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10 May 2004 : Column 151W—continued

Tax Evasion

Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many prosecutions the Inland Revenue has attempted to bring under the Finance Act 2000 for income tax evasion; what the value was of the revenue the Inland Revenue has attempted to recoup; how many attempted prosecutions have been successful; and how much has been recouped by the Treasury as a result. [167510]

 
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Dawn Primarolo: The Board of Inland Revenue has   prosecuted, in total, 215 individuals since the introduction of the new offence in S144, Finance Act 2000. Most have involved charges of cheating the public revenue or false accounting. The total includes eight people who have been successfully prosecuted using the   offence in section 144 of Finance Act 2000 of fraudulently evading income tax. There have been no acquittals in cases where charges were brought under that offence. In the eight cases successfully prosecuted, approximately £100,000 tax loss has been recouped.

There are presently a further eighteen cases where criminal proceedings involving the offence in Finance Act 2000 are in the course of being instituted.

Tax Returns

Mr. Flook: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many PAYE scheme notices were sent out by the Inland Revenue to companies it had been notified were dormant and would file nil returns in each tax year since 1997. [167585]

Dawn Primarolo: There are various PAYE scheme notices, such as reminders to pay and employers' end of year returns. No such notices should have been issued since 1997 where the relevant PAYE scheme record has   been noted as "dormant". IR hold records for companies on a number of different IT systems. Some PAYE notices may have been issued for dormant companies where records held on other IR systems have been noted "dormant" but the PAYE scheme record has not. No numbers of such cases are available.

Mr. Flook: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of penalty notices following the 31 January 2004 deadline for filing tax returns were sent out by 7 February. [167586]

Dawn Primarolo: In line with previous years, 90.6 per cent. of self assessment tax returns for 2003–04 were filed on time. Over 1 million returns were filed electronically. The Inland Revenue issued 952,766 Late Filing Penalty Notices on 17 February 2004 for returns not submitted by the due date.
 
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HEALTH

Drug Misuse (Liverpool)

Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the number of drug addicts in Liverpool, Walton. [166986]

Miss Melanie Johnson: This information is not available because there is no longer a register of heroin addicts. The Home Office register of heroin addicts ceased in 1997 as resistance to register by heroin users meant the data were so inaccurate, it was unusable.

Agency Doctors/Nurses

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of agency (a) doctors and (b) nurses in (i) Preston and (ii) Chorley hospitals in each of the last three years. [148374]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The National Health Service does not separately record the cost of employing agency staff.

Agriculture Council

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who will represent the UK Government at the   meeting of the European Agriculture Council in Luxembourg on 26 and 27 April. [167173]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 22 April 2004]: I refer my hon. Friend to the response given to her by my hon. Friend, the Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Bradshaw), on 27 April 2004, Official Report, column 861W.

Anti-depressants

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the correlation between the number of prescriptions for anti-depressant drugs and recorded suicides in each of the last 10 years. [166858]

Ms Rosie Winterton : The Department has not analysed any relationships between the number of prescriptions for anti-depressant drugs and recorded suicides in each of the last 10 years.

Asthma

Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to commission research targeted at the needs of people whose asthma fails to respond to current treatments. [170237]

Dr. Ladyman: The National Health Service health technology assessment programme has commissioned a systematic review to examine the impact of psycho-educational interventions on health outcomes and costs in adults and children with difficult asthma. The report is expected for publication in early 2005.
 
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The Medical Research Council (MRC) always welcomes high quality applications from the scientific community for support for research into any aspect of human health, including severe difficult asthma, and these are judged in open competition with other demands in funding. Awards are made according to their scientific quality and importance to human health. In 2001–02, MRC expenditure on its respiratory disorders portfolio was an estimated £11.9 million, which included work on asthma.

Bedside Televisions

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost of (a) fixing so that they turn off and (b) replacing the faulty bedside televisions that have been provided. [167606]

Mr. Hutton: The bedside televisions provided are not faulty; no fixing or replacement is required and no additional costs are involved. Patients can turn off screens or turn them to face the wall if they prefer.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which companies have contracted with NHS trusts to provide bedside televisions. [167607]

Mr. Hutton: Over 59,000 patients in 126 national health service hospitals have access to bedside televisions and telephones. The companies listed have contracts with NHS trusts to provide the service.

Patientline

Wandsworth Electrical Ltd.

Hospital Telephone Services

Kerfone

Premier Managed Payphones

Patientpal.

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of providing bedside televisions for patients. [167659]

Mr. Hutton: The bedside televisions are provided at no cost to the national health service.

Private companies provide the televisions and bear the cost of installation, managing and running of them. As a result, the NHS has benefited from over £100 million of private sector investment.

Blood Transfusion

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that those prevented from giving blood as a consequence of precautions against the transmission of variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease are not disadvantaged in the provision of (a) insurance, (b) mortgages and (c) other relevant financial services. [164281]

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.
 
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Individual medical information can be relevant to applications for life and health insurance in particular. We are not aware of any specific issues arising in connection with those people who have had a blood transfusion since 1 January 1980, or in connection with anyone who has been prevented from giving blood as a consequence of precautions against the transmission of variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease.
 
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Cancer

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many consultants in cancer specialities were working in the NHS in England in each year since 1999. [167700]

Mr. Hutton: Information on the number of consultants working in cancer specialties in England in each year since 1999 is shown in the table.
Hospital, Public Health Medicine and Community Health Services (HCHS): Consultants in the six main cancer specialties Numbers (headcount)

England 1	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	December 2003
All main cancer specialties	3,362	3,528	3,721	3,913	4,169	4,240
of which:
Clinical oncology	305	307	333	315	347	358
Clinical radiology	1,507	1,585	1,645	1,702	1,810	1,822
Haematology	510	527	556	588	609	632
Histopathology	836	865	915	968	1,021	1,036
Medical oncology	110	133	147	185	202	211
Palliative medicine	94	111	125	155	180	181

⁽⁴¹⁾ Data as at 30 September each year, except December 2003 data, which is at 31 December.
Source:
Department of Health medical and dental workforce census

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