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Table 2: Number of death certificates where MRSA( 1) was (a) mentioned and (b) recorded as the underlying cause of death( 2) , by Government office region, 1997-2004
	1997		1998		1999		2000
	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)
North East	10	2	15	5	13	1	25	9
North West	42	9	61	13	49	14	63	18
Yorkshire and the Humber	30	8	30	9	40	9	43	13
East Midlands	19	8	29	11	35	7	46	12
West Midlands	51	9	48	18	66	20	82	28
East of England	49	13	35	10	49	9	68	24
London	55	19	47	11	58	15	86	24
South East	62	16	64	21	74	18	134	35
South West	37	12	43	11	47	17	69	21
Wales	34	6	39	9	55	16	51	11

	2001		2002		2003		2004
	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)	(a)	(b)
North East	28	7	38	9	49	15	68	20
North West	53	17	75	30	113	43	127	28
Yorkshire and the Humber	65	24	75	27	82	30	115	34
East Midlands	66	23	50	13	74	23	90	21
West Midlands	80	27	82	27	93	29	115	39
East of England	81	26	84	24	100	31	128	48
London	90	30	103	27	104	42	135	39
South East	140	53	143	39	167	55	178	62
South West	78	33	92	34	108	31	136	43
Wales	53	14	58	18	64	21	75	26
(1) Identified using the methodology described in Giffiths C, Lamagni TL, Crowcroft NS, Duckworth G and Rooney C (2004). Trends in MRSA in England and Wales: analysis of morbidity and mortality data for 1993-2002. Health Statistics Quarterly 21, 15-22. (2) Excludes neonatal deaths.

HMRC

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what payments have been made by HM Revenue and Customs for opinion polling in the last three years; which company received each payment; on what date; and what the purpose was of the polling concerned in each case. [111925]

Dawn Primarolo: None.

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether HM Revenue and Customs has recently changed its policy of providing home visits to taxpayers under its Targeted Education, Enabling and Leverage scheme. [111600]

Dawn Primarolo: There has been no recent change to HMRC’s policy on home visits.

Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what savings have been identified as a direct result of the HM Revenue and Customs scheme Angels and Demons; and how much has been spent on the scheme. [111602]

Dawn Primarolo: In October 2006, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs introduced a new scheme
31 Jan 2007 : Column 343W
designed to encourage staff to submit proposals for working more efficiently and effectively, to enable the best proposals to be rolled out quickly across the Department, and in the process to develop the capabilities and initiative of the staff involved.

The scheme is expected to deliver a 110 per cent. return over two years, in terms of both efficiency savings and greater operational effectiveness. To date, approximately £850,000 has been invested in the implementation of proposals and projects arising from the scheme, which it is expected would deliver a return of approximately £935,000 over the next two years.

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what methodology will be used in producing the local economic impact assessments in relation to decision-making on the reorganisation of HM Revenue and Customs. [117727]

Dawn Primarolo: During its review programme HMRC will be undertaking a process of information gathering from internal and external sources and consultation with staff and external stakeholders.

This information will be used to assess the impact of potential closure of an office on the local community, customers, staff and business delivery. Each location will be considered on its individual factors before a decision is made.

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the changes in carbon dioxide emissions resulting from options for the reorganisation of HM Revenue and Customs offices. [117728]

Dawn Primarolo: By reducing the number of offices it occupies, and using its remaining office space more efficiently, HMRC will reduce the carbon footprint of its accommodation.

HMRC is promoting sustainable travel policies and the use of telephone conferencing and video conferencing as travel alternatives.

Inheritance Tax

Mr. Crabb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) under what circumstances a self-catering holiday cottage may benefit from business relief for inheritance tax purposes; [111754]

(2) what representations he has received on the application of business relief for inheritance tax purposes in respect of self-catering holiday cottages. [111755]

Dawn Primarolo: Inheritance tax business property relief has long been targeted on trading businesses by excluding those of an investment nature. Whether any particular business qualifies for relief will depend on all the facts of the particular case.

The Government have received a small number of representations about business property relief and holiday letting businesses.

31 Jan 2007 : Column 344W

Irish People

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what percentage of the population in each constituency of the UK are first generation Irish people, broken down by region and listed in descending order of percentage. [112095]

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 31 January 2007:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question how many and what percentage of the population in each constituency of the UK are first generation Irish people, broken down by region and listed in descending order of percentage. (112095)

As there is no standard ONS definition of “first generation Irish” we have prepared figures for those people whose Country of Birth was Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland or Ireland part not stated but whose usual residence was in England, Wales or Scotland. The figures have been broken down by Government Office Region.

The figures have been extracted from Country of Birth Table KS05 on the CD Supplement to the Key Statistics for Parliamentary Constituencies, which is available in the House of Commons Library. For convenience the resulting extract has also been lodged in the House of Commons Library.

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