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28 Apr 2003 : Column 157W—continued
Fallen Stock
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the methods of disposal of fallen stock on farms in Northern Ireland. [107919]
Mr. Pearson: Guidance on the current methods of disposal of fallen stock is available from Divisional Veterinary Offices in Northern Ireland.
Agriculture Departments will shortly be writing to all UK livestock farmers explaining the changes to disposal methods, pending the introduction of the EU Animal By-Products Regulation, which will ban the on-farm burial or burning of fallen stock with effect from 30 April 2003.
Hilton Hotel Group
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list (a) the sums of public money allocated to the Hilton Hotel Group in each year since 1996 in relation to its Belfast hotel development and (b) the Northern Ireland agencies that allocated these monies. [108232]
Mr. Pearson: The information is as follows:
- (a) The sums of public money allocated to the Hilton Hotel Group in each year since 1996 in relation to its Belfast hotel development were as follows:
| Funding | DSD | NITB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 4,000,000.00 | 4,000,000.00 | — |
| 1997 | 2,291,437.42 | 2,000,000.00 | 291,437.42 |
| 1998 | 608,562.58 | — | 608,562.58 |
| 1999 | 100,000.00 | — | 100,000.00 |
| Total | 7,000,000.00 | 6,000,000.00 | 1,000,000.00 |
(b) The Northern Ireland agencies that allocated these funds were Laganside Corporation (£6 million) an Executive NDPB of the Department of Social Development and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (£1 million) an Executive NDPB of the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment.
Into the West
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the Into the West audit report will be made public; if he will list the board members of Into the West; and what the role and title are of (a) public servants and (b) elected representatives who have served on the board of the Company. [109988]
Mr. Pearson: The propriety and value for money reports were made public on request on 27 March 2003, I have arranged for a copy of the reports to be placed in the Library of the NI Assembly and will make a similar arrangement in this House. Full details of the ITW Board representation are contained in an annex to the value for money report.
Manslaughter and Reckless Driving
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been
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convicted of (a) causing death by reckless driving and (b) manslaughter in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [105907]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The table presents the number of convictions for the offences of (a) causing death by reckless driving and (b) manslaughter, for the years 1995 to 1999. Data beyond 1999 are currently not available.
| Number of convictions for causing death by reckless driving | Number of convictions for manslaughter | |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 10 | 5 |
| 1996 | 6 | 8 |
| 1997 | 7 | 6 |
| 1998 | 9 | 8 |
| 1999 | 9 | 15 |
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average length of sentence handed down for the offence of causing death by reckless driving in Northern Ireland was in the past five years. [105911]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The table presents the average immediate custodial sentence length in months for the offence of causing death by reckless driving for the years 1995 to 1999. Data beyond 1999 are currently not available.
| Average sentence length in months (number of persons) | |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 20 (5) |
| 1996 | 20 (3) |
| 1997 | 36 (4) |
| 1998 | 28 (7) |
| 1999 | 33 (4) |
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average length of sentence handed down for the offence of manslaughter was in Northern Ireland in the past five years. [105909]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The table presents the average immediate custodial sentence length in months for the offence of manslaughter, for the years 1995 to 1999. Data beyond 1999 are currently not available.
| Average sentence length in months (number of persons) | |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 52 (4) |
| 1996 | 119 (8) |
| 1997 | 65 (6) |
| 1998 | 70 (7) |
| 1999 | 63 (12) |
Mobile Homes Act
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if it is his policy to extend the Mobile Homes Act 1983 is to be extended to Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [107918]
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Mr. Browne: The 1983 Act covers mobile homes in designated areas that are generally referred to as Park Homes, As this is a unique type of tenure and there are no such areas in Northern Ireland it would be inappropriate to introduce equivalent provisions.
Post Office Closures
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much time is allocated for public consultation on the proposed closure of post offices. [109989]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
Under the Code of Practice on proposed closures of post offices agreed between Post Office Ltd. and Postwatch, a public consultation period of not less than one month is stipulated.
Primary School Funding
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much of the £1.4 billion recently awarded to primary schools in Northern Ireland was allocated to (a) each board, (b) the Council for Curriculum Examinations and Assessment, (c) the Catholic Council of Maintained Schools, (d) the RTU and (e) elsewhere; and whether each Education and Library Board retains the same percentage of allocated funds for administration costs. [109115]
Jane Kennedy: The Department of Education's 2003–04 resource budget for school-related expenditure amounts to some £1,485 million, of which £992.8 million has to date been allocated to the Education and Library Boards for recurrent costs. The specific information requested is as follows:
(a) Allocations to individual Boards, and the amounts allocated by Boards in respect of primary schools:
| Of which: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Schools | Primary schools | |
| BELB | 171.887 | 59.765 |
| NEELB | 211.669 | 76.692 |
| SEELB | 194.588 | 77.839 |
| SELB | 226.899 | 86.807 |
| WELB | 187.769 | 72.038 |
| Total | 992.812 | 373.141 |
(b) Resource allocation to CCEA: £11.672 million
(c) Resource allocation to CCMS: £2.384 million
(d) Resource allocation for RTU: £2.331 million (included in BELB allocation at (a) above).
(e) Elsewhere: some £478 million, not all yet allocated.
The percentage of Education and Library Board recurrent budgets which relates to Headquarters Administration varies across individual Boards, principally because of the incidence of five-Board and lead Board services provided by individual Boards. The overall percentage of Department of Education funded Board budgets expended on HQ Administration costs has dropped in each of the last four financial years.
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Excluding provision for five-Board and lead Board services, the latest available information is as follows (percentage of recurrent budget spent on Headquarters Administration):
| Financial year 2002–03 | |
|---|---|
| BELB | 2.42 |
| NEELB | 2.11 |
| SEELB | 1.79 |
| SELB | 1.78 |
| WELB | 1.97 |
| Total | 2.0 |
Regional Paediatric Services
Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on regional paediatric services. [107429]
Mr. Browne: A number of hospital services for children are provided on a regional basis because of the small case volume and the specialised staff, facilities or equipment required. Examples of regional paediatric services include paediatric cardiac surgery conducted at the Royal Victoria Hospital, paediatric intensive care, provided at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, paediatric neurosurgery services and paediatric pathology. Like other regional services, regional paediatric services are commissioned by the Regional Medical Services Consortium, a body comprising representation from each of the four Health and Social Services Boards.
TREASURY
Tax Credits
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to improve the training of staff who deal with inquiries from members of the public who wish to make a claim for Working Families Tax Credit; what research his Department has commissioned to measure the level of customer satisfaction with the service provided; and if he will make a statement. [109005]
Dawn Primarolo: Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit were introduced on 6 April 2003 to replace Working Families' Tax Credit, Disabled Person's Tax Credit and Children's Tax Credit.
Staff dealing with inquiries have received training covering all aspects of entitlement to Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit (including the child care element of the Working Tax Credit), as well as the mechanics of claiming and paying the new tax credits.
Tax credits recipients are included within the Inland Revenue's annual survey of customer service performance indicators.
Both training needs and levels of customer satisfaction are kept under constant review.
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Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he expects to spend on overhead costs as a result of the introduction of the child and working tax credits in each year between 2002–03 and 2005–06. [106119]
Dawn Primarolo: The overhead costs of administering the child and working tax credits are expected to be £300 million per annum in line with the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), published in July 2002.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints have been received in respect of the helpline for the child tax credit and working tax credit. [108062]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 8 April 2003]: Details of the number of complaints received in respect of the helpline are not held centrally.
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taken to publicise the take-up of tax credits on the internet; and if he will make a statement. [108803]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 11 April 2003]: The publicity campaign for the two new tax credits—child tax credit and working tax credit began in September 2002 followed by four further phases of advertising in October, November, January and March. These phases have included TV, radio, press and online advertising as well as direct mailings, posters and leaflets. The tax credit website was promoted in all activity, continuing the drive to encourage eligible claimants to claim online.
Simon Hughes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many applications were received for working families tax credit in each year since it was introduced; and if he will make a statement. [108825]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 11 April 2003]: Working families tax credit was introduced on 5 October 1999. The number of applications received in each year (April to March inclusive) was as follows:
| Number of applications | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 1,270,000 |
| 2000–01 | 2,700,000 |
| 2001–02 | 2,950,000 |
| 2002–03(29) | 2,260,000 |
(29) Awards terminating from 2 December 2002 were automatically extended to April 2003, so no applications were required to renew these awards.
Simon Hughes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how long it will take to reach a decision on applications for working families tax credit made in (a) January, (b) February, (c) March and (d) April 2003. [108828]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 11 April 2003]: The Inland Revenue tries to process claims for tax credits as quickly as possible. But the date a decision is made depends on a number of factors other than the date on which the claim arrived, including whether the claimant provided all the information required, and whether the claim passed the various pre-award checks.
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Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of child tax credit awards for 2003–04 that will need to be reassessed owing to (a) rises and (b) falls in income between (i) 2001–02 and (ii) 2003–04. [109151]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of awards that are expected to be reassessed owing to rises in income above £2,500 and any falls in income are published in "The Child and Working Tax Credits". Copies are available on the HM Treasury website: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
Jon Trickett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people he estimates in the Hemsworth constituency are eligible for the (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit; and how many people he estimates will take up these credits in 2003–04. [109898]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle) on 10 April 2003, Official Report, column 506W.
Mr. Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many families are receiving (a) child tax credit and (b) amounts equivalent to child tax credit through income support or jobseeker's allowance and will be automatically transferred onto child tax credit before October 2004; [110241]
- (2) what the take-up rate was for working families' tax credit in each year since 1999; what target he has set for the take-up rate for working tax credit; and what estimate he has made of the likely take-up rate of working tax credit. [110243]
Dawn Primarolo: Working families tax credit (WFTC) replaced family credit (FC) on 5 October 1999.1999–2000 was therefore the transition year between FC and WFTC, and no estimates of the take-up rates of WFTC in that year are available. Estimates for 2000–01 are on the Inland Revenue website, at inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/wftc/takeup rates.htm. No reliable estimates for 2001–02 can be attempted until the Family Resources Survey for that year is analysed.
From 6 April 2003 WFTC was replaced by child tax credit (CTC) and working tax credit (WTC). It is expected that around 1.35 million families with and without children will receive WTC. Statistics on CTC and WTC awards will be published quarterly, beginning in August 2003.
Around 1.3 million families with children are expected to benefit in 2003–04 from additional support for children though income support or jobseeker's allowance, until they move onto CTC in 2004.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the basis is for his estimate that nine out of 10 families with children are eligible for the Child Tax Credit; and if he will make a statement on the number of families represented by this estimate. [109611]
Dawn Primarolo: The basis for the estimate that nine out of 10 families with dependant children are eligible for the Child Tax Credit is the Family Resources Survey.
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