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25 Jan 2006 : Column 2214W—continued
Child Trust Funds
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate his Department has made of the cost of the Child Trust Fund scheme in the next five years, including administration costs; [45449]
(2) what the cost of the Child Trust Fund scheme has been, including administration costs, in each year since the scheme was introduced. [45451]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentlemen to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Byrne) on 22 March 2005, Official Report, column 701W.
Other Child Trust Fund costs including administration are set out in the table.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2004–05 | 52 |
| 2005–06 | 37 |
| 2006–07 | 25 |
| 2007–08 | 15 |
| 2008–09 | 15 |
| 2009–10 | 15 |
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of additional payments made into child trust funds in 2004–05. [45178]
John Healey: No additional payments were made into child trust fund accounts in the financial year 2004–05. The child trust fund became fully operational on 6 April 2005.
Conference Attendance (Costs)
Mrs. Spelman:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff (a) from the Valuation Office Agency, (b) HM Revenue and Customs and (c) his Department attended (i) the International Property Tax Institute International Conference in Prague in August 2005, (ii) the Southern African Tax Institute Workshop on the Valuation and Rating of Public Service Infrastructure in June 2005 in Pretoria, South Africa and (iii) the Eighth International Conference of the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation in Alicante, Spain in February 2005; and
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what the total estimated cost to the public purse was of attendance at each of the events. [42840]
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Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is as follows:
| Number of staff attending | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | VOA | HMRC | HMT | Cost (£) |
| IPTI Conference Prague August 2005 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 600 |
| SATI Conference Pretoria June 2005 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Nil |
| IRRV Conference Alicante February 2005 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 950 |
Correspondence
John Barrett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to the correspondence dated 29 November 2005 about Mrs Pauline Duff, a constituent of the hon. Member for Edinburgh West. [44697]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs have replied to the hon. Member.
Council Tax (Castle Point)
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Castle Point residents received council tax benefit in each of the last five years. [42831]
Mr. Plaskitt: I have been asked to reply.
The information is in the table.
| May 2001 | 5,100 |
| May 2002 | 5,100 |
| May 2003 | 5,200 |
| May 2004 | 5,400 |
| May 2005 | 5,900 |
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
3. Council tax benefit totals exclude any second adult rebate cases.
Source:
Housing benefit and council tax benefit management information system quarterly 100 percent. caseload stock-counts taken between May 2001 and May 2005.
Death Statistics
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average death rates were, allowing for age and sex standardisation, from (a) all causes, (b) coronary heart disease, (c) stroke and (d) cancer in each ward in (i) Crosby constituency and (ii) the city of Liverpool in the last year for which figures are available. [45200]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the reasonability of the national statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 January 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the average death rates were allowing for age and sex standardisation from (a) all causes, (b) coronary heart disease, (c) stroke and (d) cancer, for each ward in (i) Crosby constituency and (ii) the City of Liverpool in the last year for which figures are available.
Due to small numbers of deaths in many wards, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not produce mortality rates for specific causes at the geographic level requested. Numbers of deaths in wards in England and Wales for selected causes, including coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer, are available for 2004, as part of the Vital Statistics (VS) series of outputs.
Standardised Mortality Ratios for all causes of death for wards in England and Wales, based on deaths in the period 1999–2003, will be published by ONS in Spring 2006.
The North West Public Health Observatory publication Where Wealth means Heath: Illustrating Inequality in the North West1 includes a map of Standardised Mortality Ratios for Lower-layer Super Output Areas in the North West. This publication is available on the North West Public Health Observatory website at: http://www.nwpho.org.uk
Mortality rates for all causes, cancer and circulatory diseases are also available to download from this website for Middle-layer Super output Areas in the North West.
1 Wood J, Hennell T. Jones A, Hooper J. Tocque K, Bellis M. Where Wealth means Health: Illustrating Inequality in the North West. Liverpool, 2006.
EU Budget (UK Contributions)
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what methodology was used to calculate the (a) Treasury estimate of the UK net contribution to the EU budget and (b) the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates of the net contribution to EU institutions; what items are included in each; and if he will recalculate the UK net contributions for each year from 2006–07 to 2012–13 using the ONS methodology and taking account of the recent budget changes. [45339]
John Healey: Figures published by the Treasury for the United Kingdom's net contribution to the EC Budget consist of the United Kingdom's gross contribution less the UK abatement and less public sector receipts. An explanation of the reasons for any differences between this and the Office for National Statistics' presentation of UK official transactions with Institutions of the EU" (Table 9.9 (page 151) of the 2005 Pink Book is given on page 183 of the Pink Book. The Office for National Statistics figures are published on a calendar year basis and are historic. Financial year forecasts are not produced on the basis of the Office for National Statistics presentation. Revised forecasts of UK net contributions to the EC Budget, on the usual HM Treasury method, will be included in the Financial Statement and Budget Report.
External Consultants
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) nature and (b) value was of all contracts, consultancies and other services placed with (i) Deloitte and Touche, (ii) Ernst & Young, (iii) KPMG, (iv) PricewaterhouseCoopers and (v) all other consultants in 2004–05 by his Department and its agencies. [42069]
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John Healey: The information in respect of contracts placed with the four named accountancy firms in 2004–05 is set out in the following table Equivalent information in relation to all other consultants could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
(26) The contract with Ernst & Young for support to the in house internal audit team does not specify a total value, which will depend on the nature of the assignments, to be agreed by the Audit Committee each year, and the extent of the extra resources needed by the in house team. The value given is the total cost of Ernst & Young's internal audit services in 2004–05.
(27) This contract was entered jointly with the DTI Shareholder Executive and ECGD. HM Treasury's share is £26,000.
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