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11 Nov 2009 : Column 583W—continued
Work Experience: Young People
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many 18 to 24 year old jobseekers in each region completed a work experience placement in each of the last 24 months. [293587]
Jim Knight: Work experience has been offered to people aged from 18 to 24 through the new deal for young people. I have placed tables in the Library setting out the number of people in each Jobcentre Plus region who have taken up the employment option, the voluntary sector option or the environmental task force option under the new deal for young people in each of the 24 months up to February 2009, which is the latest date for which figures are available.
Working Hours: Lone Parents
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will extend the pilot policy to allow up to 16 hours work by lone parents in receipt of the national minimum wage to be disregarded in respect of eligibility for means-tested benefits nationwide; and if she will make a statement. [296860]
Jim Knight: We announced that we would be testing the effectiveness of an improved financial incentive for parents with younger children who work less than 16 hours while on benefit in the 'Progression to Work' pathfinders.
We are proposing to test allowing lone parents with younger children to earn up to £50 before their benefit begins to be withdrawn. The current earnings disregard is £20 a week.
We want to see whether increasing the incentive can support them to make the transition from benefits to sustainable work. When we have tested and evaluated this initiative we will consider introducing this disregard nationally.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when she plans to respond to (a) Question 295491, on funding from the Growth Fund, and (b) Question 295848, on the Birmingham City Council Jobcentre Plus Partnership, tabled on 21 October 2009 for answer on 26 October 2009. [297857]
Jim Knight [holding answer 5 November 2009]: I replied to the hon. Member's questions as follows: PQ 295491 on 9 November 2009, Official Report, column 90W and PQ 295848 on 3 November 2009, Official Report, columns 822-23W.
Treasury
Air Passenger Duty: Voluntary Organisations
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made a recent estimate of the cost to non-governmental organisations and charities employing aid workers overseas of air passenger duty paid on air travel; and if he will make a statement. [299541]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: In line with Cabinet Office guidance, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs conducted an impact assessment of the new APD banding system and published it on its website at:
The assessment does not look at each individual sector of the economy.
The Government conducted a 12-week formal consultation from 31 January 2008 on aviation taxation. The responses to the consultation, including non-governmental organisations and charities can be found at:
Bank Services: Interest Charges
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has made an assessment of the effects on the economy of the rates of interest applied to current accounts at (a) Lloyds Banking Group, (b) RBS, (c) Barclays and (d) HSBC; and if he will make a statement. [299007]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Treasury does not collect information on the rates of interest on current accounts. I refer the hon. Member to the reply I made to him on 9 November 2009, Official Report, column 65W, in relation to indicators of competition in the UK retail banking sector monitored by the Treasury.
Business: Insurance
Mr. Hands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate has been made of the amount spent by UK businesses on business interruption insurance in each of the last 10 financial years. [298943]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: No such estimate has been made.
Child Trust Fund: Wales
Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in respect of how many children child trust fund payments have been made in (a) each constituency in Wales and (b) each council ward in the Vale of Clwyd. [299705]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The annual statistical information on Child Trust Fund Accounts including constituency level data can be viewed on HM Revenue and Customs' website:
Information on accounts opened is not held at council ward level.
Christmas
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have spent on Christmas (i) cards, (ii) parties and (iii) decorations in the last 12 months. [299261]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The cost of purchasing cards for Christmas 2008 was £3,799 for the Treasury and £798 for the Debt Management Office. The Treasury's cards were purchased from Card Aid, who made a donation to charity on behalf of the Department.
Christmas parties are funded by staff and not the Department and Christmas decorations are also either purchased by staff or by facilities management companies without recourse to public funds.
Climate Change: Costs
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the evidential basis was for the Prime Minister's statement at the Major Economics Forum on 19 October 2009, that the economic cost of failure to avoid the current effects of climate change could lead to an economic cost greater than the losses caused by two world wars and the Great Depression; and what estimate he has made of the global financial cost of (a) World War I, (b) the Great Depression and (c) World War II (i) as a percentage of gross domestic products and (ii) in real terms. [296795]
Mr. Byrne:
The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change published on 30 October 2006, states that, if the wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, then the estimates of damage from climate change could rise to 20 per cent. of global GDP or more. The review concludes that ignoring climate change could lead to major disruption to economic and social activity later in this century and the next, on a scale
similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century. The Stern Review is available at:
Construction Industry Scheme
Ms Keeble: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent estimate he has made of the number of people registered with the Construction Industry Scheme who are unemployed. [299600]
Mr. Timms: No such estimate has been made.
The Construction Industry Scheme applies only to those who are self-employed; records are only kept of payments made during their periods of engagement.
Departmental Billing
Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in (a) September and (b) October 2009. [299551]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Treasury Group, which includes the Debt Management Office and the Office of Government Commerce, paid 98 per cent. of invoices not in dispute in September and 97 per cent. in October within 10 days of receipt.
Departmental Data Protection
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department's information assurance procedures have been subject to an independent audit. [299384]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: HM Treasury's information assurance procedures were subjected to an independent audit during the spring and early summer of 2009.
Departmental Energy
Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) energy rating and (b) energy band of each building occupied by his Department and its agencies was in each year for which figures are available. [299173]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The information requested is available for buildings occupied by HM Treasury and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) of more than 1,000 square metres from 2008, and for the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) from 2009, as shown in the following table.
| 2008 | 2009 | |||
| Location | Rating | Band | Rating | Band |
Departmental Official Cars
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of provision of Government cars to special advisers in his Department was in the last 12 months. [299593]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: No special advisers are provided with an allocated Government car and driver. As with all civil servants, special advisers may use an official car or taxi in properly defined circumstances. Details of such use is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was claimed in reimbursable expenses by press officers in his Department and its agencies in 2008-09. [299277]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Press officers in HM Treasury and its agencies claimed reimbursable expenses of £1,754 in 2008-09.
Departmental Procurement
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether there has been any nugatory cost to his Department and its agencies on procurement under tender because the tender process has been cancelled prior to the award of the contract in the last 12 months. [299358]
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what use (a) his Department and (b) its agencies make of electronic auctions when undertaking procurement exercises. [299455]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the right hon. Gentleman to page Ev 70 of the Treasury Committee's Thirteenth Report of Session 2008-09, Evaluating the Efficiency Programme (HC 520).
Departmental Public Relations
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on (a) Ministerial photoshoots and (b) production of videos in which Ministers appear in the last three years. [299301]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry:
The Treasury has spent £2,543.88 in the last three years on photographs of new Ministers to the Department for the Treasury's website. With regards to production videos in which Ministers appear in the last three years I refer the hon. Member to the
answer given on 5 November 2009, Official Report, column 1093, to the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell).
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) average time to answer a call, (b) average waiting time for a member of the public during a call, (c) percentage of calls dropped or not answered and (d) average length of a call was in call centres run by HM Revenue and Customs in the latest period for which figures are available. [299463]
Mr. Timms: The latest period for which figures are available is October 2009. During this period, in HM Revenue and Customs' centrally managed network of contact centres, the:
(a) average time to answer a call was 37 seconds;
(b) average waiting time for a member of the public during a call, that is the time spent on-hold during their conversation, was 15 seconds;
(c) percentage of calls not answered was 5.7 per cent. of the total call attempts, as measured by the number of engaged tones and busy messages that were played; and
(d) average time to handle a call (including any additional time taken by the adviser to carry out work related to call after it has ended) was six minutes four seconds.
Departmental Travel
Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many miles (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department travelled by (i) car, (ii) rail and (iii) air on Government business in each year since 1997. [298550]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. HM Treasury systems do not record travel by Ministers separately from travel by officials.
Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation
Ben Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had on criteria for compensation of Equitable Life policyholders. [298066]
Mr. Byrne: The Government asked Sir John Chadwick to advise on the extent of relative loss suffered by current and former Equitable Life policyholders, as well as what factors the Government might wish to take into account when determining whether disproportionate impact has been suffered. The Government expects Sir John to submit his final advice by spring 2010.
Ben Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with (a) ministerial colleagues and (b) Sir John Chadwick on the likely timetable for payment of compensation to Equitable Life policyholders. [298087]
Mr. Byrne: As I announced in the House on 21 October, the Government expects Sir John to submit his final advice by spring 2010. We will consider his advice as quickly as possible and announce a payment scheme that is practical to deliver and fair to both policyholders and taxpayers.
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