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28 Feb 2007 : Column 1413W—continued
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what account he takes of the political funding activities of trades unions in awarding funds from the union modernisation fund. [123380]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Expenditure on political objects, as defined by section 72 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 is excluded from union modernisation fund support.
Treasury
Airport Tax
Sandra Osborne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether air passenger tax which has been pre-paid should be refunded to customers who cancel their flight. [123576]
John Healey: Air passenger duty (APD) is payable by aircraft operators. Although they are not required to do so by law, nearly all airlines pass on the duty charge to their passengers by increasing the fares, and it is normal commercial practice for them to charge their customers at the time of ticket sale.
No liability to APD arises if a flight is cancelled, or a passenger is unable to travel on a pre-booked flight. Whether the airline makes a refund to the passenger in such circumstances is a commercial matter between them.
Civil Servants: Greater London
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what figures he provided to the Lyons Review on the number of central Government posts situated in central London; and what his most recent estimate is of the number of such posts. [122901]
Mr. Timms: The Lyons Review in 2004 conducted its own research into the location of Government activity, and published its evidence by location in chapter 5 of the review document. The 2006 pre-Budget report announced that as at the end of September 2006 over 10,500 posts have been successfully relocated towards the 2010 target of 20,000 posts.
Departments: Conferences
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what conferences funded by his Department had between 20 and 150 attendees in January 2007. [120696]
John Healey: There were no conferences or meetings with more than 100 attendees funded by the Treasury in January 2007. For conferences or meetings with fewer than 100 attendees, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 18 December 2006, Official Report, column 1544W.
Departments: Consultants
Mr. Hoban:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which external consultants were used by (a) his
Department and (b) each of its agencies in relation to private finance initiatives in 2005-06; and what the (i) nature and (ii) cost of the work was in each case. [123021]
John Healey: HM Treasury employ Partnerships UK to provide advisory and research services in a number of areas related to the private finance initiative (PFI). As published in the 2006 Partnerships UK annual report, the Treasury spent £2.5 million under its framework agreement in 2005-06. The National Savings and Investment (NSandI) agency also used consultants on PFI related work in 2005-06. NSandI employed Herbert Smith LLP for legal support on a PFI project, with around £8,000 spent on this in 2005-06.
Departments: Disciplinary Proceedings
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff have been subjected to disciplinary procedures in his Department for poor performance or incompetence in each year since 1997. [123003]
John Healey: This information is not collected centrally.
Departments: Flags
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what dates the Union Flag was flown from the Treasury since 2005. [122437]
John Healey: I refer the hon. member to the answer he received from the Minister for of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport 8 January 2007, Official Report, column 246W. The Union Flag has been raised over 1 Horse Guards Road on the occasions listed in that answer.
Departments: Manpower
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) private secretaries, (b) assistant private secretaries and (c) personal assistants each director in his Department has. [123018]
John Healey: As part of their duties 16.5 FTE personal assistants and two private secretaries provide support to the Treasury directors.
Departments: Official Cars
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost claimed by his Department and its agencies was for use of Ministerial cars from the Government Pool Service in the last 12 months. [120367]
John Healey: No claim is made by the Treasury or its agencies for services provided by the Government Car and Despatch Agency.
Departments: Procurement
Mr. Francois:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what internal guidance the Treasury issues to staff to assist them in purchasing and procurement
decisions; and if he will place a copy of such guidance in the Library. [123340]
John Healey: The Treasury’s guidance for purchasing, procurement and contract management is hosted on the Treasury intranet. It contains guidance for Treasury staff on how to buy, financial thresholds, legal and regulatory requirements, processes and procedures, contracts and terms and conditions. The guidance is in keeping with the regulatory framework determined by EU regulations and Government Accounting. It is not normal practice for internal control procedures to be published. Guidance to potential suppliers is published on the HM Treasury website http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/About/about_ procurement/about_procurement_index.cfm
Departments: Think Tanks
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what requests he has made for meetings of think tanks to discuss policy in the last 12 months. [123022]
John Healey: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with a wide range of organisations in the public and private sector as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such discussions.
Employment: Young People
Miss Begg: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many 18 to 22-year-olds are in paid employment. [123370]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the reasonability of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 28 February 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the numbers of people aged 18 to 22 who are in paid employment. I am replying in her absence. (123370)
The estimate of employed people aged 18 to 22 is 2,343,000 for the three months ending December 2006. This estimate is not seasonally adjusted.
Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS)—As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Each month the ONS publishes estimates of the number of employed people aged 18 to 24 and the associated employment rates in Table 14 of the Labour Market Statistics First Release available in the attached link:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads_theme_labour/LMS/FR/HS/WebTable14SA.xls
HM Revenue and Customs
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many customer reviews are awaiting processing at the large processing offices of HM Revenue and Customs; [113762]
(2) what estimate he has made of the total net tax revenue unpaid as a result of unprocessed HM Revenue and Customs customer reviews. [113901]
Dawn Primarolo: Customer reviews are a normal part of the PAYE process. They are needed where either an incorrect amount of tax has been paid or where there are inconsistencies on the record. Such inconsistencies often arise as a result of changes in a taxpayer’s circumstances such as moving jobs from one employer to another. This means that pay and tax details cannot be matched automatically to the customer’s account so a manual review by our operators is required.
The number of outstanding customer reviews or ‘open cases’ therefore shifts on a daily basis as returns come in and are processed or identified for review. The Department’s management information does not distinguish between a case awaiting processing through their systems and a case requiring a manual review by their operators as a result of an inconsistency.
Reliable information is not available on net tax unpaid as a result of unprocessed customer reviews.
Intellectual Property: Reviews
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost was of producing the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property. [120362]
John Healey: Andrew Gowers’s Review of Intellectual Property was an independent review funded by the Treasury. The total cost of producing the review was £217,870. The report is published on the HM Treasury website at:
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/gowers
National Insurance Fund
Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the balance of the National Insurance Fund at 31 March 2012; and what percentage of annual benefit expenditure this will represent, taking into account the changes proposed in the Pensions Bill. [119487]
James Purnell: I have been asked to reply.
The latest estimate of the balance of the National Insurance Fund at 31 March 2012, taking into account the changes proposed in the Pensions Bill is £74,124 million. This is projected to be 91.8 per cent. of expenditure made on national insurance benefits in the financial year 2011-12.
The surplus in the NIF is available to finance general public spending and is invested in Government securities. Any surplus of income over expenditure in the NIF is used to buy gilts. This reduces the Government’s need to borrow elsewhere. But it means that the surplus is already taken into account in financing Government spending. Any increase in benefits, which reduced the surplus, would result in increased Government borrowing.
The Government Actuary’s Department will make a full assessment of the impact of the Pensions Bill on the National Insurance Fund in their Quinquennial Review of the National Insurance Fund to be published later this year.
Parents
Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of single parents in (a) England, (b) London and (c) West Ham constituency who have children aged between 11 and 16 years are in employment; [122956]
(2) what the employment rates are for working mothers (a) broken down by region, including London, and (b) in West Ham constituency; [122967]
(3) how many dual-parent working families there are (a) broken down by region, including London, and (b) in West Ham constituency. [122968]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 28 February 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about single parents with dependent children aged between 11 and 16 years, the employment rates of women with dependent children and the number of dual-parent families. I am replying in her absence, (122956, 122967, 122968)
Table 1, based on the Labour Force Survey (LFS), gives the number of lone parents of working age with dependent children aged between 1.1 and 15 years for the United Kingdom, England and London, who- are in employment together with the percentage who are in employment. Sixteen year olds have been excluded as not all 16 year olds are dependent on their parents so they are treated differently in the LFS. It is not possible to give comparable figures for West Ham as the LFS sample sizes are too small.
Table 2 gives the employment rates for mothers with dependent children (including lone mothers) for the regions of the United Kingdom and the parliamentary constituency of West Ham.
Table 3 gives the number of dual-parent families for the regions of the United Kingdom, and the parliamentary constituency of West Ham.
The three tables provided are for the 3 months ending December 2006 and the data are not seasonally adjusted.
Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. This is particularly true for the parliamentary constituency of West Ham.
| Table 1: Lone parents( 1) of working age( 2) in employment with dependent children aged between 11 and 15 by selected area, United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted | ||
| Three months ending December 2006 | Number (000) | Percentage( 3) |
| (1) Refers to people who are not married or cohabiting and have youngest dependent children, who are aged 11 to 15. (2) Includes men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59. (3) Lone parents in employment as a percentage of all lone parents for those of working age. (4 )Samples sizes are too small to provide reliable estimates. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS) | ||
| Table 2: Employment rates( 1) for women aged 16 to 59 with dependent children( 2) by Government office region, United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted | ||
| Three months ending December 2006 | Number (000) | Percentage( 1) |
| (1) Women with dependent children in employment as a percentage of all women with dependent children. (2) Defined as youngest dependent children aged 0 to 15 years and 16 to 18 years for those in full-time education. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS) | ||
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