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25 July 2006 : Column 1383W—continued
Opinion Polls
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many opinion polls of (a) his Department and (b) the public his Department has commissioned in the last 12 months. [83495]
John Healey: The Treasury carries out an annual internal staff attitude survey. The most recent was conducted in December 2005. A summary of the results can be found on the HM Treasury website (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/information/about survey index.cfm).
There have been three opinion polls of the public undertaken in the period:
An opinion poll to support the HM Treasury and DCMS feasibility study on a potential bid for the 2018 World Cup.
A joint poll for HM Treasury and the Button Trust on children's aspirations to inform the review on Children and Young People for the Comprehensive Spending Review.
A survey is being undertaken on behalf of HM Treasury and the Department for Communities and Local Government as part of the Lyons Inquiry into Local Government research programme.
The Department also conducts staff and public consultations, where appropriate, to aid operational and policy development.
Parliamentary Questions
Peter Luff: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many written questions to his Department remain unanswered at 25 July for (a) between two and four weeks, (b) between four and six weeks, (c) between six and eight weeks and (d) more than eight weeks; and how many in each category were tabled for named day answer.[87920]
John Healey: In the current session, Treasury Ministers have answered substantively in the House of Commons 5,602 written questions. 78 per cent. of the answers concerned were given on or before the date on which they were due.
Information relating to unanswered questions is given in the table.
| Weeks | Total number of questions | Named day questions |
Pensions
Jenny Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Government received in tax from pension scheme funds that started to wind-up before 6 April 2005 with insufficient funds to cover all of their members’ pension entitlements; and if he will make a statement. [89102]
Dawn Primarolo: HMRC does not hold centrally, details of the amount of tax paid by pension schemes winding-up.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the projections in respect of unfunded public sector pension schemes in the 2005 Long Term Public Finance Report are, excluding the cash inflows from member contributions. [87529]
Mr. Timms: The projections of expenditure in respect of unfunded public sector pension schemes in the 2005 Long Term Public Finance Report exclude the cash inflows from member contributions. The net projections could be provided only at disproportionate cost. We are considering showing gross and net figures in the future.
Personal Allowance
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the total cost of allowing the personal allowance to be transferred between spouses for families with children under three years old; and if he will make a statement. [85798]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 17 July 2006]: The estimated annual cost of permitting the basic personal allowance (of £5,035 per year) to be transferable between married couples who have at least one child aged two or under, during 2006-07, is £0.3 billion.
This estimate excludes any behavioural response to the change. It was calculated using the Department's tax and benefit mode, (IGOTM) based on data from the Family Resources Survey 2003-04, uprated to 2006-07 prices.
Personal Debt
Mr. Paice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total amount of personal debt was in Cambridgeshire in each year since 1997. [88735]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 July 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on personal debt in the UK. (88735)
We are unable to provide levels of total personal debt by region. The following table shows estimates for the whole of the UK.
| Total personal debt (end-year) (£ million) | |
The estimates of debt and income are national accounts series for the combined household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sectors. Estimates for households alone are not available. NPISHs are legal entities which are principally engaged in the production of non-market services for households and whose main resources are voluntary contributions by households. Examples of NPISHs are: charities; relief and aid organisations; educational establishments; Trade Unions; Professional Associations, Political Parties and Religious Organisations, and Sports Clubs and Associations.
Further data are available from table A64 in United Kingdom Economic Accounts which is available at the following address:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=1904&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=422
Post Office Network Services/Contracts
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what services (a) his Department and (b) its associated public bodies (i) make available and (ii) have made available in the last five years through the Post Office network; through how many outlets the service is or was made available; and how many relevant transactions were undertaken in each case in the most recent year for which figures are available. [79195]
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for which services (a) his Department and (b) its associated public bodies hold contracts with the Post Office; and what the (i) start and (ii) termination date is of each contract. [81535]
John Healey: The Treasury does not hold contracts with nor provide services (nor has done in the last five years) through Post Office Limited (POL). The only associated public bodies of the Treasury that do hold formal contracts with POL and provide services through the POL network are HMRC and National Savings and Investment (NS&I).
HMRC has a contract with POL for the provision of the Post Office card account (POCA) service. The service is available at all PO branches. The contract runs from 22 March 2002 to 31 March 2010.
HMRC has a contract with Post Office Ltd. (POL) for the provision of the Post Office card account (POCA) service. The service is available at all PO branches.
HMRC started paying tax credits and child benefit into POCAs in April 2003. As of 30 June 2006, there were 156,178 people are paid tax credits through a POCA and 629,042 people receiving their child benefit through a POCAs. However, there is a significant overlap and the overall number of HMRC customers using a POCA is approximately 700,000. Approximately 14 per cent. of all child benefit payments are made into POCAs, for tax credits the figure is 4.5 per cent. In 2005 HMRC made 27,527,140 payments into POCAs.
NS&I currently have a two-year rolling contract with POL, which began on 1 April 2004, with no fixed end date.
The Post Office provides the following services to NS&I’s customers:
over the counter transactions (sales and repayments) for the majority of NS&I products;
provision of up-to-date product brochures for the majority of NS&I products and other forms and leaflets; and
provision of accurate oral information on NS&I products and transactions in response to enquiries made by members of the general public at Post Offices or through the Post Office's customer telephone helpline.
NS&I uses around 14,000 Post Offices. The Post Office carried out approximately 9.8 million transactions (sales, payments, enquiries etc.) across a range of NS&I products during the FY2005-06. Approximately 5 million of these transactions represent new and subsequent sales through Post Office Counters.
Postal Services (VAT)
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to implement Postcomm's suggestion that a uniform 5 per cent. VAT rate be applied to all postal services. [88696]
Dawn Primarolo: European VAT agreements provide a mandatory VAT exemption for services provided by the “public postal services”. Under these same agreements, which cannot be changed without the unanimous approval of all EU member states, a reduced rate of 5 per cent. is not available for any postal services.
Private Finance Initiative Contracts
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many private finance initiative contracts commissioned directly by each Government Department and Government Agency in each year since 1997 (a) have been completed, (b) have been contracted but not completed and (c) are subject to current tender; and what the aggregate value is in each case. [88676]
John Healey: There are currently over 500 projects that have been signed and are now in operation.
Around a further 200 projects have reached financial close, but are yet to become operational.
The combined capital value of all signed projects is over £48 billion. Information on PFI projects that have reached financial close may be obtained from the ‘PFI Signed Projects List’ on the Treasury's public website.
At the time of the Budget around 80 projects were at the preferred bidder stage and around 155 had yet to appoint a preferred bidder. The estimated aggregate capital value of these projects is around £26 billion. The capital value of projects at preferred bidder stage is shown in table C18 of the Budget.
Questionnaires
Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) questionnaires, (b) statistical inquiries and (c) investigations have been carried out wholly or partly at public expense on behalf of or by his Department or public bodies for which he is responsible in each year since 1997; and what the (i) nature, (ii) purpose and (iii) cost was of each. [83195]
John Healey: Detailed information in the form requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Security Passes
Simon Hughes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many security passes have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen by staff in his Department in each year since February 2004. [88565]
John Healey: The information is in the following table.
| Security passes | ||
| Lost | Stolen | |
Skin Cancer
Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people were diagnosed with skin cancer in (a) Brent and (b) London in each year since 1997. [87663]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 July 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many people were diagnosed with skin cancer in (a) Brent and (b) London in each year since 1997. [87663]
The latest available figures for newly diagnosed cases of cancer (incidence) are for the year 2003. Numbers of cases of melanoma skin cancer for the years 1997 to 2003 for London borough of Brent and London Government Office Region (GOR) are given in the table as follows.
| Number of newly diagnosed cases of melanoma skin cancer( 1) for London borough of Brent and London GOR, 1997-2003 | |||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | |
| (1) Melanoma skin cancer is defined as code C43 in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD 10). (2) Figures for London GOR for the years 2000-03 are available in Table 4 of the Annual Reference Volume, Cancer statistics: Registrations, Series MB1. Source: Office for National Statistics | |||||||
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