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Teenage Pregnancy: Greater London

Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many underage pregnancies were recorded in each London borough in each of the last five years, broken down by ethnic group. [127739]

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

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Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 19 March 2007:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many underage pregnancies have been recorded in each London borough in each of the last five years, broken down by ethnic group. (127739)

Figures on underage pregnancies are estimated using the number of conceptions that resulted in a live birth, stillbirth or termination.

Information on ethnicity is not collected at birth registration and hence figures on underage pregnancies by ethnicity are not available.

Number of conceptions to girls aged under 16 in each London Borough for the years 2001-2005 (the most recent year for which figures are available), are shown in the

attached table. Figures for 2005 are provisional.

Number of conceptions to girls aged under 16 years by area of usual residence, London, 2001-2005( 1)
Area of usual residence	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005( 1)
London	1,252	1,229	1,247	1,128	1,060
Camden LB	22	25	23	14	26
Hackney LB and City of London	62	56	62	52	37
Hammersmith and Fulham LB	22	21	25	11	22
Haringey LB	59	59	46	62	39
Islington LB	37	30	33	35	34
Kensington and Chelsea LB	14	13	8	5	9
Lambeth LB	80	95	100	64	67
Lewisham LB	61	70	74	59	64
Newham LB	71	59	45	47	36
Southwark LB	68	77	83	66	57
Tower Hamlets LB	42	34	28	35	25
Wandsworth LB	48	41	39	27	26
Westminster, City of LB	20	17	17	8	12
Barking and Dagenham LB	51	43	44	42	38
Barnet LB	34	27	38	34	30
Bexley LB	34	36	27	36	32
Brent LB	52	50	54	49	53
Bromley LB	33	38	39	36	36
Croydon LB	72	68	57	63	66
Baling LB	31	32	29	32	30
Enfield LB	43	51	58	46	35
Greenwich LB	51	45	45	49	48
Harrow LB	24	21	18	25	16
Havering LB	23	18	29	25	35
Hillingdon LB	37	39	48	50	39
Hounslow LB	38	25	34	36	26
Kingston upon Thames LB	9	8	9	9	12
Merton LB	20	22	27	24	24
Redbridge LB	26	28	25	25	21
Richmond upon Thames LB	10	9	8	12	11
Sutton LB	17	23	25	20	21
Waltham Forest LB	41	49	50	30	33
(1) Figures for 2005 are provisional. Note: To preserve confidentiality, counts for City of London have been combined with those for Hackney LB.

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Water Charges: Low Incomes

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will provide additional assistance to (a) low income families and (b) pensioners to pay for water bills. [127968]

Dawn Primarolo: Since 1997 the Government have provided significant additional financial assistance to families and pensioners to help them meet all their living costs. Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit are the main tools for directing financial support to families. From April 2007, financial support for all two children families will be at least £1,570, with the poorest receiving £5,810.

From April, the basic state pension will increase by £3.05 to £87.30 a week, the biggest increase in the basic state pension since 2001; and the pension credit guarantee will see its biggest cash rise: by £5 to £119.05 a week for a single person and by £7.65 to £181.70 for a couple.

Welfare Tax Credits

Andrew Selous: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reason tax credit repayments cannot be taken from future payments when a single claim becomes a joint claim by a couple; and if he will make a statement. [124660]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 2 March 2007]: Entitlement to a tax credit award comes to an end where an individual who has made a single claim becomes part of a couple. Tax credit legislation does not allow recovery from a subsequent partner where the overpayment arose from an earlier award to which that person had neither claimed nor benefited.

Any overpayment on the single claim can be collected over 12 months. In cases of hardship, HMRC will consider recovering over a longer periods if appropriate.

Written Questions

Andrew Selous: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to provide a substantive reply to question 124660, tabled on 27 February 2007. [128085]

Dawn Primarolo: I have done so.

Health

Accident and Emergency Departments

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many admissions there were to accident and emergency departments in 2006, broken down by (a) type and (b) strategic health authority (SHA); and what proportion of the resident population of each SHA the latter figure represents. [126550]

Andy Burnham: Information on the number of emergency admissions via accident and emergency (A&E) departments for January to December 2006,
19 Mar 2007 : Column 721W
broken down by A&E type and strategic health authority, is show in the following table.

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