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29 Nov 2006 : Column 722W—continued
Foreign Aid
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with his counterparts on the International Monetary Fund’s Monetary and Finance Committee on ways in which developing-country Governments can more effectively utilise flows of foreign aid to accelerate their response to AIDS without compromising economic growth; and if he will make a statement. [106050]
Ed Balls: The IMF advises developing country Governments about how to ensure public spending financed from foreign aid and other sources is consistent with macroeconomic stability, itself a prerequisite for economic growth. In his Medium Term Strategy the IMF Managing Director, Rodrigo Rato, identified marshalling of the expected rise in aid flows to achieve the MDGs as one of the Fund’s key challenges in developing countries. The UK and the IMF jointly hosted a workshop at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in April this year on the management of increased aid flows, including for tackling HIV/AIDS, and the issue was subsequently raised at the IMFC. The conclusion of this and other engagement on the issue has been that countries can, with appropriate economic policies, manage the impact of large aid flows.
Gambling Tax
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax was collected via the gross profits tax on gambling in each of the last five financial years; and if he will make a statement. [103761]
Dawn Primarolo: Revenues for gambling taxes are published in the HM Revenue and Customs Betting, Gaming and Lottery Duties Bulletin, available at
http://www.uktradeinfo.co. uk/index.cfm?task=bullbett.
Gershon Review
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the most recent figures are for the information contained in Table 4.2 of the Gershon review. [106446]
Mr. Timms: By the end of September 2006 Departments had reported gross work force reductions of 54,963 posts of which 9,412 were re-allocated to front-line roles resulting in a net work force reduction of 45,551 posts. 10,574 posts had been re-located out of London and the South East.
Departmental targets for work force reductions and post re-location were set in the 2004 Spending Review and Departments report on progress twice each year in their autumn performance reports and departmental reports.
HM Revenue and Customs
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what functions are carried out by the Aylesbury office of HM Customs and Revenue; which functions it is proposed to transfer elsewhere under the regional review programme; and if he will make a statement. [103128]
Dawn Primarolo: The main activities carried out in the Aylesbury office are:
Debt Management and Banking
Distributed Processing
Local Compliance.
We have not made firm decisions on the future of Aylesbury and do not expect to include this office in our review programme until at least April 2008.
Concerning any possible reorganisation of business activities across HMRC I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) on 27 November 2006, Official Report, columns 451-52W.
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what services he expects to be provided to members of the public by HM Revenue and Customs' proposed basic face-to-face presence in individual locations; [103726]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of staff which will need to be retained at the Aylesbury office of HM Revenue and Customs to ensure an adequate face-to-face service for the public. [103727]
Dawn Primarolo: There are no plans to change the face-to-face service provided by HMRC to members of the public.
The number of full-time equivalent staff needed to provide a face to face service to the public in Aylesbury is currently estimated at four, plus management time.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether (a) HM Revenue and Customs, (b) the UK Debt Management Office and (c) the Crown Estate recognise the International GCSE as an acceptable substitute for a GCSE for the purposes of recruitment. [104279]
John Healey: For HMRC and the UK Debt Management Office, it is an acceptable substitute. The Crown Estate, however, does not use GCSEs generally as a standard for its recruitment purposes, so the question does not apply.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) salary and (b) bonuses were paid to the (i) Chairman and (ii) Acting Chairman of HM Revenue and Customs in each year since 1997-98; and if he will make a statement. [101681]
Dawn Primarolo: The requested salary and bonus details are set out as follows.
| Salary (£) | Bonus (£) | |
Home Condition Reports
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations his Department made to the Department for Communities and Local Government prior to the recent decision to make home condition reports voluntary. [103909]
Dawn Primarolo: Representation on the home condition report register was made by the Valuation Office Agency on 11 August 2005. The information was provided in confidence, and therefore it is not appropriate to disclose it.
Household Statistics
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many couples were recorded as living apart together in each quarter from the first quarter of 1990 to the third quarter of 2006; and if he will make a statement; [102936]
(2) how many couples were (a) married, (b) unmarried but living together and (c) living apart in each year since 1990; and if he will make a statement. [102937]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated 29 November 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking for the number couples recorded as living apart together in each quarter from the first quarter of 1990 to the third quarter of 2006 (102936) and the number of couples who were (a) married, (b) unmarried but living together and (c) living apart in each year since 1990. I am replying in her absence. (102936,102937)
Information on couples living apart together is not compiled on a routine basis. A first attempt to estimate the numbers living apart together were published in an article in Population Trends 122 (Winter 2005) entitled 'Living Arrangements in contemporary Britain: having a partner who usually lives elsewhere and living apart together'. This is available in the House of Commons library.
Annual estimates of married and cohabiting couples are available from the Labour Force Survey, which has the largest sample size and provides longest continuous time series. The numbers requested are available from this survey since 1996, when population weights first enabled estimates for the population as a whole to be produced. Prior to this, 1991 Census counts are also available. The available information is provided in the table below.
| Numbers of married and cohabiting couples, United Kingdom and England and Wales, 1991 to 2005 | ||||
| Thousands | ||||
| United Kingdom | England and Wales | |||
| (a) married couples | (b) cohabiting couples | (a) married couples | (b) cohabiting couples | |
| (1 )Cohabitation data is not available from the 1991 NI Census outputs therefore a UK figure cannot be produced for 1991. Source: Labour Force Survey, average of spring and autumn quarters, except 1991 where the figures are based on the 1991 Census | ||||
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