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Iraqi Nationals Resident in UK
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many Iraqi nationals are legally resident in the United Kingdom; and how many of these are permanent residents, students, temporary visitors, asylum seekers and refugees, and diplomats.[HL2086]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Filkin): The Labour Force Survey provides estimates of the number of foreign nationals
resident in the United Kingdom in private households, student halls of residence and NHS accommodation. The latest available estimate of the number of Iraqi nationals resident in the United Kingdom is 21,000. This estimate is obtained from averaging the results from the Labour Force Survey over the 12-month period ending November 2002 and is subject to sampling error. It is not possible to break this estimate down into the categories requested.
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is their estimate of the number of Iraqi nationals who are resident without permission in the United Kingdom.[HL2087]
Lord Filkin: The nature of illegal migration means that the work required to assess the number of illegal migrants in the UK is complex. There is currently no official estimate of the number of immigrants (nor the figure for Iraqi nationals specifically) who are resident without permission in the UK. This is, of course, why the Government have been consulting on the issue of the introduction of entitlement cards, and for purposes of entitlement by those who are formally claiming asylum have introduced the application registration card.
Local Authority Social Housing Grant
Lord Beaumont of Whitley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How the £230 million transitional fund to allow the completion of housing schemes dependent on the local authority social housing grant was calculated; whether they are confident that it is adequate, whether it is ring-fenced; and why they will not defer abolition of the grant to April 2004, when capital receipts will be pooled.[HL2094]
The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker): The transitional funding figure was an estimate made on the basis of information provided by the Housing Corporation as to normal levels of commitments by authorities at year end. I have since extended the transitional arrangements to support investment in housing of up to £550 million in 2003–04, which is higher than in any previous year. The money will be ring-fenced in the first instance to cover schemes that could have gone ahead in 2003–04 if local authority housing grant (LASHG) had continued. Details are set out in my Answer to Lord Jordan (WA 109–110) on 5 March 2003.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister consulted local authorities on the principle of abolishing LASHG last autumn. In the light of work on the Communities Plan, it was decided to make this reform quickly, provided transitional funding arrangements were in place to ensure that well advanced, good quality schemes were able to go ahead. It would be indefensible now to retain a funding mechanism that
does not allocate resources to areas where they are most needed, has consistently underspent nationally, and has given unfair advantage to one category of local authorities.Titan Bridgelayer Vehicles
Lord Vivian asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How the 33 Titan bridgelayer vehicles, ordered by the Ministry of Defence, will be allocated to the armoured regiments.[HL2161]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach): A total of 23 Titan bridgelayer vehicles will be assigned to the Royal Engineer (not armoured) close support regiments. The remaining 10 vehicles will be assigned to non-field units such as the Army Training and Recruitment Agency (ATRA), the Land Warfare Centre in Warminster and the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) to facilitate both individual and collective training.
Armed Forces Pension Scheme: Unmarried Partners
Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What plans they have to extend Armed Forces Pension Scheme attributable benefits to unmarried partners. [HL2215]
Lord Bach: The Government are aware of the concerns of service personnel whose unmarried partners are currently ineligible for pension benefits. While this is being considered as part of the reviews of
pension and compensation arrangements for the Armed Forces, we have concluded that it would be appropriate to address now the particular risks associated with conflict. We have therefore decided that, as of today, where a service person dies as a result of service related to conflict, ex-gratia payments equivalent to benefits paid to a surviving spouse under the Armed Forces Pension Scheme may be awarded to their unmarried partner where there is a substantial relationship. Eligibility for such benefits will be assessed against a set of criteria which would include financial dependence or interdependence, children, shared commitments such as mortgage, prime beneficiary of a will, shared accommodation, the length of the relationship and no legal spouse. The decision on eligibility would be based on a broad assessment of the substance of the relationship and not all of these criteria would need to be met for entitlement to exist.Taxable Incomes
Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many taxpayers had taxable incomes of (a) £80,000–£100,000, (b) £100,001–£120,000 and (c) over £120,000 in (i) 2000–01 and (ii) 2001–02; and whether they will analyse the figures for each of these taxable income brackets for each of these years by sex and by year of birth from 1946 to 1961. [HL2058]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The number of taxpayers with taxable incomes of (a) £80,000–£100,000, (b) £100,001–£120,000 and (c) over £120,000 in 2000–01 is 127,000, 69,000 and 180,000 respectively. The information broken down by gender and by birth from 1946 to 1961 is in the table below:
| £80,000–£100,000 | £100,001–£120,000 | Over £120,000 | ||||
| Year of Birth | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female |
| 1946–1961 | 58.6 | 8.6 | 31.8 | 4.4 | 87.9 | 10.1 |
Figures for individual years between 1946 and 1961 are not available because the sample size would not provide a reliable estimate. Estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes in 2000–01. I regret estimates are not currently available for 20001–02.