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17 Jan 2006 : Column 1203W—continued
Dormant Accounts (Northern Ireland)
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money is estimated to have been in dormant accounts in financial institutions in Northern Ireland in 2005. [42279]
Mr. Des Browne:
As announced in the pre-Budget report 2005, based on the definition that unclaimed assets should generally cover accounts where there has
17 Jan 2006 : Column 1204W
been no customer activity for a period of 15 years, initial record searches by the industry suggest that several hundred million pounds may currently lie unclaimed.
This figure is for the UK as a whole.
Drugs Seizures (Glasgow Airport)
Jim Sheridan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions HM Revenue and Customs officers seized drugs at Glasgow Airport in 2005. [42034]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs made 68 drug seizures at Glasgow Airport in 2005.
Freedom of Information
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions since May 2005 officials from his Department have consulted their Freedom of Information Officer on answers to parliamentary questions from (a) the hon. Member for Yeovil and (b) all hon. Members. [41854]
John Healey: Officials preparing draft answers to parliamentary questions consult colleagues, including the Freedom of Information Officer, as necessary. Records of such consultations are not maintained.
Health Expenditure
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2005, Official Report, column 1062W, on health expenditure, what percentage of the United Kingdom's gross domestic product he estimates has been spent on health in 2005–06; what percentage this will be in 2006–07, broken down by (a) public and (b) private expenditure; and what the most recent estimate is of the (i) EU-15 and (ii) EU-25 average health expenditure as a proportion of gross domestic product. [41999]
Mr. Des Browne: The information about UK health spending is in the following table. According to the latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), average total health expenditure in 2003 was (i) 8.7 per cent. of GDP for the EU-15 and (ii) 8.3 per cent. of GDP for the 19 members of the EU-25 that are also members of the OECD.
| 2005–06 | 2006–07 | |
|---|---|---|
| Public expenditure | 7.3 | 7.6 |
| Private expenditure | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Total UK expenditure | 8.7 | 9.0 |
Notes:
1. The public expenditure figures are taken from Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2005.
2. Private spending is calculated in a similar way as for ONS health accounts. From 2004–05, it is assumed to carry forward as a constant share of GDP.
3. The EU averages are simple averages of the figures for each country; they are not weighted by country population. For seven countries where 2003 figures were not available, 2002 figures were used instead.
4. The 19 members of the OECD within the EU-25 are the EU-15 plus the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic.
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HM Revenue and Customs
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of telephone calls to HM Revenue and Customs contact centres were (a) answered on the firstcall, (b) answered on the same day and (c) unanswered or had their calls aborted in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement; [29703]
(2) how HM Revenue and Customs distinguishes in its telephone target performance between calls answered at the first attempt and calls answered on the same day. [29704]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows.
1. No such distinction is made.
2. (a) This information is not available
(b) Callers to HMRC contact centres usually get through on the day they try though callers at the busiest times of the day may have to try more than once. HMRC estimate that in November 2005 the number of callers 1 to former Inland Revenue contact centres who spoke to an adviser on the day they called was around 99 per cent.
(c) HMRC estimate that in November 2005 the number of callers 2 to former Inland Revenue contact centres whose calls were unanswered on the day they called was around 1 per cent. HMRC does not generally abort calls from callers other than—exceptionally—where the caller is abusive.
Caller 2 level information is not available for former HM Customs & Excise contact centres.
1. Number of calls handled measured as a percentage of total unique telephone numbers calling within the day.
2. Excludes the St. Austell Orderline and the On line Services helpline where the information is not available.
Jim Sheridan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many HM Revenue and Customs officers are permanently based at Glasgow Airport. [42036]
Dawn Primarolo: Five officers are permanently based at Glasgow Airport dealing with regulatory matters. A pool of 68 Anti Smuggling Officers are based at Falcon House, Paisley which is within one mile of the airport. They undertake operational anti smuggling work at Glasgow Airport according to identified risk. They are supplemented as necessary by anti smuggling staff based in Edinburgh and by officers on flexible anti smuggling strike forces.
Lone Parents
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many lone parent families there were in the UK in each year since 1976–77; and if he will make a statement; [41292]
(2) how many (a) workless households and (b) households with two or more earners there were in each year since 1978–79; and if he will make a statement. [41294]
John Healey:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
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Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 16 January 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about lone parent families and households with either no-one or two people or more in employment, since 1976. (41292, 41294)
The Labour Force Survey household datasets have been used to reply to both questions, where information is given hack to 1992, as that was when they were first produced on a comparable basis.
Table I gives the number of lone parent families for the three months ending in May each year from 1992 to 2005.
Table 2 gives the numbers of working age households with either no-one in employment, or with two or more people in employment.
Estimates are taken from the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Note:
Refers to people who are not married or cohabiting and have dependent children, who are defined as aged 0 to 15, or aged 16 to 18 and in full-time education.
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey
(5) A working age workless household is a household that includes at least one person of working age, and in which no one aged 16 or over is in employment.
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey
Charles Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what schemes to help lone parents into employment are funded by the Treasury. [42848]
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Dawn Primarolo: A range of Government policies help lone parents move into work including active labour market policies, ensuring work pays through the tax credit system and the national minimum wage, and tackling barriers to work such as availability of child care. The Department for Work and Pensions, through Jobcentre Plus, is responsible for delivery of employment programmes and pilots, and funding is provided by the Treasury through the spending review process. The Treasury also funds the tax credit system which is administered by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
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