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6 Feb 2008 : Column 1195W—continued
One-year and five-year survival rates for patients diagnosed with prostate cancer in England in 1971-1975, 1976-1980, 1981-1985 and 1986-1990 can be found in Coleman MP et al (1999) ‘Cancer survival trends in England and Wales, 1971-1995: deprivation and NHS Region’, London: The Stationery Office. One-year and five-year survival rates from this volume are available on the National Statistics website, for England and Wales at:
Two-year survival rates are not available.
Revenue and Customs: Higher Civil Servants
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid in travel expenses to the 450 senior managers who attended the three meetings in 2006, held as part of HM Revenue and Customs Leading the Way initiative to discuss the formation of the HM Revenue and Customs Ambition. [184565]
Angela Eagle: Travel expenses were claimed by the individual attendees from their own business unit budgets. No cumulative record is kept of the costs relating to these events.
This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what costs were incurred by HM Revenue and Customs in hosting the three meetings held in 2006 as part of the Leading the Way initiative to discuss the formulation of the HM Revenue and Customs Ambition. [184566]
Angela Eagle: The Leading the Way events were held in April, October and November 2006. They brought together 450 senior members of HMRC staff to set the direction of the new department and to embed an understanding of customer needs.
The scale of the challenge necessitated bringing this senior leadership community together through large-scale events reflecting the UK-wide nature of HMRC's role.
The total cost of these events was £1,342,647.20.
Tax Incentives: Vehicles
Mr. Evans: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on tax incentives for manufacturers of flexible-fuel vehicles. [185061]
Angela Eagle: Flexible fuel cars registered since 2001 are eligible for the alternative fuel car discount rate in vehicle excise duty.
No representations have been received on the specific matter of tax incentives for manufacturers of flexible-fuel vehicles capable of running on both petrol and high blend bioethanol.
The Treasury routinely receives a range of stakeholder views in the approach to the Budget and the Chancellor considers all relevant economic, environmental and social factors when deciding taxation policy.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Business: Regulation
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many individual burdens in business compliance requirements have been (a) removed and (b) amended in each year since the introduction of the Better Regulation Agenda. [184091]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 1 February 2008]: Government Departments published simplification plans in December 2007. These plans show more than 700 measures to reduce administrative burdens for the private and third sectors, policy costs and burdens on the public sector between May 2005 and 2010. Over 280 of these measures have been implemented to date.
Further details can be found at:
Certification Officer: Trade Unions
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many members of the Certification Officer's staff are members of a trades union. [181854]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 24 January 2008]: It is a matter for individuals if they wish to join a trade union or not and they are under no obligation to disclose whether or not they are members of trade unions.
Credit Unions
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department has taken to encourage people to save with credit unions. [184043]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
As set out in the summary of responses to the consultation on the ‘Review of cooperative and credit union legislation’, the Government sees some merit in both allowing credit unions to be able to admit corporate or unincorporated local community organisations into their membership in certain circumstances and allowing credit unions to have some flexibility in determining their membership criteria to allow more people to access their services. The Government are currently considering the issue in more detail and will make further announcement in due course.
Energy: Fees and Charges
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the average annual household bill for (a) gas and (b) electricity in (i) St. Ives constituency, (ii) Cornwall and (iii) England in each of the last 10 years. [184820]
Malcolm Wicks
[holding answer 5 February 2008]: The lowest level of aggregation for average annual domestic gas and electricity bills that is available is at gas/electricity region level. It is published quarterly in “Quarterly Energy Prices”, the latest version of which is accessible online at http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/
file43302.pdf. The town/cities specified in tables 2.2.3 and 2.3.3 within this publication indicate which region the bills apply too. Plymouth is used to represent the south west, and therefore incorporates Cornwall. Constituency level averages are not available. This publication also holds national level averages for gas and electricity for England and Wales, but not England alone.
Average bills vary significantly with the type of payment method used; therefore all statistics are broken down between the direct debit, standard credit and pre-payment methods. The following table shows the average annual bill for each payment type in Plymouth in cash terms since 1998 (the earliest available year):
| Plymouth (South West) | ||||||
| Gas | Electricity | |||||
| Standard credit | Direct debit | Prepayment | Standard credit | Direct debit | Prepayment | |
National average annual bills are shown in following table from 1998 onwards in cash terms:
| England and Wales | ||||||
| Gas | Electricity | |||||
| Standard Credit | Direct Debit | Prepayment | Standard Credit | Direct Debit | Prepayment | |
EU Law
Dr. Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will place in the Library a copy of a letter of formal notice issued by the European Commission in March 2007 to the UK Government initiating infringement procedures for incorrectly transposing directive 2007/78/EC into national law. [182663]
Mr. McFadden: Disclosure of the information may prejudice the relations between the United Kingdom and the European Commission and may harm the prospects for reaching a resolution with the Commission over infringement proceedings.
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