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23 Jun 2005 : Column 1125W—continued

Sugar

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the outcome of the 2004 meeting between the European Council and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries on the EU sugar regime was; and if she will make a statement. [5622]

Jim Knight: In preparation for reform of the EU sugar regime, the European Commission and the Council of Ministers have had a range of contacts with the EU's existing preferential suppliers, notably in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries.

As part of that dialogue, a joint meeting was held immediately following the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 25 January 2005. The purpose of the meeting was to explain the Commission's approach to reform and to discuss the proposed action plan on accompanying measures for Sugar Protocol countries likely to be affected. Commissioner Fischer Boel reiterated the case for early and substantive reform and said that she hoped for agreement before the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December. Commissioner Michel stressed that the EU would help
 
23 Jun 2005 : Column 1126W
 
the ACP to adapt on the basis of the actual needs of the countries concerned. Commissioner Mandelson underlined that preferential access to the EU market for ACP producers would be an important part of the Economic Partnership Agreements currently being negotiated with the ACP states.

Tallow

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the receipts to her Department were from the sale of tallow from animals slaughtered under compulsory schemes in each of the last three years; and what the projected income or deficit figures for the sale of tallow are for the next three years. [5663]

Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 20 June 2005]: Sales of tallow from animals slaughtered under the over-30-month scheme have resulted in the following receipts:

	£000
2002–03	1,888
2003–04	1,251
2004–05	4,957

Because of impending changes to the over-30-month scheme estimates for future tallow income are limited to the current financial year (2005–06) where sales of £2.35 million are forecast.

Water Charges

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 7 June 2005, Official Report, column 443W, on water meter charges, if she will break down those in receipt of the social tariff in each of the last three years by water company. [6729]

Mr. Morley: The following table sets out the numbers of customers in receipt of the vulnerable groups tariff (social tariff) for each company, over the last three years for which figures are available, as collected by Ofwat. Figures for 2004–05 are not yet available and will be published in October.
Number of successful applications for the vulnerable groups tariff

	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Anglian and Hartlepool	954	966	899
Dwr Cymru	8	78	245
United Utilities	706	946	1,031
Northumbrian and Essex and Suffolk	283	316	378
Severn Trent	373	449	682
South West	468	601	912
Southern	275	325	271
Thames	519	675	1,097
Wessex	182	202	294
Yorkshire and York	460	594	768
Bournemouth and West Hampshire	24	50	69
Bristol	67	93	99
Cambridge	40	51	74
Dee Valley	1	3	5
Folkestone	12	12	11
Mid Kent	52	66	83
Portsmouth	18	14	13
South East Water	59	65	78
South Staffs	26	32	36
Sutton and East Surrey	0	5	10
Tendring Hundred	91	132	98
Three Valleys/North Surrey	98	157	49
Total	4,716	5,832	7,202

 
23 Jun 2005 : Column 1127W
 

TREASURY

Child Tax Credit

Mr. Laxton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints (a) his Department and (b) the Inland Revenue received about the administration of child tax credit in 2003–04. [6188]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 15 June 2005, Official Report, column 393W, to the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick).

Mr. Laxton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps are being taken by HM Revenue and Customs to improve the administration of child tax credit. [6189]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the oral statement I made to the House on 22 June 2005.

Gross Domestic Product

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the gross domestic product per head was in (a) London, (b) Edinburgh, (c) Cardiff, (d) Glasgow, (e) Belfast, (f) Liverpool, (g) Bristol, (h) Leeds, (i) Birmingham, (j) Manchester, (k) Sheffield, (l) Newcastle, (m) Nottingham and (n) the UK in (i) the most recent year for which figures are available, (ii) 2001 and (iii) 1997. [6355]

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Jim Cousins, dated 23 June 2005:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about GDP per capita in regions of the United Kingdom in the last period for which figures are available, for 2001 and for 1997. (6355)

The estimates in Table A are based on the regional gross value added1 (GVA) estimates published in December 2004. These are available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBavSe/Productasp?vlnk=7359

The latest published information is for 2003 at the higher level of geography and 2002 at the lower levels. London is the only city with data available for GVA per capita in 2003, as specified below.

 
23 Jun 2005 : Column 1128W
 

Table A: GVA⁽¹⁾ per capita for regions of the United Kingdom £

Area	1997	2001	2002	2003
London	17,850	21,793	23,068	23,579
Edinburgh	18,301	22,283	24,016	—
Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan(2)	12,638	16,527	17,484	—
Glasgow	15,398	19,454	20,575	—
Inner Belfast(3)	15,932	20,779	22,123	—
Outer Belfast(3)	7,637	9,704	10,367	—
Liverpool	10,508	12,846	13,776	—
Bristol	16,630	20,326	21,513	—
Leeds	13,817	17,129	18,305	—
Birmingham	12,608	15,737	16,466	—
Manchester	11,265	13,772	14,458	—
Sheffield	10,705	13,192	13,835	—
Tyneside(4)	10,590	13,245	14,002	—
Nottingham	16,919	19,547	20,113	—
UK less Extra-Regio(5)	12,085	14,545	15,273	15,980

⁽¹⁾ Information presented here is gross value added (GVA) which is gross domestic product (GDP) less taxes (plus subsidies) on products.
⁽²⁾ Cardiff is part of the NUTS3 region Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, which is currently the lowest level of geography ONS publish.
⁽³⁾ Outer Belfast and Inner Belfast are published as separate NUTS3 regions.
⁽⁴⁾ Newcastle is part of Tyneside (NUTS3) which is currently the lowest level of Geography ONS publish.
⁽⁵⁾ Extra-Regio is that part of the UK's economic territory, which cannot be allocated to any specific region.

Household Incomes

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the gross disposable household income was in (a) current and (b) real price terms, using 2005 as the base year, for (i) each region, (ii) each country of the UK and (iii) the United Kingdom, for each year from 1996 to 2003; and if he will set out figures for each region and country indexed against the United Kingdom average. [6321]

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Jim Cousins, dated 23 June 2005:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about gross disposable household income. (6321)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) currently compiles regional gross domestic household income (GDHI) at current basic prices only. These are shown in Table A in pounds million and in Table B as indices.

The latest estimates were published in April 2005 with new figures for 2000 to 2003 and revisions for 1995 to 1999. They are available on the ONS website: http://statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=7359

ONS produce national real price estimates for household income. The latest available estimates using 2001 as the reference year are available for the years requested, 1996 to 2003, and are shown in Table C. These figures were published in "United Kingdom Economic Accounts, Quarter 4, 2004", which can be found on the National Statistics website at: http://statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/UKEA04Q4.pdf

Table A: Headline⁽⁶⁾ gross disposable household income (GDHI)2 ,3 at current prices £ million

	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003(9)
United Kingdom	528,459	563,421	580,084	609,428	654,654	702,774	724,296	752,592
England	447,197	477,882	492,897	518,648	557,316	598,486	616,409	640,383
North East	20,504	21,621	21,972	22,744	24,173	25,685	26,430	27,393
North West	57,094	60,538	62,056	64,717	69,143	73,686	75,781	78,652
Yorkshire and the Humber	41,558	44,128	45,369	47,179	50,393	53,701	55,264	57,415
East Midlands	34,592	36,788	37,800	39,538	42,493	45,749	47,353	49,377
West Midlands	43,910	46,514	47,746	50,002	53,586	57,361	59,137	61,455
East of England	50,533	54,076	55,837	58,983	63,833	69,199	71,710	74,762
London	75,759	81,777	85,195	91,030	98,430	06,057	108,723	112,551
South East	79,288	85,541	88,556	93,485	100,395	107,993	111,030	115,267
South West	43,940	46,900	48,365	50,970	54,870	59,056	60,980	63,511
Wales	23,388	24,577	25,112	26,267	28,305	30,368	31,452	32,720
Scotland	43,701	46,049	46,852	48,652	51,986	55,555	57,260	59,439
Northern Ireland	13,099	13,833	14,177	14,784	15,860	16,998	17,648	18,403
Extra-Regio(10)	1,075	1,080	1,045	1,077	1,188	1,368	1,529	1,646

⁽⁶⁾ The headline regional GDHI series for this publication have been calculated using a five point moving average.
⁽⁷⁾ Household income covers the income received by households and non-profit institutions serving households.
⁽⁸⁾ Components may not sum to totals as a result of rounding.
⁽⁹⁾ Provisional.
⁽¹⁰⁾ Parts of the UK economic territory that cannot be assigned to any particular region.



 
23 Jun 2005 : Column 1129W
 

Table B: Headline⁽¹¹⁾ gross disposable income per head (GDHI)⁽¹²⁾ indices at current prices UK less Extra-Regio=100

	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003(13)
United Kingdom(14)	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
England	102	102	103	103	103	103	103	103
North East	88	87	87	86	86	85	85	86
North West	92	92	92	92	92	92	92	92
Yorkshire and the Humber	92	92	92	92	92	91	91	91
East Midlands	93	93	92	92	92	92	92	92
West Midlands	92	92	91	91	92	92	92	92
East of England	107	106	106	107	107	108	109	109
London	120	121	122	123	123	122	121	121
South East	112	113	113	113	113	113	113	113
South West	101	101	101	101	101	101	101	101
Wales	89	88	87	87	88	88	88	88
Scotland	95	94	93	93	93	92	93	93
Northern Ireland	87	86	85	85	85	85	85	86

⁽¹¹⁾ The headline regional GDHI series for this publication have been calculated using a five point moving average.
⁽¹²⁾ Household income covers the income received by households and non-profit institutions serving households.
⁽¹³⁾ Provisional.
⁽¹⁴⁾ Excluding Extra-Regio.



Table C: Real household disposable income:Chained volume measure

	£ million (Reference year 2001)	Index (2001=100)
1996	586,303	83.6
1997	610,183	87
1998	611,966	87.2
1999	631,836	90.1
2000	670,075	95.5
2001	701,585	100.0
2002	711,344	101.4
2003	729,630	104

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