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15 Nov 2004 : Column 953W—continued
Departmental Offices
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of (a) decoration and (b) refurbishment of the London offices of the Department was in each of the last four years. [196146]
Mr. Timms: In April 2001 the Inland Revenue (including Valuation Office Agency) and HM Customs and Excise outsourced the management and maintenance of all of their offices to Mapeley under the STEPS contract. Costs of decoration and refurbishment are included in a single unitary price that the departments pay to Mapeley on a site-by-site basis. Separate costs specific to London offices are therefore not available for the years since 2001–02.
For 2000–01 the data available for the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise includes amounts for refurbishment, decoration, maintenance, service charges and other accommodation costs. To extract this information would entail disproportionate cost.
In the summer of 2002, the Treasury moved into 1 Horse Guards Road under a PFI agreement. The total costs of refurbishment of that building were given in answer to the hon. Member for South Norfolk, (Mr. Bacon) on 5 February 2002 (Official Report, column 837W). Under the terms of the PFI agreement, ongoing decoration and refurbishment costs are met by Exchequer Partnership.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the staff in his Department in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003 were people with disabilities. [196120]
Mr. Timms: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Ruth Kelly) on 9 November 2004, Official Report, columns 619–20W.
Drug-related Deaths (Wales)
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many drug-related deaths there have been in Wales in each year since 1996. [197409]
Mr. Timms:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
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Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Bill Wiggin, dated 15 November 2004:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many drug-related deaths there were in Wales in each year since 1996. I am replying in his absence. (197409)
Available figures relate to deaths from drug poisoning, not the total number that were drug-related. The most recently available information is for deaths in 2002. Figures are shown in the table below for the calendar years 1996 to 2002.
| Number of deaths | |
|---|---|
| 1996 | 126 |
| 1997 | 132 |
| 1998 | 150 |
| 1999 | 139 |
| 2000 | 173 |
| 2001 | 175 |
| 2002 | 152 |
(3) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 292, 304, 305.2–305.9, E850-E858, E950.0-E950.5, E962.0 andE980.0-E980.5 for 1996 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes F11-F16, F18-F19, X40-X44, X60-X64, X85 and Y10-Y14from 2001 onwards.
(4) Data are for deaths occurring in each calendar year.
Economic Growth
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the rate of economic growth in (a) Hampshire and (b) the area covered by Portsmouth, Southampton, Fareham, Gosport, Havant and Eastleigh local authorities for the most recent period for which data are available. [198048]
Mr. Timms: HM Treasury monitors economic progress across the UK, down to the county, local authority and constituency level. Economic activity rates in Hampshire are now higher, and unemployment rates now lower, than the national average. Since 1997 we have seen reductions in unemployment of over 50 per cent. in each of the Portsmouth, Southampton, Fareham, Gosport, Havant, and Eastleigh local authorities and the lowest unemployment in Hampshire since records began.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the relationship between increase in housing stock and economic growth. [198051]
Mr. Timms: The interim and final reports of the Barker Review of Housing Supply, published in December 2003 and March 2004, respectively, contain an assessment of the UK housing stock and housing supply and their relationship with the wider economy. These can be found on HM Treasury's website at:
Fraud
Mr. Tynan:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on cross-border cooperation
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(a) within the EU and (b) with states outside the EU to tackle (i) VAT fraud and (ii) fraud arising from manipulation of transfer pricing. [197574]
John Healey: Officials work very closely with their counterparts both within and outside the EU to tackle all types of tax fraud.
Green Ministers
Mr. Horam: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Green Ministers his Department has had since 1997. [197673]
John Healey: The Treasury has had five Green Ministers since 1997.
Gross Domestic Product
Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the gross domestic product of (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) the UK was in 2003. [197411]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Bill Wiggin, dated 15 November 2004:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about GDP in England, Wales and the UK in 2003. I am replying in his absence. (197411)
The estimates in the table below are based on the regional Gross Value Added 1 (GVA) estimates published in April 2004. These are available on the National Statistics website at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=7359
(5) Information presented here is Gross Value Added (GVA) which is Gross Domestic Product (GDP) less taxes (plus subsidies) on products.
(6) Extra Regio is that part of the UK's economic territory which cannot be allocated to any specific region.
Interest Rates (Eltham)
Clive Efford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of interest rates on the constituency of Eltham over the last 15 years; and if he will make a statement. [197628]
Mr. Timms:
Interest rates are set by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to meet the inflation target set by the Government, which is currently a 2 per cent. annual rise in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). The MPC was set up in 1997 as a body independent of government and political influence. This reform has worked well—it has brought stability and transparency to monetary policy, resulted in low and stable inflation and interest rates and has anchored inflation expectations to the inflation target.
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Today, interest rates are at their lowest level for 40 years. Since May 1997, interest rates have averaged 5.3 per cent. This compares to an average rate of 10.5 per cent. between 1979 and 1997.
The Bank of England Act requires the MPC to collect the necessary regional information when making interest rate decisions and this requirement is enforced by the court of directors of the Bank.
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