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Child Trust Fund

Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Inland Revenue will compel investment in an investment of the Revenue's choice in the event that an Islamic parent cannot find an investment vehicle for the child trust fund that complies with Islamic beliefs. [218226]

Mr. Timms: Parents have 12 months from the date of the issue of their Child Trust Fund vouchers in which to open an account for their child.

The Government are concerned that all children should have the opportunity to have a Child Trust Fund account so, if an account is not opened within 12 months, the Inland Revenue will open a Stakeholder Child Trust Fund account for the child. The Stakeholder Child Trust Fund is a low-cost, risk-controlled, equities-based account, from which parents can transfer at any time to a provider of their own choice.

The Government very much hopes that parents will be able to find Shari'a compliant investments either by choosing appropriate funds through an approved
 
1 Mar 2005 : Column 1053W
 
stockbroker or through a specially-designed Shari'a compliant account as the market develops over the coming months.

The CTF regulations were specifically designed to ensure Shari'a accounts could be developed to give market operators flexibility to meet a full range of investment requirements.

Deaths (Civil Registration)

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to make available to the financial sector details on deaths known to civil registration authorities. [218450]

Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Registrar General for England and Wales. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Dr. John Pugh, dated 1 March 2005:

As Registrar General for England and Wales, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on plans to make available death registration information to the financial sector. (218450)

The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 is quite specific as to the means of access to records of deaths held by the Registrar General and by registration officers. The Act gives persons the right to search the indexes in order to identify the entries they are looking for and to obtain certified copies (certificates) on payment of the statutory fee. Neither the Registrar General nor registration officers have any powers to disclose or share information in any other way.

Proposals in the form of the draft Regulatory Reform (Registration of Births and Deaths) (England and Wales) Order 2004, presented to Parliament on 22 July 2004, contained a draft provision that would have enabled the Registrar General to provide list cleaning services to financial sector companies in relation to death registrations. The House of Commons'
 

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Regulatory Reform Committee and House of Lords' Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, whose first scrutiny reports were published in December 2004, decided that the draft Order should not proceed to its second stage of scrutiny as it was an inappropriate use of the order-making powers in the Regulatory Reform Act 2001. The Government is now considering its next steps for modernisation of the civil registration service.

We continue to meet and discuss with representative Private Sector Bodies how this issue can be addressed.

Economic Growth

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on trends in economic growth in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK since 1997. [218253]

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. Stephen Hepburn, dated 1 March 2005:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about economic growth in the Jarrow, South Tyneside, the North East and the UK. I am replying in his absence. (218253)

Jarrow constituency is in Tyneside (NUTS3 area), which is currently the lowest geographic level at which regional Gross Value Added ¹ (GVA) is published.

The GVA estimates in table A and GVA growth rates in tableB are based on regional GVA published in December 2004. Regional GVA data are at current prices and therefore do not take inflation into account. GVA for the United Kingdom and North East (NUTS1 area) have been published up to 2003. GVA for Tyneside (NUTS3 area) has been published up to 2002. These dataare available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=7359

¹ Information presented here is Gross Value Added (GVA) which is Gross Domestic Product (GDP) less taxes (plus subsidies) on products.

Table A: Gross Value Added (£ million) 1997–2003

Area	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Tyneside	8,680	9,181	9,568	9,982	10,625	11,211	n/a
North East	25,253	26,219	26,959	27,910	29,287	30,655	32,340
United Kingdom	719,565	761,539	797,116	838,490	881,163	926,275	976,148

Table B: Percentage year on year growth of Gross Value Added 1998–2003

Area	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Tyneside	5.8	4.2	4.3	6.4	5.5	n/a
North East	3.8	2.8	3.5	4.9	4.7	5.5
United Kingdom	5.8	4.7	5.2	5.1	5.1	5.4

Employment Statistics

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the average age of women employed within the (a) manufacturing and (b) service sector was in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) the UK in each year since 1997; [218249]

(2) what the average age of people employed within the (a) manufacturing industry and (b) service sector was in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii)the North East and (iv) the UK in each year since 1997; [218250]

(3) how many women have been employed within the (a) manufacturing industry and (b) service sector in (i)Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) the UK in each year since 1997. [218251]

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 Hepburn, dated 1 March 2005:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about employment. (218249, 218250, 218251)

 
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Tables 1 to 3 provide the available information. In the cases of the tables for average ages of women and of all employees, figures are available for the years 1999 to 2004 but not for 1997 and 1998.

 
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As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey are subject to sampling variability.

Table 1: Women employees in the manufacturing and service sectors in selected areas thousands Thousand

12 months ending February	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Manufacturing sector(5)
Jarrow Constituency	2	2	2	3	1	1	1	1
South Tyneside	4	4	4	3	2	3	3	2
North East	55	55	52	47	41	46	44	37
United Kingdom	1,253	1,277	1,271	1,162	1,115	1,119	1,046	950
Service sector(5)
Jarrow Constituency	12	13	13	14	13	14	15	14
South Tyneside	23	22	22	23	23	23	25	25
North East	393	391	389	398	411	418	421	431
United Kingdom	8,979	9,389	9,599	9,601	9,924	10,209	10,380	10,547

⁽⁵⁾Manufacturing and service sectors are based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 1992
Note:
Some of these estimates are based on very small sample sizes and are subject to a higher degree of sampling variability. Changes from year to year, especially, should therefore be treated with caution.
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey





Table 2: Average age of women employees in the manufacturing and service sectors in selected areas Years⁽⁷⁾

12 months ending February	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Manufacturing sector(6)
Jarrow Constituency	35	41	38	37	39	39
South Tyneside	35	39	37	39	39	42
North East	36	37	37	38	38	40
United Kingdom	38	38	38	39	39	40
Service sector(6)
Jarrow Constituency	36	37	39	39	39	39
South Tyneside	38	38	39	38	38	39
North East	38	38	39	38	39	39
United Kingdom	38	38	38	39	39	39

⁽⁶⁾Manufacturing and service sectors.
⁽⁷⁾Ages are given in completed years are based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 1992.
Note:
Some of these estimates are based on very small sample sizes and are subject to a higher degree of sampling variability. Changes from year to year, especially, should therefore be treated with caution.
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey





Table 3: Average age of all employees in the manufacturing and service sectors in selected areas Years⁽⁹⁾

12 months ending February	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Manufacturing sector(8)
Jarrow Constituency	37	37	37	38	40	42
South Tyneside	37	37	38	39	40	43
North East	38	37	39	39	39	40
United Kingdom	39	39	39	40	40	40
Service sector(8)
Jarrow Constituency	36	38	39	39	39	38
South Tyneside	38	38	38	38	38	38
North East	38	38	38	38	38	39
United Kingdom	38	38	38	38	39	39

⁽⁸⁾Manufacturing and service sectors are based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 1992.
⁽⁹⁾Ages are given in completed years.
Note:
Some of these estimates are based on very small sample sizes and are subject to a higher degree of sampling variability. Changes from year to year, especially, should therefore be treated with caution.
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey




 
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