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Tax Credits

Mr. Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to make an assessment of the performance of the working tax credit and child tax credit helpline; and if he will make a statement. [111380]

Dawn Primarolo: I would refer the right hon. and learned Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 8 May 2003, Official Report, column 791W.

Hywel Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what advertising and publicity has been devoted to the Inland Revenue's helpline for the new tax credit system; and at what cost. [113003]

Dawn Primarolo: The new tax credits—Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit—were 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.

All of the publicity material including the claim form, award notices and letters from the Revenue, have included details of either the Tax Credit Helpline or the advertising response line as appropriate but there has been no specific advertising of the lines separately from the overall tax credit publicity campaign

Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the average time has been since the introduction of working tax credits from application to first payment in (a) Angus constituency and (b) Scotland; [114006]

(2) how many persons in (a) Angus constituency and (b) Scotland have applied for working tax credit; [114008]

(3) what the average time has been for dealing with applications for working tax credit in (a) Angus constituency and (b) Scotland. [114007]

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Dawn Primarolo: No figures on Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit are yet available for Angus or Scotland. For the time taken to process applications, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) on 28 April 2003, Official Report, column 161W. Statistics on awards of these tax credits will be published in August.

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people applied for the new tax credits in Northern Ireland by 1 April; and what the average time taken to process applications was. [113494]

Dawn Primarolo: For the United Kingdom as a whole, 3.9 million applications for Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit were received by 9 April. The number received from applicants in Northern Ireland is not available; statistics on awards of these tax credits will be published in August.

For the time taken to process applications, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr Hughes) on 28 April 2003, Official Report, column 161W.

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of an increase in the amount of tax credit received by an individual on their (a) housing benefit and (b) council tax benefit; and if he will make a statement. [113515]

Dawn Primarolo: Awards of new tax credits count as income in the assessment of HB and Council Tax Benefit awards. For each additional £1 of income earned through work or tax credits, entitlement to HB and CTB is withdrawn at a rate of 85 pence.

For 2003–04, the allowances in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit have been increased in line with the maximum amount for each element of the Child Tax Credit. As a result no family on Child Tax Credit will lose out through a reduced Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit award.

In addition Budget 2003 announced that from 2004–05 Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit will disregard the first £11.90 of weekly earnings rather than the current disregard of the premium in Working Tax Credit paid to those working 30 hours or more per week. This will improve gains to work for tenants with children or a disability, working between 16 and 30 hours per week.

Mr. Simon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in Birmingham, Erdington have taken up the Child Tax Credit. [113296]

Dawn Primarolo: Statistics on the number of Child and Working Tax Credit awards will be published quarterly, beginning in August 2003. The first set of statistics will cover awards at early July 2003.

John Barrett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Working Tax Credit Helpline; [113513]

(2) how many telephone lines are dedicated to dealing with queries from the general public who telephone the Working Tax Credit Helpline; what monitoring is conducted on the time taken to respond to messages left

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in the helpline; what the average response time for messages is; and what representations he has received about response times. [113514]

Dawn Primarolo: I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement I made to the House on 28 April 2003, Official Report, column 53 and to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Twickenham, Dr. Cable on 8 May 2003, Official Report, column 791W.

At present there are around 4,800 telephone lines servicing the Tax Credit Helpline in Great Britain. The helpline does not offer facilities for leaving recorded messages.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Africa

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Minister of State for International Development what plans the G8 has to publish progress reports on the implementation of its G8 Africa Action Plan (a) after the Evian Summit and (b) in future years; and how it intends to maintain the commitment of G8 countries to the Africa Action Plan over the longer term. [113634]

Hilary Benn: The G8 Africa Personal Representatives will be presenting a progress report to G8 heads at the Evian Summit. Additionally the UK, USA, Japan, France, Canada and Germany will be publishing reports detailing bilateral progress. These will be added to the APR report as appendices. The Evian Summit represents a milestone in the achievement of objectives set out in the G8 Africa Action Plan but it is not a final deadline. Progress will continue after Evian. G8 Heads will consider at Evian how to continue high level political engagement with African governments; and discussions are ongoing regarding the potential for focus on Africa under the UK Presidency in 2005.

Millennium Development Goals

Helen Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the UK Government in consultation with other donor countries will be doing to achieve the 2005 Millennium Development Goals on gender parity and access to primary and secondary education. [112186]

Hilary Benn: The 2005 Millennium Development Goal on gender parity and access to primary and secondary education is a key priority of DFID. We believe that achieving the MDGs requires learning lesson from past efforts, encouraging and supporting governments in developing countries to implement sound policies, and in providing countries with the necessary resources.

The Government are committed to collaborating with a variety of partners to accelerate progress on girls' education. Like most donor countries, gender is now mainstreamed into all our development work. We are working with the UN Girls' Education Initiative to ensure stronger collaboration and co-ordination among donors at the global and the national level. And we are

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working with the World bank and UNICEF to develop sustainable strategies for girls' education in several countries.

Helen Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether the Millennium Development Goals on universal primary education gender parity in access to primary and secondary education will be a priority for governments at the G8 summit. [112188]

Hilary Benn: The main output of the 2002 G8 meeting in Kananaskis was the G8 Africa Action Plan. In response to this we announced an increase in bilateral spending to Africa from around £650 million a year then, to £1 billion by 2006. The provision of adequate and appropriate support to countries with credible plans to achieve UPE was integral to the Action Plan. Education is not likely to feature so prominently in this year's meeting. Nevertheless, the international community remains committed to meeting the Millennium Development Goals on universal primary education and gender parity in access to primary and secondary education. The Fast Track Initiative illustrates this commitment and could improve donor harmonisation in the education sector.

Afghanistan

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate her Department has made of the total cost of the reconstruction of Afghanistan. [112200]

Hilary Benn: A preliminary Reconstruction Needs Assessment was carried out in late 2001/early 2002 by UNDP, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. This estimated that US$18 billion was required over 10 years to reconstruct Afghanistan. This assessment was carried out quickly in order to provide a basis for pledges at the Tokyo Ministerial meeting in January 2002.

Since then more detailed needs assessments have been carried out in several sectors, including agriculture, education, transport and environment. The Afghan Transitional Administration now estimates that they require US$15 billion over the next five years to reconstruct the country.

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the security situation upon the distribution of food in Afghanistan. [112738]

Hilary Benn: Food aid continues to reach those who need it in most areas of Afghanistan. Some UNHCR field operations have been suspended due to the security situation on the border with Pakistan, and the situation remains fluid in the north of the country, with WFP unable to access a district in Balkh province due to inter-factional fighting. The security situation and restrictions on operations are reviewed regularly, however.

Approximately 5.8 million people will receive food aid in 2003 through a partnership between the Afghan Transitional Administration and WFP. WFP is also

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working in partnership with UNHCR to provide food aid to returning refugees and those who remain in refugee camps.

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has improved over the last year, with the drought easing due to increased rainfall and an 80 per cent. increase in crop yield over the previous year.

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