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11 Mar 2004 : Column 1644W—continued

Child Trust Fund

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the total cost of the Child Trust Fund for each year from 2004–05 to 2009–10, broken down by (a) start-up costs, (b) annual administration costs and (c) other costs; and if he will make a statement. [156758]

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the Regulatory Impact Assessment published with the Child Trust Fund Bill in November 2003, the Explanatory Note that accompanied the publication of the Child Trust Fund Bill on 4 February 2004; and the answers I gave the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne) on 4 December 2003, Official Report, columns 138–39W.

Departmental Advertising

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) on how many occasions his Department has placed advertisements in Hello magazine; [157965]

11 Mar 2004 : Column 1645W

(2) what the total cost of his Department's advertising in Hello magazine was in each of the last five years; [157967]

(3) what the cost is of each of his Department's advertisements in Hello magazine for tax credits. [157968]

Dawn Primarolo: A small amount of advertising has been placed in Hello! magazine by the Inland Revenue (IR) in recent years in support of its Tax Credits campaigns. This is because analysis of its readership indicated an appropriate percentage of people entitled to claim Tax Credits.

There was no advertising prior to 2002, but in the last three years IR placed:

2002: 4 insertions

2003: 2–insertions

2004: 3 insertions

There have been no advertisements placed in support of other issues or by any other departments responsible to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Like most central Government Departments, the IR buys media space using specialist agencies contracted through the Central Office of Information (COI).

Through its bulk-buying power, COI negotiates significant discounts on rate-card prices. To protect this, and the thus the added value it achieves for taxpayers' money, it maintains commercial confidentiality agreements in which it undertakes not to publicise charges levied by individual publications in single instances.

Media planning and buying for large campaigns such as New Tax Credits is focused purely on the most effective way of reaching the target audience–the publications they read or TV channels they watch, for example.

Overall spends for major campaigns are published regularly, often in response to parliamentary questions or press queries.

Environmentally Sustainable Procurement

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in what ways environmentally sustainable procurement strategies within the Department have driven innovation in the design and supply of products. [159148]

Mr. Boateng: Treasury's procurement has been handled by Inland Revenue since April 2002. Inland Revenue are continuing to develop their environmentally sustainable procurement strategies. It is too early at present to judge whether there is evidence of innovation in the design and supply of products.

Income Tax (10p Rate)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many senior citizens in Crosby qualified for the 10p rate of income tax in each year since its introduction. [160581]

Ruth Kelly: All income taxpayers benefit from the 10p pence starting rate. The Survey of Personal Incomes estimates there are about 8,000 state retirement pension

11 Mar 2004 : Column 1646W

age taxpayers in the Crosby constituency in 2000–01. Constituency level estimates are not available for earlier years.

Insurance Premium Tax

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will leave the basic rate of insurance premium tax unchanged in this year's Budget. [160324]

Ruth Kelly: As with all taxes, the future rates of Insurance Premium Tax are a matter for the Chancellor to consider as part of the Budget Process.

Museums

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to public funds of Gift Aid provisions used by the museum sector was in each year since it was introduced, broken down by (a) institution and (b) amount received. [160422]

John Healey: It is not possible to ascertain the amount repaid in Gift Aid in relation to the museum sector. Inland Revenue records do not distinguish amounts repaid to charities according to the type of charity. Information held by the Inland Revenue about the tax affairs of individual businesses could not be disclosed, Exemption 15 of the Open Government Code applies.

Public Expenditure

Mr. Cash: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the relationship of the Maastricht criteria to public expenditure levels, with reference to (a) the Treasury Red Books since 1997 and (b) the Treasury Paper of June 2003 on "Policy Frameworks in the UK and EMU". [160647]

Ruth Kelly: The scope of the Maastricht criteria is set out in Annexe A of the EMU study on "Policy Frameworks in the UK and EMU".

Projections for the public finances presented in the 2003 pre-Budget report, show that the UK continues to meet a prudent interpretation of the Stability and Growth Pact, that takes into account the economic cycle, the long-term sustainability of the public finances and the important role of public investment.

Projections of the public finances will be updated, as usual, in the forthcoming Budget.

Tax Credits

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the administration of the Child Tax Credit and the Working Tax Credit since 6 April 2003; [158268]

11 Mar 2004 : Column 1647W

(2) what discussions he has had with officials from the Inland Revenue regarding the administration of the Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit since 6 April 2003. [158269]

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with officials from the Inland Revenue regarding the administration of tax credits. [158706]

Dawn Primarolo: I have had regular discussions with Inland Revenue officials regarding the administration of Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit since 6 April 2003, including plans for the next stage of tax credits implementation.The process of finalising tax credit awards for 2003–04, and renewing claims for 2004–05, begins in April. We also plan in 2004–05 to bring within Child Tax Credit (CTC) those families with children receiving support for them though Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (IS/JSA). The process of moving these families into Child Tax Credit will begin in April as planned. Families on IS/JSA already receiving CTC will start to receive support for their children solely through CTC. And new claimants of IS/JSA will no longer be awarded child allowances in those benefits and will receive CTC instead. The automatic phased transfer onto CTC of the remaining families with children within IS/JSA is planned to begin from October, subject to a final review in the summer. Meanwhile, families will continue to receive the same level of support through their benefits as they would from CTC.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in Crosby have received Child Tax Credit. [160442]

Dawn Primarolo: The estimated numbers of families receiving Child and/or Working Tax Credits in each constituency at 5 January 2004 are shown in "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics, Geographical analyses—January 2004", which is on the Inland Revenue website at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm.

11 Mar 2004 : Column 1648W

The estimates are based on a sample of cases and are subject to sampling uncertainty.

DEFENCE

Falkland Islands

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on local purchase of vegetables and meat by the garrison at Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands. [159872]

Mr. Ingram: Locally grown salad vegetables are purchased for use at Mount Pleasant Airfield, but the produce available is limited. Local meat has not been procured because, prior to this year, it did not meet the Armed Forces Quality Standard and the Falkland Island abattoir was not EC approved. However, the Falkland Island Development Corporation has recently opened a fully compliant, purpose-built abattoir, and they are working to improve the quality of local lamb and mutton, with a view to supplying to Angliss (UK), the MOD's meat supplier, in the near future. An exploratory visit in January 2004 by Angliss (UK) proved to be most encouraging.

Armed Forces Dentists

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) dental personnel and (b) dentists are employed within Her Majesty's Armed Forces, broken down by (a) grade, (b) whole-time equivalents and (c) headcount numbers for each year since 1990. [159673]

Mr. Caplin: Figures for all dental service personnel are shown in the table. The figures for officers represent qualified dentists for each service. The tables show figures for each equivalent NATO rank and these are set out. Since there are no part-time dental personnel, the total figure represents both the headcount and the whole-time equivalents.

NATO Rank Codes and UK Service Designations

	Royal Navy	Royal Marines	Army	Royal Air Force
OF-10	Admiral of the Fleet	—	Field Marshal	Marshal of the RAF
OF-9	Admiral	General	General	Air Chief Marshal
OF-8	Vice Admiral	Lieutenant General	Lieutenant General	Air Marshal
OF-7	Rear Admiral	Major General	Major General	Air Vice Marshal
OF-6	Commodore	Brigadier	Brigadier	Air Commodore
OF-5	Captain	Colonel	Colonel	Group Captain
OF-4	Commander	Lieutenant Colonel	Lieutenant Colonel	Wing Commander
OF-3	Lieutenant Commander	Major	Major	Squadron Leader
OF-2	Lieutenant	Captain	Captain	Flight Lieutenant
OF-1	Sub-Lieutenant	Lieutenant/2nd Lieutenant	Lieutenant/2nd Lieutenant	Flying Officer/Pilot Officer
OF(D)	Midshipman	—	Officer Designate	Officer Designate
OR-9	Warrant Officer	Warrant Officer Class 1	Warrant Officer Class 1	Warrant Officer
OR-8	—	Warrant Officer Class 2	Warrant Officer Class 2	—
OR-7	Chief Petty Officer	Colour Sergeant	Staff Sergeant	Flight Sergeant/Chief Tech'n
OR-6	Petty Officer	Sergeant	Sergeant	Sergeant
OR-4	Leading Rate	Corporal	Corporal	Corporal
OR-3	—	—	Lance Corporal	—
OR-2	Able Rate	Marine	Private (Classes 1 to 3)	Junior Technician/Leading Aircraftman/Senior Aircraftman
OR-1	—	—	Private (Class 4)/Junior	Aircraftman

Note:

The Royal Navy and the Royal Marines together make up the Naval Service.

11 Mar 2004 : Column 1649W

Naval Service

Naval Service^{(8) , (9)}

	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	Total
(a) Officers
April 1990	—	—	7	30	19	15	72
April 1991	—	1	7	27	22	18	75
April 1992	—	1	6	27	18	20	72
April 1993	—	1	5	27	20	23	76
April 1994	—	1	5	22	18	29	75
April 1995	—	1	5	21	19	24	70
April 1996	—	1	6	16	19	20	62
April 1997	—	1	6	12	26	20	65
April 1998	—	1	5	14	20	24	64
April 1999	—	1	5	15	23	19	63
April 2000	—	1	6	15	17	21	60
April 2001	—	1	6	16	16	23	62
April 2002	—	1	5	17	17	21	61
April 2003	—	1	6	14	19	17	57
January 2004	—	1	7	13	23	13	57
(b) Ratings
April 1990	—	3	19	40	47	13	122
April 1991	1	3	20	41	49	10	124
April 1992	1	3	19	38	52	6	119
April 1993	1	5	18	41	45	4	114
April 1094	—	5	17	40	42	4	108
April 1995	—	4	17	43	36	10	110
April 1996	—	3	16	41	43	2	105
April 1997	1	4	16	35	35	4	95
April 1998	1	4	16	34	36	9	100
April 1999	1	4	17	34	38	5	99
April 2000	1	5	15	28	45	—	94
April 2001	1	5	14	26	42	—	88
April 2002	1	5	14	40	33	—	93
April 2003	2	6	13	35	42	—	98
January 2004	2	5	14	32	48	—	101

⁽⁸⁾ All Naval Service Officers in the tables are qualified dentists

⁽⁹⁾ The ratings figures comprise of hygienists and dental surgical assistants

Note:

Officers at OF-6 and above in the Naval Service are no longer practising dentists.

— denotes zero

Army

The figures in the tables are for the Royal Army Dental Core (RADC) which contains all dental personnel within the Army.

Army^{(10) , (11) , (12)}

	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	Total
(a) Officers
April 1990	—	3	27	51	64	52	197
April 1991	1	2	30	56	60	45	194
April 1992	1	2	30	52	64	34	183
April 1993	—	3	24	57	53	41	178
April 1994	—	3	23	51	59	32	168
April 1995	—	3	20	47	56	28	154
April 1996	—	2	19	57	41	26	145
April 1997	—	1	18	52	39	29	139
April 1998	—	1	17	50	40	32	140
April 1999	—	1	16	45	38	41	141
April 2000	—	1	17	46	31	49	144
April 2001	1	1	19	45	31	52	149
April 2002	1	2	18	46	33	41	141
April 2003	1	2	19	41	40	48	151
January 2004	1	2	17	40	47	47	154

11 Mar 2004 : Column 1651W

	OR-9	OR-8	OR-7	OR-6	OR-4	OR-3	OR-2/OR-1	Total
(b) Soldiers
April 1990	9	17	24	64	31	27	18	190
April 1991	9	17	25	55	28	24	21	179
April 1992	8	17	21	54	33	24	15	172
April 1993	8	19	25	69	64	67	50	302
April 1994	8	16	23	50	66	55	45	263
April 1995	6	12	26	44	59	51	45	243
April 1996	9	10	23	48	63	48	41	242
April 1997	6	11	24	44	53	46	49	233
April 1998	4	14	22	43	49	44	38	214
April 1999	5	12	24	45	45	50	38	219
April 2000	5	13	24	46	54	51	33	226
April 2001	5	15	21	42	65	50	42	240
April 2002	5	13	22	40	69	49	47	245
April 2003	6	15	22	38	70	55	59	265
January 2004	7	14	21	44	68	52	51	257

⁽¹⁰⁾ All Army officers in the table are qualified dentists, however as at 1 January 2004 there were 15 officers within the RADC who had an unallocated trade.

⁽¹¹⁾ The soldiers figures are a mixture of hygienists, dental technicians, support specialists and other dental personnel.

⁽¹²⁾ Officers at OF-7 are no longer practising dentists.

— denotes zero

Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force^{(13) , (14) , (15)}

	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	OF-1/OF(D)	Total
(a) Officers
April 1990	—	3	13	36	36	32	—	120
April 1991	—	3	11	33	44	29	—	120
April 1992	—	3	13	29	48	28	—	121
April 1993	1	2	14	31	44	27	—	119
April 1994	1	2	12	29	48	22	1	115
April 1995	1	2	9	32	47	19	—	110
April 1996	1	2	8	32	44	17	—	104
April 1997	2	2	9	20	43	11	—	87
April 1998	1	2	9	22	38	8	—	80
April 1999	1	2	10	24	36	12	—	85
April 2000	1	3	8	32	25	9	—	78
April 2001	1	3	7	35	19	11	—	76
April 2002	—	2	7	31	21	12	—	73
April 2003	—	1	8	28	19	10	—	66
January 2004	—	1	10	23	26	16	—	76

	OR-9	OR-7	OR-6	OR-4	OR-2	OR-1	Total
(b) Airmen
April 1990	7	22	45	48	27	147	296
April 1991	7	23	46	49	26	146	297
April 1992	7	23	46	52	17	157	302
April 1993	7	24	44	51	9	153	288
April 1994	6	23	42	51	12	149	283
April 1995	4	22	47	52	17	141	283
April 1996	4	14	44	42	14	126	244
April 1997	4	13	45	39	7	110	218
April 1998	4	14	43	36	4	103	204
April 1999	3	14	41	38	2	97	195
April 2000	4	14	36	39	2	97	192
April 2001	4	18	33	44	4	99	202
April 2002	4	16	32	48	3	89	192
April 2003	6	17	25	51	0	91	190
January 2004	6	17	27	48	0	105	203

⁽¹³⁾ All RAF officers in the table are dentists.

⁽¹⁴⁾ The Airmen figures are a mixture of hygienists, administrative staff, and technicians and nurses

⁽¹⁵⁾ Officers at OF-6 and above are no longer practising dentists. However there may be service personnel between OF-3 to OF-5 who although being qualified dentists may not be practising due to being posted on staff appointments.

— denotes zero

11 Mar 2004 : Column 1653W

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