To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Hove district council vehicles, which removed the carcases from the recent Labour Party Conference, met the vehicle specifications laid down in the Animal By-Products Regulation. [190794]

It is the Department's understanding that the vehicles used met with the vehicle specifications laid down in the Animal By-Products Regulations. This was achieved through the use of tarpaulins to cover and contain the carcases and the use of absorbent granules to soak up any leakage.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has made to other EU member states concerning animal welfare standards in live animal transport; and if she will make a statement. [190005]

The Government will raise specific issues with EU member states and candidate member states whenever necessary. The UK's concern for high enforcement standards was made very clear earlier this year during discussion of proposals for a new regulation on animal welfare during transport. We welcome the news that the Dutch Presidency has brought the EU proposals on welfare on transport back to member states for discussion.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what protection is afforded to sites of archaeological interest from being (a) built on and (b) farmed inappropriately. [191150]

I have been asked to reply.

Protection for such activities is afforded under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. In addition potential developers are required to follow guidelines issued in the Planning Policy Guidance Note 16.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is currently reviewing its legislation for Heritage Protection.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to bring forward legislation to improve the welfare of broiler chickens, with particular regard to (a) lower stocking densities, (b) longer periods of darkness to allow for rest and (c) environmental enrichment to allow for natural behaviour; and if she will make a statement. [190485]

General standards for the welfare of all farm animals are laid down on an EU basis and apply to broiler chickens. Additional standards of best practice are set out in the Code of Recommendations for Meat Chickens. Any legislation setting standards for the welfare of meat chickens should be applied on an EU basis to ensure a level playing field. The European Commission expects to issue proposals for such standards in the near future.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what definition her Department uses of the phrase floors laid to facilitate the drainage of liquids, used in Regulation 1774/2002 and SI 2003 No.1482. [190724]

To comply with this requirement, we would expect floors to be constructed from an impervious material with proper falls to drains to ensure that washing water and effluent do not form puddles in the area.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the Animal By-Products Regulation with respect to the collection of fallen stock. [190721]

In all cases, animal by-products (including fallen stock) must be collected/transported in accordance with Annex II of Regulation (EC) No. 1774/2002, the 'Animal By-Products Regulation'. This requires animal by-products to be transported either in sealed, new packaging or in covered, leak-proof containers or vehicles. The vehicle, container or packaging must also be labelled in accordance with Annex II and accompanied by the required documentation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many establishments, which previously received and processed fallen stock, are no longer able to do so because of her Department's enforcement of the EU Animal By-Products Regulation. [190723]

Although information regarding the location of fallen stock collection and processing premises is available, this is not kept in a format which would allow their relationship to previous approvals to be ascertained.

As of 15 October 2004, 1,735 establishments have sought approval under the Regulation, 54 have been rejected, 1,393 have been approved and 288 are awaiting assessment by the State Veterinary Service as to whether or not an approval can be issued.

Note:

Not all of the animal by-product premises referred to receive and/or process fallen stock.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what and how many organisations her Department (a) approached and (b) tendered to undertake the study investigation of the determinants of farm retail price spread, published in July. [190126]

Defra invited six organisations with relevant expertise in economic research to tender for the contract to undertake the study.

Three of the invited organisations submitted written tender documents to Defra.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial or other assistance will be offered by the Government to the owners of greyhounds affected by an immediate ban on hare coursing in England and Wales under the Hunting Bill. [189748]

The Government is not providing financial compensation to accompany this Bill because nobody is being deprived of their property as a result of it. Dogs and other property currently used for hare coursing events can continue to be used for other legal purposes. However, the Government recognises that the Bill will affect the owners of dogs that currently engage in hunting and coursing and is ready to explore ways in which they might be assisted to avoid the unnecessary destruction of healthy animals. The Government is very grateful for the RSPCA's offer to help re-home dogs no longer wanted as a result of this Bill. The RSPCA has considerable previous experience in successfully re-homing retired racing greyhounds.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she will next meet Commissioner Byrne. [190710]

I meet Commissioner Byrne and other Commissioners whose portfolios cover Defra responsibilities on a regular basis.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs why she has sought a derogation from the EU directive on the size of flocks for the production of organic chicken and eggs. [191096]

The derogation to which you are referring to is the provision within Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 which permits stocking densities and flock sizes higher than normally permitted, in respect of livestock producing holdings, for buildings constructed before 24 August 1999, until 31 December 2010.

The Compendium of UK Standards, however, only permitted the derogation until 25 August 2005, which would mean UK poultry producers would be disadvantaged compared with their counterparts in other member states. My Department reviewed the effect of maintaining the date at 2005 for the UK and sought the views of the organic sector, retailers and ACOS, Defra's Advisory Committee on Organic Standards.

After careful consideration of all the representations received and taking account of the interests of the organic poultry sector as a whole, I decided that organic poultry producers should be allowed to continue to benefit from the derogation until 31 December 2010, which puts UK producers on an even footing with those in the rest of the European Union.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of (a) future demand for organic food in the UK and (b) the capacity of UK organic farms to supply that demand. [190087]

The following assessments, provided in connection with the publication of the "Action plan to develop organic food and farming in England" are particularly relevant:

England's Organic Sector Prospects for Growth (Stopes, July 2002) which can be viewed at http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/organic/actionplan/prospects.htm

And

Economic Evaluation of the Organic Farming Scheme (Centre for Rural Economics Research, University of Cambridge, May 2002) which can be viewed at http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/Organic/actionplan/eco-evaluation.htm

These documents consider the UK as well as England.

Also relevant is:

Evidence Assessment to Inform the Review of the Organic farming Scheme (ADAS Consulting Limited and the University of Reading, September 2003) which can be viewed at http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/evaluation/ofs/default.asp

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of (a) the potential of the organic farming industry in the UK and (b) the support needed from Government to fulfil its potential. [190088]

The report "Action plan to develop organic food and farming in England—Two Years On, which I launched on 2 August this year, contains an analysis of the market for organic food. The document expects continued growth in sales of organic food. It notes that the area farmed organically in the UK has grown from 30,000 ha in 1993 to 696,000 in 2004. This is an expansion of over 23 times.

The level of UK demand for organic food met by UK producers has increased over the last two years from 30 per cent. to 44 per cent., but the report recognises a target of 70 per cent. to be met from UK production by 2010. Our support for organic farming includes enhancements introduced last year to the English Organic Farming scheme to allow farmers who have completed organic conversion to receive payments in return for observing environmental conditions and a new rate of aid for conversion for organic top fruit production (apples, pears etc). For the longer term support for organic farming will be through a specific strand in the Agri—Environment Scheme.

Our review of the Organic Farming Scheme was based on a substantial evidence exercise "Evidence Assessment to Inform the Review of the Organic farming Scheme" (ADAS Consulting Limited and the University of Reading, September 2003). This report can be viewed at http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/evaluation/ofs/default.asp

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department has spent on the promotion of organic crops and foods in the United Kingdom in each of the past 10 years. [190089]

We do not have a budget specifically for the generic promotion of organic food and crops. However, the Rural Enterprise Scheme, which forms part of the England Rural Development Programme, can provide assistance towards good value and sustainable projects that help market organic and other quality agricultural products. Since the launch of the scheme in October 2000, the scheme's marketing measure has provided the funding for promoting organic produce as shown in the following table.

In addition, Defra approved and supported an application by the Soil Association for EU funds to promote the organic sector. The application was successful and the Soil Association has secured EU funding of £296,060 under the EC Regulations for the Promotion of Agricultural Products (EC) 2826/2000. The Soil Association have joined with the Italian body AIAB to deliver the promotion campaign, which will run for three years from January 2004.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department has spent on independent research into organic crops and food in each year since 1994. [190090]

The total committed by Defra to its Organic Farming research projects since the start of the Organic Farming R and D Programme in 1991 is £19,059,000. The committed spending from this budget on independent research into organic crops and food per financial year since 1994 amounts to £17,242,000 as follows:

⁽¹⁾ provisional figure

Defra funds research worth about £40 million per year to support sustainable development of the farming and food sector. In addition to research specific to organic farming, much of this general farm research has direct relevance to the organic sector.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to publish the report of the epidemiological study of organophosphate victims by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine commissioned by her Department; and if she will make a statement. [191318]

[holding answer 18 October 2004]

The hon. Member for North Cornwall is aware that the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was contracted to carry out this study and to submit its draft final report for this work in August 2003. As described in my answer to the hon. Member's previous question, given on 20 July 2004, Official Report, column 124W, we received a preliminary draft report of the findings from this study on 13 July 2004. As is usual before publication of any scientific report, this was submitted to a panel of independent experts for peer review.

Comments received from this panel were forwarded to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) on 21 September 2004. The LSHTM has been invited to consider and respond to the issues raised and to address them in its final report. We hope that this process will be complete by the end of October.

Once we are in receipt of this final report, and are satisfied that it adequately addresses the issues raised by the independent peer reviewers, we will publish it without delay.

Separate to the peer review process, we understand that Professor Kerry Mills from King's College Hospital has recently met with the contractors to begin his assessment of the validity of the clinical phase of the study. We will be guided by Professor Mills' advice on whether the clinical study should be fully audited before it is published. However, depending on the time scale of this process, we may need to publish the clinical study separately.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research she has evaluated on onsite polymerase chain reaction real time technology for diagnosis of animal and plant disease. [191755]

holding answer 15 October 2004

Defra receives a considerable amount of information about developments in real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology from a variety of sources and work is continuing at the Institute for Animal Health on the development of novel assays for early, rapid and pen-side ('on-site') testing for foot and mouth disease. The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory has also launched a joint venture with industry to develop the technology's wider potential to provide reliable diagnostic tests for animal diseases.

PCR is used routinely for the diagnosis of plant diseases within the laboratory and it has been further developed for use 'on-site' for the diagnosis of two plant diseases "Phytophthora ramorum" (known as Sudden Oak Death in the USA) and the recently discovered disease, "Phytophthora" taxon C. The technology is currently being evaluated in the field alongside the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate (PHSI) at disease outbreak sites. A large EU and Defra funded project is underway to develop the capability of the PHSI to conduct real time PCR for the detection of a range of plant quarantine diseases at ports and points of inspection. We regard this technology as a significant tool for improving the speed and accuracy for detecting key plant diseases.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the top 20 consultancy firms by contract value used by the Department in each of the last five years. [190907]

The information requested is set out in the following tables:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to discourage deforestation in poor countries prone to flooding; and if he will make a statement. [192054]

DFID's support to forestry in poor countries aims to help them manage and conserve their forests to provide the goods and services that people need. Protection of watersheds is one of these services. DFID spends about £20 million a year on forestry through country programmes and centrally funded research. DFID currently supports forestry work in Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Nepal, South Africa and Uganda.

In addition, DFID invests about £29 million a year in the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a significant share of which is spent on forest conservation. To date the GEF has invested $770 million in 150 forestry projects.

DFID also contributes funds to a number of international organisations that have significant programmes of support to forestry, such as the World Bank, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the European Commission.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list projects financed through the Know How Fund in the past 12 months, broken down by type of project. [192218]

Assistance provided through the Know How Fund concluded in 1997. DFID's work in the Accession Countries, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and the Western Balkans since 1997 is set out in Country and Regional Strategy Papers. A review of DFID/ODA's programmes in the Accession Countries (Evaluation Report EV650) is available on DFID's website. www.dfid.gov.uk

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations he has received on the delivery of humanitarian aid to Darfur. [191548]

I am gravely concerned about the situation in Darfur, Sudan. The UN estimates that 2 million are people are in need of assistance in Darfur, including 1.45 million displaced. The World Food Programme estimated that in September over 1.3 million received food aid.

However, delivery of assistance is still inadequate. The World Health Organisation estimates that between 6,000–10,000 people are dying each month in Darfur. Insecurity and logistical difficulties continue to hamper the delivery of assistance. DFID is pressing all parties to the conflict to abide by the ceasefire and improve security. In addition, we have provided over £4 million to the World Food Programme for their logistical operations in Darfur and over £1 million to the UN for security operations. The UK is the second biggest bilateral donor to Darfur, committing £62.5 million since September 2003.

To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission if he will make a statement on progress made by the House of Commons Commission in considering matters within its responsibility. [193008]

At its meeting on 18 October, the House of Commons Commission considered the report on security on the parliamentary estate commissioned, together with the House of Lords authorities, from the Metropolitan Police and security service. This report has already been subject to detailed consideration by the informal joint committee on security which advises the presiding officers of both Houses.

The Commission does not propose to publish any details of the proposals in the report, which is for obvious reasons a classified document. Some recent enhancements of security arrangements have already been announced to Members. Work is already under way in a number of other areas, including planning for the permanent screen to be erected in the Chamber in 2005. The Commission has also agreed in principle to the appointment of a Parliamentary Security Co-ordinator. Many of the proposals will of course also require the agreement of the authorities in the House of Lords.

To ask the Solicitor-General what the result was of the internal complaints procedure investigation into the conduct by the Crown Prosecution Service of its decision to prosecute Linda Watson for the murder of her husband; and if she will make a statement. [190588]

There has been no internal complaints procedure investigation. The Crown Prosecution Service staff who dealt with the case are not aware of any complaint having been made in relation to the conduct of the case, either at the time or subsequently.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent submissions he has received on the effect on building standards of the introduction of competition into building control; and if he will make a statement. [192289]

Private sector competition in building control is regulated through the Approved Inspectors (AIs) Regulations 2000. Building owners have the option of employing AIs as an alternative to traditional local authority building control services. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has designated the Construction Industry Council (CIC) as the vetting authority for AIs. Any submission concerning a reduction in building standards involving AIs would be dealt with seriously by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in conjunction with the CIC. There are no recent examples of such an occurrence.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what progress he has made towards providing for effective devolved decision-making within a framework of national targets and policies. [191265]

The Government's approach to devolving decision-making was set out in the Devolved Decision Making Review, issued alongside Budget 2004.

At regional level the White Paper "Your Region, Your Choice" set out proposals for directly elected regional assemblies in those regions that wish to have them. On 4 November 2004, regional and local referendums will take place to decide whether an elected assembly is established in the North East.

The Government is working with the RDAs to develop a new framework for setting their objectives. This will simplify and strengthen the current arrangements and make sure performance is measured against real regional and national priorities. In the Spending Review 2004 the Government announced:

Increased Regional Development Agency (RDA) funding from £1.85 billion in 2004–05 to £2.3 billion by 2007–08. Since 2002, each RDA's funding has been in a single pot, giving them substantial flexibility to use their resources to respond to regional priorities;

RDAs will take on responsibility for the delivery of Business Link services, R and D grants and promoting enterprise in disadvantaged areas from April 2005;

In those regions where the RDA and Learning and Skills Council (LSC) want it, the Government will consider favourably a 'dual key' approach to the management of adult skills budgets operated by the RDA Chief Executive and the Regional LSC Director;

RDAs will have an enhanced role in supporting business-university collaboration, as part of the response to the Lambert Review;

The Government is examining new ways to integrate regional economic strategies with regional transport and spatial development strategies, within a framework of indicative long term funding guidelines. The first guideline budgets for the English regions will be published alongside the Chancellor's 2005 Budget statement.

At local level, the Government published 'The future of local government: Developing a 10 year vision', which sets out how the Government is taking the Devolving Decision Making review forward in the context of a longer term strategy for local government.

As part of this work, the Government recently announced proposals to pilot Local Area Agreements (LAAs) in 21 local authorities. LAAs are intended to simplify funding streams, join up public services and give councils and other local delivery partners more flexibility. They will build on the package of freedoms and flexibilities already given to local authorities.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much public money has been invested in energy efficiency measures in (a) council, (b) housing association and (c) private homes in York in each year since 1997. [191247]

The information requested where available is given in three tables below. This information is not currently available for housing association homes.

Local Authority Housing Investment

These figures cover, double-glazing, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and heating improvements. This work has been completed by the local authority as part of an overall modernisation programme for housing.

Local Authority Investment in Private Sector Housing

No further information available.

Energy Partnership Project for Private Sector Homes funded by Energy Saving Trust, initiated by York Council and managed by Energy Efficiency Advice Centre.

This investment covers cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, heating systems and boiler replacement.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to increase the supply of affordable homes in Somerset; and if he will make a statement. [192068]

Through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme (ADP) the South West Housing Body has allocated the following amounts to deliver 324 Affordable Homes in South Somerset from 2003 until 2006:

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total cost of administering local government has been in each year since 1990. [191248]

The total revenue expenditure by all local authorities on all services since 1990–91 is listed in the following table.

Source:

Local Government Financial Statistics—England: various years

The data show actual outturn figures for all years except 2003–04 and 2004–05 which budget estimates.

The figures show local government expenditure financed from Revenue Support Grant, specific grants within Aggregate External Finance, special grants, non-domestic rates, community charges (1990–91 to 1992–93) council taxes (1993–94 onwards) and balances. The figures also include spending met by community charge grant (1991–92), additional grant for teachers pay (1992–93), SSA reduction grant (1994–95 to 2001–02), police grant (1995–96 onwards), Central Support Protection Grant (1990–2000 to 2001–02) and General Greater London Authority Grant (2000–01 onwards).

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Evaluation of Community Strategies and Plan Rationalisation will be implemented; how far implementation will extend; and what the cost of implementation will be to public funds. [191260]

The formative evaluation of Community Strategies and the Plan Rationalisation process commenced in early 2004 and is due to complete by early 2007.

The evaluation is producing a series of guidance materials to support local, regional and central stakeholders. Outputs will be produced on an incremental basis throughout the three years.

In order to make cost savings and reduce the research burden on local agencies, research on these two closely related policies have been combined through shared research instruments. Thus the total contract cost is estimated at £572,535. The evaluation is also linked to supporting other key aspects of local government policy, notably Local Strategic Partnerships and developing Local Area Agreements.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Overarching Evaluation of the Local Government Modernisation Agenda will be implemented; how far implementation will extend; and what the cost of implementation will be to public funds. [191261]

The Overarching Evaluation of the Local Government Modernisation Agenda (LGMA) commenced in January 2002 and is due to be completed in December 2007.

The evaluation aims to draw together the lessons learned from evaluations of the 20 or more individual policy elements of the LGMA, such as the Best Value Regime, Local Public Service Agreements, New Council Constitutions and Local Strategic Partnerships. It seeks to provide an overview of the impacts of the LGMA as a whole in the key areas of service improvement, accountability, community leadership, stakeholder engagement and public confidence. It also seeks to provide an understanding of how these policies interact and key drivers of change to inform current delivery of policies and future policy development.

The evaluation is designed to produce a series of annual reports, conference presentations, seminars, and specific thematic and policy papers throughout the lifetime of the study. This approach is to ensure flexible and timely use of research findings by a range of policy and practitioner audiences. The project is overseen by a Steering Group, administered and chaired by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with the Audit Commission, IDeA, LGA, Employers Organisation and SOLACE as members. The Steering Group has developed a dissemination strategy, drawing on the resources available to each organisation, to ensure the lessons learned from this work reach local government as effectively as possible. The total contract cost of this programme of work over its entire five years is £1,817,328.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he plans to issue the advice from the Standards Board for England in relation to declarations of prejudicial interests for local authority councillors. [191934]

The Standards Board for England is an independent body, established by Parliament. One of the Board's functions is to issue guidance to local authorities relating to the conduct of members. The Board has recently prepared new guidance relating to potential conflicts of interest arising from membership of lobby groups and where members sit on more than one relevant authority and other public bodies. The guidance, entitled 'Lobby groups, dual-hatted members and the Code of Conduct', was published on the Board's website on 29 September. The Board plans to distribute copies of the guidance to all authorities by the end of October.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his estimate is of the change in the local authority grant to Somerset county council which would result in 2005–06 if the 2001 Census data were used; and if he will make a statement. [192073]

The provisional amount of grant for each local authority in 2005–06 will be announced to Parliament later this year. An announcement has already been made that we will not be using the 2001 Census data in the 2005–06 settlement on 21 July 2004, Official Report, column 30WS. This is because it would have been technically incorrect to have simply introduced the data without first amending the statistical models underlying the Formula Spending Share formulae. Changing the formulae in this way would have broken the formula freeze that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has introduced to provide funding stability for authorities. Further research is being undertaken on the formula changes needed to incorporate the 2001 Census data into the Formula Spending Share formulae.

It is not therefore possible to estimate what amount of grant any authority would receive if the 2001 Census data were to be incorporated. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be consulting local authorities during the summer of 2005 on the formulae for the 2006–07 settlement incorporating the 2001 Census data.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when corporate capital strategies and asset management plans will be implemented; how far implementation will extend; and what the cost of implementation will be to public funds. [191257]

Local authorities have been producing capital strategies and asset management plans since 2000. Most now have good quality plans in place and authorities are no longer required to submit them to central Government. There should be no net cost to public funds since these processes are essential elements of effective corporate planning and the costs should be far outweighed by the resulting efficiency gains and service improvements.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister for what reasons his Department will not use the 2001 Census data for the calculation of the local government finance settlement; and if he will make a statement. [192345]

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will use 2001 Census figures in relation to the local government financial settlement for Bedfordshire from 2005–06; and if he will make a statement. [192682]

The provisional amount of grant for each local authority in 2005–06 will be announced to Parliament later this year. An announcement has already been made that we will not be using the 2001 Census data in the 2005–06 settlement on 21 July 2004, Official Report, column 30WS. This is because it would have been technically incorrect to have simply introduced the data without first amending the statistical models underlying the Formula Spending Share formulae. Changing the formulae in this way would have broken the formula freeze that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has introduced to provide funding stability for authorities. Further research is being undertaken on the formula changes needed to incorporate the 2001 Census data into the Formula Spending Share formulae.

It is not therefore possible to estimate what amount of grant any authority would receive if the 2001 Census data were to be incorporated. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be consulting local authorities during the summer of 2005 on the formulae for the 2006–07 settlement incorporating the 2001 Census data.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much central government funding was given to each borough council in London in each of the last 10 years. [191253]

The requested information has been tabled as follows.

Central government funding to London boroughs—1995–96 to 2004–05 Figures shown in £000

Note:

The data are taken from the RS (outturn) forms for all years except 2003–04 and 2004–05 when the data are taken from the RA (budget) form.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the case for central Government funding for local parks. [191454]

Central Government provides funding for local parks through the Environment, Protective and Cultural Services (EPCS) Block of the local government finance settlement. Following the recent Spending Review, the EPCS budget is due to increase by £888 million, or 8 per cent. between 2004–05 and 2007–08.

In addition to this mainstream local government funding, local authorities are able to draw on other specific grants from central Government, and from the national lottery distributors.

As with other local public services and facilities, it is appropriate for public parks to remain the responsibility of local authorities. They are best placed to determine local needs and priorities and to deal with day to day management and maintenance issues.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much has been spent on assisting rough sleepers in York in each year since 1997; and how many rough sleepers this has (a) helped and (b) moved on to permanent accommodation. [191238]

The information requested is tabled in the form of three tables.

Table 1: Funding for rough sleepers from 1997–2004 £

⁽²⁾ Funding from Rough Sleepers Unit paid directly to projects and not via LA.

⁽³⁾ Actual.

⁽⁴⁾ Awarded.

Table 2

Table 3: Number of rough sleepers moving into alternative accommodation (estimated figures based on sparse actuals)

⁽⁵⁾ Estimates off two comprehensive statistics.

⁽⁶⁾ To date.

⁽⁷⁾ Annual predictions.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many social housing (a) starts and (b) completions there were in (i) England and (ii) each local authority area in England in each year from 1984; and if he will make a statement. [191279]

Information for England is tabled based on reported building inspections by local authorities and the National House-Building Council. Information for individual local authorities for 1999–2000 to 2002–03 is available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's web site (www.odpm.gov.uk) in the housing statistics section (live table 253 and publications, local housing statistics).

The Sustainable Communities action plan set out the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's views on delivery of more affordable housing. Since 1997, funding for affordable housing has been doubled and the creation of 230,000 new affordable homes supported and over 9,000 key workers helped into home ownership in areas of high demand. The funding provided in the Spending Review will, along with efficiency improvements, produce 75,000 social rented homes and 40,000 homes for essential public sector workers and low cost home ownership over the three years to 2007–08.

Social Housing ^{(8) , (9)}

⁽⁸⁾ Local Authority and Registered Social Landlord(RSI) dwellings for rent

⁽⁹⁾ RSL dwellings tend to be undercounted by building inspectors as the correct tenure is not always known.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the 10 local authorities in the South West of England which have the highest waiting lists for social housing; and if he will make a statement. [191282]

Local authorities in England report the numbers of households on their housing waiting list (excluding tenants awaiting a transfer) as at 1 April in their annual Housing Investment programme return. Local authorities sometimes maintain the waiting list jointly with the Housing Association in their district. However, information is not held centrally where a Housing Association maintains a separate waiting list to the local authority.

The latest information, for 2004, is listed in the following table for the ten local authorities in the South West of England with the highest number of households on the waiting list.

Source:

ODPM's Housing Investment Programme

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether his Department has conducted a survey of the needs of travellers. [192766]

Research commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was carried out by Birmingham university and published in July 2003 which identified the level of need for further Gypsy and Traveller site provision. Amendments to the Housing Bill have also been tabled for debate at Report stage in the Other Place which will require local authorities to incorporate the needs of Gypsies and Travellers into their Housing Needs Assessment process.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much income the airport duty tax has raised in each year since it was introduced; and what its anticipated income will be in financial years (a) 2004–05, (b) 2005–06 and (c) 2006–07. [191141]

Historic Air Passenger Duty revenue figures can be found in table 2.1 D of Financial Statistics published by the Office for National Statistics, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

Revenue estimates of all taxes and duties can be found in Table C8 of this year's Financial Statement and Budget Report.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer

(1) whether his Department's 10-year child care funding strategy will take into account the higher costs of providing child care in certain parts of the country; [192094]

(2) whether his Department's 10-year child care funding strategy will ensure ongoing revenue funding for child care; [192095]

(3) if he will amend the child care component of the working tax credit to take account of higher housing and child care costs in London. [192116]

The Government announced in the 2004 Spending Review its intention to publish a 10-year strategy for child care. The strategy, to be published alongside the pre-Budget report later this year, will consider a range of issues, including the child care element of working tax credit, variations in the cost of child care provision across the country and revenue funding.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in Carlisle have received child tax credit. [191350]

[holding answer 15 October 2004]

I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Wansdyke (Dan Norris) on 12 July 2004, Official Report, columns 922–23W.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue was generated from the VAT levy on condoms in the last year for which figures are available. [192367]

Customs do not collect data on VAT from individual goods and services.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the economic activity rate was in Yeovil constituency in each year from 1985–86 to 2004–05. [192065]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Laws, dated 19 October 2004

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about economic activity rates in Yeovil. (192065)

The attached table gives the estimates of the economic activity rates in the Yeovil Parliamentary Constituency for the twelve months ending February each year from 1997 to 2003. Estimates for earlier periods are not available.

As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) are subject to sampling variability.

Economic activity for working age⁽¹⁰⁾ people resident in the Yeovil parliamentary constituency 12 months ending February each year from 1997 to 2003

⁽¹⁰⁾ Men aged 16 to 64 and women aged 16 to 59.

⁽¹¹⁾ Working age economically active (i.e. employed plus unemployed) as a percentage of all persons of working age.

Source:

ONS Labour Force Survey

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many children in (a) Yorkshire and Humber and (b) the City of York received child benefit (i) in 1997 and (ii) at the latest date for which figures are available; and what the weekly value of child benefit was in (A) 1997 and (B) October. [191220]

I understand from the Department for Work and Pensions that the earliest date for which figures below country level are available for the number of children for whom child benefit was paid is August 1999. At that date there were 1,130 thousand such children in Yorkshire and Humberside and 21,000 in the City of York constituency. The latest available figures, for November 2003, appear on the Inland Revenue website, at http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/child benefit/menu.htm

When comparing these figures, note that between each August and November, the number of such children drops by around 2 per cent. This is because from early September each year awards no longer cover young people aged 16 to 18 unless they remain in full-time non-advanced education.

In 1997–98 the weekly rate of child benefit was £11.05 for the first child and £9.00 for the second and subsequent children. The current rates are £16.50, and £11.05, respectively.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the revenue implications for the Government of (a) the EU and (b) UK emissions trade schemes. [191542]

The Government have yet to take final decisions on the implementation of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and therefore it is too early to say what the impact would be in terms of revenue to the Exchequer.

In the year 2003–04, the UK ETS cost the Government £43 million in direct payments to the market participants.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the data collated from the 46 ACU forms that are returned to the Inland Revenue Agricultural Compliance Unit by those using the services of a gangmaster or employment agency will be made available to the Gangmasters Licensing Authority that is to be established under the provisions of the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004. [192582]

The Inland Revenue can only release information to another Government Department where there is appropriate legal authority (a gateway) for it to do so. The Gangmaster Licensing Act contains such a gateway, which will allow the Inland Revenue to pass to the Gangmaster Licensing Authority information that relates to the operations of a person acting as a gangmaster.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the extra revenue the Exchequer will receive as a result of rising gas prices; and if he will make a statement. [192456]

Updated forecasts of the public finances incorporating the impact of higher gas prices will be published in the pre-Budget report later this year.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to exempt (a) adult and (b) child hospices from the payment of VAT. [192343]

The Government recognises the valuable contribution of hospices in providing high quality palliative care. The care services of a hospice are not chargeable with VAT and, in addition, charitable hospices benefit from a number of specific VAT zero rates on their purchases. However under our long-standing formal agreements with our European partners, we are permitted to keep our existing zero rates but may not extend them or introduce new ones.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of household income was paid in national taxes by a household on average income where the household was a (a) single person of working age, (b) single pensioner, (c) childless couple of working age, (d) pensioner couple, (e) single parent with (i) one and (ii) two or more children and (f) couple with (A) one and (B) two or more children in (1) 1997 and (2) 2003–04. [191239]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Hugh Bayley, dated 19 October 2004

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what percentage of household income was paid in national taxes by a household on average income where the household was a(a) single person of working age, (b) single pensioner, (c) childless couple of working age, (d) pensioner couple, (e) single parent with (i) one and (ii) two or more children and (f) couple with (A) one and (B) two or more children in (1) 1997 and (2) 2003–04 (191239).

The proportion of household income that was paid in taxes in 1997–98 by household type can be obtained from Table 8 of "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income 1997–1998", published in Economic Trends (ONS), April 1999 and available on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics. gov.uk/articles/economic trends/taxes&%20benefits effects on household income 97–98.pdf.

Similar information for 2002–03 (the latest year for which data are available) can be obtained from Table 23 of "The effects of taxes and benefits on household income, 2002–03", published on the National Statistics website on 6 May 2004 at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/taxesbenefits and in Economic Trends (ONS), June 2004. The analyses include measures of income inequality for households in the United Kingdom as a whole based on data from the Expenditure and Food Survey (the Family and Expenditure Survey in 1997–98). This is a sample survey covering about 6,000 to 7,000 households in the UK and sample sizes for sub groups of households are only sufficient to give approximate estimates.

Table 8 (Appendix 1): Summary of the effects of taxes and benefits, by household type⁽¹²⁾, 1997–98 Average per household (£ per year)

Average per household (£ per year)

⁽¹²⁾ See Appendix 3 for definitions of retired households, adults and children.

Table 23 (Appendix 1): Summary of the effects of taxes and benefits, by household type⁽¹³⁾, 2002–03 Average per household (£ per year)

Average per household (£ per year)

⁽¹³⁾ See Appendix 2 for definitions of retired households, adults and children.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer

(1) what his estimate is of the number of estates on which inheritance tax was paid which were valued at (a) £250,000 to £300,000, (b) £300,000 to £400,000, (c) £400,000 to £500,000, (d) £500,000 to £750,000, (e) £750,000 to £1 million, (f) £1 million to £2 million, (g) £2 million to £5 million and (h) more than £5 million in each of the last three years; [192136]

(2) what his estimate is of the total number of estates (a) paying inheritance tax and (b) not paying inheritance tax in each year from 1984–85 to 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [192137]

The available information relating to estates notified for probate for deaths in 1998–99 to 2001–02 is published in Table 12.3 on the Inland Revenue website at: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/inheritance tax/table 12–3.xls

These estates represent about 40 per cent. of all UK estates. Data for earlier years is published in table 12.4 of Inland Revenue Statistics 2000 and earlier editions, copies of which are in the House of Commons Library.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the total cost of raising the inheritance tax-exempt threshold to (a) £500,000 and (b) £1 million; and if he will make a statement. [192138]

The full year cost of raising the threshold to(a) £500,000 and (b) £1 million would be £1.6 billion and £2.5 billion respectively in 2004–05 terms.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether letters from hon. Members on behalf of constituents on tax credit matters should be addressed to the Inland Revenue in Preston; what procedures are involved in the Preston office dealing with such correspondence; and whether it is the practice to acknowledge such correspondence once received. [192625]