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24 May 2006 : Column 1845W—continued
EU Finance
Mr. Bone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the UK’s (a) rebate from and (b) gross contribution to the European Union is calculated; and how the formula was used to arrive at the latest available year’s figure in each case. [72380]
Ed Balls: Details of the UK abatement calculation are given on page 30 of the European Community Finances White Paper (Cm 6770) which was laid before Parliament earlier today. The UK’s gross contribution is determined in accordance with the Own Resources Decision (ORD) (Council Decision 2000/597/EC, EURATOM of 29 September 2000), details of which can be found on page 7 of Cm 6770. The ORD lays down the four sources of Community revenue, or own resources, details of which are given on page 31 of Cm 6770. The UK’s annual contribution to the EC Budget,
i.e. the gross contribution minus the UK abatement, is calculated in accordance with these arrangements.
GDP Statistics
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the gross domestic product per capita of (a) Cornwall, (b) the UK and (c) the EU is; and what the current European average is. [72774]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 24 May 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita estimates for Cornwall, UK, and EU (72774).
The ONS publishes estimates of Gross Value Added (GVA) rather than GDP at a regional level. The two measures are broadly similar, though direct comparisons are not possible.
The table contains estimates of GVA per capita for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and to UK as well as GDP per capita for the UK, EU15 and EU25. Data are shown for the period 1995-2003.
| Gross Value Added/Gross Domestic Product per capita( 1 2) | |||||
| Gross Value Added(3) | Gross Domestic Product | ||||
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly( 4) (£) | United Kingdom (£) | United Kingdom(£) | EU15( 3) (€) | EU25( 5 ) (€) | |
| (1) Population denominator is Mid-Year estimates for total population. (2) Cornwall and UK data in £ stg. EU15 and EU25 data in Euro. (3) Gross Value Added (GVA) is Gross Domestic Product (GDP) less taxes (plus subsidies) on products. These data are current price estimates which are not adjusted for changes in prices over time. (4) Data are presented for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly combined. These data cannot be disaggregated in to the two constituent areas. (5) Gross Domestic Product per head as published by Eurostat. |
HM Revenue and Customs
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value of subsistence claims made by staff of HM Revenue and Customs working away from home was in 2005-06; and what proportion of claims did not include receipts. [71722]
Dawn Primarolo: In 2005-06 it is estimated thatHM Revenue and Customs paid out £9,299,575on staff subsistence claims, excluding travel and accommodation costs.
As the submission of receipts with claims is not mandatory within HMRC, payment verification is on a sample basis.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average waiting time for callers to the HM Revenue and Customs tax return phone helpline was in each of the last 24 months for which figures are available; on how many occasions in each month no lines were available to callers; and how many call staff were available in each month. [72018]
Dawn Primarolo: The following table shows the average waiting time for callers to the self-assessment helpline, and also the number of calls receiving an engaged tone since May 2004.
| Month | Average wait | Engaged( 1) (thousands) | |
| (1) Call attempts where the caller was played an engaged tone, before they were placed in a queue to speak to an adviser. |
Helpline advisers are not allocated exclusively to the self-assessment helpline and it would only be possible to disaggregate resource allocated to this helpline from other types of call at disproportionate cost.,
Improving Migration Population Statistics Programme
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions the Office for National Statistics has met the four participating local authorities in the Improving Migration Population Statistics programme; and what the outcome was of those meetings. [72952]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 24 May 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking on how many occasions the Office for National Statistics has met the four participating local authorities in the Improving Motion and Population Statistics: (DS) project, and what was the outcome of those meetings. I am replying in her absence. (72952)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is currently working in partnership with four Local Authorities (LAs) to investigate whether there are local data sources that could be used to assist the compilation of the nationally produced population estimates. The four LAs are Barnet Derby Hammersmith & Fulham and Welwyn Hatfield. These authorities were selected from four groupings of LAs which each scored highly on different characteristics associated with difficulties in estimating population accurately.
Initial meetings were held with the four selected LAs in December 2005 and January 2006. At these meetings each of the LAs agreed to work with ONS to gain a better understanding of how they use the population estimates, what other local information and data sources they use, what particular issues affect population estimates within their LA and what methods and local data sources they use to overcome these issues.
A further round of meetings is currently underway to review progress and a final round of meetings will be held at the end of the studies in summer 2006. ONS will review the findings to see if any improvements can be applied to the mid-year population
estimates processes or quality assurance procedures, either for all LAs or for groups of LAs. ONS will publish the outcome of the studies and evaluate their success, including a review of the criteria and approach for selecting LAs.
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Treasury expects to receive the findings of the Office for National Statistics Improving Migration Population Statistics Programme. [72953]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, dated 24 May 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking when the Treasury expects to receive the findings of the Office for National Statistics Improving Migration and Population Statistics (IMPS) project. I am replying in her absence. (72953)
The IMPS project was set up following the publication of the full report on the Local Authority population studies in September 2004. The aim is to investigate where it is possible to introduce changes to the data sources and methods that will improve the quality of the migration and population statistics.
A list of published reports and those due to be published shortly, is attached in the Annex to this letter. The report planned for August 2006, at the same time as the release of the mid-2005 population estimates for England & Wales, will provide a summary of the research plan and progress to date. Further reports will be issued as results emerge and plans for implementing changes to reflect these results, will be published on the National Statistics website. There will be a final report in March 2008, which is when the project is currently due to be completed.
Annex A
Publication of reports
Progress Report of the National Statistics Quality Review on International Migration: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/methodology/quality/reviews/downloads/Progress.doc
The progress reports from this component of the IMPS project are planned to be updated six-monthly.
Announcement of the LAs selected for case study
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/methodology/specific/population/future/imps/updates/default.asp
This document is available together with a note about the selection methodology and feedback from the LA workshop held in November 2005
Update on the work on population definitions - report of the discussions at the Population Definition Working Group, a group of Local Authority, central government and academic demographic experts.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/methodology/specific/population/future/imps/components/improvements.asp
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