Chamber and committees

However, the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI) is an annual sample survey based on information held by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on persons who could be liable to UK tax. Results are published on the HMRC website. The survey is explained here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/personal-incomes-note.pdf.

Based on the SPI, estimates of the number of individual taxpayers with self-employment income and the amount of that income (mean and median) are given in table 3.14 by borough, district and unitary authority and in table 3.15 by parliamentary constituency. See following links:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu-by-year.htm#314

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu-by-year.htm#315.

Confidence intervals are also provided. Please see the first link again for further explanation of these confidence intervals.

Self-employment income includes profits, losses or income of a business that an individual carries on as a sole trade or as a partner in partnership. Some individuals are members of more than one partnership, some may conduct more than one sole trade and some may have a mixture of sole trade and partnership interests.

Individuals are taxed on their total income, net of allowable reliefs, deductions and allowances. Their total income may include not only self employment income, but also income from employment, pension and investments. Consequently, the tax on income from business undertakings is not separately identifiable. While partnerships are required to make a return of their income, it is the partners who are charged income tax on their separate shares of the profit and other income from the partnership. There is no separate tax liability for each partnership.

The police recorded crime statistics collected centrally are based on an aggregate return at local authority level, and do not distinguish the circumstances of the crime, such as the occupation of the victim. Following the introduction of the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act in 2005, a new crime code (Minor Assault of an Emergency Worker) was created. However, the figures cannot be broken down by category of worker.

We do know that violence against staff is a major concern. The 2006 NHS Staff Survey reports that 28% of respondents have personally experienced a violent or aggressive incident. Paramedics and nurses are the most likely staff groups to experience an incident.

We are currently considering ways of standardising data collection, in order to collect more robust national data. The Occupational Health and Safety Services Policy Advisory Group is in the process of establishing a sub-group to look specifically at reviewing the Occupational Health Minimum Dataset, which will consider, as part of its remit, appropriate statistical data collection on violent assaults on staff.