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22 May 2008 : Column 510W—continued
Employment: Stafford
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many new jobs in each employment sector were created in Stafford constituency in the last year for which data are available. [206387]
Phil Hope: The information falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 May 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the number of new jobs in each employment sector created in Stafford constituency for the last year for which data are available (206387).
While statistics of new jobs created are not available explicitly, statistics from surveys enable comparisons to be made of net changes, in numbers of jobs, from year to year.
The table attached provides estimates from the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) of net change in the number of employee jobs in Stafford by sector between 2005 and 2006, the latest year for which data are available.
As with any survey, results from the ABI at a small geographical area are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Food: Prices
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, what estimate the National Statistician has made of month by month increases in (a) food prices and (b) energy prices in each month since January 2007 compared with (i) the previous month and (ii) the same month a year earlier. [206687]
Phil Hope: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 May 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question asking what estimate I have made of month by month increases in (a) food prices and (b) energy prices in each month since January 2007 compared with (i) the previous month and (ii) the same month a year earlier. (206687)
Food and energy are included in both the consumer prices index (CPI) and the retail prices index (RPI). Month on month and 12 month changes for both food and energy in both indices can be found by accessing the ‘Consumer Price Indices’ option in the following link.
Following the link provided will take you to a secondary menu. Both the monthly and annual changes in the CPI/RPI can be selected from this menu. The required information can then be found by selecting the group titles given about the clicking on ‘View Series’.
Personal Income
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what estimate the National Statistician has made of month by month increases in (a) wages, (b) consumer prices index and (c) retail price index for each month since January 2007 onwards compared with (i) the previous month and (ii) the same month a year earlier. [206686]
Phil Hope: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 May 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question asking what estimate has been made of month by month increases in a) wages, b) the consumer prices index (CPI) and c) the retail prices index (RPI) for each month since January 2007 onwards compared with i) the previous month and ii) the same month a year earlier. (206686)
The required information on wages can be found by using our Average Earnings Index. Tables 15 and 16 of the following link give comparisons with the same month a year earlier, while comparisons with the previous month are provided in the attached table
The required information on the CPI and RPI can be found in tables 3.2 and 3.3 (CPI) and 4.2 and 4.3 (RPI) of the following link.
| Percentage | |
Population
Mr. Willis: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, what the population of each (a) strategic health authority and (b) primary care trust area is. [206900]
Phil Hope: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 May 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question regarding the population or each (a) strategic health authority and (b) primary care trust area. (206900)
The latest population estimates available are for mid-2006. The requested estimates are available from the National Statistics website at:
Prostate Cancer
Jon Trickett: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the survival rate from prostate cancer in (a) spearhead primary care trusts and (b) England was in the latest period for which figures are available. [206399]
Phil Hope: The information falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 May 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the survival rate from prostate cancer in (a) spearhead primary care trusts and (b) England was in the latest period for which figures are available. [206399]
The latest available relative survival rates in a) spearhead primary care trusts are for patients diagnosed in 1996-2001 and followed up to the end of 2003. The one-year survival rate was 88% and the five-year survival rate was 66%. These rates are available on the National Statistics website at
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=14821&;Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272
The latest available relative survival rates in b) England are for patients diagnosed in 1999-2003 and followed up to the end of 2004. The one-year survival rate was 91% and the five-year survival rate was 74%. These rates are available on the National Statistics website at
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=14821&;Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272
International Development
Iraq: Children
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment his Department has made of children's healthcare services in Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [205067]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: Since 2003, DFID has continually monitored the state of Iraq's healthcare services including those for children. The Iraqi healthcare system already faced enormous challenges before the 2003 conflict. We recognise the serious need for improvements in child healthcare provision, including immunisation, potable water, food and nutrition and access for women and children to primary health care.
The Iraqi Government, supported by the international community, is seeking to address these issues. For example, a five-year health plan has been drafted with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and a maternal child strategy and family health plans to move to a primary health care model with an emphasis on prevention and away from the present hospital based care system. The UN, led by UNICEF, is supporting the Iraqi Government's efforts to improve nutrition rates in Iraq through a variety of programmes including infant feeding campaigns, immunisation and the provision of medical supplies.
Since 2003 the UK has contributed a total of £70 million to the UN and World Bank Trust funds, which together are spending a total of $180 million in the health care sector. We have also contributed £5 million to the WHO. We also support humanitarian agencies including the International Committee of the Red Cross, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and World Food Programme who also provide emergency relief to the 2.7 million internally displaced persons living in Iraq, including to children and other vulnerable groups (orphans, elderly, single headed female households). This year we have committed £17 million of funding for humanitarian assistance programmes, including £3 million to UNICEF's emergency programme to provide assistance to Iraqi children.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Burma: Storms
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to the government of China on its role in seeking a relaxation of the restrictions imposed by the Burmese government on the flow of international aid to those affected by Cyclone Nargis. [206599]
Meg Munn: We have been in close contact with many of the governments of the region in our efforts to persuade the Burmese authorities to allow unhindered access to all affected areas. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary wrote to Foreign Minister Yang recently and spoke to him on 13 May. Minister Yang agreed to convey our concerns to the Burmese.
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to members of the Association of South East Asian Nations on their role in seeking a relaxation of the restrictions imposed by the Burmese government on the flow of international aid to those affected by Cyclone Nargis. [206600]
Meg Munn: The Burmese government's obstruction of the international aid effort is utterly unacceptable. A natural disaster is in real danger of becoming a man-made catastrophe. We have been in close contact with many of the governments of the region in our efforts to persuade the Burmese authorities to allow unhindered access for international aid to all affected areas.
Recently, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has spoken to his counterparts in Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. He met the Foreign Minister of Malaysia in London on 12 May. Recently, my noble Friend Lord Malloch-Brown has visited Thailand, Singapore and Burma where he pressed senior members of the regime to allow more aid into stricken areas in full co-operation with the international donor community. I called the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ambassadors to the Foreign Office on 14 May to express our concerns. I have also spoken to senior politicians in Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, in addition to high level lobbying by our Missions around the region.
On 19 May, with Burmese agreement, ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed to create a regional mechanism to facilitate the effective delivery of aid from the donor community to Burma. Our current effort is to secure a means to deliver aid on the back of a logistics chain we are asking ASEAN countries to establish.
Capital Punishment
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had on the use of the death penalty with the governments of (a) China, (b) Iran, (c) Saudi Arabia, (d) Pakistan and (e) the USA. [204331]
Meg Munn: The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle and we are committed to working with all EU partners towards universal abolition.
In China, we welcome the Supreme People’s Court’s central review of death penalty cases since 1 January 2007 which has reportedly led to a reduction in executions, but continue to urge the Chinese government to make public statistics and to reduce the scope of the death penalty. We did this most recently at the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue at the end of January. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister also raised the death penalty with Chinese Premier Wen during his visit to China in January.
We are deeply concerned by the increasing use of the death penalty in Iran and its continued use for juvenile offenders and we regularly raise this with the Iranian authorities in bilateral meetings and through the EU. Most recently, in a meeting with the Iranian ambassador on 1 April, my hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East, called on Iran to limit its use of the death penalty and raised concerns about articles of Iran’s draft penal code which would make apostasy punishable by death. We have supported several EU statements and demarches this year about the general use of the death penalty in Iran and individual death penalty cases.
My hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East raised the issue of the death penalty during his visit to Saudi Arabia in February 2008.
The UK delegation to the UN Human Rights Council raised the issue of the death penalty with Pakistan as part of the Universal Periodic Review that Pakistan underwent on 8 May. The UK delegation urged the Government of Pakistan to review the use of the death penalty, with a view to a moratorium and abolition, in order to implement the UN General Assembly resolution adopted in December 2007 calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The UK, with our EU partners, will continue to lobby the Government of Pakistan against the use of capital punishment.
Our officials in the US continue to monitor the use of the death penalty in the US and make representations bilaterally or with EU partners on specific cases where the circumstances warrant them. The EU last took action in the case of Lynd v. Georgia on 2 May 2008, sending a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles appealing for clemency.
China: Capital Punishment
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations his Department has made to the Chinese government on the publication of statistics on its use of the death penalty. [206601]
Meg Munn: In March a Chinese court official reported that, since recovering the right of review over all death sentences, the Supreme People's Court had rejected 15 per cent. of original verdicts from lower-level courts. However, unless China is more transparent about the application of the death penalty, we cannot verify its claims that the number of executions has fallen. We continue to urge China to reduce the scope of death penalty crimes and to allow transparency of statistics. We did so most recently at the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue at the end of January.
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