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TREASURY
Private Pension Funds
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the total value of private pension funds. [63398]
Ruth Kelly [holding answer 1 July 2002]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Pullinger to Mr. Mark Hoban, dated 3 July 2002:
- The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on the total value of private pension funds. I am replying in his absence. (63398)
- The market value of the funds held by self-administered pension funds was £765 billion at the end of 2000. These are occupational pension funds where the funds are invested in one or more managed schemes or unit trusts.
- The total value of private pension funds is not available. Private pension funds held by long-term insurance companies are not distinguished from other funds, such as life assurance, within the total long-term fund of the insurance sector on which data are collected by the Office for National Statistics.
Mortgage Tax Relief
Mr. Steen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce mortgage tax relief for first-time buyers in rural areas. [66151]
Ruth Kelly: The Government have no plans to reintroduce mortgage interest tax relief.
VAT
Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average time taken was to issue a VAT number for a new business once an application has been filed over the last 12 months. [65718]
John Healey: Customs does not maintain statistics on the average time taken to issue a VAT number and it would involve disproportionate cost to produce this information.
Customs work to a Charter Standard for the processing of applications for VAT registration, requiring 95 per cent. of properly completed applications to be processed within 15 working days of receipt. For 2001–02 Customs received over 180,000 applications for registration and achieved the Charter Standard.
Green Minister
Sue Doughty: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who his Department's Green Minister is; when they
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(a) have attended and (b) plan to attend meetings of the Green Ministers' Committee; what the outcomes of meetings were for his Department's activities; and if he will make a statement. [65983]
John Healey: I am HM Treasury's Green Minister. I was appointed to the ENV(G) committee in June this year.
Following the general election in June 2001, the previously informal Green Ministers Committee was upgraded to a Cabinet Sub-Committee of ENV and it is established practice under exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. Therefore I cannot relate progress or outcomes by my Department to anything that has been discussed.
Cancer
Mr. Bruce George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the incidence rates of cancers for the last five years. [66660]
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. Bruce George, dated 3 July 2002:
- As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the incidence rates of cancers for the last five years. (66660).
- The latest available information on trends in the incidence rates of cancers for England was published in table 10 in "Cancer Statistics: registrations 1998" Series MB1 No.29, a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.
Buildings Value
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the buildings owned by his Department and estimate the market value of each of them. [66948]
Mr. Boateng: The National Asset Register, published in July 2001 (Cm5221), lists assets owned by each Department and their valuation.
Statutory Instruments
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many statutory instruments have been (a) introduced, (b) removed and (c) amended by his Department since 1 January; and what the (i) cost and (ii) saving has been in each case. [64629]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Treasury, HM Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue have introduced 44 statutory instruments; removed none and introduced 22 amendment instruments since 1 January 2002. Many of the instruments concerned were of a routine nature, for example approving annual fee increases.
The HMSO SI Registrar Siregistrar@cabinet- office.x.gsi.gov.uk can provide a list of statutory instruments which have been issued by individual Government Departments. SIs which have been originated by Departments but eventually made by the Privy Council are only listed under the Privy Council Office.
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The costs associated with regulatory proposals are considered at the policy development stage. A Regulatory Impact Assessment is completed for regulatory proposals unless there are no or negligible costs. HM Treasury, HM Customs and HM Inland Revenue have produced 13 final RIAs in this period: Implementation of the E-Commerce Directive; Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 Administration Orders Relating to Insurers Order 2002 ("the Order"); Implementation of the electronic money directive; National Insurance Contributions Bill; Fuel Scale Charge; Reform of Intangible Assets; Construction Industry Scheme; R&D Tax Credits for large companies/ vaccines research relief; Exemptions for gains and losses on substantial shareholdings; Reform of the Corporate Debt, Financial Instruments and Foreign Exchange gains and losses regimes; community amateur sports club; VAT: Introduction of a Flat Rate Scheme and Changes to the Annual Accounting Scheme and Oils Fraud Strategy. These are available in the House Libraries and are available on departmental websites.
National Insurance (Reduced Rate)
Mr. Webb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid in aggregate in national insurance contributions by married women paying at the reduced rate in each of the last 30 years. [65744]
Dawn Primarolo: Available estimates of the amount of reduced rate contributions paid by married women over the last 27 years are in the table.
| Contributions paid by women paying at the reduced rate (£ million) | |
|---|---|
| 1975–76 | 90 |
| 1976–77 | 100 |
| 1977–78 | 110 |
| 1978–79 | 110 |
| 1979–80 | 120 |
| 1980–81 | 130 |
| 1981–82 | 190 |
| 1982–83 | 220 |
| 1983–84 | 260 |
| 1984–85 | 260 |
| 1985–86 | 260 |
| 1986–87 | 260 |
| 1987–88 | 250 |
| 1988–89 | 250 |
| 1989–90 | 240 |
| 1990–91 | 230 |
| 1991–92 | 220 |
| 1992–93 | 200 |
| 1993–94 | 170 |
| 1994–95 | 160 |
| 1995–96 | 140 |
| 1996–97 | 120 |
| 1997–98 | 100 |
| 1998–99 | 90 |
| 1999–2000 | 60 |
| 2000–01 | 50 |
| 2001–02 | 25 |
Estimates for 1975–76 to 2000–01 are based on a 3 per cent. sample of the National Insurance Recording System and are rounded to the nearest £10 million.The estimate for 2001–02 was provided by the Government Actuary's Department and has been rounded to the nearest £5 million.
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Recycled Paper
Sue Doughty: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of (a) paper and (b) other goods purchased by his Department was recycled paper in each year since 1997; what the annual total cost of these purchases was; what plans there are to increase these proportions; and if he will make a statement. [65769]
Ruth Kelly: The Treasury in all cases purchases on a best value for money basis. Until recently the cost and quality of recycled paper did not provide this compared to virgin paper from sustainable sources and therefore only limited amounts were purchased.
Recycled paper appears to have improved in both quality and price. It is now the intention of the Department to look again at this issue. If recycled paper currently offers best value for money overall, Treasury will purchase this as the main source of its paper.
Asthma
Mrs. Brooke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths due to asthma occurred in each primary care trust in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [66264]
Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Ms Brooke, dated 3 July 2002:
- As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question on how many deaths due to asthma occurred in each Primary Care Trust (PCT) in each of the last three years. (66264)
- PCTs took over the responsibilities of Health Authorities on 1st April 2002, but the geographical definition of all PCT areas has not yet been completed. Mortality statistics for PCT areas are not available at present. The figures requested are available for Health Authorities, the three most recent years being 1998–2000, and these have been placed in the House of Commons Library.
(4) Figures for Sunderland in 2000 have been combined with Gateshead and South Tyneside because of small numbers.
Source:
Department of Health Compendium of Clinical and Health Indicators 1999–2001, based on data provided by the Office for National Statistics.
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