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Census Records

Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the estimated annual storage costs are for each of the (a) 1921, (b) 1951, (c) 1961 and (d) 1971 decennial population census records for England and Wales; and which Department is responsible for paying those storage costs. [59067]

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. John Taylor, dated 24 May 2002:

As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the estimated annual storage costs are for each of the 1921, 1951, 1961 and 1971 decennial population census records for England and Wales; and which Department is responsible for paying those storage costs. (59067)

Currently the estimated annual storage costs for each of these censuses are:—

1921	£9,500
1951	£17,000
1961	£26,500
1971	£69,000
Total	£122,000

As Registrar General, I am responsible for the custody of these census records and the Office for National Statistics is responsible for paying these storage costs.

Press Releases

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many press releases have been issued by his Department in each month of 2002. [59488]

24 May 2002 : Column 666W

Ruth Kelly: The information required is set out below.

	No.
January	3
February	12
March	15
April	11
May	7 (as at 22/5/02)

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many press releases were issued by his Department in each month between May and December 1997. [59487]

Ruth Kelly: The information required is set out below.

	No.
May	19
June	14
July	25
August	6
September	13
October	16
November	18
December	19

Financial Services Ombudsman

Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints there have been about the Financial Ombudsman's handling of casework (a) in the UK and (b) in the Blackpool, South constituency in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [58831]

Ruth Kelly: (a) Ahead of assuming its full powers on 1 December 2001, the Financial Ombudsman Service consolidated and revised the different procedures that the eight predecessor schemes had in place for handling complaints against themselves. The Financial Ombudsman Service Board appointed an Independent Assessor on 1 December 2001 and, in the period since his appointment up to 31 March 2002, he received 50 complaints. Of these, 12 were upheld (in whole or in part), 14 were rejected, 8 were determined to be outside the Independent Assessor's terms of reference and 16 awaited a decision. Earlier figures for complaints against the eight predecessor schemes are incomplete. (b) Of the 50 complaints received by the Independent Assessor, none came from the Blackpool South constituency (postcodes FY4, FY3 and FY1).

Endowment Mortgages (Mis-Selling)

Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints have been received about the mis-selling of endowment mortgages by (a) the Financial Services Authority and (b) the Financial Ombudsman (i) in the UK and (ii) in the Blackpool South constituency in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [58830]

Ruth Kelly: (a) The Financial Services Authority does not deal with complaints but can answer general queries about financial products and services, including about endowment mortgages and who to contact if consumers have a complaint about one. Since August 2000 the FSA has had a total of 25,309 enquiries about endowments in general. Separate figures for the Blackpool South constituency are not available.

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(b) The Personal Investment Authority Ombudsman Bureau dealt with endowment mortgage complaints until 1 December 2001 when it was succeeded by the Financial Ombudsman Service. (i) The total number of endowment mortgage complaints received by these bodies was:

Year
1997–1998	2,751	PIAOB
1998–1999	2,856	PIAOB
1999–2000	3,135	PIAOB
2000–2001	9,067	PIAOB
2001–2002	14,595	PIAOB/FOS

(ii) Separate figures for the Blackpool South constituency (postcodes FY4, FY3 and FY1) are only available for the year 2001–2002, when 20 complaints were received.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of ordinary written Questions for his Department were answered within a week of tabling in each month since June 2001; and what proportion of questions for named day received a substantive answer on that day in each month since June 2001. [58974]

Mr. Boateng: 3,558 of the 4,563 written Parliamentary questions tabled to the Treasury in the present session have been answered on time, the detailed breakdown sought by the hon. Gentleman being as follows.

	Named Day questions answered on the nominated day (per cent)	Ordinary Written questions answered within a week of being tabled (per cent)
June	95.4	77.4
July	72.9	85.8
October	65.4	75.3
November	70.3	82.3
December	74.7	77.0
January	77.4	73.3
February	83.3	77.7
March	63.3	80.9
April	43.9	88.4
May (to date)	88.2	83.3

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the question from the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham Ref. 31887 tabled on 28 January; and if he will make a statement as to the cause of the delay. [59433]

Ruth Kelly: I answered the hon. Gentleman's question on 13 March, Official Report, columns 1108–9W.

Euro

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what analysis he has made of which industries are most likely to benefit from the UK joining the European single currency market. [59545]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester East on 25 March, Official Report, column 775W.

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Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a further statement on when the Government intends to conduct a referendum on the euro. [59543]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Buckingham on 2 November 2001, Official Report, column 885W.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the Government will inform the public of the issues at stake before a euro referendum. [59544]

Ruth Kelly: The Government has said that it will complete an assessment of the Five Economic Tests within two years of the start of this Parliament. Once the assessment is complete, the Government will publish the conclusions and the report.

If, on the basis of the assessment, a decision to recommend joining is taken by the Government, it will be put to a vote in Parliament and then to a referendum of the British people.

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take account of the CFA franc zone's effect on monetary policy in the Eurozone in assessing the five economic tests for joining the euro; and if he will make a statement. [59884]

Ruth Kelly: The Government has said that it will complete an assessment of the five economic tests within two years of the start of this Parliament. All relevant economic issues will be dealt with as part of the assessment.

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the criteria by which he will judge whether the five economic tests have been met clearly and unambiguously. [59806]

Ruth Kelly: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Yeovil on 17 January Official Report, column 438W.

Financial Services Authority

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the forecast income is to the FSA from fees charged to WI markets under the Registrar of Friendly Societies responsibilities being transferred to the FSA from 1 December 2001. [59435]

Ruth Kelly: The Financial Services Authority estimates the income from fees it charged to all WI markets societies between the period December 2001 to March 2002 at £2400.

Departmental Reports

Barbara Follett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the 2002 Departmental reports will be published. [60376]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The planned publication dates of the 2002 Departmental Reports are as follows:

	Date
Department for International Development	24 April
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	23 May
Department for Work and Pensions	23 May

Departments listed below; week beginning 10 June:

British Trade International

Cabinet Office

Charity Commission for England and Wales

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Education & Skills and Office for Standards in Education

Department of Health

Department of Trade and Industry

Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Food Standards Agency

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Government Actuary's Department

Her Majesty's Customs & Excise

HM Treasury

Inland Revenue

Lord Chancellor's Departments

Ministry of Defence

National Savings & Investments

Northern Ireland Office

Office for National Statistics

Office of Fair Trading

Scotland Office

The Law Officers' Departments

Wales Office

24 May 2002 : Column 669W

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