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Ministerial Salaries

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the annual cost was of ministerial salaries in his Department in (a) 1997–98 and (b) 2001–02. [60951]

Mr. Alexander: The level of ministerial salaries are recommended by the senior salaries review body. From May 1997, in this Department there were two Cabinet Ministers, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and the Leader of the House of Lords, at an annual salary of £43,991 and £58,876 respectively; one Minister of State at an annual salary of £31,125; and one parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at an annual salary of £23,623. From June 2001, there were two Cabinet Ministers, the Deputy prime Minister and First Secretary of State, and the Leader of the House of Lords, at an annual salary of £68,157 and £90,562 respectively; two Ministers of State, at an annual salary of £35,356, one Minister of State (the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster) at an annual salary of £70,283; and one Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, at an annual salary of £26,835.

TREASURY

Female Staff

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the staff of his Department are women; and what the percentage was in June 1997. [66915]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to him by the Minister of State, Cabinet Office on 5 July Official Report, column 622W.

Infant Deaths

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many infant deaths per 1,000 live births there were in each constituency in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [67870]

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. Paul Marsden dated 10 July 2002:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many infant deaths per 1,000 live births there were in each constituency in each year since 1997. (67870).

Figures are available for the years 1997–2001. A combined rate for these years has been calculated for each constituency, as the number of infant deaths for individual years in some constituencies was too small to reliably calculate a rate or prevent disclosure. These rates have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

10 Jul 2002 : Column 1029W

Elderly People (Definition)

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government's definition of elderly is; and what proportion of the population in each region is considered elderly. [68535]

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. Bill Wiggin dated 10 July 2002:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the definition of what elderly is, and what proportion of the population in each region is considered elderly. (68535).

In response to your question, there is no official definition of what elderly is, but it is usually taken to include those who have reached retirement age, currently 65 for men and 60 for women. On this basis, the percentages of total population by Government Office Region for England, and for Wales, are given in the attached table.

Estimated resident population mid-2000: retirement age population as percentage of total population by Government Office Region for England, and for Wales	Percentage of total GOR population
North East	18.8
North West	18.2
Yorkshire and The Humber	18.3
East Midlands	18.4
West Midlands	18.2
East	18.5
London	14.3
South East	18.5
South West	21.0
Wales	19.0

Source:

Office for National Statistics, Population Estimates Unit

Statistics

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the figures on marriage, divorce and domestic violence will be added to the neighbourhood statistics section of the Office for National Statistics website. [68482]

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. David Willetts, dated 10 July 2002:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning when the figures on marriage, divorce and domestic violence will be added to the neighbourhood statistics section of the Office of National Statistics website. (68482)

There are no plans to add information on marriage, divorce and domestic violence to the Neighbourhood Statistics section of the ONS website in the near future. The next major update to the site will be the addition of statistics from the 2001 Census in 2003 and these will include information about the marital status of the population in local areas. Further datasets for nine statistical domains will be added to the website from 2003/04 onwards, in line with the need for better information set out in the Report of Policy Action Team 18 Better Information to meet the priorities for the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal.

10 Jul 2002 : Column 1030W

Royal Mint

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Royal Mint independent review will be complete; and if he will make a statement. [68078]

Ruth Kelly: The Royal Mint has issued an invitation to tender for an independent review to be completed. They expect to award a contract within the next dew days. Those invited have been told that the Mint would like the review to commence as soon as possible and to be completed as soon as feasible.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the EU Contact Committee on Combating Money Laundering is next due to meet; whether representatives of the Scottish Executive (a) have been and (b) are members of it; and if he will make a statement. [68605]

Ruth Kelly: The role and responsibilities of the Contact Committee on Money Laundering are set out in Article 13 of Council directive 91/308/EEC of 10 June 1991 on prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering ("Official Journal" L166, 28/06/1991 P.0077–0083).

The committee meets at the request either of the chair or of the delegation of a member state. Since May 2001, it has met three times. The UK is represented by officials from HM Treasury and the Home Office. Representatives of the Scottish Executive do not attend, as money laundering is not a devolved matter.

Bulk Tankers

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to the United Kingdom marine insurance industry of the loss of bulk tankers in each of the past five years. [68328]

Ruth Kelly: None.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff have contributed to his Department's input to the spending review. [68687]

Mr. Boateng: A range of staff across the Treasury have contributed to work on the 2002 spending review. The work has been co-ordinated in the Public Services Directorate, which presently numbers around 220 staff.

Public Service Agreements

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of the public service agreements of his Department set out in the document, "Public Services for the Future 1998", have been met; and if he will make a statement. [68719]

Mr. Boateng: Information relating to the Treasury's public service agreement targets can be found in the Treasury's departmental report 2002 (Cm5425).

10 Jul 2002 : Column 1031W

Devolved Administrations

Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Treasury sets limits on the contingent liabilities into which the devolved Administrations may enter. [68027]

Mr. Boateng: No. Contingent liabilities entered into by the devolved Administrations fall to be met within their existing departmental expenditure limits if the contingent liabilities materialise.

Fire Prevention

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had on reducing the rate of VAT for fire prevention materials in the home. [66901]

John Healey: The Chancellor has had no recent discussions on this specific subject. Under the long- standing agreements which govern VAT law across the European Union, member states are only permitted to introduce reduced rates of VAT for a prescribed list of goods and services set out in annex H of the sixth VAT directive. General 'fire prevention materials' for use in the home are not among the items included in the annex H list.

However, the UK's zero rate for the construction of new dwellings does include fire retardant building materials, as well as fire alarms, smoke detectors and fire safety equipment installed when a new home is being built. Similarly, the 5 per cent. reduced rate for residential conversions and renovations includes fire retardant building materials, fire alarms, smoke detectors and fire safety equipment installed at the time of the conversion.

We have also reduced to 5 per cent. the VAT on grant funded installation of smoke alarms when these are installed at the same time as energy saving materials or central heating systems. This is part of the VAT reduced rate introduced to support DEFRA's home energy efficiency scheme (HEES). HEES grants are primarily targeted at less well off people aged over 60 or receiving specified benefits, so the related reduced rate is similarly well targeted at those who need help most.

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