House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 22 Oct 2001 (pt 17)

Football Transfer Fees

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much VAT was raised on football transfer fees in each of the last five years at current prices. [8856]

Mr. Boateng: The information is not available.

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VAT (Housing Associations)

Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to interpret VAT regulations so that zero-rating of aids and adaptation works is applied to non-charitable housing associations. [8615]

Mr. Boateng: The zero-rate for aids and adaptation works is available only to disabled people, charities and housing associations that choose to operate as charities. The UK's ability to extend zero rates is limited by EU agreements.

Social Housing (VAT)

Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to reduce VAT to 5 per cent. on all works to existing social housing. [8614]

Mr. Boateng: A reduced rate of VAT on all works to social housing would be a major change to the VAT base. Such a change would require careful consideration of all the social, environmental and economic effects.

Biofuels

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the extent to which the proposed 20p rebate on biodiesel will stimulate production of biodiesel in order to meet the expected EU targets for road transport fuel to be from bio sources. [8611]

Mr. Beith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what fiscal steps he has taken to ensure that the United Kingdom can meet the European Commission target for road transport fuel to be provided by biofuels by the year 2005. [9426]

Mr. Boateng: Under the Green Fuel Challenge launched in November last year, the Government announced that, subject to EU agreement, it will introduce a new duty rate for biodiesel in Budget 2002, at 20p per litre below the rate for ultra-low sulphur diesel. This rate takes account of the environmental benefits of using biodiesel.

The rate for biodiesel will be reviewed each year in the light of the prevailing social and economic circumstances, including any relevant European requirements. At present, the European Union has not published any targets for the use of biofuels as road transport fuel.

Railtrack

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received from Railtrack employees with shareholdings in the company. [8393]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Treasury Ministers receive a variety of representations from a wide range of people on a daily basis.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he had with Cabinet colleagues about Railtrack in the week prior to the announcement that it was going into administration. [8447]

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Mr. Andrew Smith: Treasury Ministers have discussions on a wide range of issues with colleagues and a variety of people and organisations on a daily basis.

Public-Private Partnership

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received since 8 October from (a) actual and (b) potential public-private partnership partners concerning the structure of partnership contracts. [8446]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Treasury Ministers receive a wide range of representations from a variety of groups and individuals on a daily basis.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidelines his Department sets down on how Departments should (a) assess, (b) quantify and (c) define political risk in public-private partnerships; and if he will make a statement. [8605]

Mr. Andrew Smith: In assessing programmes, policies and projects, it is important that Departments take proper account of all risks likely to affect achievement of their requirements. General Treasury guidance on risk assessment in the context of investment appraisal for all types of projects, including those taken forward by way of public-private partnerships, is set out in "Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government" published by the Stationery Office. In addition, the Treasury has published general guidance on the strategic management of risk, including political risk, in "Management of Risk: a Strategic Overview". Copies of both publications are available in the Library of the House.

Teenage Parents (Jarrow)

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of teenage parents is not in education, employment or training in the Jarrow constituency. [9105]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Stephen Hepburn, dated 22 October 2001:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question about the proportion of teenage parents not in education, employment or training in the Jarrow constituency (9105).

Information on teenage parents is not available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for Parliamentary Constituencies.

The wards comprising Jarrow constituency fall within the local authority districts of South Tyneside and Gateshead, but the LFS sample size for teenage parents in these districts is too small to provide reliable estimates of the proportion who are not in education, employment or training.

Barnett Formula

Nick Harvey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has (a) to review the Barnett formula and (b) to undertake a review of Government expenditure in the regions of the UK. [8673]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The Government's policy on funding the devolved Administrations, including the Barnett formula, is set out in the Statement of Funding

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Policy, published by the Treasury in July 2000. The spending of UK Government Departments will be reviewed in the 2002 spending review in the normal way.

Auditors

Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to review the work of auditors. [8901]

Mr. Andrew Smith [holding answer 19 October 2001]: The Government are currently considering recommendations made by Lord Sharman in his report "Holding to Account" which arose out of his review of audit and accountability for central Government in the 21st century. The report includes recommendations designed to ensure high quality external audit in central Government. The Government will be responding to the report following due consideration of the issues raised.

With regard to external audit standards in the economy more widely, there are statutory arrangements which require company auditors to be properly supervised and appropriately qualified. These arrangements are a matter for the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Personal Investment Authority Investigations

Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many firms have paid an administrative fee for Personal Investment Authority Ombudsman investigations into complaints brought by clients regarding financial advice in the last financial year; on how many occasions fees were levied; how much money was raised in total; in what percentage of cases the firm was found to be at fault; and what was the total cost to the FSA of investigating those cases. [9254]

Ruth Kelly: In the year ending 31 March 2001, the Personal Investment Authority Ombudsman Bureau (PIAOB) received 17,255 new cases against PIA regulated firms, each of which attracted a £500 case fee. 13,000 cases were resolved during this period, of which 46 per cent. were resolved by voluntary agreement between each side, through conciliation or mediation, and 22 per cent. of which were found against the firm.

The total cost to the PIAOB of dealing with these 13,000 complaints was £9.5 million. This was funded by £6.5 million in case fees; £2.8 million direct from the PIA; and the £0.2 million balance from other income (mainly sale of publications). The PIAOB investigates complaints itself and so there was no cost to the FSA in investigating these cases.

Census

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what measures will be taken to provide accurate and reliable census data for Eastbourne; [9099]

(a)

(b)

(3) what percentage of households in (a) Eastbourne and (b) Wealden completed a census return. [9098]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

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Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Nigel Waterson, dated 22 October 2001:

As National Statistician and Registrar for England and Wales, I have been asked to reply to your recent questions on:

1. what measures will be taken to provide accurate and reliable census data for Eastbourne (9099);

2. when (a) summary and (b) full census results for Eastbourne will be published (9097);

3. what percentage of households in (a) Eastbourne and (b) Wealden completed a census return (9098).

In answer to the first question, a number of measures have either already been implemented or will be taken to provide accurate and reliable census data. Prior to the Census, an important new initiative was the Community Liaison programme. Its main objectives were:

to facilitate enumeration and to ensure full coverage;

to help provide a source of potential field staff;

to advertise the Census and to underline its uses;

to provide help to individual members of local communities;

to help with translations and advertising.

This, coupled with the new strategy of asking the public to post their completed forms back, enabled resources to be targeted to where they were most needed.

Despite these efforts, it was always anticipated that some people would not be counted and that the degree of under-enumeration would vary across the country. The extent and nature of such under-enumeration will be more accurately assessed than ever before by the extensive, separate, follow-up Census Coverage Survey carried out by interviewing around 300,000 households shortly after the Census enumeration was completed. Once the interview responses and all the Census returns have been analysed, we will have a definitive picture of how well we have done at Local Authority level. The sample size was large enough for estimates of levels of under-enumeration for each Local Authority to be made and will enable the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to create a complete dataset for analysis of individual communities that takes account of this estimated under-enumeration.

Information about the quality of Census data will be published on the National Statistics website and brought together in a Census Quality Report to be published in 2003.

With regard to your second question, the target date for mid-year 2001 population estimates by sex and age for all local authority areas based on the 2001 Census is August 2002. These will include an adjustment for births, deaths and migration between Census Day (29 April 2001) and 30 June 2001. The target date for summary Census results—Key Statistics for areas throughout England and Wales (including Eastbourne) is December 2002. They will be laid before Parliament and accessible through the National Statistics website.

The full census data for Eastbourne will be published along with the detailed results for all the other local authority areas in the first half of 2003; these will be accessible via the National Statistics website.

In response to your final question, I am unable, at this stage, to provide detailed information on the response rate to the Census in Eastbourne and Wealden. This will be available in Autumn 2002. Currently the ONS estimates that the 2001 Census response rate nationally will reach 98 per cent. of households.

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