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16 Jun 2005 : Column 576W—continued
Civil Servants
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what value for money procurement savings were identified and what reduction in civil service posts occurred in his Department in 2004–05. [4547]
John Healey: HM Revenue and Customs' figure for value for money procurement savings for 2004–05 is due to be audited and submitted to the Office of Government Commerce at the end of July. During 2004–05, HMRC delivered a total net full time equivalent reduction of 1,045 posts.
The Treasury's target for efficiency savings over the Spending Review 2004 period includes the delivery of £1 million of efficiencies by 2007–08 through improvements to the Treasury's procurement strategy. The plans to achieve this target include securing economies of scale through sharing of services with HMRC and maximising income opportunities through sub-letting of the building. Quantified procurement savings are currently being identified.
During 2004–05 the Treasury has secured efficiencies in working practices and processes which have enabled it to make good early progress on its full time equivalent post reduction target. By April 2005 efficiencies had been secured leading to a reduction in 100 full time equivalent posts. Both the HMRC and Treasury reductions in posts are adjusted for the 150 tax policy posts that transferred from HMRC to the Treasury during 2004–05.
Council Tax
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the revenue from council tax in England has been in each year since 1997–98. [4618]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
Accrued council tax income (net collectable debit) in England in the years 1997–98 to 2004–05 are available in Local Government Financial Statistics England No 15
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2004. Outturn figures for 2004–05 will be published in an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister statistical release on 23 June.
False National Insurance Records
John Hemming: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many false national insurance records have been found in each year since 2000. [4896]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 6 June 2005, Official Report, column 294W.
Hepatitis C (Burton)
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths were caused by hepatitis C infection in Burton constituency in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004. [4427]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mrs. Janet Dean, dated 16 June 2005:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many deaths were caused by hepatitis C infection in Burton Constituency in (a) 2003 and (b)2004. I am replying in his absence. (4427)
Information on cause of death is available from death certificates. This information relates to where hepatitis C was either the underlying cause of death (i.e. the disease or condition that initiates the train of morbid events leading directly to death) or was mentioned on the death certificate as contributing to this sequence of events leading to death.
Information is not recorded at death if the certifying doctor did not know about the existence of a hepatitis C infection (which may have been contracted many years earlier), or where hepatitis C infection was not considered to be one of the factors contributing to the death.
There were no deaths of usual residents of Burton constituency registered in 2003 or 2004 where hepatitis C was the underlying cause of death. There was one death registered in 2003 where hepatitis C was mentioned on the death certificate.1
1 Deaths were selected from the original causes of death recorded in the register. The following International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes were used for selection:
House Prices
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the effect on house prices of the Government's shared equity proposals; and if he will make a statement. [4537]
John Healey:
This is a targeted measure that is expected to help up to 110,000 homebuyers over the next five years. While this is a substantial boost for first time buyers it needs to be considered in the context of the measures the Government is taking to increase housing supply, with 200,000 new homes expected to be built in this year alone and similar levels of home building in future years, and which are on top of a housing stock of some 26 million homes. With supply increasing far faster than the provision of these shared equity schemes, and this being on top of a total housing stock that
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dwarfs the number of homes that will be bought through shared equity schemes, we believe the effect on house prices in general will not be significant.
What really matters for the majority of homebuyers in terms of house prices is low and stable interest rates which this Government's monetary policy framework—in particular the independence of the Monetary Policy Committee—is delivering, alongside increasing housing supply, helped by a series of supply side reforms, including on planning.
Income Tax
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people he estimates did not pay income tax in 2004–05. [2839]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of people who did not pay income tax in 2004–05 can be estimated from the difference between the current projections of the UK's population and the projections of the number of income taxpayers. Information on the estimated number of income taxpayers in 2004–05 is available in table 2.1 'Number of individual income taxpayers' on the HM Revenue and Customs internet website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_tax/table2–1.pdf
Population projections are prepared by the Government Actuary's Department and the UK projected population estimates can be found on the following link http://www.gad.gov.uk/Population/2003/uk/wuk03singyear.xls
Internet Use
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out the Department's policy on the private use by staff of the internet and how it is monitored. [4528]
John Healey: Treasury staff are allowed to make reasonable private use of the internet for browsing and e-mail, but any deliberate access to, or sending of, inappropriate material is treated as a serious disciplinary offence.
Filtering software is used on the Department's firewalls to block access to most websites that contain inappropriate material, and to prevent similar material from entering the Treasury via e-mail. All internet activity, both for web browsing and e-mail is logged automatically on Treasury IT systems and can therefore be examined if any misuse is suspected.
Primary School Children (Tamworth)
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many primary school age children there are expected to be in Tamworth in each of the next five academic years. [4940]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl to Mr. Brian Jenkins, dated 16 June 2005:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the number of primary school age children there are predicted to be in Tamworth for the next five academic years. I am replying in his absence. (4940)
Official 2003-based Subnational Population Projections for England were published by the Office for National Statistics in November 2004. The attached table shows the projected mid-year population of 5 to 11-year-olds for Tamworth taken from these projections.
| Thousand | |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 6.9 |
| 2006 | 6.8 |
| 2007 | 6.7 |
| 2008 | 6.6 |
| 2009 | 6.4 |
| 2010 | 6.3 |
(12)Primary school age defined as 5 to 11-year-olds
Source:
ONS 2003-based Subnational population projections http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/Product.asp?vlnk=997
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