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17 Jul 2003 : Column 453W—continued
Water Industry
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of water companies reported financial deficits in 2002. [125574]
Mr. Morley: The Director General of Water Services' published report, "Financial performance and expenditure of the water companies in England and Wales 2001–2002" (Table 4), shows that all companies reported operating profits for the year ended March 2002.
Written Ministerial Statements
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many written ministerial statements have been made by the Department since 29 October 2002. [126606]
Alun Michael: As at 16 July, 77 written ministerial statements have been made by the Department.
TREASURY
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia
Mr. Baron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the occurrence rate of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was in each of the last five years. [127018]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. John Baron, dated 17 July 2003:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question concerning what the occurrence rate of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was in each of the last five years. I am replying in his absence. (127018)
The rates for newly diagnosed cases of acute lymphoblastic leukeamia 1 for the most recent five years for which data are available for children aged under fifteen in England arc given in the table below.
| Under 15 | |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 3.5 |
| 1996 | 3.4 |
| 1997 | 3.1 |
| 1998 | 3.6 |
| 1999 | 3.3 |
(1) For the years 1995 to 1999, International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), code C91.0.
Source:
Office for National Statistics, "Cancer statistics-registrations. England 1999". Series MBI no. 30. London: The Stationary Office, 2002.
Available on the National Statistics website at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme health/Mb1 30/MB1 30pdf.
Office for National Statistics, "Cancer statistics-registrations. England 1998". Series MBI no. 30. London: The Stationary Office, 2002.
Available on the National Statistics website at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme health/Mb1 30/MB1 29pdf.
Office for National Statistics, "Cancer statistics-registrations. England 1995–97". Series MBI no. 30. London: The Stationary Office, 2002.
Available on the National Statistics website at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme health/Mb1 30/MB1 28pdf.
Tax Credit Helpline
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff are employed to man advisory hotlines for working families tax credit; how many are civil servants; and how many have received training in this area. [117641]
Dawn Primarolo: I said in my comments during the debate on the floor of the House on 10 April 2003, Official Report, column 503, that a further 700 staff would be added by 15 April 2003 to the 1,900 staff already deployed on the helpline. These were full-time equivalent figures for the Great Britain helpline. Since then the number has fluctuated, but the average between 14 April and the end of June 2003 was about 2,900. Some of the work was outsourced for a period, and all staff have received appropriate training.
During the same period there was an average of about 3,900 telephone lines servicing the helpline.
Mr. Alan Reid: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the script used by advisers at the tax credit helpline for responding to callers who have asked for their tax credits to be paid into a Post Office card account. [115676]
Dawn Primarolo: The script used by tax credit staff when dealing with people who have asked for their tax credits to be paid into a Post Office card account follows that placed in the Library by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers given by the then Under-Secretary for Work and Pensions, Malcolm Wicks, on 26 March and 11 April 2003 Official Report, columns 289W and 472W.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) telephone lines and (b) telephonists there are for the tax credit helpline; and if he will make a statement. [115910]
17 Jul 2003 : Column 455W
Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what telephone hotlines and advice lines have been operated by his Department for people seeking advice about children's tax credits; what charges apply to each; and how many calls they have each taken. [123896]
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many calls have been made to the tax credit helpline in each month since it was first established; and how many of these calls have been answered; [125413]
(2) how many calls have been made to the MPs' tax credit hotline in each month since it was first established; and how many of these calls have been answered. [125414]
Dawn Primarolo: Telephone helplines have been in operation since August 2002 for claimants for child and working tax credits living in Great Britain and in Northern Ireland. The advisers can answer both general inquiries and inquiries about specific claims. Calls to these lines are charged at local rates.
The number of calls received and handled each month by the Great Britain helpline, rounded to the nearest thousand, appear in the following table:
(2) Where the caller selected an option from the call steering menu and was put in a queue to speak to an adviser.
(3) Where the caller spoke to an adviser.
(4) Totals may not equal the sum of individual months because of rounding
The Northern Ireland helpline handled 328,000 calls up to June 2003.
A response line is in operation giving general advice, but not answering inquiries about specific claims. Its had answered 2.7 million calls by the end of June 2003, including both those answered live by an operator and those answered by recorded voice. Calls to this line are free of charge. There are telephone hotlines for tax credits for Members of Parliament in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Calls to these lines are charged at national rate. For the weekly number of calls answered by these hotlines to the week starting 30 April, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale (Mr. Duncan) on 11 June 2003, Official Report, columns 859–60W. These hotlines answered 4,4000 calls in the four weeks starting 5 May 2003 and 5,000 during the five weeks starting 2 June 2003. In total, they answered 11,500 calls
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between 30 December 2002 and the week starting 30 June 2003. It is not known how many calls to these hotlines were not answered.
In addition, the Inland Revenue website contains information on tax credits, and a facility for potential claimants to enter family circumstances to check for eligibility and the size of the award. There were over 7.2 million such checks made to the end of June 2003.
Benefit Payments
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire of 9 July 2003, Official Report, column 871W, what the April outturn is against the Department for Work and Pensions' target that 85 per cent. of customers should have their benefit paid into their bank accounts by 2005. [125988]
Mr. Boateng: At the end of April 2003 around 43 per cent. of United Kingdom benefit customers were having their benefits paid directly into their bank accounts. From early May 2003 there has been a planned increase in activity to bolster the Direct Payment take up rate. A conversion exercise is under way where customers are being contacted and invited to concert to Direct Payment. This is being backed up with a national advertising campaign. Details of the number of invitations issued and responses issued are published in the House of Commons Library.
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