---

10 Mar 2003 : Column 19W—continued

Economic Growth (EU)

Mr. Spring: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government's forecast is of the average economic growth rate in the EU from 2000 to 2010. [101606]

10 Mar 2003 : Column 20W

Ruth Kelly [holding answer 7 March 2003]: In line with the practice of previous Governments, we do not publish growth forecasts for the EU. Growth forecasts for the G7 aggregate are published in the Pre-Budget and Budget Reports.

Euro

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent (a) discussions he has had with and (b) representations he has received from (i) the Bank of England, (ii) representatives of business and (iii) employees representatives on the assessment of the five tests for euro entry. [101863]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 11 February 2002, Official Report, columns 104–05W.

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the (a) terms of reference and (b) guidance issued to the review of the implications for UK statistics of joining the euro. [101275]

Ruth Kelly: The Chancellor has asked Christopher Allsopp to undertake a wide-ranging review of the informational and statistical requirements for monetary and wider economic policy-making, following the end of his term as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England.

The terms of reference and other details of the review were published in a press notice on 27 February 2003, available on the Treasury's website: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

Economic Reform (EU)

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent proposals he has made to the European Union on increasing the rate of its economic reform. [101864]

Ruth Kelly: The Government's proposals for increasing the rate of EU economic reform are set out in "Meeting the Challenge; Economic Reform in Europe", published on 17 February 2003.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 24 February 2003, Official Report, column 217W, on Lisbon and Stockholm objectives, if he will (a) make a statement and (b) publish a document listing progress towards each objective listed in Appendix A of the European Economic Reform White Paper 2002. [102048]

Ruth Kelly: Progress towards the Lisbon and Stockholm objectives is described in the progress report on European economic reform, 'Meeting the Challenge; Economic Reform in Europe', and in 'Structural Indicators of European Economic Reform; Measuring Europe's Progress', both published on 17 February 2003.

Financial Services Authority

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 3 February 2003, Official Report, column 30W, whether the FSA will

10 Mar 2003 : Column 21W

continue the advertisement complaints procedure to its conclusion in cases in which the offending advert has been removed. [101396]

Ruth Kelly: Decisions about the action to take in response to complaints about advertisements, and when and how to bring that action to a conclusion, are a matter for the FSA, taking into account the circumstances of each case.

Fraud

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many prosecutions for tax fraud the Inland Revenue's special compliance office has pursued in each year since 1997; and how many of these prosecutions resulted in convictions. [102005]

Dawn Primarolo: Statistics on prosecutions and convictions by the Inland Revenue are published each year in their Annual Reports, copies of which are available in the House Library.

House Price Inflation

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment HM Treasury has made regarding the level of house price inflation in the UK economy. [101698]

Ruth Kelly: The Government's Fiscal Statement and Budget report to be delivered on 9 April will include an assessment of recent house price developments.

Household Debt

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to reduce the level of household debt as a percentage of disposable income in the UK. [101053]

Ruth Kelly: Within a sound financial framework, the Government believe that households are best placed to decide on the level of debt that they should hold. Growth in household debt reflects strong fundamentals with a robust labour market, low interest rates and strong gains in housing wealth.

Inflation

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the inflation rate was for (a) the public sector and (b) the private sector in each of the last 12 months. [101280]

Ruth Kelly: Public and private sector inflation, as measured by the implied Government and private consumption deflators respectively, are not available on a monthly basis as they are derived from quarterly nominal and real consumption data. The latest data were published by the Office for National Statistics in the First Release on UK output, income and expenditure for the fourth quarter of 2002 on 26 February 2003.

Insurance Premiums

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions officials from his Department have had with representatives of (a) employers and (b) employees concerning the cost of insurance premiums. [101700]

10 Mar 2003 : Column 22W

Ruth Kelly: Officials from HM Treasury and other Government Departments have meetings with a wide range of representative groups on issues related to insurance, including the cost of insurance premiums.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what revenue has been received from Insurance Premium Tax in each year since 1997; [101704]

(2) what plans he has to provide business with a rebate from Insurance Premium Tax revenues. [102117]

Ruth Kelly: The total amount of insurance premium tax collected in the UK can be found on the HM Customs and Excise website: www.hmce.gov.uk/about/reports/ann-report/n2.pdf.

As with all taxes, Insurance Premium Tax is kept under review and any changes would be announced in the annual Budget.

Labour Statistics (Wales)

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many people aged 16 to 21 there were in low rates of pay in Wales for each of the last 20 years; [101241]

(2) how many people aged 16 to 21 were unemployed in Wales in each of the last 20 years. [101243]

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

Letter from Mr. Colin Mowl to Mr. Chris Ruane, dated 10 March 2003:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about unemployment and low pay rates in Wales. I am replying in his absence. (100241, 100243)

The attached table gives estimates of the number of unemployed people aged 16 to 21 in Wales for the three month periods ending May of each year from 1984 to 2002. These estimates are from the Labour Force Survey and are not seasonally adjusted. This information is not available on a consistent basis for 1983.

For years from 1998, ONS has published estimates of the numbers of people paid below the National Minimum Wage on the basis of sample survey data. However, for the group requested, sample numbers are too small to provide a reliable estimate.

Unemployed people aged 16–21 in Wales; Spring (March to May) 1984 to 2002Thousand, not seasonally adjusted

March to May
1984	49
1985	45
1986	47
1987	35
1988	31
1989	23
1990	25
1991	28
1992	23
1993	33
1994	22
1995	23
1996	23
1997	28
1998	21
1999	26
2000	21
2001	24
2002	23

Note:

These Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates are Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA) and have not been adjusted to take account of the Census 2001 results.

Source:

ONS Labour Force Survey

10 Mar 2003 : Column 23W

Maastricht Criteria (Budget Deficits)

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the prospects for the United Kingdom meeting the Maastricht criteria relating to budget deficits. [101645]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 2.61 of the 2002 pre-Budget report. A copy can be found in the Library.

National Health Service

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the increase in spending on the national health service announced in the Budget Statement 2002 in relation to (a) productivity, (b) efficiency and (c) savings due to economies of scale. [101278]

Mr. Boateng: The health settlement announced in the 2002 Budget Statement, which covers the period from 2003–04 to 2007–08, is linked to a programme of reform to deliver the NHS Plan. Progress against this will be assessed and reported regularly by the Department of Health in their annual Departmental Report and in their Autumn Performance Report, both of which are available on the Department of Health website.

---