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Estate Duty

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce plans to change the rules relating to the payment of estate duty on royal assets; and if he will make a statement. [61320]

Mr. Gordon Brown [holding answer 13 June 2002]: The inheritance tax arrangements are set out in

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paragraphs 20 to 23 of the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding in the Royal Trustees report (HC 464) and remain in existence.

Staff Training

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Department has spent on staff training and development in each of the last five years. [61055]

Ruth Kelly: Expenditure on staff training and development for the last five years was as follows:

	Amount
1997–98	1,099,168
1998–99	1,262,368
1999–2000	1,141,469
2000–01	1,517,759
2001–02	1,768,463

GDP

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the relative relevance and importance of (a) real and (b) nominal GDP figures. [61976]

Ruth Kelly: Real and nominal GDP growth are linked via the implicit price deflator—the GDP deflator measure of inflation. Low inflation is the essential foundation for securing sustainable improvements in real GDP growth. So it is not meaningful in general to distinguish between real and nominal GDP in terms of relevance and importance.

Credit Card Debt

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, pursuant to his answer of 10 June 2002, Official Report, column 848W, to the hon. Member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Harris), he will state the equivalent figures for credit card (a) in total and (b) per head for each year since 1996. [62933]

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. Jim Cousins, dated 19 June 2002:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on credit card debt which follows on from the answer given to Mr. Harris on 10 June in the Official Report 848W. (62933)

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The information requested is given in the table below.

Amounts outstanding on credit cards at the end of June each year, the resident adult population at the mid point of each year and the ratio of credit card debt divided by adult population rounded to the nearest £10

Mid year	Amount outstanding on credit cards (£ billion)	Adult population (million)	Credit card debt divided by adult population (£)
1996	14.2	45.2	310
1997	16.8	45.4	370
1998	20.5	45.7	450
1999	29.5	45.9	640
2000	34.7	46.2	750
2001	39.2	46.5	840

Royal Family (Taxation)

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer from which taxes members of the Royal Family are exempt. [62610]

Mr. Gordon Brown [holding answer 17 June 2002]: The taxation arrangements for Her Majesty and the Prince of Wales are set out in full in the Memorandum of Understanding in the Royal Trustees report (HC 464) published on 11 February 1993. All other members of the Royal Family are subject to the normal tax rules.

Credit Unions

David Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many credit unions are registered within the UK; and how many people are members. [62900]

Ruth Kelly: At 31 December 2000 there were 861 credit unions registered within the UK, with around 642,500 members.

David Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the level of funds loaned in each of the last five years by credit unions in the UK. [62898]

Ruth Kelly: Credit unions reported loans outstanding for years ended in:

	£
2000	496,621,000
1999	441,410,000
1998	348,507,000
1997	326,919,000
1996	276,084,000

The collated data for 2001 were not yet available.

David Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action is being taken by his Department to support credit union development in the UK. [62899]

Ruth Kelly: The Government believe that credit unions have an important role to play to encourage the accumulation of savings, provide affordable credit and, through their unique position, help tackle financial exclusion. That is why we have been involved in a number of measures designed to help the movement develop and grow. In October 2001 we published a consultation document containing seven deregulatory proposals, to which we received a significant number of

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positive responses. We have now made a consequential amendments order under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) that will bring four of the seven proposals into force on 2 July 2002. We are currently drafting an order under the Regulatory Reform Act 2000 that should bring the remaining three proposals into force later this year. These measures will help credit unions offer their members a greater range of services and compete more effectively for deposits.

We also used FSMA to bring credit unions under the Financial Services Authority's rule making powers. From 2 July 2002 depositors with credit unions will be given a similar level of protection to that enjoyed by depositors with banks and building societies.

National Statistics

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what statistics have been collected by the National Statistician to determine the rate of self-inflicted death and suicide among (a) members of HM armed forces, (b) police officers and staff, (c) prison officers and staff, (d) firefighting officers and staff and (e) ambulance service staff; [62672]

(2) what statistics have been collected by the National Statistician to determine the rate of self-inflicted death or suicide, broken down by (a) sex, (b) ethnic origin, (c) occupation, (d) age and (e) religion. [62652]

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. Kevin McNamara, dated 19 June 2002:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your questions (62652 and 62672) on what statistics have been collected to determine the rate of self-inflicted death or suicide, (1) broken down by (a) sex, (b) ethnic origin, (c) occupation, (d) age, and (e) religion, and (2) among (a) members of HM Armed Forces, (b) police officers and staff, (c) prison officers and staff, (d) firefighting officers and staff, and (e) ambulance service staff. (62652, 62672)

Numbers of deaths from self-inflicted death or suicide are collected through the registration of deaths. Information recorded at registration includes the cause of death, sex, occupation and age of the deceased. Neither ethnic origin nor religion is recorded at registration. In reporting on these statistics, suicides are routinely defined as deaths from suicide and deaths from 'injury undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted'. It is likely that most of these latter deaths are cases where the harm is self-inflicted but there was insufficient evidence to prove that the deceased deliberately intended to kill themselves.

To determine death rates, the number of persons at risk of dying in each relevant category is also required. Annual population estimates, calculated by the Office for National Statistics, are used to provide this information in respect of age and sex. Comparable information about the population in terms of ethnic origin and occupation is available from the Census. Information on religion was collected for the first time in the 2001 Census, the results of which are not yet available.

Using the information collected, statistics on death rates from suicide broken down by sex and age are published annually ¹ . Statistics on death rates from suicide by occupation are routinely published every ten years in decennial supplements. The latest publication ² includes separate figures for all the occupations listed in the question except for prison officers and staff, who are included within a broader category of 'security workers'. Statistics on death rates by ethnic origin and religion are not yet available.

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¹ Office for National Statistics (2001) "Mortality statistics: cause. Review of the Register General on deaths by cause, sex and age, in England and Wales, 2000". Series DH2 no. 27. Office for National Statistics: London.

² Drever F (ed.) (1995) "Occupational Health Decennial Supplement". Series DS no. 10. HMSO: London.

Copies of the above named publications are available in the House of Commons Library.

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