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26 July 2007 : Column 1463W—continued
Welfare Tax Credits
Ms Buck: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research his Department has undertaken on the relationship between receipt of tax credits and levels of deprivation. [151706]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC undertakes a range of research about the tax credits system. Details of planned and on-going research as well as research findings are published on the Department’s website at:
Child and working tax credits provide support to around 6 million benefiting families, helping to lift approx 600,000 children out of child poverty.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of claims for (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit were made (i) over the telephone, (ii) using a paper form and (iii) in person in each of the last 10 years. [152810]
Jane Kennedy: This information is not available in the format requested. As there is only one form on which to claim tax credits, claims for working tax credit and child tax credit are not recorded separately. All new claims must now be completed on a paper form. The number of paper claims received is around 8,500,000 from 1 November 2002 to 23 July 2007.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to his answer of 3 July 2007, Official Report, column 957W, on welfare tax credits, if he will make it his practice to provide answers including full figures rather than by reference to a website. [152955]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC publish a great deal of information on tax credits and this is available on their website. Where information is already in the public domain, it is our usual practice to refer to this in providing answers to hon. Members parliamentary questions. This allows hon. Members to see for themselves the source of the information and it often contains other details which, while not pertinent to the question, could be of interest to them. In the case of official statistics the website will contain any future updated information.
Young People: Suicide
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many young people (a) under the age of 18 and (b) aged 18 to 19 years committed suicide in each of the last five years, broken down by gender. [152718]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 26 July 2007:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many young people (a) under the age of 18 and (b) aged 18-19 years committed suicide in each of the last five years, broken down by gender. (152718)
The table below contains numbers of suicides for those aged under 20 by age group and sex in England and Wales from 2001 to 2005, the latest available year.
It is assumed that most deaths from injury/poisoning of undetermined intent at ages 15 and over are cases where the harm was self-inflicted but there was insufficient evidence to prove that the deceased deliberately intended to kill themselves. For this reason, ONS includes in its suicide statistics both those deaths from intentional self-harm, and those from ‘injury or poisoning of undetermined intent.’ The same cannot be assumed in deaths at ages under 15 and therefore deaths from injury or poisoning of undetermined intent are not included when examining suicide (intentional self-harm) in children. As there were no deaths in children aged under 13 with a suicide verdict
for the period requested, the table shows the number of suicides in children aged 13 to 14, and the number of suicide or injury/poisoning of undetermined intent deaths in those aged 15 to 17 and 18 to 19.
| Number of deaths from suicide and injury/poisoning of undetermined intent, ages 13 to 19, England and Wales, 2001 to 2005( 1) | ||||||
| Ages 13 to 14 | Ages 15 to 17 | Ages 18 to 19 | ||||
| Suicide( 2) | Suicide and injury/poisoning of undetermined intent( 3) | Suicide and injury/poisoning of undetermined intent( 3) | ||||
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| (1) Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year. (2) The cause of death for suicide was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes X60-X84. (3) The cause of death for injury/poisoning of undetermined intent was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes Y10-Y34 excluding Y33.9 where the Coroner’s verdict was pending. | ||||||
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
African Union: EU External Relations
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether it is Government policy that the Prime Minister will not attend the EU-AU Summit in Lisbon this year if Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe attends the summit; and if he will make a statement. [152309]
Mr. Jim Murphy: Invitations have yet to be issued to the EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon. We are continuing to work with EU colleagues for a solution in line with the EU Common Position. We believe that Robert Mugabe's attendance would be wrong.
Asylum
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when HM High Commission Islamabad received notification from the Home Office of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal's decision in the case of Mr. M.I., sponsored by Mr. R.A. of Aylesbury (FCO reference 119381; appeal reference VA/31440/2006); and when he expects to issue a visa to Mr. M.I. [146724]
Meg Munn [holding answer 29 June 2007]: Following notification from the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, the visa section at our high commission in Islamabad wrote to Mr. M. I. on 27 June asking him to submit his passport so they could issue the visa. The visa was subsequently issued on 5 July.
China: Tigers
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on (a) Chinese policy on tiger conservation and (b) the manner in which the Chinese State Forestry Administration International Workshop on Strategy for Tiger Conservation was organised; and if he will make a statement. [152026]
Meg Munn: We raise the issue of tiger conservation with our Chinese counterparts at every suitable opportunity. My hon. Friend the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Barry Gardiner) discussed illegal trade in tiger parts with the Chinese Vice Minister for Forestry in July 2006. We are aware of concerns over the organisation of the Chinese State Forestry Administration’s International Workshop on Strategy for Tiger Conservation. We have noted that the International Tiger Coalition has proposed further discussions with the State Forestry Administration and would welcome such a move.
Departments: Flowers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was spent by his Department on flowers in the last 12 months. [153043]
Mr. Jim Murphy: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only by examining individual invoices. This would incur disproportionate cost.
Departments: Information Officers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many press officers are employed by his Department. [153039]
Meg Munn: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has 28 press officers in London working with domestic, international, foreign and foreign language media and around 300 officials based in our overseas missions (including locally-engaged staff) whose duties include, to a greater or lesser extent, press and public affairs.
Departments: Legislation
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Bills introduced by his Department in the last five years contained sunset clauses; and what plans he has for the future use of such clauses. [151844]
Mr. Jim Murphy: No such Bills have contained sunset clauses. The appropriateness of a sunset clause for the whole or part of any proposed legislation is considered on a case by case basis.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Bills introduced by his Department in the last five years did not contain sunset clauses; and if he will make a statement. [152482]
Meg Munn: None of the Bills introduced by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during the relevant period have contained such a clause.
Departments: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the name is of each special adviser in his Department. [153040]
Meg Munn: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has two special advisers, Madlin Sadler and Sarah Schaefer, who work a job-share.
Departments: Press
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to which periodicals his Department subscribes. [153047]
Meg Munn: A current list of periodical titles to which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office subscribes will be placed in the Library of the House and a copy sent to the hon. Member.
Departments: Training
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was spent by his Department on staff away days in the last 12 months. [153050]
Mr. Jim Murphy: This information is not held centrally, as Foreign and Commonwealth Office Departments are responsible for their own budgets. To collate the information requested by the hon. Member would incur disproportionate cost.
Departments: Travel
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was spent by his Department on (a) business class and (b) first class flights in the last 12 months. [153044]
Meg Munn: This information is not available centrally in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and it would incur disproportionate cost to collate the information.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was spent by his Department on first class train tickets in the last 12 months. [153045]
Meg Munn: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spent £191,940 on claims for first-class train tickets submitted through our electronic expenses system between 1 July 2006 and 30 June 2007.
This figure includes most, but not all, first-class train travel by FCO staff. We do not hold central records of train tickets bought with corporate credit cards or for which paper claims are submitted. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Embassies
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which embassies had the seniority of their ambassadors downgraded in each of the last five years. [151030]
Meg Munn:
We introduced our current banding system for classifying the rank of senior posts in 2004. It is therefore not straightforward to match changes in the status of posts from before 2004. However, the following Head of Mission posts have since 2002 been, or will in due course be, downgraded, while remaining in seniority terms part of the Senior Management Structure: Bandar
Seri Begawan, Berne, Brasilia, Dublin, Hanoi, Havana, Kampala, Luxembourg, Lima, Lisbon, Muscat, Rome, UKDelegation to NATO Brussels, UKDelegation to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Paris, Valletta, Wellington.
The following posts are either no longer part of the Senior Management Structure or will be downgraded in due course: Abidjan (currently vacant), Belmopan, Dakar, Dushanbe, Gaborone, Georgetown, Guatemala City, the Holy See, La Paz, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Montevideo, Port Louis, Port of Spain, Pyongyang, Quito, Suva, Tashkent, UK Delegation to the Council of Europe Strasbourg, Yaounde.
A number of Consul-General or Head of Subordinate Post positions have also been downgraded or deleted.
The grading of all positions as Head of diplomatic post is kept under constant review, to reflect the responsibilities of each post.
European Reform Treaty
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which areas will powers of national veto over European legislation and policy cease if the treaty agreed at the EU Council on 23 June comes into effect. [146189]
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will list (a) new and (b) existing articles that may be (i) introduced and (ii) moved to be subject to qualified majority voting under the terms of the Inter-governmental Conference Mandate; and if he will make a statement. [147729]
Mr. Jim Murphy: The Government expect the new Reform treaty to contain extensions of qualified majority voting (QMV) under 50 articles. However, the number of extensions that will apply to the UK will be significantly less than 50. We expect 13 extensions will not apply to the UK. Nine of these relate to Justice and Home Affairs (where we have secured an extension of our existing opt-in mechanism). Three relate to the euro (where our opt-out applies). One relates to social security (where we will have an emergency brake including a veto power).
Existing areas of policy activity moved from unanimity to QMV
1. Immigration and frontier controls (UK opt-in)
2. Judicial co-operation in criminal matters (UK opt-in)
3. Minimum rules for the definition of criminal offences and sanctions (UK opt-in)
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