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20 Jan 2005 : Column 1100W—continued
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Department spent on lawyers in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) number of actions, (b) number of settlements, (c) number of court cases and (d) the costs of each settlement. [206449]
Mr. Timms:
HM Treasury paid the following sums to the Treasury Solicitor (in the case of 2003–04 to the Treasury Solicitor and, in relation to one case, a private sector firm) for work billed by litigation teams for the years in question:
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The figure for "Cases worked on" in any given year will normally correspond to the number of actions/cases, but will also include pre-action matters and certain other work such as that on inquiries. Cases worked on in more than one year will be counted for each year concerned.
Earnings (Scotland)
Mr. Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) average and (b) median (i) weekly and (ii) hourly gross earnings (A) including and (B) excluding overtime is of (1) managers, (2) senior professional, (3) associate professional and technical, (4) administrative and secretarial, (5) skilled trades, (6) personal service, (7) sales and customer service, (8) process, plant and machine operatives and (9) elementary occupational groups are in each local authority area in Scotland, broken down by (x) male, (y) female and (z) all workers. [209268]
Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Michael Moore, dated 20 January 2005:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on earnings in Scotland. I am replying in his absence. (209268)
Average earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay whose pay was unaffected by absence during the pay period, by their place of work. This is the standard definition used for Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings tables. The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings does not collect data on the self-employed and people who do unpaid work. The survey, carried out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. It has a one per cent. sample of all employees.
Data for local authority areas in Scotland broken down by occupation groups are not currently available; however data for Scotland broken down by occupation groups are available on the National Statistics web site as follows:
A number of estimates have been removed from the published tables to maintain the confidentiality of individual employees.
External Supplies
John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tenders were let by his Department to external suppliers in the financial year 2003–04; and what the value was. [209092]
Mr. Timms: The core Treasury procurement service let 16 tenders in 2003–04, covering periods of up to five years, with a total value of £29.2 million. Of this total, £13.3 million was for a two year contract let by the Treasury, but handed over to the Home Office to administer and pay for.
Foundation Hospitals
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether loans to foundation hospitals by banks are counted as public sector borrowing. [209628]
Mr. Boateng: Yes. The independent Office for National Statistics classifies NHS foundation trusts as public sector bodies. This means that their transactions and liabilities count as transactions and liabilities of the public sector.
National Insurance Fund
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money was allocated from the National Insurance Fund to (a) the state pension and (b) sickness benefit in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [208503]
Mr. Pond: I have been asked to reply.
The information is in the following table.
| Retirement pension | Incapacity benefit | |
|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 37,775 | 6,790 |
| 2000–01 | 38,718 | 6,766 |
| 2001–02 | 41,893 | 6,749 |
| 2002–03 | 44,338 | 6,758 |
| 2003–04 | 46,457 | 6,718 |
Notes:
1. Retirement pension includes contributory retirement pension basic and earnings related expenditure.
2. Incapacity benefit includes short term lower and higher, long term and earnings related expenditure.
3. Figures are for Great Britain and rounded to the nearest million.
NHS Expenditure
Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will update the estimates of (a) the total NHS spending in the UK in 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08 in figure 6.1 of the Budget 2002 and (b) gross UK NHS Spending as a proportion of GDP in 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08 in figure 6.2 of the Budget 2002. [209614]
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Mr. Boateng: The information is as follows:
| 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | Average real growth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total UK public sector health spending(28) | 88.6 | 97.4 | 107.2 | 7.1 |
| Of which: | ||||
| England | 76.4 | 83.8 | 92.1 | 6.9 |
(28) The public sector health spending figures are based on the UN Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG), the international standard as used in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis 2004.
(29) Private health spending is based on the definition used for ONS Health Accounts and is assumed to stay at a constant share of GDP
Single Currency
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of the five economic tests for joining the euro he assesses are being met. [209491]
Mr. Timms: The Government published an assessment of the five economic tests in June 2003. As the Chancellor announced 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."
Tax Credits
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average time taken to decide an appeal against the Inland Revenue's decision to recover an overpayment in tax credits is; and if he will make a statement. [209724]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the level of accuracy of processing and calculating new tax credits is for (a) 2003–04 and (b) the current tax year. [209725]
Mr. Timms: For the level of accuracy of processing and calculating tax credits for 2003–04 I refer my hon. Friend to page 29 of the Inland Revenue's Annual Report and Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2004. This is available on the Inland Revenue website at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk The Inland Revenue will similarly report against its targets for 2004–05 in due course.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether a recipient of tax credits is able to return overpayments to the Inland Revenue as they occur. [209726]
20 Jan 2005 : Column 1104W
Mr. Timms: If a tax credit claimant has been overpaid they can pay back their overpayment by sending a cheque made payable to "Inland Revenue":
In Northern Ireland, cheques can be sent to:
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the appeal made on 17 November 2004 against the Inland Revenue's decision to recover overpayments from the right hon. Member for Birkenhead's constituent, Mrs. Wynne, will be heard. [209727]
Mr. Timms: The Inland Revenue wrote to Mrs. Wynne about her 2003–04 overpayment on 10 January 2005.
Mr. Tyler: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many requests to reconsider recovery of overpayments of tax credit have been received; how many have been dealt with; and how many of those dealt with were successful on the grounds of an official error. [209787]
Mr. Timms: I refer the hon. Member to my hon. Friend's reply to the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Miss Begg) on 10 January 2005, Official Report, column 129W.
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