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Written Answers to Questions

Thursday 12 June 2003

TREASURY

Gulf (Military Presence)

12. Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost of maintaining a military presence in the Persian Gulf in the last three months. [118671]

Mr. Boateng: It would be premature to make such an estimate but we expect the costs of the military campaign to be covered by the £3 billion reserve announced by the Chancellor in the Budget.

Growth Prospects

14. Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his current assessment is of growth prospects in (a) the UK and (b) the euro area. [118673]

Mr. Boateng: The Government published their latest forecasts for the UK economy in the Budget on April 9. We forecast:

The UK economy to grow by 2 to 2½ per cent. this year, rising to 3 to 3½ per cent. next year.

The euro area economy to grow by 1 per cent. this year, rising to 2¼ per cent. next year.

Competitiveness

15. Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had since the Budget with representatives of manufacturing industry regarding competitiveness. [118674]

Mr. Boateng: Treasury Ministers meet regularly with manufacturing representatives to discuss a wide range of issues and this Government has introduced a series of measures to promote business efficiency, investment and competitiveness.

BCCI

16. Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Inland Revenue's action relating to the former employees of BCCI. [118675]

Dawn Primarolo: I understand that Revenue officials are continuing to provide guidance on the tax aspects of the proposed BCCI settlement, and I hope it will prove possible to finalise the tax position of ex-employees in the near future.

Tax Credits Helplines

17. Mrs. Humble: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what support is being given to staff working on the tax credits helplines to enable them to deal with the workload. [118676]

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Dawn Primarolo: The revenue has been able to support its staff employed in the Tax Credit Contact Centres by:

Providing an initial and comprehensive training package followed by additional, supplementary training as the workload has changed.

Backing this up with rapid escalation processes for more complex or difficult calls.

Bringing several hundred additional staff onto the helpline when the number of calls started to increase in early April.

Managers working closely and quickly with staff and their trade unions to resolve any local pressures or concerns that may develop.

Aid Statistics

18. David Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress the UK is making on the target ratio of aid to national income. [118677]

John Healey: The Government remain fully committed to reaching the UN target of an official development assistance to Gross National Income ratio (ODA/GNI ratio) of 0.7 per cent. In the 2002 Spending Review the Government made substantial increases to the aid budget. The UK's level of official development assistance will be increased to 0.33 per cent. by 2003–04, up from 0.26 per cent. in 1997, and will reach 0.40 per cent. of GNI by 2005–06. This is the largest ever increase in UK aid and represents a 93 per cent. real terms increase since 1997.

Aid effectiveness is also important as well as aid volumes. We are committed to redirecting the development assistance budget to the poorest countries, particularly those with effective governments pursuing high growth and pro-poor economic and social policies. In addition, the Government have untied all their aid as from 1 April 2001.

Bank of England

20. Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what difference has been recorded in the present value of the reserves in consequence of the instruction to the Bank of England to sell gold and to invest in particular currencies. [118679]

John Healey: The restructuring of the reserves portfolio announced in May 1999 was a long-term, prudent restructuring to reduce the risk of over-exposure to a single asset. As such it is inappropriate to measure gains or losses resulting from fluctuations in market values on a particular day or over a short-term period.

Once account is taken of all the elements of the restructuring programme, including earnings on foreign currency assets purchased from the proceeds of the sale, the annualised return on the assets invested in (from the sales of gold to the end of May 2003) was approximately 9 per cent. per annum in US dollar terms.

Debt Relief

21. Mr. Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proposals he has for further debt relief to be agreed by the G8 group of countries. [118680]

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John Healey: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Chancellor earlier today to my right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge and Chryston (Mr. Clarke).

Cancer

Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes have been recorded over the past 20 years in the (a) survival and (b) mortality rates in men diagnosed with (i) prostate, (ii) lung, (iii) bowel and (iv) testicular cancer; and what geographical trends have been identified in the incidence of cancer in men. [118562]

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

Letter from J. Pullinger to Mr Nicholas Winterton, dated 12 June 2003:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question concerning what changes have been recorded over the last 20 years in the (a) survival and (b) mortality rates in men diagnosed with (i) prostate, (ii) lung, (iii) bowel and (iv) testicular cancer; and what geographical trends have been identified in the incidence of cancer in men. I am replying in his absence. (118562)

Long term trends in cancer incidence, mortality, prevalence and survival for prostate, lung, bowel and testicular cancer, and all other major cancers, for England and Wales have been published in Cancer Trends in England and Wales 1950–1999 ¹ . This is available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme health/cancertrends 5099.pdf

This publication includes the latest available cancer survival analyses for England and Wales. Survival rates for major cancers by sex and age-group are presented, with trends for cases diagnosed in the early 1970s up to those diagnosed in the early 1990s.

The Office for National Statistics is currently collaborating with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to update the cancer survival statistics in this volume with figures for the 20 commonest cancers in England and Wales. This will cover adult patients diagnosed during 1991–99 and followed up to the end of 2001. The results will be published later this year.

The publication Cancer Trends in England and Wales 1950–19991 contains analyses of mortality from all major cancers over the period 1950–1999. Variations in cancer incidence by geographical area within the UK are also described in this publication.

Data on cancer incidence by geographical area for 1998 and 1999, and mortality for 2000 and 2001 are available on the National Statistics website.

¹ Quinn M, Babb P, Brock A, et al. Cancer Trends in England and Wales 1950–1999. Series SMPS No. 66. London: Office for National Statistics, 2001.

Customs and Excise

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the working hours of the local Swansea Customs team have been spent (a) in their home areas and (b) outside their home areas during the past two years. [118533]

John Healey: Over the past two years the Swansea Customs team have spent approximately 40 per cent. of their operational time in Swansea. Of the 60 per cent. of the time they spent elsewhere, the majority was at Cardiff International airport.

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Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what seizures have been made by the Swansea local Customs team in (a) their own area and (b) outside their own area in the past two years. [118534]

John Healey: The Swansea Customs team have, in the last two years, made 19 seizures in Swansea. These included 156,750 cigarettes, some small seizures of hand rolled tobacco and spirits and two knives.

Operating elsewhere over the same period, the team made a further 48 seizures mostly at Cardiff International airport. These comprised 633,520 cigarettes, some small seizures of hand rolled tobacco and a small number of other minor seizures.

The team made no Class A drug seizures over the two-year period.

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what plans there are for further co-operative working between the Customs and Excise departments of the UK and Eire; [118538]

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

John Healey: Customs work closely with the Republic of Ireland (as well as other member states) on a number of issues and meet with them regularly, both bilaterally and as part of larger meetings.

These meetings take place at both the high level to discuss strategic plans for future working and also at operational levels to discuss specific cases. There is consequently a regular flow of information between UK Customs and Excise and their Republic of Ireland counterparts in relation to suspect drug consignments and cash related movements, cigarette smuggling and oils smuggling.

Illegal immigration is not an assigned matter for either Service.

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the role of Customs officers is in implementing anti-terrorism measures. [118540]

John Healey: Customs has prime responsibility for controls on the movement of goods into and out of the United Kingdom, including the detection of terrorist material. A significant part of the £330 million announced by the Chancellor in the Budget for counter-terrorism purposes will be used to equip Customs with new technology and staff measures to assist their detection effort.

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many times in the past two years the Customs and Excise National Strike Force has undertaken operational duties in west Wales. [118546]

John Healey: The National Strike Force was deployed to Wales 16 times over the last two years. On at least 12 occasions they were operating in west Wales.

Mr. Prosser: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was of paying travel and subsistence allowances to customs officers serving in the South East

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Region Enforcement Team in (a) 1999, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002; and what estimate he has made of the cost of paying travel and subsistance allowances to customs officers serving in the South East Region Enforcement Team in (i) 2003, (ii) 2004 and (iii) 2005. [116731]

John Healey: There is not, and never has been, a South East Region Enforcement Team in Customs and Excise. Following changes in customs' management structure in 2001, an enlarged Law Enforcement South Region was created. Travel, subsistence and other expenses are paid in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Management Code.

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the working hours of the local Pembroke Customs team have been spent (a) in and (b) outside their home areas during the past two years. [118530]

John Healey: During the last two years, the Pembroke Customs team have spent 80 per cent. of their time in Pembroke and Fishguard and 20 per cent. elsewhere, largely at Cardiff International airport.

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what seizures have been made by the Pembroke local Customs team (a) in and (b) outside their own area in the past two years. [118531]

John Healey: The Pembroke Customs team have made one significant seizure, of 1.2 million cigarettes, in Pembroke in the past two years. This seizure was a result of a specific operation, based on intelligence gathered from outside Wales. In addition, the team made a small number of minor seizures of cigarettes, hand rolled tobacco, spirits and beer, in Pembroke and Fishguard.

Elsewhere, over the last two years, the Pembroke Customs team seized 481,290 cigarettes at Cardiff International Airport, and made a small number of minor seizures of cigarettes and hand rolled tobacco elsewhere.

The Pembroke Customs team made no significant drug seizures over the past two years.

Mrs. Lawrence: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what seizures have been made by the Customs and Excise National Strike Force in west Wales in the last two years. [118532]

John Healey: The National Strike Force have been deployed to Wales 16 times in the past two years. Their seizures have included £500,000 cash and over 5.6 million in cigarettes in west Wales and the borders.

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