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1 Feb 2006 : Column 602W—continued
TREASURY
Africa (Debt Repayments)
Ann McKechin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the net flow of resources between the United Kingdom and Africa was when the bilateral debt repayments from all African countries to the United Kingdom are subtracted from the United Kingdom aid budget to Africa excluding debt cancellation for (a) the 2005 calendar year and (b) financial year 2004–05; and what the expected figure is for 2005–06. [42086]
Mr. Ivan Lewis:
In fiscal year 2004–05 the UK's bilateral assistance to Africa amounted to £970 million. The UK also gave very considerable sums of money via
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multilateral agencies, however the data are not disaggregated to show how much went to Africa. The estimated figure for the UK's bilateral assistance to Africa for fiscal year 2005–06 is £1 billion.
During fiscal year 2004–05, the UK received official bilateral debt payments from countries in Africa amounting to approximately £152.8 million. The UK also wrote off almost £351.6 million of African official bilateral debt in 2004–05. During fiscal year 2005–06, the UK expects to receive official bilateral debt payments from countries in Africa amounting to approximately £1,112.5 million. The UK expects to write off almost £1,143.3 million of African official bilateral debt in 2005–06.
Benzodiazepines
Mr. Grogan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths in which benzodiazepines abuse was given as a (a) cause and (b) factor occurred in each of the last 10 years. [47324]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 1 February 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many deaths in which benzodiazepines' abuse was given as a (a) cause and (b) factor occurred in each of the last 10 years. I am replying in her absence. (47324)
Abuse of benzodiazepines is not separately identified as a cause of death using the International Classification of Diseases. The attached table shows the number of deaths where benzodiazepines were mentioned on the death certificate and the underlying cause was drug poisoning, for the ten years 1994 to 2003, the most recent year for which figures are available. These figures are produced from a special database which contains deaths where the underlying cause was drug poisoning. Figures readily available from death certification relate to deaths due to drug poisoning, not the total number that were attributable to drug use.
(18) Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes F11-F16, F18-F19, X40-X44, X60-X64, X85 and Y10-Y14.
(19) Data are for deaths occurring in each calendar year.
Source:
Table 2 of the annual report: " Deaths related to drug poisoning: England and Wales, 1999–2003 , published in Health Statistics Quarterly 25 in February 2005.
Citizens Juries
Mr. Wills:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions his Department consulted citizens' juries on departmental policies in the last five years; in
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how many of those consultations the recommendations of the citizens' jury differed from existing departmental policy; and on how many occasions departmental policy was changed to reflect the recommendations of the citizens' jury. [46238]
John Healey: This information is not held centrally in Treasury and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Civil Servants (Overseas Visits)
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what costs were incurred by his Department as a result of sending civil servants on overseas visits in each of the last 10 years. [46278]
John Healey: I refer to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) on 15 December 2005, Official Report, column 2272W.
Colon Cancer Deaths
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths occurred in the United Kingdom in 2005 as a consequence of colon cancer. [46188]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the national statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 1 February 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question concerning how many deaths occurred in the United Kingdom in 2005 as a consequence of colon cancer. I am replying in her absence. (46188)
The most recently available information is for deaths in 2004. There were 10,333 deaths where the underlying cause was malignant neoplasm of the colon 1 in the United Kingdom.2
1 Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code CIS.
2 Data for England and Wales are for deaths occurring in the calendar year. Data for Scotland and Northern Ireland are for deaths registered in the calendar year.
Departmental Website
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of maintaining his main departmental website was for the last year for which figures are available; and how many visitors there were to the site in each of the last 12 months. [46310]
John Healey: The cost of maintaining the main HM Treasury website for the financial year 2004–2005 was £123,133. The visitor numbers for each of the last 12 months are as follows:
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The term unique visits, refers to the number of different visitors logged during this period. These figures do not include repeat visitors nor do they differentiate between different users coming from behind a shared firewall.
Departmental Staff
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many departmental employees have taken early retirement due to ill-health in each of the past five years for which figures are available. [46772]
John Healey: The information for HM Treasury is shown as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 0 |
| 2001 | 1 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 2004 | 2 |
| 2005 | 1 |
Earnings
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what percentage of (a) male, (b) female and (c) all (i) employees, (ii) full-time employees and (iii) part-time employees in (A) Scotland, (B) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (C) the United Kingdom had weekly gross earnings including overtime below (1) £285.71, (2) £214.50 and (3) £181.87 in the last period for which figures are available. [46142]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 1 February 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many and what percentage of (a) male, (b) female and (c) all (i) employees, (ii) full-time employees and (iii) part-time employees in (A) Scotland, (B) each of the unitary local authority areas in Scotland and (C) the United Kingdom had weekly gross earnings including overtime below (1) £285.71, (2) £214.50 and (3) £181.87 in the last period for which figures are available. I am replying in her absence. (46142)
Currently average earnings are estimated from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), and are provided for all employees, full time employees and part-time employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey period was not affected by absence. This is the standard definition used for ASHE. The ASHE does not collect data on the self employed and people who do unpaid work.
I am placing in the House of Commons Library, tables showing proportions of gross weekly earnings for all employees, males and females in Scotland, unitary local authorities in Scotland and the UK.
The ASHE, carried out in April of each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. It is a one per cent sample of all employees who are members of pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) schemes.
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