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16 Dec 2002 : Column 600W—continued

TREASURY

Credit Unions

Mr. Colman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what subsidies and grant funding were given to credit unions in (a) England and Wales and (b) the UK (i) by the UK Government and (ii) from European social funds in each year since 1997. [86976]

Ruth Kelly: This information is not readily available. However, research by Liverpool John Moores University in 1999 estimated that total public investment in credit unions in Britain could be in the range of #15-#20 million per annum.

Mr. Colman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the annual costs were of regulation of credit unions by (a) the Registrar of Friendly Societies in each year from 1997–2001 and (b) the Financial Services Authority in 2001–02. [86977]

Ruth Kelly: Data has not been collected in a form that details the cost of regulation, specific to credit unions.

Ethnic Minorities

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many ethnic minority members in the Wycombe constituency were in employment in (a) spring 2001 and (b) spring 2002. [87129]

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

Letter from L. Cook to Mr. Paul Goodman, dated 16 December 2002:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about employment in Wycombe constituency. (87129)

Information on the number of ethnic minority people in employment in the Wycombe parliamentary constituency will be available from the April 2001 Population Census when this is published in June 2003. Information about the employment of ethnic minorities is available each year from the Labour Force Survey, but the sample size for the Wycombe constituency is too small to provide a reliable estimate.

Insurance Policies

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on the absence of a statutory notice period before an insurance policy is cancelled by an insurer. [86863]

16 Dec 2002 : Column 601W

Ruth Kelly: Treasury Ministers receive numerous representations on a wide range of topics. The terms and conditions of insurance policies are a matter for insurers.

Landfill

Mr. Flook: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many projects he estimates will become financially unviable following the decision to make changes to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme in (a) Somerset, (b) Dorset, (c) Devon, (d) Cornwall, (e) Wiltshire, (f) North Somerset, (g) Bristol and (h) Bath and North East Somerset. [86939]

John Healey: The Government have made no such estimates. The recently proposed changes to the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme will ensure that around #47 million per annum will continue to be made available for spending on local community environmental projects, ensuring that the current level of support for these types of projects is maintained. In addition there will be around #100 million per annum of funding available under the new public spending programme for sustainable waste management projects.

Tax credits which have already been claimed by landfill operators, or which may be claimed until March 2003, will need to be spent under the existing LTCS arrangements. This will ensure that projects which have been allocated tax credit funding will continue to benefit until such time as they are completed.

No decisions have yet been made on the criteria or scope of the replacement spending scheme.

Mr. Flook: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many environmental projects which are funded by the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme have a completion date beyond March 2003 in (a) Somerset, (b) Dorset, (c) Devon, (d) Cornwall, (e) Wiltshire, (f) North Somerset, (g) Bristol and (h) Bath and North East Somerset. [86940]

John Healey: From details provided by ENTRUST, the regulator of the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, the following estimates have been made of the number of projects with completion dates beyond March 2003 in each of the areas listed:

Area	Number of Projects
Somerset	18
Dorset	2
Cornwall	11
Wiltshire	10
North Somerset	0
Bristol	26
Bath and North East Somerset	0

Low Birth Weights

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many babies were born with a low birth weight, broken down by local authority, in each of the last three years. [87153]

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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. Chris Ruane, dated 16 December 2002:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many babies were born with a low birth weight, broken down by local authority, in each of the last three years. (87153)

The number of low birth weight live births that occurred in each year from 1999 to 2001, by local authorities in England and Wales, are shown in the table which has been put in the Libraries of the House.

Teenage Pregnancies

Chris Ruane: To ask theChancellor of the Exchequer how many teenage pregnancies there were in each (a) constituency and (b) county in the last 12 months. [87154]

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

Letter from Len Cook to Chris Ruane, dated 16 December 2002:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many teenage pregnancies there were in each (a) constituency and (b) county in the last 12 months. (87154)

The latest available figures are for 2000. Teenage conception data for 2000 by local authorities were published on the ONS website on 27th February 2002 and will also be made available by ward by April 2003. To protect the confidentiality of individuals, figures for certain parliamentary constituencies cannot be released as this might reveal small number of cases in individual wards. Number of teenage conceptions by each parliamentary constituency and county for 2000 have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Alcohol

Mr. Jim Cousins: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the expenditure on alcohol (a) in cash, (b) in real terms and (c) as a percentage of total expenditure in each region and nation of the United Kingdom in each year since 1996. [85732]

Ruth Kelly [holding answer 11 December 2002]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Jim Cousins, dated 16 December 2002:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on estimates of expenditure on alcohol in each region and country of the United Kingdom in each year since 1996. (85732)

The ONS compiles regional individual consumption expenditure estimates, including an estimated series for alcohol (current prices only). The latest data available are for the year 1999. These data are presented in the following table.

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Total expenditure on alcohol# million

	North East	North West	Yorkshire and the Humber	East Midlands	West Midlands	East	London	South East	South West	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland	United Kingdom
1996	1,299	3,728	2,517	1,874	2,411	2,140	3,449	3,762	2,102	1,267	2,618	612	27,779
1997	1,334	3,794	2,691	1,963	2,424	22,232	3,843	3,831	2,249	1,347	2,723	678	29,109
1998	1,345	3,777	2,860	1,946	2,518	2,350	4,305	3,913	2,303	1,342	2,794	695	30,147
1999	1,351	4,224	2,774	2,239	2,660	2,653	4,505	4,464	2,456	1,448	3,040	754	32,567

Alcohol as a percentage of total consumption expenditure by region

	North East	North West	Yorkshire and the Humber	East Midlands	West Midlands	East	London	South East	South West	Wales Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland	United Kingdom
1996	6.7	6.9	6.4	5.7	5.9	4.8	5.2	5.1	5.4	5.6	6.4	5.1	5.7
1997	6.6	6.6	6.5	5.6	5.6	4.7	5.3	4.9	5.4	5.7	6.3	5.4	5.6
1998	6.4	6.3	6.5	5.4	5.5	4.5	5.3	4.6	5.2	5.7	6.1	5.3	5.5
1999	6.5	6.6	6.2	5.9	5.4	4.9	5.0	4.9	5.2	6.0	6.3	5.4	5.5

We do not publish sub-national economic estimates in real terms.

Appointments

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer to which bodies his Department makes appointments; how many members there are (a) in total and (b) in each body; and how many of those appointed are (i) businessmen, (ii) businessmen in SMEs and (iii) businessmen in micro-businesses. [87398]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 16 December

by the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office.

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