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Regional Organisations

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what regional organisation his Department has; and if he will list the counties and unitary authorities in each region in (a) 1997 and (b) 2002. [58940]

Mr. Boateng: The Treasury does not have a regional organisation.

Whisky Duty

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is being done to bring whisky duty in to line with other alcohol tariffs by level of alcohol content. [59542]

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Mr. Boateng: The duty on spirits has been frozen in the last five Budgets and a bottle of whisky is now 73p less expensive than it otherwise would have been. The freezes have narrowed the duty differential and the duty on spirits is now 34 per cent. lower (in real terms) than it was 20 years ago.

The Chancellor will continue to take decisions on a Budget by Budget basis, taking into account all relevant factors including the position of UK spirits producers and various duty differentials.

Government Borrowing

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the estimated effect would be on UK net borrowing for the current year if the UK GDP grows at (a) 1.75 per cent., (b) 1.5 per cent. and (c) 1 per cent. rather than the projected rate. [59587]

Mr. Boateng: Paragraph C18 of Budget 2002 gives estimates of the relationship between net borrowing and the output gap.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Treasury classes as a prudent and acceptable level of (a) deficit spending for the UK Government and (b) total national debt as a percentage of GDP. [59389]

Mr. Boateng: The Government set fiscal policy to meet their fiscal policy objectives and their two strict fiscal rules:


Further detail showing the Government are projected to meet their fiscal rules over the next five years can be found in Table 2.5 on page 31 of the April 2002 Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what UK net borrowing was in each year since 1992; and what the predicted UK net borrowing in each year from the current year to 2008 is. [59390]

Mr. Boateng: The available estimates of public sector net borrowing for the UK, expressed in financial years and as a percentage of GDP, are set out in Tables C23 and C2 of Budget 2002.

2001 Census

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest assessment is of the results from the 2001 Census; and if he will make a statement. [60075]

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

Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Edward Davey, dated 10 June 2002:


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Mr. Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will include a question on British Sign Language usage in the 2011 census, in the format of Question 9 in the 2001 census. [60115]

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

Letter from John Kidgell to Mr. James Gray, dated 10 June 2002:



Credit Card Debt

Mr. Tom Harris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the average credit card debt owed by an adult in the UK. [58871]

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

Letter from John Kidgell to Mr. Tom Harris, dated 10 June 2002:



Office for National Statistics

Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses have been required to supply information on their returns to the Office for National Statistics in each of the past three years. [59187]

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. Brian Cotter, dated May 2002:


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YearNumber of enterprises
1999262,232
2000274,324
2001270,045

Source:

Office for National Statistics


Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what information businesses are required to supply to the Office for National Statistics; and in which legislation this requirement lies. [59192]

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. Brian Cotter, dated May 2002:







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