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4 Apr 2005 : Column 1171W—continued

European Union

Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total value is of the UK's financial contribution to the European Union since the UK joined. [224291]

Mr. Timms: The UK's total net contribution (i.e. gross contribution, after abatement, less public sector receipts) to the EC Budget over the period 1973–74 to 2003–04 was some £50.9 billion. The Government's latest estimate for 2004–05 is £4.3 billion (net contribution).

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the UK's (a) rebate from the EU, (b) net contribution to the EU excluding the rebate and (c) net contribution to the Common Agriculture Policy excluding the rebate has been in each year since the rebate was introduced; how the rebate is calculated; how it is affected by changes in the UK net contributions to (i) the EU and (ii) the CAP; and if he will make a statement. [224585]

Mr. Timms: The European Commission is directly and solely responsible for calculating the UK abatement. The formula for the calculation is set out in Article 4 of the Own Resources Decision (Council Decision 2000/597/EC, Euratom of 29 September 2000 and explained in more detail in a Working Methods Paper first published in 1988 and revised in 1994 and 2000 (10646/00 ADD 2 of 21 September 2000). A more detailed explanation can be found in the Glossary of the 2004 European Community Finances" White Paper (Cm 6134, page 26).

The UK rebate and net contribution to the EC Budget, excluding the rebate, for the period 1985–86 to 2003–04 are set out in the following table.
 
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£ million

	UK Rebate	UK net contribution, excluding UK rebate
1985–86	823	1,815
1986–87	1,343	2,564
1987–88	1,137	2,948
1988–89	1,600	2,767
1989–90	1,317	3,769
1990–91	1,838	4,023
1991–92	2,428	3,371
1992–93	1,993	4,161
1993–94	2,350	4,542
1994–95	1,648	3,289
1995–96	1,576	5,428
1996–97	2,418	4,712
1997–98	1,563	4,130
1998–99	2,447	6,557
1999–2000	2,206	5,531
2000–01	2,223	6,541
2001–02	4,427	5,903
2002–03	3,233	6,314
2003–04	3,874	7,139

The Government's latest estimate of these two figures for 2004–05 are £3,722 million and £8,032 million respectively. The UK makes its contributions to the EC Budget as a whole and not to specific areas of expenditure. There is not therefore a UK net contribution to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Financial Inclusion Fund

Mr. Battle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Financial Inclusion Fund will be set up; how applications to it will be made; and if he will make a statement. [223906]

Mr. Timms: The 2004 pre-Budget report announced a Financial Inclusion Fund of £120 million over the 2004 Spending Review period. In particular, the fund will support the Government's aims to increase access to forms of affordable credit and to see a significant increase in the capacity of free face-to-face money advice. Further details will be announced shortly.

High Energy Manufacturing Industries

Mr. Watts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to reduce taxation on high energy manufacturing industries. [224492]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government conducts an on-going dialogue with representatives across the manufacturing industry. The Chancellor will consider any changes to the corporate tax system as part of the normal Budget cycle.

Job Creation (Wimbledon)

Roger Casale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many new jobs have been created in Wimbledon since 1997. [224243]

Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been ask to reply.
 
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Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Roger Casale, dated 4 April 2005:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of jobs created in Wimbledon. (224243)

While statistics of new jobs created are not available explicitly, statistics from surveys enable comparisons to be made of net changes in numbers of jobs from year to year.

The attached table shows the number of jobs in Wimbledon from 1997 to 2003 and the net change over that period. This is the latest period for which information is available.

The Annual Business Inquiry and Annual Employment Survey, are sample surveys and therefore the estimates used in this answer are subject to sampling variability. The small change in the number of jobs in Wimbledon from 1997 to 2003 should therefore be treated with caution.

Number of employee jobs and change in jobs^{(44)(5507620045)} in the parliamentary constituency of Wimbledon: 1997 to 2003

	Number
1997	43,000
1998	45,000
1999	48,000
2000	50,000
2001	48,000
2002	46,000
2003	43,000
Change(46) in number of jobs since 1997	-1,000

⁽⁴⁴⁾Excludes self-employed jobs.
⁽⁴⁵⁾These figures are aggregates from which agriculture class 0100 (1993 SIC) have been excluded.
⁽⁴⁶⁾The change from 1997 to 2003 has been rounded to the nearest thousand separately from rounded levels.
Source:
1997: Annual Employment Survey, rescaled. 1998–2002: Annual Business Inquiry

Listed Places of Worship

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will allow listed places of worship under his Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme to reclaim VAT paid on renovations and improvements which are designed to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 2000. [224025]

John Healey: There is already a VAT zero rate for approved alterations to certain listed buildings, including places of worship. There is also a VAT zero rate for certain works to improve facilities for disabled people within charity buildings.

Most works of renovation and improvement to listed places of worship which are necessary to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act will come within the scope of these reliefs or are covered by the Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme.

Nuclear Plants

Llew Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the effect on tax revenue of the implementation of Statutory Instruments No.644, of 10 March, in respect of the Thorp nuclear reprocessing plant and the Sellafield Mox plant, over the full period of the operation of those plants. [224043]

Dawn Primarolo: It is not expected that any tax will be lost to the Exchequer. Statutory Instrument 2005/644 is expected to protect tax revenues as the activities it deals
 
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with are likely to be loss-making for tax purposes. The background to this and the purpose of the legislation was set out in more detail in the explanatory notes to Section 27 of the Energy Act 2004.

Part-time Workers (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) male and (b) female part-time workers there are in City of York parliamentary constituency. [224643]

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. Hugh Bayley, dated 4 April 2005:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about part-time employment in the City of York Parliamentary Constituency. (224643)

According to responses to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) sample survey for the twelve month period ending in February 2004, among people resident in the City of York Parliamentary Constituency 3,000 men and 13,000 women were working part-time.

These estimates from the LFS are, as with any statistical sample survey, subject to sampling variability.

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