House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 15 Oct 2002 (pt 21)

Public Service Agreements

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library the data on (a) outputs and (b) resources underlying the report in the Customs and Excise Spring 2002 report (Cm 5427) on PSA 2000 target; and if he will make a statement. [74782]

John Healey: I have done so.

Death Certificates

Mr. Heath: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy for the time of death to appear on death certificates. [73419]

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. David Heath, dated 15 September 2002:

As National Statistician and Registrar General, I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the time of death appearing on death certificates. (73419)

Generally, it would not be possible to record the time of death on death certificates accurately. In many cases the doctor who certifies the death may not be with his patient when they die and therefore would not know the specific time of death. The relative who registers the death also may not be able to say precisely when the death occurred.

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Mr. Heath: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to require practitioners completing death certificates to include illnesses for which there is medical evidence rather than clinical suspicion. [73420]

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. David Heath, dated 15 October 2002:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the requirements of medical practitioners completing death certificates to include illnesses for which there is medical evidence rather than clinical suspicion. (73420)

Medical practitioners are required to certify the cause of death for patients under their care. Current legislation requires them to ''sign the certificate in the prescribed form stating to the best of his/her knowledge and belief the cause of death''. Guidance issued to doctors asks that they describe the cause of death as fully and accurately as possible. They should describe the sequence of diseases or injuries which led to the death, and other conditions which may have contributed to it. These guidance notes follow the recommendations of the World Health Organisation.

There is considerable interest in death certification at present. The Fundamental Review of the Coroner Service has recently published a consultation document on possible changes to the way in which deaths should be investigated and certified. This can be found at http://www.coronersreview.org.uk/, or a paper copy requested from The Review of Coroner Services, 100 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HP. The closing date for responses is 22 November 2002. In addition, the Office for National Statistics will be consulting on modernisation of the civil registration system during 2003. Any future changes to death registration will also need to consider the recommendations that will come out of the Shipman Inquiry.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many transsexual people have applied to have their birth certificates changed since the European Court of Human Rights ruling on 11 July on the case of Goodwin and I v. UK. [73917]

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

Letter from John Kidgell to Dr. Lynne Jones, dated 15 September 2002:

The National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales has been asked to reply to your recent question on the number of transsexual people who have applied to have their birth certificates altered following the ECHR ruling in the case of Goodwin and I v. UK. I am replying in his absence. (73917)

The number of applications received at the end of September is 101. This excludes 2 requests from people born in Scotland which were referred to the Registrar General for Scotland.

Customs and Excise Reviews

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date he expects to complete Her Majesty's Customs and Excise reviews of the compliance costs of (a) excise gambling regimes, (b) customs procedures for international trade, (c) hydrocarbon oils, (d) alcohol duties and (e) tobacco duties; and if he will make a statement. [74131]

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John Healey: Work on the studies into the compliance costs of excise duties and international trade is not complete yet. The findings will be considered and used to formulate future policies and procedures when they become available.

Bank of England

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the legal consequences of the vacancy for the deputy governorship of the Bank of England; and if he will make a statement. [74119]

Ruth Kelly: There were no legal consequences of the brief vacancy for the post of Deputy Governor for Financial Stability.

Inheritance Tax

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the cost of the inheritance tax cultural exemption scheme; and if he will make a statement. [74121]

Dawn Primarolo: About #8m in 2001–02, including the value of objects accepted in lieu of tax and net of relief clawed back which was previously given under inheritance tax or its predecessors.

Drugs

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the total quantity of Class A drugs targeted on the UK for financial year 2001–02; and if he will make a statement. [74778]

John Healey: The National Criminal Intelligence Service United Kingdom Threat Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime 2002, estimates that in the region of 30 metric tonnes of heroin and up to 40 metric tonnes of cocaine are smuggled into the UK each year. There are no estimates for other Class A drugs such as ecstasy.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place the results of the research programme on the dynamics of the UK and international drugs market undertaken by Customs and Excise in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [74779]

John Healey: This research programme resulted in a number of confidential threat assessments which are covered by Exemption 2 (Internal discussion and advice) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information and it would not be appropriate to publish them. To the extent that the information is publishable it is contained in the National Criminal Intelligence Service Threat Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime 2002, to which HM Customs and Excise contributed. I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.

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David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions (a) ministers and (b) Treasury officials have met Mr. Patrick Butcher, former Finance Director of London Underground, since 1997; and what was discussed at each meeting. [74444]

Mr. Boateng: Treasury Ministers and officials meet a wide variety of people to discuss a wide range of issues.

Earnings Statistics

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average annual salary was, broken down by region and industry in the last 12 months. [73963]

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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. Bill Wiggin, dated 15 October 2002:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the average annual salary by region and industry. (73963)

The New Earnings Survey (NES) provides earnings data for Great Britain for full-time employees on adult rates of pay. The attached table shows the average annual earnings by region and industry for April 2001, the latest date for which figures are available.

Gross Average Annual Earnings of full time employees on adult rates who have been in the same job for more than 12 months

Region of workplace	Agriculture, hunting and forestry	Fishing	Mining and quarrying	Manufacturing	Electricity, gas and water supply	Construction	Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods	Hotels and restaurants	Transport, storage and communication
	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)
North East	..	..	..	20,546	26,671	19,511	16,154	..	19,761
North West	..	..	..	22,168	25,636	21,477	18,583	13,504	20,650
Yorkshire and the
Humber	..	..	..	21,035	24,908	21,556	18,563	..	18,822
East Midlands	16,038	..	..	20,853	..	21,155	19,731	..	19,110
West Midlands	..	..	..	20,718	..	..	..	..	20,138
South West	..	..	..	22,488	..	21,136	18,199	12,045	20,563
East	16,111	..	..	24,404	..	24,980	20,454	..	23,134
London	..	..	..	30,219	..	29,657	24,394	18,681	30,225
South East	16,256	..	..	26,272	27,466	24,012	24,295	17,164	23,705
England	15,984	..	27,767	22,872	28,214	23,171	20,897	15,967	23,240
Wales	..	..	..	20,271	..	19,585	16,243	..	19,018
Scotland	15,371	..	..	21,179	25,229	21,813	17,586	12,814	20,293.
Great Britain	15,805	..	30,599	22,632	27,827	22,909	20,455	15,515	22,906

Region of workplace	Financial intermediation	Real estate, renting and business activities	Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	Education	Health and social work	Other community, social and personal service activities	Private households with employed persons	Extra- territorial organisations and bodies
	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)	(#)
North East	..	21,138	19,808	19,992	19,024	..	..	..
North West	23,773	24,590	20,610	20,972	19,519	..	..	..
Yorkshire and the
Humber	25,501	20,935	21,496	21,125	20,323	17,326	..	..
East Midlands	24,025	23,114	21,213	21,504	19,595	16,896	..	..
West Midlands	25,830	26,353	22,292	21,472	20,477	..	..	..
South West	27,059	22,927	21,702	21,454	18,608	17,894	..	..
East	24,712	26,107	22,401	23,066	20,070	19,439	..	..
London	..	39,293	25,633	25,979	24,248	31,442	..	..
South East	29,998	29,717	22,731	22,854	20,183	..	..	..
England	41,943	28,878	22,291	22,299	20,425	22,860	..	..
Wales	..	..	21,073	21,135	19,781	17,354	..	..
Scotland	26,069	23,712	21,168	21,001	20,226	..	..	..
Great Britain	39,861	28,223	22,050	22,094	20,364	22,560	..	..

Note:

''..'' denotes the data has been suppressed in line with NES publication criteria.

Source:

New Earnings Survey, April 2001

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