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24 Jun 2004 : Column 1471W—continued
Smoking-related Illness
Julie Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the economy of smoking-related illnesses and fatalities. [180259]
Mr. Boateng: The White Paper Smoking Kills (1998) estimated the cost to the NHS of treating ill-health caused by smoking was £1.7 billion a year.
Unemployment (Tamworth)
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the long-term (a) adult and (b) youth unemployment rates were in Tamworth constituency in each of the last 10 years. [179968]
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Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who I have asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Brian Jenkins, dated 24 June 2004:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about unemployment. (179968)
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 Tamworth constituency.
ONS also compiles statistics of those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for local areas including parliamentary constituencies.
The table below shows JSA claimants claiming for over 12 months as a percentage of all claimants, for all ages and for those aged 18–24 years old in the Tamworth constituency. The figures are annual averages for each year since 1996. Comparable figures are not available for earlier years.
| All ages | 18 to 24 years | |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 29.5 | 4.8 |
| 1997 | 24.1 | 3.2 |
| 1998 | 21.5 | 3.0 |
| 1999 | 20.9 | 0.7 |
| 2000 | 20.9 | 0.5 |
| 2001 | 17.7 | (4)— |
| 2002 | 14.5 | (4)— |
| 2003 | 10.0 | (4)— |
(4) Figure not shown to protect individuals' confidentiality
DEFENCE
Databases
Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the fields of the (a) Estates and Lands database and (b) his Department's Service personnel databases. [176382]
Mr. Caplin: Defence Estates (DE) controls and utilises numerous databases which encompass a wide range of information related to the day-to-day management of the land we own and use. These databases include the Defence Property Gazetteer Maintenance (which includes the disposal programme), E Terrier (which provides details of MOD ownership and legal titles), the MOD Sites Information System and the Parliamentary Business database. In some cases these comprise well over 100 individual fields.
Excluding the three Services, which all have a multitude of individual databases, so far as the Service personnel databases are concerned, the armed forces Personnel Administration Agency alone has in excess of 300 individual databases, each one having numerous separate fields. The individual armed Services have many other databases.
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I am therefore unable to provide the information requested as it is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people have left employment in his Department because of (a) anxiety, (b) stress, (c) depression and (d) other mental health reasons in each year since 1997. [175670]
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Mr. Caplin: In the seven year period 1997–2003, 959 Regular Service personnel were medically discharged from the United Kingdom Armed Forces due to a mental health disorder. The Defence Analytical Services Agency codes the specific conditions according to the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of diseases and health-related problems 10th revision (ICD-10). According to this system it is not possible to identify separately all anxiety, stress, and depressive conditions as there is considerable overlap between them.
| 1997–2003 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mental health disorder grouping | ICD-10 codes | total | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| All mental health disorders | F00-F99 | 959 | 122 | 147 | 101 | 127 | 156 | 160 | 146 |
| Mood/affective disorders, and mental and behavioural disorders associated with the puerperium, not elsewhere classified | F30–39, F53 | 314 | 27 | 53 | 23 | 44 | 50 | 58 | 59 |
| Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders | F40-F48 | 448 | 58 | 60 | 58 | 57 | 75 | 74 | 66 |
| Other mental health disorders | F00-F29, F50-F52, F54-F99 | 197 | 37 | 34 | 20 | 26 | 31 | 28 | 21 |
Centrally held figures show that during the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2003, 1,750 civilian staff have retired due to ill health. It is not recorded how many of this number retired due to mental health disorders.
The figure is full-time equivalent, this is a measure of the size of the workforce that takes account of the fact that some people work part-time.
Empty Houses
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how many empty houses his Department is responsible; and if he will make a statement. [179354]
Mr. Caplin [holding answer 18 June 2004]: Defence Estates (the Ministry of Defence Agency responsible) is aware of 7,700 empty properties in mainland UK, as at 31 March 2004. Of those:
over 900 are planned for disposal
over 1,600 are held for future Service deployments
some 550 are empty awaiting modernisation
The remainder are available to let or are under offer to Service families. There may be a relatively small number of additional properties which are empty, for which information is not held centrally.
Land Sales
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether, if he decides to relocate HQ Land away from Wilton, the Crichel Down rules will apply to the sale of the site. [179477]
Mr. Caplin: It is the Ministry of Defence's normal policy to consider the application of the Crichel Down rules in all instances when disposing of surplus land. However, application depends on detailed analysis and it would be premature to say whether the rules would apply to the Wilton site.
Medals (Arctic Convoys)
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who and which Government offices were involved in the recent review of the award of medals to Arctic convoy veterans. [179543]
Mr. Caplin: The review was conducted by Defence Ministers, supported by officials. Other Government Departments were not involved, but reference was made to contemporary documents of the Inter-departmental Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals in Time of War.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the up-to-date position is on the award of medals to the Arctic convoy veterans. [179554]
Mr. Caplin: I refer my hon. Friend to my reply of 1 March 2004, Official Report, columns 595–96W to my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen).
Military Vehicles
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military vehicle drivers have been stopped by the police for speeding on (a) the A303 and (b) the M3 in the past 12 months. [179480]
Mr. Caplin: No records are maintained to indicate whether any military vehicle drivers may have been stopped for speeding on the A303 or M3 in the last 12 months.
MOD Sites
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many prospective purchasers have (a) made initial enquiries and (b) negotiated in respect of the Dean Hill site; when he expects to conclude a sale; and if he will make a statement. [179483]
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Mr. Caplin: Defence Estates has undertaken an expressions of interests campaign ahead of marketing the site. There were 175 initial inquiries, with 54 parties having expressed an interest in acquiring all or parts of the site.
Our current aim is to market the site in spring 2005, subject to legal advice on whether the former owner (Crichel Down) rules apply.
No negotiations have yet taken place, but discussions on conservation issues are in progress.
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