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25 Jan 2007 : Column 1987W—continued
Trade Balance
21. Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the UK's trade balance is; and if he will make a statement. [111042]
John Healey: The trade in goods and services deficit in 2005 was £44.6 billion or 3.6 per cent of GDP. The UK's external position remains healthy, with a current account deficit of 2.4 per cent. of GDP in 2005, compared with a deficit of over 5 per cent. in 1989.
Exports
22. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of the increase in interest rates on exports. [111043]
John Healey: Demand for UK exports is driven predominantly by world trade growth and competitiveness. The impact of changes in UK interest rates will be small and would be very difficult to quantify.
New Deal
23. Mr. Mudie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the New Deal; and what further steps he plans to take to increase employment levels. [111044]
John Healey: Since 1998, the New Deal has helped over 1.6 million people to find jobs, and contributed to a fall in the number of young people claiming jobseeker's allowance for more than six months from over 174,000 in April 1997 to 56,400 in January 2007. Independent research has shown the New Deal for young people's positive impact on the economy, with estimated benefits to the economy of up to £500 million a year.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of employing agency workers was in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last three years; and how many were employed in each such year. [103556]
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employment agencies were employed by his Department and each of the boards and agencies reporting to his Department in each of the last five years; and how much was spent on agency services in each of those years. [116698]
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department paid to recruitment agencies for the hire of temporary staff in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [110477]
John Healey: The information on expenditure on agency workers that is available without incurring disproportionate cost is as follows:
| Expenditure on agency workers | |||||
| £000 | |||||
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| (1) Information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. | |||||
Information on the number of agency workers is generally not recorded centrally and so could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Royal Mint had one agency worker in 2003-04 (expenditure on this agency worker was £234, but has been rounded to zero in the table) and none in 2005-05 or 2005-06; The Office for National Statistics had 152, 233 and 130 agency workers in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 respectively; the Office of Government Commerce had 47 and 49 agency workers in 2004-05 and 2005-06 respectively; and OGC.buying.solutions had 50 agency workers in 2004-05 and 59 in 2005-06.
Information on the number of agencies used has generally been available within the cost threshold only where a framework contract with a list of approved suppliers is in place.
| Number of employment agencies used | |||||
| 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| (1) Information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. | |||||
Insurance Policies
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 20 November 2006, Official Report, column 16W, on insurance policies, from whom he has received representations regarding non-advised insurance sales. [110599]
Ed Balls: The Treasury has received representations regarding non-advised insurance sales from Members of Parliament on behalf of constituents and from one UK life insurance broker.
Money Laundering
Dr. Tony Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which categories of people in the UK are covered by the Third EU Money Laundering Directive on Politically Exposed Persons. [110939]
Ed Balls: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 14 December 2006, Official Report, column 1424W, on the effect of Commission Directives 2005/60/EC and 2006/70/EC.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will reply to question 113849, on the World Economic Forum, tabled by the hon. Member for Cotswold on 5 January 2007. [111440]
Ed Balls: I have already done so.
Pensions
Gregory Barker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost to the Exchequer of stakeholder pensions in each of the next 20 years. [111018]
Ed Balls: Stakeholder pensions are offered by financial services firms on a commercial basis. The Government have set out standards in legislation which commercial providers must meet in order to use the stakeholder pension brand but it does not fund their provision.
Portland Trust
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what input the Portland Trust has made to the programmes of visits by Treasury officials and Ministers to the Middle East. [110724]
Ed Balls: Treasury Ministers and officials have consulted a wide range of stakeholders about visits to the Middle East. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide the details of such discussions.
Savings Gateway Scheme
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of those who began saving with the Savings Gateway Scheme completed the scheme and were given the bonus in each year since its launch. [117248]
Ed Balls: In the first Saving Gateway pilot, 1,478 accounts were opened. The final evaluation report, published alongside Budget 2005, confirms that matching can encourage genuinely new savers and new saving. Overall, over half of the participants achieved the maximum match of £375 and 41 per cent. of participants were still saving three or more months after the pilot finished.
Youth Unemployment: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many young people aged 16 to 19 years of age resident in the Peterborough city council area were not in employment, education or training as at (a) 31 December 2006, (b) 31 December 2005 and (c) 31 December 2004; and if he will make a statement. [110735]
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 January 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about young people not in employment, education or training. (110735)
The number of people aged 16 to 19, resident in the Peterborough City Council area, who were not in full-time education, employment or training, from the Annual Population Survey, was 1,500 for the 12 months ending in December 2004 and 1,500 for the 12 months ending in December 2005. Data for 12 months ending in December 2006 will be available in June 2007.
As these estimates are for a subset of the population in a small geographical area, they are based on very small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty. In this case, the sample sizes are not sufficient to give an accurate estimate of even the direction of the change over the period.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of youth unemployment was in the Peterborough constituency in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [110736]
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 January 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the rate of youth unemployment was in the Peterborough constituency in each year since 2001. (110736)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of unemployment for parliamentary constituencies from the annual local area Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation definitions.
Table 1, attached, shows the numbers of unemployed, aged 16 to 24, resident in the Peterborough constituency, for the 12 months ending in February from 2001 to 2004, from the annual local area LFS and for the 12 months ending in March 2005 and 2006, from the APS. The corresponding unemployment rates are defined as the number of unemployed expressed as a percentage of the economically active population in the relevant age group.
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