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19 Jun 2007 : Column 1636W—continued
NHS: Inquiries
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of the three inquiries into the effectiveness of local health services’ procedures to deal with complaints about individuals. [143712]
Andy Burnham: The total cost of the three inquiries was £7,336,000. The cost of the Ayling Inquiry was £1,982,000; the Neale Inquiry was £2,145,000 and the Kerr/Haslam Inquiry, which included some common costs for all three inquiries, was £3,209,000.
NHS: Non-Geographic Numbers
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which non-geographic numbers may be used by each type of NHS organisation. [138605]
Andy Burnham: Since April 2005, national health service organisations have been banned from setting up new premium rate telephone numbers (starting with the digits 09) or national rate telephone numbers starting with the digits 087 for patients contacting local services.
NHS organisations are able to set up free phone numbers or those that offer patients a guaranteed low rate call, such as 0845 or 0844 numbers. In addition, Ofcom has recently introduced a new 03 number range to be used by public sector and not for profit bodies, which is charged at local rate.
It is for individual NHS dentists, NHS opticians, general practitioner practices and out-of-hours providers to decide what is in their patients’ best interests, taking account of the Central Office of Information guidance on cost to the citizen.
NHS: Standards
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how (a) many staff were employed and (b) much was spent by her Department analysing NHS targets in each year from 1997 to 2006; and if she will make a statement. [143280]
Andy Burnham: This information is not collected centrally.
Queen’s Hospital Romford
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of hospital acquired infections were reported at the Queen's Hospital in Romford in each of the last five years. [135026]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This information is collected by the Department at trust level only. Queen's hospital is part of Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS trust and has been open only since December 2006. It would therefore not be relevant to provide trust level data.
Treasury
Cash Dispensing: Fees and Charges
Tony Baldry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made on the provision of non-charging ATMs in low income areas since the summit hosted by his Department in May 2006. [142670]
Ed Balls [holding answer 14 June 2007]: I have today made a written ministerial statement on this issue.
Child Tax Credit: Take-Up
Mrs. Humble: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department and its agencies spent on promoting take-up of child tax credit in the latest year for which figures are available. [142852]
Mr. Timms: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) on 14 May 2007, Official Re port , column 566W.
Campaigns promote take up of both working tax credit and child tax credit (CTC); separate figures for CTC are not therefore available.
Children’s Centres: Finance
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to fund children's centres in the comprehensive spending review. [142718]
Mr. Timms: The DfES settlement for the comprehensive spending review period (2008-09 to 2010-11) was announced at Budget 2007. This included an announcement of increased expenditure for Sure Start, child care and early years of at least £340 million by 2010-11 compared to 2007-08—leading to a total of over £1.6 billion.
These additional resources include sufficient funding to meet the target for a national network of 3,500 Sure Start children's centres by 2010, one for every community in the country.
Council Tax
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the contributing factors in the rise of council tax receipts between 1997-98 and 2006-07; and if he will make a statement. [142353]
Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.
Council tax levels are set by local authorities. In addition to changes over time in the Band D level of council tax, the total receipts have been affected by growth in the council tax base. Receipts actually taken by authorities depend also on their collection rates.
Council Tax: Valuation
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research the Valuation Office Agency has (a) conducted and (b) commissioned on the merits of annual (i) council tax and (ii) business rates revaluations. [142362]
Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the (a) objective and (b) timescale is of the Valuation Office Agency's (i) Enterprise Resource Planning and (ii) World Class programmes. [143652]
Dawn Primarolo: The objective of the world-class programme is as an enabler to deliver the VOA’s World-Class Vision, which is set out in the VOA’s Forward Plan 2006-10.
The Enterprise Resource Planning system is designed to modernise and integrate back-office functions within the VOA in HR, Finance, Payroll and Procurement. The VOA is planning to introduce ERP in the week beginning 9 July.
Counterfeit Manufacturing: Drugs
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue he estimates was foregone by the Exchequer due to the trade in counterfeit medicines in 2006. [142946]
John Healey: HMRC do not estimate the amount of revenue lost as a result of the trade in specific goods, including counterfeit medicines.
Debts
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average personal (a) unsecured debt and (b) total debt was as a percentage of income in each year since 1997. [143313]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 19 June 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on average personal unsecured debt and total debt was as a percentage of income in each year since 1997. (143313)
The information requested is shown in the following table. The data for unsecured debt (households' total financial liabilities other than secured debt) and income (households' gross disposable income) used in the calculations are national accounts series for the combined household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sectors. The accounts for the household and NPISH sectors are currently combined; separate estimates are not available.
For the denominator in the calculations the series used is Population aged 16+.
| Annual income per person (£) | Unsecured debt per person (£) | Unsecured debt as a percentage of income | Total d ebt per person (£) | Total debt as a percentage of income | |
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average total personal debt servicing level as a percentage of income was for (a) interest and (b) capital repayments in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [143314]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 19 June 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on the average total personal debt servicing level as a percentage of income for each year 1997. (143314)
The information available is shown in the following table. The only information available on repayments is payment of interest on loans. Capital repayments are not available. The data for interest on loans and income (households' gross disposable income) used in the calculations are national accounts series for the combined household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sectors. The accounts for the household and NPISH sectors are currently combined; separate estimates are not available.
| Interest on l oans (£ million) | Household disposable income (£ million) | Interest on loans as a percentage of income | |
| QWMG | QWND | (QWMG/QWND)*100 | |
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