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E-Government

Paul Holmes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department's .gov.uk websites comply with the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines adopted by the Government in 2001; and if he will make a statement. [199690]

Mr. Timms: HM Treasury, Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise are all committed to comply with the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. HM Treasury has recently redesigned its public website templates to comply with the World Wide W3C Guidelines 1.0 Double-A. The Inland Revenue already follows the W3C Guidelines 1.0 Double-A and HM Customs and Excise is committed to achieving compliance with the minimum level of the W3C Guidelines and aims to exceed them where possible. The new merged department HM Revenue and Customs will be committed to comply with the guidelines.

Ethiopia

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether all debt owed by Ethiopia to the UK has been extinguished; and if he will make a statement. [200145]

Mr. Timms: The UK has written off 100 per cent. of debt owed by Ethiopia to the UK. Furthermore, under the recently proposed UK multilateral debt initiative Ethiopia will also qualify for multilateral debt relief as
 
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a post-completion point Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC). The UK will pay its share, approximately 10 per cent., of multilateral debt service owed by Ethiopia to the International Development Association and African Development Bank, and will continue to call on others to join us in this initiative.

Euro

Mr. Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will meet the European Commissioner for External Trade to discuss setting a target date for British entry into the euro. [199801]

Mr. Timms: As the Chancellor said in his 2004 Budget speech,

"while the Government do not propose a euro assessment be initiated at the time of this Budget, the Treasury will again review progress at Budget time next year and report to the House".

Britain in Europe

Mr. Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will next meet representatives of Britain in Europe; and at what dates in the last year he has met representatives of Britain in Europe. [199805]

Mr. Timms: The Chancellor met most recently with representatives of Britain in Europe at their annual board meeting on 17 November. At present no further meetings have been scheduled.

Goodison Review

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to implement the recommendations of the Goodison Review: Securing the Best for our Museums; and if he will make a statement. [199705]

Mr. Boateng: In the 2004 Spending Review the Government announced that:

annual funding for the National Heritage Memorial Fund will double by 2007–08, compared to 2004–05;

the Renaissance in the Regions programme for regional museums will be extended to all nine English regions; and

the free access commitment, which currently covers the main national museums and galleries, and the VAT refund scheme that helps deliver free access, will be extended to university museums and galleries.

Other recommendations relating to tax are being considered as part of our on-going work. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport also plans to transfer administrative functions to the Museums Libraries and Archives Council (formerly Resource) as recommended by the Goodison Review.

Household Water Supplies

Tom Cox: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of households in the Greater London area were lacking the use of a hot water supply according to the 2001 Census; [199677]

(2) what percentage of households within the Greater London area were lacking the use of a bathroom according to the 2001 Census. [199678]

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

Letter from Karen Dunnell to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 30 November 2004:

The National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales has been asked to reply to your recent questions to the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking:

1. what percentage of households in the Greater London area were lacking the use of a hot water supply according to the 2001 Census (199677)

2. what percentage of households in the Greater London area were lacking the use of a bathroom according to the 2001 Census (199678)

I am replying in his absence.

A question about the availability of a hot water supply was not asked in the 2001 Census and consequently no figures are available.

In the 2001 Census respondents were asked whether they had sole use of a bath, shower or toilet for their household as opposed to whether they lacked the use of a bathroom altogether. On Census day (29 April 2001) 1.06% of households in the London Government Office Region (GOR) were without the sole use of a bath, shower or toilet. That figure includes households with shared access and households with no access.

The London GOR is equivalent to the administrative area of the Greater London Authority covering the 32 London Boroughs and the City of London. The figures have been extracted from Table UV60 on the Census 2001—Census Area Statistics (CAS) for Output Areas, wards and higher administrative geographies in England and Wales DVD, which is available in the House of Commons library.

Iraq

David Hamilton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money has been allocated for future engagements in Iraq; and how much has been spent on the operation in Iraq to date. [200226]

Mr. Boateng: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 17 November 2004, Official Report, columns 1504–05W.

Life Assurance

Norman Baker: To ask The Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he has taken in relation to the life assurance business following the publication of the Penrose Report. [200665]

Mr. Timms: The Government have enacted fundamental reform of the regulation of financial services by establishing the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as an integrated and independent regulator combining prudential and conduct of business regulation. A key part of the new regulatory regime is the creation of a comprehensive Financial Services Compensation Scheme and a single Financial Ombudsman Service.

The FSA has proceeded to introduce risk-based insurance regulation and individual capital standards. It is also in the process of introducing realistic accounting by life offices, including a requirement to reserve for terminal bonus. In addition, the use of future profits implicit items is being phased out.
 
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The FSA is also removing responsibility for making key decisions on asset allocation and distribution in with-profits funds from the appointed actuary and transferring it to company boards and it has brought forward proposals on better treatment of customers by firms and fuller transparency of with-profits funds. Lord Penrose welcomed the FSA's regulatory reforms, which he said

"has sought to anticipate many of the lessons that might be drawn by this enquiry and it should come as no surprise that it has largely succeeded".

Subsequent to the Penrose report the Government have separately instigated a number of reviews which represent a significant opportunity to address the interests of future policyholders.

Paul Myners is reviewing the governance of mutual life offices to make their boards as accountable to their members as those of comparable companies to their shareholders.

Sir Derek Morris is leading a review of the actuarial profession considering how best to modernise the profession and see high standards are delivered in a more open, challenging and accountable professional culture.

The Accounting Standards Board has launched a review of the accounting framework for with-profits business with particular emphasis on improving the transparency of reporting.

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