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15 May 2003 : Column 370W—continued

Local Education Authorities

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent representations he has received concerning the allocation of funds to local education authorities. [113569]

Mr. Raynsford: Since the announcement of the local government finance settlement on 5 February, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has received 24 letters from MPs or local authorities that are wholly or mainly concerned with education funding.

Local Government Finance

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether high performing local authorities granted new freedom and autonomy by the Government and who bid successfully for ring fenced, specific grants are able to spend them on what they wish. [112975]

Mr. Raynsford: As part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's commitment to give greater freedom to high performing authorities, it has unfenced the following revenue ring-fenced specific grants for excellent authorities, for which authorities bid.

Rural Bus Challenge Fund
Waste Recycling Challenge Fund
Playing for Success

There are no conditions attached to the use of these grants. In addition, Parliamentary approval will be sought shortly to pay the part of the Training Support Programme grant which is bid for unfenced.

On capital, Contaminated Land Grant, Air Quality Grant, Local Government Online and Local PSA bid based grants have been unfenced for all authorities. All other capital expenditure is unfenced for excellent and good authorities, including bid-based grants except for:

Personal Social Services (Children Services Grant) which runs for two years only Flood defence and coastal protection and the following grants which are paid in respect of expenditure previously incurred:

Secure accommodation.
Flood defence and coastal protection.

Remote Controlled Aircraft

Mr. Wray: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what regulations are in place to control the (a) size, (b) speed and (c) height of remote controlled planes and other leisure aircraft flown in public areas. [112832]

Mr. Jamieson: I have been asked to reply.

15 May 2003 : Column 371W

All aircraft, including remote controlled planes and leisure aircraft are subject to regulation by the Air Navigation Order 2000.

Size is determined by weight and regulated by Article 129. This defines any unmanned aircraft, other than a balloon or kite, weighing not more than 20 kg without its fuel, as a 'small aircraft'. The speed of small aircraft is not specifically regulated but they are subject to Article 64 which states that a person shall not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property. Article 87 limits recreational model aircraft to a maximum height of 400 ft above the surface.

Remote controlled model aircraft weighing more than 20 kg are only permitted to operate in accordance with an exemption issued by the Civil Aviation Authority. They are subject to Article 23(1) of the Rules of the Air 1996 which limits an aircraft flying below 10,000 ft to 250 knots.

Rent Service

Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will allow the Rent Service to publish local reference rent determinations on its website. [112430]

Mr. McNulty: In keeping with its aims of openness and transparency, The Rent Service plans to publish statistical data about the private rented sector housing market in England, on its website. This includes a range of information about local reference rents for different parts of the country.

TREASURY

Child Poverty

Mr. Simon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which elements of his strategy for relieving child poverty contain measures to increase family incomes. [113297]

Dawn Primarolo: As outlined in the December 2001 paper 'Tackling child poverty: giving every child the best possible start in life', the Government's strategy to tackle child poverty includes:

helping to ensure a decent family income, with work for those who can and support for those who can't;


delivering excellent public services for all neighbourhoods and targeted interventions for those with additional needs;


support for parents so that parents can provide better support for their children; and


harnessing the power and expertise of the voluntary and community sectors, providing support for innovation and good practice.

The main measures the Government have taken to increase family incomes to relieve child poverty include:

The introduction of the new Child and Working Tax Credits from April this year, to tackle child poverty and make work pay, ensuring that those who need the most help receive the greatest support. Nine out of 10 families with children are expected to benefit, those with incomes of up to £50,000 will receive at least £545 a year. From April 2004, the child element of the Child Tax Credit will be uprated at least in line with earnings rather than prices for the rest of the Parliament;


The child care element available through the Working Tax Credit, which has been extended from April 2003 to include approved child care in parent's own home, provides additional

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support for families for whom the cost of child care is a barrier to work parents can receive up to 70 per cent. of eligible child care costs up to £135 a week for one child, up to £200 for two;


Increases in the rates of Child Benefit—this April rates were increased in line with prices from £15.75 to £16.05 a week for the first child in every family, and from £10.55 to £10.75 a week for subsequent children. The rate for the first child is now 25 per cent. higher in real terms than it was in 1997;


Increases in the children's allowances in Income Support and other income related benefits, with rates for children under 11 rising by 80 per cent. in real terms since 1997;


The introduction of the National Minimum Wage in 1999. By October this year, lowest paid workers will have seen an increase in their wages of 25 per cent. since 1999.


Active Labour Market Programmes, such as the New Deal for lone parents, which provides help with training, education and child care, to help lone-parents into work. The employment rate of lone-parents has increased to 54 per cent. year compared to 46 per cent. in 1997.

Construction Industry

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 22 January 2003, Official Report, column 409W, on the construction industry, what estimates he has made since May 1997 of the loss of tax revenue as a result of tax evasion in the construction industry. [95007]

Dawn Primarolo: It is not possible to provide reliable estimates about the amount of tax that might be lost through tax evasion in the construction industry.

Discounts

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Matthew Taylor) of 18 March 2003, Official Report, columns 674–76W, what the take-up assumption for the discounts and offsetting benefits to council tax were; and if he will publish an equivalent table for council tax as a percentage of income by decile for the over 60s. [113059]

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

Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr Jim Cousins, dated 15 May 2003:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question concerning the proportion of income that over 60s pay in council tax within each income decile. I am replying in his absence. (113059)

Estimates given in the answer of 18 March 2003, Official Report, columns 674–76W, to Mr Matthew Taylor MP, are based on the analysis "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income 2000–01" which was produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and published on the ONS website on April 19th 2002 and in Economic Trends in the May 2002 edition. Since this reply was given, results for 2001–02 have been published on the ONS website on April 11th 2003 and in Economic Trends in May 2003. The analyses include measures of income inequality for the United Kingdom as a whole and can be obtained from the House of Commons Library.

The analysis for 2000–01 is based on data from the Family Expenditure Survey (FES) and for 2001–02 the Expenditure and Food Survey (EPS) which was introduced from 2001–02 to replace the FES and the National Food Survey. Sample sizes for the over 60s are only sufficient to allow a break down to be given by quintiles of income distribution and not by decile.

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Households for the over 60s have been defined as those where the Household Reference Person is aged 60 or over. The Household Reference Person is identified during the interview and is defined as the member of the household who:

a. owns the household accommodation, or

b. is legally responsible for the rent of the accommodation, or

c. has the household accommodation as an emolument or perquisite, or

d. has the household accommodation by virtue of some relationship to the owner who is not a member of the household.

If there are joint householders, the Household Reference Person will be the householder with the highest income. If the income is the same, then the eldest householder is taken

15 May 2003 : Column 374W

The attached table gives the estimated gross and net council tax for the over 60s as a percentage of gross income for 2000–01 and 2001–02 in each income quintile where households are ranked by equivalised disposable income. As council tax does not exist in Northern Ireland, the figures shown relate to Great Britain only. The net council tax figures are gross council tax less benefits and discounts.

The analysis does not make assumptions about the take-up of council tax benefit, but collects actual data on benefit received. Council tax benefit is available to low income households to help them meet their local tax liability. The FES and EPS collect data on the amount of council tax benefit received by households who take up their entitlement. Where a household reports taking up their council tax benefit entitlement, this has been deducted from the council tax liability to produce the net figures.

Council tax as a percentage of gross income for the over 60s⁽¹²⁾—Great Britain

		Quintile groups of all households ranked by equivalised disposable income									All households
Quintile points(13) (£ per year)	2000–01		8,726		10,969		14,100		19,844
	2001–02		9,445		11,900		15,079		20,300
Gross council tax (% of gross income)	2001–01	9.8		6.6		5.3		4.0		2.6	4.3
	2001–02	9.4		6.6		5.3		4.2		2.4	4.3
Net council tax(14) (% of gross income)	2000–01	6.7		4.7		4.2		3.4		2.4	3.5
	2001–02	7.0		4.6		4.1		3.7		2.3	3.6

⁽¹²⁾ Household reference person aged 60 or over

⁽¹³⁾ Equivalised disposable income at the boundary between two quintile groups

⁽¹⁴⁾ Net council taxes after deducting discountsSource:

Office for National Statistics, based on the analysis 'The effects of taxes and benefits on household income', published on the ONS website and in Economic Trends No. 582 May 2002 and No. 594 May 2003.

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