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Teachers

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers (a) left and (b) joined the teaching profession in Essex between May 1997 and the latest available date. [103122]

Mr. Miliband: The following table shows the numbers of teachers leaving ¹ full-time or part time ² service in the maintained schools sector and teachers entering or returning ³ to full-time or part-time teaching in the maintained schools sector in Essex.

The DfES annual survey of teachers in service (618G) shows that the number of full-time equivalent regular teachers working in the maintained sector in Essex rose from 10,580 to 10,920 between January 1998 and January 2002.

Essex	Leavers	Entrants/returners
1 April 1997 to 31 March 1994(9)	1,190	1,290
1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999	1,090	950
1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000(10)	970	1,040

⁽⁶⁾ Leavers are those who were in full-time or part-time teaching in the maintained schools sector immediately before the period shown, who were not in service in that sector at the end of the period shown. Teachers leaving are based on pension returns. Some teachers may have moved from known service to service not recorded on the teacher pension return. Some leavers will be taking career breaks and will return to service at a later date.

⁽⁷⁾ Around 10 per cent.–20 per cent. of part-timers may not be included.

⁽⁸⁾ Those in service in the maintained schools sector at the end of the period shown who were not in service in that sector in England immediately before the period shown. Includes newly qualified entrants, those who deferred entry and those returning from breaks or transferring from outside the maintained schools sector in England.

⁽⁹⁾ Higher than usual numbers of premature retirements, following changes to the retirement regulations, contributed to the high levels of leavers in 1997–98.

⁽¹⁰⁾ The most recent data available at LEA level are for 1999–2000.

Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers were employed in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools in the (i) City of York and (ii) North Yorkshire education authority in each year since they were established. [103135]

Mr. Miliband: The table provides the full-time equivalent number of regular teachers in the maintained sector, as at January of each year.

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Schools	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
City of York
Nursery/primary	630	610	630	650	650	680
Secondary	600	600	600	640	660	650
North Yorkshire
Nursery/primary	2,140	2,060	2,100	2,170	2,230	2,270
Secondary	2,340	2,400	2,470	2,550	2,590	2,570

Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

Source:

DfES Annual Survey of Teachers in Service (618G)

PRIME MINISTER

Operation Ore

Adam Price: To ask the Prime Minister whether he has been informed of the identity of any of the individuals under investigation as part of Operation Ore. [104059]

The Prime Minister: It is Government policy not to comment on ongoing police investigations.

TREASURY

Budget

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what basis he chose this year's Budget date. [102881]

Dawn Primarolo: Budgets are traditionally held in either March or April.

Landfill Tax

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his statement of 3 February 2003, Official Report, column 5WS, on the landfill tax credit scheme, how much transitional funding is available in the year commencing 1 April 2003 through the landfill tax credit scheme for eligible projects falling into Objects C and/or CC in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) Wales, (d) Scotland and (e) Northern Ireland. [103633]

John Healey: The transition funding for England comes from England's share of the £100 million that the reform of the LTCS made available for 2003–04, as announced in PBR 2002. The devolved Administrations will be allocated their share of this £100 million according to the Barnett formula and will determine how this is spent.

National Insurance

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 12 March 2003, Official Report, column 283W, on national insurance, if he will publish the estimates made by the Government Actuary's Department regarding changes to benefit rates and contribution rates. [103967]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the "Report by the Government Actuary on the Drafts of the Social Security Benefits Uprating Order 2003 and

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the Social Security (Contributions) (Re-rating and National Insurance Funds Payments) Order 2003", published in February 2003. A copy is held in the House Library.

Service Pensions

Mr. Flook: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to delay the payment of service pensions until a serviceman reaches 65 years. [103179]

Dr. Moonie: I have been asked to reply.

The Pensions Green Paper, "Simplicity, Security and Choice: Working and Saving for Retirement" was published for consultation in December of last year and includes a proposal that the age at which unreduced pensions should be payable to members of Public Service Pension Schemes should be raised from age 60 to 65, to reflect increasing longevity and common practice in the private sector. The paper acknowledges that some occupations require a recognised physical capacity which justifies payment of pension at a lower age and the Armed Forces pay an immediate pension as early as age 37. However, for those members who leave before reaching such an age, their pensions benefits accrued through future service from a date to be decided would also be deferred to age 65. The Ministry of Defence will be offering its comments on this and other proposals put forward in the Green Paper shortly.

Special Advisers

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many special advisers in the Department (a) have left and (b) will be leaving to work in Scotland for the Labour Party in the forthcoming Scottish parliamentary elections. [103625]

Ruth Kelly: The rules relating to special advisers' political activities are set out in the Model Contract for Special Advisers. Further guidance in respect of elections for the Scottish Parliament is set out at paragraph 13 of the Guidance on Conduct for Civil Servants in UK Departments, published by the Cabinet Office on 10 March.

The reasons for a special adviser's resignation are a private matter between the Department and adviser, and are therefore exempt from disclosure under paragraph 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Information.

Tax Credits

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many calls were received by the working

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families' tax credit and disabled person's tax credit dedicated telephone line for hon. Members and members of the devolved administrations in each year since its creation; and what the cost of the line has been in each year. [103519]

Dawn Primarolo: In October 2000, the Inland Revenue introduced the dedicated Hotline numbers for queries from MPs and members of the devolved assemblies about working families' tax credit and disabled person's tax credit. For the remainder of the 2000–2001 financial year, there were 234 calls to the Hotline. In the 2001–2002 financial year there were 418

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calls. Between April 2002 and early March 2003, there have been 314 calls. Advisers on the Hotline also carry out a range of other customer service duties, and so it is not possible to isolate the cost of the Hotlines.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many calls were received by the working families' tax credit and disabled person's tax credit public telephone line in each year since its creation; and what the cost of the line has been in each year. [103520]

Dawn Primarolo: The schedule below gives details of the number of calls answered by the WFTC and DPTC helplines since they first opened.

	WFTC Oct 1999to Dec 1999	WFTC Jan 2000to Dec 2000	WFTC Jan 2001to Dec 2001	WFTC Jan 2002to Dec 2002	WFTC Jan 2003to date
Answered	1,037,915	6,115,528	5,882,380	6,060,443	813,187

	DPTC Oct 1999to Dec 1999	DPTC Jan 2000to Dec 2000	DPTC Jan 2001to Dec 2001	DPTC Jan 2002to Dec 2002	DPTC Jan 2003—to date
Answered	35,935	207,946	227,568	232,389	39,356

An estimate of the staffing cost of the line in each year is given in the table.

Period	£000s
1/10/99 to 31/3/00	1,406
1/4/00 to 31/3/01	6,511
1/4/01 to 31/3/02	7,776
1/4/02 to 28/2/03	7,223

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department is spending on advertising the new (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit, with particular reference to (i) television advertising, (ii) radio advertising, (iii) leaflets, (iv) factsheets, (v) claim packs and (vi) A3 posters. [103526]

Dawn Primarolo: Spending on the promotional campaign for the new tax credits is currently estimated as follows: (i) media costs for:

	(£000s)
Television advertisements	8,016
Media costs for radio advertisements	876
Leaflets	642
Factsheets	No costs to date
A3 posters	21
The cost of producing claim packs is estimated at:	4,031,000

All estimated costs include VAT. Postage costs are not included.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement regarding the take-up rate of the new (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit. [103527]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) on 19 March 2003, Official Report, column 760W.

Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by what means childless people have been alerted to their possible entitlement to claim working tax credit. [94020]

Dawn Primarolo: The new tax credits—Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit—are introduced in April. A high-profile publicity campaign has been running since last autumn to alert people to their entitlement and to encourage them to claim. The campaign has so far included national television advertising, national and local radio advertising, adverts in the national press as well as on-line publicity. Treasury ministers led a series of roadshows across the United Kingdom in September and October. Leaflets and posters have been produced and are being made widely available. The Inland Revenue is also piloting new ways of working with local community groups to maximise take-up. At the same time Jobcentre Plus offices are making sure their clients are aware of the help they can get, through the Working Tax Credit, as they move into work.

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