---

Insurance Guidance

Mr. Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the insurance guidance that went to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury at the end of November 1998. [46219]

Ruth Kelly: Insurance guidance on reserving for guaranteed annuities was issued by HM Treasury in December 1998 and is included as an appendix to the FSA's report into the regulation of Equitable Life. This was published on 16 October 2001 and a copy placed in the Library.

Equitable Life

Mr. Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if Treasury Ministers have been shown the documentation covering the period in 1998 when the Treasury was directly responsible for regulating Equitable Life. [46107]

25 Mar 2002 : Column 747W

Ruth Kelly: Treasury Ministers are aware of the sequence of events in 1998 and have had access to all relevant documentation.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the Treasury's written evidence to the Penrose Inquiry. [46106]

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what evidence the Government have been requested to provide the Penrose Inquiry into Equitable Life other than the Baird Report. [45884]

Ruth Kelly: Lord Penrose has been given access to all available information. The Treasury provided evidence to the Treasury Select Committee and arranged for publication of the FSA's report into the regulation of Equitable Life, copies of both of which have already been placed in the Library.

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Treasury has responded to the formal notice from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration of his intention to inquire into the regulation of Equitable Life. [45736]

Ruth Kelly: Yes. I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) on 3 December 2001, Official Report, column 66W.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what meetings have taken place since September 2001 between Lord Penrose and Treasury ministers. [46014]

Ruth Kelly: None.

Pensioners (Communication)

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the (a) number and (b) percentage of pensioner households that do not have (i) a telephone, (ii) e-mail and (iii) internet facilities. [45687]

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

Letter from Mr. Webb to Mr. Len Cook, dated 25 March 2002:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning the number and percentage of pensioner households that do not have (I) a telephone, (ii) e-mail and (iii) internet facilities. (45687).

The General Household Survey classifies pensioner households as those which contain a man aged 65 or over, or a woman aged 60 or over. Other non-pension age persons may also be in the household.

Unpublished data from the General Household Survey show that in Great Britain in 2000 (the most recent year available):

161,000 pensioner households did not have a telephone

6,688,000 pensioner households did not have internet facilities

These figures have been weighted and grossed to population values from the survey sample.

2% of pensioner households did not have a telephone

89% of pensioner households did not have internet facilities

These percentages are based on a weighted figure of 7,528,000 pensioner households in Great Britain (2649 in the survey sample).

The survey does not have information on e-mail.

25 Mar 2002 : Column 748W

Aggregates Levy

David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when the regulations dealing with the Aggregates Levy will be laid before Parliament; and when they will come into force; [46212]

(2) if he will delay the introduction of the Aggregates Levy to allow the publication of the regulations necessary to implement it in draft form; and if he will allow three months consultation on them before the levy commences; [46214]

(3) what factors he will take into account in deciding the date for the implementation of the Aggregates Levy. [46213]

Mr. Boateng: The levy will be implemented on 1 April 2002.

The draft regulations have been the subject of extensive consultation with the aggregates industry since November 2001.

The regulations were laid on 21 March and enter into force on 1 April 2002.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make draft regulations for the implementation of the Aggregates Levy before 26 March. [45390]

Mr. Boateng: The Aggregates Levy (Registration and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2001 were made on 19 December 2001 and the Aggregates Levy (General) Regulations 2002 were made on 21 March 2002.

Whisky

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations have been received from the Scottish Executive regarding the proposals for a strip tax on whisky. [45817]

Mr. Boateng: I have received a number of representations about the consultation by Customs and Excise on the costs, benefits and practicalities of a tax stamps system for spirits, including representations from the Scottish Executive.

Oil Prices

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the impact on the United Kingdom economy and (a) domestic and (b) business consumers of oil prices of (i) $30 a barrel, (ii) $35 a barrel and (iii) $38 a barrel for over 12 months' duration; and if he will make a statement on the implications for the economy of higher prices for oil produced on the UK Continental Shelf. [45158]

Ruth Kelly: As detailed in the Pre-Budget Report 2000 (Cm 4917, Box A3, page 153) higher oil prices would, all else equal, tend to reduce GDP growth and increase inflation. However, the UK differs from most other major industrialised economies in that it is a small net exporter of oil, so potential GDP losses may be partly offset by increased North Sea production.

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what risk assessment he has made of the effect on the (a) price of oil, (b) availability of oil and (c) UK economy of UK military action in Iraq. [45160]

25 Mar 2002 : Column 749W

Ruth Kelly: As the Prime Minister has made clear, most recently on 11 March, no decision has been made on whether to take military action against Iraq. Iraq currently contributes supplies of oil equivalent to about three per cent. of world production. Spare oil production capacity worldwide is currently several times this amount. Moreover, there are also International Energy Agency and international agreements on holding stocks of oil, and procedures to deal with any oil supply disruptions. Oil markets are, however, volatile and to some extent driven by expectations, as well as responding to the near-term actual balance of supply and demand. It is therefore difficult to predict the impact on oil prices from any supply disruptions, and the question of military action against Iraq is only one of a wide range of influences. The Government will publish an updated forecast for the UK economy in the Budget on April 17, taking account of all relevant economic factors.

Public Service Agreements

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if the service delivery agreement to reduce sickness absence by 0.5 days by April 2001 was met; [46103]

(2) what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for the increase in net public investment and improvement of the public capital stock in 2002 will be met; [46000]

(3) when he estimates the PSA target for the publication of the whole of Government accounts for 2001–02 will be met; [46003]

(4) if the PSA target for the achievement of investors in people accreditation was achieved on time; [46004]

(5) if the PSA target for the completion of the information strategy review was met on time; [45982]

(6) what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for achieving a declining trend in excessive hours worked will be met on time; [46005]

(7) what recent assessment he has made of progress with the public service agreement target for securing an increase in the number of successful high growth business start-ups; [46001]

(8) if he estimates that the PSA target for 2002 for increasing the proportion of business undertaken electronically will be achieved on time; [46006]

(9) if he estimates the PSA target for moving to electronic publishing of material hitherto published on paper will be met on time; [45983]

(10) if the PSA target for the reduction of unfilled vacancies was achieved on time; [45984]

(11) what recent assessment he has made of whether the PSA target for reducing the number of households facing marginal deduction rates over 70 per cent. will be achieved on time; [46002]

(12) if he estimates that the PSA targets for correspondence and parliamentary response times will be met on time. [45981]

Ruth Kelly: Information about progress on PSA targets will be published in the Treasury's 2002 departmental report.

25 Mar 2002 : Column 750W

---