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23 Apr 2007 : Column 980W—continued
Wandsworth Prison
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the Tasker Inquiry into the conduct of the previous governor at HM Prison Wandsworth to be completed; and to whom the report will be submitted for consideration. [133020]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Tasker report is now due to be completed by the end of April, and will be submitted to the Area Manager for London for consideration. I have asked to see a summary of the report which will not be published.
Written Questions
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to question number 122841, on Oakhill Secure Training Centre, tabled by the hon. Member for North East Milton Keynes on 20 February. [131176]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 16 April 2007]: I replied to the hon. Member on 16 April 2007, Official Report, column 470W.
Treasury
Census: Freedom of Information
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many applications for Freedom of Information Act access to extracts from the 1921 Census were received by the Office for National Statistics (a) between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2006 and (b) between 1 January and 31 March 2007; and how many of those applications were successful in each period. [131972]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 23 April 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many Freedom of Information Act applications were received by ONS for extracts from the 1921 Census between (a) 1st January 2005 and 31st December 2006 and (b) 1st January 2007 and 31st March 2007; and how many of these applications were successful. (131972)
The Office for National Statistics received 23 and 21 requests for access to 1921 Census returns for these periods, respectively.
In all cases the information requested was withheld under the exemptions available for personal census information.
Child Care Tax Credit
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) each region and (c) each London borough have received childcare credits in each year since their introduction. [132642]
Dawn Primarolo: For information on the number of in-work families receiving the child care element of the working tax credit, broken down by region and local authority, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) on 13 March 2007, Official Report, column 276W.
Estimates for 2003-04 are only available at regional level as the only data available are for a sample of cases. Any estimates would therefore be unreliable at local authority level.
Childbirth
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government Actuary’s Department expects the number of live births to be in (a) England and (b) the UK in each of the next 10 years. [131959]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 23 April 2007:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question regarding what projection has been made of the number of live births in (a) England and (b) the United Kingdom for each of the next ten years. (131959)
The most recent projection of the number of births was produced as part of the 2004-based national population projections published in October 2005. The information requested is available at:
http://www.gad.gov.uk/Population/2004/england/weng04cc.xls for England and
http://www.gad.gov.uk/Population/2004/uk/wuk04cc.xls for the United Kingdom.
The next (2006-based) national population projections are scheduled for publication in October 2007.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many live births took place in England in each year since 1997. [131968]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 23 April 2007:
As the National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question about how many live births have taken place in England in each year since 1997. (131968)
The latest year for which figures are available is 2005. The table below shows the number of live births that occurred in England each year from 1997 to 2005.
Childbirth: Registration
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the number of fraudulent applications for birth certificates in each of the last four years; and if he will make a statement. [132086]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Registrar General, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 23 April 2007:
As Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question requesting an estimate of the number of fraudulent applications for birth certificates in each of the last four years. (132086)
Current legislation allows individuals, if they are able to provide sufficient information of a particular birth, to obtain a certified copy of that event from either the General Register Office (GRO) or from the local register office. There is therefore no need for an individual to act fraudulently to obtain a birth certificate. However a birth record is not evidence of identity and certificates printed since 1993 contain a warning to that effect.
Very small numbers of births are found to be improperly registered either because no birth event has taken place or the person registering the birth is falsely claiming to be a parent. We are aware of no more than 50 instances of one kind or the other in the past 4 years.
Departments: Official Hospitality
David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures are in place to limit the amount of money spent on alcohol for hospitality purposes by his Department. [132191]
John Healey: The Treasury’s internal guidance on hospitality at public expense only applies to functions with external guests present and normally takes the form of lunch or dinner. Casual drinks do not qualify for reimbursement.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department has a visitors' book or other such log of all visitors. [133432]
Economic Growth
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average rate of productivity growth in (a) the private manufacturing sector and (b) the private services sector in the UK was in each year since May 1997. [133220]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 23 April 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning what the average rate of productivity growth in (a) the private manufacturing sector and (b) the private services sector in the UK has been since May. I am replying in her absence. (133220)
The UK does not currently publish Productivity estimates with a public/private split. Details for the whole of Manufacturing and Services can be found on the National Statistics website at:
In response to user demand, as an article in the March 2007 edition of the Economic and Labour Market Review, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has introduced two new experimental series measuring productivity in the market sector. These can be found on the National Statistics website at:
The ONS is also developing productivity estimates for key public services, in particular health, education, adult social care and the administration of social security. The latest information can be found at:
Excise Duties: Motor Vehicles
Mr. Paice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of vehicles in band G for vehicle excise duty (VED) which (a) will be affected by the increase in duty announced in the Budget and (b) are registered each year; and what estimate he has made of the number of vehicles which he expects to be paying band G VED in (i) 2008, (ii) 2009-10 and (iii) 2010-11. [130622]
John Healey: The band G rate of CO2 emissions graduated vehicle excise duty was introduced in Budget 2006 for cars registered from 23 March 2006 onwards and was increased in Budget 2007 to provide a signal to motorists of the environmental impacts of their potential choice.
It is estimated that approximately 227,000 vehicles will be affected by the Budget 2007 increase in the band G rate of CO2 emissions graduated vehicle excise duty. This represents the current stock of vehicles in 2006-07.
The most recent projection is that the number of vehicles within band G would be approximately 310,000 in 2007-08, 460,000 in 2008-09, 605,000 in 2009-10, and 740,000 in 2010-11. The number of vehicles in band G will be lower as result Budget 2007 changes, by approximately 18,000 in 2007-08 and 2008-09 and by approximately 23,000 in 2009-10 and 2010-11, than if no change had been made. The growth in the number of low carbon vehicles is projected to increase.
Gift Aid
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much and what percentage change he expects in the value of charitable giving using the Gift Aid system in the 2007-08 tax year; and if he will make a statement. [132341]
Dawn Primarolo:
For Budget forecasting purposes it was assumed that Gift Aid donations would increase
by 5.6 per cent. in 2007-08. This corresponds to an increase in total Gift Aid income for charities of approximately £0.4 billion.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the (a) amount and (b) percentage of income charities (i) will receive from tax reclaimed through the Gift Aid system in the 2007-08 tax year if the current level of charitable donations stays the same and (ii) received through Gift Aid in each of the last five tax years; and if he will make a statement. [132342]
Dawn Primarolo: Amounts of repayments to charities of basic rate income tax on Gift Aid donations are published for years up to 2005-06 at:
The table will be updated to include the year 2006-07 at the end of April 2007. No estimate has been made of the amount and percentage of income charities will receive from tax reclaimed through the Gift Aid system in the 2007-08 tax year. However, for Budget forecasting purposes it was assumed that Gift Aid donations would increase by 5.6 per cent. in 2007-08.
These amounts are estimated to represent between 1 per cent. and 2 per cent. of total charity income during the last five years.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received on the effect of reducing basic rate income tax on the amount of gift aid received by charitable organisations; and if he will make a statement. [132343]
Dawn Primarolo: The Government have received several representations regarding the consultation as announced by the Chancellor in the Budget and how that consultation could be best targeted in order to drive up the take up of Gift Aid. A number of meetings have either been held or are planned between officials and sector representative bodies, including the Charity Finance Director’s Group, Charity Tax Reform Group and the Institute of Fundraising.
Import Duties
Mike Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much in import duties was levied on imports to the United Kingdom in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of the total was paid to the EU. [132804]
John Healey: The amounts of duties levied on imports to the United Kingdom and the proportions paid to the EU in each of the last 10 years are as follows;
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