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Departmental Initiatives

Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the departmental initiatives for each year since 2000 which required bids for funding from (a) voluntary organisations and (b) local authorities together with the total resource allocated to each initiative in each year; how many successful bids there were in each year; what proportion this figure represents of the total bids received; and what assessment he has made of the costs of (i) preparing bids for each initiative and (ii) assessing those bids. [66014]

John Healey: During the period in question, the Treasury has not paid any grants directly to voluntary organisations or local authorities.

However, the Treasury oversees the allocation of resources from the Invest to Save Budget (ISB), which was established in 1998. The Treasury transfers resources to the relevant central Government sponsoring Department, who then allocate it directly to the delivery organisations. There have been eight rounds of resource allocation since this time. The first round was restricted to central Government Departments and their agencies; each subsequent round has been open to local authorities and the voluntary sector. In 2004, the ISB was re-branded as the 'ISB: Inclusive Communities
 
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Fund', with priority given to community level, voluntary sector-led initiatives. In total, some £97 million has been allocated to voluntary sector-led community projects since 1998. The Budget announced that a 9th resource allocation round would take place next year, with a focus on the third sector's role in building fairer communities and delivering public services. Further information about the ISB is available from www.isb.gov.uk.

Equal Pay

Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps are undertaken within his Department to ensure that women are obtaining equal pay to men doing work of equal value. [65863]

John Healey: HM Treasury undertakes annual gender pay reviews. Three reviews have been undertaken and these have shown no significant differences in pay between men and women.

EU Financial Services Action Plan

Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer at what stage of the (a) legislative and
 
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(b) implementation process the measures in the EU Financial Services Action Plan are; and if he will make a statement. [66154]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Of the 42 measures contained in the EU Financial Services Action Plan, 41 have been adopted; only the transfer of seat directive has still to be adopted.

Of these 42 measures, 16 are commission communications or recommendations which do not require transposition into member states' national law and regulations. For a further seven measures the deadline for implementation has not yet been reached. The remaining 19 measures have been implemented, although in the case of the directive on occupational retirement provision there remains a small element of the directive which has yet to be transposed.

Financial Capability

Mr. Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what initiatives his Department and its non-departmental bodies support to promote (a) financial education, (b) financial advice, (c) financial inclusion and (d) financial capability; and for each initiative (i) which organisations are involved in delivering it and (ii) how much funding is provided by (A) his Department and its non-departmental public bodies, (B) other Government Departments, (C) the private sector and (D) the voluntary sector. [66576]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government fully support initiatives to promote the increase of financial education and inclusion. Financial education generally is delivered through the Department for Education and Skills and it is for that Department to decide which organisations should help deliver it. Although we promote financial education as part of a government initiative such as the Child Trust Fund or Saving Gateway, costs are not broken down to show separate funding for financial education. The cost of the Child Trust Fund is forecast at £240 million each for the years 2005–06 to 2007–08 and £15 million for the second pilot launched in spring 2005 for Saving Gateway.

A range of stakeholder savings and investment products was launched in April 2005, in support of this a publicity campaign to raise awareness of the features and benefits of these products ran from September 2005 to March 2006 at a total cost of £4 million.

In promoting financial inclusion the Government have established a framework for delivery, including a Financial Inclusion Fund of £120 million over three years and a Financial Inclusion Taskforce to oversee progress. The taskforce was formally launched in February 2005. Details of the fund are published on the Treasury website at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk.

The National Strategy for Financial Capability was set up in 2004 and is led by the Financial Services Authority in partnership with the Government, the financial services industry and voluntary organisations. The FSA published, in March 2006 a programme on initiatives to promote financial capability. Further information about the strategy can be found on the FSA website at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/financial_capability/. While total costs incurred by all partners are not available, the FSA's contributions were £2.5 million in 2003–04, £4 million in 2004–05, and £8 million in
 
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2005–06. The FSA's business plan for 2006–07 includes provision for up to £10 million. The FSA has not yet set a budget for 2007–08.

The Treasury does not keep records of the funding of these issues by other Government Departments or the private and voluntary sectors which are matters for them to decide.

Mr. Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much funding was provided by Government departments and non-departmental public bodies to support initiatives to promote (a) financial education, (b) financial advice, (c) financial inclusion and (d) financial capability in (i) 2003–04, (ii) 2004–05 and (iii) 2005–06; and how much will be provided under current spending plans in (A) 2006–07 and (B) 2007–08. [66620]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government fully supports the need to improve financial education and inclusion. Although we promote financial education as part of the Child Trust Fund and Saving Gateway initiatives there is no breakdown of the costs of these budgets to show separate funding for financial education. However, the cost of the Child Trust Fund is forecast at £240 million each for the three years 2005–06 to 2006–07 and £15 million was provided to launch the second Saving Gateway pilot in spring 2005. Likewise there is no specific funding for financial advice though £4 million provided to fund a publicity campaign to raise awareness of Stakeholder savings and investment products from September 2005 to March 2006.

The Financial Inclusion Fund launched in April 2005 has a budget of £120 million over three years and will largely support the increase in the provision of free face to face money advice and provide support to third sector lenders providing affordable credit. Details of the breakdown of the fund have been published and can be found on the Treasury website at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk.

The National Strategy for Financial Capability is led by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in partnership with the Government, the financial services industry and voluntary organisations. The FSA published, in March 2006, a programme of initiatives to promote financial capability http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/fincapdelivering.pdf. While total costs incurred by all partners are not available, the FSA's contributions were £2.5 million in 2003–04, £4 million in 2004–05 and £8 million in 2005–06. The FSA's Business Plan for 2006–07 includes provision for up to £10 million. The FSA has not yet set a budget for 2007–08.

Fuel Prices

Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average (a) dollar and (b) sterling price was for a barrel of crude oil extracted in (i) the United Kingdom and (ii) each OPEC country in each week since October 2005. [66905]

John Healey: Weekly price information (in US dollars per barrel) for the main benchmarks of each oil producing country is available at the following website: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wco_k_w.htm
 
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Exchange rate data is available at the following website: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/index.htm

Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average price was of a gallon of unleaded fuel in (a) Essex, (b) Hertfordshire, (c) inner London and (d) outer London in each week since August 2005. [66906]

Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

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