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Smoking-related Deaths

Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have died from (a) smoking-related and (b) secondary smoking-related diseases in each of the last five years. [135657]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Information is not available in the form requested. The Health Education Authority 1998 report, "The UK Smoking Epidemic: Deaths in 1995", estimated that in the United Kingdom in 1995 smoking caused more than 120,000 deaths of people aged 35 years or more. A copy of this report is available in the Library.

The independent Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health concluded in its 1998 report that, "exposure to environmental smoke is a cause of lung cancer and, in those with long-term exposure, the increased risk is in the order of 20 to 30 per cent.". The committee repeated the explanation of this risk set out earlier in its fourth

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report that "a 20 to 30 per cent. increased risk in exposed non-smokers would be a rate of 12 to 13 per 100,000 per year. Thus we would expect an additional 2 to 3 lung cancer cases a year per 100,000 non-smokers regularly exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. The numbers of people so exposed are not known precisely". A copy of this report is also available in the Library.

Social Care

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of qualified social workers who are not working (a) for social services departments and (b) in social care. [134774]

Dr. Ladyman: The Department has not made such estimates.

Student Nurses

Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many student nurses left their courses before qualifying (a) in 2002 and (b) in 2003 to date. [135407]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 4 November 2003]: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he will take to improve the bursaries available to student nurses. [135408]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 4 November 2003]: National health service bursary rates across all professions are considered each year and have been uplifted annually since 1998, including an increase of 10.4 per cent. (well ahead of inflation) in 2001.

The Department has made a number of other improvements to the NHS bursary scheme, including extension of eligibility for disabled students' allowances and hardship support to diploma level students, and more help with the costs of travel and accommodation. The Government have also committed to introduce help with the costs of child care from 2004.

My ministerial colleagues and I continue to keep NHS-funded student support arrangements under review in order to ensure that they continue to meet our objectives for the service.

Vitamin Supplements

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce Vitamin D supplements free to vulnerable children. [136215]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Welfare Food Scheme provides vitamin supplements containing vitamins A, C and D, free of charge, to low income families. All children at risk of Vitamin D deficiency also may be prescribed Vitamin D supplements.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Council Tax

Mr. Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) average and (b) average band D council tax was in the London borough of Greenwich in each year since 1997. [136594]

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Mr. Raynsford: The information requested is tabled as follows:

£

	Area Band D council tax for 2 adults	Average council tax per dwelling
1996–97	763	608
1997–98	821	651
1998–99	883	710
1999–2000	883	711
2000–01	883	710
2001–02	911	734
2002–03	954	774
2003–04	1,088	883

Mr. Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average council tax was in (a) the North East, (b) the North West, (c) Yorkshire and the Humber, (d) the East Midlands, (e) the West Midlands and (f) the East of England in each financial year since 1995–96. [136596]

Mr. Raynsford: The information currently available is tabled as follows. I will write to the hon. Member shortly to give average figures on this basis for 1995–96 to 1998–99.

Average council tax per dwelling£

	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
North East	627	645	676	735	801
North West	680	699	733	774	840
Yorkshire and the Humber	602	622	663	712	786
East Midlands	640	672	713	784	859
West Midlands	642	670	718	111	855
East of England	674	714	762	842	970

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the gross income threshold is above which individuals are not eligible for council tax benefit. [135359]

Mr. Pond: I have been asked to reply.

There is no single income threshold which automatically denies entitlement to council tax benefit. The amount of income a person can receive before they lose entitlement to council tax benefit will be dependent on their personal circumstances, for example the size of their family, and the council tax level of the local authority area in which they live.

Housing (Older People)

Linda Perham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations on the planning of housing for elderly people he has received in the last 12 months from groups representing older people. [136611]

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has received various comments on the planning of housing for older people from groups representing or having an interest in older people's housing. These include responses to the recent publication for consultation of "Influencing The Size, Type And Affordability of Housing", which set out proposed changes to the current policies on planning for affordable housing. The Housing and Older People Development Group, which advises the Department of

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Health and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, has also recently discussed the issue of planning of housing for older people.

Housing (Overcrowding)

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether directions have been made under Section 334 of the Housing Act 1985 to require information on overcrowding. [136940]

Keith Hill: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. As far as the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is aware, the powers in section 334 of the Housing Act 1985 have not been used by local authorities or my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister in recent years. However, all local authorities have carried out assessments of the need for new affordable housing, to underpin their housing strategies. Part 7 of the Local Government Act 2003 puts these strategies on a statutory footing for the first time.

Local Authority Rent Collection

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many times each local authority has used an enforcement agency to collect arrears in each year since 1997; how much money was collected each year by enforcement agencies in each local authority; and if he will list the enforcement agencies used by each local authority. [137135]

Mr. Raynsford: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Local Elections

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many allegations of electoral fraud in postal voting for local elections in the North West Region have been (a) reported and (b) investigated in the last 10 years. [134289]

Mr. Raynsford: Information on electoral fraud at elections is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost

Local Government Grant

Mr. Blunt: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects local government to receive grant based on the Formula Spending Share formulae using 2001 Census data. [136705]

Mr. Raynsford: Officials of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will continue discussing with local authority representatives how the 2001 Census data might be incorporated into the Formula Spending Shares. A decision will be made following these discussions on whether to use the 2001 Census data in the 2005–06 Formula Spending Shares.

Planning Appeals

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the reason is for reducing the time for planning appeals from six to three months; when it came

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into force; how many appeals it is expected to change; which appeals it applies to; and how many refusals there were on 5 September. [136941]

Keith Hill: The proposal to reduce the time allowed for an applicant to decide whether to lodge an appeal was one of many aimed at speeding up and improving the effectiveness of the planning system announced in the Green Paper "Planning: Delivering a Fundamental Change", published in 2002. The amendment is not expected to change any planning appeals, only to speed up the planning process and prevent delays.

The Amendment Order came into force on 5 September 2003 and reduces the time limit for receipt of section 78 appeals, as specified in article 23(2) of the Town & Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order 1995. The reduced time limit also applies to an appeal made under section 78(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The reduced time limit applies to applications received by the local planning authority on or after 5 September 2003.

The decision on whether to allow a planning permission or not remains within the remit of a local planning authority and as such information on the number of applications refused on 5 September 2003 could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.

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