---

15 Mar 2004 : Column 104W—continued

Sugar Tax

Diana Organ: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce a sugar tax on soft drinks; and if he will make a statement on the use of new taxes to promote healthy eating. [160905]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review. There are no current plans to introduce a 'sugar tax'.

As the Wanless Review "Securing Good Health for the Whole Population" discusses, there are difficulties of principle and practice with using tax instruments to promote public health. In particular, unlike with smoking where any consumption can have damaging effects, the consumption in moderation of most foodstuffs can be to the benefit rather than the detriment of an individual's health.

Suicides

Charles Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many suicides of people under 30-years-old there have been in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) age and (b) sex. [161083]

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. Charles Hendry, dated 15 March 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how many suicides of people under 30 years old there have been in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) age and (b) sex. (161083)

The most recent available figures on suicide mortality are for the calendar year 2002. Figures for each year are given in the table below for the calendar years 1997 to 2002.

Number of deaths from suicide⁽²²⁾ and injury undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted⁽²³⁾, among people aged under 30 by (a) age and (b) sex: England and Wales, 1997 to 2002⁽²⁴⁾

	Males				Females
	13–19	20–24	25–29	Total	13–19	20–24	25–29	Total
1997	139	371	454	964	41	70	106	217
1998	149	315	501	965	42	84	101	227
1999	128	311	435	874	44	70	105	219
2000	140	265	405	810	47	68	96	211
2001	129	257	323	709	32	64	83	179
2002	116	236	327	679	41	59	97	197

⁽²²⁾ The cause of death for intentional self harm was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes E950-E959for the years 1997 to 2000, and, for the years 2001 and 2002, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes X60-X84.

⁽²³⁾ The cause of death for injury undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes E980-E989 excluding E988.8 for the years 1997 to 2000, and, for the years 2001 and 2002, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes Y10-Y34 excluding Y33.9 where the Coroner's verdict was pending. It is assumed likely that most of these deaths at ages over 13 are cases where the harm is self-inflicted but there was insufficient evidence to prove that the deceased deliberately intended to kill themselves. As there were no intentional self harm deaths in children under the age of 13, data for undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted have not been included.

⁽²⁴⁾ Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year from 1997 to 2002.

15 Mar 2004 : Column 105W

Tax Credits

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what he estimates the cost would be for each of the next seven years of (a) increasing child and Working Tax Credits in line with (i) prices and (ii) earnings, (b) increasing the family element of the Child Tax Credit in line with prices and other elements and the thresholds in line with earnings and (c) increasing the family element of the Child Tax Credit in line with prices, the thresholds in line with prices, and the other elements in line with earnings. [160792]

Dawn Primarolo: A reliable estimate could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Unemployment (Crosby)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of unemployment was in each year since 1997 in Crosby. [160531]

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

Letter from Len Cook to Mrs. Curtis-Thomas dated 15 March 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about unemployment in Crosby. (160531)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of unemployment from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation definitions. However, the LFS sample size is too small to give reliable estimates of unemployment in the Crosby Parliamentary Constituency.

ONS does also compile statistics of those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (ISA) for local areas including parliamentary constituencies.

The table below gives the annual average number of JSA claimants for the Crosby Parliamentary Constituency for each year since 1997.

Average annual number of JSA claimants in the Crosby parliamentary constituency, 1997–2003

	Average number of claimants
1997	2,151
1998	1,804
1999	1,645
2000	1,452
2001	1,243
2002	1,155
2003	1,142

VAT

Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Customs and Excise's strategy to tackle VAT missing trader fraud; how many staff were deployed to tackle this type of fraud in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; what the cost of deploying staff to tackle this type of fraud was in each case; and what additional costs were attached to the strategy in (i) 2001–02 and (ii) 2002–03. [160866]

15 Mar 2004 : Column 106W

John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 20 November 2003, Official Report, column 1330W.

Details of Customs' strategy and progress in tackling VAT missing trader fraud are contained in their Annual Report and Accounts 2002–03 published in December 2003 (HC 52).

Information on the number of staff deployed to tackle VAT missing trader fraud in 2001–02 is contained in Tackling Indirect Tax Fraud (November 2001) and for 2002–03 in Measuring and Tackling Indirect Tax Losses (December 2003). Copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.

Customs does not maintain information about costs in the format requested and it could be produced only at disproportionate cost to produce.

Diana Organ: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether there are regional targets for collection of VAT on (a) new educational buildings and (b) new annexes to educational buildings; [160906]

(2) if he will make a statement on the collection of VAT on (a) new educational buildings and (b) extensions and annexes to existing buildings used for education purposes, in the further education sector. [160907]

John Healey: In accordance with the European Union Directives which govern the UK VAT rules, new buildings and annexes to existing buildings constructed by charities for non-business use can be zero-rated in certain circumstances. Educational establishments which meet the tests for zero-rating can benefit from this relief. Extensions, on the other hand, are always standard-rated, except those that qualify as approved alterations to protected buildings.

There are no regional targets for the collection of VAT on new educational buildings or new annexes to educational buildings. Customs and Excise aims to collect the correct amount of VAT at the right time across the whole country, regardless of the region.

Charles Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what circumstances local authorities are unable to recover VAT incurred by activities and transactions relating to the delivery of services. [161070]

John Healey: Local authorities are able to recover the VAT incurred in connection with their statutory activities and in connection with much of their trading. The legal basis for this is in section 33 of the VAT Act 1994.

Under sub-section 33(2), they cannot recover VAT incurred in connection with business activities which are exempt from VAT, unless the amount is insignificant. An amount would be insignificant if it were less than 5 per cent. of the total VAT incurred by an authority in a year.

Under sub-section 33(6) local authorities cannot recover any VAT that would be irrecoverable by all other VAT registered persons.

15 Mar 2004 : Column 107W

Welsh Industries

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money was spent in each of the last five years on assistance to industries in Wales. [160922]

Mr. Boateng: Devolved funding decisions are a matter for the Welsh Assembly Government.

15 Mar 2004 : Column 108W

---