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17 May 2006 : Column 1085W—continued
Community Links (2005-06)
Hackney Voluntary Action (2005-06)
Tax Office (Isle of Wight)
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the parishes or, where smaller, the electoral divisions of the Isle of Wight; what proportion of the population of each lies within the core catchment area of the Newport, Isle of Wight tax
office; where he expects other island residents to conduct their face-to-face tax transactions; what criteria inform the definition of the core catchment area and its population; what definition of Newport town centre he used for the purpose of the impact assessment for relocating the Newport tax office; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the diversity and equality screen recommended in connection with the relocation of the Newport tax office. [70144]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 11 May 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 9 May 2006, Official Report, column 123W.
HMRC is relocating its Newport Enquiry Centre. It will continue to offer a face-to-face service in Newport and this service will continue to be available to all customers of HMRC on the Isle of Wight. HMRC is also maintaining its regular presence at the Ryde Help Centre.
Teenage Pregnancies
Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many girls under the age of 16 years (a) became pregnant and (b) gave birth in each of the last 10 years, broken down by age. [71653]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 17 May 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many girls under the age of 16 years (a) became pregnant and (b) gave birth in each of the last 10 years, broken down by age. (71653)
Conception statistics include pregnancies that result in one or more live or still births (a maternity) or a legal abortion under the Abortion Act 1967 (an abortion).
Conception statistics for girls aged under 14 by single year of age are not published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to protect the confidentiality of individual’s information due to small number of events at younger ages. Therefore figures are provided for all girls aged under 14 combined.
Number of conceptions and conceptions leading to maternities for girls aged under 14, 14 and 15 for England and Wales from 1995 to 2004 (the most recent year for which figures are available) are given in the table below.
| Number of total conceptions and conceptions leading to maternity, England and Wales, 1995 to 2004( 1) | ||||||
| Age of woman at conception | ||||||
| Under 14 | 14 | 15 | ||||
| Year of conception | Total conception | Conception leading to maternity | Total conception | Conception leading to maternity | Total conception | Conception leading to maternity |
| (1) Provisional. |
Telephone Advice Lines
Mr. Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many telephone advice lines his Department and its non-departmental public bodies support; howmany telephone advisers each employs; and (a) how much funding is provided to each by his Department and its non-departmental public bodies, (b) other Government Departments, (c) the private sector and (d) the voluntary sector. [66582]
Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows
HMRC operates a wide range of help and advice lines for members of the public. These are directly managed and funded by the Department through a network of some 29 Contact Centres currently employing around 9,100 full time equivalent staff and handling in the region of 50 million calls a year. It would only be possible to provide information on individual lines at disproportionate cost.
The Valuation Office Agency supports two telephone advice lines that are in operation when business needs dictate. The last two uses were for the 2005 Non-Domestic Revaluation for England and Wales and the 2005 Welsh Council Tax revaluation.
The staff operating these lines are Valuation Office Agency staff who return to other duties when the lines are not in use. The staffing budget does not show a separate figure for staff employed on this duty.
The GRO has four Advice lines that cover: certificate requests, Births, Marriages and the Local Register. A total of 36 staff are employed on these advice lines and they are funded entirely by the GRO.
Office for National Statistics (ONS)
The ONS has four main advice lines and employs 22 staff. These lines cover: National Statistics Customer Contact Centre (one UK line and one EU line that is 70 per cent. funded by EU money); Public Enquiry Line; Census Customer Service Retail and Prices Index Help Line.
All of the lines except for the small piece NS Customer contact 2 for EU is funded by ONS.
The Royal Mint has a dedicated line that deals with public enquiries. It also has access to 43 further lines that are normally used to deal with telephone orders from retail customers. Some of these lines are periodically used to deal with public inquiries if an increase in demand deems it necessary. The cost of these lines is totally funded by Royal Mint.
Government Actuaries Department (GAD)
GAD publishes two telephone numbers to enable people to contact GAD direct. GAD does not employ a ‘telephone adviser’, but manages all inquiries on an ad-hoc basis redirecting them to the specific area of responsibility to answer. The Press Officer, who deals primarily with press-related calls, assists this service. Costs for this service are fully absorbed into the normal running of the department.
Computershare Investor Services plc provides a phone advice line as part of their contract with HM Treasury for the registration and administration of Government Stocks. The phone line, which usually has four staff, is not separately costed.
Office of Government Commerce (OGC)
The public advice line for OGC is 0845 000 4999 and is staffed by seven OGC telephone advisors. The line is 100 per cent. funded by OGC.
National Savings and Investments
NS&I outsourced its operations to Siemens Business Services UK. As such NS&I does not employ telephone advice lines or staff to give advice.
Troncs
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the cost has been to his Department of the National Insurance Contributions exemptions on the payment of troncs in each year since 1997; [71331]
(2) with whom Treasury officials have met to discuss the (a) retention, (b) reform and (c) replacement of the tronc system; and from whom his Department has had representations on this system; [71332]
(3) how many people (a) have received payments and (b) have received payments solely through a tronc system in each year since 1996; [71333]
(4) how many troncmasters there were in the UK in each year since 1996. [71334]
Dawn Primarolo: Information on the cost of national insurance contributions exemptions on the payment of troncs, the number of people receiving payments through a tronc system and the number of troncmasters in the UK is not available.
There have not been any meetings on the retention, reform or replacement of troncs nor have Treasury officials received representations about the system. HMRC officials have had meetings about revisions to the guidance booklet ‘E24 Tips, Gratuities, Service Charges and Troncs’.
Unemployment
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the unemployment rate is, broken down by (a) sex and (b) ethnic group. [71231]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell dated 17 May 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about unemployment rates by gender and ethnic origin. (71231)
The attached table gives the rates of unemployed people aged 16 and over by gender and ethnic origin, for the three months ending February 2006.
Estimates are taken from the Office for National Statistics's Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
| Unemployment rates( 1) of people aged 16 and over by sex and ethnic origin | |||
| Percentage | |||
| Three months ending February 2006 | All | Men | Women |
| (1) Unemployed aged 16 and over as a percentage of economically active aged 16 and over. (2 )Includes those who did not state their ethnic origin. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey |
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