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29 Oct 2009 : Column 573W—continued
Somalia: Overseas Aid
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding his Department has contributed to Somalia in the last 12 months; and on what has it been spent. [295175]
Mr. Thomas: Information on the Department for International Development's (DFID) aid to all developing countries in 2008-09 was published in Statistics on International Development, which is available online:
In 2008-09 (the latest period for which confirmed spending figures are available) total DFID bilateral aid to Somalia was £33 million.
The programme aims to promote peace and better governance across Somalia, meet humanitarian needs, and improve basic services; particularly health and education.
DFID aid to Somalia is delivered through United Nations agencies and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), working with local implementation partners.
St. Helena: Airports
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he plans to publish the results of his Department's recent consultation on future access to St. Helena. [295621]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Consultation Report is available on the Department for International Development's website at:
Sudan
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effect of the expulsion of aid agencies in South Kordofan and eastern Sudan following the International Criminal Court's indictment of President Bashir in March 2009; and if he will make a statement. [294672]
Mr. Thomas: The Government of Sudan's decision to expel 13 international and close down three national NGOs in March this year has had a detrimental effect on the delivery of assistance to the people of South Kordofan and eastern Sudan. Health facilities, water and sanitation projects and livelihood programmes run by these organisations have either lost support or have been discontinued.
As with Darfur, the ability to respond to future emergencies-such as floods or conflict-is now much lower in these areas. The effects of the expulsions are most acutely felt in the delivery of recovery and basic services programmes. Since March, several NGOs have been trying to expand or establish new programmes to cover these gaps. In particular, Mercy Corps Scotland, Care Switzerland, and Save the Children-Sweden plan to scale up programmes in South Kordofan. However, the Sudan Government has been slow to grant the necessary permits and it is unlikely that new programmes will be fully operational for some months.
Treasury
Child Care Vouchers
Jessica Morden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many employees have taken part in an employer childcare voucher scheme in each year since the introduction of exemptions from tax and national insurance contributions on such vouchers. [295996]
Mr. Timms: Published research, commissioned by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in 2006, by the National Centre for Social Research estimated that there were 174,000 users of child care vouchers available under Employer Supported Childcare (ESC) in late 2005. The research report is available at:
Information for other years is not available, as HMRC does not collect administrative data on the use of ESC.
Council Tax
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) of 7 July 2009, Official Report, column 775W, on council tax, if he will take steps to ensure the Valuation Office Agency's council tax banding support tool is used to identify and correct errors in the council tax banding list. [292862]
Ian Pearson: The council tax banding support tool is not a suitable tool for such a use. It is accessed through cases on individual properties and provides information about comparable bandings and settlements. It does not make decisions but provides information to valuers to help them make decisions. Raising cases and generating this information for over 22.7 million properties (in England) would be impractical and very resource intensive.
Economic and Monetary Union: Local Government
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 9 July 2009, Official Report, column 966W, on the Euro Preparations Advisory Group, if he will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of the meeting from September 2006; and which local authorities were represented at that meeting. [294447]
Ian Pearson: The minute of the local authority euro preparations meeting of September 2006 has been deposited in the Library of the House. We do not hold the attendee list for this meeting.
Housing: Construction
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what fiscal measures his Department has implemented to encourage the construction of new homes in each year since 2001. [296608]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Government have recently taken a number of steps to support house building and construction in the context of the global economic downturn. In September 2008 as part of a £1 billion package of targeted support for home owners, home buyers and the house building sector, the Government announced that stamp duty land tax would not apply to purchases of residential property of £175,000 or less for 12 months from 3 September 2008. Budget 2009 announced an extension until 31 December 2009. Around 160,000 transactions have benefited from this fiscal measure.
Previously, Budget 2007 announced details of a stamp duty land tax exemption for new zero-carbon homes which supports the Government's wider housing and environmental objectives. As part of Budget 2008 the Government extended the exemption to new flats, retrospectively from 1 October 2007.
Public Expenditure
Rob Marris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Government's per capita spending was in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in (i) 2004-05, (ii) 2005-06, (iii) 2006-07, (iv) 2007-08 and (v) 2008-09. [293900]
Mr. Byrne: The figures on total identifiable expenditure per head by country for 2004-05 to 2008-09 can be found in table 9.2 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) 2009 (Cm 7630).
Revenue and Customs: Repayment
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions HM Revenue and Customs and its predecessor made a discretionary payment to a member of the public as an acknowledgement of error or mismanagement in each year since 1997; and what the monetary value of such repayments was in each such year. [295658]
Mr. Timms: The table provides the available information on discretionary payments made by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as a result of error or mismanagement. Corresponding data for Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise for the nine years prior to the formation of HMRC is not available.
| Discretionary payments | ||
| Number | Value (£ million) | |
Information on the number of payments made prior to 2008-09 is not available due to the use of a different classification schemes before this year.
Thalidomide Trust: Taxation
Rob Marris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether extraordinary factors have been taken into account in determining the taxation status of the Thalidomide Trust in the last 30 years; and if he will make a statement. [293899]
Mr. Timms: When the Thalidomide Trust was set up in 1974, it was subject to the same rules that govern payments from all discretionary trusts. Under those rules, payments from Trust income counted towards the victims' taxable income and also reduced their level of entitlement to tax credits.
In 2004, following consultation with the then Inland Revenue, the trust agreed to change the way it makes payments to victims so that they could be classified as "periodical" payments and potentially fall within the scope of legislation governing "structured settlements". The Treasury were then able to make use of a power bringing those periodical payments by the trustees to Thalidomide victims within the scope of a relief aimed at structured damages settlements arrived at by agreement between the parties or by order of a court.
The new legislation took effect from 5 August 2004, after which payments from the trust to victims have not counted as income for the purposes of calculating the victims' income tax liabilities or their entitlement to tax credits.
Health
Abortion
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the number of repeat abortions undertaken in relation to (a) married and (b) unmarried women aged (i) under 16, (ii) under 18, (iii) 18 or 19, (iv) between 20 and 29, (v) between 30 and 34 and (vi) 35 years and over in each primary care trust area in the latest period for which figures are available. [295897]
Gillian Merron: The information is shown in a table, which has been placed in the Library.
Cancer: Diagnosis
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley), of 12 October 2009, Official Report, columns 802-3W, on cancer: diagnosis, whether his Department has plans for any hospital (a) building, (b) rebuilding and (c) renovation after the winding down of the existing major programme for renovating and rebuilding NHS hospitals. [295770]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: There are five large scale hospital building schemes (capital value over £100 million) currently going through the business case approvals process.
This Government's commitment to opening 100 new hospital schemes by 2010 has already been achieved. This has addressed the most serious and urgent deficiencies in the age and quality of the hospital estate. Fewer major hospital schemes are coming forward as a result and also because the type of facility required is changing as the national health service moves more services into primary care and community settings and provides more diagnostic and other specialist facilities such as elective care centres.
Contraceptives
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated expenditure on community contraceptive services for women (a) aged under 20 years and (b) aged 20 years and over was in (i) England and (ii) each primary care trust area in the latest period for which figures are available. [295887]
Gillian Merron: This information is not held centrally.
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women in each primary care trust area began using each type of primary method of contraception following their first visit to a community contraceptive services facility in each year since 1997-98. [295892]
Gillian Merron: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in table 15 of statistical bulletin NHS "Contraceptive Services, England 2008-09". Tables 5A to 5J of this document also contain data by strategic health authority. The document has been placed in the Library.
Departmental Domestic Visits
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times each Minister within his Department has visited (a) an accident and emergency department, (b) an independent sector treatment centre, (c) a GP surgery, (d) an NHS dentist, (e) an urgent care centre, (f) a GP-led health centre and (g) a NHS hospital trust facility in an official capacity in the last 12 months. [294220]
Phil Hope: As part of their official duties, departmental Ministers visit a variety of accident and emergency departments, independent sector treatment centres, general practitioner (GP) surgeries, national health service dentists, urgent care centres, GP-led health centres and NHS hospital trust facilities. The following visits occurred during the period 15 October 2008 to 14 October 2009.
Visits by each Minister during the last 12 months were:
| Alan Johnson | |
| Type of organisation | Number of visits 15 October 2008 - 5 June 2009 |
| Andy Burnham | |
| Type of organisation | Number of visits 8 June 2009 - 14 October 2009 |
| Lord Darzi | |
| Type of organisation | Number of visits 15 October 2008 - 21 July 2009 |
| Ben Bradshaw | |
| Type of organisation | Number of visits 15 October 2008 - 5 June 2009 |
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