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2 Mar 2004 : Column 814W—continued

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the suitability of current Royal Fleet Auxiliary oilers for future expeditionary warfare. [146507]

Mr. Ingram: The Royal Fleet Auxiliary operates four classes of oilers (Wave, Leaf, Rover, and Fort Victoria). The two Wave class oilers (Wave Ruler and Wave Knight) entered service in 2003 and will remain operational until after 2025.

The Leaf and Rover classes are due to reach their expected out of service dates by 2011. They are single-hulled and so will be non-compliant with revised Marpol (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) regulations on the introduction of double-hulled vessels. The newer Fort Victoria ships are also single-hulled but we are currently considering ways of maintaining compliance with international legislation beyond 2010. While Marpol does not apply to vessels owned or operated by a state and used only on Government non-commercial service, as is the case with the RFA oilers, it remains MOD policy to comply with Shipping Acts and associated regulations where practicable. Consequently, MOD has a programme to phase out all non-compliant RFA vessels with a target date of 2010 based on the earliest practicable point for compliance.

As explained in my answer of 11 February 2004, Official Report, columns 1459–60W, the Department's programme, known as the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) programme, seeks progressively to replace most of the current RFA fleet, including Leaf, Rover, and Fort Victoria class oiler vessels. As part of this, these ships will be replaced by more flexible and capable vessels fully compliant with Marpol. This will significantly enhance the RFA's ability to provide the Royal Navy with its afloat support requirements.

Royal Navy

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on progress on modernising the Royal Navy's chart and navigation system. [155020]

Mr. Ingram: In January 2004 the Ministry of Defence announced that a contract had been awarded to Lockheed Martin UK Ltd. to fit Royal Navy ships with a new electronic charting system. The system, known as WECDIS (Warship Electronic Chart Display and Information System), will provide enhanced situational awareness to ensure RN navigating capability is more accurate, efficient and responsive.

The programme is proceeding as planned and the first ship installation is scheduled to commence in June 2004.

Salisbury Plain (Unauthorised Use)

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many drivers of private civilian (a) motorcycles and (b) four-by-four vehicles have been (i) intercepted, (ii) cautioned and (iii) prosecuted for unauthorised use of Salisbury Plain Training Estate in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [157298]

2 Mar 2004 : Column 815W

Mr. Caplin: In 2003, 41 motorcycles and 52 four-by-four vehicles were intercepted by the Ministry of Defence Police. As a result, 27 drivers were warned off military lands under the byelaws and a further 33 drivers were prosecuted.

Typhoon

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much money his Department has spent on developing the Typhoon's operational role to allow it to operate off the new aircraft carriers. [154909]

Mr. Ingram: No money has been spent on developing the Typhoon's operational role to operate off the new aircraft carriers. As part of the Concept Phase for the Joint Combat Aircraft project, a feasibility contract was let with BAE Systems to identify broad order costs and design issues for a number of different solutions. This contract was valued at around £2 million. The study considered the potential for adapting Typhoon for carrier operations but showed that a significant amount of re-design and investment would be required to operate Typhoon from the future carriers. Joint Strike Fighter has been selected to meet this requirement.

TREASURY

British Overseas Territories

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with which British overseas dependent territories he has arrangements for the exchange of tax information; on what dates such arrangements were made; which team in his Department or in agencies for which his Department is responsible has the task of negotiating such arrangements; and with which British overseas dependent territories there are negotiations on tax information arrangements. [157055]

Dawn Primarolo: The UK has Double Taxation Arrangements with Guernsey (1952), Isle of Man (1955) and Jersey (1952) (all Crown Dependencies), and the Falkland Islands (1997) and Montserrat (1947) (both Overseas Territories) all of which include provisions for the exchange of information for tax purposes. The Inland Revenue's International team is responsible for negotiating arrangements that provide for exchange of information between tax authorities. They have had discussions about new or improved exchange of information arrangements with all of the UK's overseas dependent territories that are operating as offshore financial centres.

Child Benefit

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families are eligible to receive child benefit. [158058]

Dawn Primarolo: The number of families in receipt of Child Benefit are shown in "Child Benefit Quarterly Statistics", which can be found on the Inland Revenue website at: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/child benefit/menu.htm.

Precise figures on the take up rate of child benefit are not available, but it is thought to be around 98 per cent.

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Company Tax Credits

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the cost to public expenditure of each company tax credit for each year from 2003–04 to 2006–07; and if he will make a statement. [156765]

Dawn Primarolo: The forecast costs for research and development tax credits, vaccines research relief and contaminated land tax credits are set out in the following table. The costs are on a receipts basis, showing when the costs are incurred by the Inland Revenue.

£ million

	2003–04	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07
Research and Development Tax Credits	660	670	700	760
Vaccines Research Relief	10	20	20	20
Contaminated Land Tax Credits	70	80	80	90

Note:

Figures are rounded to the nearest £10 million.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list each tax credit available to companies; what assessment he has made of the economic benefit in each case; and if he will make a statement. [156766]

Dawn Primarolo: Companies may be able to claim tax credits under the research and development tax credit schemes, vaccines research relief scheme or remediation of contaminated land scheme.

The Government plan to evaluate all of the impacts of these policies. However, because the policies are intended to produce benefits over the medium to longer term, it would be inappropriate to do so at present.

Credit Cards

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the case for introducing interest-rate limits on credit cards. [157342]

Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.

The Government are not yet persuaded of the benefits of introducing interest rate ceilings on any products. We are concerned that their introduction might cause detriment to consumers and competition, for example by encouraging imposition of additional fees and charges, that some lenders might exit the market denying some consumers access to credit, or that rates might gravitate towards the ceiling.

We have, however, commissioned research on how interest rate caps operate in other countries. We expect to publish this research in the spring of this year, and will then make a decision on the case for introducing a ceiling.

Demography (North-West)

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the population of (a) the North West and (b) Lancashire is over (i) 50, (ii) 55, (iii) 60, (iv) 65, (v) 75, (vi) 85 and (vii) 100 years. [157092]

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

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Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Hoyle, dated 2 March 2004:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what percentage of the population of (a) the North West and (b) Lancashire is over (i) 50, (ii) 55, (iii) 60, (iv) 65, (v) 75, (vi) 85 and (vii) 100 years. I am replying in his absence.(157092)

The information requested, except for those aged 100 and over, is given in the following table. This gives percentages based on the 2002 mid year population estimates, the latest year for which figures are available.

Percentage of the population in older age groups in the North West and Lancashire

Age group	North West	Lancashire
50 and over	33.9	35.2
55 and over	27.3	28.4
60 and over	21.1	21.9
65 and over	16.0	16.7
75 and over	7.4	7.9
85 and over	1.0	2.0

Source:

2002 mid year population estimates, Office for National Statistics

We are not able to provide estimates for those aged 100 and over from mid year population estimates. Estimates of populations at very old ages using the standard methodology for population estimates (the cohort component method) are unreliable, especially for sub-national areas where numbers in these very old age groups may be very small.

However this information is available from the 2001 Census. It recorded that under 0.02 per cent. of the population of both the North West and Lancashire were over 100 years of age.

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