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5 Dec 2006 : Column 398W—continued
Economic Statistics
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what (a) interest and (b) mortgage rates were on 2 May 1997; and what they were in each case on the most recent available date. [106433]
John Healey: The following table gives the requested information. Note that “mortgage rate” refers to the average building society mortgage rate.
| Percentage | ||
| 2 May 1997 | Most recent | |
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) highest and (b) average mortgage interest rate (i) was between 1992 and 1997 and (ii) has been since 1997. [106681]
John Healey: The following table gives the requested information. Note that “mortgage rate” refers to the average building society mortgage rate.
| Percentage | ||
| 1992-97 | Since 1997 | |
Employee Car Ownership
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to ensure that any changes to the tax regime governing employee car ownership schemes do not apply retrospectively. [107703]
Dawn Primarolo: Budget 2006 announced that HMRC would review the taxation of employee car ownership schemes, and the benefits employees derive from them. The Government will consider the outcome of that review.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to ensure that HM Revenue and Customs officials are consistent in their application of the employee car ownership taxation regime as it applies to (a) employees and (b) employers. [107704]
Dawn Primarolo: HMRC provides comprehensive guidance to its staff on all aspects of compliance activity and this is in the public domain.
Financial Action Task Force
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the UK is scheduled to chair the Financial Action Task Force. [104671]
Ed Balls: The UK will assume the Chair of the Financial Action Task Force from July 2007 to June 2008.
Gender Equality
John Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) his Department and (b) the non-departmental public bodies and executive agencies for which he is responsible are taking steps to meet the requirements of the forthcoming duty on public bodies (i) to end unlawful discrimination and harassment and (ii) to promote equality between women and men. [101547]
John Healey: Work is under way in the Treasury to ensure the requirements of the forthcoming duty on gender equality are met. The Treasury will publish a Gender Equality Scheme by 30 April 2007.
Treasury officials are in contact with the non-departmental public bodies and executive agencies for which the Chancellor of the Exchequer is responsible
to ensure they are taking the necessary steps to meet the requirements of the forthcoming duty on public bodies (i) to end unlawful discrimination and harassment and (ii) to promote equality between women and men. All have confirmed that this work is under way.
HM Revenue and Customs
Mr. Soames: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to announce the new permanent chairman of HM Revenue and Customs. [107570]
Dawn Primarolo: An announcement about the appointment of a permanent chairman of HM Revenue and Customs will be made in due course.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much HM Revenue and Customs has spent on purchasing Mosaic UK data from Experian and the associated computer systems for its use. [104080]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 17 May 2006, Official Report, column 1079W.
Insurance
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the options for redress available to consumers who, due to imperfect information at the time of purchase of an off-the-shelf insurance policy, have a claim rejected subsequently. [106523]
Ed Balls: The Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) rules require that the firm providing an off-the-shelf insurance policy must provide the consumer with a policy summary that, among other things, highlights significant features and benefits of the policy and significant or unusual exclusions, so that customers can check that it is appropriate to their needs.
In situations where a consumer has a claim against an off-the-shelf insurance policy rejected by the insurer there is generally a right of redress to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) once the consumer has exhausted the options open to them through the firm’s own complaint resolution procedures.
The role of the FOS is to deal with complaints impartially and to make what it believes is a fair and reasonable decision, based on the relevant facts in each individual case.
The decision of a FOS Ombudsman is binding upon the firm but is non-binding upon the consumer. If the consumer is dissatisfied with this decision (s)he may still take his/her case to the courts.
Office of Government Commerce
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff have been employed in the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) in each year since it was established, broken down by OGC programme in each year. [106521]
John Healey: The OGC workforce for 2001-06 is given in the table.
| As at 1 April each year | ||||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
These numbers have not been broken down by programme, as to do so would incur disproportionate costs.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many parliamentary written questions his Department received in each parliamentary session since 2001; and how many of these questions (a) were not answered because of disproportionate cost, (b) were not answered, (c) received answers referring back to a previous answer (i) asked by the hon. Member and (ii) asked by another hon. Member and (d) were grouped together for answer. [107460]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers I gave on 29 November, Official Report, columns 729-30, to his questions 103974 and 103976.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what target his Department has for the maximum acceptable amount of time to answer parliamentary written questions; and what percentage of parliamentary answers met that target in each parliamentary session since 2001. [107461]
John Healey: I refer to the answer I gave on 30 November 2006, Official Report, column 838W, to an identical question from the hon. Member.
Population Projections
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what population projections for the City of Newcastle upon Tyne for the years 2003 to 2010 are in use; on which years' data each projection was based; and what the mid-year estimate of the population was in each year between 2003 and 2005. [107334]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 5 December 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your question regarding what projections for the City of Newcastle upon Tyne for the years 2003 to 2010 are in use, on which years’ data each projection was based, and what the mid-year estimate of the population was in each year between 2003 and 2005. I am responding in her absence. (107334)
The Office for National Statistics produces subnational population projections for England approximately every two years. The current projections are 2004-based and were published on 12 October 2006. They start from the 2004 mid year estimate and project forward using local assumptions on births, deaths and migration derived from the five year reference period 1999 to 2004. They are consistent with the official 2004-based national population projections.
The previous set of projections were 2003-based. These were published in November 2004 and used assumptions derived from the reference period 1998 to 2003 to project forward the 2003 mid year estimate. Though these were superseded by the 2004-based projections they are still being used by some customers who haven’t yet incorporated the current set for timing reasons.
Table 1 shows the 2003-based and the 2004-based projected population for the City of Newcastle upon Tyne for the years 2003 to 2010. Table 2 shows the mid year estimate of the population in each year between 2003 and 2005.
| Table 1: Subnational population projections for Newcastle-upon-Tyne | ||
| Thousand | ||
| 2003-based projection | 2004-based projection | |
| Source: Office for National Statistics | ||
| Table 2: Population estimates for Newcastle-upon-Tyne | |
| Population (thousand) | |
| Note: Population estimates for mid 2005 are the latest available estimates. Source: Office for National Statistics | |
Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the population was of Newcastle upon Tyne in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06; and what population projections have been made by the Office for National Statistics for that city in each of the next three financial years. [107762]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 5 December 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the population was for the City of Newcastle upon Tyne for the financial years (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06, and what the projected population is for the next three financial years. I am replying in her absence. (107762)
The attached table provides the population estimates in Newcastle upon Tyne for 2003, 2004 and 2005 and the projected population for 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. The figures are estimates of the population at mid-year and are the latest available. The projections are based on the mid-2004 population estimates and as such are not consistent with the 2005 mid-year population estimates. The 2004-based projections are the latest available and they assume that local trends in fertility, mortality and migration over the reference period 2000 to 2004 will continue into the future.
| Table 1: Population estimates and subnational population projections for Newcastle-upon-Tyne | ||
| Thousand | ||
| Mid-year population estimates | 2004-based population projections | |
| Source: Office for National Statistics | ||
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