| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
7 Dec 2006 : Column 698W—continued
The Treasury and Government Actuary’s Department do not keep central records on the numbers of agency workers and would therefore only be able to provide this information at disproportionate cost.
Retail Price Index
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) on what occasions he has sought the advice of the Bank of England on defining the retail price index over the last five years; [107262]
(2) whether he consulted the Bank of England on the incorporation of hedonics into determination of the retail price index. [107283]
John Healey: The Chancellor has, on two occasions in the past five years, consulted the Bank of England on whether changes to defining the retail price index constitute a change to the way that the RPI is constructed which, in the opinion of the Bank of England, constitutes a fundamental change in the index which would be materially detrimental to the interests of the stockholders of index-linked gilts issued under prospectuses that contain an early redemption clause to protect investors’ interests.
Tax Credits
Mr. Gale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions, and between what dates, HM Revenue and Customs has run out of tax credit claim packs. [107843]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave the hon. Member for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray) on 9 October 2006, Official Report, column 301W.
Duchy of Lancaster
Teenage Pregnancies
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what recent assessment she has made of the impact of teenage pregnancy on the life-chances of mothers and children. [104701]
Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
Evidence shows that having children at a young age can impact negatively on young women’s health and well-being and limit their education and career prospects. Longitudinal studies also show that children born to teenagers are more likely to experience a range of negative outcomes in later life. For example:
At age 30, teenage mothers are 22 per cent. more likely to be living in poverty than mothers giving birth aged 24 or over, and are much less likely to be employed or living with a partner;
Teenage mothers are 20 per cent. more likely to have no qualification at age 30 than mothers giving birth aged 24 or over;
Teenage mothers have three times the rate of post-natal depression of older mothers and a higher risk of poor mental health for three years after the birth;
The infant mortality rate for babies born to teenage mothers is 60 per cent. higher than for babies born to older mothers;
Teenage mothers are three times more likely to smoke throughout their pregnancy, and 50 per cent less likely to breastfeed, than older mothers—both of which have negative health consequences for the child;
Children of teenage mothers have a 63 per cent. increased risk of being born into poverty compared to babies born to mothers in their twenties.
Volunteering for All Programme
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether the Muslim Youth Helpline and Timebank application for a grant from the Office of the Third Sector’s Volunteering for All programme was successful in obtaining public funding. [104338]
Edward Miliband: Volunteering for All is a Cabinet Office initiative designed to help increase the numbers of people from groups at risk of social exclusion that undertake voluntary activity.
Following an open competitive grants round, on 18 September 2006 the Cabinet Office announced funding for volunteering opportunities over two years until March 2008 as part of that programme. A bid led by Timebank, with support from the charity Muslim Youth Helpline was one of five successful bids set out in the table.
The Muslim Youth Helpline/Timebank grant enables both organisations to work together to enable MYH outreach workers, supported by a supply of information about volunteering opportunities and a team in Timebank to:
The Muslim Youth Helpline/Timebank grant enables both organisations to work together to enable MYH outreach workers, supported by a supply of information about volunteering opportunities and a team in Timebank to:
Raise positive awareness of volunteering amongst 30,000 Pakistani and Bangladeshi adults in and around the North West;
Promote the value of intercultural volunteering to young Pakistani and Bangladeshi people in the two targeted English regions;
Enable 1200 young Pakistani and Bangladeshi people to register an interest in volunteering through the partnership;
Place 400 young (18-30) Pakistani and Bangladeshi into volunteering opportunities.
Communities and Local Government
City of York Council
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the annual percentage change in (a) cash and (b) real terms in government expenditure on formula grant and special grants to City of York council was in each year since 1997-98. [106682]
Mr. Woolas: The annual percentage change in (a) cash and (b) real terms in formula grant and specific and special grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) to City of York council in each year since 1997-98 is tabled as follows.
| Percentage change over previous years | ||
| Cash | 2005-06 prices | |
| Notes: 1. The 2005-06 prices figures have been calculated using the latest GDP deflators. 2. Formula grant includes Revenue Support Grant, redistributed business rates and Police Grant. 3. Specific and special grants inside Aggregate External Finance are those revenue grants paid for councils’ core services, excluding funding for local authorities’ housing management. Sources: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) and Revenue Account (RA) Budget returns and HM Treasury GDP deflators. | ||
Consultants
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department has spent on the services of the consultants McKinsey and Co. in each year since 2002; and on which projects the consultancy was engaged. [103838]
Angela E. Smith: In the current financial year the Department has made two payments to McKinsey and Co.
109,863 for a Review of Communications within the Department and
109,863 for a Study into Building Performance and Capacity into Local Strategic Partnerships
No other expenditure has been incurred by the Department since 2002.
Departmental Staff
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in the ministerial office of the Deputy Prime Minister received a performance-related bonus in 2005-06. [104044]
Angela E. Smith: Given that there were only eight staff in the ministerial office of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2005-06 and that performance related bonuses are personal information, on the grounds of staff confidentiality it would be inappropriate to answer.
Dress Codes
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance she has issued to her civil servants and other officials carrying out departmental business on the permissibility of covering their faces when meeting members of the public. [103938]
Angela E. Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for St. Albans (Anne Main) on 26 October 2006, Official Report, column 2035W.
Homeless Households
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless households with dependent children there have been in each year since 2004 in each form of temporary accommodation, broken down by Government region. [101008]
Yvette Cooper: Information reported each quarter by local authorities about their activities under homelessness legislation includes the number of households in temporary accommodation on the last day of the quarter, and, since 2002, those that include dependent children and/or expectant mothers.
A table presenting information on the number of households with dependent children and/or expectant mothers in each main form of temporary accommodation since 2003-04 is shown as follows:
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |