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28 Mar 2007 : Column 1581W—continued

Wood: Trade

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding has been provided by his Department for the timber trade action plan (TTAP); when he expects the TTAP report on mills in China to be made available; and if he will make a statement. [127454]

Barry Gardiner: DEFRA is not funding the timber trade action plan (TTAP) but has provided a grant of £151,692 from the World Summit On Sustainable Development Implementation Fund to The Tropical Forest Trust, which also manages TTAP. This funding
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supports a project which aims to help Chinese wood processing firms achieve market demands for legal and sustainable timber. A public report on the first phase of the project—an industry supply chain study—will be available at the end of March.

Treasury

Average Earnings

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 14 March 2007, Official Report, column 406W, on average earnings, what information can be extracted from the Labour Force Survey relating to the pay gap for (a) women with dependent children, (b) ethnic minorities, (c) workers with disabilities and (d) workers with the fewest qualifications. [129909]

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

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 28 March 2007:


28 Mar 2007 : Column 1583W
Average gross hourly earnings of employees of working age( 1) and percentage pay gap to all male employees of working age United Kingdom, not seasonally adjusted
£ and percentage
Three months ending June 2006 Mean gross hourly earnings (£) Pay gap( 2) (percentage)

All employees(3)

11.12

Men

12.38

Women

9.81

Women with dependent children

10.06

18.7

Ethnic minority groups

10.70

13.6

Disabled(4)

10.27

17.0

Highest qualification

Degree or equivalent

16.73

-35.1

Higher education below degree level

12.60

-1.8

GCE A Level or equivalent

10.11

18.3

GCSE grades A-C or equivalent

8.70

29.7

Other qualifications

8.39

32.2

No qualifications

7.24

41.5

Don’t know

8.46

1.7

(1) 16 to 64 for men and 16-59 for women.
(2) The percentage difference between the relevant hourly pay for all persons in each group, and that of male employees (£12.38).
(3) Includes both full-time and part-time employees.
(4) Includes those who have a long term disability.
Note:
Gross hourly earnings data are known to be underestimated in the LFS. This is principally because of proxy responses.
Source:
ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Birth Statistics

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what forecast he has made of the number of births in England in each strategic health authority area in (a) 2010, (b) 2020 and (c) 2030. [129886]

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 March 2007:

Projected births for strategic health authority areas in England 2004—based subnational population projections
Thousand
2009-10 2019-20 2028-29

North East

27

27

26

North West

78

80

77

Yorkshire and the Humber

59

62

61

East Midlands

46

48

47

West Midlands

63

65

63

East

62

64

63

London

116

122

122

South East Coast

46

48

48

South Central

45

47

46

South West

51

54

53


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Capital Gains Tax

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the cost of capital gains tax taper relief for 2007-08; and if he will make a statement. [130105]

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the cost of capital gains tax taper relief for 2005-06 and 2006-07 were published in Table A3.1 of the 2007 ‘Financial Statement and Budget Report’. Estimates for later years are not available.

Central Government Funding: Health Service/Local Government

Mr. Quentin Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the net cost or saving to public funds if central government contributions to local government expenditure and the financing of the health service and of policing were allocated by applying throughout the United Kingdom the same needs-based formulae as are currently used to allocate public spending in England in those fields. [129812]

Mr. Timms: Under the devolved funding arrangements set out in the Statement of Funding Policy published in July 2004 it is for the devolved administrations to determine how much is spent on the health service and local government expenditure, and similarly for policing in Scotland, within their overall block budgets.

We do not have the data to attempt to apply spending formulae for England to local authorities and health trusts in other countries in the UK.

Child Care

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the amount and proportion of disposable income spent on formal child care by people in each income quintile; and if he will make a statement. [129908]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government do not hold information on the amount and proportion of disposable income spent on formal child care by income quintile. Child care costs vary depending on a number of different factors, including type of care, age of child, time of care, region, whether or not the child is disabled and whether the care is part or full-time.

Child Tax Credit

Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many households receive the disability element of child tax credit, broken down by (a) region, (b) local authority and (c) parliamentary constituency. [129800]

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the average number of in-work families benefiting from the disabled child element of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in each area requested, are shown in ‘Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Awards 2004-05. Geographical Analyses’. This publication can be found on the HMRC website at:

Information for 2005-06 finalised awards will be published in May 2007.


28 Mar 2007 : Column 1585W

Complete information on the number of out of work families in each area benefiting from the disabled child element of CTC, or the equivalent in benefit payments, is not available.

Council Tax: Valuation

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what media evaluation reports the Valuation Office Agency has produced on council tax in the last 12 months. [129697]

Dawn Primarolo: The Valuation Office Agency has produced no media evaluation reports on council tax in the last 12 months.

Council Tax: Wales

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) had with the Welsh Assembly Government on the implementation of the VOA’s automated valuation model in Wales for council tax valuation purposes. [129593]

Dawn Primarolo: The automated valuation model was not used for valuation purposes in the 2005 council tax revaluation in Wales. The possibility of its future use to keep the banding lists up to date to reflect new or altered properties has been raised with Welsh Assembly Government officials.

Departments: Advertising

Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has spent on (a) sponsoring newspaper or publication supplements and (b) funding advertorials in newspapers or publications in the latest year for which figures are available; and what the topic was of each publication. [129452]

John Healey: I refer to the answer given to the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry) on 19 December 2006, Official Report, columns 1738-39W. Further analysis of the spending could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departments: Air Pollution

Chris Huhne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what monetary value is assigned by his Department to the social cost of carbon in assessing Government projects; what value was recommended by the Stern review on climate change; and if he will make a statement. [128468]

Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.

In January 2002, “Estimating the Social Cost of Carbon Emission” a Government Economic Service (GES) working paper, was published jointly by DEFRA and the Treasury. It suggested £70 per tonne of Carbon (tC) (within a range of £35 to £140 per tC) as an illustrative estimate for the global damage cost of carbon emissions. This would rise by £1 per tC per year in real terms to reflect the increasing marginal cost of emissions over time. The GES paper also recommended periodic reviews of the illustrative
28 Mar 2007 : Column 1586W
figures as new evidence became available. The UK was almost unique in issuing official guidance on the social cost of carbon (SCC). The scientific and socio-economic uncertainties behind these calculations are very significant.

The Stern Review estimates the SCC for a scenario of unmitigated climate change averaging over time and over different possible outcomes, is $85 per tCO2 in year 2000, rising over time. The equivalent value in 2007 might be around £264-269 per tC.

However, the Stern Review also notes that, if the world converges on a trajectory towards stabilisation at a level that reduces the risks and damages of climate change, the SCC will be lower, perhaps $25-30 per tCO2 in year 2000. Again, this would rise over time. The equivalent value in 2007 might be around £90-95 per tC.

Economists from relevant government departments are currently developing revised guidance on the calculation and use of shadow prices of carbon in informing UK policy decisions in the light of the Stern Review work on the social cost of carbon as well as previous work by DEFRA in this area. The aim is to publish revised guidance by the summer.


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