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8 Feb 2007 : Column 1146Wcontinued
Labour Force Survey, in Employment | ||||||
Thousand (seasonally adjusted) | ||||||
London | South East (excluding London) | South West | West Midlands | North West | North East | |
Thousand (seasonally adjusted) | ||||||
Yorkshire and the Humber | East Midlands | East of England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the studies undertaken by his Department on the costs and benefits of EU membership; how many were (a) begun, (b) completed and (c) terminated before completion; and what the reason was for the termination of each which was terminated early. [108381]
Ed Balls: My answer of 25 May 2006, Official Report, column 1909W, gave details of the Treasurys work on this issue.
The Governments January 2007 publication The Single Market: A vision for the 21st century sets out the economic benefits of the single market, the costs of remaining barriers and the importance of economic reform and greater openness.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which religions and other groups' representatives are empowered to perform marriages; what the process is for such empowerment; what account is taken of human rights legislation on discrimination in this process; and what representations he has received on this subject. [119004]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Registrar General, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 8 February 2007:
The Registrar General for England and Wales has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking which religions and other groups representatives are empowered to perform marriages; what the process is for such empowerment; what account is taken of human rights legislation on discrimination in this process; and what representations have been received on this subject. I am replying in her absence. (119004)
The Marriage Act 1949 provides for civil and religious marriages. Separate arrangements apply to marriages according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, Jews and the Society of Friends. Marriages according to the rites and ceremonies of all other religions may take place in a registered building that is principally used by a congregation meeting for religious worship and is certified to the Registrar General as a place of religious worship. A building is registered for marriages by the Registrar General on application by the proprietor or trustee of the building.
The application has to be accompanied by a certificate signed by at least twenty householders that the building is their usual place of public religious worship. When a building has been registered for marriages, it may be used for the solemnisation of marriages according to religious rites and ceremonies. For the first year, marriages are attended and registered by a registrar. After that first year, the trustees or governing body may authorise a person from within the congregation to act as registrar and notify the Registrar General, who will then issue that person with marriage registers and certificates, providing she is satisfied as to the safe custody of those registers.
Provision is also made for a religious marriage by a person who is housebound, detained or seriously ill and not expected to recover.
The Government does not consider the Marriage Act 1949 to be incompatible with the Human Rights Act. It is therefore not appropriate to take separate account of human rights legislation in this process. The Registrar General has occasionally received representations in respect of specific applications.
Tony Baldry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2007, Official Report, column 232W, on mortality statistics, how many people died as a result of a stroke in (a) 2003, (b) 2004, (c) 2005 and (d) 2006 in (i) Northern Ireland, (ii) Scotland and (iii) Wales. [119232]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the oldest remaining national debt is in terms of foreign loans. [118743]
Ed Balls: Currently the only foreign currency liability on the UK's balance sheet is a $3 billion five-year eurobond issued by the UK government in 2003. The eurobond was issued in order to finance our foreign currency reserves. This liability is accounted for (along with the amounts for the world war two debts to Canada and the United States that were repaid in December 2006) in the National Loans Fund Account (Note 13). The latest published version, HC 1632, can be found at:
http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/05-06/05061652.pdf.
At the end of world war one, debt was owed to and by the United Kingdom. No payments have been made to or received from other nations since 1934 in regard to this debt. For this reason, liabilities and assets arising from WW1 have not been listed on the UK Government's balance sheet since 1944-45.
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether there has been any change by HM Revenue and Customs regarding individual members of the public seeking on site advice and support services available from the small business support team. [120230]
Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) on 31 January 2007, Official Report, columns 341-2W.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 1 February 2007, Official Report, column 412W, on the Smith Institute, (1) how many events were held by each charity listed on the Treasury website at Number 11 Downing Street in each year since 1997; [120684]
(2) how many charities had a request for access to facilities at Number 11 Downing Street on a specified date rejected in each year since 1997. [120720]
John Healey: For the list of charities who have held events in Number 11 Downing Street, I refer to the answer I gave the hon. Gentleman and others on 1 February 2007, Official Report, column 412W. Most charities have used Number 11 on one occasion, but some more than once.
Wherever possible, and subject to availability, we do try and accommodate all charities who apply to use Number 11.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 1 February 2007, Official Report, column 412W, on the Smith Institute, how many Smith Institute events were held at Number 11 Downing Street between 1997 and 2005. [120685]
John Healey: As I explained in my answer of 1 February 2007, Official Report, column 412W, the Smith Institute was set up in the memory of the late John Smith. It asked in 1997 to use the facility for seminars on a once a month basis and sometimes, when they are conducting a series of seminars, on a more regular basis.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 1 February 2007, Official Report, column 412W, on the Smith Institute, (1) what criteria are used for determining which charities are granted access to facilities at Number 11 Downing Street; [120721]
(2) how much the Smith Institute has reimbursed to his Department for functions held at Number 11 Downing Street in each year since 1997. [120744]
John Healey: I refer to the answer I gave on 1 February 2007, Official Report, column 412W. Any charities who use or want to use 11 Downing Street can apply for access if this is their wish and subject to availability. This is fully in accordance with the Ministerial Code and long standing conventions governing the use of Downing Street as operated by this and previous Governments.
Every external organisation including the Smith Institute who uses Number 11 does so on the same basis: the organisers of events at Number 11 meet all additional costs associated with holding the event in order to ensure that no public funds are used for events held by external organisations.
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many illegal fuel laundering plants were estimated to be operating in Northern Ireland during 2006; and how many were uncovered in that period. [120231]
John Healey: HMRCs priority is to respond to every piece of intelligence received regarding the operation of an illicit fuel laundering plant through interdiction. The HMRC Annual Report 2005-06 reports that 16 fuel laundering plants were disrupted in Northern Ireland during 2005-06.
The 2006-07 figures will be published in the Annual Report later this year. Estimates of the size of the non UK duty paid market in Northern Ireland can be
found in Measuring Indirect Tax Loss2006 which was published at the PBR and is available on the HMRC website at: www.hmrc.gov.uk
Chris Huhne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of gross annual income was taken in tax and national insurance contributions for each decile of the taxable income distribution in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each year since 1997. [119388]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 8 February 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking what proportion of gross annual income was taken in tax and national insurance contributions for each decile of the taxable income distribution in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each year since 1997.1 am replying in her absence. (119388).
Estimates of income tax and national insurance payments by income decile appear in the ONS analysis The effects of taxes and benefits on household income. The latest analysis for 2004/05 was published on the National Statistics website on 12th May 2006 at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/taxesbenefits. The analysis is based on data from the Expenditure and Food Survey, which is a sample survey covering approximately 7,000 households in the UK.
The tables below show the average annual payment of income tax and national insurance contributions expressed as a percentage of gross household income, for household in each income decile. The income deciles are based on a ranking of households using equivalised disposable household income (rather than taxable income). This is the standard measure of income used for distributional analysis.
The percentages are reasonably comparable over time. The figures in the annual analysis are not deflated or expressed in real terms because the main focus of interest is in the income distribution and how this distribution changes over time. However, even if the figures used to calculate the percentages appearing below were adjusted for average price changes using the Retail Prices Index, the percentages would be the same, since both gross household income, and tax payments would be adjusted by the same factor.
There was a change to the way that tax credits were treated from 2003/04 onwards, which has some effect on the estimates of income tax payment. Up until 2002/03 tax credits were treated as cash benefits.
From 2003/04, they are classified as negative income tax, but only to the extent that income tax less tax credits, remains greater than or equal to zero for each family.
So for households paying relatively little or no income tax, tax credit payments were still regarded either partially or wholly, as cash benefits. Based on figures for 2003/04, the effect of this change is to reduce the estimate of income tax as a proportion of gross income by 0.4%.
The percentage payments reflect both the number of households paying each tax, and the size of the payments. Since the results are based on a sample survey, some of the year to year movement is due to sampling variability, however the tables do illustrate longer term trends in the distribution of tax payments.
Average income tax as a percentage of gross household income United Kingdom, 1997-98 to 2004-05 | |||||||||||
Decile groups of all households ranked by equivalised disposable income | Percentage | ||||||||||
Bottom | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | Top | All households | |
1 From 2003-04 onwards, income tax is shown after the deduction of any tax credits, which offset payments of income tax. Before 2002-03 tax credits treated wholly as social security benefits. Source: The effects of taxes and benefits on household Income, ONS |
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