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27 Jan 2003 : Column 609W—continued

Financial Advisers

Mr. Chope: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will relax the requirement on small independent financial advisers with a good claims record to obtain professional indemnity insurance; and if he will make a statement. [93354]

Ruth Kelly: This is a matter for the Financial Services Authority (the FSA). The requirement for independent financial adviser firms to have professional indemnity insurance is contained in their rules.

The FSA is aware of the difficulties facing such firms and will be publishing a consultation document shortly.

Fraud and Theft

Mr. John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the cost of theft and fraud to (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in 2002. [89897]

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money has been lost by his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies through (a) fraud and (b) theft for each year since 1996–97. [92437]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Members to my answer of 21 January 2002, Official Report, column 651W. On the basis set out there, the Treasury's losses to theft and fraud in 2001–02 were £1,000.

Fuel Poverty

Estelle Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect of fuel duty on low-income families in rural areas. [92354]

John Healey: We have made no specific assessment of the effects of fuel duty on low-income families in rural areas. As with all families, they will have benefited from the effective duty reduction on ultra low sulphur petrol and diesel in Budget 2001, and the duty freeze on other oils in that Budget, and on all oils in Budget 2002.

Health and Safety Strategy

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what information he has collated on the application to his Department and its agencies of the checklist, circulated by letter by Sir Richard Mottram, referred to under Action Point 12 of the Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy Statement; and if he will make a statement; [89522]

(2) which senior officials within his Department and its agencies take responsibility for health and safety at board or equivalent level; and where their names are publicised; [89521]

(3) whether his Department and its agencies have met the commitment arising from Action Point 13 of the June 2000 strategy statement on Revitalising Health and

27 Jan 2003 : Column 610W

Safety to summarise health and safety performance and plans in Annual Reports from the year 2000–01 onwards. [89520]

Ruth Kelly: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to her by the Minister of State, Department of Work and Pensions on 20 January, Official Report, columns 85–86W.

In addition, my Department and agencies are fully committed to supporting the aims of the "Revitalising Strategy" and to continuous improvement in all areas within the checklist circulated by Sir Richard Mottram and the good practice guide issued by the High Level Forum.

The Treasury and Office of Government Commerce (OGC) summarise health and safety performance within their departmental Annual Reports. The Debt Management Office and the Royal Mint plan to do so in their departmental reports for 2002–03.

At departmental board level within the Treasury and its agencies the following board members have been given responsibility for health and safety:

HM Treasury—Managing Director Corporate Services and Development;

Office of Government Commerce—Chief Executive;

The Royal Mint—Director of Human Resources and Corporate Affairs;

The Debt Management Office—Chief Executive.

These details are published in our Health and Safety Policy Statements and made available on our intranet sites.

HM Treasury

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his estimate is of total public spending on HM Treasury in (a) current and (b) capital terms in each year from 1990–91 to 2003–04 (planned), in 2001–02 prices; and if he will make a statement; [93454]

(2) what his estimate is of total staff numbers within HM Treasury for each year from 1990–91 to 2004–05 (planned); and if he will make a statement. [93453]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to expenditure figures in the Treasury's annual reports (of which the most recent is Cm 5425). GDP deflators are available in the 'Economic Data and Tools' section of the Treasury website: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk Details on staff numbers are published in "Civil Service Statistics", copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.

HM Treasury Staff

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many HM Treasury staff are based at Great George Street in London; and what floor space of office accommodation they are occupying. [92221]

Ruth Kelly: The Treasury moved to 1 Horse Guards Road in July 2002, where all staff are now based. The Department occupies 22,223 square metres of net usable

27 Jan 2003 : Column 611W

area. Details on staff numbers are published in Civil Service Statistics copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.

Immigration

Mr. Soames: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the net non EU foreign immigration to the UK was, including the dependants of asylum seekers, in each year from 1992 to 2001 (a) before the recent adjustments to take account of the census results and (b) after these adjustments had been made. [93370]

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

Letter from L. Cook to Mr. N. Soames, dated 27 January 2003:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question on the net immigration of non-EU nationals to the UK from 1992 to 2001. (93370)

The information requested is provided in the attached table which shows the net migration estimates for non-EU nationals for 1992 to 2001. Two different estimates are shown in the table: (i) interim revised net migration estimates for non-EU nationals for 1992 to 2001 that take preliminary account of the 2001 Census results, and (ii) the original series of net migration estimates for non-EU nationals compiled prior to the results of the 2001 Census becoming available; it should be noted that the latter series has now been withdrawn.

The estimates shown in the table take account of dependants of asylum seekers. The Office for National Statistics are working closely with the Home Office to ensure that the best use is made of the recently available detailed Home Office information on dependants of asylum seekers in preparation of the revised international migration series which will be published in late Spring 2003. These revised estimates will be based upon more detailed information from the 2001 Census and further research work and will supercede the interim series included in the attached table.

Net migration to the UK of non-EU⁽¹⁵⁾ nationalsThousands

Year	Interim revised series(16)	Original series(17)
1992	+31.2	+ 68.9
1993	+ 36.5	+ 72.5
1994	+ 58.7	+ 95.7
1995	+ 77.0	+ 116.7
1996	+ 69.0	+ 105.4
1997	+ 70.4	+ 110.8
1998	+ 105.6	+ 150.6
1999	+ 132.3	+ 182.5
2000	+ 165.0	+ 222.3
2001	+ 178.1

⁽¹⁵⁾ Figures for all years show EU as it was constituted on 1 January 1995.

⁽¹⁶⁾ These estimates represent interim revised migration estimates, adjusted in light of first results of the 2001 Census. Further revisions to the series, in the light of more detailed 2001 Census data, will be made available in late Spring 2003. This table includes adjustments for asylum seekers, and for persons admitted as short-term visitors who are subsequently granted an extension of stay for other reasons—for example, as students or on the basis of marriage.

⁽¹⁷⁾ These are the original published estimates for 1992–2000 compiled prior to the results of the 2001 Census being available. This series has now been withdrawn and superceded by the interim revised estimates released on 28 November 2002 and shown in the first column.

27 Jan 2003 : Column 612W

Income Tax Evasion

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many taxpayers have been prosecuted for fraudulently evading income tax in each year since 1997–98; and if he will make a statement. [90980]

Dawn Primarolo: A new offence of fraudulently evading Income Tax, which can be tried in a magistrate's court or in a crown court, was introduced in Finance Act 2000 in response to the recommendations of Lord Grabiner's report "The Informal Economy (March 2000). The legislation applies to offences committed from 1 January 2001. No prosecutions have as yet been completed using the new legislation.

Industrial Action

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many days were lost to industrial action in the UK in each month since January 1991 up to the most recent date for which information is available. [92766]

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

Letter from L. Cook to Mr. Howard Flight, dated 27 January 2003:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question about the days lost to industrial action in the UK in each month since January 1991 up to the most recent date. (92766)

The table below shows the number of working days lost in each month from January 1991 to November 2002.

Number of Working Days lost in the United Kingdom 1991–2002 (000s)

	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
Jan	44	56	49	2	24	51
Feb	36	24	71	4	18	36
Mar	55	35	74	8	28	15
Apr	105	24	154	15	34	13
May	105	28	30	33	51	8
Jun	53	33	15	70	16	241
Jul	57	37	50	32	32	149
Aug	64	54	19	39	19	442
Sep	78	70	8	20	25	122
Oct	84	47	4	14	31	39
Nov	46	65	175	17	77	162
Dec	34	53	1	23	60	25
Total	761	528	649	278	415	1303

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Jan	25	16	9	11	52	92
Feb	14	19	27	6	36	24
Mar	36	33	35	18	48	80
Apr	48	14	4	11	16	15
May	36	7	50	14	93	81
Jun	13	70	16	7	12	57
Jul	11	59	8	36	24	521
Aug	6	24	10	115	18	13
Sep	1	6	22	93	24	9
Oct	19	7	19	14	39	42
Nov	14	18	22	115	62	371
Dec	12	11	20	59	102
Total	235	282	242	499	525

27 Jan 2003 : Column 613W

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