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24 Jan 2005 : Column 157W—continued
Departmental Policies (Clwyd, South)
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Clwyd, South constituency, the effects on Clwyd, South of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [210329]
Mr. Timms: The Government have put in place a radical programme of both macroeconomic and microeconomic reform since our election in 1997 to improve the economic performance of all parts of the UK. There is significant evidence that these policies have already yielded considerable benefits for the Clwyd, South constituency. For example, since May 1997, claimant unemployment has fallen by 52 per cent., and both long-term unemployment and long-term youth unemployment have nearly been eliminated, with falls of 85 per cent. and 92 per cent. respectively.
The Neighbourhood Statistics Service provides a wide range of statistical information at Parliamentary constituency level, taken from the 2001 Census and other sources. This service is available on the National Statistics website at http://neighbourhood.statistics. gov.uk./.
Earnings (Scotland)
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the gross (a) average and (b) median weekly earnings (i) including and (ii) excluding overtime are for (A) male, (B) female and (C) all full-time workers in (1) Scotland and (2) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland; [209795]
(2) how many and what percentage of (a) male, (b) female and (c) all full-time workers in (i) Scotland, (ii) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (iii) the United Kingdom earn less than (A) £279.00 per week, (B) £209.62 per week and (C) £168.75 per week in gross pay, (1) including and (2) excluding overtime; [209796]
(3) what the (a) average and (b) median (i) hourly and (ii) weekly gross earnings (A) including and (B) excluding overtime are for (X) male, (Y) female and (Z) all full-time workers aged (1) 18 to 21, (2) 22 to 29, (3) 30 to 39, (4) 40 to 49 and (5) over 50 years in (aa) Scotland and (bb) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland; [209812]
(4) what the (a) average and (b) median (i) hourly and (ii) weekly gross earnings (A) including and (B) excluding overtime are for (X) male, (Y) female and
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(Z) all full-time workers in the (1) private, (2) public and (3) unclassified sectors in (aa) Scotland and (bb) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland. [209813]
Dawn Primarolo: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply. His answer has been placed in the Library.
Economic and Financial Affairs Council
Mr. Moore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government's priorities for the Economic and Financial Affairs Council will be during the United Kingdom's Presidency of the European Union; and if he will make a statement. [209557]
Mr. Timms: As set out in Box 2.4 of the 2004 pre-Budget report, the Government will use their leadership of the G7/8 and the EU to tackle the key challenges of international poverty reduction, structural economic reform, trade reform and climate change.
The Luxembourg-UK Annual Operating Programme sets out further details of priorities for 2005. These include delivering on the Lisbon agenda of more and better jobs, sustainable economic growth and increased competitiveness and regulatory reform. Copies of this are available in the Library of the House.
Employment Levels
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) actual and (b) percentage annual changes in job levels for the (i) private and (ii) public sectors were in the last two calendar years. [210282]
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. Stephen O'Brien, dated 24 January 2005:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about changes in job levels in the public and private sector. (210282)
The most recent public and private sector job figures published by ONS on the basis of National Accounts definitions were published in the article "Jobs in the public sector: mid-2003" in the July 2004 issue of "Labour Market Trends".
Drawing upon this source, the attached table shows the number of UK jobs in the public and private sectors for each of the years from 2001 to 2003, the latest available data. The table also shows the annual changes and annual percentage changes in these totals.
Job levels for the private and public sectors are obtained from returns from public sector organisations and the Labour Force Survey, and are currently available on an annual basis. Private sector employment is calculated as the difference between overall employment as estimated from the Labour Force Survey, and public sector employment as derived from returns from public sector organisations.
Source:
Labour Force Survey and returns from public sector organisations.
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Haiti
Ms Abbott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether Haiti will be included in his Department's recent proposals to support the countries least able to pay off World Bank debts by paying 10 per cent. of annual servicing of that debt. [209819]
Mr. Timms: The UK is proposing that the international community provide up to 100 per cent. relief on the debt owed by poor countries to the World Bank, African Development Bank, and IMF. We are leading the way by paying our share of debt payments owed to the World Bank and African Development Bank, and are calling for better use of IMF gold to fund its debt relief costs.
Eligible countries include all post-completion point HIPCs, and all other low income IDA-only countries with suitably robust public expenditure management systems to ensure the savings are directed towards poverty reduction. The current proxy for this is whether the country is receiving direct poverty-reduction budgetary support from the World Bank through the poverty reduction support credit (PRSC). As an IDA-only country Haiti is potentially eligible for assistance under this initiative, and will be able to benefit after it receives support in this form from the World Bank.
Highly Indebted Poor Countries
Mr. Alan Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much external Government debt is owed by each highly indebted poor country to private financial institutions; and what proportion that sum is of total external debt in each case; [210227]
(2) what the (a) total external debt and (b) estimated annual repayment of that debt is for the Government of each highly indebted poor country (i) in total and (ii) as a proportion of Government spending; [210251]
(3) how much external Government debt is owed by each highly indebted poor country, broken down by amounts owed to each (a) country and (b) multilateral institution. [210252]
Mr. Timms:
The HIPC Status of Implementation Report published annually by the World Bank and IMF, in conjunction with individual country update reports, provide the data requested. These numbers are all publicly available, and can be found via the
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following links: http://www.imf.org/external/np/hipc/2004/082004.pdf; http://www.imf.org/external/country/index.htm.
International Finance Facility
Mr. Alan Duncan: To the Chancellor of the Exchequer which countries have agreed to participate in his proposed International Finance Facility; what amounts each participant has agreed to contribute; and on what financial terms. [210296]
Mr. Timms: The IFF will be a temporary financing mechanism to provide an additional $50 billion a year in development assistance between now and 2015. It will "frontload" commitments made at Monterrey by leveraging in money from the international capital markets, against long-term pledges of Monterrey commitments.
42 countries—including France, Italy and Sweden—have given their support to the IFF. We have also received the support of a wide range of non-governmental organizations, faith groups and the business community.
Decisions on the level of financing will be made when the IFF is established.
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