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1 May 2007 : Column 1612W—continued
Deborah Mattinson
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what role Deborah Mattinson played in arranging his recent speeches to (a) the Equal Opportunities Commission and (b) the Green Alliance. [129772]
John Healey [holding answer 23 March 2007]: The Chancellor’s speeches were organised by the Treasury. The events themselves were organized by the EOC and Green Alliance.
Debts
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he introduced in the 2007 Budget to reduce public debt. [134553]
John Healey: The Budget forecast for public sector net debt incorporates the impact of all the Budget measures. Public sector net debt is projected to be low and stable over the projection period, stabilising below 39 per cent. below the 40 per cent. ceiling set out in the sustainable investment rule.
Departmental Trips: Eurostar
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many trips by Eurostar have been undertaken by staff in his Department in the last 12 months; and at what total cost. [105589]
John Healey: Information on the number of Eurostar train tickets purchased is normally not held, because the Treasury’s accounting system records the costs of travel but not the number or type of tickets bought. However, for financial year 2005-06, the Treasury’s travel management company had provided information on the number of tickets purchased through them.
The number of Eurostar train tickets bought through the travel management company in 2005-06 was 2,750 costing £463,455. Tickets bought but subsequently refunded are excluded; round trips by train are counted as two tickets; tickets bought and subsequently exchanged for another journey are counted as one ticket.
Some tickets are bought directly by the traveller, so this information is not a complete record of all travel tickets bought by the Treasury.
Departments: Buildings
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many buildings are owned by his Department; and how each is grade listed. [134560]
John Healey: The Treasury owns one building, 1 Horse Guards Road, which is subject to a private finance initiative contract. Details of the contract can be found in HM Treasury’s 2005-06 Resource Account HC 1344. The building is grade II* listed.
Departments: Consultants
Mr. Meale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department has spent on external consultants in the 2006-07 financial year. [123842]
John Healey:
For the purposes of this answer, this question is taken to refer to all contracted out professional services and professional staff substitution. In the first 10 months of 2006-07, the Treasury spent £4.93 million
on these services. This includes fees paid to Partnerships UK for their work providing project and policy support to the Treasury and other public bodies on the development, procurement and implementation of public private partnerships.
Departments: Electricity
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on electricity consumption in 2006-07. [133297]
John Healey: The total spent on electricity consumption in 2006-07 by HM Treasury was approximately £450,000.
Departments: Freedom of Information
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the total cost has been of appealing against Freedom of Information Act requests submitted to HM Treasury since 1 January 2005, including appeals to the Information Commissioner, broken down by (a) internal costs and (b) external legal costs; [133200]
(2) what the (a) date, (b) value and (c) recipient was of each payment for external legal advice, support or representation in response to the Freedom of Information Act request by The Times newspaper that was released on 30 March 2007; [133201]
(3) what estimate he has made of the total amount of staff time spent on the Freedom of Information Act request by The Times newspaper that was released on 30 March 2007, broken down into time spent on (a) internal reviews, (b) contesting the application with the Information Commissioner and (c) appealing against the Information Commissioner's rulings; [133202]
(4) what estimate he has made of the total cost to the public purse of opposing the Freedom of Information Act request by The Times newspaper that was released on 30 March 2007, broken down into costs associated with (a) internal reviews, (b) contesting the application with the Information Commissioner and (c) appealing against the Information Commissioner's rulings. [133203]
John Healey [holding answer 23 April 2007]: The cost of legal counsel in all Treasury cases taken to the Information Commissioner and the Information Tribunal to date is £3,715, of which £2,399 was due to the case referred to. Information on staff time spent on individual cases is not held centrally.
Departments: Official Hospitality
David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2007, Official Report, column 982W on Departments: official hospitality, what definition the Department uses of casual drinks. [134447]
John Healey: The definition of casual drinks used by the Treasury in determining eligibility for official hospitality is drinks taken without food.
David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2007, Official Report, column 982W on Departments: official hospitality, at what functions with external guests present other than lunch or dinner the Department has (a) spent hospitality funds and (b) provided alcohol. [134448]
John Healey: The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Poverty
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to lift children and families from below the poverty line. [134573]
Mr. Timms: The Treasury contributes to the strategy for halving and eradicating child poverty as set out in the Child Poverty Review, published alongside the 2004 Spending Review White Paper (Cm 6237). Across the UK, these measures have helped lift 600,000 children out of poverty since 1998-99.
Budget 2007 announced a package of further reforms to the tax and benefit system that will:
benefit families by an average of £200 per year;
benefit families in the poorest fifth of the population by an average of £350 per year; and
lift 200,000 children out of poverty.
Departments: Renewable Energy
Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much energy in kilowatt hours was purchased by his Department from renewable sources in the most recent year for which figures are available. [135004]
John Healey: All the energy purchased by the Treasury is purchased from renewable sources. In 2006-07, the Treasury purchased 7,089,501 kwh of electricity from renewable sources.
Departments: Stationary
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on (a) branded and (b) non-branded stationery in 2006-07. [133436]
John Healey: The Treasury’s accounting systems do not differentiate between branded and non-branded stationery. The total spent by HM Treasury on stationery supplies in 2006-07 was £289,000.
Departments: Written Questions
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many written parliamentary questions his Department took longer than 10 days to answer in 2006-07. [133442]
John Healey: 10 days has no particular significance in relation to the answering of parliamentary questions. As any period of 10 days will include at least one weekend and may also include other days on which the House of Commons may not be sitting and questions cannot be answered, it is a meaningless yardstick against which to measure performance in answering questions. In 2006-07, questions tabled shortly before the Christmas, February and Easter recesses did not fall for answer until after the 10-day point.
In the present session, 80.4 per cent. of the written questions to the Treasury have been answered within the timescales set by the House—that is to say, on the nominated day in the case of named day questions and within a working week of tabling for ordinary questions.
Drugs: Death
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many drug-related deaths were recorded in (a) Suffolk, (b) Bedfordshire, (c) Cambridgeshire, (d) Essex, (e) Hertfordshire and (f) Norfolk in each year since 1997. [134654]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 1 May 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many drug-related deaths were recorded in (a) Suffolk, (b) Bedfordshire (c) Cambridgeshire, (d) Essex, (e) Hertfordshire and (f) Norfolk in each year since 1997. I am replying in her absence. (134654)
Available figures relate to the number of deaths from poisoning with any drug or medicine or certified as drug abuse or dependence. They do not include deaths which may be indirectly related to drug use, such as blood-borne viral infections or transport accidents. The most recent year for which figures are now available is 2005. The table below shows the number of deaths for which the underlying cause was drug-related poisoning, by selected county for the years 1997 to 2005.
ONS recently revised statistics on drug poisoning deaths to include all deaths registered in the calendar year,* instead of deaths occurring in the year. This takes account of late registrations which would otherwise be excluded.
* Office for National Statistics (2007) Deaths related to drug poisoning: England and Wales. 1993-2005. Health Statistics Quarterly 33. S2-S8.
Economic Situation
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his forecasts are for non-oil gross value added growth in each year to 2012; and what the (a) lowest and (b) highest projections are to a (i) 0.5 per cent., (ii) 1 per cent., (iii) 2 per cent., (iv) 5 per cent., (v) 10 per cent., (vi) 25 per cent. and (vii) 50 per cent. level of statistical significance. [134132]
John Healey: HM Treasury sets out its economic forecasts twice a year in Budget and pre-Budget reports. The Treasury does not publish frequency distributions around its forecasts. However, it does provide average absolute errors over the past 10 years. These are shown in Table B10 of “Chapter B: The economy” of Budget 2007 (HC 342) for spring forecasts, and Table A10 of “Annex A: The economy” of the 2006 Pre-Budget Report (Cm 6984) for autumn forecasts.
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