House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 11 Apr 2002 (pt 21)

NHS Funding

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with Derek Wanless regarding the contents of the final Wanless report. [44524]

Mr. Andrew Smith: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given today by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the hon. Member for New Forest West (Mr. Swayne).

Sports Clubs

Gillian Merron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received to implement separate tax proposals for community amateur sports clubs in the 2002 Budget. [44525]

Mr. Boateng: A range of responses to the "Promoting Sport in the Community" consultation document has been received. Decisions on the best way forward will be made with regard to these responses and in the context of subsequent meetings with sports' representative bodies and the Charity Commission. A summary of responses will be made publicly available at the time of any announcement.

Manufacturing

Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of trends in tax receipts from manufacturing industry in the south-west since January 2001. [44526]

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the changes in tax receipts from the manufacturing sector in the south-east of England during 2001. [44534]

Mr. Andrew Smith: The information requested is not available. This is because the difficulties involved in apportioning taxes between different regions and sectors mean that the estimates would not be robust.

Climate Change Levy

Andrew Selous: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received from industry on the climate change levy. [44527]

Mr. Boateng: As part of the normal process of contact with business, the Chancellor and the Treasury Ministerial team have met with a variety of business organisations and individual companies, and have heard a variety of representations on Climate Change Levy, and on other matters.

Privy Council Silverware

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has for the Privy Council silverware. [44528]

Mr. Andrew Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 18 March, Official Report, column 46W.

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Oil Prices

Alan Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact on the economy of the recent rise in oil prices. [44529]

Ruth Kelly: The Government will publish updated forecasts for the UK economy in the Budget on 17 April, taking into account all recent developments and risks.

Unemployment (North-East)

Mr. Kevan Jones (North Durham): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on measures being taken to reduce unemployment in the north-east. [44530]

Ruth Kelly: Figures recently announced show that the employment level is at 28,232 million, and the claimant unemployment level stands at 951,000. Claimant unemployment stands at 5.3 per cent in the North East and in North Durham it is down by 44 per cent. since 1997. The New Deal has been a contributing factor to these reductions in unemployment.

In particular New Deal for young people has been successful in its four years of operation; it has placed over 340,000 18–24 year olds into work. 27,858 individuals have been placed into work in the North East. The New Deal for 25 plus and the enhanced programme (since April 2001) has helped a further 92,000 long-term unemployed people into work. For the North East region, 4,934 individuals have moved into employment and since the enhanced programme 1,616 individuals.

Action teams are in place to help individuals into employment, as well as Employment zones. For instance, within the North East region these have been launched in Stockton and Middlesbrough RC.

To build on this performance, the Government has introduced further measures to increase the effectiveness of the New Deal and other employment programmes, including:

Piloting greater flexibility in the Options section of NDYP from November 2001 to give personal advisers more freedom to tailor the provision of support to meet the needs of the individuals, local employers and local labour markets;

Establishing a pilot mentoring scheme from January 2002 to assess how mentoring can best be used to improve employment chances and job retention under the New Deal;

Step-up a new programme of transitional employment pilots will, from April 2002 target our hardest to help clients who have not been able to find a job through the New Deal are going to be in place for instance in, Knowsley and Lambeth areas. People who take up these jobs will receive individual support so that they can eventually make the transition to unsupported jobs in the open labour market;

To support those communities affected by large-scale redundancies, the Government is allocating additional resources to strengthen the Job Transition Service over the next two years; and

The Working Families' Tax Credit (WFTC) is helping to make work pay for low to middle income families' with children. Nearly 1.3 million families with children are currently receiving the WFTC, around 400,000 more than received its predecessor, Family Credit. On average these families are receiving £35 a week more on WFTC than under Family Credit.

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Welfare to Work

Mr. Lammy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the results of his welfare to work proposals in deprived areas. [44531]

Ruth Kelly: Figures recently announced show that the employment level is at 28,232 million, and the claimant unemployment level stands at 951,000. Claimant unemployment in Tottenham is down by 44 per cent. since 1997. The New Deal has been a contributing factor to these reductions in unemployment.

In particular New Deal for young people has been successful in its four years of operation; it has placed over 340,000 18–24 year olds into work. The New Deal for 25 plus and the enhanced programme (since April 2001) has helped a further 92,000 long-term unemployed people into work.

To build on this performance, the Government has introduced further measures to increase the effectiveness of employment programmes in deprived areas, which include:

Tackling the obstacles to employment in some of the worst affected regions in Britain, the Government has established 63 Action Teams in England, Scotland and Wales that suffer from particularly high levels of inactivity and long-term unemployment. Action Teams are a dynamic and innovative resource to tackle some of the UK's most deep-seated and protracted employment problems. So far 6,934 people have moved to work through Action Teams;

The Government has PSAs targets for increasing employment in the most deprived areas within the UK. The employment rate for these 30 areas currently stands at 63.2 per cent. (Autumn 2001) up from 60.2 per cent. in Spring 1997;

Step-up a new programme of transitional employment pilots will, in deprive areas such as Knowsley and Lambeth from April 2002 target our hardest to help clients who have not been able to find a job through the New Deal. People who participate in Step-Up will receive individual support so that they can eventually make the transition to unsupported jobs in the open labour market;

The Working Families' Tax Credit (WFTC) helps to make-work pay for low to middle income families' with children. Nearly 1.3 million families with children are currently receiving the WFTC, around 400,000 more than received its predecessor, Family Credit. On average these families are receiving £35 a week more on WFTC than under Family Credit.

Heavily Indebted Poor Countries

Ms Drown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what preparations his Department has made to call for the acceleration of debt cancellation under the HIPC process to the level required to help achieve international development targets set at the bank April meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. [44532]

Mr. Boateng: The Government continues to press for rapid implementation of the HIPC debt relief initiative to ensure that all eligible countries benefit and achieve sustainable debt levels.

The cost of achieving the International Development Targets has been estimated at an additional US$50 billion per annum, equivalent to a doubling of current global aid. Debt reduction under the HIPC initiative can therefore be only one element of the additional finance required. For this reason the Government has been calling for substantial increases in aid and has welcomed

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recent commitments by the US and EU, announced in advance of the UN Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, of an US$12 billion per annum increase in aid levels.

Job No: CW0126 Folios: 000-000Operator: Operator Number 3. Date: 11/04/02

Ms Drown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if his Department plans new bilateral loans to (a) the heavily indebted poor countries and (b) other countries.[45188]

Hilary Benn: I have been asked to reply.

All DFID bilateral assistance to heavily indebted poor countries and to other developing countries is in the form of grants.

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