these changes and will take at least two years. Phased implementation will follow. Charging arrangements will be determined as part of implementation.

Pension Tax Codes

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 15 January 2002, Official Report, column 224W, on pension tax codes, whether the rate of increase in the basic state pension supplied by the DWP is applied to all state pension income for tax code purposes; and if this will result in an amount in excess of people's actual state pension income being included in tax codes in years where the basic state pension is indexed by more than any additional state pension in payment. [31273]

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Dawn Primarolo: Most pensioner tax codes are adjusted individually according to information provided by DWP about the taxpayer's state pension entitlement. In a minority of cases where information on a pensioner's state pension has not been provided by DWP, the estimated amount of state pension already included in the tax code is increased by reference to the appropriate percentage increase in state pensions as announced in the pre-Budget report.

This estimate may be incorrect where an individual receives an additional state pension. However as soon as the pensioner or the DWP bring the correct pension to the Revenue's attention their tax code will be altered and from that point on the pensioner will be included in the DWP's yearly update.

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