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TREASURY
NIRS2
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place legal advice on the position of the NIRS2 contract in the Library. [16723]
22 Nov 2001 : Column: 469W
Dawn Primarolo: It would be inappropriate to place the legal advice in the Library in accordance with Exclusion 4 (Information covered by legal professional privilege) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Railtrack
Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the average loss to save as you earn schemes invested in Railtrack by employees of Railtrack since October. [16026]
Mr. Jamieson: I have been asked to reply.
This is an internal company scheme.
Mr. Howard: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Local Government, Transport and the Regions regarding the bid for Railtrack from WestLB. [17742]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Treasury Ministers have discussions with colleagues in other Departments on a range of subjects on a regular basis.
EU Fraud and Waste
Mr. Spring: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what response the Government have made to the EU Court of Auditors' report of 12 November on fraud and waste. [16814]
Mr. Andrew Smith: The Government are carefully considering the Court of Auditors' Annual Report and Statement of Assurance for the financial year 2000 and will send its detailed comments to the Commission by 20 December as part of the normal follow-up procedure, ensuring that both Houses receive an advance copy. The Government will also contribute fully to Council discussions leading to the recommendation on whether to give discharge to the Commission for the year 2000 budget at the March 2002 ECOFIN meeting.
Share Dealings
Mr. Flight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with EU Finance Ministers in relation to the impact of respective national taxes on share dealings on the development of the single market in financial services. [15919]
Dawn Primarolo: The Chancellor discusses a wide range of issues with other European Finance Ministers, but he has had no recent discussions with them on the issue of national taxes on share dealings, which are of course a matter for national Governments.
Aggregates Levy
David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the time scale needed by the mining and quarrying industry, after the aggregates levy legislation is enacted, to put in place the necessary financial and information systems to operate the levy; [16302]
- (2) if he will postpone implementation of the aggregates tax to take account of significant problems caused to (a) the quarry industry and (b) the rural economy. [16303]
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Mr. Boateng: The aggregates levy was pre-announced by two years in order to give business time to adjust. The primary legislation was enacted in the Finance Act 2000. A full Regulatory Impact Assessment has been published by HM Customs and Excise and is available from their website.
The aggregates levy will come into effect on 1 April 2002.
David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what areas of the aggregates levy legislation remain to be prepared; and when the process will be completed. [16301]
Mr. Boateng: Secondary legislation is still to be laid but will be implemented ahead of the introduction of the aggregates levy.
Psychiatric Illness
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will receive the results of the repeat psychiatric morbidity survey conducted in 2000; and if he will publish the report. [17093]
Mr. Boateng: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Oliver Heald, dated 22 November 2001:
- As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the results of the repeat psychiatric morbidity survey conducted in 2000 (17093).
- A First Release of data from the survey entitled "Psychiatric morbidity among adults, 2000" was published by the Office for National Statistics on 9 July 2001 and is available on the National Statistics website (www.statistics.gov.uk).
- The main report of the survey will be published on December 18th, 2001 and will be obtainable from The Stationery Office. A copy will also be placed in the House of Commons library. This will provide an overview of the main survey findings. A summary report will also be published and will be made available on the National Statistics website together with the Technical Report of the survey. A series of shorter reports focusing in more detail on a range of topics has also been commissioned by the Department of Health for publication over the next year.
Suicide Statistics
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the proportion of young men who commit suicide who are black or from ethnic minorities. [17088]
Mr. Boateng: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Oliver Heald, dated 22 November 2001:
- As National Statistician I have been asked to answer your question on what assessment has been made of the proportion of young men who commit suicide who are black or from ethnic minorities (17088)
- Ethnicity is not recorded at death registration. Information collected at death registration relates to country of birth. However, country of birth would not detect the generations who are black or from ethnic minorities that were born in the UK, or those members of the white ethnic group that were born in other countries. Therefore suicide figures for ethnic groups are not available.
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PRIME MINISTER
Special Advisers and Press Officers
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Prime Minister how many (a) special advisers and (b) press officers were employed (i) full-time, (ii) part-time and (iii) on a contract basis by his Department in each year since 1992. [6941]
The Prime Minister: For information about special advisers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer that my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office gave to him on 21 November 2001, Official Report, column 340W.
Information about the number of press officers working in the Number 10 Press Office from 1998 onwards is given in the table.
| Number of press officers | |
|---|---|
| 1998(27) | 8 |
| 1999(27) | 8 |
| 2000(27) | 9 |
| 2001(27) | 8 |
(27) 31 March
Information requested for the earlier years can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Freedom of Information Act
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Prime Minister what recommendations he has made with regard to the timetable on which the rights of access in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will come fully into force; and if he will place a copy of these recommendations in the Library. [14834]
The Prime Minister: Paragraph 16 of the Ministerial Code makes clear that the internal process through which a decision has been made should not be disclosed. Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government information applies.
World Summit on Sustainable Development
Mr. Miller: To ask the Prime Minister what the composition and terms of reference are of the new Cabinet Committee on the preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. [18143]
The Prime Minister: I have asked my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister to chair a new Cabinet Committee on sustainable development in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September 2002. The composition and terms of reference of the new committee are:
- Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development (MISC18)
- Composition
- The Deputy Prime Minister (Chair)
- Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
- Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Secretary of State for International Development
- Secretary of State Trade and Industry
- Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
- Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions
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- Invited to attend
- Minister of the Environment, Northern Ireland Executive
- Minister of the Environment, Scottish Executive
- Minister of the Environment, Welsh Assembly
- Terms of Reference
- "To develop, co-ordinate and deliver the Government's strategy for the World Summit on sustainable development in September 2002".
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