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18 Nov 2003 : Column 725W—continued

International Finance Facility

Ms Drown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he estimates agreement will be reached on the International Finance Facility; and when he estimates it will have funds in it. [138906]

John Healey: Only by pooling the additional resources pledged as part of the Monterrey Consensus, and leveraging these through an International Finance Facility designed to deliver the additional US $50 billion a year needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals, can the international community meet the challenge of halving poverty by 2015. That is why the Government continues to make the case for the Facility with all our international partners. Once agreement by donor countries has been reached the facility could start to deliver the additional aid very quickly.

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The Facility received wide support from other countries at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF in September. The Bank and Fund have been mandated to do further work on financing for development options, including the International Finance Facility, reporting back at the Spring and Annual Meetings in 2004.

The Meetings also agreed that developing and emerging market countries should be consulted. This process will culminate in a Ministerial conference on Financing for Development in Spring 2004, chaired by the French Government.

The UK government also continues to build the support in civil society necessary to make the initiative a reality. In February the Treasury will be hosting a conference bringing together church leaders, senior political figures, NGOs and the President of the World Bank to discuss aid and trade.

Large Scale Voluntary Transfer

Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to public funds was of large scale voluntary transfer for each of the last 10 years. [139429]

Keith Hill: Where a large scale voluntary transfer has a positive value there is no additional cost to public funds. Where there is a negative value a dowry may be required. Between 1996 and 2000 the Office provided dowry funding for negative value estate based transfers through the Estates Renewal Challenge Fund. The annual provision was 1996–97. £7.8 million; 1997–98, £132.9 million; 1998–99, £146.3 million, and 1999–2000, £201.2 million. It is possible that other Government programmes have provided financial contributions to large scale voluntary transfers however a central record is not maintained. However, the information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Leases

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) lock-up garages, (b) car parking spaces, (c) advertising hoardings and (d) charity shops were leased in the last year for which figures are available. [135605]

Ruth Kelly: I regret that this information is not available.

Ministerial Visits

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the UK visits made by ministers in his Department in each of the last five years, broken down by constituency. [136909]

Ruth Kelly: The detailed information requested in respect of UK travel by Treasury Ministers is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

All travel is undertaken fully in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.

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Network Rail

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his forecast is of losses on Network Rail for 2003–04. [133664]

Dr. Howells: I have been asked to reply.

The Strategic Rail Authority receives regular financial information from Network Rail as part of the agreement for SRA providing Network Rail with standby credit facilities. The financial information is commercially sensitive. Network Rail's Annual Report and Accounts for 2002–03, the most recently available, showed a loss before tax of £290 million.

Opinion Polling and Market Research

Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much (a) HM Treasury, (b) Customs and Excise and (c) the Inland Revenue spent on (i) opinion polling and (ii) market research in the last financial year; and if he will make a statement. [134230]

Ruth Kelly: Expenditure in 2002–03 on external survey research by Customs and Excise was £255,774. Inland Revenue spent £1.6 million on market research (this figure includes: quantitative surveys; qualitative research; media and advertising research; and business-to-business industrial research; public opinion surveys; and desk research). In respect of HM Treasury I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 28 April 2003, Official Report, column 168W.

Presidential Visit

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the estimated economic cost is of the effect on businesses in London of the forthcoming visit of President Bush. [139409]

Ruth Kelly: Policing operations will aim to minimise any such costs.

Productivity Growth

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of productivity growth in the public sector was on the last year for which figures are available. [133660]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. John Redwood, dated 18 November 2003:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on productivity growth in the public sector. (133660)

I refer you to the article "Measuring Government Output and Productivity" which was published in Economic Trends, July 2003. The purpose of this article was to report work in progress at the Office for National Statistics. To illustrate the methods used, it included experimental results that provide an indicative estimate of productivity change for government. The latest year for which these figures were shown was 2001 when productivity change (over the previous year) was shown as -2 per cent. This estimate should be used in conjunction with the guidance provided in the article.

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The article is available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?id=400

No estimates have been published covering the whole of the public sector.

Taxation and Transfer Pricing

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list taxation and transfer pricing cases involving United Kingdom companies which have been (a) decided and (b) entered for decision by the European Court of Justice in each of the last five years; and if he will estimate the net revenue effect in each case. [139466]

Dawn Primarolo: No tax cases concerning transfer pricing involving UK companies have been decided or entered for decision by the European Court of Justice in any of the last five years.

Thalidomide Trust

Nick Harvey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the annual cost to the Treasury of allowing income payments from the Thalidomide Trust to thalidomide victims to be tax exempt; and if he will make a statement. [139695]

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available.

Treasury Statistics

Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether the HM Treasury official involved in the early release of statistics on 24 October had authorised access to those statistics; and if he will make a statement; [138799]

(2) what the arrangements are for the preparation of briefing materials on statistics to which HM Treasury has pre-release access; and if he will make a statement; [138800]

(3) if he will list all the people outside the Office for National Statistics who had pre-release access to the retail sales estimates and other market moving statistics; and if he will make a statement; [138801]

(4) when the provisions for pre-release access to National Statistics releases by HM Treasury (a) Ministers and (b) officials were last changed; and if he will make a statement; [138803]

(5) if he will list the HM Treasury provisions for pre-release access to National Statistics releases by HM Treasury (a) Ministers and (b) officials. [138804]

Ruth Kelly: In line with long-standing practice under this and previous Administrations, Ministers with policy responsibility for the relevant subject matter, and a small number of their officials, are granted limited early access to statistical releases to enable them to respond completely when questions arise at the time of the release of the data. The list of Treasury Ministers and officials who have authorised pre-release access to National Statistics First Releases is available on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website.

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In addition the Macroeconomic Statistics Service Level Agreement, drawn up between ONS and HM Treasury in 1998, lists a further small number of individuals at HM Treasury who receive copies of HM Treasury's internal briefing on these statistical releases before the publication of the data. Since 1998, this list has been updated to reflect changes to personnel and staff structures with the overall number of individuals reduced from eight to seven.

As confirmed by the Treasury at the time, the official from whom the September retail sales data was improperly ascertained had authorised early access to those data.

As noted in the Treasury's statement of 5 November, the Treasury views this incident extremely seriously and is rigorously examining all its procedures to ensure that any repetition is avoided.

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