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3 July 2006 : Column 824W—continued
Command Papers
Mr. Amess:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the unnumbered command papers
produced by his Department in each session since 1976; by what means (a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public can (i) inspect and (ii) obtain copies; and if he will make a statement. [81252]
John Healey: All command papers presented to the House of Commons are recorded in the Commons Journal and are available in the Library of the House. Papers in the numbered series are printed by The Stationery Office, from whom copies are obtainable. Unnumbered papers presented by Treasury Ministers are available from the Treasury.
Company Directors
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of company directors drawing salary in dividend form in each year since 2001-02; and if he will make a statement. [81146]
Dawn Primarolo: The number of company directors recorded on self-assessment returns and the number reporting any dividend income in each available year since 2001-02 are given in the following table.
| Number of company directors | Of which: number with dividend income | |
The information on the tax return does not distinguish between dividend ncome from the director's own company and amounts derived from investments in other companies.
Corporation Tax
Lady Hermon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to reduce corporation tax in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [81820]
Dawn Primarolo: The corporation tax regime is a UK-wide system and introducing different rates in one part of the UK could distort competition.
Many companies trade in different regions of the UK. It would not be easy to determine the proportion of their profits liable at a “devolved” rate. In addition, such a measure could create opportunities for some companies to manipulate the rules in order to benefit from the lower rate. That might well result in a system that would place a significant administrative burden on both businesses and the Government.
Customs (Cornwall)
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment has been made of the possible effects of the withdrawal of front-line customs staff in Cornwall on the import of illegal goods; and if he will make a statement. [81095]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs deploys resource in line with intelligence and risk assessments in order to maximise the impact on criminal activity at the frontier.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many firearms were seized by customs staff in Cornwall in each year since 1997. [81096]
Dawn Primarolo: Information for firearms seizures made by HM Revenue and Customs since 2000 is contained in the annual reports for HM Customs and Excise and HM Revenue and Customs. The figures for the year ending 31 March 2006 will be published in the next annual report.
More detailed information is not available as disclosure of results at specific locations would provide information of value to those seeking to circumvent HM Revenue and Customs’ controls, thereby prejudicing the prevention and detection of crime.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment has been made of staff retention among customs officers based in Cornwall. [81098]
Dawn Primarolo: No specific assessment has been made of staff retention among customs officers based in Cornwall.
Financial Services Authority
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of the Financial Services Authority's staff left the Authority in each of the last five financial years; and what the total cost of (a) redundancy and other severance payments and (b) the recruitment of replacement staff was in each year; [81330]
(2) Howmany IT-related contracts in excess of 153,000 euros, including contracts with external consultants or contractors, have been awarded by the Financial Services Authority in each of the last four financial years; and how many and what total value of such contracts were awarded with no competitive tender in each year; [81331]
(3) what the budgeted cost set out in the original programme business case was of completing the IT outsourcing programme at the Financial Services Authority; [81332]
(4) how many external contractors and consultants employed by the Financial Services Authority's IT division over the last 24 months have been supplied by employment agencies on the FSA's preferred supplier list; how many have been supplied by employment agencies on the S-CAT register; and how many have been supplied by employment agencies that are neither on the FSA preferred supplier list nor on the S-CAT register. [81333]
Ed Balls: These are operational matters for the FSA. The chairman of the FSA will write to the hon. Member directly.
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the extent to which the Government-required project methodology and control
is in use on projects and programmes within the Financial Services Authority. [81334]
Ed Balls: The FSA is operationally independent of the Government. However, I understand that the FSA has chosen to base its IS development lifecycleon the PRINCE II methodology and iscurrently working to align this approach with the recommendations of the OGC gateway process.
Gold Bullion (Estonia)
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date the British Government returned gold bullion to Estonia which had been deposited by the Estonian Government before the Soviet invasion of Estonia. [77720]
Mr. Hoon: I have been asked to reply.
The Government returned gold bullion to Estonia on 31 March 1992.
Home Births
Mr. Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many home births there were (a) in total and (b) as a percentage of all births in (i) England and (ii) Forest of Dean constituency in each year since 1997. [81755]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 3 July 2006:
As the National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about how many home births there were (a) in total and (b) as a percentage of all births in (i) England and (ii) Forest of Dean constituency in each year since 1997 (81755)
The latest year for which birth data are available is 2005. The table below shows the figures requested for the years 1997 to 2005.
Hospital Infections
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths were recorded where (a) clostridium difficile-associated disease, (b) MRSA, (c) vancomycin resistant enterococci, (d) multi-resistant acinetobacter spp and (e) penicillin-resistant streptococcus pneumoniae was mentioned on the death certificate in the last year for which figures are available; and in how many cases it was also the underlying cause of death. [81691]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 3 July 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many deaths have been recorded where (a) clostridium difficile associated disease, (b) MRSA, (c) vancomycin resistant enterococci, (d) multi-resistant acinetobacter spp and (e) penicillin resistant streptococcus pneumoniae was mentioned on the death certificate for the last year for which figures are available; and in how many cases it was the underlying cause of death. (81691)
The most recently available information is for deaths in 2004 in England and Wales. Figures for Clostridium difficile were published in an annual report in Health Statistics Quarterly 30 on 27 May 2006(1) and figures for MRSA were published in an annual report in Health Statistics Quarterly 29 on 26 February 2006(2). Figures for vancomycin resistant enterococci and multi-resistant acinetobacter spp are not available from routine death certification data. These are laboratory classifications of micro organisms, details of which are rarely used in describing the illnesses from which patients suffer or die.
Figures on the number of deaths involving Streptococcus pneumoniae are given in the table below for the calendar year 2004.
| Numbers of deaths where Streptococcus pneumoniae was mentioned on the death certificate and the number where it was specified as penicillin resistant and the number of these mentions where it was also the underlying cause of death( 1) , England and Wales, 2004( 2) | |
| Number of deaths | |
| (1) Selected using the codes J13, G00. 1 and A40.3 and a text search within codes A49.1 and H66 from the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). (2) Figures are for deaths occurring in the calendar year. Source: Office for National Statistics | |
(1) Office for National Statistics (2005) Report: Deaths involving Clostridium difficile: England and Wales, 1999-2004. Health Statistics Quarterly 30, 56-60.
2 Office for National Statistics (2005) Report: Deaths involving MRSA: England and Wales, 2000-2004. “Health Statistics Quarterly 29, 63-68.
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