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Income Tax Evasion

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate his Department has made of the level of income tax contributions lost to evasion. [135382]

Dawn Primarolo: There is no reliable measure of the total tax and other duties lost to evasion. In his report, published in March 2000, Lord Grabiner QC commented on the scale of the hidden economy and said:

"By its nature, the size of the informal economy is hard to measure. Most estimates are based on analysing high-level economic aggregates, such as labour market statistics or income and expenditure surveys, and calculate the result as a percentage of GDP. However there is research which suggests that these estimates tend to be exaggerated."

It would be impractical to arrive at a precise and meaningful figure as to the scale of the problem without a considerable investment of time and resources.

Influenza

David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people aged 65 years or over died of influenza in (a) the East Riding of Yorkshire, (b) Hull and (c) the UK in each year since 1997. [135280]

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

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Davis, dated 3 October 2003:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people aged 65 years or over have died of influenza in (a) East Riding of Yorkshire, (b) Hull, (c) the UK in each year since 1997. (135280)

Figures for East Riding of Yorkshire and Kingston-upon-Hull, (City of) unitary authorities and the United Kingdom are provided in the table. The most recent year for which data are available is 2001.

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Numbers of deaths from influenza⁽²⁾, 1997 to 2001⁽³⁾ for East Riding of Yorkshire and Kingston-upon-Hull, (City of) unitary authorities and the United Kingdom⁽⁴⁾

	Number of deaths
	East Riding of Yorkshire	Kingston-upon-Hull, City of	United Kingdom
1997	*	*	413
1998	*	—	129
1999	6	—	598
2000	*	*	630
2001	—	—	27

— = zero deaths.

* = Fewer than five deaths.

⁽²⁾ Deaths with an underlying cause of influenza defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) code 487 for the years 1997 to 2000 and, for the year 2001, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes J10 and J11.

⁽³⁾ Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year, except for data for Scotland and Northern Ireland included in the United Kingdom totals. These are deaths registered in each calendar year.

⁽⁴⁾ Deaths of usual residents of these areas.

Iraq

Alan Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what costs the Government has (a) incurred since and (b) made provision for in relation to Iraq, broken down by Government department. [135767]

Mr. Boateng: In his 2003 Budget statement, the Chancellor confirmed that £3 billion has been set aside in a special reserve available to the Ministry of Defence, for the costs of the military campaign in Iraq,

"so that our troops continue to be properly equipped and given the resources that they deserve and have a right to expect." [9 April 2003, Official Report, column 271.]

It is too early to provide total costs of the military campaign in Iraq. However, up to the point military operations began, Ministry of Defence estimate costs at around £700 million.

At the Donors' Conference on Iraq, in Madrid on 24 October, the UK made a total financial commitment towards Iraq's reconstruction of £544 million for the three years from April 2003, including funding we have provided so far and our share of proposed European Community spending in Iraq.

£248 million is for humanitarian and reconstruction assistance already committed by DFID and other Government Departments, £9 million of which is our share of the EC commitment, and £296 million will be for the period up to March 2006, £29 million of which is our share of currently proposed EC spending.

Note of Dissent (Directions)

Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the directions overriding a note of dissent by an accounting officer that his Department has been notified of since January 2003; if he will place details of such directions in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [134224]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Economic Secretary on 23 June 2003, Official Report, column 617W.

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The Treasury was informed of a direction by the Ministry of Defence on 30 July 2003 in respect of Hawk trainers.

The procedures relating to ministerial directions are set out in the "Accounting Officer Memorandum" and require Departments to convey relevant papers to the C&AG, copied to the Treasury, once an Accounting Office has received a direction from a Minister. It is for the C&AG to decide what action should be taken and whether he wishes to investigate further. Such documents may contain sensitive or classified material and it is for the Minister of the Department concerned to decide whether to make such directions more widely available.

Pay Statistics

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the current average pay in the (a) private and (b) public sector is, (i) exclusive and (ii) inclusive of work benefits. [134873]

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

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Jonathan Djanogly, dated 30 October 2003:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on average pay in the public and private sector, both excluding and including work benefits. (134873)

In April 2003, the average gross weekly earnings of full-time employees whose pay was not affected by absence, was £465.90 per week for those employed in the private sector and £480.80 per week for those in the public sector. The figures include overtime and bonuses, but do not include any non-monetary payments or benefits. This information is taken from the New Earnings Survey.

None of the surveys of employers, households or individuals carried out by the Office for National Statistics collects details of non-monetary work benefits, such as company cars, private health insurance, employers' pension contributions, share schemes, etc. The Inland Revenue publish details of the value of a number of these benefits on their website at: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/taxable benefits/menu.htm.

However, this data is not produced for the public and private sectors separately.

Scottish Housing Stock (Debt)

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for (a) Scottish Borders, (b) Dumfries and Galloway and (c) Glasgow local authorities (i) the amount of housing debt remaining after transfer of local authority housing stock, (ii) the portion of that residual debt which (A) has subsequently been redeemed and (B) continues to be serviced, (iii) the breakage costs associated with any redemption of residual debt and (iv) the estimated servicing costs of any residual debt in (X) 2003–04, (Y) 2004–05 and (Z) 2005–06 indicating in each case which costs are being met by (1) the Treasury and (2) the Scottish Executive. [135075]

Ruth Kelly: Housing stock transfers in Scotland are a devolved responsibility of the Scottish Executive, and therefore most of the information requested is a matter for the Executive. With regard to Treasury costs, the amount of grant provided by the Exchequer to the

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Scottish Executive in respect of repayment of debt was £59 million for Scottish Borders, £76 million for Dumfries and Galloway and £920 million for Glasgow.

Tourism/Agriculture Spending

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what total government spending on the (a) tourist and (b) agricultural industry was in 2002–03. [135839]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Gentleman to Table 3.5 in Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2003 (Cm 5901) a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

VAT

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his policy on the relative VAT rates applied to (a) energy saving equipment and (b) energy used in (i) new build and (ii) the repair and conversions of existing buildings. [135402]

John Healey: The installation of energy-saving materials in residential accommodation and certain charity buildings is liable to VAT at the reduced rate of 5 per cent. This helps to keep homes warm and contributes to achieving the energy saving targets we are committed to as a result of the Kyoto summit. The Government is currently negotiating hard for an amendment to the European Sixth VAT Directive which would permit the reduced VAT rating of the purchase of energy-saving materials for do-it-yourself installation.

Fuel and power used in the construction, repair and conversion of buildings is standard-rated for VAT purposes. However, since 1997 domestic fuel and power subsequently used in those buildings has only been liable to VAT at 5 per cent.

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