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15 Jun 2004 : Column 829W—continued
Rochdale Constituency
Mrs. Fitzsimons: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many job vacancies there were in the parliamentary constituency of Rochdale in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003. [178543]
Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mrs. Fitzsimons, dated 15 June 2004:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about job vacancies in Rochdale. I am replying in his absence (l78543)
According to Jobcentre Plus administrative records, the number of unfilled vacancies in the Rochdale travel-to-work area was 800 on average during 1997. This represents only a proportion of all the vacancies available, as not all vacancies are notified to Jobcentres.
Figures are not available for Rochdale alone because the vacancies are allocated to local Jobcentres, not according to constituency boundaries, and because of the practice of notifying some vacancies centrally with one Jobcentre taking vacancies for others in the same district.
Jobcentre vacancy statistics were withdrawn from National Statistics in September 2001 as a result of distortions to the data, which occurred following the introduction of new administrative procedures by Jobcentre Plus. Comparable figures for vacancies in 2003 are therefore unavailable.
Results from the ONS Vacancy Survey were released as National Statistics from July 2003, but are not available for local areas.
Mrs. Fitzsimons: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in the parliamentary constituency of Rochdale have received child tax credit; and what percentage were of Asian origin. [178546]
Dawn Primarolo: For the total number of such families, I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Mrs. Dean) on 15 March 2004, Official Report, column 98W. Details of the ethnic groups of tax credits claimants are not currently available.
Mrs. Fitzsimons: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses in the parliamentary constituency of Rochdale have benefited from the 100 per cent. tax exemption for the purchase of computer and internet equipment; and what percentage of those businesses was owned or run by (a) people of Asian origin and (b) women. [178547]
Dawn Primarolo: We regret that the information is not available to estimate the number of businesses in a given constituency which have benefited from the 100 per cent. first year capital allowances for the purchase of information and communication equipment. Neither is any breakdown available from tax records on business ownership by ethnic group or gender.
Mrs. Fitzsimons: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the annual total public sector expenditure in Rochdale was in (a) 1997–98 and (b) 2003–04. [178552]
Ruth Kelly: HM Treasury annually publishes analyses of public expenditure outturn data by country and region as National Statistics, in chapter 8 of the command paper 'Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses'. The latest edition was published in April 2004 as Cm 6201—'Public Expenditure Statistical analyses 2004'.
The ONS have also published a one-off set of experimental statistics of sub regional government accounts for 1998. The link to the article is: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme other/Regional Government Accounts.pdf
However no such information is available for Rochdale in either of these sources, as it is neither published nor collected to this degree of detail.
Mrs. Fitzsimons:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the (a) change and (b) percentage change was in full-time permanent jobs in the parliamentary constituency of Rochdale from 1997 to 31 December 2003; [178554]
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(2) how many new jobs have been created in the parliamentary constituency of Rochdale since 1997; [178556]
(3) how many people were employed in manufacturing-related jobs in the parliamentary constituency of Rochdale (a) on the latest date for which figures are available and (b) in 1997. [178557]
Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mrs. Lorna Fitzsimons, dated 15 June 2004:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about jobs created in Rochdale. (178554, 178556 and 178557)
While statistics of new jobs created are not available explicitly, statistics from surveys enable comparisons to be made of net changes, in numbers of jobs, from year to year.
The attached table shows the information requested, relating to jobs in Rochdale, for 1997 and the latest year available, 2002.
| Number, per cent | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | Full-Time | Total | |
| Number of employees | |||
| 1997 | 8,700 | 24,700 | 36,000 |
| 2002 | 7,200 | 27,500 | 39,400 |
| Change from 1997 to 2002(7) | |||
| Absolute | — | 2,900 | 3,400 |
| Percentage | — | 10.4 | 8.7 |
(6) Employee jobs only, not self-employed jobs.
(7) The 1997 to 2002 change has been rounded to the nearest hundred separately from rounded levels for 1997 and 2002.
Source:
1997; Annual Employment Survey, rescaled 2002; Annual Business Inquiry (ABI).
Advisers/Consultants
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent on external consultants and advisers in each of the last three years. [172437]
Ruth Kelly: The Inland Revenue, HM Customs and Excise, Office for National Statistics, Office of Government Commerce, National Savings and Investment, Royal Mint, Valuation Office, Debt Management Office and Government Actuary's Department's spend on external consultants in the last three years is as follows (using the OGC's definition of consultancy):
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | (8)73 |
| 2002–03 | 78 |
(8) 2001–02 excludes data for Inland Revenue. The data has been archived and would only be available at disproportionate cost.
Reliable data for 2003–04 is not yet available. Figures relate to resource expenditure.
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Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the letter to him dated 27 April from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Patrick McKenna. [178951]
Dawn Primarolo: I replied to the right hon. Member on 9 June.
Departmental Savings
Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total saving to his three departments has been in each of the years to April (a) 2002, (b) 2003 and (c) 2004 arising from the STEPS agreement. [178604]
Dawn Primarolo: Over the 20-year life of the STEPS contract, when compared with the Public Sector Comparator, the Departments expect to save £344 million (in net present values), with an estimated first year saving of some £27 million. In addition further benefits and savings will accrue over the life of the contract, for example through the transfer of risk and payment by the departments of a reduced facilities price as an offset against the deferred capital payment at the outset of the contract. Because all of these savings and benefits are taken over the 20 year life of the contract it is not possible to quantify annual savings.
Departmental Surveys
Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what surveys of public perceptions of (a) his Department and of its areas of responsibility, (b) Customs and Excise and (c) the Inland Revenue have taken place over the last 12 months; what the (a) title and (b) nature of these surveys was; what the findings of each survey were; where these findings have been published; what the cost of such surveys was; and if he will make a statement and place copies of the surveys in the Library. [176944]
Ruth Kelly: The information is as follows:
No surveys of public perception of HM Treasury have been conducted during the past 12 months.
HM Customs and Excise commissioned a programme of 'Business Needs' surveys at the end of 2003. The cost of these surveys was £79,959 (including VAT).
An overall measure of customer satisfaction, obtained by combining results from the separate surveys, is used to monitor performance against the customer satisfaction element of the Department's current Public Service Agreement (PSA) Target 4.
Reports on these surveys will, following completion, be published on the Customs and Excise website and hard copies will be placed in the Library of the House.
No other surveys of this type were conducted during the past 12 months.
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The Customer Service Performance Indicator (CSPI) is used as a performance indicator score for the Revenue's Public Service Agreement (PSA) Target 5. Information about the nature of the CSPI survey and the overall score produced by the 2003 survey have been published in the Inland Revenue's Spring Departmental Report (May 2004 (Cm 6225) Page 23). A research summary of the findings for the customer groups covered is under preparation and will be included in the Inland Revenue's publication schedule copies of which will be placed in the House of Commons Library. The cost of the 2003–4 CSPI survey was £292,810 (including VAT).
The Brand Tracking study tracks customer perception of the Inland Revenue over time.
A research report summarising the findings for future waves of Brand Tracking will be produced and will be included in the Inland Revenue's publication schedule copies of which will be placed in the House of Commons Library. The total cost of the two waves of Brand Tracking Research was £115,020.80 (including VAT).
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