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12 Jun 2006 : Column 930W—continued
Pensions
Mr. Newmark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library the detailed assumptions underlying the estimate of future expenditure on public service pension benefits set out in table 5.1 of the long-term public finance report of December 2005. [44830]
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assumptions underlay the estimate of future expenditure on public service pension benefits contained in table 5.1 of the long-term public finance report of December 2005. [54516]
Mr. Timms:
The projections of payments by unfunded public service pension schemes published in the long-term public finance report were based on work done for the Treasury by the Government Actuary’s Department, using assumptions which so far
as possible are in key respects consistent with those used in other work on valuation of scheme liabilities. I am placing a technical note explaining the key actuarial assumptions to which the results are materially sensitive, in the House of Commons Library.
The pension projections are, of course, also sensitive to the key economic assumptions made by the Treasury underlying the long-term public finance report and these are explained in the report itself.
Planning Gain Supplement
Tim Farron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department plans to exempt developers of affordable housing from the Planning Gain Supplement. [76666]
John Healey: The Government's consultation on the proposed Planning Gain Supplement (PGS) ended on 27 February 2006. In Chapter 4 of the document, the Government specifically consulted on the scope, including, exemptions. The Government are now analysing responses received, and will make further announcements by the end of the year.
Population Statistics
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the population was of (a) Milton Keynes and (b) England and Wales in each year between 1995 and 2005. [75411]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the national statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 12 June 2006:
As National Statistician, 1 have been asked to reply to your question about what the population was of (a) Milton Keynes and (b) England and Wales in each year between 1995 and 2005. (75411)
The data for mid-1995 to mid-2004 are shown in the attached table. Data for mid-2005 are not yet available; population estimates for mid-2005 will be published on 24 August 2006.
| Mid-year population estimates from 1995 to 2004 for England and Wales and Milton Keynes | ||
| Thousand | ||
| England and Wales | Milton Keynes | |
| Source: Office for National Statistics. | ||
Mr. Kemp:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) single parent households with children under the age of 16 years and (b) single-person households there were in Houghton and Washington,
East constituency in each of the last 15 years; and what estimate he has made of the number of cohabiting couples living in Houghton and Washington, East constituency in each of the last 15 years. [76332]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 12 June 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking for the following figures for the Houghton and Washington East Constituency in each of the last 15 years: the number of single parent households with children under the age of 16 years, the number of single-person households and the number of cohabiting couples. (76332)
Estimates of these figures are not produced on an annual basis for local areas. Available figures are from the censuses of 1991 and 2001. These are shown in the table below.
Private Medical Schemes
Peter Viggers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent changes have been made to the taxation of payments by companies to former employees in respect of private medical schemes; what the estimated tax yield is resulting from these changes; and what estimate has been made of the additional burden of extra taxation on individual taxpayers as a result of the changes. [76374]
Ed Balls: From 6 April 2006, legislation, introduced in the Finance Act 2004 as part of pension simplification, made changes to the taxation of retirement benefits that are provided by employer financed retirement benefit schemes (EFRBS). An arrangement under which an employer pays private medical insurance premiums for a former employee after they have retired qualifies as an EFRBS.
The changes ensure that both cash and non-cash retirement benefits paid from EFRBS to pensioners are taxable as employment income. Before 6 April 2006, it was possible to avoid paying tax on such retirement benefits by paying them solely in non-cash form.
A Regulatory Impact Assessment (“Regulatory Impact Assessment for Simplifying the taxation of pensions—Update”) was published on 22 March 2006. This sets out the Government's assessment of the impact of pension simplification and is available at www.hmrc.gov.uk/ria/ria-pensions-simplification.pdf.
The Government estimate that pensions tax simplification will have an overall cost to the Exchequer building up to £250 million per year.
Tax Credits
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what procedures his Department has in place to adjust the level of tax credits payable to recipients who are required to repay overpayments; [75517]
(2) whether a family repaying over-paid tax credits can have their 2006 tax credits withheld to contribute to repayment of earlier over-payments; [76877]
(3) what measures are in place to ensure that families repaying over-paid tax credits do not experience hardship; and whether repayments are adapted for individual circumstances. [76879]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Custom's Code of Practice 26 “What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit?” explains how overpayments are recovered and what happens if claimants have difficulty repaying an overpayment.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his latest estimate is of the tax credit take-up rates for each year since 2003-04; and if he will make a statement; [75785]
(2) what his latest estimate is of the number of people entitled to but not receiving all forms of tax credits. [75825]
Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of take-up rates for child and working tax credits in 2003-04 are given on the HMRC website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-take-up.htm. Tax credit take-up rates reached an unprecedented level in their first year of operation. Some 79 per cent. of eligible families with children claimed child tax credit in 2003-04, while for those earning under £10,000 a year, take-up was 93 per cent. Take-up for low income working families with children is higher than for any previous system of in-work support.
Teenage Pregnancies
Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many girls under the age of 16 years (a) became pregnant and (b) gave birth in the Lewes constituency in each of the last 10 years, broken down by age. [76280]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 12 June 2006:
The National Statistician has 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 the Lewes constituency in each of the last 10 years, broken down by age. I am replying in her absence. (76280)
Numbers of conceptions and livebirths in Lewes county district for the years 1995-2004 are shown in the table below. Figures for 2004 are provisional.
Information on conceptions is routinely published for local authorities and strategic health authorities. Figures cannot be provided by Parliamentary Constituency because of the risk of disclosing individual’s information due to small differences with local authority boundaries.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not publish figures by single year of age below the age of 16 by either local or health authority and also does not release figures for individual years because of the risk of disclosing individual’s information.
The total number of births to girls aged under 16 in each year is too small to be released because of the risk of disclosing individual’s information. Therefore total number of births in the 10 year period (1995-2004) is given in the table. Figures cannot be broken down by single year of age, for the same reason.
Birth figures cannot be provided for Lewes Parliamentary Constituency for the same reason as provided for conceptions.
| 1995-2004( 1) | |
| Lewes CD | Number |
| (1) Conceptions for 2004 are provisional. | |
Thrombo-embolism Deaths
Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many women died of thrombo-embolism in each year since 1990. [75623]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 12 June 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary Question asking how many women died of thrombo-embolism in each year since 1990. (75623)
It is not possible to tabulate mortality data that exactly fits the cause of death category requested. The Office for National Statistics routinely publishes mortality data by underlying cause of death, using the International Classification of Diseases, in Mortality Statistics: Cause, Series DH2 which can be found on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=618.
You should be able to find the conditions you are interested in from the tables in these volumes.
Clarification of the question stated that you were interested in 'pulmonary induced abortions.' The Confidential Inquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) collects information on all maternal deaths (deaths during pregnancy or up to one year after pregnancy) in the UK and publishes these data every three years. In the period 2000-2002 there were five maternal deaths following termination of pregnancy notified to the inquiry. Further information can be accessed via the CEMACH website at: http://www.cemach.org.uk/publications.htm.
Travel Perks
Mr. Clelland: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total annual revenue from taxation was from season tickets and travel passes provided by employers to their staff in each of the last five years. [76333]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not available.
Culture, Media and Sport
2012 Olympics
Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how the cost over-runs of the 2012 Olympics will be funded; and if she will make a statement. [75837]
Mr. Caborn [holding answer 8 June 2006]: We are keen to control costs and are continually pressing for value for money. Our response to any net increases in cost will be considered in the light of the cost review, taking into account the circumstances at the time and the 2003 Memorandum of Understanding with the Mayor.
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in which constituencies the 2012 Roadshow is planned to stop. [75960]
Mr. Caborn [holding answer 8 June 2006]: The Department set out in a Press Notice of 9 May (available on the DCMS website www.culture.gov.uk) the list of towns and cities the 2012 Roadshow was intended to visit. Detailed plans for the Roadshow are currently being finalised and will be made public, but until these plans are finalised it is not possible to give a definitive list of the constituencies in which the Roadshow will stop.
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport why the 2012 Roadshow is not planned to stop in (a) Kent and (b) Essex. [75961]
Mr. Caborn [holding answer 8 June 2006]: The 2012 Roadshow will visit every region of England, as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, spending at least a day in each, and schedules are being developed in partnership with regional and national representatives. Owing to time constraints it is simply not possible for the Roadshow to visit every county in the UK.
As part of the day in the east of England region, the Roadshow will visit Weald Country Park in Essex on 13 July, as set out in the Press Notice released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) on 9 May. A stop at Weald Country Park, the venue for the mountain biking at the 2012 Games, has always been an integral part of plans for the Roadshow.
As part of the day in the south-east region, the Roadshow will visit Eton Dorney, a 2012 venue and Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, as well as Brighton and Milton Keynes.
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 2 February 2006, Official Report, column 640W, on the 2012 Olympics, if she will break down by individual project the planned expenditure on (a) Olympic venues and infrastructure and (b) infrastructure works planned and budgeted as part of the general regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley. [75962]
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