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17 Dec 2007 : Column 1124W—continued
Excise Duties: Alcoholic Drinks
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to introduce duty increases on alcohol prior to the next Budget statement. [174828]
Angela Eagle: Decisions on increases in alcohol duty rates are made by the Chancellor as part of the Budget process.
Freight: Roads
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he plans to introduce a cabotage scheme for UK road use by overseas freight operators. [174136]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I have been asked to reply.
Cabotage by EU hauliers in the UK is currently allowed under EU law provided operations are conducted on a temporary basis. The Department for Transport published a statement on its website in August 2006 which provides further details.
The Department is currently consulting on a package of three proposed EU road transport Regulations published by the European Commission in May 2007, one of which proposes a new definition of cabotage. The consultation period closes on 29 February 2008. The Consultation Document is available at:
Fuel Poverty: Eastern Region
Mr. Spring: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many households in (a) Suffolk and (b) the East of England region were classified as living in fuel poverty in each of the last five years. [173456]
Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.
Regional estimates of fuel poverty are available only for 2003 and are taken from the Fuel Poverty Indicator dataset, available online at:
This shows that there were approximately 18,000 fuel poor households in Suffolk and 124,000 fuel poor household in the East of England.
Gift Aid
Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the likely effect on levels of revenue from Gift Aid for UK charities arising from changes in the basic rate of income tax. [174505]
Jane Kennedy: The precise impact on charities income will depend on the behavioural changes to the recent tax changes of both donors and charities. The strong upward trend in Gift Aid is however expected to result in consistent year-on-year growth in charities' income from Gift Aid, including in the year 2008-09.
Health in Pregnancy Grant
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons benefits in pregnancy are to be provided through the Health in Pregnancy Grant; and if he will make a statement. [174328]
Jane Kennedy: The Government are introducing the Health in Pregnancy Grant from April 2009 as a one-off payment to expectant mothers to help them during the important last weeks of pregnancy. It will provide flexible financial support as a one-off payment, and will be payable per pregnancy. This recognizes the additional costs involved during pregnancy and in the run up to birth.
Job Creation
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many new jobs have been created in the UK since 1997. [174394]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 17 December 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question regarding the number of new jobs created since 1997. I am replying in her absence. (174394)
While statistics of new jobs created are not available explicitly, statistics from surveys enable comparisons to be made of net changes in employment from year to year.
According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS), employment in the UK, among all those aged 16 and over, has increased by 2.8 million between the second quarter of 1997 and the period August-October 2007, the latest for which figures are available.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Life Expectancy
John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average UK life expectancy is; and what the average life expectancy is for residents of mining communities. [174654]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 17 December 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the average UK life expectancy is; and what the average life expectancy is on residents of mining communities. I am replying in her absence. (174654)
Period life expectancy at birth(1) in the United Kingdom, for 2004-06(2) (the latest period available), was 77 years for males, and 81 years for females.
Life expectancy figures for residents of mining communities specifically are not available. Period life expectancies at birth for local authorities in England and Wales are published annually by ONS, and are available on the National Statistics website at:
(1) Period life expectancy at birth is an estimate of the average number of years a newborn baby would survive if he or she experienced the area’s age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life. The figure reflects mortality among those living in the area in each time period, rather than mortality among those born in each area. It is not therefore the number of years a baby born in the area in each time period could actually expect to live, both because the death rates of the area are likely to change in the future and because many of those born in the area will live elsewhere for at least some part of their lives.
(2) Three year rolling averages, based on deaths registered in each year and mid-year population estimates.
Members: Correspondence
John Penrose: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to reply to the letter of 21 August from the hon. Member for Weston-Super-Mare. [171875]
Jane Kennedy: I have done so and apologise for the delay in replying to the hon. Member.
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects to reply to the letter of 28 August from the right hon. Member for Banff and Buchan on Mrs. Leslie of Peterhead. [174453]
Kitty Ussher: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has now replied to the hon. Member.
Mortgages: Repossession Orders
Mr. Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many home repossessions there were in (a) Ribble Valley, (b) Lancashire and (c) England in each of the last five years; [174446]
(2) what discussions he has had with banks on preparation of a safety net to prevent home repossessions. [174447]
Angela Eagle: The Government do not hold these figures. The Ministry of Justice publishes figures for the numbers of possession orders made by county courts, which are presented in the following table.
| Number of mortgage possession orders: 2002-2005 | |||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| Number of landlord possession orders: 2002-2005 | |||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) publishes the total numbers of properties taken into possession, available at:
The Government provide assistance for homeowners facing financial difficulties through the provision of face-to-face debt advice. In addition, the Thoresen review is also considering options aimed at giving consumers greater access to generic financial advice, and will publish its final report next year.
The Government also provide targeted financial support available through DWP's Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI).
The Government meet with a wide range of stakeholders, including the mortgage industry, and is in discussion with industry to identify how they can assist those experiencing difficulty.
Public Expenditure
Mr. David Hamilton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of economic activity was accounted for by public sector spending in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland, (e) England and (f) each English region in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [174148]
Andy Burnham: Estimates of gross value added by country and region are published by the ONS. Data are available in the ONS Regional Trends publication. Data on identifiable public spending by country and region are available in the Treasury's Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (Cm 7091) published in April 2007.
Public Sector: Manpower
Mr. David Hamilton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the population were employed by the public sector in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland, (e) England and (f) each English region in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [174146]
Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 17 December 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the proportion of the population employed in the public sector in countries and regions of the UK. I am replying in her absence. (174146)
The latest analysis of UK public sector employment by region and country of workplace was included in an article in ‘Economic and Labour Market Review’ Vol 1 No. 3 March 2007 (pages 17 to 23), a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library. This is also available via the following link.
The second part of table 1 on page 22 includes proportions in the form requested from 1999 (the earliest available) to 2006.
Revenue and Customs: Data Protection
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions HM Revenue and Customs have packaged personal data on disc along with the access passwords for transportation in 2007. [169101]
Jane Kennedy: On 20 November the Chancellor announced an independent review of HMRC's data handling procedures to be conducted by Kieran Poynter, chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The full terms of reference for that review are available on the HM Treasury website at:
Tax Allowances: Electric Vehicles
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will allow electronic vehicles transporting goods to be given the same tax relief that businesses are given for electronic cars. [173775]
Angela Eagle [holding answer 13 December 2007]: All vehicles with zero tail pipe carbon emissions are exempt from VED.
Expenditure on plant and machinery, including electric vehicles for transporting goods, will be eligible for the new annual investment allowance of £50,000 from April 2008. This new allowance will be available to all businesses, but will be of particular benefit to smaller businesses.
Cars, including electric cars, are also plant and machinery, but are subject to special rules. For example, expenditure on cars with low carbon dioxide emissions (below 120 grams per kilometre) currently qualify for a 100 per cent. first year allowance. The Government announced at the PBR that they are currently considering options for the taxation of business cars and there will be further announcements on cars at Budget 2008.
The Government keep all taxes under review.
Tax Credits: Overpayments
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether HM Revenue and Customs repays overpaid money that is recovered from tax credit claimants whose initial complaint was rejected but who later had their case upheld by HM Revenue and Customs, the Adjudicator or the Parliamentary Ombudsman. [173586]
Jane Kennedy: If a customer has paid back any part of a tax credits overpayment that is later written off, HM Revenue and Customs will refund that amount or off set it against any other recoverable tax credits debt for the same claim in another year.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the value of tax credit overpayments recovered has been from claimants whose initial complaint was rejected but who have had their case upheld by HM Revenue and Customs, the Adjudicator or the Parliamentary Ombudsman in the last three years; [173587]
(2) how many tax credit claimants from whom overpayments have been recovered after an initial complaint was rejected have later had their case upheld by HM Revenue and Customs, the Adjudicator or the Parliamentary Ombudsman in the last three years. [173588]
Jane Kennedy: The information is not available in the format requested.
The independent Adjudicator’s annual report for 2007 is available at:
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