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26 Oct 2006 : Column 2025W—continued
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of public sector pensions as a share of gross domestic product in (a) 1980, (b) 1990 and (c) 2000; what forecast he has
made of the equivalent cost in (i) 2010, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2030, (iv) 2040 and (v) 2050; and if he will make a statement; [96007]
(2) what recent estimate he has made of the total share of public spending which will be accounted for by public sector pensions in (a) 2035 and (b) 2045; [96012]
(3) what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of public spending on public sector pensions in each year from 1980-81 to 2050-51; on what assumptions for (a) the discount rate and (b) longevity these estimates are based; when these assumptions were last updated; and if he will make a statement. [96015]
Mr. Timms: Current estimates and future projections (over the next 50 years) of public service pensions as a share of GDP and of total public spending are available in the two Long Term Public Finance Reports published in 2004 and 2005. Comparable historic figures could not be provided without disproportionate cost.
A note by the Government Actuary’s Department and Her Majestys’ Treasury on the assumptions used for the unfunded pension projections in the LTPFR was laid in the House of Commons Library in June 2006.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of unfunded public sector pension liabilities in each year since 1980; [96008]
(2) when the next estimate of the total public sector unfunded pension liability will be available; and if he will make a statement; [96011]
(3) what recent estimate he has made of the total unfunded public sector pensions liability; what this liability was in each year since 1990-91; on what assumptions his estimate is based; and if he will make a statement. [96016]
Mr. Timms: Total unfunded public service pension liabilities are estimated to be £530 billion at 31 March 2005. The two previous comparable estimates of this total were £460 billion at 31 March 2004, and £425 billion at 31 March 2003. The estimates for years prior to 2003 were not made on a comparable basis. Comparable information is not held on the liabilities of the funded local government pension scheme or other funded public sector schemes.
An explanation of the basis for the estimate of the total liabilities at 31 March 2005 and of the reasons for the changes from the comparable figure at 31 March 2004, which covered the assumptions used, was given in the technical note ‘Total Liability of Unfunded Public Service Occupational Pension Schemes as at 31 March 2005’ which my predecessor placed in the Library of the House on 2 March 2006.
The most recent estimate was based on figures that were published in 2004-05 resource accounts. Resource accounts are published annually and accounts for 2005-06 for most of the unfunded public service schemes are now available, but, until all of them are available, it is not yet possible to calculate a comparable total at 31 March 2006.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which section of his Department is responsible for analysis of the costs of public sector pensions; and if he will make a statement. [96009]
Mr. Timms: Sections of the Treasury responsible for public service pensions policy, long-term fiscal policy, and public expenditure forecasting undertake central analyses of the cost of public service pensions, consulting internally and taking advice from the Government Actuary’s Department as appropriate.
Other Government Departments undertake analyses of the costs of individual public service pension schemes in line with the responsibilities of Ministers towards those individual schemes.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of total government revenues from public sector employee pension contributions in the latest year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [96013]
Mr. Timms: Rounded to the nearest £0.1 billion, employee contributions to unfunded public service pension schemes were £4.5 billion and employee contributions to the funded Local Government Pension Schemes were £1.7 billion in the financial year 2004-05.
Government do not hold aggregate estimates of employee contributions in the wider public sector.
Financial Inclusion
14. Emily Thornberry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to improve levels of financial inclusion; and if he will make a statement. [97069]
Ed Balls: The Government’s £120 million Financial Inclusion Fund is supporting new initiatives to increase access to banking, affordable credit and face-to-face money advice, with around 450 new money advisers. An independent Financial Inclusion Taskforce is monitoring progress and I will report to the House on next steps in the new year.
Gas and Electricity
15. Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with energy suppliers on the recent reductions in the wholesale costs of gas and electricity. [97070]
John Healey: The recent reductions in the wholesale costs of gas and electricity are very welcome, and show how the new gas import infrastructure is delivering.
Regulation of the gas market is a matter for Ofgem which has said it will monitor the market carefully to ensure that reduced costs incurred by suppliers are passed on to consumers in appropriate timescales.
Millennium Development Goals
16. Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he had at the recent International Monetary Fund meetings on progress on meeting the millennium development goals. [97071]
20. Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he had at the recent International Monetary Fund meetings on progress towards the millennium development goals. [97075]
Ed Balls: The international community, and this Government, attaches the highest importance to assisting countries in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. In Singapore, at the time of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, this commitment was reinforced through: a pledge from donors to deliver on their Aid-for-Trade commitments; welcoming continued progress to a pilot Advanced Market Commitment for Pneumococcus by the end of the year; and further progress in developing plans for delivery of the education MDG in 17 countries, resulting in getting an additional 25 million primary school-aged children into school.
Child Trust Fund
19. Gordon Banks: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of Child Trust Fund take-up; and if he will make a statement. [97074]
Mr. Timms: The Child Trust Fund’s success has exceeded our expectations. The latest set of account opening figures were published by HM Revenue and Customs on 29 September. These showed that over 1.8 million Child Trust Fund accounts have now been opened, with over 75 per cent. of parents using their child’s voucher to open an account within the 12 month deadline. Early evidence from providers suggests that there have been significant additional contributions into children’s accounts.
Private Finance Initiative
21. Peter Viggers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much private finance initiative expenditure has been categorised as (a) on-balance and (b) off-balance sheet since 1997. [97076]
John Healey: The asset/liability value of PFI/PPP’s that are “on” the Government balance sheet should be available from the resource accounts of the contracting authority and these are also scored in capital departmental expenditure limits (DEL). Data on all projects that have reached financial lose can be found on the HM Treasury “PFI Signed Deals List” on the HM Treasury website:
www.HM-Treasury.gov.uk
The balance sheet treatment of PFI projects is determined by an independent auditor following United Kingdom generally accepted accounting practice, including financial reporting standards issued by the independent Accounting Standards Board (ASB).
World Trade
22. Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what financial support he plans to provide to facilitate a resumption of world trade talks. [97077]
Ed Balls: To ensure that all countries, including developing countries, can share the benefits of world trade and globalisation, turn the rhetoric of Doha into positive progress, it is vital to provide increased support to developing countries for aid for trade. The UK alone committed to spend £100 million a year by 2010 on the institutions and people needed to support trade. Our total support for aid for trade, including support for infrastructure—like roads, ports, power and telecommunications—is expected to increase by 2010-11. This would equate to $750 million a year in 2010.
Euro
23. Mr. Davidson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next expects to make an assessment of the five tests for joining the Euro. [97078]
Ed Balls: The Government's policy on membership of the single currency was set out by the Chancellor in his statement to the House of Commons in October 1997, and again in the Chancellor's statement on the five tests assessment in June 2003. The Chancellor announced in Budget 2006 that:
“the Government does not propose a euro assessment to be initiated at the time of this budget.”
The Treasury will again review the situation at Budget time next year as required by the Chancellor's June 2003 statement.
Braille
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements exist for correspondence in Braille with blind or partially-sighted claimants for tax credit. [97209]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs will, on request, provide written information in a number of accessible formats such as Braille, audio and large print. A home visit could also be offered to some claimants where this is considered to be more suitable.
Child Care
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many (a) women, (b) men and (c) men who are the only wage earners in their households are exempt from paying tax on child care; [97274]
(2) how much tax exemption on child care has cost in terms of revenue foregone in each year for which records are available. [97275]
Dawn Primarolo: Employers and employees are not required to report the provision of tax-free employer supported child care provided to employees since the tax and national insurance contributions exemptions were introduced in April 2005.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) which of his Department’s Ministers are members of the HM Treasury gymnasium; and what the cost of such membership is per annum; [97022]
(2) whether the (a) running costs and (b) membership fees of HM Treasury’s gymnasium are subsidised from public funds; and if he will make a statement. [97023]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 18 October 2006, Official Report, column 1256W. Membership for the gym is available at the cost of £17.50 a month.
Employment
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the total number of people of working age in the UK not in employment for each year from 1976 to 2006, broken down by (a) lone parents, (b) unemployed, (c) those not working because of illness on disability, (d) carers and (e) other classifications; and if he will make a statement. [96537]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 26 October 2006:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about people not in employment for each year from 1976 to 2006. (96537)
Table 1 gives estimates of the numbers of people resident in the United Kingdom who are not in employment. This includes those unemployed, and people inactive by their reason for inactivity.
Table 2 gives estimates for lone parents not in employment.
Both tables cover the three months ending June each year since 1997. Comparable estimates are not available for earlier periods.
Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
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