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5 Jun 2008 : Column 1082W—continued
Minimum Wage: Telephone Services
Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints the National Minimum Wage hotline has received in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [207912]
Jane Kennedy: The following table shows the number of complaints received about possible underpayment of the minimum wage. The figures include complaints received by the National Minimum Wage Helpline and some other sources such as email.
| Complaints | |
National Debt
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the national debt was as a percentage of GDP in real terms in (a) 1990, (b) 1995, (c) 2000 and (d) 2005; [208051]
(2) what the national debt was as a percentage of GNP in (a) 1990, (b) 1995, (c) 2000 and (d) 2005; [208052]
(3) what the national debt was per working person in real terms in (a) 1990, (b) 1995, (c) 2000 and (d) 2005. [208053]
Angela Eagle: For the purposes of assessing performance against the sustainable investment rule, public sector net debt is measured as a percentage of GDP. Figures for the public-sector net debt (£ billion) and public-sector net debt as a percentage of GDP are published monthly on Table A7 and Table A8, respectively, of the Public Finances Databank produced by HM Treasury, which is available on
The Office for National Statistics does not specifically release figures for the gross national product (GNP), but releases figures for gross national income (GNI), which can be found in the Blue Book on Table 1.2: Gross National Income in Current Prices (series ABMX).
Figures for the working age population are released by the Office for National Statistics, based on the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which can be found in Labour Market Statistics on Table 1: Population (all) aged 16-59/64 and Economically active (all) aged 16-59/64 (series YBTF and YBSK, respectively).
Both GNI and LFS figures are available on
Public Expenditure: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average public expenditure per capita in the City of York was in 1996-97 and 2007-08. [208610]
Yvette Cooper: The lowest level at which public expenditure per capita information is available is the region. Between 1996-97 and 2007-08 (planned spend), per capita public expenditure on services in the Yorkshire and Humberside region grew from £3,989 to £7,590.
Railways: Finance
David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the effects on the economy of expenditure on rail infrastructure. [208603]
Angela Eagle: The most recent assessment of the effects on the economy of expenditure on all modes of transport was made in the Eddington Transport Study carried out by Sir Rod Eddington for the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Transport in December 2006.
The Department for Transport also published a White Paper, “Delivering a Sustainable Railway”, in July 2007 fulfilling the remit the Government set themselves in 2005 to provide strategic direction for the rail industry.
Revenue and Customs: Internet
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of the cost of the current update project for the HM Revenue and Customs website. [208745]
Jane Kennedy: HM Revenue and Customs is currently undertaking a web convergence project to improve its customer facing web content and manage the transition of that content to the Businesslink.gov.uk and Directgov websites by March 2011. The estimated cost of the web convergence project is approximately £10 million over a five-year period from 2007-12.
Revenue and Customs: Manpower
Chris Huhne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many HM Revenue and Customs employees worked on preventing the importation of (a) controlled drugs, (b) illegal firearms and (c) illicit (i) alcohol and (ii) tobacco in each year since 2002-03; and if he will make a statement. [206518]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 19 May 2008]: I have been asked to reply.
HM Revenue and Customs frontline detection staff are multifunctional and are deployed on an intelligence-led basis according to risk. As a result it is not possible to break down the deployment of staff by commodity, as this would provide information of value to those seeking to circumvent HM Revenue and Customs' controls, thereby prejudicing the prevention of crime.
The previous year's detection staffing figures for HM Revenue and Customs are provided in the following table.
| Number | |
Smuggling: Wildlife
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people were (a) cautioned and (b) successfully prosecuted for attempting to smuggle into the UK (i) turtle shells and (ii) other items derived from endangered species in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [207732]
Jane Kennedy: Since April 2000 nine people have been successfully prosecuted for offences relating to the illegal importation into the UK of endangered species and derived products in breach of Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by regulating trade therein. One case, in which one person was convicted, involved the smuggling of various animal skulls including a turtle skull.
Officers of HM Revenue and Customs do not have statutory powers to issue a caution to an offender as an alternative to prosecution.
Unemployment
Susan Kramer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of three to five-year-olds were living in (a) workless households and (b) relative poverty in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [205613]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
In the period April to June 2007, there were around 350,000 children in the United Kingdom aged between three and five years old living in workless working age households. This corresponds to 17.5 per cent. of all three to five-year-olds.
The Government's preferred measure of relative low income poverty for children is defined as being in a household with a household income of less than 60 per cent. of the contemporary median income on a Before Housing Cost basis. In 2005-06, there were 0.5 million children in the United Kingdom aged between three and five years old in households with incomes below 60 per cent. of median income on a Before Housing Cost basis. This corresponds to 23 per cent. of all three to five-year-olds.
Notes:
Workless households
1. Figures for households are based on working age households. A working age household is a household that includes at least one person of working age, that is a woman aged 16 to 59 or a man aged 16 to 64.
2. The source of these statistics is the Labour Force Survey (LFS) which is a sample survey covering over 52,000 households in the UK in each three-month period.
3. The LFS quarterly household datasets used to provide this estimate are weighted to the 2003 population estimates. Datasets reweighted to the latest population estimates are currently expected to be available in summer 2008.
4. As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Relative Poverty
5. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data, 2005-06.
6. The reference period for HBAI figures is single financial years.
7. The income measures used to derive the estimates shown employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication “Households Below Average Income” series, which uses disposable household income, adjusted (or "equivalised") for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living.
8. The figures are based on OECD equivalisation factors.
9. Figures have been presented on a Before Housing Cost basis. For Before Housing Cost, housing costs (such as rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, structural insurance payments and ground rent and service charges) are not deducted from income.
10. Numbers of children have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 children, while proportions of children have been rounded to the nearest percentage point.
Susan Kramer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of children were born into (a) workless households and (b) relative poverty in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [205620]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not available.
Valuation Office: Databases
Robert Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Valuation Office Agency's electronic records project involves the digitisation of information on age, size and construction of domestic properties. [208078]
Jane Kennedy: The project involves the scanning of existing hard copy survey records held by the VOA, including those of domestic properties. More information about this project can be found on the VOA website at
http://www.voa.gov.uk/news/press08/news_release _15_05_08.htm
Robert Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the budget is for the Valuation Office Agency's electronic records project. [208079]
Jane Kennedy: A significant part of the cost of this project relates to services provided by external contractors, whose charges are commercially confidential.
Welfare Tax Credits
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many compensation payments for tax credit maladministration have been made in each quarter from April 2003 to April 2008; and if he will make a statement. [207121]
Jane Kennedy: The circumstances in which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will make compensation payments to its customers are explained in the Department's fact sheet C/FS ‘Complaints and Putting Things Right' which is available at
The Department will pay compensation for reasonable costs incurred as a direct result of any mistakes or delays and to recognise worry and distress caused.
For the number and value of compensation payments made in 2003-04, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers my predecessor gave the hon. Member for Northavon (Steve Webb) and to the then hon. Member for the former Hamilton, South constituency, Mr. Bill Tynan, on 20 July 2004, Official Report, column 191W.
For the number and value of compensation payments made in 2004-05, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers my predecessor gave him on 4 July 2005, Official Report, columns 95-96W, 15 November 2005, Official Report, column 1212W and 18 July 2006 , Official Report, columns 360-61W.
Information for 2006-07 can be found in the answer I gave the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) on 23 January 2008, Official Report, columns 2100 -01W.
Quarterly information for 2007-08 is shown in the following table:
| 2007-08 | |
| Number | |
The information for 2007-08 differs from that published in answers that I gave the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne on 23 January 2008, Official Report, columns 2100-01W and the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander) on 31 March 2008: columns 675-76W. The Department started recording information about compensation payments made to its customers on a new database from the beginning of 2007-08. In finalising the details for 2007-08 HMRC identified that the bespoke query used to extract this information was producing inaccurate results. The total value of compensation paid by TCO to tax credits customers in 2007-08 was around £475,000.
Monthly figures for 2003-04 are not available, and therefore the quarterly figures cannot be given for that year.
Welfare Tax Credits: Complaints
Jon Trickett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many complaints his Department received on the tax credit system from residents in (a) Wakefield District and (b) Yorkshire and Humberside in the last year for which figures are available. [207967]
Jane Kennedy: The information is not available at constituency or regional level.
Work and Pensions
Better Off in Work Credit
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what timetable he has set for the pilots of the Better Off in Work Credit; when he plans to introduce the credit nationally; what budget has been set for administering the credit in each of the next three years; and what estimate he has made of the total value of the credit to recipients in each of the next three years. [204647]
Mr. Timms: As we stated in the Command Paper ‘Ready for work: full employment in our generation’, published on 13 December 2007, the new Better Off in Work Credit will be piloted from October 2008. If the pilot proves successful we will extend the scheme nationally in 2009.
On 20 May 2008, I announced that Jobcentre Plus would pilot the new measure in all districts in the Yorkshire and Humberside region, a total of 59 Jobcentre Plus offices. We estimate that around 12,000 individuals would be eligible for the credit each year in the Yorkshire and Humberside region.
Administrative costs will be dependent on the operational model currently being developed by Jobcentre Plus and will be met from within existing resources.
The projected annual cost of the Better Off in Work Credit payments will be £31 million if rolled out nationally.
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