---

14 Dec 2005 : Column 1971W—continued

Vacant Property

Chris Huhne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the annual value of the exemption from council tax of vacant property. [36033]

Mr. Woolas: Properties may be exempt from council tax for a limited or indefinite period for a number of reasons, for example because the owner has recently died or because they are occupied only by students. Both vacant and occupied properties may be exempt. The information that the Office of the Deputy Prime
 
14 Dec 2005 : Column 1972W
 
Minister collects from local authorities does not enable us to identify the number of properties in each band by type of exemption. We are not able therefore to calculate the value of exemptions granted in respect of those classes that relate only to vacant properties.

Valuation Office Agency

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance the Valuation Office Agency has given its staff on respecting religious and cultural traditions of householders and shopkeepers when conducting an internal inspection for council tax or business rate valuation purposes. [30835]

Mr. Woolas: Valuation Office Agency staff are aware of the Race Relations legislation.

TREASURY

Cash Machines

Ben Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with banks and building societies on encouraging the use of cash machines on which fees for use are not charged; and if he will make a statement. [37138]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Treasury Ministers hold regular meetings with UK banks and building societies. These meetings have covered a range of issues, including free cash machines.

There are over 32,000 free ATMs in the UK and 96 per cent. of cash withdrawals are free. Virtually all banks and building societies do not charge LINK cardholders for use of their ATMs.

Devolution

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what adjustments were made to the Scottish budget as a result of the agreement with the Scottish Executive referred to in Funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly in each year of its operation; and what policy decisions resulted in each adjustment. [37532]

Mr. Des Browne: The funding arrangements for the Scottish Parliament are set out in the Statement of Funding Policy. Details of changes in the Scotland DEL are set out in figure 10 of the 2005 Scotland Office Annual Report.

Barnett Formula

Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many civil servants in his Department have worked on policy matters related to the Barnett formula in each of the last five years, broken down by grade. [36939]

Mr. Des Browne: The funding arrangements for the devolved administrations, including policy work related to the Barnett formula, are managed by the devolution
 
14 Dec 2005 : Column 1973W
 
branch of the Devolved Countries and Regions team in the Treasury. In the last five years the staffing of the branch has varied slightly and is currently 1 range E, 2 range D, 1 range C and 1 range B.

Asbestos

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people have died of an asbestos-related
 
14 Dec 2005 : Column 1974W
 
illness in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [31197]

Mrs. McGuire: I have been asked to reply.

The number of mesothelioma deaths in South Tyneside, the North East, and the United Kingdom each year from 1997 is given in the following table.
Death from mesothelioma, 1997 to 2003

Number
	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002(3)	2003(3)
South Tyneside	15	12	8	15	18	9	8
North East	126	100	119	123	154	127	112
United Kingdom	1,406	1,582	1,661	1,671	1,919	1,908	1,922

⁽³⁾ provisional.
Source:
HSE GB mesothelioma register, Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI).

Lung cancer deaths caused by asbestos are clinically indistinguishable from those caused by other agents such as tobacco smoke. It is estimated that about the same number of lung cancer deaths due to asbestos occur each year as mesothelioma deaths.

The number of deaths where asbestosis was specified as the underlying cause of death in South Tyneside, the North East, and the United Kingdom each year from 1997 is given in the following table.
Death with asbestosis specified as underlying cause, 1997 to 2003

Number
	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002(4)	2003(4)
South Tyneside	3	0	0	0	1	2	5
North East	11	8	10	13	14	20	19
United Kingdom	70	70	68	80	94	126	122

⁽⁴⁾ provisional.
Source:
HSE GB asbestosis register, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Death statistics for mesothelioma and asbestosis are not held in a form which allows data for individual UK constituencies to be readily available.

Contracted-out Rebate

Mr. Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of the contracted-out rebate was in the last year for which figures are available; what proportion of UK gross domestic product that figure represents; and what the projected figures are in each case for (a) 2010, (b) 2020, (c) 2030, (d) 2040 and (e) 2050. [34866]

Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.

The information is not available in the format required. Such information as is available is in the table.

Tax year	Cost of contracted-out rebate (£ billion)	Cost expressed as percentage of GDP
2003–04	11.5	1.1
2010–11	11.2	0.9
2020–21	11.0	0.7
2030–31	10.3	0.5
2040–41	10.4	0.5
2050–51	11.3	0.4

Notes:
1. More up-to-date figures on the cost of the contracted-out rebate are available but the most recent for the GDP are those published in the Quinquennial Review of the National Insurance Fund. For comparison purposes it has been necessary, therefore, to use the same source for the cost of the rebate.
2. Costs are for GB receipts and are in 2003–04 prices terms—the basis for projections in the Quinquennial Review of the National Insurance Fund.
3. The Quinquennial Review does not extend to the Northern Ireland Insurance Fund so the figures provided are for GB rather than the UK.
Source:
Government Actuary's Quinquennial Review of the National Insurance Fund.

Departmental Staff (Coventry)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff are employed by his Department in Coventry. [37040]

John Healey: The Treasury employs no staff in Coventry.

EU Budget (UK Contribution)

Gregory Barker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the United Kingdom has contributed to European Union funds as a percentage of its gross domestic product in each year since 1975. [37528]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government does not as a matter of course produce figures for the United Kingdom's net contributions to the EC Budget as a percentage of its Gross Domestic Product. The following table has been produced by taking outturn figures for the UK's net contribution to the EC Budget in each of the years 1975–76 to 2004–05 and dividing these by the latest available GDP data for the year in question.
 
14 Dec 2005 : Column 1975W
 

	UK net contribution as percentage of GDP
1975–76	0.02
1976–77	0.18
1977–78	0.38
1978–79	0.46
1979–80	0.45
1980–81	0.10
1981–82	0.09
1982–83	0.27
1983–84	0.32
1984–85	0.35
1985–86	0.28
1986–87	0.32
1987–88	0.43
1988–89	0.25
1989–90	0.48
1990–91	0.39
1991–92	0.16
1992–93	0.36
1993–94	0.34
1994–95	0.24
1995–96	0.54
1996–97	0.30
1997–98	0.32
1998–99	0.48
1999–2000	0.37
2000–01	0.45
2001–02	0.15
2002–03	0.29
2003–04	0.30
2004–05	0.34

---