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Funding

Mr. Steen: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will list the schemes which have been allocated funding from the £25 million earmarked following the 2002 Spending Review over three years starting in 2003–04 for services delivered in partnership with the voluntary sector to help parents improve their parenting skills. [111861]

Mr. Boateng: A consultation document discussing the Government's proposed approach to the £25 million Parenting Fund will be published shortly.

Insurance Premium Tax

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to alter the rate of insurance premium tax. [112418]

Ruth Kelly: The Government's taxation plans are announced in my right hon. Friend's annual Budget.

Iraq (Debt)

Nick Harvey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what economic terms he plans to set out regarding the repayment of Iraq's debt to the UK; and if he will make a statement; [111811]

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(2) what terms of (a) relief, (b) restructuring and (c) rescheduling of Iraq's debt he plans to propose in the Paris Club; and if he will make a statement. [111819]

Mr. Boateng: The UK supports a full assessment by the IMF and the World Bank of Iraq's economic potential, needs and obligations. In the light of that assessment the UK will seek a fair and sustainable solution to Iraq's debt, including to the UK, at the Paris Club of official creditors.

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council

Rachel Squire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will review the rules which reduce the amount of UK grants and funds awarded to the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council when it gains additional EU funding. [111376]

Ruth Kelly [holding answer 7 May 2003]: Government policy is that UK public spending financed from the EC Budget is subject to normal public sector budgeting rules. This reflects the fact that UK taxpayers have an interest in spending on programmes funded from the EC Budget being spent in a way which is consistent with national priorities.

Departments have therefore in general needed budgetary cover for spending funded from the EC Budget, including spending on research and development. To improve incentives, however, a recent review has resulted in changes to the public sector budgeting rules, so that from 2003–04 departments which receive income from the EC Budget for commercially- or competitively-let research contracts will be able to offset half of their income from qualifying programmes against spending within their departmental expenditure limit.

Savings

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what evaluations he has made on the benefit to low income families of measures to promote savings. [112094]

Ruth Kelly: The Government recognise the importance of saving and assets in providing security in times of adversity; independence and opportunity throughout life; and comfort in retirement. The Government's saving strategy is focused on:

improving the environment for saving, with macroeconomic stability and an efficient and well-regulated market in financial services;

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creating the right incentives for saving by ensuring that the tax and benefit system does not unfairly penalise savers and by assisting those on low incomes;

empowering individuals with financial information, improved access to advice, and simpler and easier to understand savings products; and

developing saving products suitable for each stage in a person's life cycle. As the scale of saving increases, proceeds from one product may be rolled into the next, helping people to progress up the savings ladder.

A number of Government policies are promoting saving among lower income groups. For example, ISAs have helped to make saving simple for ordinary investors to understand. One in five ISA holders are from lower income groups compared with one in seven who had either a TESSA or PEP. The Saving Gateway is aimed at low-income individuals and offers a transparent incentive to save through a government-funded match. The Saving Gateway is currently being piloted and independent evaluation will assess its effect on saving behaviour. The Government are also committed to strengthening the saving habit of future generations. The Child Trust Fund will ensure all children born from September 2002 have an account set up for them into which an initial Government endowment of £250 will be paid. Children from the poorest families will receive an endowment of £500.

Stamp Duty

Mr. Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the further consultations he is to have with business concerning stamp duty on lease contracts, as referred to in paragraph 5.90 of the 2003 Budget (HC 500). [110238]

Ruth Kelly: The lease duty consultation after Budget 2002 was very helpful in informing the proposed new lease duty structure, which incorporates many consultees' views. The Chancellor announced in Budget 2003 that he is happy for further consultation to take place on the proposed new structure. In order to facilitate this, a time-limited regulatory power has been incorporated in Finance Bill 2003 to allow a suitable alternative proposal to be put in place for the implementation of Stamp Duty Land Tax in December 2003. However, any alternative will only replace the current proposals if it can be shown to be a better way of achieving the same objectives. The Inland Revenue will convene further discussions shortly with representative organisations and with businesses who have expressed a particular interest in the proposals.

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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Age Discrimination

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to address the issue of age discrimination. [109454]

Ms Hewitt: The DTI is strongly and actively committed to diversity in its workforce. Age restrictions do not apply to DTI job advertisements or to selection criteria. We have adopted, or had already met, the recommendations in the Cabinet Office's Winning the Generation Game report and will continue to embed age diversity in all policies and processes as part of diversity mainstreaming. This includes from August 2002 giving all staff in the DTI below the Senior Civil Service the option of continuing to work to age 65.

North Sea Anti-dumping Convention

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what actions have been taken to amend the London Anti-Dumping Convention for the North Sea Region to enable carbon sequestration to take place in the geological formation following the extraction of gas and oil. [110455]

Mr. Wilson: DTI, Defra, and FCO are jointly examining the London Dumping Convention 1972, the 1996 Protocol to that Convention, and the 1992 OSPAR Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic to assess their compatibility with the storage of carbon dioxide in subsea geological formations. The outcome will be summarised in the DTI Report of the Feasibility of CO2 Capture and Storage in the UK, expected early summer 2003. The Government intends to raise the issue of such storage before the appropriate forums under these Conventions.

Broadband

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to ensure broadband is made available to all those living in Shropshire. [111660]

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Mr. Timms: We expect to spend 1 billion over three years to 2006 to help bring broadband to primary and secondary schools, GPs, primary care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities. We are also developing strategies to aggregate public sector demand to reinforce the case for wider community access to broadband.

I was pleased to see reports that Shropshire has provided broadband connection to all its 22 Libraries in February this year with support from the People Network Initiative, supported by the New Opportunities Fund.

Through the £30 million Broadband Fund, my Department also supports satellite trials through the Remote Area Broadband Inclusion Trial (RABBIT). Shropshire receives support through this Trial, directed at giving rural SMEs experience of broadband.

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she intends to reply to the letter to him dated 31 March from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms K. Grant. [111592]

Ms Hewitt: I apologise for the delay in replying to my right hon. Friend's letter. It was not readily evident that my right hon. Friend's constituent raised issues that are within my Department's responsibility.

However, I have now decided that they are for my Department and I will reply as soon as possible.

Imports (Sub-Saharan Africa)

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in what products imports from sub-Saharan Africa have grown since the implementation of the Everything but Arms agreement; by what margin; and if she will make a statement. [110768]

Ms Hewitt: According to information published by HM Customs and Excise, the value of UK imports from sub-Saharan Africa increased, from 2000 to the year ending February 2003, in 36 out of 64 commodity groups. The value of UK imports and the percentage change, for those commodities that showed an increase, are given in the following table:

UK imports of goods from sub-Saharan Africa⁽³⁾(£ million)

SITCDivision	Commodity group(4)	2000	Year to February 2003	Change	Percentage change
02	Dairy products and birds' eggs	1.3	5.3	4.0	318.8
03	Fish, (not marine mammals), crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic invertebrates and preparations thereof	93.9	130.9	37.0	39.4
04	Cereals and cereal preparations	0.3	0.7	0.4	114.7
05	Vegetables and fruit	301.6	375.9	74.3	24.7
06	Sugar, sugar preparations and honey	167.3	219.2	51.8	31.0
07	Coffee, tea, cocoa, spices and manufactures thereof	241.7	304.2	62.5	25.9
08	Feeding stuff for animals not including unmilled cereals	2.0	2.6	0.5	24.9
09	Miscellaneous edible products and preparations	2.7	3.7	0.9	34.2
11	Beverages	81.7	123.2	41.6	50.9
12	Tobacco and tobacco manufacturers	50.8	61.3	10.5	20.7
21	Hides, skins and furskins, raw	7.9	9.9	1.9	24.6
22	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruit	5.2	7.6	2.4	46.3
27	Crude fertilisers other than those of division 56 and crude minerals (excluding coal, petroleum and precious stones)	41.8	48.8	7.0	16.7
29	Crude animal and vegetable materials	28.3	40.0	11.7	41.4
32	Coal, coke and briquettes	133.1	264.9	131.7	98.9
33	Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials	43.1	51.7	8.6	19.9
42	Fixed vegetable fats and oils; crude, refined or fractionated	3.6	4.4	0.8	21.0
43	Animal and vegetable oils and fats, processed, and waxes of animal or vegetable origin	0.2	0.5	0.3	175.3
51	Organic chemicals	3.6	7.1	3.5	98.8
53	Dyeing, tanning and colouring materials	1.0	1.2	0.2	20.3
54	Medicinal and pharmaceutical products	3.5	8.6	5.1	146.1
55	Essential oils and resinoids and perfume materials; toilet, polishing and cleansing preparations	15.4	20.7	5.3	34.3
56	Fertilizers, (other than those of group 272)	0.1	0.3	0.2	154.0
57	Plastics in primary forms	1.6	2.3	0.7	43.7
58	Plastics in non-primary forms	1.2	1.5	0.3	2.7
63	Cork and wood manufactures (excluding furniture)	36.5	42.9	6.4	17.5
64	Paper, paperboard and articles of paper pulp; etc.	12.0	25.0	13.0	108.3
66	Non-metallic mineral manufacturers	1,362.4	2,022.1	659.7	48.4
72	Specialised industrial machinery	16.5	21.4	4.9	30.0
74	General industrial machinery and equipment, NES and machine parts NES	75.4	95.9	20.5	27.2
78	Road vehicles	105.9	315.8	209.9	198.3
79	Other transport equipment	56.0	91.6	35.7	63.7
82	Furniture and parts thereof; bedding, mattresses, supports, cushions and similar stuffed furnishings	61.6	65.5	3.9	6.4
85	Footwear	2.4	3.7	1.3	56.1
87	Professional, scientific and control instruments (and apparatus NES)	43.1	52.5	9.4	21.9
89	Miscellaneous manufactured article NES	35.3	42.3	7.0	19.8
Total imports		4,201.3	5.343.7	1,142.3	27.2

⁽³⁾ Sub-Saharan Africa comprises the following countries: Mauritania, Bali, Burkina, Niger, Chad, Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, St. Helena, Angola, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Seychelles, British Indian Ocean Territory, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Mayotte, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho.

⁽⁴⁾ Commodities are grouped according to Divisions of the Standard International Trade Classification, revision 3.

Note:

NES: Not elsewhere specified.

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