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26 Jan 2005 : Column 405W—continued
National Minimum Wage (Lancashire)
Mr. Pike: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people he estimates in (a) Burnley and (b) Lancashire are benefiting from the national minimum wage; what percentage that is of those in work in each case; and if he will make a statement. [210969]
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. Peter Pike, dated 26 January 2005:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people it is estimated are benefiting from the national minimum wage in Burnley and Lancashire. I am replying in his absence. (210969)
Estimates for the number of jobs paid below the minimum wage for local authority areas and counties are not available. However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) calculates this information for the United Kingdom and Government Office Regions. A guide to measuring low pay and associated articles and data can be found on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=5837&Pos=1&ColRank=1&Rank=272
Pay Television Subscriptions
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many pay television subscriptions the Department had in each year since 1997; and what the cost was in each year. [207660]
Mr. Timms: The Treasury had no pay television subscriptions prior to financial year 2002–03. The number of subscriptions and the costs including VAT for each complete financial year since then are as follows. The costs include £44,000 and £39,000 in 2002–03 and 2003–04 respectively payable to the Central Office of Information for Houses of Parliament television channels.
Productivity
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what GDP per hour worked in the UK has been on a constant price basis in each year since 1979. [210606]
Mr. Timms:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
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Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. David Willetts, dated 26 January 2005:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on the levels of constant price GDP per hour worked in the UK in each year since 1979.1 am replying in his absence. (210606)
The National Statistics measure of output per hour uses Gross Value Added rather than Gross Domestic Product as the numerator. The table below shows the index of whole economy GVA per hour from 1993, which is when the hours series is available from.
| Whole economy GVA per hour(79) | |
|---|---|
| 1993 | 84.5 |
| 1994 | 87.0 |
| 1995 | 88.3 |
| 1996 | 90.0 |
| 1997 | 91.3 |
| 1998 | 93.8 |
| 1999 | 95.4 |
| 2000 | 98.9 |
| 2001 | 100.0 |
| 2002 | 101.7 |
| 2003 | 103.5 |
(79) 2001=100
Tax Credits
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of tax credit awards have been appealed since their introduction. [210433]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of written appeals received against tax credit decisions by 31 December 2004 is equivalent to roughly 1 per cent. of all tax credit applications put into award since the introduction of working tax credit and child tax credit.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what monitoring of advice given by operators in tax credit call centres his Department has conducted. [210435]
Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue monitor the quality of advice their Helpline advisers provide in a number of ways. First, every team leader listens to a number of calls each month for every adviser in their team and then gives individual feedback on the quality of their service. Second, there is a Quality Team who listen to 50 random calls each month from each of the six call centres—they too provide feedback to the advisers from their findings. And finally, there is an independent validation that the checks have been completed each month—this team listens to calls that have been picked for checking and they too provide input and advice on the quality of service.
Chris Ruane: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost was of the introduction of the IT system for tax credits; what assessment he has made of the system; and what penalty clauses there were in the contract for the provision of IT services to enable the Government to recover the costs of failure and breakdown. [210437]
Dawn Primarolo:
Details are in the Inland Revenue's Annual Report and Accounts for 2003–04 published on 21 October 2004 at page 104.
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The Inland Revenue and EDS are currently in discussions over payment of compensation for the errors with the NTC system. These discussions are on-going and so I am unable to say anything further at this stage.
Mrs. May: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his forecast is of the expenditure on the child care element of the working tax credit in 2005–06. [210749]
Dawn Primarolo: For a forecast of total tax credit expenditure in 2005–06, 1 refer the hon. Member to Table B13 and B16 in pre Budget report, December 2004. No separate forecast has been made for expenditure on the child care element of working tax credit in 2005–06.
Tom Levitt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of applications for tax credits have been significantly wrongly assessed initially. [210796]
Dawn Primarolo: 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. Soley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether parents can claim tax credit against the cost of employing a registered nanny; and if he will make a statement. [210816]
Dawn Primarolo: From April 2005, parents in England who use nannies who are approved under the Department for Education and Skills Child Care Approval scheme will be to claim the child care element.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many families in Hendon (a) received child tax credit and (b) were estimated to be entitled to it on the latest date for which figures are available; what the average monthly payment was in the last month for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement; [210874]
(2) how many families in Hendon (a) received working tax credit and (b) were estimated to be entitled to it on the latest date for which figures are available; what the average monthly payment was in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [210875]
Dawn Primarolo: For (a), estimates of the number of in-work families in each constituency receiving tax credits are published in Child and Working Tax Credits 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.
For (b), estimates of the number of families eligible for these tax credits are not available at the constituency level.
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Information on average monthly payments of child tax credit and working tax credit is not available, as explained in the technical note in Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. December 2004". This can be found on the Inland Revenue website.
Tom Levitt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are in receipt of (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit in the High Peak constituency. [210795]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the number of in-work families receiving tax credits in each constituency (broken down by families with and without children) 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.
Mr. Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) families and (b) individuals in Nottingham North constituency benefit from the working tax credit. [211012]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the number of in-work families receiving tax credits in each constituency (broken down by families with and without children) 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.
Mr. Allen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average tax burden on a single earner family on average earnings with two children claiming the working tax credit in the Nottingham North constituency was in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the tax burden was on such a family in (a) 1975–76 and (b) 1997–98. [211014]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not available at the constituency level. For the tax burden for a single earner couple on UK average earnings I refer the right hon. Friend to table 14.10 in the Tax Benefit Reference Manual 2004–05 Edition" available in the House of Commons Library.
Mr. Fisher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the total expenditure on (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit in Stoke-on-Trent has been in each year since those schemes have been in operation; [210868]
(2) how many people in Stoke-on-Trent have successfully claimed (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit in each year since those schemes have been in operation. [210869]
Dawn Primarolo:
Estimates of the number of in-work families in each local authority and constituency receiving these tax credits appear in Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Geographical analyses." These 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.
26 Jan 2005 : Column 409W
The national level of expenditure on tax credits in the year ending 31 March 2004 appears in the Inland Revenue report and accounts for that year. The amounts paid to families in each local authority or constituency are not available.
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