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TREASURY

Annuities

Mr. Leigh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has recently received about the reform of annuities. [167684]

Ruth Kelly: Out of the 209 responses only 14 directly addressed the reform of annuities. And about half of these wanted the annuity rules finessed rather than abolished.
 
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Birth Statistics

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total number of live births was in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each year since 1992. [168159]

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

Letter from Len Cook to David Willetts, dated 26 April 2004:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your request for the number of live births in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland in each year since 1992. (168159)

The latest year for which figures are available for all four countries is 2002. The information requested is shown in the attached table for the years 1992–2002.

      Provisional 2003 figures are available for Scotland and Northern Ireland. These are also shown in the table. The 2003 figures for England and Wales will be published on 13 May 2004.

The figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the appropriate national office. They have been extracted from publications produced by the General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Number of live births in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland 1992–2003

	Scotland 1	England 2,3	Wales3,4	Northern Ireland 5
1992	65,789	651,784	37,523	25,354
1993	63,337	636,473	36,578	24,722
1994	61,656	628,956	35,366	24,098
1995	60,051	613,257	34,477	23,693
1996	59,296	614,184	34,894	24,382
1997	59,440	608,202	34,520	24,087
1998	57,319	602,111	33,438	23,668
1999	55,147	589,468	32,111	22,957
2000	53,076	572,826	31,304	21,512
2001	52,527	563,744	30,616	21,962
2002	51,270	565,709	30,205	21,385
2003(6)	52,408	n/a	n/a	21,648

⁽¹⁾ Numbers of live births occurring in Scotland, registered in the year stated.
⁽²⁾ Numbers of live births occurring anywhere in England and Wales to mothers usually resident in England, in the year stated. A small number of births from the previous year, which were late in being registered are also included.
⁽³⁾ There are around 200–400 births each year that occur in England and Wales that are to non- residents of England and Wales. These births are excluded from these figures.
⁽⁴⁾ Numbers of live births occurring anywhere in England and Wales to mothers usually resident in Wales, in the year stated. A small number of births from the previous year which were late in being registered are also included.
⁽⁵⁾ Numbers of live births occurring in N Ireland to resident mothers, registered in the year stated.
⁽⁶⁾ Provisional.
Sources:
Office for National Statistics
General Register Office for Scotland
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency

Child Carers

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether nannies count as registered child carers for the purposes of the Budget proposal whereby companies'
 
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contributions of up to £50 per week to the cost of a registered child carer are exempt from taxation as a benefit in kind. [168148]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) on 19 April 2004, Official Report, column 381W, about nannies employed by parents with disabled children. That answer applies to nannies generally.

Children (Statistics)

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total number of children in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland aged under five years was in each year since 1992; and what forecasts he has made for future years. [168163]

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

Letter from Len Cook to David Willetts, dated 26 April 2004:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the total number of children in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland aged under five years for each year since 1992, and what forecasts have been made for the future. (168163)

Attached is a table showing mid-year population estimates for 1992–2002 and mid-year population projections for 2003–2012 of children aged 0–4 inclusive for each constituent country of the UK.

Estimated and projected population of children aged under 5 years 1992–2002 (estimated), 2003–2012 (projected), constituent countries of the UK 1 Thousand

Year2,3	England 4	Wales(10)	Scotland	Northern Ireland
1992	3,244.9	191.1	325.1	130.8
1993	3,227.8	188.6	323.0	128.8
1994	3,218.1	187.4	322.2	126.8
1995	3,185.0	183.8	318.3	124.6
1996	3,126.7	179.5	310.1	122.9
1997	3,086.2	177.1	302.7	121.6
1998	3,050.2	174.7	296.4	120.4
1999	3,018.4	172.1	290.3	119.2
2000	2,978.1	169.6	283.2	117.3
2001	2,920.6	167.2	276.3	114.7
2002	2,864.0	162.8	268.5	112.5
2003	2,843.2	159.9	263.4	110.3
2004	2,834.3	158.0	258.4	108.4
2005	2,840.2	157.1	255.2	107.3
2006	2,860.6	156.6	252.3	106.8
2007	2,880.2	157.6	249.9	106.4
2008	2,883.4	158.2	246.6	106.0
2009	2,885.5	158.8	244.1	105.9
2010	2,890.4	159.3	242.4	105.9
2011	2,898.2	159.9	241.3	106.1
2012	2,908.4	160.4	240.9	106.3

⁽⁷⁾ Individual country estimates shown in the table cannot be added to give a UK total, since rounding errors would occur.
⁽⁸⁾ Mid-year population estimates from 1992–2002.
⁽⁹⁾ 2002-based national population projections from 2003–12.
⁽¹⁰⁾ Interim revised population estimates from 1992–2000 for England and Wales only.
Sources:
Office for National Statistics.
General Register Office for Scotland.
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
Government Actuary's Department.




 
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Civil Servants

Bob Russell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the towns and cities which have been assessed by Sir Michael Lyons for possible relocation of civil servants from London which have been short-listed; how many locations will be selected; when he will   make an announcement; and if he will make a statement. [167282]

Mr. Boateng: In taking forward the Government's relocation programme, choice of locations will be for each department to determine based on a sound business case which aims to secure greater efficiency, improved public service delivery and better value for money for the taxpayer.

The independent King Sturge research commissioned by Sir Michael Lyons in his review provides an assessment of the attributes and qualities of different locations outside London and the South East. The assessment, details of which may be found in Chapter 8 of his report, is an illustrative guide for departments and public bodies relocating functions or considering dispersal out of the capital and by no means intended to be prescriptive or exhaustive.

In submitting relocation proposals to Sir Michael Lyons' Review, some departments have indicated an initial preference for certain locations. There are show in Chart 6.1 of Sir Michael's report.

The Government will come forward with detailed proposals for monitoring and implementing dispersal plans as part of the 2004 Spending Review.

Council Tax

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate for (a) 1997 and (b) the latest date for which figures are available the number of householders paying more in council tax than income tax. [166525]

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

Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Peter Bottomley, dated 26 April 2004:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking for the number of householders paying more in council tax than income tax in 1997 and currently. I am replying in his absence. (166525)

Estimates have been produced from the Office for National Statistics' analysis "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income" published on the National Statistics website on October 21st 2003 at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/taxesbenefits.

Based on information provided by respondents to the survey the number of households in Great Britain paying more in net council tax than in income tax was approximately 4.8 million in 1997/98 and 5.5 million in 2001/02. More recent information is not yet available. Net council tax is defined as gross council tax less reported council tax benefits and discounts. Please note that these figures refer to the total tax paid by households (which may contain more than one person paying income tax) rather than by householders.

The analysis includes measures of income inequality for the United Kingdom as a whole based on data from the Expenditure and Food Survey. This is a sample survey covering about 7,500 households in the UK and, as with any statistical sample survey, estimates are subject to sampling error.

 
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