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19 Jan 2005 : Column 988W—continued
School-age Children (Drug Deaths)
John Mann: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer how many school-age children died from drug misuse in each of the last 10 years. [209091]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. John Mann, dated 19 January 2005:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many school-age children died from drug misuse in each of the last ten years. (209091)
| Calendar year | Number of deaths |
|---|---|
| 1993 | 10 |
| 1994 | 12 |
| 1995 | 16 |
| 1996 | 13 |
| 1997 | 11 |
| 1998 | 14 |
| 1999 | 10 |
| 2000 | 10 |
| 2001 | 11 |
| 2002 | 6 |
(20) Defined as deaths where the underlying cause is poisoning, drug abuse or drug dependence and where any of the substances controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) are involved.
(21) Compulsory school age.
(22) Data are for occurrences of death per calendar year.
Source:
Office for National Statistics
Specialist Acute Hospital Services
Mr. Wilkinson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when he expects to complete consideration of the outline business case on modernising specialist acute hospital services in North West London; and if he will make the conclusions public; [209319]
(2) if he will invite the Comptroller and Auditor General to release personnel from the National Audit Office previously engaged in its consideration of the Paddington Basin Health Campus project last year to assist in his Department's evaluation of the outline business case on the modernising of specialist acute hospital services in West London. [209359]
Mr. Boateng: No business case has yet been submitted to HM Treasury.
Tax Credits
Mr. Pike: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the number of people in the Burnley constituency who have benefitted from tax credits, broken down by (a) type of tax credit and (b) average amounts received in each category; and if he will make a statement. [209509]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the number of in-work families receiving tax credits (broken down by families with and without children) in each constituency appear in "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Geographical analyses. December 2004." This can be found on the Inland Revenue website at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm. The estimates are based on a sample of cases, and are subject to sampling uncertainty.
Information on the average value of tax credit awards is not currently available.
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will make a statement on Government efforts to reduce the backlog in dealing with working families tax credit appeals on overpayments; [208976]
(2) what is the current average waiting time for the completion of overpayment appeals relating to working families tax credit. [208985]
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Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue aims to reply to 80 per cent. of correspondence within 15 working days, and 95 per cent. within 40 working days.
Each case has to be reviewed on its own merits and the Department has recently increased the staff deployed on this work and streamlined its procedures.
The information requested is not available.
Mr. Steen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many demands have been issued by the Tax Credit Office regarding alleged overpayments in each of the last two financial years; what the average sum of overpayments was; how many overpayments have been waived by the Inland Revenue; how many staff are in the Overpayment Recovery team; and how many overpayment cases are currently under investigation. [209041]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 17 January 2005]: For the number of demands issued by the Inland Revenue regarding tax credit overpayments, the number of overpayments waived and how many overpayments cases are currently under investigation, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Miss Begg) on 10 January 2005, Official Report, column 129W.
For the average value of overpayments in 2003–04 I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Members for Northavon (Mr. Webb) and Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 15 November 2004, Official Report, columns 946–48W.
For overpayments in 2002–03, 1 refer the hon. Member to my answer to the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) on 12 November 2003, Official Report, column 394W.
At the end of December 2004 the Tax Credit Office had the equivalent of around 300 full-time staff on their team dealing with tax credit overpayments.
Tsunami Disaster Appeal
John Barrett: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will add all income received from the taxation of charitable donations to the Disaster Emergency Committee to the Government's aid contribution to the tsunami disaster appeal in Asia; [209027]
(2) if he will estimate the amount raised by the Treasury through the taxation of donations made to the Disaster Emergency Committee as a result of the tsunami in Asia; [209028]
(3) what steps he is taking to encourage those who are donating to the Disaster Emergency Committee as a result of the tsunami in Asia to claim gift aid on their contributions. [209029]
John Healey:
Donations to charity are not themselves taxed. The Gift Aid scheme allows individual donors to make a declaration allowing the charity to reclaim the basic rate tax they have paid on the money they donate, adding 28 pence to every £1 donated. In some cases tax will not have been paid on the money donated so there is nothing for the charity to claim back. It is important that charities claim tax only where they have a declaration from the donor allowing them to do so.
19 Jan 2005 : Column 991W
The Disasters Emergency Committee has announced that, as of 6 January 2005, £100 million has been donated to the Tsunami appeal. This figure is increasing on a daily basis. It is estimated that Gift Aid tax repaid on donations will be over £15 million. The precise amount will depend upon the final total donations and the number of donors using Gift Aid. Gift Aid declarations may be made retrospectively, so donors who have made donations without making a declaration can go back to the charity and do so. The more donors use Gift Aid the more government will be able to add to their donations.
The Inland Revenue website contains information for donors and charities and there is also a link from the Treasury website to this information. Inland Revenue is actively promoting tax effective methods of giving such as Gift Aid and Payroll Giving. In addition Inland Revenue is offering advice and guidance to charities and the organisers of fundraising events to help them in encouraging their donors to make use of Gift Aid and Payroll Giving.
In addition the Treasury will make a special donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee to offset the VAT costs associated with the proposed charity concert, charity records and other events designed to raise money specifically for the tsunami appeal. The exact sum will be based on the VAT expected to be collected by Customs in relation to fund-raising sales of goods and services.
UK Economy (London's Contribution)
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage contribution London has made to the UK economy in each of the last seven years. [209494]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Andrew Rosindell, dated 19 January 2005:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the percentage contribution London has made to the UK economy in each of the last seven years. (209494)
In order to give a measure of the economy gross value added 1 (GVA) is used. The latest published information is for 2003.
The estimates shown in the table below, are based on the regional gross value added 1 (GVA) estimates published in December 2004. These are available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/RegionalGVA.pdf
(23) Information represented here is gross value added (GVA) which is gross domestic product (GDP) less taxes (plus subsidies) on products.
(24) Extra-Regio is that part of the UK's economic territory which cannot be allocated to any specific region.
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