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9 Dec 2004 : Column 654W—continued
Older Workers
Vera Baird: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what plans he has to publish indicators of employment of workers aged 50 to 69 years; [203571]
(2) what plans he has to publish indicators of employment levels of all adults, including those over state pension age; [203572]
(3) what plans he has to publish indicators of employment levels of workers of all ages over 50 years; [203573]
(4) what plans he has to revise the term working age adult when describing adults aged below the state pension age. [203574]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Ms Vera Baird, dated 9 December 2004:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the publication of employment statistics by age. (203571, 203572, 203573 and 203574)
The Labour Market Statistics national and regional First Releases, published monthly by the Office for National Statistics, contain analyses of employment by age, based upon the Labour Force Survey. These include estimates for people of working age, currently 16 to 64 for men and 16 to 59 for women; those over retirement age, and those aged 50 to retirement age.
Estimates of employment for other age groups, for example 50 to 69, are available from publicly available data records, which can be used to produce tables such as that attached.
At present there are no plans to change the terminology used to describe employment statistics for persons below State Pension age.
| Age group | Thousand |
|---|---|
| All aged 16 and over | 28,159 |
| All of working age(4) | 27,164 |
| 50 and over | 7,285 |
| 50 to 69 | 7,097 |
(4) Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59.
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey
Right to Buy
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether a property purchased via right to buy is charged stamp duty on the selling price (a) net of discount and (b) before the discount is applied. [203551]
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Mr. Timms: Stamp duty land tax, which replaced stamp duty on 1 December 2003 for land transaction, is charged on the selling price net of discount.
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004 departmental special advisers travelled (a) domestically and (b) abroad in an official capacity; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost. [202248]
Travel Costs
Mr. Luff: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total travel costs to his Department have been for (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials for each year since 1997. [203782]
Mr. Timms: In respect of total travel costs and Ministers' travel costs, I refer to the answers given by the former Financial Secretary on 19 July 2004, Official Report, column 43–4W and 22 July 2004, Official Report, column 482–83W.
Between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004 the Chancellor of the Exchequer's and Chief Secretary's special advisers travelled abroad on official business on 12 occasions at an average cost of £3,793 per trip. The places visited were: USA on 11–14 April 2003, 20–24 July 2003; 15–18 September 2003 (X2), 28–30 August 2003; 4–6 February 2004; Paris on 16–18 May 2003; Dubai on 19–22 September 2003; South Africa on 4–7 October 2003; Mexico on 25–28 October 2003; Beijing on 21–24 February 2004; Germany on 3–4 March 2004.
Equivalent information about special advisers' domestic travel for this period, or about special advisers' total travel costs in the years prior to 2003–04, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
All travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the "Ministerial Code", the "Civil Service Management Code" and the "Code of Conduct for Special Advisers".
Tax Credits
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people received the working tax credit and its predecessor tax credits in each year since 2001. [203591]
Dawn Primarolo: Child and working tax credit were introduced in April 2003. Estimates of the number of recipient families are available in the published quarterly and summary statistic.
Working families' and disabled person's tax credits were available from October 1999 to March 2003. Estimates of the number of recipient families appear in the published Quarterly Enquiries. These publications can be found on the Inland Revenue website, at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm.
Children's tax credit was available in 2001–02 and 2002–03. An estimated 3.8 million families benefited in 2001–02. No estimate for 2002–03 is yet available.
9 Dec 2004 : Column 656W
WALES
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) whether he has been informed of breaches of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers in his Department since its implementation; [201348]
(2) how many appeals were made by civil servants to the Civil Service Commissioners regarding special advisers in his Department between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004 and when each appeal was lodged. [201375]
Mr. Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office on Tuesday 8 December 2004 (Col 578W).
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether departmental special advisers have given instructions to permanent civil servants without the explicit authorisation of Ministers since May 1997. [203963]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office was established on 1 July 1999.
Since then, Special Advisers have given no such instructions.
Travel Costs
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the total travel costs to his Department have been for (a) Ministers, (b) Special Advisers and (c) Officials for each year since 1997. [203780]
Mr. Touhig: The Wales Office was established on 1 July 1999.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden on 7 July 2004, Official Report, column 196W and the hon. Member for Twickenham on 11 October 2004, Official Report, column 257W.
Special Adviser travels costs for the Wales Office are not recorded separately from those of Ministers and Officials.
All ministerial official travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code, copies of which are available in the parliamentary Libraries.
All official travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules contained in the Civil Service Management Code.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Director of Public Prosecutions
Mr. Trimble: To ask the Solicitor General what the average length of time between the date of report of crime and submission of final police report to the Director of Public Prosecutions was in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and what the average length of time taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions to deal with cases from first report to laying of formal charges was in each of the last five years (a) in total and (b) broken down by (i) Crown court cases and (ii) Petty Sessions cases. [202761]
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The Solicitor-General: The Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland keeps records of the period from receipt of the police file to issue of direction. The average time taken is shown in the following table but excludes time spent on interim direction (time taken by the police to provide further necessary information sought by the Director):
| Direction type | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 to 30 September 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indictable prosecution | 100.5 | 117.9 | 98.8 |
| Summary prosecution | 51.3 | 60.6 | 47.2 |
| All prosecution directions | 65.5 | 75.7 | 64.1 |
Figures are not available for the full five-year period requested because of a change in recording practice in 2001. The figures for 2004–05 are provisional.
The Department of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland is currently running two Public Prosecution Service Pilot Schemes. The figures for the two pilots are not included in the table as they are compiled differently.
| Direction type | Belfast PPS Pilot | Fermanagh and Tyrone PPS Pilot |
|---|---|---|
| Indictable prosecution | 86.6 | 98.3 |
| Summary prosecution | 21.5 | 37.8 |
| All prosecution decisions | 27.3 | 39.7 |
The figures for the Pilots include time spent on interim directions. All figures in this table are provisional.
The Belfast PPS Pilot Scheme commenced 1 December 2003 and covers all offences committed in South Belfast PSNI District Command Unit and all youth offences committed in the Greater Belfast area.
The Fermanagh and Tyrone PPS Pilot Scheme commenced 1 April 2004 and covers all offences committed in Cookstown, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Omagh and Strabane District Command Units.
All figures shown relate solely to files received from PSNI.
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