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TREASURY

Breast Cancer

Charles Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many men (a) have been diagnosed with and (b) have died from breast cancer in each of the last five years. [181359]

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

Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Charles Hendry, dated 1 July 2004:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how many men (a) have been diagnosed with and (b) have died from breast cancer in each of the last five years. I am replying in his absence. [181359].

The latest year for which figures on newly diagnosed cases are available is 2001. Figures on the number of deaths occurring in each year are available up to 2002. The numbers of newly diagnosed cases of breast cancer in men in England, for the five
 

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years 1997–2001 are given in the table below. Comparable numbers of deaths occurring in these years and in 2002 are also given in the table:

Number of newly diagnosed cases of, and deaths from, breast cancer in men in England, 1997–2002

	Newly diagnosed cases	Deaths
1997	230	65
1998	265	73
1999	272	64
2000	206	66
2001	245	78
2002	n/a	78

Note:
For newly diagnosed cases between 1997 and 2001 and deaths between 2001 and 2002, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C50. For deaths between 1997 and 2000, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) code 175.
Source:
Office for National Statistics.

Child Benefits (Wales)

Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in Wales are benefiting from (a) the child tax credit and (b) the child benefit. [181801]

Dawn Primarolo: The latest published estimates appear in (a) Child and Working Tax Credits. Quarterly Statistics. April 2004 and (b) Child Benefit. Quarterly Statistics. February 2004, respectively. These publications appear on the Inland Revenue website at: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/index.htm

Brain Tumours

Charles Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) children and (b) adults have been diagnosed as suffering from a brain tumour in each of the last 10 years, broken down by region. [181363]

Ruth Kelly [holding answer 29 June 2004]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Charles Hendry, dated 1 July 2004:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how many (a) children and (b) adults have been diagnosed as suffering from a brain tumour in each of the last 10 years, broken down by region. I am replying in his absence. [181363].

The latest year for which figures are available is 2001. The number of newly diagnosed cases of brain cancer in England for children aged under 15 and adults aged 15 and over for each of the ten years 1992–2001 by Government Office Region are given in the attached table.

Number of newly diagnosed cases of brain cancer in England, children aged under 15 and adults aged 15 and over,by Government Office Region, 1992–2001

Government Office Region	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
Children (0–14)
North East	16	10	11	13	13
North West	27	41	31	33	33
Yorkshire and The Humber	30	30	22	30	20
East Midlands	18	18	19	27	16
West Midlands	35	23	23	25	24
East of England	22	17	31	21	24
London	23	29	30	26	35
South East	41	37	44	36	29
South West	19	24	22	24	22
Adults (15+)
North East	165	178	187	154	174
North West	428	392	420	497	458
Yorkshire and The Humber	285	310	325	288	304
East Midlands	272	273	280	277	305
West Midlands	307	316	305	336	343
East of England	335	311	297	342	343
London	388	385	353	376	370
South East	540	525	509	581	540
South West	371	380	377	348	328

 
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Government Office Region	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Children (0–14)
North East	10	14	10	13	21
North West	33	27	33	20	36
Yorkshire and The Humber	22	28	29	21	33
East Midlands	23	27	20	25	21
West Midlands	21	24	15	19	27
East of England	21	15	28	18	25
London	31	34	36	28	43
South East	39	44	42	43	32
South West	23	25	31	26	18
Adults (15+)
North East	165	204	175	197	187
North West	447	464	447	474	459
Yorkshire and The Humber	323	327	312	337	358
East Midlands	299	290	299	318	273
West Midlands	334	313	329	331	285
East of England	397	369	353	392	361
London	386	373	406	419	391
South East	592	555	553	578	582
South West	382	346	342	447	385

Note:
For the years 1992 to 1994, International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision Code (ICD-9) code 191. For the years 1995 to 2001, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C71.
Source:
Office for National Statistics

Heathrow Customs Office

Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the reason was for the recent reduction in opening hours of the Heathrow Customs Office for passengers arriving to clear unaccompanied baggage. [181693]

John Healey: Customs and Excise have limited resources with which to achieve their objectives of protecting the revenue and providing a service to the travelling public. Pressure on the resources available to Heathrow has been exacerbated by commercial operators who, in an attempt to gain an advantage over their competitors, have used the free service provided by the Customs Import Entry office (CIE). This service was not designed or resourced to cope with this work.

Customs and Excise took the decision that they could use the resources, formerly allocated to the CIE, in a more efficient and effective way by diverting them to areas of greater risk.

Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration was given to the costs to Heathrow passengers needing to use cargo agents to clear unaccompanied baggage due to the reduction in
 
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opening hours of the Heathrow Customs Office; and when the decision was taken to reduce those opening hours. [181694]

John Healey: After consultation with trade associations (the airlines, agents and cargo shed operators) Customs and Excise concluded that it was not unreasonable for a passenger, who was unable to use the service provided by the Customs Import Entry office (CIE), to make a payment of £50 to £60 for the services of a commercial agent.

The decision to implement the most recent reduction in opening hours of the CIE was taken in May 2004.

Military Equipment

Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether military equipment sent from the United Kingdom to be used by British forces serving overseas is included in statistics relating to the value of British exports. [181764]

John Healey: Military equipment sent from the UK to be used by British forces serving overseas is not included in either the Overseas Trade Statistics or Annual Report of Strategic Export Controls publications that use HM Customs and Excise trade data.
 
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Pension Liabilities

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of total public sector pension liabilities, broken down by major employers; and if he will make a statement. [171581]

Mr. Boateng: The value of the liabilities for each main, centrally administered scheme is contained in the report of the actuary as published in the schemes' Resource Accounts.

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