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22 Feb 2007 : Column 834W—continued
| Tax as a percentage of gross household income | |||||||||||
| Bottom | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | Top | All households (percentage) | |
| (1 )From 2002-03 onwards charges for water, environmental and sewage services were no longer treated as a tax. (2 )From 2003-04 onwards tax credits were treated as a negative tax. (3 )Includes both direct and indirect taxes. Direct taxes include income tax (after deduction of tax credits), employees’ National Insurance contributions, and council tax. Indirect taxes include VAT, duties, and a number of smaller items such as television licences. Source: ‘The effects of taxes and benefits on household income’, ONS | |||||||||||
Unemployment: Stafford
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the most recent (a) employment and (b) unemployment rates are in Stafford constituency; and what assessment he has made of the prospects for the local labour market over the next three years. [122235]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 February 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about employment and unemployment. (122235)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of employment and unemployment from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation definitions.
The latest employment rate, for persons of working age resident in the Stafford constituency, for the 12 months ending in June 2006, was 77 per cent.
The unemployment rate is defined as the number of unemployed persons aged 16 and over expressed as a proportion of the economically active population. The rate for the Stafford constituency, for the 12 months ending in June 2006, was 4 per cent.
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.
ONS also compiles statistics for local areas of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA). The claimant count proportion is defined as the number of JSA claimants expressed as a proportion of the resident population of working age. The average proportion for the 12 months ending in June 2006 was 2.0 per cent. These statistics are more timely than those for the APS shown above. The average proportion, for the Stafford constituency, for the latest 12 months ending in January 2007 was 2.2 per cent.
Welfare Tax Credits
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many manual payments of tax credits were made in each of the last 12 months. [121864]
Dawn Primarolo: For the number of manual payments made up to and including April 2006 I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 5 June 2006, Official Report, columns 188-89W.
The number of manual payments made in each month from May 2006 to 30 September 2006 was around:
| 2006 | Number of payments (000) |
For the number of manual payments made between October 2006 and January 2007 (inclusive) I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 7 February 2007, Official Report, column 1037W.
The allocation of payments to precise payment dates requires a degree of estimation and are therefore rounded to the nearest 5,000.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of abolishing the tax credit system £25,000 disregard for income increases; and if he will make a statement. [121896]
Dawn Primarolo: There are no estimates available for the cost to the Exchequer of abolishing the £25,000 disregard from the tax credits system.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many recoveries for the overpayment of tax credits made in (a) 2003-04 and (b) 2004-05 were initiated in 2006. [122276]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not available.
Duchy of Lancaster
Committee of Standards in Public Life
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the cost to the public purse of the Committee of Standards in Public Life was in the latest year for which figures are available. [121413]
Hilary Armstrong: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mr. Purchase) on 19 February 2007, Official Report, column 303W.
Data Protection: Email
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps she is taking to ensure that the Data Protection Act 1998 is complied with in respect of the dissemination of electronic mail addresses collected as a result of public consultations under the auspices of the Cabinet Office; and if she will make a statement. [122544]
Hilary Armstrong: The Cabinet Office provides comprehensive guidance to staff in relation to compliance with the Data Protection Act (DPA). This emphasises that personal data must be processed in accordance with the data protection principles. Relating specifically to public consultations, under criterion 4 of the Code of Practice on Consultation (a copy of which is available in the Library for the reference of Members), all Government Departments are required to explain in their consultation documents that information provided in responses will be dealt with in accordance with the access to information regimes. The guidance accompanying the code offers text with which to give this assurance.
Departments: Public Participation
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many public inquiries were directed to her Department in each year since 1997. [122470]
Hilary Armstrong: The information is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Experience Corps
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much Government funding has been provided to the Experience Corps in each year since its formation; and if she will make a statement. [120381]
Edward Miliband: The Experience Corps was launched in 2001 as a limited company. The Government grant funded Experience Corps to a total of £19 million over three years, until March 2004. The following table gives an outline of Government funding by year.
| Government funding for Experience Corps by financial year | |
| Total grant (£) | |
Since March 2004, the programme has continued to run independent of Government funding.
Primary Care Trusts
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many primary care trusts the decision unit has visited in the last 12 months; and what factors the unit took into account when deciding which to visit. [121024]
Hilary Armstrong: The Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit has visited 35 primary care trusts within the last year as part of its work to monitor and report on delivery of the Government’s top delivery and reform priorities, and identify the key barriers to improvement and the action needed to strengthen delivery. Local health economies are selected to provide the broadest possible picture of the state of delivery of a particular priority.
Minister for Women
Equality Act
22. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what representations she has received on regulations applying the Equality Act 2006 to adoption; and if she will make a statement. [122156]
Ruth Kelly: The Prime Minister and I listened to the strongly-held views on all sides of this debate, before confirming that there would be no specific exemptions for faith-based adoption agencies. In the interests of children, however, the regulations will provide a transition period until the end of 2008.
European Year of Equal Opportunities for All
23. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what plans the Government have to mark the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All; and if she will make a statement. [122157]
Meg Munn: The Government will organise a series of events around the country, starting with a launch event in May. In so doing we will maximise the opportunities created by the European Year occurring in the same year as the formal opening of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.
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