Written Answers to Questions
Monday 23 July 2007
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Coastal Areas: Finance
My Department is not looking to provide financial support for coastal clear-up in Cornwall or elsewhere. However, local authorities, and others, who have incurred costs as a result of pollution from a ship-source pollution incident may recover their costs by lodging a claim in court in accordance with the domestic law which applies the Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims Convention, 1966 (LLMC).
Where marine pollution incidents do occur which pose a particular risk to the marine environment, my Department will consider whether to undertake and fund appropriate monitoring so as to be able to assess the impact of the incident.
Domestic Wastes: Recycling
[holding answer 19 July 2007]: The Government encourages all local authorities to work closely with householders to increase levels of recycling and composting and my Department has set challenging national and local targets to drive improvements forward.
The Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 requires all waste collection authorities (subject to certain exemptions) to provide a separate kerbside collection service for at least two recyclable materials by 2010. Each authority is free to choose its own method of collection and the priority, degree of effort and resources required to meet its target and the requirements of the Act.
Recent statistics show that approximately 88 per cent. of households are now served by a kerbside collection for two or more recyclates.
Fisheries: Cornwall
Fisheries Departments in the UK do not record information to allow landings made by Cornish fishing crews to be separately identified. Information is available on landings by UK fishing vessels whose home ports are within Cornwall, excluding those vessels administered from port offices in Cornwall but owned by foreign interests. The following table shows details of these landings in tonnes live weight of all fish species. The table also includes data for grouped landings by small vessels of 10 metre and under length into ports in Cornwall, on the assumption that these vessels will be primarily Cornish vessels.
Year range Weight (tonnes live weight) (a) 2001 to 2006 82,670 (b) 1996 to 2000 89,695 (c) 1990 to 1995 71,397
Fisheries: Industrial Accidents
I have been asked to reply.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch hold details of deaths and injuries aboard UK registered fishing vessels from 1991. Crew deaths and injuries aboard or boarding fishing vessels registered in a Cornish port are:
Deaths Injuries 1991-96 14 27 1997-2006 15 42
Fisheries: Protection
For 2008-09 it is proposed that the Royal Navy Fisheries Protection Squadron will provide the Marine and Fisheries Agency with 700 patrol days. The precise number of patrol days for subsequent years will be subject to detailed operational requirements. It is proposed that there will be flexibility to increase or reduce the requirement by 50 days a year subject to notice being given by the Marine and Fisheries Agency in September the year before. The operational details of future tasking is not determined on an hourly basis. The Marine and Fisheries Agency agrees task profiling with the RN and MOD and at present is considering an option of operating on a 21-day patrol cycle for each vessel.
The maximum patrol days available during the period of the agreement will be 750 a year and the minimum will be 600.
The RN/MFA Agreement refers to patrol days dedicated to the task of fishery protection. This has been accounted for on a monthly basis as set out in the following table.
Month 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 January — 79 91 67 71 65 56 50 58 46 51 February — 96 91 64 74 89 82 82 79 65 77 March — 74 91 86 85 82 87 72 83 82 70 April 98 93 82 77 84 87 78 79 78 66 66 May 92 91 80 86 93 86 85 72 80 79 79 June 107 94 97 85 86 89 95 83 88 81 66 July 111 112 102 97 79 92 86 86 82 92 — August 113 102 73 74 78 76 86 80 89 80 — September 100 103 99 102 78 77 94 83 87 80 — October 98 92 88 80 82 85 69 63 67 73 — November 101 91 78 85 83 76 65 69 50 54 — December 61 54 63 61 58 49 46 45 41 42 —
The Marine and Fisheries Agency, the Royal Navy and Ministry of Defence are currently considering the detailed provisions of the new agreement. I expect these discussions to be concluded in good time for the new arrangements to operate from 1 April 2008.
Fisheries: Quotas
Fish stocks in EU waters are assessed by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Scientists from the UK's fisheries laboratories contribute to the undertaking of these assessments. The ability to perform scientific assessments is directly linked to the quality of fisheries data. In some fisheries, for example, the quality of catch and effort data are deemed to be insufficient or the available catch data appear to conflict with data from research surveys. In such cases, as a consequence, quantitative scientific assessments are not available.
In the absence of a quantitative scientific assessment, it is not possible to define a stock's status with respect to safe biological limits.
Flood Control: Telephone Services
[holding answer 12 July 2007]: The Environment Agency has two principal offices in Worthing, a regional office in Guildbourne House and an area office in Saxon House.
The southern regional emergency control centre is based in Guildbourne House, where staff receive and route calls associated with incidents and emergencies.
These calls will continue to be dealt with there until at least June 2008, at which point a decision will be taken as to whether to transfer them to the well established National Customer Contact Centre in Sheffield.
However, if a local incident occurs these will continue to be managed by local centres within the affected region.
Heating: Carbon Emissions
The Federation of Environmental Trade Associations (FETA) has confirmed that 200,000 heat pumps were sold in the commercial sector in 2006, of which around 90 per cent. were air source.
Estimates for the costs and savings in the housing market have been made for the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). Ground source heat pumps are not currently a cost-effective substitute for gas condensing boilers. In a typical three bed-roomed semi-detached house, carbon dioxide (CO2) savings are around 0.46 tonnes CO2 each year.
However, if they replace conventional electric heating, they are cost-effective, with annual CO2 savings of around 4.3 tonnes CO2 each year. If they replace solid fuel stoves, they are not cost effective but save around 5.7 tonnes CO2 each year. By comparison, cavity wall insulation would save 0.575 tonnes CO2 each year in a gas condensing boiler-heated house.
If 10 million homes with gas condensing boilers had them replaced with ground source heat pumps, national savings would be around 4.6 MtCO2 (million tonnes of CO2) each year. This compares with the impact of all the policies in the Climate Change Programme by 2010, of 17.6 MtCO2 each year.
Lighting: Nuisance
There is no set level at which an activity becomes a statutory nuisance. It is for local authorities to consider what is a statutory nuisance on a case-by-case basis, taking into account a number of factors, including the character of the locality, the frequency of the occurrence, its duration, reasonableness of use, and the sensitivity of the complainant.
Marine Bill
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 19 July 2007, Official Report, column 505W.
Recycling
(2) what research he has commissioned into the take-up of recycling facilities, including door-step collection, where single-stream recycling is employed.
Decisions on the best way to collect waste and recyclables are rightly a matter for local authorities, not central government. Decisions to collect recyclables for sorting at kerbside or in a single-stream (co-mingled) for sorting at a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) will depend on a range of factors, including the local housing stock, the range of materials being collected and the sorting and re-processing facilities available.
No research has been commissioned by my Department on the take-up of recycling facilities where co-mingled recyclable collection is employed. Assessments on the uptake of local recycling facilities would normally be undertaken by individual local councils.
WRAP will be undertaking a study into the cost and performance of different kerbside collection schemes later in the year and they are planning for that study to investigate several of these issues.
Household waste recycling/composting has doubled in the last four years to reach 27 per cent. in 2005-06, which exceeds the Waste Strategy 2000 target of 25 per cent. This excellent progress is thanks to the commitment and hard work of the vast majority of local authorities, ever more enthusiastic householders and carefully targeted Government support.
Scotland
Departments: Flint Bishop Solicitors
The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999 and, since that date, has made no payments to Flint Bishop.
Departments: Ministerial Red Boxes
Details of boxes purchased by the Scotland Office are set out in the table.
Number of boxes Cost (£) 2002 2 1,110 2003 1 510 2004 0 0 2005 0 0 2006 0 0
Ministerial red boxes are supplied via Banner Business Supplies.
Departments: Visits Abroad
The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since 1999, the Government have published on an annual basis, a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2006-07 is currently being compiled and will be published before the summer recess. All travel is undertaken in accordance with the “Civil Service Management Code” and the “Ministerial Code”. The Office does not maintain a central record of overseas trips by officials.
Official Engagements
During the week of 9 to 15 July, the Secretary of State for Scotland had five engagements, primarily meetings with Ministers and officials, and participated in Scottish Questions in the House of Commons.
Wales
Departments: Agencies
The Wales Office paid the following sums to agencies to supply temporary staff:
Amount (£) 2004-05 99,199 2005-06 91,914 2006-07 19,808
We have not used agencies to recruit permanent staff.
Corresponding information for previous years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
National Assembly for Wales: Powers
None. There is widespread debate as to the timing of a future referendum and I am aware of the different views that exist. The Government of Wales Act 2006 allows for the National Assembly for Wales to obtain enhanced legislative competence by way of Orders in Council. I am focussed on ensuring that these new procedures are a success.
Revenue and Customs: Location
My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I continue to take a keen interest in the HMRC Change Programme and its possible impact on Objective 1 areas. My hon. Friend’s predecessor also met Treasury Ministers to discuss this issue.
The HMRC Change Programme is a genuine consultation; no official decision has yet been made on any Welsh HMRC office.
Welsh Language: Legislation
The Government have no plans to bring forward legislation at Westminster on the Welsh Language. The Welsh Assembly Government announced on 6 June this year, their intention to seek enhanced legislative competence in the area of Welsh Language by way of an Order in Council. If approved by the National Assembly for Wales and Parliament this would enable the administration in Cardiff to bring forward an Assembly Measure on the Welsh Language.
Duchy of Lancaster
East Midlands
Local authorities have a key role to play in ensuring we maximise the legacy of hosting the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012.
In the east midlands, as in other regions, local authorities are represented on the regional groups for 2012 and supported by the regional coordinator. Additionally, the Local Government Association is supporting local authorities across England to ensure they realise the opportunities that the 2012 Games bring.
All this work is being driven forward nationally by the London 2012 Nations and Regions group, chaired by Charles Allen.
Departmental Reorganisation
I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave today to the hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire (Mr. Vara).
Legacy Plans
A key consideration in the design of Olympic venues is the provision of a lasting and sustainable legacy.
A legacy business plan is being developed for each venue to ensure economic viability.
Venues outside of the Olympic Park will revert back to their original use, although some with enhanced facilities, such as the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy, which will benefit from an expanded slipway and increased number of moorings.
Cabinet Office
The Better Cabinet Office programme has been superseded by a new change programme aimed at addressing the findings of the Department’s Capability Review and the results of staff surveys. The capability review implementation plan, which was published 13 December 2006, covers actions up to the end of 2008. Copies of the Capability Review and the implementation plan are available in the Library for the reference of Members.
Charities
Recent surveys indicate that Government funding for the voluntary sector has doubled between 1996-97 (£5 billion) and 2004-05 (£10 billion). Initiatives like Futurebuilders, Capacitybuilders, the Invest to Save budget, expansion of Gift Aid (which currently provides £838 million to the third sector) and the new youth volunteering charity, v, have helped build the sector’s ability to make a real difference in local communities. In November 2006, the Government launched an action plan for social enterprise which committed £18 million to supporting social enterprises achieve their social, environmental and economic goals and proposals on their access to finance.
The Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 review into “The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration” is to be published later this month and followed a one-year consultation with the sector. The interim report of the review, published in December 2006, recognised that there was more to do to improve the relationship between Government and the third sector which included ensuring that there is stable and longer-term funding. The interim report announced a £30 million community assets fund and in addition an £80 million grants scheme for small community organisation was announced in Budget 2007.
The Government have also launched a consultation on considering measures to improve the take-up of Gift Aid on 23 June 2007.
Departments: Direct mail
The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Manpower
I have been asked to reply.
Since 27 June, three civil servants have transferred from HM Treasury to the Cabinet Office and three to No. 10 Downing street.
Departments: Ministerial Red Boxes
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 17 July 2007, Official Report, column 239W.
Departments: Task Forces
Information on department’s task forces in existence on 31 March 2006 is contained in “Public Bodies 2006”. This publication also lists those task forces that were wound up during 2005-06. “Public Bodies 2006” is available in the Libraries of the House.
Information for 2006-07 is in the process of being published by departments alongside the publication of departmental reports. A summary of this information will be published by the Cabinet Office after publication by departments.
Departments: Theft
Four items with a value of more than £100 have gone missing from this Department since May 2005.
Departments: Visits Abroad
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given on 21 June 2007, Official Report, columns 2048-49W, by my predecessor the right hon. Member for North-West Durham (Hilary Armstrong) to the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Prisk). Information relating to Ministers overseas travel for 2006-07 will be published shortly.
Departments: Written Questions
Special advisers carry out their duties in accordance with the requirements of the “Code of Conduct for Special Advisers”.
Lord Birt
The room is currently occupied by staff of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Ministers: Official Residences
I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by the former Prime Minister to the hon. Members for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning) and Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 2 December 2005, Official Report, column 816W, and to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 789W.
Official Residences: Theft
The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Olympic Games: Greater London
The first class sporting facilities at the National Sports Centre at Lilleshall will prove attractive to visiting teams. I have had no discussions with the National Sports Centre on this subject; however I look forward to visiting the centre shortly.
London 2012 has received over 700 applications from facilities across the UK that wish to feature in their Pre-Games Training Camp Guide, and is now carrying out an assessment and selection process.
Facilities will be notified of their inclusion in the Guide at the beginning of 2008—which will be distributed to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) in August 2008.
Church Commissioners
Carbon Footprint
The national Church institutions are committed to the Church’s Shrinking the Footprint campaign and are working hard to understand current energy consumption, reduce energy use in absolute terms and promote environmental best practice.
Footprint is a substantial and ambitious campaign which flows from the universal support for such action given by General Synod and the personal commitment of the Archbishop of Canterbury as evidenced by the recent award made to him by the Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group.
Electoral Commission Committee
Electoral Commission: Annual Reports
The Electoral Commission's Annual Report for 2006-07 was laid before Parliament on Thursday 19 July and has been published by the Commission as House of Commons Paper No. 851. Copies of the report are available to Members from the Vote Office.
House of Commons Commission
Carter Ruck and Partners
The House of Commons Commission has paid £2,820 (inclusive of VAT) to Carter Ruck and Partners since 1 April 2003. Details of legal bills paid are not available for earlier years.
Legal Costs
It is not possible to disaggregate legal costs specifically for the Commission or individual members of it. However, the total legal costs paid since 2003-04 have been:
£ 2003-04 111,813 2004-05 165,350 2005-06 130,987 2006-07 789,802 2007-08 (first quarter) 54,416
Figures are not available prior to 2003-04.
The information provided is based on costs paid to the Treasury Solicitors who act on behalf of the House of Commons and disbursements incurred during claims. Types of cases and advice received include: Personal injury claims made against the House, employment tribunals, FOI appeals, advice on MPs allowances and expenses, Parliamentary Privilege Bill, judicial review proceedings, Legal Services Bill and air passenger duty.
The figures for 2004-05 to 2006-07 also include legal and project fees paid in order to resolve claims on Portcullis House and Normal Shaw South. These alone amounted to £96,154 (2004-05), £79,159 (2005-06) and £596,586 (2006-07).
Proof of Identity
A new access control system for the parliamentary estate will be introduced in the autumn. Part of this project is to introduce an improved visitor management system, which is currently in development. The intention is to provide a paper visitor pass clipped to the person instead of the stickers used at present.
International Development
Afghanistan: Diarrhoea
The provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Lashkar Gah has not been contacted by either the provincial health director or any other local medical providers alerting them to a recent diarrhoea outbreak in Helmand. Civil and military (CIMIC) teams who are actively engaged in health programmes in Lashkar Gah are also not aware of any outbreak. If more specific information can be provided, the PRT will make further inquiries.
The most effective way to deliver any aid to Afghanistan is to provide funding directly to the Afghan government. This ensures that the money is spent on what Afghans need and provides the best chance for building effective state institutions that will last. DFID provides around 80 per cent. of its aid in this way. Although we do not provide assistance specifically to the health sector, we are the largest donor to the Government's recurrent budget which, for example pays salaries of health workers.
In July 2006, DFID announced a £30 million programme of support to the Helmand Agriculture and Rural Development Programme (HARDP). This programme increases economic opportunities for the rural poor of Helmand through a series of programmes operated by the government of Afghanistan. These programmes will provide essential assistance to the people of Helmand, including better water and sanitation.
The provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Lashkar Gah has not been contacted by either the provincial health director or any other local medical providers alerting them to a recent diarrhoea outbreak in Helmand. Civil and military (CIMIC) teams who are actively engaged in health programmes in Lashkar Gah are also not aware of any outbreak. If more specific information can be provided, the PRT will make further inquiries.
DFID continues to help people have improved access to clean water and sanitation. In July 2006, DFID announced a £30 million programme of support to the Helmand Agriculture and Rural Development Programme (HARDP). This programme increases economic opportunities for the rural poor of Helmand through a series of programmes operated by the government of Afghanistan. These programmes will provide essential assistance to the people of Helmand, including better water and sanitation.
Africa: International Assistance
The Africa Progress Panel's objective is to maintain the momentum for delivery of high level commitments to Africa's development to which DFID is committed. It has an important part to play in holding donors and African countries alike to account for the promises made for Africa in the G8 summits and elsewhere.
While DFID provides funds to the Africa Progress Panel, it is operationally independent. DFID is providing £1 million over three years (March 2007 to December 2010) to support a Secretariat that serves the panel, and cover the expenses of panel members. It is expected that the Africa Progress Panel will also be funded by others.
Departments: Postal Services
The following table shows the volume of mail sent by DFID using Royal Mail and other commercial carriers in the last five years. Other commercial carriers have been used on the grounds of urgency, value for money and security. The vast majority of the mail by commercial carrier is in respect of a point-to-point contracted service between our two UK offices.
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Royal Mail 255,698 246,340 216,831 203,763 170,219 Commercial carriers 199,123 134,129 118,583 105,800 93,386
Overseas Aid
[holding answer 12 July 2007]: We expect to provide £70 million through our programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2007-08, which is aimed at three broad objectives:
(a) saving lives and meeting humanitarian needs;
(b) supporting democratisation and reform of the army, police and justice systems, to consolidate peace and stability in DRC; and
(c) expanding access to basic services and stimulating broad based economic growth through more equitable use of natural resources.
DFID itself does not run programmes in DRC. Our programmes are implemented by local and international non-governmental organisations and multilateral agencies. Last year 1 per cent. of our funding also went through the government of DRC, and in future we would expect to provide more through government systems if these can be proven to be effective.
DFID does not provide direct development assistance to Tunisia or Thailand which are middle-income countries. However, we provide significant support to countries in north Africa and the middle east through multilateral channels. In particular we will contribute a £1.5 billion share of the EC's European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument's (ENPI) £8.3 billion support from 2007 to 2013, which will include aid to Tunisia. DFID also provides funding to the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the European Commission, which have programmes in Thailand.
Treasury
Departments: Manpower
(2) how many individuals claiming non-domicile tax status in the UK were born in the UK; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what estimate he has made of the number of people living in the UK who are eligible for non-domicile tax status; and if he will make a statement;
(4) how many individuals (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully applied for non-domicile tax status in each of the last 10 years for which information is available; and if he will make a statement.
All individuals taking up employment or consultancy contracts with the Treasury Departments undergo background and security checks. However, we regard the tax status of individuals as being a private matter between themselves and the appropriate Tax Office of HM Revenue and Customs.
We do not currently hold information on how many individuals claiming non-domicile tax status in the UK were born in the UK; how many individuals are eligible for non-domicile tax status in the UK; or, how many individuals have successfully applied for non-domicile tax status in each of the last 10 years.
Departments: Postal Services
The Treasury uses Royal Mail for its postal services, and other companies for parcel and courier deliveries.
Number of items sent by Royal Mail Number of parcel/courier deliveries 2003 99,845 101 2004 88,868 113 2005 59,104 410 2006 56,982 184
Information for 2002 is not available.
Excise Duties: Motor Vehicles
European Union (EU) vehicles (excluding commercial vehicles) circulating temporarily within or between member states are allowed under EC Directive 83/182 to be used on public roads without the need to register or license in the host country. These provisions limit visits to six months in any 12-month period and the vehicle must be compliant with the registration and licensing requirements of its home country. Any vehicle used in this country for more than six months in any 12 must be registered and licensed with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). In addition, where the keeper of the vehicle becomes resident in this country, the vehicle must immediately be registered and licensed here.
The Department for Transport is currently undertaking a feasibility study to explore ways of delivering better targeted enforcement on foreign heavy goods vehicles.
First Solution Money Transfer: Insolvency
In light of the recent financial difficulties experienced by the money transfer company, First Solution Money Transfer Ltd., the Companies Investigation Branch of the Insolvency Service, within the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, is carrying out an examination of the facts of the case. Further information is set out in my written ministerial statement, which was issued to the House on 11 July.
The Government welcome the announcement by the Sir William Beveridge Foundation on 16 July that an independent help line and support fund will be set up to provide advice and assistance to members of the Bangladeshi community affected. I will be making a personal donation to the fund, and would encourage others who are able to do so.
HM Revenue and Customs: Location
For the purposes of HMRC’s regional review programme the two Chelmsford offices have been grouped in a cluster with Witham. No firm date has yet been set for the review of these offices but it will take place between this summer and early next year. Whatever the outcome of the review the inquiry centres housed in two of the offices will be retained in their current localities.
Home Information Packs
Representations on the Home Condition Report register were made by the Valuation Office Agency, an executive agency of HM Revenue and Customs. The information was provided in confidence and disclosure would therefore be inappropriate.
Inheritance Tax
No such estimates have been made. Budget 2007 announced that the inheritance tax nil rate band would rise by more than forecast inflation to £312,000 in 2008-09 and to £325,000 in 2009-10. The initial stamp duty threshold was doubled from £60,000 to £120,000 in Budget 2005 and further raised to £125,000 in Budget 2006.
Taxation: Environment Protection
Those taxes (and tax reliefs) that contribute towards meeting the Government's environmental policy objectives are set out in Table 7.2 of the Budget document.
I would also like to refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 18 July 2007, Official Report, column 443W.
Unemployment: Young People
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 23 July 2007:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the levels of economically inactive people aged 18 to 24 by (i) region and (ii) gender in (a) 2006 and (b) 1997. (152030)
The attached table shows the numbers of economically inactive people aged 18 to 24 by region and gender for 1997 and 2006. The estimates cover the three month period ending December each year, and are not seasonally adjusted.
Each month the ONS publishes the latest estimates of economic inactivity by age in the Labour Market Statistics Regional First Release available in Table 10 in the attached link. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/onlineproducts/lms_regional.asp. This data is consistent with the data given in the table overleaf.
Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Thousand Three months ending December each year All persons Men Women 1997 United Kingdom2 1,191 479 712 North East 60 22 38 North West 140 58 82 Yorkshire and the Humber 113 45 69 East Midlands 68 24 44 West Midlands 111 47 64 East 82 32 50 London 198 91 107 South East 144 59 86 South West 78 29 49 Wales 72 29 43 Scotland 94 37 57 Northern Ireland 34 10 24 2006 United Kingdom2 1,430 608 822 North East 68 29 38 North West 170 77 94 Yorkshire and the Humber 118 41 77 East Midlands 95 43 52 West Midlands 139 59 80 East 95 38 56 London 253 110 143 South East 155 65 90 South West 106 50 56 Wales 65 28 37 Scotland 113 46 66 Northern Ireland 59 24 35 1 Economically inactive people are those who are neither in employment or unemployed. 2 Due to slight methodological differences between the way the national and regional LFS estimates have been adjusted for the 2001 Census there may be small differences between the UK totals and the sum of the regional components. The estimates in this table have been weighted to the 2005 mid-year population estimates. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (ONS)
VAT: Registration
VAT registration is the entry point to Missing Trader Intra-Community and other fraud—which reduced VAT receipts by an estimated £2 billion to £3 billion (2005-06). It is right that HM Revenue and Customs take steps to stop those who would abuse the system.
However, HMRC recognise that there has been a problem in recent months with delays in processing the VAT registration applications of genuine businesses. HMRC has put in place plans to improve the processing of registrations and already have additional staff in post and IT investment under way.
Number of applications received Average processing time (95 per cent.)1 Target time How many/what proportion processed within target 2002-03 257,139 2n/a 15 working days 248,910 (96.8 per cent.) 2003-04 299,043 n/a 15 working days 278,409 (93.1 per cent.) 2004-05 269,515 n/a 15 working days 262,238 (97.3 per cent.) 2005-06 284,804 n/a 15 working days 267,431 (93.9 per cent.) 2006-07 285,176 29 days 14 calendar days 77,568 (27.2 per cent.) 1Average measurement made on basis of 95 per cent. of low risk cases 2Revenue and Customs did not record the average processing times for years 2002-03 to 2005-06.
Welfare Tax Credits
Estimates of the numbers of families with tax credits awards, including information on overpayments and underpayments by county and country, based on final family circumstances and incomes, for the years 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 are available in the HMRC publication “Child and Working Tax Credits. Finalised Awards. Supplement on Payments. Geographical Analysis”, for each relevant year. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
Welfare Tax Credits: Hereford
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 3 July 2007, Official Report, column 957W to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson).
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Estimates of the numbers of families with tax credits awards, including information on overpayments and underpayments by constituency and county, based on final family circumstances and incomes, for 2005-06, is available in the HMRC publication "Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards 2005-06. Supplements on Payments in 2005-06. Geographical Analysis", which is available on the HMRC website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
Estimates for 2006-07 tax credit awards are due to be published in May 2008 when family circumstances and incomes have been finalised.
Welfare Tax Credits: York
The average number of households benefiting from either child or working tax credits in 2005-06, or receiving the equivalent support through out-of-work benefits, by constituency, is shown in “Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. 2005-06. Geographical Analyses”. This publication also includes average annual entitlement for 2005-06 and is available on the HMRC website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
The publication referred to shows that there were around 9.5 thousand families benefiting from child and working tax credits in the City Of York constituency in 2005-06. It also shows that the average annual entitlement to these families was £3,086.
Transport
A27: East Sussex
The following table gives the Highways Agency’s record of road traffic accidents that have occurred on the A27 between Lewes and Polegate in each year since 1997.
Total number of accidents 1997 78 1998 58 1999 56 2000 63 2001 60 2002 59 2003 59 2004 61 2005 57 2006 61
The accident rate for this road between Lewes and Polegate is 24.04 Personal Injury Accidents (PIA) per 100 million vehicle kilometres. The national average figure for this type of road is 24 PIAs per 100 million vehicle kilometres.
Aviation: Noise
(2) what plans she has to introduce measures to reduce noise and noise pollution caused by private aircraft.
The Department is not aware of any assessment of the environmental impact and noise pollution caused by private aircraft. Propeller driven aircraft weighing under 9,000 kg—the main “general aviation” aircraft—have to comply with an internationally agreed noise certification standard, unless they were on the UK register prior to 1980. This standard was tightened for aircraft certificated after 1999. We expect aerodromes to set and to enforce appropriate rules to minimise noise nuisance, reflecting local circumstances. Guidance on recommended measures to help reduce the noise related nuisance from light aircraft is available on the Civil Aviation Authority’s website (www.caa.co.uk).
Biofuels
Total UK biofuel sales for the financial year 2005-06 amounted to some 139 million litres, and provisional figures suggest that total UK biofuel sales for the financial year 2006-07 amounted to some 327 million litres. Further details are available via:
http://www.uktradeinfo.com
Some of these biofuels were produced in the UK from a variety of feedstocks, and some were imported. The Department does not hold precise information on the breakdown between domestically produced and imported biofuels, nor does the Department have a precise forecast for UK biofuel production in 2007-08.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, due to be introduced in April 2008, will significantly increase the demand for biofuels in the UK. A number of major new UK biofuel production facilities are due to come on stream over the next few years to help meet this additional demand. UK biofuel producers will, however, continue to need to compete with overseas producers to supply the UK market.
Departments: Early Retirement
The following table represents the number of staff exits for the Department for Transport and its agencies broken down by grade and the total cost to the Department for the last five complete financial years. Information relating to percentage of staff who took early retirement broken down by grade can be given only at disproportionate cost.
Grade Number/£ AA 57 AO 239 EO 126 HEO 113 SEO 139 Grade 7 54 Grade 6 8 SCS Payband 1 16 SCS Payband 2 2 SCS Payband 3 1 Not known 52 Total 807 Total cost (£) 31,271,609
Departments: Legislation
I have placed in the Libraries of the House a list of the provisions in Acts for which the Department for Transport has lead responsibility, which have received Royal Assent since 1 January 1997 and which remain to be brought into force.
I have placed in the Libraries of the House a list of the provisions in Acts for which the Department for Transport has lead responsibility, which have received Royal Assent since 1 January 1997 and which have been repealed.
I have placed in the Library of the House a list of the criminal offences created by primary legislation which received Royal Assent on or after 1 October 2006 and for which the Department for Transport has lead responsibility. The list includes (a) provisions that reform or modernise existing offences and (b) provisions that confer power to create new offences under secondary legislation.
Departments: Official Visits
The Department for Transport (central) and four of its agencies spent a combined total of £3,102,287 on overnight accommodation and associated subsistence in the last 12 months. The remaining three agencies do not record overnight accommodation separately from other business travel expenses, and the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Racial Harassment
The Department for Transport (C) and its agencies have had three complaints in the past 12 months, all of which are still under investigation.
Departments: Visits Abroad
This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Since 1999, the Government have published on an annual basis, a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2006-07 is currently being compiled and will be published before the summer recess. All travel is undertaken in accordance with the “Civil Service Management Code” and the “Ministerial Code”.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Shrewsbury
While every effort is made to adhere to published service times, fluctuations in workloads can occasionally result in a failure to meet targets. Application forms to register CU07XDZ and DX07OVF were received at the Shrewsbury office of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) on 3 July 2007, but were not processed until 10 July 2007. Registration Certificates for both vehicles were issued on 13 July 2007.
Driving Under Influence: Accidents
The information requested is not available by local authority area.
The estimated number of personal injury road accidents involving at least one driver or rider over the legal alcohol limit can be found in table 2a of the ‘Drinking and Driving’ article in ‘Road Casualties Great Britain’, available at
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/accidents/casualtiesgbar/roadcasualtiesgreatbritain2005
Estimates are calculated on a national basis. Local authority estimates are not available.
Driving: Licensing
The arrangements which allow the exchange of Hong Kong licences for British licences are governed by legislation.
This requires the exchange of a Hong Kong licence even if it was issued as a result of a test passed elsewhere. There is no discretion but officials are considering the effect of the legislation.
Approximately 4,500 Hong Kong licences are exchanged for a British licence each year. Figures are not available for how many were issued as a result of a test passed in Hong Kong as this information is not required for the exchange process.
First Great Western
First Great Western is not currently in breach of either the punctuality or reliability benchmarks specified in the Franchise Agreement.
Garage and Petrol Stations: East Sussex
This information is not held centrally by Government. However information on geographical locations is available on the Energy Saving Trust website at:
www.est.org.uk
The Government provide funds to the Energy Saving Trust to run their Infrastructure grant programme. The grants assist the building of refuelling stations for alternative fuels (natural gas/biogas, hydrogen and bio-ethanol).
M3: Road Traffic
Traffic data on the volume of traffic on the M3 motorway between junctions 6 and 7 are only available from 1995 to 2006. Information on traffic entering and leaving the motorway at these junctions is only available for 2005 and 2006. The information is shown in the following tables.
Junction 6-7 eastbound Junction 7-6 westbound 1995 38,222 37,946 1996 39,387 39,303 1997 41,177 40,956 1998 42,331 42,770 1999 43,138 43,418 2000 1n/a 43,995 2001 44,938 45,122 2002 45,108 43,948 2003 45,074 45,298 2004 45,060 44,217 2005 44,952 43,744 2006 45,930 46,616 1 Not available as the automatic traffic counting sites were out of operation. Source: Southern Region Trunk Road Traffic Monitoring Reports 2005 and 2006, HA TRADS2.
Junction 6 on-slip westbound Junction 6 on-slip eastbound Junction 7 on-slip westbound Junction 7 on-slip eastbound 20051 8,032 15,145 4,014 1,744 2006 8,550 13,568 4,233 3,936 1 Data not available prior to year stated as automatic traffic counting sites on slip roads were not installed until 2005. Source: Southern Region Trunk Road Traffic Monitoring Reports 2005 and 2006, HA TRADS2.
Junction 6 off-slip westbound Junction 6 off-slip eastbound Junction 7 off-slip westbound Junction 7 off-slip eastbound 20051 12,879 8,169 3,024 4,034 2006 13,100 8,233 2,971 4,070 1 Data not available prior to year stated as automatic traffic counting sites on slip roads were not installed until 2005. Source: Southern Region Trunk Road Traffic Monitoring Reports 2005 and 2006. HA TRADS2.
Metronet
Transport for London and London Underground are in discussions with PPP administrators to identify the best long term financial outcome resulting from the administration of Metronet’s activities. It would be premature to comment on any liabilities while those discussions are still in their early stages.
Motor Vehicles: Registration
The information is as follows.
(a) All vehicles have to comply with the minimum standards of roadworthiness irrespective of the country in which the vehicle is registered. If they do not their drivers and operators can be prosecuted and fined. The vehicle can also be prohibited from moving until necessary repairs have been carried out.
(b) European law requires all vehicles registered in any member state to have insurance for the use of that vehicle in any other member state. That insurance must cover the driver’s liability for any personal injury or property damage caused to any third party.
Motor Vehicles: Testing
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) is responsible for the operation of the MOT Scheme. Statistics regarding the number of vehicles that failed the MOT test on the grounds of emissions standards are published annually in VOSA’s Effectiveness Report. This is available on line at www.vosa.gov.uk and in the House of Commons Library, Business and Transport Section.
We will be consulting shortly.
Motorways: Repairs and Maintenance
Motorways are only resurfaced with noise reducing materials. The average cost per mile for resurfacing a motorway, with three lanes in each direction plus a hard shoulder with a noise reducing surface, is approximately £180,000. This excludes the costs for traffic management, contract preliminaries, any road strengthening and other consequential works.
Official Cars: Ministers
Since 2005, one Minister has opted not to take-up the use of a ministerial car through the Government Car and Despatch Agency.
Railways: EU Action
The renewable derogation allowing member states to disapply on a time-limited basis provisions in the proposed directive on the certification of train drivers operating locomotives and trains is for a period of 10 years.
The UK is minded to invoke this derogation. However, details of its implementation, especially with regard to any future renewal of the derogation, will be subject to consultation with the industry and users once the final text has been agreed both by the European Council and the European Parliament.
Railways: Scotland
The Secretary of State has not met the Scottish Executive to discuss a high-speed rail link between Scotland and London.
Department for Transport Ministers and officials regularly consult the Scottish Executive on reserved railway matters which are of strategic importance to Scotland, including issues concerning cross-border capacity and franchising.
The Government will set out their position on high-speed rail links in the HLOS Rail White Paper later in the week.
Railways: Vandalism
(2) how many incidences of arson on the railways there were in each year since 2000, broken down by (a) train operating company and (b) line.
This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport Police who can be contacted at: British Transport Police, 25 Camden Road, London NW1 9LN, E-mail:
general.enquiries@btp.pnn.police.uk.
Roads: Accidents
The proportion of reported personal injury road accidents which had “vehicle defects” as a contributory factor was 2.6 per cent. in 2005 and 2.3 per cent in 2006.
2005 is the earliest year for which this information is available.
Severn Barrage
This would be primarily a matter for the promoters of the proposed Severn Barrage to consider, but the Department would be pleased to co-operate in any such assessment.
Transport: Private Finance Initiatives
The HM Treasury website provides updated details (on a six monthly basis) of awarded PFI projects overseen by the Department for Transport. The project details include the awarding authority, date of financial close, total capital value and the annual unitary charge payment. This information is available at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public_private_partnerships/ppp_pfi_stats.cfm
Vehicle and Operator Services Agency
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) publishes the average number of staff employed (full-time equivalent) in its annual report and accounts. This is available online at www.vosa.gov.uk and in the House of Commons Library, Business and Transport Section.
An update on progress on the outsourcing feasibility study will be presented to the DfT Board in the autumn.
Vehicle and Operators Services Agency: Property
The net book value for existing use of the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) estate used for testing HGV and PSV vehicles was £78.3 million as at end March 2007.
Defence
Aircraft Carriers: Procurement
[holding answer 18 July 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 May 2007, Official Report, column 1181W, to the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Mr. Williams).
Armed Forces: Council Tax
Work is ongoing to find a resolution to this issue and an announcement will be made in due course.
Armed Forces: Deployment
The approximate number of UK service personnel deployed by operation and location as at 9 July 2007 is shown in the following table:
Operation Number Total 13,500 Of which: Telic 6,800 Of which: Iraq 5,500 Other (including ‘at sea’) 1,300 Herrick 6,200 Of which: Afghanistan 6,200 Oculus 240 Of which: Kosovo 180 Bosnia 60 UN 320 Of which: Cyprus 290 Other1 30 1 Other UN locations have fewer than 10 personnel per country and include Georgia, Nepal, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. Note: Due to rounding methods used, totals may not always equal the sum of the parts.
The strength of UK regular forces posted outside the UK is available in Tri-Service Publication (TSP) 6—Global Location of UK Regular Forces. The most recent publication show the numbers of service personnel at 1 October 2006.
Copies of TSP 6 are available in the Library of the House and are also available at:
www.dasa.mod.uk/natstats/tsp6/tsp6_oct06.pdf.
Due to the introduction of a new joint personnel administration system (JPA), TSP6 RAF location data for 1 April 2006 are provisional and subject to review, and after 1 April 2006 are not currently available.
The Defence Analytical Services Agency is currently validating JPA RAF location data and expect to publish provisional RAF figures for 1 July 2006 and 1 October 2006 by the end of July 2007.
Armed Forces: Homosexuality
In accordance with Queen’s Regulations, decisions on whether armed forces personnel can attend Gay Pride or any other public events are a matter for the chain of command.
Armed Forces: Housing
All armed forces personnel stationed in London, the East and South East of England, with a household income of less than £60,000, are eligible to be considered for the key worker living (KWL) programme. The scheme was only extended to include Service personnel in September 2006, and the first two beneficiaries have moved into their new homes. Other applicants are at various stages in the process.
Armed Forces: Key Worker Living Scheme
None. Only armed forces personnel stationed in London, the East and South East of England with a household income of less than £60,000, are currently eligible to be considered for the Key Worker Living programme. That scheme was extended to include service personnel in September 2006, and the scope for extending similar arrangements to other areas of Great Britain, where there are major military establishments, is being explored with the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Armed Forces: Smoking
The ban on smoking in enclosed public places applies to all military vehicles and has been in place for sometime.
Army Board: Alcoholic Drinks
The entertainment expenses claimed by non-ministerial members of the Army Board, as presented on 17 April 2007, Official Report, column 535W, and 19 June 2007, Official Report, column 1761W, include the costs of alcohol for the official functions in question.
Neither the Assistant Chief of the General Staff nor 2nd Permanent Under-Secretary incurred any expenditure on alcohol for official entertainment.
The Chief of the General Staff and his immediate predecessor claimed costs of approximately £521.33 for alcohol expenses for official entertainment in 2006, broken down as follows:
Date Event/reason Amount (£) 7 February Lunch with Chief of the General Staff, Italy 190.00 15 March The Friends of the Army Dinner 190.00 21-25 May The Kermit Roosevelt Lecture Tour 94.47 21 June Lunch with Chief of the Defence Staff New Zealand 225.00 16-20 July Visit of Vice Chief of the Army Staff Pakistan 96.26 12 December Lunch with Chief of the General Staff Sweden 125.60 1 Estimated costs based on the cost of events of a similar nature. 2 Estimated cost.
The Adjutant-General claimed £394.83 for the cost of alcohol for official entertainment in 2006. A breakdown is set out in the following table:
Date Event/reason Amount (£) 23 January Visit of Master General of Ordnance 24.45 13 February Visit of Quarter Master General with Director Army Legal Services and Senior Defence Lecturer, Cranfield 28.54 20 February Army 3-star officer and senior civilian representatives 21.36 1 March Visit of Senior Minister of the Catholic Group (Army) 28.00 30 March Visit of Assistant Chief General Staff 35.34 27 April Military and civilian staff Headquarters Adjutant General 31.12 8 May Visit of Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Personnel) and senior officers concerned with welfare/personnel issues 23.34 12 June Visit of CinC Land Command 35.82 23 August Visit of Judge Advocate General and hosting of Private Secretary to TRH Princes William and Harry 22.70 31 August Visit of Governor Royal Hospital Chelsea 27.99 12 September Visit of Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Reserves and Cadets) regarding Territorial Army soldiers operational and welfare needs 22.74 4 October Visit of Chief Constable Wiltshire Constabulary 19.25 17 October Sir Max Hastings, General Sir Mike Jackson, Sir Ronnie Hempel and senior military personnel 26.62 15 October Visit of Minister of State for Armed Forces and Member for Air Personnel 20.37 21 November Visit of Chief Constable Hampshire Constabulary (enhancement of relations and working best practice) 27.19
The General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland claimed £770.63 for the cost of alcohol for official entertainment in 2006. The events were:
Date Event/reason Amount (£) 21 January Unit Cohesiveness event. Civilian and military staff from throughout the Command 57.29 2 February Entertainment to foster relationships within the wider community 51.45 9 February Visit by Dir CT&UK Ops, MOD 51.51 13 May Unit Cohesion event. Civilian and military staff from throughout the Command 20.29 15-18 May Visit by GOC NI (designate) 4.75 18 May Entertainment to foster relationships within the wider community 49.02 1 August Unit cohesiveness event. Civilian and military staff from throughout the Command 16.95 11 September Entertainment to foster relationships within the wider community 60.39 19 September Entertainment to foster relationships within the wider community 70.02 17 October Entertainment to foster relationships within the wider community 69.63 24 October Entertainment to foster relationships within the wider community 49.91 21 November Entertainment to foster relationships within the wider community 62.07 23 November Visit by Deputy Adjutant General 35.48 6 December Entertainment to foster relationships within the wider community 63.61 19 December Unit cohesiveness event. Civilian and military staff from throughout the Command 108.26
The Commander in Chief Land Command claimed £1,294.60 for the cost of alcohol for official entertainment in 2006, broken down as follows:
Date Event/reason Amount (£) 25 January Hosting visit by UK dignitaries 152.59 5 March Hosting visit by UK dignitaries 101.70 6 March Hosting foreign visitor 26.10 21 March Unit cohesiveness 136.98 4 April Hosting visit By UK dignitaries 87.24 18 April Unit cohesiveness 72.90 18 May Entertainment to foster relationships with wider community 143.63 23 May Unit cohesiveness 117.36 10 June Hosting UK officials 28.39 17 June Hosting prominent members of the civilian community 195.40 18 July Hosting visit by overseas dignitaries 44.94 20 July Hosting visit by overseas dignitaries 89.17 14 November Visit of Spanish Commander in Chief 98.20
All expenditure on official entertainment is subject to strict departmental rules and compliance with the principles of propriety set out in Government Accounting.
It has not been possible to break down the expenditure on alcohol by type as this information is not held.
AWE Aldermaston: Press
The only identifiable cost of the AWE media open day was £494.40. These costs were for catering and the production of press packs. There will have been other small unquantifiable costs associated with employees' time. The media open day was organised to coincide with an on-site exhibition for employees, contractors and their families. This was in response to the House of Commons Defence Committee's (HCDC) view that there was a case for greater openness regarding the work undertaken at AWE. The Government response to the HCDC’s report ‘The Future of the UK's Strategic Nuclear Deterrent: the Manufacturing and Skills Base’ (HC 59 dated 19 December 2006) provides further details.
Currently we have no plans to hold another media open day at an AWE site.
Battlefield Artillery Target Engagement System
The Battlefield Artillery Target Engagement System was brought into service in the early 1980s, and declared out of service in December 2006. Information on the costs of the system is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
British Merchant Fleet
[holding answer 18 July 2007]: No formal assessment has been conducted recently. The MOD’s strategic shipping requirements are met initially by the six British flagged and manned roll-on roll-off vessels provided under a private finance initiative.
Additional requirements are met under reciprocal arrangements with allies and from the wider commercial market.
The recent House of Commons Defence Committee enquiry into Strategic Lift, whilst noting the good arrangements for securing additional sealift, recommended that the MOD undertake an analysis of the reducing commercial shipping market. The MOD is currently considering its response to this recommendation.
No formal assessment has been conducted recently. The MOD’s strategic shipping requirements are met initially by the six British flagged and manned roll-on roll-off vessels provided under a private finance initiative. Additional requirements are met under reciprocal arrangements with allies and from the wider commercial market.
The recent House of Commons Defence Committee inquiry into Strategic Lift, while noting the good arrangements for securing additional sealift, recommended that the MOD undertake an analysis of the reducing commercial shipping market. The MOD is currently considering its response to this recommendation.
Defence Export Services Organisation
I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 16 July 2007, Official Report, column 13W.
Defence Medical Services: ICT
[holding answer 16 July 2007]: The total cost of the Defence Medical Information Capability Programme (DMICP) to date, including the concept and assessment phases of the programme, has been £14.7 million. Full operating capability is expected to be achieved in 2010, by which time £48 million is expected to have been spent.
The total programme costs, over the 10-year lifespan of the system, are expected to be £107 million. All figures are exclusive of VAT.
DMCIP will provide a single integrated health record (including a dental record) for all patients treated by the Defence Medical Services, instantly accessible by all medical personnel who need to treat a patient, a range of improved administrative and patient management tools, and a comprehensive management information system. DMICP will be available from all fixed medical and dental centres in the UK, Germany and certain other permanent bases overseas; a deployed capability will be available on operations from late2008; and from 2010 DMCIP will be linked to NHS Care Records Service.
Departments: BAE Systems
[holding answer 16 July 2007]: The number of those granted permission to join BAE Systems in 2006 and 2007 are as follows:
Granted permission to join BAE Systems Who had dealt with receipt of tenders Involved with contract awards (alone or as part of a team) 2006 21 4 4 2007 (to date) 12 4 4
It is not possible to confirm from records where the applicant actually took up the post, but the proposed post in the application, i.e. the last post in MOD, were as follows:
BAE post Last MOD post UK Customer Relations Naval Adviser Procurement Adviser DG, Trafalgar 200th Anniversary Senior Software Assurance Engineer Quality Assurance Representative Executive Secretary to Tornado Director PA/Harrier Assistant Director Sales Support Regional Director/Central DESO Team Leader Supply Chain Tornado IPT Procurement Manager AD/DG Log Proc EVP Market Development On secondment to BAE Test Pilot Equipment Capability Maintenance Programme Manager Engineering Manager Consultant Supply Engagement Manager Project Ldr Comms Suite Senior Equipment Support Manager Marketing Development and Sales Procurement Manager Consultant , defence matters UK Government agreements with Saudi MOD Typhoon Information Systems Officer Typhoon Information Support Officer Resource Engineer Managing Technical Demo Programme Senior rep on RAF Station OC Depth Support Manager Head of maintenance AD Depth Support Tornado Bid Team Niteworks Business Co-ordinator Senior Quality Assurance Engineer Logistic Sustainability Deployability Audit ILS Manager ILS Engineer Business Manager, Light Munitions CO Duke of Lancaster Regiment Cost and Pricing Manager Project Manager Army Base Repair Organisation Avionics Implementation Manager Tornado Project Office Programme Manager AD Engineering Policy Trials and Delivery Manager OC Comms Services Group Test Pilot Test Pilot Senior Support Project Engineer Tornado Project Support Director of International Maintenance and Logistics DG Logistics DLO Engineering Support Engineer Harrier Engineering Authority Tornado Customer Liaison Manager Tornado IPT Manager Export Support for Typhoon Regional Director for DESO Flying Training SO Fast Jet Training
Departments: Buildings
The scale (including floor space standards) of provision of MOD office accommodation is directed by guidelines within Joint Services Publication (JSP) 315—Services Accommodation Code. Within the JSP, Scale 45 applies to office accommodation for both military and civilian personnel.
A copy of JSP 315 can be found on the Defence Estates internet site at:
http://www.defence-estates.mod.uk/publications/jsp/index.php
Departments: Flint Bishop
The Ministry of Defence has no record of any payments being made to Flint Bishop Solicitors since 1997.
Departments: Legislation
None. The Ministry of Defence has been unchanged since its establishment pursuant to the Defence Transfer of Functions Act 1964, and therefore has had no predecessors since 1997.
Departments: Official Engagements
On Monday 9 July I was in London where I had a series of meetings with officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Scotland Office. On Tuesday 10 July I attended Cabinet and answered oral questions for the Scotland Office before travelling to Berlin for a bilateral meeting with the German Defence Minister. I returned to London on Wednesday for further meetings with officials from both my departments. On Thursday 12 July, I attended the 90th anniversary world war one commemorations in Tyne Cot, Belgium, before travelling to Brussels for a meeting with the Secretary General of the Council of the European Union on Friday 13 July. I travelled from Brussels to Paris on 13 July and held a bilateral meeting with the French Defence Minister on Saturday 14 July, before attending the Bastille Day commemorations hosted by President Sarkozy.
Departments: Postal Services
Official mail within the Department is primarily distributed by the internal Defence Mail Service, provided by the British Forces Post Office, while mail for personnel serving overseas is usually distributed by RAF air transport. Most external mail is sent through the Royal Mail Group, or, exceptionally through other approved carriers, who are used on an ad-hoc basis, usually for urgent requirements. The volume of correspondence is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departments: Publicity
(2) what assessment he has made of the cost effectiveness of advertising commissioned by his Department in the last 12 months.
The armed forces employ a wide range of measures to ascertain the effectiveness of their recruitment advertising campaigns. They are then set against advertising expenditure to assess the cost effectiveness of the various media channels and tools used and compared with each other, across-government and with industry averages.
For civilian advertising, delegation of responsibility across the Department has resulted in a variable level of effectiveness and identified that improvements could be made. As part of the Civil Service's People Programme we are moving towards a centralised recruitment service. In addition, an advertising contract via the Central Office of Information has been negotiated which enables a continued presence in the national and diversity media and recruitment and diversity websites but also has the flexibility to allow managers to target post specific advertising more effectively. New adverts began in February 2007 to support a pilot of MOD's new external recruitment process. ‘TMP Worldwide’ has provided generic adverts that appear in monthly selected publications such as diversity press and national newspapers and three large recruitment and diversity websites. In June, Phase 1 of the recruitment service for Broader Banded grades launched and has been supported by the new adverts and any post specific adverts; the service is planned to be fully delivered by June 2008. It is too early to give results but we anticipate a cost saving plus an increase in effectiveness.
EU Battlegroups
The last UK commitment to form a European Union Battle Group on standby was from January-June 2005. The Joint Rapid Reaction Force covered this commitment. During this period, there was no deployment of an EU Battle Group.
The British military units which will form the EU Battle Group that the United Kingdom will have on standby in the second half of 2008 will again come from our Joint Rapid Reaction Force. A decision is likely to be taken later this year on the preferred unit to form the core of this capability.
Members: Correspondence
[holding answer 19 July 2007]: I replied to the hon. Member on 19 July 2007.
Military Attaches
[holding answer 18 July 2007]: The total cost to the MOD of maintaining the attaché/adviser network was £38.7 million for financial year 2006-07.
The FCO are establishing the cost of the Defence Attaché network to them in financial year 2006-07. Exact figures are not yet available, however, it is estimated that the amount is in the region of £10 million.
Military Exercises: Ammunition
In the last two years there are no records of military exercises being cancelled as a result of a lack of blank ammunition. In 2005 some cadet camps experienced a reduced supply, caused by shortages arising from production problems; these were subsequently resolved. Since that time, the Defence General Munitions Integrated Project Team has received no reports of shortages of blank ammunition.
Military Police: Colchester
The number of Ministry of Defence police officers employed at Colchester in May 1997, May 2001, May 2005 and June 2007 is as follows:
Date Inspector Sergeant Constable Total May 1997 1 5 26 32 May 2001 1 5.5 25.5 33 May 2005 1 4.5 14.5 20 June 2007 0 2.5 6.5 9
These figures do not include Criminal Investigation Department Officers who are not part of the MDP complement at Colchester Garrison and not funded by Land Command. They are based in Colchester for administrative convenience and are responsible for investigating crime on defence estates in East Anglia.
Nimrod Aircraft
The current forecast In Service date for Nimrod MRA4 is 2010 against an original expectation of 2003 when the contract was let in 1996. The MRA4 training facility has been developed concurrently with the aircraft; the extended development programme for the aircraft has allowed risk to be removed from the training facility development programme through more extensive testing being conducted on site at RAF Kinloss by BAE Systems, assisted by the MOD.
The Nimrod MRA4 training facility is currently in the design and development phase. It is a sophisticated system which will provide training for aircrew and groundcrew operating one of the most complex weapon systems in the RAF. The recent, extensive, post-commissioning testing has, as intended, identified anomalies in the software which integrates the numerous and complex systems that make up the simulators. These have been addressed and the corrective actions will be consolidated during the planned upgrade of the simulators to the production delivery standard.
The Nimrod MRA4 training facility does not have a separate budget. The costs of development and production of the facility form part of the prime contract with BAE Systems for the provision of the overall Nimrod MRA4 weapon system. The costs of the operation and maintenance of the training facility will form part of the contract for the future support of the weapon system, which has yet to be negotiated.
There have been no specific discussions between departmental Ministers and BAE Systems over progress on the Nimrod MRA4 training facility.
Total design and development costs for Nimrod MRA4 to date are some £1.73 billion of which about £215 million has been incurred since the production contract was signed in July 2006.
The Nimrod MRA4 training facility is currently in the design and development phase, the costs of which form part of the contract with BAE Systems for the provision of the overall Nimrod MRA4 weapon system. Contractual arrangements for operating and maintaining the training system have therefore yet to be negotiated.
The development and production of the Nimrod MRA4 training facility forms part of the prime contract with BAE Systems for the overall Nimrod MRA4 weapon system. The contract requires the training system to replicate the standard of the first production aircraft and it will only be contractually accepted by MOD when it has successfully completed extensive testing to prove that it will function appropriately. The contract contains default provisions which could be implemented if the system did not meet the contractual requirement. Contractual arrangements for the operation and maintenance of the training facility have yet to be negotiated.
Development and production of the Nimrod MRA4 training facility forms part of the overall prime contract with BAE Systems for provision of the overall Nimrod MRA4 weapon system and will be funded from the provision made for that contract. No additional funding has been allocated to that contract as a contingency provision for the training system.
Nuclear Weapons: RAF Lakenheath
[holding answer 28 July 2007]: It is not the practice of the Government to make public details of all discussions with foreign Governments as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice international relations.
Shipping: Accidents
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 July 2007, Official Report, columns 200-01W. Furthermore, no discussions have been held and none have been sought by the French authorities.
Home Department
Animal Experiments: Licensing
Under section 8 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, holders of certificates of designation under section 6 or 7 of the 1986 Act are required to pay such periodical fees as may be prescribed or determined. A composite fee is currently charged, comprising of an annual fee for the certificate of designation and an annual fee for each personal licensee with primary availability at the establishment. No fee is levied with respect to project licences.
The current fees are: certificate of designation, scientific procedures establishment: £252; certificate of designation, breeding and/or supplying establishment: £1,130; personal licence: £226.
The fees are collected in arrears to cover the costs of operating the 1986 Act. These are, primarily, the staff and running costs of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate, the administrative staff running the licensing operation and the Animal Procedures Committee. Fee income is not currently used to provide financial support for research into non-animal methods and we have no plans to increase them for this purpose.
We announced on 21 May 2004, Official Report, column 69WS, that the Home Office would transfer its separately-funded budget for research into the reduction, replacement and refinement of animal experimentation (the 3Rs) to the National Centre for Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) once pre-existing commitments had been honoured. Accordingly, the Home Office contributed £35,000, £125,000 and £250,000 to the funding of the centre in financial years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07, respectively.
The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research is an independent organisation, funded by Government, research councils and industry, reporting to the Minister for Science and Innovation, and provides a United Kingdom focus for the promotion, development and implementation of the 3Rs in animal research and testing. The centre funds high-quality 3Rs research and facilitates the exchange of information and ideas, the identification of knowledge gaps, and the translation of research findings into practice to benefit both animals and science.
Antisocial Behaviour
The data are not available in the form requested. Antisocial behaviour (ASB) is not measured by incidents but through a measure of perceptions using the British Crime Survey (BCS). The size of the sample in the British Crime Survey means that we cannot provide reliable data for geographical areas smaller than police force areas. Due to changes in the measure of antisocial behaviour, police force area data comparable to the national figures are only available for 2004-05 to 2006-07, and the national measure of perceptions of ASB only back to 2001-02.
Statistics regarding incidents of antisocial behaviour are not collected centrally in the police recorded crime statistics. It is the substantive result of an action of ASB that will be recorded by the police e.g. criminal damage.
The following table sets out the national BCS figures for the last six years and the comparable figure for Hampshire police force area.
National (Percentage) Hampshire police force area (Percentage) Statistically significantly different (at the 95 per cent. level) from the national average 2001-02 19 — — 2002-03 21 — — 2003-04 16 — — 2004-05 17 18 No 2005-06 17 13 No 2006-07 18 15 No Note: The measure of antisocial behaviour used is based on a scale constructed from seven questions on problems due to noisy neighbours or loud parties, teenagers and young people hanging around, rubbish and litter, vandalism, people using or dealing drugs, people being drunk or rowdy and abandoned cars (see background notes for more details).
Burglary: East Sussex
The available information is given in the following tables and relates to the Eastbourne Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) area and the Sussex police force area as a whole. Data specifically for East Sussex are not available.
Eastbourne CDRP Sussex police force area 1997 n/a 10,862 n/a = Not available.
Eastbourne CDRP Sussex police force area 1998-99 n/a 11,026 1999-2000 n/a 9,596 2000-01 665 8,498 2001-02 667 7,618 n/a Not available. Notes: 1. The coverage was extended and counting rules revised from 1998-99. Figures from that date are not directly comparable with those for 1997. 2. The data in this table are prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.
Eastbourne CDRP Sussex police force area 2002-03 667 8,209 2003-04 843 7,920 2004-05 545 6,836 2005-06 431 5,709 2006-07 394 4,556 Note: The data in this table take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.
Departments: Racial Harassment
During the last 12 months (for the period 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007) the Home Office, including the Border and Immigration Agency, the Identity and Passport Service and the Criminal Records Bureau, has received nine official complaints of racial discrimination and racial harassment (racial abuse is not a category within the Home Office bullying, harassment and discrimination policy) from staff against their colleagues, all of which were investigated. Fewer than five of the complaints were upheld, and specific information about those individuals is withheld on grounds of confidentiality.
The Border and Immigration Agency also received 50 complaints regarding allegations of racism from customers against its staff, all of which were investigated. Fewer than five of the complaints were upheld, and this information is therefore withheld on grounds of confidentiality.
All employees have a duty to respect the dignity of others at work, be mindful of the effect their behaviour may have on colleagues, and ensure their own conduct does not breach the provisions of the Home Office bullying, harassment and discrimination policy.
Under the policy, line managers are responsible for maintaining a workplace that is free from bullying, harassment and discrimination, confronting unacceptable behaviour and dealing promptly, sensitively and confidently with any issues that come to their attention.
Departments: Wales
My Department owns no land in Wales.
Driving Under Influence
Data on the number of screening breath tests conducted by the police are available by police force area only. The most recently available figures in respect of Sussex are as follows:
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total tests 20,800 21,800 17,300 17,200 15,200 Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Breath Tests Statistical Collection, held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform.
I have been asked to reply.
The Government are committed to reducing drinking and driving through a combination of effective law enforcement, maintenance of a tough penalties regime and continuing investment in high-profile national publicity campaigns.
We have given the police new powers to carry out evidential roadside breath testing, subject to type approval of appropriate equipment. We have also included in the Road Safety Act 2006 a number of further measures designed to deter drink driving and reduce reoffending. These include enabling powers to require serious, including repeat, offenders to retake the driving test at the end of their driving disqualification, improvements to the operation of the drink drive rehabilitation scheme and provision for a statutory alcohol ignition interlock programme.
We have just launched a new £3 million multi-media publicity campaign aimed primarily, though not exclusively, at young, male drivers who are more likely to be involved in drink-related crashes than other driver categories. This is designed to emphasise the very serious consequences of being convicted for drink driving and provides a powerful deterrent message for potential drink drivers.
We have also announced, in the second three-year review of the Road Safety Strategy published in February 2007, that we intend to carry out a consultation on other ways of tackling drink driving, including ways of making police enforcement against drink driving easier. A consultation paper will be published by the end of this year.
Electronic Surveillance
The Interception of Communications Act 1985 was repealed following the full entry into force of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). Part 2 of RIPA provides for the authorisation of covert surveillance, including surveillance carried out in relation to anything taking place in residential premises by means of a surveillance device. Where the device is not present on the premises, directed surveillance may be authorised—unless the device consistently provides information of the same quality and detail as might be expected from a device actually present on the premises, in which case intrusive surveillance should be authorised. Authorisation of both intrusive and directed surveillance is subject to independent oversight by the Office of the Surveillance Commissioners and the Intelligence Services Commissioner.
Fingerprints: Suffolk
The number of people in Suffolk that have had their fingerprints held on file in each of the past five years is as follows:
Number 2002 3,807 2003 4,929 2004 4,456 2005 4,662 2006 5,162
Genetics
It is not possible to provide a precise time for how long it takes to identify an individual through a DNA profile since this will vary between cases and depend on the circumstances of the case investigation.
Genetics: Databases
It is not policy to answer questions of this nature since to do so would constitute a breach of national security.
Identity and Passport Service: Vetting
All recruits to the IPS have to meet the baseline personnel security standards which include:
Identity;
Employment history;
Nationality/immigration status; and
Unspent criminal record.
Staff dealing with passport applications have to meet counter terrorist check standards and those in the new interview office network, who will be interviewing first time passport applicants, have to be cleared to the higher level of security check and are subject to checks with the Criminal Records Bureau.
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
A copy of the decision was received at the Border and Immigration Agency on 6 July and was forwarded to the overseas post on 13 July.
Immigration: Advisory Services
An individual who wishes to obtain immigration advice can do so through a solicitor registered with the Law Society or through an advisor registered with the Office of Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC). The OISC is a non-departmental public body of the Border and Immigration Agency. Organisations regulated by the OISC can be ‘for profit’ or ‘not for profit.’ In 2006-07 there were 673 ‘for profit’ organisations registered with the OISC and 976 ‘not for profit’ registered with the OISC of which 596 were Citizen Advice Bureaus (CABs).
Some of the ‘not for profit’ sector only provide immigration advice, but others such as CABs offer advice on a range of issues. As such, the actual funding the Government provides for immigration advice through the not for profit sector cannot be isolated.
Immigration: Philippines
Regular discussions are held between the Department of Health and the Border and Immigration Agency on labour market and immigration related issues.
Police: Finance
The information requested is set out in the following table.
The Government do not distribute grant to police authorities purely on the basis of population. The police funding formula uses a range of data relating to demographic and social characteristics to reflect the relative needs of each authority. Grant allocations also take into account the relative tax base of each authority. Grant allocations are stabilised by damping to limit year-on-year variations.
Police authority Total grants 2007-081 (£ million) Resident population mid-20052 (million) Funding per head of population 2007-08 (£) Hampshire 233.17 1.81 128.82 Kent 235.37 1.62 145.29 Surrey 114.32 1.08 105.85 Sussex 198.89 1.52 130.85 Thames Valley 270.72 2.14 126.50 Total south-east of England 1,052.47 8.17 128.82 Total England 8,884.81 50.42 176.22 1 Total grants comprises: Home Office Police Grant, DCLG Revenue Support Grant and National Non-Domestic Rates; Special Formula grant, Specific Grants: Crime Fighting Fund, Neighbourhood Policing Fund, Basic Command Unit Fund, Community Support Officer Funding, Pension Deficit Grant and Dedicated Security Post funding and Capital provision (including the increased capital allocations announced on 24 May and 19 June 2007). 2 Population data sourced by the Office for National Statistics from the mid-2005 population estimates.
Grant floors are an integral part of the local government finance system. A damping mechanism is applied to police formula grant allocations to protect all police authorities against financial instability and to ensure they all receive an increase in grant at least equal to the ‘floor’ level on a like-for-like basis year-on-year.
Any movement towards full implementation of the funding formula will depend on the overall amount of grant available for distribution. Decisions on police grant for 2008-09 to 2010-11 will be taken in the autumn.
Police: Road Traffic Control
This is an operational matter for chief officers and the police authorities and the information is not held centrally.
Police: Stun Guns
Taser has been available to all Authorised Firearms Officers in England and Wales since September 2004 as a less lethal alternative for use in situations where a firearms authority has been granted in accordance with criteria laid down in the Association of Chief Police Officers Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms.
From 20 July 2007 Chief Officers throughout England and Wales have been able to deploy Taser for use by Authorised Firearms Officers in operations or incidents where the criteria for the authorisation to issue firearms does not apply, but where officers are facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they would need to use force to protect the public, themselves and/or the subject(s) of their action.
In addition, a 12 month trial of the deployment of Taser by specially trained units who are not firearms officers in similarly violent circumstances requiring conflict management will commence on 1 September 2007 in the following 10 forces in England and Wales: Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Gwent, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Metropolitan Police Service, Northamptonshire, Northumbria, North Wales and West Yorkshire.
Pornography: Children
The Government and law enforcement are working hard to build international co-operation and collaboration to improve all aspects of investigations into online child abuse.
This will cover not only investigations into websites hosting images of children being sexually abused; but, also, investigations to find the children who appear in these images and to identify those who are making, downloading, distributing and/or trading in images of children being sexually abused. A recent investigation led by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre led to the rescue of over 30 children from abuse and the identification of over 700 suspects worldwide.
The Government recognise the need to take action to shut down these sites and law enforcement are pro-actively seeking to build relationships in those parts of the world where it appears the majority of sites are hosted. We are also very supportive of CEOP’s initiative to embed law enforcement officers from overseas into CEOP to improve co-operation and to facilitate investigations.
Stop and Search: Vehicles
The available information is given in the following tables from 1998-99 to 2004-05 (latest available).
Resultant arrests following searches of persons2 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 Police force area Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Avon and Somerset 2,913 — 3,199 — 2,268 — 2,562 — Bedfordshire 573 — 542 2 425 — 486 — Cambridgeshire 1,142 — 1,191 — 819 — 630 — Cheshire 1,356 — 1,244 2 1,085 1 1,245 4 Cleveland 3,137 — 2,841 — 2,349 — 2,333 — Cumbria 1,487 — 1,206 — 848 — 576 — Derbyshire 1,700 — 2,066 — 1,395 — 1,051 — Devon and Cornwall 2,261 — 1,960 — 1,766 — 2,360 — Dorset 537 — 1,006 — 930 — 1,029 — Durham 987 — 1,056 — 1,219 — 1,351 — Essex 948 — 998 — 1,043 — 904 — Gloucestershire 679 — 909 — 837 — 881 — Greater Manchester 6,602 — 5,722 — 4,983 — 4,153 1 Hampshire 2,273 — 2,910 — 2,350 — 2,211 — Hertfordshire 761 — 1,008 — 1,087 — 801 — Humberside 771 — 777 — 772 — 664 — Kent 5,066 — 4,467 — 3,740 — 3,216 7 Lancashire 3,578 — 2,942 — 2,506 — 2,076 — Leicestershire 2,077 — 1,697 — 984 — 1,463 — Lincolnshire 1,141 — 814 — 668 — 831 — London, City of 635 23 459 — 455 25 1,197 100 Merseyside 6,104 — 4,923 — 3,656 — 3,087 — Metropolitan Police 37,613 9 28,973 12 27,664 15 31,565 74 Norfolk 1,571 — 1,377 — 977 — 767 — Northamptonshire 783 — 899 — 831 — 760 — Northumbria 3,572 — 3,206 2 2,936 1 3,386 — North Yorkshire 1,438 — 1,185 — 974 — 987 — Nottinghamshire 874 — 722 — 907 — 821 — South Yorkshire 2,179 — 2,393 — 2,641 — 2,695 — Staffordshire 1,240 — 1,176 — 985 — 1,228 — Suffolk 865 — 749 — 439 — 497 — Surrey 1,674 — 1,218 — 1,405 — 1,418 1 Sussex 1,307 — 1,556 — 1,533 — 2,037 2 Thames Valley 2,248 — 1,808 — 1,999 — 1,831 — Warwickshire 1,056 — 1,268 — 967 — 981 — West Mercia 2,064 — 1,844 — 1,817 — 1,571 — West Midlands 3,062 — 3,178 — 3,086 — 2,960 — West Yorkshire 3,558 — 4,183 — 3,290 — 3,970 — Wiltshire 615 — 574 — 657 — 722 — England 112,447 32 100,246 18 89,293 42 93,303 189
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Police force area Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Avon and Somerset 2,777 — 2,145 — 2,021 — Bedfordshire 691 1 701 2 467 — Cambridgeshire 587 — 550 6 578 — Cheshire 1,394 7 1,238 — 1,492 — Cleveland 2,543 — 1,582 — 2,679 — Cumbria 593 — 647 — 736 — Derbyshire 1,270 — 1,237 — 1,164 — Devon and Cornwall 2,029 — 1,770 — 1,973 — Dorset 1,115 — 996 5 937 — Durham 1,189 — 831 — 1,049 — Essex 875 — 768 5 922 20 Gloucestershire 862 3 766 3 730 — Greater Manchester 5,278 12 4,247 4 5,014 18 Hampshire 2,337 8 2,602 30 2,904 33 Hertfordshire 763 — 834 — 1,341 — Humberside 776 — 670 — 698 — Kent 3,291 29 1,588 — 1,469 4 Lancashire 2,981 — 2,904 — 2,836 — Leicestershire 1,434 — 1,428 2 1,302 — Lincolnshire 765 — 910 — 1,230 — London, City of 1,864 107 1,839 164 1,553 139 Merseyside 4,592 — 2,781 — 3,098 — Metropolitan Police 38,067 199 27,993 244 24,211 167 Norfolk 978 — 854 — 786 — Northamptonshire 778 — 792 — 921 — Northumbria 3,476 — 2,316 — 2,668 9 North Yorkshire 997 — 583 — 457 2 Nottinghamshire 887 — 837 — 769 — South Yorkshire 3,081 — 2,213 — 1,979 — Staffordshire 1,695 — 2,743 — 2,741 — Suffolk 540 — 546 — 524 — Surrey 1,513 1 1,258 2 1,293 13 Sussex 1,924 3 1,581 3 1,337 34 Thames Valley 2,454 — 2,049 7 1,947 5 Warwickshire 908 — 853 — 707 — West Mercia 1,512 — 1,168 — 1,619 — West Midlands 4,858 7 4,147 5 3,490 — West Yorkshire 6,189 1 6,978 2 8,580 2 Wiltshire 621 — 594 — 608 — England 110,484 378 90,539 484 90,830 446 1 Total searches includes searches: under s1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984; Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Firearms Act 1968; also included are other legislation which relates to searches under other powers, such as under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 s15 (which since 19 February 2001 has been replaced by section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000); various poaching and wildlife conservation legislation; the Aviation Security Act 1982, s27(1); the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, s163 and 164; and the Sporting Events (control of Alcohol, etc) Act 1985; s60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; and s44(1) and 44(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000 (formerly s13A and 13B of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989. 2 Data are included in the table where a vehicle and driver occupier are searched simultaneously as the search is recorded against the driver (occupant). Any other passengers searched are recorded as occupants. Data given in the table also include searches of pedestrians. 3 S44(1) and S44(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000 (formerly s13A and s13B of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989. 4 Some forces have recently advised that they have been recording s44(2) searches under s44(1) as they cannot separately identify. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used. Source: Stops/Searches collection held by Office for Criminal Justice Reform.
Resultant arrests following searches of persons and vehicles3, 4 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 Police force area Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Avon and Somerset 2,919 — 3,199 — 2,268 — 2,562 — Bedfordshire 573 — 542 2 425 — 486 — Cambridgeshire 1,142 — 1,191 — 819 — 630 — Cheshire 1,356 — 1,244 2 1,087 1 1,245 4 Cleveland 3,137 — 2,841 — 2,349 — 2,333 — Cumbria 1,487 — 1,206 — 848 — 576 — Derbyshire 1,700 — 2,066 — 1,395 — 1,051 — Devon and Cornwall 2,261 — 1,960 — 1,766 — 2,360 — Dorset 537 — 1,006 — 930 — 1,029 — Durham 988 1 1,056 — 1,219 — 1,351 — Essex 948 — 998 — 1,043 — 904 — Gloucestershire 679 — 909 — 837 — 881 — Greater Manchester 6,602 — 5,722 — 4,983 — 4,154 1 Hampshire 2,273 — 2,910 — 2,350 — 2,211 — Hertfordshire 761 — 1,008 — 1,089 — 801 — Humberside 771 — 777 — 772 — 664 — Kent 5,066 — 4,467 — 3,741 — 3,216 7 Lancashire 3,578 — 2,942 — 2,506 — 2,076 — Leicestershire 2,077 — 1,697 — 984 — 1,463 — Lincolnshire 1,141 — 814 — 668 — 831 — London, City of 635 23 459 — 455 25 1,197 100 Merseyside 6,104 — 4,923 — 3,656 — 3,087 — Metropolitan Police 37,613 9 28,974 12 27,664 15 31,565 74 Norfolk 1,571 — 1,377 — 977 — 767 — Northamptonshire 783 — 899 — 831 — 760 — Northumbria 3,572 — 3,206 2 2,936 1 3,386 — North Yorkshire 1,438 — 1,185 — 977 3 987 — Nottinghamshire 874 — 722 — 907 — 821 — South Yorkshire 2,179 — 2,393 — 2,641 — 2,695 — Staffordshire 1,240 — 1,176 — 985 — 1,228 — Suffolk 865 — 749 — 439 — 497 — Surrey 1,674 — 1,218 — 1,405 — 1,418 1 Sussex 1,307 — 1,556 — 1,533 — 2,037 2 Thames Valley 2,248 — 1,808 — 1,999 — 1,831 — Warwickshire 1,056 — 1,268 — 967 — 981 — West Mercia 2,066 — 1,844 — 1,817 — 1,571 — West Midlands 3,062 — 3,178 — 3,086 — 2,960 — West Yorkshire 3,558 — 4,183 — 3,290 — 3,970 — Wiltshire 617 — 574 — 657 — 722 — England 112,458 33 100,247 18 89,301 45 93,304 189
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Police force area Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Total under s44(1) and s44(2) Terrorism Act3, 4 Avon and Somerset 2,777 — 2,145 — 2,021 — Bedfordshire 691 1 701 2 468 — Cambridgeshire 587 — 550 6 579 1 Cheshire 1,394 7 1,238 — 1,664 — Cleveland 2,543 — 1,582 — 2,679 — Cumbria 593 — 647 — 736 — Derbyshire 1,270 — 1,237 — 1,164 — Devon and Cornwall 2,029 — 1,770 — 1,973 — Dorset 1,115 — 996 5 937 — Durham 1,189 — 831 — 1,049 — Essex 875 — 768 5 922 20 Gloucestershire 862 3 818 3 730 — Greater Manchester 5,278 12 4,322 4 5,030 18 Hampshire 2,337 8 2,602 30 2,904 33 Hertfordshire 763 — 834 — 1,341 — Humberside 776 — 670 — 698 — Kent 3,291 29 1,588 — 1,469 4 Lancashire 2,981 — 2,904 — 2,836 — Leicestershire 1,434 — 1,428 2 1,302 — Lincolnshire 765 — 910 — 1,230 — London, City of 1,864 107 1,839 164 1,553 139 Merseyside 4,592 — 2,781 — 3,098 — Metropolitan Police 38,067 199 27,993 244 24,211 167 Norfolk 978 — 854 — 786 — Northamptonshire 778 — 792 — 921 — Northumbria 3,476 — 2,316 — 2,668 9 North Yorkshire 997 — 584 — 457 2 Nottinghamshire 887 — 837 — 769 — South Yorkshire 3,083 2 2,213 — 1,979 — Staffordshire 1,695 — 2,753 — 2,741 — Suffolk 540 — 546 — 524 — Surrey 1,513 1 1,258 2 1,293 13 Sussex 1,924 3 1,581 3 1,338 35 Thames Valley 2,454 — 2,049 7 1,947 5 Warwickshire 908 — 853 — 707 — West Mercia 1,512 — 1,168 — 1,619 — West Midlands 4,858 7 4,147 5 3,490 — West Yorkshire 6,191 1 6,984 2 8,580 2 Wiltshire 621 — 594 — 608 — England 110,488 380 90,683 484 91,021 448 1 Total searches includes searches: under s1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984; Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Firearms Act 1968; also included are other legislation which relates to searches under other powers, such as under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989 s15 (which since 19 February 2001 has been replaced by section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000); various poaching and wildlife conservation legislation; the Aviation Security Act 1982, s27(1); the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, s163 and 164; and the Sporting Events (control of Alcohol, etc) Act 1985; s60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; and s44(1) and 44(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000 (formerly s13A and 13B of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989. 2 Searches may be conducted on vehicles only, occupants only or both may be searched. Where a vehicle and driver occupier are searched simultaneously the search is recorded against the driver (occupant). Any other passengers searched are recorded as occupants. Data given in the table include searches of pedestrians. 3 S44(1) and S44(2) of the Terrorism Act 2000 (formerly s13A and s13B of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989. 4 Some forces have recently advised that they have been recording s44(2) searches under s44(1) as they cannot separately identify. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used. Source: Stops/Searches collection held by Office for Criminal Justice Reform.
Terrorism: Detainees
As part of the consultation on forthcoming counter-terrorism legislation, we are looking, in conjunction with the police, at how the existing maximum period of pre-charge detention has operated in practice and whether there are any lessons to be learnt from that.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
Our embassy in Harare received their copy of the Immigration judge's determination in the case of Mrs. L. K., wife of Mr. P. H. of Aylesbury, on 19 July. Following her allowed appeal, the embassy will contact Mrs. L. K. to request her passport, so that her entry clearance can be issued as soon as possible.
Chile: Human Rights
Our embassy in Santiago has not received any recent representations on the Mapuche.
However, the Government believe firmly that the individual rights of indigenous people should be recognised and protected. All indigenous people are entitled to full respect of their human rights, both within and without their communities. We continuously monitor all human rights in Chile, as we do in other countries. We also work with other EU members on human rights issues, such as minority rights, and in 2005 we co-drafted a report on the steps Chile had taken to implement the Stavenhagen report recommendations regarding indigenous people.
The Government have funded a number of projects to support and promote the rights of indigenous people. We have financed a Minority Rights Group project to help minority and indigenous groups participate effectively at the UN. We also provide support to the Inter-American Development Bank's Indigenous Strategy and fund programmes in Latin America that target indigenous groups. We will continue to monitor the situation of indigenous people, including the Mapuche, in Chile.
European Court of Justice
All the EU institutions, as defined in article 7 of the treaty Establishing the European Community, are subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
India: Embassies
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not hold such records. In line with global FCO policy, all our recruitment and employment practices at our posts in India are competency based, and focused on valuing diversity. Discrimination in any form is unacceptable.
Iran: Foreign Relations
The review of relations with Iran is continuing, but the principles underpinning our policy towards Iran have not changed.
Iran has every right to develop its own economy and society. We welcome dialogue and engagement with Iran as it does so, but it must also accept that it has responsibilities to the region and the wider international community. It cannot violate the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty nor undermine regional stability.
Iran: Nuclear Power
The generous offer made by the E3+3 in June 2006, and annexed to UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1747, includes active support for the building of new light water power reactors in Iran and the provision of legally binding multi-layered fuel assurances to Iran. These would be based on: participation as a partner in an international facility in Russia to provide enrichment services; establishment on commercial terms of a buffer stock to hold a reserve of five years' supply of nuclear fuel dedicated to Iran; and development with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of a standing multilateral mechanism for reliable access to nuclear fuel, based on ideas currently being considered by the IAEA and Board of Governors.
But before negotiations can begin Iran needs to suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, as required by three successive UNSCRs.
Iraq: Weapons
I replied to the hon. Member on 19 July.
Israel: Arms Trade
The UK recognises that all countries, including Israel, have a legitimate right to purchase conventional arms for their defence and security needs. However, UK policy dictates that all licences are assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Export Licensing Criteria. This takes into account respect for human rights and the preservation of regional peace, security and stability. If there is a clear risk that the equipment will be used in a manner inconsistent with the Consolidated Criteria, a licence will not be approved.
Isreal: Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Government have on a number of occasions called on Israel to accede to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state, and to conclude a full scope safeguards agreement and additional protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We continue to take appropriate opportunities to discuss all aspects of non-proliferation with representatives of the Israeli government.
Israel has a site-specific safeguards agreement with the IAEA, which gives the IAEA access to the Soreq nuclear site for monitoring purposes. Details of this can be found on the IAEA website at:
www.iaea.ors.
Members: Correspondence
I replied to my right hon. Friend on 19 July.
I replied to my right hon. Friend on 19 July.
Mercenaries
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 12 March 2007, Official Report, column 93W.
Mordechai Vanunu
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has had no such discussions with the Israeli government.
We are aware that Mr. Vanunu was re-convicted on 30 April of breaching an order barring him from contacts with the foreign press. The Government raised Mr. Vanunu's case with the Israeli government on a number of occasions during his detention. After Mr Vanunu was released, we then raised the conditions of his release with the Israeli government. We have made our concerns clear to the Israeli government.
Rizana Nafeek
No representations have been made by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary to the Government of Saudi Arabia on behalf of Rizana Nafeek, a Sri-Lankan national.
Representatives for Rizana Nafeek filed an appeal against the conviction on 15 July. The judicial process around the case is therefore ongoing. Our embassy in Riyadh will continue to monitor developments.
Russia: Diplomatic Service
Seventy-seven Russians are currently notified to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as being posted to the UK with diplomatic rank and are registered on the FCO Protocol database. I refer my hon. Friend to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on 16 July 2007, Official Report, columns 27-22, in which he informed the House that four of these individuals have been asked to leave.
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to him today (UIN 151252). I would also remind my hon. Friend that I provided an undertaking to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that I would inform Parliament of any changes to the measures set out in my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary's statement to the House on 16 July 2007, Official Report, columns 21-22.
UN Resolutions
There has been significant progress towards the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1701. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has successfully helped to bring peace and stability to south Lebanon. Their efforts, in conjunction with the Lebanese army, have ensured that the cessation of hostilities has been maintained with few significant breaches. There has also been steady progress on the clearance of unexploded munitions from the conflict last year. With significant UK support, UN and Lebanese teams have cleared approximately 17.5 square kilometres of contaminated land. This amounts to half of the total contaminated land.
However, the ongoing political crisis in Lebanon is hindering progress towards full implementation of UNSCR 1701. In particular, we continue to be concerned by reports of arms smuggling across the Syria/Lebanon border. We are working with international partners and the Government of Lebanon to address this issue. As part of this we are supporting a German-led project aimed at strengthening the border.
We are also deeply concerned by the firing of three rockets from south Lebanon into Israel on 17 June and an attack on a UNIFIL vehicle on 24 June that killed six soldiers. Such attacks are unacceptable and serve only to destabilise Lebanon. The UK will continue to work for the full implementation of UNSCR 1701.
The UN Secretary-General’s most recent report on the implementation of UNSCR 1701 was published on 28 June. I will arrange for copies of this report to be placed in the Library of the House.
Culture, Media and Sport
Blackpool
VisitBritain only makes forecasts of visitor numbers for the year ahead, and at a national level. No predictions have been made for visitors to Blackpool.
However, there were around 1.8 million overnight visits to Blackpool in 2006, making it the fifth most visited destination in England for domestic overnight visitors.
Playing Fields
The most recent data from planning applications relating to playing fields show that for two consecutive years more playing fields have been created than lost.
We now have tough measures in place to protect playing fields and planning guidance is clear that no field needed by the community should be removed.
Since 2001, over £1 billion of Lottery and Exchequer funding has been invested in community sports facilities, including playing fields and outdoor all weather pitches. The active places database shows that 93 per cent. of the population is currently within 20 minutes travel time of a playing field.
Licensing Act
Current assessments suggest the Act has so far had a broadly neutral impact on the staging of live music.
The Live Music Forum published its report on 4 July. This found the Act had delivered many benefits, but the forum also highlighted some areas of concern.
The second stage of our own planned research into the provision of live music will be completed by the end of the year.
Tourism
DCMS is investing over £55 million in tourism support at national and regional levels in 2007-08. Across the UK, the public sector now puts over £300 million a year into supporting the industry—more than ever before.
We hope to publish the tourism strategy for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in September 2007.
Museums and Galleries: Free Admission
Free museum admission for children was introduced by this Government eight years ago in April 1999. Since then the number of child visits to former charging sponsored museums in England has increased by 76 per cent. This represents an extra 12 million visits over this period.
Since the introduction of universal free access to former charging sponsored museums in England in December 2001, there has been an 87 per cent. increase in visits. This represents an extra 6 million visits a year or 29 million visits over the five years since entry charges were abolished.
Over the same period, the proportion of visits by people from black and multi-ethnic backgrounds has increased by around 54 per cent. while trend data collected between 2002-03 and 2004-05 shows that visits by people from C2DE social groups rose by 21 per cent. or 1.2 million additional visits.
Community Football
Over £20 million of both Exchequer and National Lottery funding, channelled through Sport England and the Football Foundation, will support community football projects in 2007-08.
In addition the Football Association is receiving £4 million over the period 2005-09 to support core community football projects.
And we have provided a further £5 million of Exchequer funding between 2006-08 to the Football Foundation and the Football Association for specific football projects.
Bookmakers’ Pitches
The Gambling Act replaces the certification system for racecourses with a new, streamlined licensing system. It is in both the racing and betting industries’ interests to work together to ensure a smooth transition to the new system, and I plan to help them to reach agreement.
Sports Aid
SportsAid is a registered charity for sports people and focuses on giving grants to young people aged 12 to 16 from funds raised from the private sector. It would not, therefore, be appropriate for Government to answer on behalf of SportsAid.
However, SportsAid receives an annual Exchequer grant from Sport England, and for this financial year, will receive £199,270 to support its operational costs.
In addition, SportsAid is responsible for administering Government funding for the talented athlete scholarship scheme (TASS), which includes TASS 2012. The programme supports young sporting talent primarily in further and higher education. Since TASS and TASS 2012 were launched, 2,648 athletes in England and two in the Tamworth constituency have received financial support.
Artists with Disabilities
In 2005-06 Arts Council England (ACE) provided £12,844,929 funding and since 2004 has provided £4,138,800 in capital grants for disability-led arts organisations. Last year ACE launched a Disability Equality Scheme and it is developing a new Disability Arts Strategy for 2008-09. The Cultural Leadership programme has also funded a network of disabled artists to develop leadership opportunities.
Decibel Penguin Prize
The second decibel Penguin anthology will be published in November. Writers from all backgrounds were invited to submit personal accounts of the experience of immigration to the United Kingdom and 16 authors were chosen. This volume has received about £3,500 from Arts Council England. There are plans for one further volume next year.
British Library: Business
DCMS operates an arm’s length policy with regard to the bodies that it sponsors, and the promotion of the Business and Intellectual Property Centre is therefore a matter for the British Library Board. They are to be congratulated for their successful delivery of this new resource, which has welcomed over 25,000 users since it opened in March 2006. The Library continues to broaden its public offer, and to build its role underpinning the UK’s knowledge economy.
Culture: Poole
The intention of the Cultural Olympiad has always been for a UK wide programme that engages local communities. This remains the commitment.
The major projects set out in the London 2012 bid included Film and Video Nation, International Shakespeare Festival, Live Sites, International Exhibitions Programme, 2012 Sounds! Olympic Proms, Artists Taking the Lead, World Cultural Festival, World Festival of Youth Culture, 2012 Carnival and Celebration of Disability Arts and Sport. All these projects featured in LOCOG’s briefing of 21 June. Most of these projects will offer the opportunity for people around the UK to become involved.
In addition to these programmes, there will be a four-year UK-wide Cultural Festival including grass-roots community projects starting in the summer of 2008. Supported and led by a network of Regional Creative Programmers, this Festival will encompass thousands of national, local and regional events as part of the nationwide celebrations to mark the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The role of the Regional Creative Programmers will be to co-ordinate the delivery of cultural events in all the regions and will act as the first point of contact for people in the regions, giving information and advice on how to join in with the Cultural Olympiad. It is too early to say what events will be held in Poole but the Creative Programmer for the South West will work with regional partners and stakeholders to help produce joint events, projects and activities.
Departments: Catering
[holding answer 19 July 2007]: The percentage of food products used in the Department that was imported is as follows:
(a) beef: 48 per cent. (b) sheep meat: 48 per cent. (c) 0 per cent. (d) 50 per cent.
Departments: Flint Bishop
Neither the Department nor its agency the Royal Parks, have made any payments to Flint Bishop Solicitors since 1997.
Departments: Ministerial Red Boxes
Ministerial boxes are used by successive Ministers over many years. There were two ministerial red boxes purchased in 2006, see following table. The ministerial boxes were ordered via Banner Business Supplies Ltd. contract, therefore no tendering process was used in selecting the supplier.
2006 Cost (£) Minister of State—Department for Culture, Media and Sport 620.00 + 108.50 VAT Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State—Department for Culture, Media and Sport 740.00 + 129.50 VAT (incl. new Bramah lock and key) Total cost 1,598.00
Departments: Visits Abroad
Departmental expenditure for overseas travel and subsistence by officials is shown in the table. Statistical information regarding number of visits is not routinely collected and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Regarding Ministers’ visits overseas, since 1999 the Government have published, on an annual basis, a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2006-07 is currently being compiled and will be published before the summer recess. All travel is undertaken in accordance with the “Civil Service Management Code”, the “Ministerial Code” and “Travel by Ministers”.
Overseas travel and subsistence costs by officials (£) 2006-071 291,427.90 2005-06 287,546.56 2004-05 279,710.59 2003-04 235,210.16 2002-03 195,442.41 2001-02 129,164.75 2000-01 188,337.76 1999-2000 193,742.97 1998-99 151,307.28 1997-98 175,061.96 1 Subject to finalisation of resource accounts.
Digital Broadcasting: Islwyn
No estimate has been made for the Islwyn constituency. However, according to the latest figures from the Ofcom/Digital UK Tracker Survey (Q1-2007), take up of digital television in Wales is currently estimated at 86 per cent. of households1.
1 Based on a sample of 319
English Heritage
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not visited any English Heritage sites in his three weeks since taking office. His predecessor visited Stonehenge in September 2006, and last month she visited Torre Abbey in Torquay to see a project funded by English Heritage. I visited Castle Acre Priory on 8 July. My predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy) visited seven properties managed by English Heritage during his term in office. There are no English Heritage sites in Poole; the nearest sites are Christchurch Castle and Norman House, Lulworth Castle, and Knowlton Church and Earthworks. These have not been visited by DCMS Ministers in recent years. English Heritage’s remit in the UK only extends to England; the devolved administrations have their own equivalent heritage bodies.
Fashion Industry: Government Assistance
Fashion is one of the brightest stars in the UK’s creative economy, with world class standards in our colleges and cultural institutions producing some of the world’s top designers.
DCMS gained responsibility for the fashion design sector in 2005. Since then we have been working with representatives from the industry to understand their issues and how Government policies and programmes can best respond to them.
The Department has ensured that the fashion design sector is an integral part of the Government’s ongoing Creative Economy Programme, which aims to improve the growth and productivity of the creative industries.
DCMS works closely with industry and the other public bodies and supporting cultural and educational institutions. We are also closely monitoring the independent Model Health Inquiry and will respond to its final recommendations.
Libraries: Digital Technology
Earlier this year, DCMS and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) jointly ran a workshop on digitisation, cultural resources and the creative industries. The impetus behind the event was the European Commission’s Conclusions on its European Digital Library (EDL) project. The workshop was attended by more than 100 key stakeholders from across the UK, representing museums, libraries, archives, academia, film, broadcasting, heritage, music, publishing and tourism, and other Government Departments. The Department is now considering how best to draw on the issues raised at the workshop to assist in the establishment of the EDL.
National Lottery: Grants
Since 1994, the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded funding to over 26,000 projects. Of these projects, 17 have not been successfully completed having already drawn down an element of funding.
The table gives funding details for each of the 17 projects.
Project title Applicant Year project closed (FY) Grant awarded (£) Grant drawdown (£) Blaenau Ffestiniog, Plas Tan Y Bwlch Historic Gardens Plas Tan Y Bwlch Gardens Trust 1999- 2000 313,700 16,913 Williton Workhouse Conservation Somerset Buildings Preservation Trust 2000-01 70,000 8,376 Tower Environs Scheme—Approaching the Tower Historic Royal Palaces 2001-02 405,000 24,904 Astley Castle—Acquisition and refurbishment Landmark Trust 2002-03 152,625 10,737 Heritage Information Exchange The Heritage Information Trust 2003-04 365,000 77,070 Brackenhill Tower, Longtown, Cumbria Brackenhill Trust Ltd. 2004-05 50,000 4,446 Old Market Place CAPS Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council 2004-05 75,000 14,550 St. Peter, Church Knowle, Dorset St. Peter’s PCC 2005-06 20,500 1,993 Bradford City Centre CAPS Bradford Metropolitan District Council 2005-06 300,000 70,591 Headstone Manor, Harrow Museum and Heritage Centre, Harrow London Borough of Harrow 2005-06 1,003,400 177,585 Manningham CAPS Bradford Metropolitan District Council 2005-06 180,000 33,546 Muswell Hill CAPS London Borough of Haringey 2005-06 225,000 16,631 Terra 2000 University of Plymouth 2005-06 40,848 9,920 Congregational Church, Polesworth Congregational Federation Ltd 2006-07 118,000 24,149 First Presbyterian Church, Newry—Restoration First Presbyterian Church, Newry 2006-07 144,050 129,645 Food for Life! Central Action 2006-07 31,600 15,800 Warwick Bar THI British Waterways 2006-07 371,000 68,246
Radio: Digital Broadcasting
We have no plans to do so. Ofcom are responsible for spectrum planning and have a duty to ensure the optimal use of spectrum. As such, they will need to consider whether DRM can be a platform for future radio broadcasting, in conjunction with broadcasters.
Sport England: East Sussex
Sport England operates at regional level through nine regional offices. Sport England South East covers the East Sussex area.
The table shows the Exchequer and Lottery funding which the Sport England South East Regional Office has awarded to East Sussex in the last five years to support and promote sporting activities and projects.
Lottery Awards are made on the basis of merit in response to applications so funding levels will fluctuate over time and depending on the quality of projects that come forward seeking funding.
Financial year Lottery (£) Exchequer (£) 2003-04 0 17,200 2004-05 1,710,039 173,875 2005-06 638,449 440,300 2006-07 0 253,392 Grand total 2,348,488 884,767
The total award budget for Sport England South East region 2007-08 is:
Exchequer: £1.9 million
Lottery: £12.4 million
Projected funding for the 2008-09 financial year will not be known until the outcome of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.
Sports: East Sussex
Sussex County Sports Partnership advise that there are 41 Community Sports Coach posts in East Sussex. Eight of these posts are in Eastbourne and a further eight of these posts operate on a county wide basis.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) also provide grants to School Sports Partnerships (SSPs) to enable them to employ Community Sports Coaches. Three SSPs in East Sussex have received grants in 2007-08—Beacon/North Wealdon, Dorothy Stringer and William Parker.
Confirmation of continued DCMS funding for Community Sports Coaches is subject to the Comprehensive Spending Review. Further DCSF funding for coaches will be available from 2008-09 to deliver the five hour offer of sport to children and young people.
Visual Arts: Elderly
The arts can play an important role in supporting the health and wellbeing of older people. There are many examples of excellent work which promotes art for elderly people across the country. The Arts Council and the Department of Health have jointly published ‘A prospectus for arts and health’ and a ‘Dance and health’ folder, which highlights a range of examples. Copies of these will be placed in the Library of the House.
The Arts Council is also planning to have a specific focus on older people in their next corporate plan.
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street: Official Hospitality
Information on receptions hosted by my predecessor for the financial year 2006-07 will be published shortly. For information prior to this date I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor (the right hon. Tony Blair) on 11 October 2006, Official Report, column 788W.
Delivery Unit
I have nothing further to add to my written statement on 28 June 2007, Official Report, column 39WS.
Departments: Correspondence
My office received the letter on Thursday 12 April 2007 and passed it to the Home Office for action on Monday 16 April 2007.
Departments: Manpower
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 2 July 2007, Official Report, column 945W.
Departments: Visits Abroad
This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Since 1999, the Government have published on an annual basis, a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2006-07 will be published in the normal way. All travel is undertaken in accordance with the “Civil Service Management Code” and the “Ministerial Code”. As set out in the new “Ministerial Code”, from next year, the list of overseas travel will cover all Ministers.
Dorneywood
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor (the right hon. Tony Blair) on 12 June 2006, Official Report, column 883W, and to the press briefing given by my spokesman on 18 July 2007. A transcript of this is available on the No. 10 website (http://pm.gov.uk/output/Page12547.asp) and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.
Former Ministers
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to him by my predecessor (Mr. Blair) on 8 January 2007, Official Report, column 248W.
Government Bills
Discussions with Her Majesty the Queen are not disclosed.
Nuclear Weapons: Proliferation
I discussed a wide range of issues with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during his recent visit.
I also refer the hon. Member to the press conference I held with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on 11 July. A transcript of this is available on the No. 10 website
(http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page12446.asp)
and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.
Official Residences
(2) who the present occupants are of (a) Chevening, (b) the flat above number 11 Downing Street, (c) the flat in 1 Carlton Gardens, (d) Flat 1 in Admiralty House, (e) Flat 2 in Admiralty House, (f) Flat 3 in Admiralty House and (g) Government House in Pimlico.
(2) which Ministers have been allocated official Ministerial accommodation.
I refer the hon. Members to the press briefing given by my spokesman on 18 July 2007. A transcript of this is available on the No. 10 website (http://pm.gov.uk/output/Page12547.asp) and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.
Written Questions
Where my answer refers to a specific document on the website, copies are made available to the hon. Member asking the question and are also placed in the Libraries of the House.
Work and Pensions
Child Support Agency: Debt Collection
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 20 July 2007:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much Child Support Agency arrears have been contracted out for private sector collection in each month from January 2005 to June 2007; and if he will make a statement.
The Child Support Agency conducted a pilot between August 2005 and December 2005 with two private debt collection agencies to assess the feasibility of involving the private sector in recovering child support maintenance debt. The Agency referred cases with a debt value of £30 million to the debt collection agencies involved in the pilot.
Following the pilot and a procurement exercise, the Agency signed contracts with two debt collection agencies on 7 July 2006. The amount of child support maintenance debt exported to the debt collection agencies each month is included in the attached table.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Value (£) 2006 July 112,951 August 2,314,650 September 13,340,556 October 12,845,655 November 16,910,770 December 22,708,701 2007 January 12,914,223 February 30,748,063 March 29,439,756 April 42,983,965 May 36,948,660
Children: Maintenance
The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 20 July 2007:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of (a) all parents with care and (b) all lone parents with care were receiving child support payments from the non-resident parent in the latest period for which information is available.
The information requested in part (a) can be obtained from table 7.2 of the March 2007 Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary Statistics. A copy of this is available in the House of Commons Library, it is also available on the Internet via the following link: www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_mar07.asp.
Information on lone parents receiving child support cannot be provided, as the Agency does not hold information on whether a parent with care has a current partner.
The information is case based, and a parent with care may be involved in more than one case.
I hope you find this helpful.
In the case of curfews, it is intended that this form of enforcement is used where other lesser and direct attempts to recover the unpaid maintenance have been tried but some or all of the amount remains outstanding.
While research indicates that curfews do not tend to feature internationally, all major comparator countries that have a similar child maintenance system to the UK operate a range of enforcement options. Curfews will serve as an effective alternative to committal as such orders will create a strong incentive for the non-resident parent to pay, while not impeding his or her ability to do so by causing him or her to lose his job.
In the case of ‘naming and shaming’ (the publication of the names of non-resident parents who have been successfully prosecuted for information offences on the CSA website) the Department is aware that a similar approach is used in some other child maintenance systems internationally.
Both these policies need to be seen as part of the broader programme to build a stronger culture of compliance amongst non-resident parents. The intention is to promote the message that not paying for your children is unacceptable and brings consequences with it.
There are no plans for the Commission to have an entitlement to recover a child maintenance overpayment if in-year income falls up to but not in excess of 25 per cent.
Current plans are to amend a calculation based on HMRC latest tax year gross income if the current income differs by 25 per cent. or more. At the annual review, the latest available HMRC gross income will be used to set a new fixed term award.
Children: Poverty
The chapter on child poverty in last year's Opportunity for All strategy report outlined the breadth of work underway across Government to ensure that our targets to halve and ultimately eradicate child poverty are met. These commitments reflect our wider ambition to ensure that every child has the best start in life and has an equal opportunity to fulfil their potential. We are making good progress; there were 600,000 fewer children in poverty in the UK (as measured by relative low income) in 2005-06 than there were in 1998-99.
The Government's long-term measure for child poverty already includes three indicators developed following extensive consultation initiated by the DWP: absolute low income, relative low income, and material deprivation combined with relative low income. This long-term measure is also underpinned by the poverty and social exclusion indicators within Opportunity for All.
There are a number of ways that depth of poverty can be measured. Our Opportunity for All indicators includes a range of income thresholds. In addition, we have a lower income threshold implied by the absolute low income tier within our long-term measure. These indicators enable us to analyse different depths of poverty and respond accordingly.
Departments: Consultants
DWP was formed in June 2001. The following table provides spend on external consultants in each year, broken down between management and IT consultancy and includes spend on legal consultancy for 2006-07. Totals prior to 2006-07 could be obtained only by incurring disproportionate costs.
Description 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Management consultancy 23.79 47.57 223.35 98.64 77.59 116.77 IT consultancy 70.67 93.47 83.37 69.73 52.70 45.85 Legal — — — — — 16.40 1 Costs inclusive of VAT
For the second part of this question management information records are only available since April 2004. Contracts for consultancy related services with a total value of over £10 million awarded since this date are in the following table.
Supplier Contract value Booz Allen Hamilton 86.79 IBM UK Ltd 49.68 Capgemini UK plc 26.25 PA Consulting Services Limited 25.58 Deloitte MCS Limited 10.31
Departments: Fringe Benefits
All 120,487 staff employed by the Department for Work and Pensions, at all levels have access to the Department's employee assistance programme. This is provided by Right Corecare, a Manpower company.
In the year ending 30 June 2007, 5,402 members of staff contacted the counselling, advice and information helplines.
Departments: Legislation
The information is as follows.
Acts introduced by DWP since 1997 Sections not yet in force Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 Section 25 Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 Section 28 Schedules 5 para. 12(2)-(4) Schedule 7 paras. 17 and 18(2)(b) Schedule 9 part III (1) and part V Pensions Act 2004 Section 12(2)(c) Section 20(3)(c) Section 38(4) Section 38(7)(g) Section 41(10)(f) Section 42(2)(c) Section 43(7)(e) Section 47(4)(g) Section 50(10)(f) Section 95(1)(b)(ii) Section 96(6)(u) Section 101(2)(d) Section 108(3) Section 117(2)(b) Section 118 Section 121(9)(b) Section 134(2)(d) Section 138(10)(a) Section 150(6)(d) Section 151(12)(a) Section 161(3)(b) Section 163(5)(b) Section 166(6) and (7) Section 169(2)(d) Section 173(1)(k) Section 177(6) and (7) Section 179(1)(b) Section 180(4) Section 181(2)(b) Section 187 Section 188(3)(d) Section 189(3)(b) Section 209(4)(e) Section 209(5) Section 213(4)(e) Section 213(5)(e) Section 214(2)(k) Section 237 and 238 Section 240 Section 273 Section 306(2)(i) Section 308 Section 318(4)(b) Schedule 5 part 1 para. 13(3)(b) Schedule 12 para. 76(2)(e) Schedule 13 part 2 Disability Discrimination Act 2005 Section 6(1) and (2) Section 7 and 8 Welfare Reform Act 2007 Sections 1-30 Section 31 (partly in force) Sections 32-39 Section 40 (in force for certain purposes) Section 41 (partly in force) Sections 42 and 43 Sections 46-53 Section 56 and 57 Section 58 (in force for certain purposes) Section 60 Section 61 (partly in force) Section 63 (in force for certain purposes) Section 67 (in force for certain purposes) Schedule 1-4 Schedule 5 (partly in force) Schedule 6 (in force for certain purposes) Schedule 7 (partly in force)
The only Bill introduced by the Department for Work and Pensions in the past five years which contained a sunset clause was the Bill for the Welfare Reform Act 2007 (see section 31(3) of that Act).
While the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has no current plans for the future use of such clauses, he will consider their use when appropriate.
Departments: Public Transport
The Department has 112,000 staff in 1,221 buildings. Due to the scale of our operations we do not collect information on the commuting choices of our staff, and have no plans to do so. It is not possible to estimate the number of staff using public transport to commute, as this would be different in every building. But a variety of information is provided to staff to help them make personal choices about their commuting journeys, via our intranet site and Sustainable Development staff magazine—such as links to ‘Transport Direct’ and suggestions on car-sharing schemes. Businesses are encouraged to operate a green travel plan at those sites where one would be beneficial.
Departments: Translation Services
The information is not available in the categorisations requested. In 2006-07, the Department spent around £267,500 on translation services including translators. Information is not available for previous years, other than at disproportionate cost.
Financial Assistance Scheme: Insurance
The Secretary of State has not yet had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about this issue.
Financial Assistance Scheme: Pensions
On 16 July the interim report of the Financial Assistance Scheme Review of Scheme Assets was published and the House was informed via a written ministerial statement. At the same time, I welcomed the first findings of the review in a press notice issued by my Department.
Home Responsibilities Protection
The available information is set out in the following table.
The second column of the table shows the number of women aged 60 in each financial year from 1985-86 to 2004-05 with some entitlement to basic state pension who had home responsibilities protection (HRP), including women for whom such HRP did not reduce the number of qualifying years required for a full basic state pension.
Number 1985-86 20,000 1986-87 30,000 1987-88 30,000 1988-89 40,000 1989-90 50,000 1990-91 60,000 1991-92 60,000 1992-93 60,000 1993-94 70,000 1994-95 70,000 1995-96 80,000 1996-97 80,000 1997-98 100,000 1998-99 100,000 1999-2000 100,000 2000-01 110,000 2001-02 110,000 2002-03 130,000 2003-04 150,000 2004-05 170,000 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000 and are consistent with the information supplied in the answer of 8 February 2007. 2. Figures refer to women living in the UK and overseas. 3. Information at this level of detail is not reliable before 1985. 4. Some women who reach state pension age in a particular year with some entitlement to basic state pension may defer their entitlement and claim in a later year. 5. HRP does not reduce the number of qualifying years required for a full basic state pension when that year is already a qualifying year or is one for which a married woman's reduced rate election is in force. 6. Figures refer to those women with some entitlement to basic state pension based on their own contribution record. Entitlement to basic state pension requires satisfying the ‘first contribution condition’ and the ‘25 per cent. rule’. Some women who do not satisfy one or both of these conditions may, nevertheless, also have HRP recorded. Source: Lifetime Labour Market Database 2, 2003-04
Incapacity Benefit
The available information is in the following table.
Number of claimants November 1997 2,837,400 November 1998 2,767,400 November 1999 2,738,130 November 2000 2,764,140 November 2001 2,787,710 November 2002 2,818,480 November 2003 2,822,270 November 2004 2,814,410 November 2005 2,752,900 November 2006 2,714,950 Notes: 1. Caseload figures from 1999 onwards are rounded to the nearest 10. Some additional disclosure control has also been applied. 2. Caseload figures for 1997 and 1998 are rounded to the nearest hundred. 3. Caseloads for 1997 and 1998 have been produced using 5 per cent. data and have been rated up in accordance with the Great Britain WPLS 100 per cent. IB/SDA totals. 4. 1997 and 1998 figures are from a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation. 5. From 6 April 2001, no new claims to SDA were accepted. 6. Figures include credits only cases. Source: 1. DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study, 1999 onwards. 2. Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5 per cent. sample, 1997 and 1998.
Jobseekers Allowance
[holding answer 5 July 2007]: The information requested is not available except at disproportionate cost.
New Deal for Disabled People
[holding answer 10 July 2007]: The number of participants on new deal for disabled people in each month since the start of the programme who were taking part in the scheme for the second time or more is contained in the following table:
Month Participants taking part for second time or more July 2001 110 August 2001 130 September 2001 160 October 2001 190 November 2001 230 December 2001 240 January 2002 270 February 2002 340 March 2002 420 April 2002 490 May 2002 610 June 2002 700 July 2002 780 August 2002 940 September 2002 1,070 October 2002 1,190 November 2002 1,400 December 2002 1,500 January 2003 1,840 February 2003 1,830 March 2003 1,990 April 2003 2,150 May 2003 2,360 June 2003 2,550 July 2003 2,720 August 2003 2,890 September 2003 3,060 October 2003 3,240 November 2003 3,390 December 2003 3,450 January 2004 3,620 February 2004 3,810 April 2004 4,370 May 2004 4,740 June 2004 5,090 July 2004 5,590 August 2004 5,870 September 2004 6,220 October 2004 6,710 November 2004 7,080 December 2004 7,300 January 2005 7,630 February 2005 8,040 March 2005 8,510 April 2005 8,940 May 2005 9,270 June 2005 9,610 July 2005 10,000 August 2005 10,310 September 2005 10,820 October 2005 11,200 November 2005 11,590 December 2005 11,840 January 2006 12,370 February 2006 12,900 March 2006 13,570 April 2006 14,110 May 2006 14,670 June 2006 15,230 July 2006 15,740 August 2006 16,260 September 2006 16,970 October 2006 17,520 November 2006 18,010 Notes: 1. Latest data are to November 2006. 2. Figures are rounded to nearest 10. Source: Information Directorate, DWP
New Deal Schemes: Employment
[holding answer 11 July 2007]: The information is in the following table:
Stage of leaving new deal for young people Number leaving to employment in Liverpool and Wirral in November 2006 Employment option 10 Full-time education/training 0 Voluntary sector 0 Environmental task force 0 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to nearest 10. 2. A total of 40 participants left new deal for young people at one of the four option stages in Liverpool and Wirral in November 2006 (not all of them left to employment). Source: Information Directorate, DWP
New Deal Schemes: Expenditure
I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) on 4 June 2007, Official Report, column 32W and to the Department for Work and Pensions Departmental Report 2007 (CM 7105).
Occupational Pensions
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is presented in the following table:
Percentage of firms with any pension provision 1998 34 2000 29 2003 52 2005 44 Notes: 1. All figures are estimates taken from the Employers’ Pension Provision Survey. 2005 is the latest year published. The coverage of the survey is private sector employers in Great Britain. 2. Stakeholder pensions were introduced in April 2001, and from October 2001 employers with five or more employees and no other pension provision were required to provide access to stakeholder pensions. This is reflected in the increase in employer pension provision between 2000 and 2003. 3. Pension provision includes occupational schemes, group personal pensions, stakeholder pensions (including schemes with no members and/or no contributions) and firms that contribute to personal pensions. Source: DWP Employers’ Pension Provision Survey
The information requested is not available. The closest information available is the average occupational pension received by pensioner benefit units, as recorded in the Department’s Family Resources Survey and shown in the following table. Latest information relates to 2005-06, so average amounts are shown in 2005-06 prices.
£ per week, 2005-06 prices Pensioner couples Single pensioners All pensioner units 1997-98 154 80 118 1998-99 161 83 122 1999-2000 163 86 124 2000-01 178 89 134 2001-02 182 88 137 2002-03 178 93 137 2003-04 193 93 144 2004-05 196 99 150 2005-06 192 99 146 Notes: 1. Occupational pensions include widow’s employee pensions and occupational pension from an overseas Government or company if paid in sterling. The average amount received by a pensioner benefit unit may include pensions paid from more than one occupational pension scheme. 2. Figures are for Great Britain. 3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £. 4. Based on survey data and as such subject to a degree of sampling and non sampling error. Users should not read too much into movements in data between single years. 5. Pensioner units are either pensioner couples or single pensioners. 6. Pensioner couples are couples where one or more of the adults are state pension age or over. Source: Pensioners’ Income Series, 2005-06 (Revised)
Pathways to Work
Pathways to Work is currently being delivered to 40 per cent. of the country by Jobcentre Plus. We have invited private, voluntary and public sector providers to bid for contracts to deliver Pathways to Work in the remaining 60 per cent. of the country. Contract areas will be based on Jobcentre Plus Districts rather than regions. This is being tendered in two waves with the first 15 districts going live in December 2007 and the remaining 16 districts in April 2008.
Pensions: Financial Assistance Scheme
(2) how many members of the Abingdon Carpets pension scheme are forecast to receive 80 per cent. of their core pension under the Financial Assistance Scheme.
Abingdon Carpets’ pension scheme qualified for Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) on 25 October 2005. Five members of the scheme are currently in receipt of FAS initial payments, these are currently set at 60 per cent. of the expected core pension, but will rise to 80 per cent. once the scheme fully winds up.
The average yearly payment these members receive is 1194.58p (gross), 931.90p (net).
Under the changes to the FAS announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget Statement on 21 March 2007, all qualifying members of a qualifying pension scheme stand to receive 80 per cent. of their expected core pension (subject to the cap)
The changes require regulations which we hope will come into force before the end of the year.
State Retirement Pensions: Wansdyke
The information as at November 2006 is in the following table.
Number Men 7,350 Women 12,050 Total 19,410 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 3. The constituency used for the state pension data is that used for the Westminster Parliament. Source: DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.
Taxation: Fringe Benefits
There are regular meetings with Treasury officials on a wide range of matters affecting the Department.
Communities and Local Government
Aerials: Planning Permission
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Anti-Semitism
The Department for Communities and Local Government does not carry out assessments on the level of anti-Semitism in the UK. However, hate crime of this nature is a matter the police take seriously. There is good cooperation between the Community Security Trust and police forces in areas with a significant Jewish community.
Council Housing: Newcastle Upon Tyne
Plans for new housing will be developed in the context of sub-regional housing strategies. The Housing Green Paper will set out ways to increase the supply of affordable housing, with a bigger role for local authorities.
Council Housing: Standards
In 2004 the English Housing Condition Survey estimated there were 800,000 non-decent council homes representing 35 per cent. of the total council stock. Latest figures from the survey for 2005 estimate a reduction to 730,000 non-decent homes, 34 per cent. of total stock.
The survey also indicates that, among those non-decent homes, 185,000 failed its repair criterion, representing 8 per cent. of total council stock in 2004. For 2005 the figures are 150,000 failing the repair criterion, representing 7 per cent. of total council stock.
In order to be decent, homes must be in a reasonable state of repair. Details of the repair criterion and the decent homes standard are published on the Communities and Local Government website at
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1152190.
Council Tax
The collection and enforcement of council tax is a matter for individual billing authorities. Communities and Local Government has made no assessment of the reasons for 2006-07 collection rates in Manchester, Salford or Hackney. Across England, in-year collection of council tax rose for the seventh successive year in 2006-07, to 96.9 per cent. of the total collectable.
Council Tax: Bankruptcy
The information requested is not held centrally.
The Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/613) provide billing authorities with a range of powers to enforce payment of council tax from those who refuse to pay. It is up to each billing authority to consider how best to use these powers in the interests of all their taxpayers who do pay their bills. The Department has no plans to issue guidance on using petitions for bankruptcy.
Departments: Berkeley Group
A precise answer to this question could be provided only at disproportionate cost, given the span of 10 years.
Departments: Ministerial Red Boxes
The information for Communities and Local Government and its predecessor Department the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is as follows:
Number of ministerial red boxes Total cost (£) 2003 5 4,888 2004 0 — 2005 0 — 2006 3 2,532 2007 0 —
The supplier was Banner Business Supplies Ltd through a call-off contract arrangement.
Ministerial boxes are used by successive Ministers over many years.
Departments: Public Transport
Based on our most recent sample survey of staff we estimate that 93 per cent. of staff working at London headquarters use public transport for the main part of their journey to work. The Department makes provision for those who wish to cycle to work but limited car parking is only provided for those with medically certified requirements. Loans are available for either season ticket or cycle purchase to encourage the use of these modes of transport.
Derelict Land: Greater London
The Planning Inspectorate does not record information centrally relating specifically to planning applications on brownfield sites being rejected. It cannot be retrieved without disproportionate cost.
First Time Buyers
Data at the Hampshire level are unavailable due to sample sizes. The information for first time buyers is provided for the UK rather than England.
Based on the Survey of English Housing for 2005-06, the average age of males when leaving the parental home in England was estimated at 25 years. The average age for females in England was estimated at 22 years.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) figures for median age of first time buyers are available on their website at:
http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/filegrab/1ML2.xls?ref=4624
This is based on data from all mortgage completions in the UK and the data are presented in the following table:
Age 1997 29 1998 29 1999 30 2000 30 2001 30 2002 31 2003 31 2004 31 2005 30 2006 29 Source: CML.
Floods: Finance
(2) what criteria were used in assessing which local authorities received payments from the Flood Recovery Grant Scheme;
As announced by the Prime Minister on 7 July, the £10 million Flood Recovery Grant Scheme was established to support the work being undertaken by local authorities in helping their communities to recover from the exceptional and widespread flooding which had occurred.
Our particular intention was that authorities should use it to help those in greatest and most immediate need, and on that basis we developed a methodology which balanced fairness with moving rapidly to announcing allocations. Informed by a brief and useful consultation with local government, I allocated grant on the basis of the relative numbers of households affected by flooding in lower-tier local authority areas. This was explained in the letters sent by officials notifying chief executives that grant had been allocated to their authorities. The allocations confirmed on both 13 and 20 July were based on the best available such information held at the time of decision.
Floods: Rescue Services
Communities and Local Government is conducting a lessons learned exercise into the Fire and Rescue Service’s response to the recent flooding, as a contribution to the wider Cabinet Office-led review of the wider flood management and response. Any identified issues relating to flood response capability will be addressed appropriately. A flooding workstream, led by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as part of the cross-government Capabilities Programme, assesses whether local responders have what they need to address the flooding risks we face. This complements capability assessments made by responders at the local level.
Hazardous Substances: Castle Point
Officials will collate this information as soon as possible. I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Hazardous Substances: Planning Permission
(2) how many control of major accident hazards site applications were (a) made and (b) appealed against in each of the last 10 years;
(3) what estimate she has made of the safe distance for separation for control of major accident hazards sites from (a) residential houses, (b) schools and (c) businesses; and if she will make a statement.
[holding answer 16 May 2007]: Decisions on proposals for development are taken by a local planning authority, or a Planning Inspector, in accordance with its development plan. Decisions are based upon the plans and policies contained within the regional spatial strategy prepared by the regional planning body and local development documents prepared by the local planning authority.
The Town and Country Planning (Regional Planning) (England) Regulations 2004 (SI No. 2203) and the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004 (SI No. 2204) specify the form and content of regional spatial strategies and development plan documents. In preparing their plans, planning bodies are required to have regard to the objectives of preventing major accidents and of limiting the consequences of such accidents; and to the need, in the long term, to maintain appropriate distances between major accident hazards sites and residential areas and other locations frequented by the public.
Guidance issued in Planning Policy Statement 12 on Local Development Frameworks makes clear that, in preparing or reviewing local development documents, local planning authorities need to ensure that they include a policy or policies on the location of establishments where hazardous substances are used or stored, and on the development of land within the vicinity of such establishments. Article 10 of the Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure Order) 1995 requires a local planning authority to consult the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency before determining planning applications for new major accident hazard sites, or for modifications to existing sites. They must also consult with these bodies when residential and other specified types of development is proposed within an area that the Health and Safety Executive has notified to the local planning authority because of the presence of hazardous substances within the vicinity.
Applications for development of sites that fall within the scope of control of major accident hazards regulations are made to local planning authorities. Records of such applications are not held centrally and the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
With regard to appropriate separation distances, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 July 2007, Official Report, UIN 150808.
Homelessness
Communities and Local Government publishes an annual national rough sleeping estimate. The most recent estimate, published in September 2006, showed 502 people were sleeping rough in England on any single night.
Homelessness: Finance
Leeds city council has received £430,000 funding under the Hostels Capital Improvement Programme (HCIP) for Faith Lodge hostel run by St. George's Crypt . The HCIP will provide over £90 million in the period 2004-05 to 2007-08, to around 175 projects in 62 local authority areas in England to make hostels and other facilities for homeless people places of change. 14 projects have been allocated HCIP funding totalling over £8 million in Yorkshire and Humberside region.
Homelessness: Government Assistance
There are two grant programmes that specifically support organisations to help the homeless. The Supporting People programme, implemented in 2003 and the Homelessness Grant programme.
The following tables indicate the amount of funding.
£ Total Southampton Hampshire England 2003-04 4,279,742 3,503,139 353,318,583 2004-05 4,249,000 3,485,000 350,677,000 2005-06 3,964,584 3,867,949 317,503,012
£ Southampton Hampshire England 1997-98 0 0 15,800,000 Total — — 15,800,000 1998-99 0 0 19,600,000 Total — — 19,600,000 1999-2000 0 0 25,700,000 Total 0 0 25,700,000 2000-01 0 0 31,500,000 Total — — 31,500,000 2001-02 0 0 40,100,000 Total — — 40,100,000 2002-03 562,000 1,280,000 71,358,000 Total — — 73,200,000 2003-04 474,000 1,300,000 69,726,000 Total — — 71,500,000 2004-05 590,000 1,350,000 75,260,000 Total — — 77,200,000 2005-06 630,000 1,440,000 100,043,000 Total — — 102,500,000 2006-07 1,407,000 2,346,000 86,247,000 Total — — 90,000,000
Housing: Bournemouth
[holding answer 12 July 2007]: The dwelling stock in Bournemouth local authority area in 2001, 2003 and 2006 was 76,485; 76,798 and 86,138 respectively. Figures are as reported by the local authority and represent the stock as at 31 March in each year. The Department does not yet have the equivalent figures for 2007.
Source:
Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix from local authorities
Housing: Combined Heat And Power
I am today launching the Eco-towns Prospectus, which sets out the Government's vision for new towns of five to 20,000 homes which will be exemplar “green” developments, with the aim of achieving zero carbon across the whole development. Community and large scale combined heat and power could play an important role in meeting this objective and we are looking to each project to act as an exemplar for particular aspects of low and zero carbon technology. Alongside this and other sustainability objectives, we intend that eco-towns should play a key role in easing the affordability crisis by ensuring that between 30 and 50 per cent. of their new housing is affordable as well as meeting our other essential criteria on high quality design, good provision for jobs, sustainable travel, services and community development. The launch of the prospectus today will be accompanied by an invitation for local authorities and other stakeholders to respond with their views on potential sites.
Housing: Construction
New build completions by tenure in each year since 1991-92 are tabulated as follows.
Total1 Private2 Local authority1 Registered social landlords3 1991-92 155,132 125,058 7,113 22,961 1992-93 142,461 98,880 2,579 41,002 1993-94 147,714 103,538 1,451 42,725 1994-95 157,966 110,947 853 46,166 1995-96 154,599 103,873 757 49,969 1996-97 146,246 112,188 451 33,607 1997-98 149,555 121,022 323 28,210 1998-99 140,708 113,992 178 26,538 1999-2000 142,046 119,667 58 22,321 2000-01 133,255 112,137 179 20,939 2001-02 129,866 108,064 63 21,739 2002-03 137,739 116,202 199 21,338 2003-04 143,958 119,819 191 23,948 2004-05 155,893 128,422 100 27,371 2005-06 163,398 130,072 299 33,027 2006-07 167,691 145,554 245 — Sources: 1 Total and local authority new build completions from P2 returns submitted local authorities and National House Building Council (NHBC) 2 Private tenure is derived from the total “P2 completions” minus local authority and Housing Corporation registered social landlord figures. These figures will not match published live tables which are sourced from P2 only. 3 Figures are total affordable new build as reported by the Housing Corporation and include social for rent and intermediate housing eg low cost home ownership.
New build registered social landlord and council dwellings only make up part of the affordable supply; the remainder being acquired by registered social landlords. In 2005-06, acquisitions by registered social landlords numbered 11,834, taking the total affordable housing provision to 44,861.
Housing: Energy
The Notice of Approval of methodologies for calculating the energy performance of buildings (approved for the purposes of regulation 17A of the Building Regulations) was published on 11 May 2007. Methodologies are available or are in the process of being developed for different types of building and application. A complete set of calculation methodologies is expected to be available in the autumn.
Housing: Essex
The percentage of (a) local authority, (b) housing association, (c) private sector and (d) all housing in (i) Castle Point and (ii) Essex, judged to be unfit in each year since 2002 is given in the following table. The data are as reported by local authorities.
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Castle Point Essex Castle Point Essex Castle Point Essex Castle Point Essex Castle Point Essex (a) LA 2.1 3.4 0 0.1 0 0.0 0 0.5 0 0.6 (b) HA 0 0.1 0 0.1 0 0.1 0 0.2 0 0.6 (c) Private Sector 5.5 3.2 5.2 3.2 4.1 2.7 4.5 2.1 2.0 2.8 (d) Total 5.3 2.6 4.9 2.3 — 1.4 4.2 1.7 1.9 2.4 Source: Communities and Local Government Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix return (HSSA).
The average weekly rent in Essex as at 31 March 2006 for (a) council and (b) housing association is £62.29 and £75.01 respectively. Information on average rent in (c) private rented accommodation in Essex is not available, although at regional level, the average monthly rent in the East of England is £530 per month.
Average weekly rents by local authority district are published for (a) the local authority sector and (b) the registered social landlord sector on the Communities and Local Government website in tables 702 and 704 respectively. The links for these tables are given as follows:
Table 702: http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/266/Table702_ id1156266.xls
Table 704: http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/268/Table704_ id1156268.xls
Information on (c) average rent paid by private renters in Essex is not available. This information is available by region on the Communities and Local Government website in table 734. The link for this table is given as follows:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/282/Table734_id1156282.xls
Housing: Hampshire
The depth of information requested by the hon. Member is not kept centrally by Government Departments. I would suggest that he direct this enquiry to the local planning authorities for the areas in which he is interested.
The information requested by the hon. Member is not kept centrally by Government Departments. I would suggest that he direct this enquiry to the local planning authorities for the areas in which he is interested. Future figures on affordable housing are determined by local planning authorities who have a range of affordable housing policies in place with a variable threshold and percentage sought for affordable housing.
Housing: Hazardous Substances
The Department has commissioned no research on separation distances between sites with the potential for major accident hazards and residential use.
It is for local planning authorities to determine whether development should be allowed in the vicinity of sites with the potential for major accident hazards.
Local planning authorities are notified by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of a consultation distance around such sites and they must take account of the HSE's advice of the level of risk for any development proposed with this area.
HSE reviews consultation distances around these sites in the light of new information about the risks such sites present, including information obtained by evaluation of accidents in other countries.
Housing: Immigration
The 2004 based household projections show that the biggest factor contributing to household growth is an increasing tendency for people to live alone.
Since 1997, Communities and Local Government have released three sets of household projections that included an assessment of the impact of migration on household formation.
2004 based household projections: Released March 2007
These project the formation of 223,000 additional households each year between 2004 and 2026 of which 73,000 (33 per cent.) are attributable to net migration into England.
2003 based household projections: Released March 2006
These projected the formation of 209,000 additional households each year between 2003 and 2026 of which 65,000 (31 per cent.) were attributable to net migration into England.
1996 based household projections: Released October 1999
These projected the formation of 150,000 additional households each year between 2001 and 2021 of which 38,000 (26 per cent.) were attributable to net migration into England.
Housing: Low Incomes
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today, (UIN 148447).
[holding answer 9 July 2007]: The Secretary of State monitors housing projects where registered social landlords are or will be involved, through local housing authorities returns. This will include most projects which include affordable housing, but not necessarily all, because private sector developers may also plan to build units of affordable housing. She does not monitor planning decisions for affordable housing as such. Local authorities monitor the actual delivery of affordable housing in their annual monitoring reports which are published and submitted to the Secretary of State. In Penwith district 31 affordable houses were built in 2005-06, 10 per cent. of the total new houses built. In Kerrier district, 22 affordable houses were built in 2005-06, 9 per cent. of the new houses built.
[holding answer 16 July 2007]: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
[holding answer 16 July 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) on 26 June 2007 to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) Official Report, column 628W. Each of the 10 sites included in the Design for Manufacture competition will include a high proportion of affordable homes of different tenures, such as social rent or homes available for share equity purchase.
[holding answer 16 July 2007]: The numbers of homes built for social rent, in England, in the last one, two and five years are tabulated in the following table. Not all social rent housing supply is through new build completions; supply can also come from the acquisition and refurbishment of private sector homes. For completeness the numbers of social rent homes provided through the acquisition and refurbishment of market properties are also shown.
1 April to 31 March New build Acquisitions Total supply 2005-06 (one year) 20,912 2,437 23,349 2004-06 (two years) 39,315 5,051 44,366 2001-06 (five years) 93,785 23,944 117,729 Source: Statistical returns from local authorities. Housing Corporation
Planning obligations (also known as section 106 agreements), may be discharged or modified by agreement between the local planning authority and all the persons against whom they are enforceable, or by application to the local planning authority after five years.
The powers for modifying and discharging planning obligations are contained in sections 106A and 106B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Requirements placed on local planning authorities for the handling of applications are set out in the Town and Country Planning (Modification and Discharge of Planning Obligations) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2832).
These regulations require that local planning authorities publicise applications, including making available for inspection the relevant part of the instrument which created the obligation; invite and consider representations from the public; give clear and precise reasons for their decision; and inform applicants of their right of appeal.
The recent review of surplus sites owned by central Government Departments and their agencies identified over 550 new sites, in addition to those which were not already on the register of surplus public sector sites. The review of central Government surplus sites is continuing and English Partnerships is undertaking an immediate evaluation of the potential for additional housing on these sites, including one site owned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The Ministry of Defence will release seven major sites immediately to English Partnerships with potential for 7,000 new and affordable homes, including sites at Aldershot and Chichester. A review is being undertaken to identify further sites.
A portfolio of Highways Agency and the British Rail Residuary Body surplus sites is being identified and transferred to English Partnerships and brought forward for new and affordable housing.
The Department of Health will transfer 13 new sites into the programme for new and affordable homes. In addition, NHS Trusts are identifying the surplus land they hold with potential for further new housing.
Housing: Sales
Information is available on numbers of local authority dwellings sold through the right to buy scheme. The numbers of right to buy sales and local authority stock figures for each year since 1998-99 are tabulated as follows. Figures for these areas prior to 1998-99 are not readily available.
1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 Cornwall Council stock at beginning of period 15,745 15,524 11,701 11,471 11,250 11,008 10,819 10,733 Right to buy sales during period 205 305 232 218 245 187 80 27 Proportion of stock sold during period (percentage) 1.3 2.0 2.0 1.9 2.2 1.7 0.7 0.3 South West Council stock at beginning of period 214,187 184,284 170,190 155,920 152,558 145,689 139,737 136,153 Right to buy sales during period 3,276 3,708 3,157 2,739 3,035 2,521 1,443 818 Proportion of stock sold during period (percentage) 1.5 2.0 1.9 1.8 2.0 1.7 1.0 0.6 England Council stock at beginning of period 3,309,244 3,177,507 3,011,995 2,811,931 2,706,036 2,456,917 2,334,631 2,165,526 Right to buy sales during period 40,272 54,251 52,380 51,968 63,394 69,577 49,983 26.654 Proportion of stock sold during period (percentage) 1.2 1.7 1.7 1.8 2.3 2.8 2.1 1 .2 Notes: 1. Figures shown are as reported by local authorities. 2. Cornwall has been defined to include the local authority areas of Caradon. Carrick, Kerrier, North Cornwall, Penwith and Restormel. Source: Statistical returns from local authorities (HSSA. P1B)
Housing: Standards
[holding answer 16 July 2007]: Planning policy statement (PPS) 1: Delivering Sustainable Development emphasises the importance of good design in new development and PPS3: Housing seeks to achieve high quality housing. Planning inspectors are aware of the heightened importance of good design in new housing development, of the need for housing schemes to be appropriate to their context and locally distinctive, and to take opportunities for improving an area’s character and quality. The Department is aware that inspectors, in applying the policies in these PPSs and related Government documents, are refusing housing appeals on grounds of failure to meet these policies.
Housing: Sutton
Communities and Local Government received the funding bid from Sutton Housing Partnership on 31 July 2006 under Round 6 of the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) decent homes programme, and acknowledged receipt on that date. We have received many bids in Round 6 from local authorities who are seeking to secure additional funding and join those already on the ALMO programme. We are continuing to consider these bids very carefully, paying particular attention to overall costs and value for money, in the context of the current Comprehensive Spending Review.
Housing: Thames Gateway
[holding answer 16 July 2007]: The Housing Corporation will launch its full prospectus for the next Affordable Housing Programme in September. The Corporation is proposing to include a substantial section on the Thames Gateway covering the approach and response to the Williams report. We will consider these proposals prior to publication of the prospectus.
Industrial Development: Planning Permission
The Government published a draft planning policy statement (PPS) on climate change for consultation at the end of 2006. This makes clear that planning should be a positive force for change and help secure progress against the UK's emissions targets, both by direct influence on energy use and emissions, and in bringing together and encouraging action by others. The PPS will apply to all development; it expects all planning authorities, in enabling the provision of new homes, jobs, services and infrastructure and shaping the places where people live and work, to secure the highest viable standards of resource and energy efficiency and reduction in carbon emissions. The final PPS will be published later this year.
Local Government Finance
Local authorities are responsible for meeting their statutory requirements as employers, and for implementing any agreements which they may make.
We are considering requests for equal pay capitalisation in the current financial year.
Local Government: Cumbria
During our stakeholder consultation there was the opportunity for all local authorities to meet Ministers and to make written representations. The consultation period ended on the 22 June. In the interests of fairness and impartiality, during this stage of the process, it would not be appropriate for me to have meetings with any affected councils to discuss unitary proposals.
Multiple Occupation: Tyne and Wear
The number of houses in multiple occupation in each local authority within the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear in each year since 2001, as recorded in the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix, is given in the following table:
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Gateshead 30 30 100 100 86 51 Newcastle upon Tyne 1,000 — 3,262 1,000 4,000 — North Tyneside 150 141 141 141 149 152 South Tyneside 130 52 38 36 31 Sunderland 1,546 1,000 800 640 742 1,419 Tyne and Wear (metropolitan county) 2,856 1,223 4,341 1,917 5,008 1,622 Source: Communities and Local Government Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix return (HSSA)
Planning Reform Bill
The Planning Reform Bill is among the proposed Bills for the third session set out in the draft legislative programme in “The Governance of Britain—The Government’s Draft Legislative Programme” (CM 7175). It will not be published before the Queen’s Speech.
Regional Government
On the 28 June 2007 the Prime Minister appointed my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw) to be Minister for the South West. The role of Regional Ministers is set out in paragraphs 115 to 118 in ‘The Governance of Britain’.
Regional Government: South West Region
On the 28 June 2007 the Prime Minister appointed my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw) to be Minister for the south-west. The role of Regional Ministers is set out in paragraphs 115 to 118 in ‘The Governance of Britain’.
Right To Buy Scheme
There are no plans for any restrictions on the right of social tenants to buy the homes that they rent from local authority or housing association landlords in England.
Rights of Way
As explained in chapter 5 of “Planning for a Sustainable Future” (cm 7120), we propose that within the new single unified consent regime the infrastructure planning commission would have the power to close and divert public rights of way where they are considered necessary for the development of a nationally significant infrastructure project. Consistent with existing legislation, the power would only be exercised where the commission is satisfied that alternative rights of way are being provided or the current rights of way are not needed.
Second Homes
The number of second homes in (a) Cornwall, (b) the south west and (c) England in each year since 1997; and what percentage of all homes this represented is shown in the following table:
Number Percentage of all homes Number Percentage of all homes Number Percentage of all homes 1997-981 n/a n/a n/a n/a 203,000 1.0 1998-991 n/a n/a n/a n/a 224,000 1.1 1999-20001 n/a n/a 41,000 1.9 234,000 1.1 2000-011 n/a n/a 41,000 2.0 241,000 1.2 2001-021 n/a n/a 39,000 1.9 226,000 1.1 2002-031 n/a n/a 49,000 2.3 235,000 1.1 2003-041 n/a n/a 60,000 2.8 253,000 1.2 20042 13,509 5.7 50,397 2.2 228,896 1.0 20052 13,221 5.6 50,250 2.2 236,331 1.1 20062 13,040 5.4 51,459 2.2 240,047 1.1 Sources: 1 Survey of English Housing (three-year moving averages). 2 Council Tax Base returns Note: n/a = not available.
For 1997-98 to 2003-04, the data shown are estimates from the Survey of English Housing. Estimates for Cornwall are not available because it is only a sample survey and reliable estimates can only be derived down to regional level.
For 2004 to 2006, the data are based on Council Tax Base returns that are completed by local authorities. These figures are only available from 2004 onwards.
Social Policy: Australia
Officials in the Department have regular dialogue with counterparts in Australia working on social cohesion, and regularly engage with delegations from Australia and other countries to consider international comparisons.
Travelling People
Eco-towns, as announced in the Government statement of 7 March 2007, will be sustainable communities supporting a mix of housing types and tenure. Subject to the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review, decisions about the detailed criteria and housing mix for eco-towns will be taken following further assessment work, and we hope to announce these later this year.
Travelling People: Regional Government
The announcement on the outcome of the Sub-National Review made it clear that we will consult on the move to single regional strategies. In the meantime, we expect the current round of revisions to Regional Spatial Strategies, including those on provision for Gypsies and Travellers, to be completed at the earliest opportunity.
As the hon. Member notes, the consultation in the East of England is being run by the East of England Regional Assembly, and its results will inform the review of the Regional Spatial Strategy. With regards to Hertfordshire, plans for future sites should reflect the needs identified by Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessments and by the proposed revision to the Regional Spatial Strategy, which is itself informed by the results of those assessments.
Tree Preservation Orders
Section 197 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 places a duty on planning authorities to make adequate provision for the protection and planting of trees when granting planning permission. The planning authority should therefore take the presence of trees into account when determining planning applications.
Tree preservation orders cannot be used to prevent development for which full planning permission has already been granted. They may be used, however, to protect trees which do not have to be removed in order to implement the approved development, or where only outline permission has been granted.
Valuation Office: Databases
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) by my right hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, South (Dawn Primarolo) on 26 March 2006, Official Report, column 724W.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Degrees
The available information is shown in the tables. The figures are taken from data collected by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) which are limited to students who apply to full-time undergraduate courses via the UCAS application system. The figures do not therefore cover part-time students, nor those full-time students who apply directly to Higher Education Institutions.
UCAS do not allocate applicants to specific course types because students can submit up to six applications to one or more of First Degree, Foundation Degree, HMD or other courses. For acceptances, the figures for Degrees include both First Degrees and Foundation Degrees.
From 2002 entry, the information is only available by four broad age bands. A new classification of social background, the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC), was introduced in 2002, which replaced the classification based on Social Class. The two classifications are not directly comparable.
Year of entry: 1997 Age Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 1,862 28,479 10,552 3,046 2,283 944 1,257 48,423 II Intermediate 4,456 78,534 30,878 9,776 9,843 6,391 10,416 150,294 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,569 28,710 13,491 5,138 5,142 2,773 3,912 60,735 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 1,063 19,947 8,810 3,243 6,724 4,079 5,701 49,567 IV Partly Skilled 662 12,637 6,157 2,493 4,512 2,540 3,199 32,200 V Unskilled 151 3,133 1,859 789 959 451 562 7,904 X Unknown 716 11,283 7,550 3,942 11,537 5,791 8,385 49,204 Total 10,479 182,723 79,297 28,427 41,000 22,969 33,432 398,327
Age Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 1,745 28,001 10,362 2,880 2,171 768 1,097 47,024 II Intermediate 4,411 79,181 31,223 9,299 9,039 5,239 8,917 147,309 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,630 29,225 13,321 4,693 4,411 2,317 3,297 58,894 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 1,077 20,458 8,734 2,904 5,846 3,365 4,673 47,057 IV Partly Skilled 751 12,833 6,177 2,347 4,021 2,064 2,819 31,012 V Unskilled 118 2,996 1,833 713 842 352 451 7,305 X Unknown 813 13,053 8,573 4,378 10,957 5,351 7,862 50,987 Total 10,545 185,747 80,223 27,214 37,287 19,456 29,116 389,588
Age Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 1,821 27,567 10,958 3,091 1,563 560 973 46,533 II Intermediate 4,254 77,611 32,944 9,981 7,399 4,346 8,269 144,804 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,642 28,829 14,203 5,067 3,857 2,006 2,936 58,540 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 1,042 20,134 9,528 3,231 5,829 3,064 4,274 47,102 IV Partly Skilled 700 12,567 6,535 2,499 3,763 1,959 2,782 30,805 V Unskilled 127 2,974 1,972 849 752 305 472 7,451 X Unknown 804 12,100 9,070 4,709 13,198 5,538 8,037 53,456 Total 10,390 181,782 85,210 29,427 36,361 17,778 27,743 388,691
Age Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 1,688 27,197 10,895 3,095 1,513 480 893 45,761 II Intermediate 4,161 76,341 33,229 10,574 7,800 4,245 8,339 144,689 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,568 27,974 13,943 5,097 3,794 1,837 2,998 57,211 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 1,095 20,309 9,683 3,564 6,247 2,912 4,278 48,088 IV Partly Skilled 765 12,826 6,628 2,705 3,843 1,965 2,957 31,689 V Unskilled 137 3,100 1,897 834 701 273 397 7,339 X Unknown 940 12,638 9,174 4,974 13,264 5,343 7,981 54,314 Total 10,354 180,385 85,449 30,843 37,162 17,055 27,843 389,091
Age Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 1,666 27,263 10,800 3,177 1,516 467 954 45,843 II Intermediate 4,182 77,689 32,187 10,388 7,963 3,951 8,472 144,832 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,755 30,348 14,185 5,074 4,161 1,876 3,166 60,565 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 1,008 20,021 9,175 3,453 7,045 2,935 4,416 48,053 IV Partly Skilled 658 11,727 5,993 2,373 3,964 1,862 3,029 29,606 V Unskilled 135 3,246 1,796 784 592 228 356 7,137 X Unknown 1,032 16,070 11,075 5,918 15,367 5,631 8,516 63,609 Total 10,436 186,364 85,211 31,167 40,608 16,950 28,909 399,645
Year of entry 2002 Age Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 66,022 2,390 1,966 676 71,054 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 85,392 5,790 6,175 2,047 99,404 3. Intermediate occupations 38,163 5,603 5,875 1,361 51,002 4. Small employers and own account workers 21,694 1,307 1,203 331 24,535 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 13,913 866 632 148 15,559 6. Semi-routine occupations 30,355 6,504 5,512 1,114 43,485 7. Routine occupations 15,514 2,352 1,733 306 19,905 8. Unknown 41,404 18,082 14,018 3,406 76,910 Total 312,457 42,894 37,114 9,389 401,854
Age Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 64,143 2,367 2,413 777 69,700 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 85,627 5,928 6,749 2,161 100,465 3. Intermediate occupations 37,114 5,378 5,866 1,445 49,803 4. Small employers and own account workers 21,774 1,271 1,197 374 24,616 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 14,923 830 616 171 16,540 6. Semi-routine occupations 30,857 6,801 5,909 1,267 44,834 7. Routine occupations 14,914 2,443 1,602 284 19,243 8. Unknown 47,438 18,998 14,760 3,571 84,767 Total 316,790 44,016 39,112 10,050 409,968
Age Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 64,652 2,238 2,401 768 70,059 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 87,243 6,040 7,103 2,351 102,737 3. Intermediate occupations 37,795 5,322 5,949 1,434 50,500 4. Small employers and own account workers 21,981 1,257 1,113 312 24,663 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 14,550 768 570 166 16,054 6. Semi-routine occupations 31,228 6,857 6,337 1,367 45,789 7. Routine occupations 15,065 2,499 1,549 245 19,358 8. Unknown 46,234 19,427 14,879 3,634 84,174 Total 318,748 44,408 39,901 10,277 413,334
Age Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 63,796 2,433 2,630 772 69,631 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 88,307 6,661 8,098 2,632 105,698 3. Intermediate occupations 38,636 5,743 6,499 1,545 52,423 4. Small employers and own account workers 22,403 1,339 1,280 372 25,394 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 14,870 792 538 148 16,348 6. Semi-routine occupations 33,888 7,867 7,159 1,649 50,563 7. Routine occupations 15,616 2,737 1,723 316 20,392 8. Unknown 62,953 20,536 16,518 4,174 104,181 Total 340,469 48,108 44,445 11,608 444,630
Age Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 62,602 2,128 1,955 565 67,250 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 84,387 5,704 5,856 1,721 97,668 3. Intermediate occupations 36,453 4,533 4,530 1,002 46,518 4. Small employers and own account workers 22,232 1,200 864 228 24,524 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 13,939 717 377 80 15,113 6. Semi-routine occupations 32,143 6,833 5,455 1,230 45,661 7. Routine occupations 15,336 2,593 1,361 200 19,490 8. Unknown 62,817 24,002 22,524 6,629 115,972 Total 329,909 47,710 42,922 11,655 432,196 Source: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
Year of entry: 1997 Degree Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 1,494 23,088 8,325 2,119 1,428 528 776 37,758 II Intermediate 3,302 60,740 22,491 6,411 5,934 3,734 6,408 109,020 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,065 19,986 8,618 3,045 2,921 1,619 2,442 39,696 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 764 14,911 6,136 2,028 4,028 2,508 3,713 34,088 IV Partly Skilled 466 8,920 3,985 1,491 2,616 1,439 1,934 20,851 V Unskilled 110 2,121 1,122 414 522 270 336 4,895 X Unknown 482 7,394 4,477 2,212 6,768 3,467 5,395 30,195 Total 7,683 137,160 55,154 17,720 24,217 13,565 21,004 276,503
Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 34 874 513 221 150 46 48 1,886 II Intermediate 145 3,552 2,278 881 718 323 443 8,340 IIIM Skilled Manual 65 1,984 1,392 619 518 242 288 5,108 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 31 1,054 767 318 562 226 287 3,245 IV Partly Skilled 21 896 643 318 428 174 176 2,656 V Unskilled 3 227 201 101 120 38 35 725 X Unknown 26 1,009 1,039 590 1,100 464 627 4,855 Total 325 9,596 6,833 3,048 3,596 1,513 1,904 26,815
Degree Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 1399 22621 8250 2077 1411 433 657 36848 II Intermediate 3,238 61,077 23,067 6,208 5,607 3,069 5,429 107,695 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,083 20,756 8,749 2,859 2,648 1,355 2,053 39,503 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 748 15,166 6,064 1,874 3,592 2,076 2,956 32,476 IV Partly Skilled 510 9,041 4,066 1,430 2,384 1,225 1,687 20,343 V Unskilled 74 2,033 1,131 410 468 209 279 4,604 X Unknown 451 8,316 5,051 2,511 6,486 3,181 4,875 30,871 Total 7,503 139,010 56,378 17,369 22,596 11,548 17,936 272,340
Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 34 874 513 221 150 46 48 1,886 II Intermediate 145 3,552 2,278 881 718 323 443 8,340 IIIM Skilled Manual 65 1,984 1,392 619 518 242 288 5,108 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 31 1,054 767 318 562 226 287 3,245 IV Partly Skilled 21 896 643 318 428 174 176 2,656 V Unskilled 3 227 201 101 120 38 35 725 X Unknown 26 1,009 1,039 590 1,100 464 627 4,855 Total 325 9,596 6,833 3,048 3,596 1,513 1,904 26,815
Degree Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 1,467 22,599 8,856 2,319 1,066 317 628 37,252 II Intermediate 3,172 60,422 24,944 6,856 4,786 2,606 5,244 108,030 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,157 20,572 9,618 3,189 2,337 1,210 1,837 39,920 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 734 15,267 6,787 2,148 3,656 1,899 2,722 33,213 IV Partly Skilled 458 9,013 4,420 1,561 2,270 1,173 1,688 20,583 V Unskilled 78 2,028 1,239 523 436 176 291 4,771 X Unknown 477 7,851 5,685 2,860 8,072 3,402 5,224 33,571 Total 7,543 137,752 61,549 19,456 22,623 10,783 17,634 277,340
Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 32 707 524 175 108 24 42 1,612 II Intermediate 157 3,181 2,191 929 534 242 403 7,637 IIIM Skilled Manual 80 1,792 1,376 538 377 177 214 4,554 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 36 968 799 319 468 216 267 3,073 IV Partly Skilled 45 839 673 287 355 145 170 2,514 V Unskilled 7 231 238 117 101 40 33 767 X Unknown 67 1,200 1,168 650 1,238 523 722 5,568 Total 424 8,918 6,969 3,015 3,181 1,367 1,851 25,725
Degree Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 1,396 22,695 9,015 2,361 1,046 263 529 37,305 II Intermediate 3,237 60,561 25,762 7,480 5,095 2,502 5,185 109,822 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,098 20,361 9,654 3,307 2,339 1,131 1,892 39,782 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 836 15,525 7,162 2,382 3,939 1,856 2,813 34,513 IV Partly Skilled 523 9,381 4,609 1,706 2,381 1,155 1,834 21,589 V Unskilled 98 2,156 1,199 526 428 167 231 4,805 X Unknown 537 8,436 5,884 3,001 8,142 3,201 4,792 33,993 Total 7,725 139,115 63,285 20,763 23,370 10,275 17,276 281,809
Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 28 643 485 201 97 28 54 1,536 II Intermediate 149 3,132 2,227 968 597 265 515 7,853 IIIM Skilled Manual 88 1,736 1,414 555 404 171 265 4,633 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 48 1,051 729 342 601 210 284 3,265 IV Partly Skilled 54 820 677 311 376 146 179 2,563 V Unskilled 9 226 240 99 88 27 41 730 X Unknown 175 1,263 1,203 788 1,352 592 956 6,329 Total 551 8,871 6,975 3,264 3,515 1,439 2,294 26,909
Degree Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and Over Total I Professional 1,415 23,183 9,171 2,481 1,063 291 592 38,196 II Intermediate 3,256 63,344 25,625 7,594 5,406 2,477 5,585 113,287 IIIM Skilled Manual 1,229 23,000 10,101 3,407 2,676 1,183 1,972 43,568 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 734 15,828 6,982 2,413 4,701 1,880 2,988 35,526 IV Partly Skilled 444 8,811 4,325 1,626 2,530 1,134 1,926 20,796 V Unskilled 89 2,339 1,238 482 366 150 222 4,886 X Unknown 640 11,066 7,289 3,831 9,982 3,454 5,536 41,798 Total 7,807 147,571 64,731 21,834 26,724 10,569 18,821 298,057
Social class Under 18 18 19 20 21 to 24 25 to 29 30 and over Total I Professional 26 691 442 211 97 24 61 1,552 II Intermediate 116 3,030 2,117 903 609 249 520 7,544 IIIM Skilled Manual 94 1,874 1,372 562 422 197 323 4,844 IIIN Skilled Non-Manual 42 993 732 334 630 232 285 3,248 IV Partly Skilled 43 745 557 255 360 152 206 2,318 V Unskilled 11 242 218 98 87 23 39 718 X Unknown 95 1,644 1,505 870 1,614 604 859 7,191 Total 427 9,219 6,943 3,233 3,819 1,481 2,293 27,415
Year of entry: 2002 Degree Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 55,987 1,715 1,272 453 59,427 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 70,128 4,064 4,087 1,383 79,662 3. Intermediate occupations 31,125 3,895 3,889 924 39,833 4. Small employers and own account workers 16,675 846 782 222 18,525 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 10,707 586 438 102 11,833 6. Semi-routine occupations 23,245 4,323 3,591 737 31,896 7. Routine occupations 11,426 1,565 1,129 192 14,312 8. Unknown 29,764 12,439 9,384 2,385 53,972 Total 249,057 29,433 24,572 6,398 309,460
Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 1,752 114 79 47 1,992 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 3,054 360 272 128 3,814 3. Intermediate occupations 1,549 374 284 72 2,279 4. Small employers and own account workers 1,305 122 70 34 1,531 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 830 91 67 9 997 6. Semi-routine occupations 1,890 475 314 72 2,751 7. Routine occupations 1,123 232 158 30 1,543 8. Unknown 4,154 1,666 1,210 328 7,358 Total 15,657 3,434 2,454 720 22,265
Degree Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 54,398 1,660 1,448 528 58,034 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 70,356 4,109 4,299 1,417 80,181 3. Intermediate occupations 30,311 3,688 3,920 1,012 38,931 4. Small employers and own account workers 16,956 873 775 241 18,845 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 11,574 600 406 113 12,693 6. Semi-routine occupations 23,815 4,593 3,815 842 33,065 7. Routine occupations 11,161 1,602 1,059 193 14,015 8. Unknown 35,061 12,903 9,967 2,547 60,478 Total 253,632 30,028 25,689 6,893 316,242
Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 1,261 91 59 27 1,438 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 2,340 266 229 97 2,932 3. Intermediate occupations 1,088 282 227 48 1,645 4. Small employers and own account workers 973 85 64 25 1,147 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 670 45 34 15 764 6. Semi-routine occupations 1,545 395 197 52 2,189 7. Routine occupations 881 168 106 13 1,168 8. Unknown 3,763 1,389 1,007 258 6,417 Total 12,521 2,721 1,923 535 17,700
Degree Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 55,231 1,535 1,351 476 58,593 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 72,360 4,063 4,411 1,476 82,310 3. Intermediate occupations 31,111 3,554 3,873 963 39,501 4. Small employers and own account workers 17,186 867 707 192 18,952 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 11,515 529 380 117 12,541 6. Semi-routine occupations 24,593 4,549 3,926 863 33,931 7. Routine occupations 11,494 1,660 1,013 167 14,334 8. Unknown 34,768 13,142 9,969 2,496 60,375 Total 258,258 29,899 25,630 6,750 320,537
Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 951 64 43 28 1,086 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 1,846 204 183 85 2,318 3. Intermediate occupations 879 207 155 48 1,289 4. Small employers and own account workers 803 53 57 16 929 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 487 41 36 9 573 6. Semi-routine occupations 1,082 270 186 47 1,585 7. Routine occupations 646 134 75 10 865 8. Unknown 2,906 1,112 837 258 5,113 Total 9,600 2,085 1,572 501 13,758
Degree Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 55,143 1,633 1,448 469 58,693 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 74,286 4,449 4,783 1,612 85,130 3. Intermediate occupations 32,267 3,843 4,067 1,012 41,189 4. Small employers and own account workers 18,006 906 813 238 19,963 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 12,005 564 354 86 13,009 6. Semi-routine occupations 27,109 5,125 4,248 1,024 37,506 7. Routine occupations 12,118 1,851 1,117 194 15,280 8. Unknown 50,189 14,089 10,900 2,900 78,078 Total 281,123 32,460 27,730 7,535 348,848
Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 872 55 36 14 977 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 1,607 183 131 56 1,977 3. Intermediate occupations 731 136 127 39 1,033 4. Small employers and own account workers 614 46 27 18 705 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 380 29 23 13 445 6. Semi-routine occupations 988 232 118 22 1,360 7. Routine occupations 564 131 66 21 782 8. Unknown 2,348 882 704 183 4,117 Total 8,104 1,694 1,232 366 11,396
Degree Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 53,615 1,419 1,029 338 56,401 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 70,163 3,809 3,386 1,025 78,383 3. Intermediate occupations 30,133 2,988 2,755 667 36,543 4. Small employers and own account workers 17,736 801 558 155 19,250 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 11,108 515 264 53 11,940 6. Semi-routine occupations 25,557 4,453 3,224 780 34,014 7. Routine occupations 11,900 1,796 887 128 14,711 8. Unknown 49,682 16,447 15,031 4,536 85,696 Total 269,894 32,228 27,134 7,682 336,938
Socio-Economic Classification 20 and under 21 to 24 25 to 39 40 and over Total 1. Higher managerial and professional occupations 537 45 19 8 609 2. Lower managerial and professional occupations 1,159 130 82 23 1,394 3. Intermediate occupations 476 94 65 12 647 4. Small employers and own account workers 454 40 23 4 521 5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations 275 20 18 5 318 6. Semi-routine occupations 695 157 69 14 935 7. Routine occupations 429 85 36 6 556 8. Unknown 1,990 806 666 184 3,646 Total 6,015 1,377 978 256 8,626 Source: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
Northern Ireland
Historical Inquiries
The Historic Enquiry Team (HET) is tasked with re-examining all 3,268 murders related to the security situation during the period from 1968 until the signing of the Belfast Agreement. The HET generally examines cases in chronological order and is currently working on cases from 1972.
The Bloody Sunday Inquiry was set up following a resolution of the House on 29 January 1998 to inquire into the events on 30 January 1972 which led to loss of life in connection with a procession in Londonderry.
The Robert Hamill Inquiry, the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry and the Billy Wright Inquiry were established to inquire into the deaths of these individuals. The inquiries’ terms of reference were announced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen (Mr. Murphy) in a written statement on 16 November 2004, Official Report, columns 83-84WS. My right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen announced on 23 September 2004 that steps would be taken to enable the establishment of an inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane, which would be held on the basis of new legislation.
The Historic Enquires Team project has been allocated £34 million over six years, this is a significant sum. Estimated expenditure to 31 March 2007 is £9.9 million. This project involves the PSNI, Police Ombudsman, Forensic Science Agency and PPS. Government are committed to ensuring that this work is adequately resourced.
The expenditure by the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, the Robert Hamill Inquiry, the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry and the Billy Wright Inquiry is set out in the following table:
Rounded expenditure to end April2007 (£ million) Bloody Sunday Inquiry 1178.264 Robert Hamill Inquiry 10.41 Billy Wright Inquiry 7.21 Rosemary Nelson Inquiry 15.17 1 Of this total cost (rounded) £143.1 million falls to the NIO, the remaining £35.2 million falls to the MOD
The estimated cost to PSNI of providing information to historic inquires other than investigations being carried out by HET is £7.17 million. This includes £1.9 million to investigate ‘cold’ non-terrorist murder cases, as well as £1-1.5 million for legal cost in respect of all historic inquires work.
Missing Persons
The Police Service of Northern Ireland seconded one officer to a small project team set up by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR) for a period of six months. The Garda Siochana also seconded a member of their force to the ICLVR on a part-time basis.
The PSNI continue to offer every assistance to the ICLVR it can provide. However, of the nine remaining sets of remains to be found, all are suspected to be in the Republic of Ireland with the exception of one which the ICLVR believe to be in France. This limits the steps which can be taken by the PSNI to assist in locating remains.
Missing Persons: Religion
‘The disappeared’ is the term used in respect of those individuals widely believed to have been murdered by paramilitaries during ‘the troubles’ in Northern Ireland, and whose bodies were secretly buried. Only those who disappeared prior to the signing of the Good Friday agreement (10 April 1998) fall within the remit of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains.
14 people fell into this category. To date, five bodies have been recovered, but the burial sites of the remaining nine are unknown. PIRA admitted responsibility for 10 of the 14, while one was admitted by the INLA. No attribution has been given to the remaining three, but it is largely the view of the families that they were victims of PIRA.
100 per cent. of those referred to as ‘the disappeared’ were from the Catholic community.
Police: Inquiries
The Historic Enquires Team (HET) project is a NIO funded project which the PSNI Historic Enquires Team are undertaking. The total funding for this project is £34 million over six years. This funding is divided between all the participants; PSNI Historic Enquiries Team, Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Forensic Science Northern Ireland, and Public Prosecution Service. The overall budget for PSNI HET work is £24.2 million over six years.
The actual spend for PSNI HET work for 2005-06 was £3.95 million and for 2006-07 £4.18 million.
Rape
It is not possible to determine the number of rapes committed by individuals under the age of 17 in each of the last 10 years. However, information is available as to:
(a) the number of offences recorded by PSNI and cleared by issuing at least one person a charge or summons; and
(b) the number of prosecutions and convictions in the criminal courts in Northern Ireland.
Age-related data on rapes recorded and cleared by issuing a charge or summons are only available from 1 April 2001 until 31 March 2007. During this period, 34 rape offences were recorded and also cleared by a charge or summons in which the accused person was under the age of 171.
Between 1996 and 2005, the latest years for which data are available for prosecutions and convictions, there were seven prosecutions2 and no convictions for rape where the defendants were under the age of 173.
1PSNI follow Home Office counting rules which means that only one accused person is required to clear a crime, even in cases where there are multiple offenders. In this respect the figure noted may not include all persons under 17, if they were not the first person noted as clearing the crime.
2Data for prosecutions and convictions are collated on the principal offence rule; thus only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
3It is not possible routinely to compare data relating to the number charged or summoned for rape offences from recorded crime figures and data relating to the number of prosecutions and convictions, as these figures are collected on a different basis. PSNI recorded crime figures relate to the number of notifiable crimes reported and/or subsequently cleared; whereas figures for prosecutions and convictions refer to the number of offenders who have been subsequently brought before the criminal courts in Northern Ireland. In addition, PSNI recorded crime figures denote each offence as it has been initially recorded and this may differ from the offence for which a suspect or suspects are subsequently proceeded against in the courts.
Sexual Offences
Figures relating to the percentage of rape allegations which are withdrawn by the individual are not recorded in the format requested.
The Public Prosecution Service have advised that the number of persons reported for an offence of rape who were not prosecuted because the available evidence was not sufficient to pass the test for prosecution is as follows:
2004: 29 (35 per cent.) out of 83 persons;
2005: 90 (66 per cent.) out of 136 persons;
2006: 136 (79 per cent.) out of 172 persons.
The number of persons directed for prosecution for rape or some other related offence and whose trial concluded with a conviction for at least one offence (whether of rape or of some other related offence) is as follows:
2004: 27 (61 per cent.) out of 44 persons;
2005: 17 (63 per cent.) out of 27 persons;
2006: five (50 per cent.) out of 10 persons.
These figures represent only those cases which have been concluded at court. A number of cases are still awaiting trial, or are currently passing through the courts. These cases are not included in the totals above. For example, in 2006, 36 cases were directed for prosecution, of which five have so far resulted in conviction, five have not, and the remaining 26 either await trial or are in the process of being tried.
The Government are committed to improving the rates of successful prosecution in rape cases. PSNI's CARE units deal with the investigation of serious adult sexual offences and sexual and physical abuse of children and are staffed by highly skilled and trained personnel. The PSNI CARE teams are dedicated to enhancing the service to victims of rape and sexual assault and are seeking to enhance the investigative process so that more offenders are brought before the courts.
We have made significant progress towards establishing a sexual assault referral centre in Northern Ireland and are working in partnership with colleagues in DHSSPS, PSNI, the medical profession and the voluntary sector to develop an appropriate range of services. In addition, PSNI and the Public Prosecution Service have recently begun to analyse a number of rape investigations, in order that they continue to develop models of best investigative practice. In particular, attention will focus upon case building and the significant number of cases that currently do not make the threshold for prosecution.
Justice
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
Information shows that the Immigration Judge determination for appeal reference OA/44119/2006 was served upon the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) on 3 July 2007.
In Entry Clearance and Family Visitor appeals the determination is served upon the BIA (formerly the Immigration and Nationality Directorate) who will arrange for the forwarding of the determination to the entry clearance post that made the original refusal.
Aylesbury Prison: Prisoners Release
One prisoner from HMP Aylesbury was released under end of custody licence between 29 June and 5 July. 12 prisoners overall were returned to prison during this period out of a total released of 1,701. Information on the numbers of prisoners returned to each prison by individual establishment is not available.
These figures are based on statistics published on 16 July and updates will be published monthly.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Bailiffs
The leaflet “Effective Enforcement—National Standards for Enforcement Agents” was produced with the assistance of and endorsed by industry and Government, including local authorities. The guidance is not legally binding; rather it sets out what the Department, those in the industry and some major users including creditor groups regard as a benchmark for professional standards within enforcement.
Much of the content within the national standards leaflet will now be reflected in the underpinning regulations arising from provisions in the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill, which finished its parliamentary passage on 17 July. This will include training requirements for bailiffs for an enhanced and extended certification regime. Agents will be required to have a working knowledge of all the relevant areas of enforcement law and of the national standards in particular how to deal with vulnerable and potentially vulnerable debtors and others present at the premises. This will provide considerable protection for genuinely impoverished and vulnerable debtors.
As part of the development of the underpinning rules and regulations and implementation of the provisions in the Bill HMCS will now be re-engaging with all interested parties. We will use this opportunity to remind the industry including local authorities, magistrates courts and bailiffs themselves of the contents and purpose of the national standards. The outcome of this consultation process will inform the implementation timetable.
Care Proceedings
(2) how many child care cases have come to court (a) within a month, (b) between one and three months, (c) between three and six months, (d) between six and 12 months, (e) in over a year and (f) in over 18 months in the last 10 years;
(3) how many care cases involving a child came to court in each of the last five years.
Information on the number of court hearings per child care case is not held centrally.
Table 1 shows the length of time from receipt of application to final order for care cases in England and Wales grouped as requested. The data are presented separately by family proceedings courts and county courts as more complex cases are transferred to the county courts. These data are only available from 2005 for the family proceedings courts and 2003 for the county courts.
Table 2 shows the number of care applications to the courts in England and Wales in each of the last four years. Application data for all jurisdictions prior to 2003 are not available.
2003 2004 2005 2006 Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Family proceedings courts Within a month — — — — 35 1 16 0 Between one and three months — — — — 52 2 48 1 Between three and six months — — — — 554 16 429 12 Between six and 12 months — — — — 1,953 57 2,074 58 Between one year and 18 months — — — — 567 16 767 22 Over 18 months — — — — 279 8 215 6 Total — — — — 3,440 100 3,549 100 County courts Within a month 16 1 8 0 6 0 6 0 Between one and three months 41 1 43 1 35 1 42 1 Between three and six months 292 10 272 8 281 9 222 8 Between six and 12 months 1,454 48 1,536 48 1,651 53 1,594 54 Between one year and 18 months 764 25 762 24 702 23 687 23 Over 18 months 463 15 585 18 431 14 403 14 Total 3,030 100 3,206 100 3,106 100 2,954 100 Notes: 1. Cases transferred from the family proceedings court to the county court are counted solely in the latter, but are measured from date of initial application to the family proceedings court. 2. Family proceedings court data are measured by child, county court data by case. One case may involve more than one child.
2003 2004 2005 20061 Care applications 11,046 12,099 14,389 13,446 1 Figures for 2006 are provisional and subject to change. Note: Figures relate to the number of children who were the subject of each care application. An application relating to two children will be counted twice.
Care Proceedings: Legal Aid Scheme
The information is not available in the format requested. The Legal Services Commission record bills on its systems and two or more bills can relate to the same case where more than one person is assisted in that case. The average gross cost of a bill in public law child care cases between 1999-2000 and 2006-07 is set out in the following table. Prior to 1999-2000 the information is not available as bills were analysed by court venue rather than the type of assistance provided.
Average gross cost (£) 1999-2000 3,999 2000-01 4,066 2001-02 4,687 2002-03 5,439 2003-04 5,895 2004-05 5,827 2005-06 6,425 2006-07 7,691
The number of people who applied for and received representation in public law child care cases in each of the last five years is as follows:
Applications Certificates issued1 2002-03 27,556 27,084 2003-04 25,692 25,390 2004-05 27,048 26,822 2005-06 28,109 27,898 2006-07 28,744 28,497 1Applications granted.
Constituencies
Reviews of parliamentary constituency and local government boundaries in England are currently conducted by separate bodies: respectively the Boundary Commission for England, and the Boundary Committee for England (part of the Electoral Commission).
The Eleventh Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life has recommended that the Boundary Committee for England be removed from the Electoral Commission and re-established as a separate organisation. It has also recommended that a single secretariat be established to support jointly both organisations, in large part to improve the co-ordination of their work.
The Government will be responding to the CSPL recommendations shortly.
Coroners
I am currently considering what the role and responsibilities of a non-statutory Chief Coroner might be, and whether such a post would provide a helpful addition to current arrangements at this time.
Coroners have a statutory duty to undertake inquests and order post-mortem examinations, and the relevant local authority is responsible for meeting the costs. A number of coroners have dedicated courts provided by their local authority. Where this is not the case coroners liaise with their local authorities and local HMCS court managers to secure the use of suitable court accommodation. In a reformed system these basic arrangements will not change. Where difficulties with court provision are identified we will continue to work with coroners and other stakeholders to help find local solutions.
Coroners: Armed Forces
109 inquests arising from Iraq since 2003 have been completed. Four of these have been held by coroners other than the Oxfordshire or Wiltshire and Swindon coroners.
Eight inquests arising from Afghanistan since 2001 have been completed. Four of these have been completed by coroners other than the Oxfordshire and Wiltshire and Swindon coroners.
Departments: Crime
For my Department during the period in question, the only primary legislation that introduced criminal offences was the Fraud Act 2006. That Act, owned by the Home Office until the creation of the Ministry of Justice, created a mixture of new offences and those that replaced earlier existing criminal offences. However counting all offences created by the Fraud Act including those replacing existing offences the Act created five new offences:
These are as follows:
Section 1 Fraud. This replaced various deception offences in the Theft Acts 1968 and 1978, the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 and the Theft (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.
Section 6 Possession etc. of articles for use in frauds: This is a new offence but it replaced the “cheat” elements of section 25 of the Theft Act 1968 and section 24 of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969. The new offence in section 6 is broader than the cheat element of section 24 and section 25 had been.
Section 7 Making or supplying articles for use in frauds.
Section 9 Participating in a fraudulent business carried on by a sole trader etc.
Section 11 Obtaining services dishonestly: This replaced section 1 of the Theft Act 1978 and Article 3 of the Theft (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.
Departments: Departmental Responsibilities
I have met with the Lord Chief Justice on a number of occasions since my appointment to discuss a variety of issues, including those raised in the judicial working group.
I will keep Parliament informed of any significant developments.
Departments: Early Retirement
The following table sets out the proportion of staff who took early retirement between 1 April 2002 and 31 March 2007, broken down by grade.
A breakdown of cost would be provided by the civil service pension payroll provider (Capita Hartshead) but could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.
Financial year Leaving reason Government grade Number of staff taking retirement 1 April 2002-31 March 2003 Approved early retirement EO 1 SEO 1 Approved early retirement total 2 Flexible early retirement limited postability SEO 1 Flexible early retirement limited postability total 1 Total 3 1 April 2003-31 March 2004 Approved early retirement AO 2 SCS 1 SEO 1 Approved early retirement total 4 Flexible early retirement limited efficiency G7 2 Flexible early retirement limited efficiency total 2 Flexible early retirement limited postability G6 1 SCS 4 Flexible early retirement limited postability total 5 Flexible early retirement structural grounds SCS 1 Flexible early retirement structural grounds total 1 Total 12 1 April 2004-31 March 2005 Approved early retirement EO 1 SEO 1 Approved early retirement total 2 Compulsory early retirement structural grounds SCS 3 Compulsory early retirement structural grounds total 3 Flexible early retirement limited postability SCS 1 Flexible early retirement limited postability total 1 Flexible early retirement structural grounds G7 1 Flexible early retirement structural grounds total 1 Total 7 1 April 2005-31 March 2006 Flexible early retirement structural grounds G6 1 Flexible early retirement structural grounds total 1 Total 1 1 April 2006-31 March 2007 Approved early retirement AO 1 Unknown grade 5 Approved early retirement total 6 Early retirement compulsory redundancy G6 3 Unknown grade 1 SCS 4 SEO 1 Early retirement compulsory redundancy total 9 Early retirement compulsory structural grounds AO 1 HEO 1 Unknown grade 7 SEO 3 Early retirement compulsory structural grounds total 12 Flexible early retirement structural grounds AO 3 EO 2 G7 1 HEO 8 Unknown grade 7 SEO 2 Flexible early retirement structural grounds total 23 Total 50 Grand total 73
Financial year early retirement period Headcount early retirement total Staff in post total Taken from published stats, headcount, on-strength perm. and temp. snap shot date Proportion (percentage) 1 April 2006-31 March 2007 50 27,720 31 March 2007 Q ONS PSES 0.180 1 April 2005-31 March 2006 1 26,596 31 March 2006 Q ONS PSES 0.003 1 April 2004-31 March 2005 7 14,113 31 March 2005 Q ONS PSES 0.049 1 April 2003-31 March 2004 12 13,250 1 April 2004 Mandate 0.090 1 April 2002-31 March 2003 3 13,000 1 April 2003 Mandate 0.023
Dispute Resolution Procedures
My Department has made no assessment. However, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs on 17 July 2007, Official Report, columns 284-85W.
Electronic Tagging
The electronic monitoring contractors are only required to report to the police breaches of curfew for those subject to court bail conditions under the Bail Act 1976. According to data provided by the contactors the number of breaches reported to the police in such cases, in the previous two financial years, is as follows:
Financial year Deliberate tag tampers (including removals) Other breaches 2005-06 1,073 11,435 2006-07 1,942 43,843
The large increase in the number of reported breaches in 2006-07 reflects the increase in the number of people made subject to bail conditions with a curfew requirement compared to the previous year.
The figures include multiple breaches/tag tampers committed by tagged persons on bail and reported to the police. Data for the year 2004-05 are not available as they relate to the previous contract, and could be provided only through a manual trawl of records at disproportionate cost.
The system is designed to ensure that any attempt to remove a tag within the curfew address automatically registers as a tamper at the electronic monitoring service provider’s control centre.
Data on the number of cases resulting in prosecution are not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost, through collating information from each police force.
Electronic Tagging: East Sussex
Data on reoffending by offenders wearing electronic tags are collated centrally only in respect of offenders released on to the Home Detention Curfew Scheme. The data are not broken down by areas in which subsequent offences are committed. To provide such information would involve a manual trawl of all reoffending data since 2003; such an exercise would incur disproportionate cost.
General Commissioners of Income Tax
The final year scheme will involve all of the Clerks who are in office when the year begins. There are currently 234 Clerks.
The total cost of the Clerks to the General Commissioners in 2006-07 was £2,393,000.
It is not possible to say at this stage what the costs of remuneration will be in the final year. This is because the final package of remuneration will be based on the work the Clerks do in the preceding year. Some of the details of the scheme are also still to be finalised. Officials are currently drawing up draft proposals for discussion with the Association of Clerks. These will be ready by the end of the summer.
Legal Aid Scheme: Children
The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The Legal Services Commission does not keep records to that level of detail and records only solicitor disbursements generally.
Legal Aid Scheme: Expert Evidence
The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The Legal Services Commission does not keep records to that level of detail and records only solicitor disbursements generally.
Mediation
None. Under the Law Society's Family Law Protocol, family solicitors are required to advise clients on the benefits of mediation where it is appropriate for the client. Legally aided clients are required to consider mediation before proceedings are issued.
There are no specific contract sanctions available at present. The discussions that the solicitor has with the client on the potential use of mediation are evidenced by the completion of a ‘Suitability of Mediation’ form. If this form is not completed and submitted when the solicitor applies for funding to issue proceedings, the application will be rejected and not processed until the solicitor has completed the form and resubmitted the application for funding.
The LSC will be monitoring the number of referrals made by individual firms to mediation. An improved monitoring system, to be implemented in October 2007, will extract information from LSC databases on the reasons used by individual firms for exemption from mediation. Where it is shown that solicitors' firms do not make appropriate and timely referrals, the LSC Relationship Manager will have discussions with the firm about this. Funding to continue with proceedings will be refused until the solicitor has demonstrated that mediation has been assessed as not appropriate, or has been attempted and broken down.
Members: Correspondence
The Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor will write to the right hon. Member soon and apologises for the unacceptable delay which was due to an administrative error.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr. Hanson) will write to the hon. Member soon and apologises for the unacceptable delay, which was due to an administrative error.
Oakhill Secure Training Centre
The contracts with the operating companies specify minimum staffing levels. These assume that the centre is operating at full capacity.
Hassockfield, Medway and Rainsbrook met minimum staffing levels throughout the period 1 June to 8 July. During this period, there were three days on which staffing levels at Oakhill fell below the minimum staffing level. However, on each of these days there was a sufficient number of staff to care for and work with the number of young people who were placed at the centre at that time.
The issue of staffing shortfalls is being addressed by the Oakhill contractor, Group 4 Securicor. The contractor has drawn up a recovery plan which the Youth Justice Board is monitoring. The Board is working with the contractor on the implementation of the action plan.
Prison Service: Corruption
I refer to my noble friend the Lord Falconer of Thoroton's statement in the other place on 10 May 2007. We recognise that there are small pockets of corruption in Her Majesty's Prison Service. We are focusing on five steps: properly identifying the extent of the threat; working to improve our intelligence on matters of corruption; working to implement common standards across the prison estate; ensuring we reinforce a culture where corruption is not tolerated; and working closely with police and other interested agencies.
(2) pursuant to the answer of 5 June 2007, Official Report, column 390W, on the Tasker inquiry, who the previous commissioning authority referred to in the answer was; and if he will make a statement;
(3) on what date (a) Keith Munns and (b) Nick Pascoe received a copy of the partial report of the Tasker inquiry; and if he will make a statement;
(4) on what date Keith Munns was interviewed as part of the Tasker inquiry; on what date he relinquished responsibility as commissioning authority for the inquiry; to whom he relinquished it; and if he will make a statement;
(5) on what date Nick Pascoe took over the commissioning authority role for the Tasker inquiry; who the commissioning authority was immediately before that; and if he will make a statement;
(6) who was responsible as commissioning authority for the Tasker inquiry after Keith Munns was interviewed as part of the investigation; and if he will make a statement;
(7) whether the Deputy Director General of HM Prison Service had access to the partial report of the Tasker inquiry prior to (a) agreeing to be interviewed and (b) being interviewed as part of the investigation; and if he will make a statement;
(8) who acted as commissioning authority for the Tasker inquiry between the retirement of Keith Munns and the transfer to Nick Pascoe; and if he will make a statement;
(9) on what date Ron Tasker was informed that (a) Keith Munns had ceased to be the commissioning authority for his investigation and (b) Nick Pascoe had assumed responsibility; whether a draft of his interim report had been submitted to the commissioning authority previous to either of these dates; to whom the draft of the interim report was submitted and on what date; and if he will make a statement;
(10) what representations were received by (a) Helen Edwards and (b) Phil Wheatley on Keith Munns' role as commissioning authority for the Tasker inquiry (i) while area manager for London, (ii) at the point of his retirement and (iii) subsequent to his retirement; and if he will make a statement;
(11) whether the Deputy Director General of HM Prison Service had access to the interim report of the Tasker inquiry before being interviewed as part of the inquiry on 10 May 2007; and if he will make a statement;
(12) pursuant to the answer of 7 March 2007, Official Report, column 2057W, on the Prison Service: public appointments, to whom Keith Munns was reporting when he was supporting the completion of the Tasker inquiry report; whether he was supporting Nick Pascoe or Michael Spurr in the preparation of the interim report of the Tasker inquiry; whether Michael Spurr was acting as the commissioning authority at the time of the appointment of Keith Munns for that role; on what date that appointment took place; and if he will make a statement;
(13) pursuant to the answer of 2 May 2007, Official Report, column 1684W, on the Tasker inquiry, what the change in the terms of reference for the Tasker investigation was; and if he will make a statement;
(14) on what date the Deputy Director General of HM Prison Service first asked Nick Pascoe to assume responsibility as commissioning authority for the Tasker inquiry; on what date he became commissioning authority; and if he will make a statement;
(15) whether the Deputy Director General of HM Prison Service has held responsibility as commissioning authority for the Tasker inquiry; and if he will make a statement;
(16) pursuant to the answers of 31 January 2007, Official Report, column 201W, on the Tasker investigation, 6 March 2007, Official Report, column1941W, on the Prison Service: disclosure of information and 23 April 2007, Official Report, column 980W, on Wandsworth Prison, what the cause is of the delay in the completion of the report of the Tasker inquiry; what estimate he has made of the additional cost incurred as a consequence of these delays; when he expects the Tasker report to be (a) completed and (b) submitted; and if he will make a statement.
Due to the number and detail of the linked questions it has not been possible to provide a full response. I will write to the hon. Member once I have considered fully.
Prison Service: Manpower
The available information (we do not have complete information for private sector prisons or secure training units STCs) is set out in the tables.
There are no figures available for STCs but the supervision level is typically one member of staff to between 2.5 - 3.5 young offenders.
In the public sector Prison Service a Business Change Team will work alongside the HR Directorate to plan and co-ordinate recruitment activity for new prisoner places and the transfer of experienced staff to enable new prisoner places to operate effectively. Normal recruitment activity continues to be largely managed at area level to ensure that staffing continues within agreed operating margins.
Date as at 31 March: Officers 1997 23,058 1998 23,602 1999 24,113 2000 24,346 20015 24,023 20025 23,681 2003 24,527 20045 25,461 20055 26,246 2006 26,747 2007 27,053 1 Figures include both publicly and privately managed prison establishments but not secure training centres. 2 Figures are provided on a headcount basis ie part-time officers count as one. 3 Figures relate to prison officers, senior officers and principal officers within the public sector Prison Service and prison custody officers within contracted prisons 4 Officers employed within public sector Prison Service Headquarters are included 5 The data for private sector prisons are incomplete.
1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Acklington 3.6 3.6 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 3.9 3.8 3.9 3.8 Albany 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.0 3.1 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.5 Aldington 1.7 3.2 1.8 — — — — — — — Ashwell 4.5 4.4 4.1 3.9 3.9 4.9 4.7 4.9 5.0 5.2 Askham Grange 4.2 4.5 4.4 4.0 4.4 4.4 4.0 3.4 3.3 3.7 Bedford 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.8 3.5 3.5 3.6 3.3 3.4 Belmarsh 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.8 Birmingham 2.7 3.1 3.1 3.0 2.8 2.9 2.5 2.8 2.8 2.7 Blakenhurst3 — — — — 7.8 5.5 4.9 3.6 4.1 4.1 Blantyre House 4.0 3.5 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.8 3.7 3.9 Blundeston 2.5 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.6 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.1 3.1 Bristol 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.5 1.9 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.3 2.5 Brixton 1.7 2.1 2.4 2.5 2.8 3.1 3.5 3.6 3.4 3.6 Brockhill 1.5 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.6 Buckley Hall3 — — — 3.9 3.1 2.3 2.7 2.8 2.0 3.6 Bullingdon 2.7 3.5 3.4 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.3 4.2 4.0 3.9 Bullwood Hall 1.9 1.9 1.7 2.1 2.3 2.2 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.8 Camp Hill 3.1 3.0 3.0 3.2 3.5 3.6 3.8 3.7 3.7 3.7 Canterbury 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.1 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.9 2.7 Cardiff 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.3 2.8 2.9 2.8 2.8 2.9 3.0 Channings Wood 3.8 4.2 3.8 3.7 3.9 3.9 3.7 3.7 3.9 3.9 Chelmsford 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.0 2.4 2.9 3.1 3.1 3.0 3.0 Coldingley 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.5 3.9 4.0 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.2 Cookham Wood 2.5 2.9 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.5 2.3 2.5 2.0 2.0 Dartmoor 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.7 2.6 3.0 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.7 Dorchester 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.9 3.0 2.8 2.4 2.3 2.3 Dover — — — — 1.8 1.7 2.6 2.4 2.6 2.4 Downview 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.7 1.9 2.5 2.1 1.8 2.0 2.6 Drake Hall 4.4 4.2 3.1 2.6 3.3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.1 3.1 Durham 2.3 2.1 2.1 1.9 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.8 2.4 2.8 East Sutton Park 4.2 4.1 3.6 3.3 3.8 3.9 3.8 3.7 4.2 4.3 Eastwood Park 2.5 2.9 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.3 2.3 2.0 2.3 Edmunds Hill — — — — — — 2.1 1.1 2.0 2.8 Elmley 3.2 3.5 3.3 3.1 3.4 3.5 3.8 3.8 3.8 4.2 Erlestoke 3.0 3.3 3.1 3.1 3.3 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.7 Everthorpe 3.5 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.1 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.8 Exeter 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.4 2.7 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.7 2.7 Featherstone 3.8 3.8 3.7 3.9 4.2 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.2 4.2 Ford 7.5 6.8 5.9 5.7 6.8 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.2 6.9 Foston Hall 1.8 2.5 2.5 2.0 2.4 2.5 2.3 2.1 2.1 1.8 Frankland 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.2 Full Sutton 0.9 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 Garth 2.7 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.8 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.5 Gartree 2.3 2.4 2.3 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.3 2.8 2.7 2.7 Gloucester 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.3 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.6 Grendon 2.7 2.9 2.7 2.5 2.7 3.1 3.4 3.4 3.3 3.6 Guys Marsh — — — 3.9 4.0 3.8 3.9 3.9 4.1 4.1 Haslar 2.9 3.1 3.1 3.0 3.2 3.0 2.7 2.4 2.6 2.7 Haverigg 3.9 3.5 2.8 3.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.2 4.1 4.2 Hewell Grange 6.4 6.8 6.5 6.1 5.8 6.4 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.8 High Down 2.5 2.5 2.3 2.2 2.5 2.7 3.2 3.3 3.3 3.3 Highpoint 3.6 3.1 3.2 3.2 4.9 5.6 4.0 4.3 4.2 4.2 Hollesley Bay 2.6 2.4 2.2 — 2.1 2.8 6.7 5.7 5.5 5.3 Holloway 1.9 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.8 1.9 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.7 Holme House 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.8 3.1 3.1 3.2 3.1 3.2 3.2 Hull 2.0 2.0 1.9 2.1 2.4 2.5 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.1 Kingston 1.6 2.1 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.2 2.0 2.6 2.6 Kirkham 7.8 7.0 5.4 5.7 5.6 5.6 5.8 5.2 5.0 4.8 Kirklevington Grange 4.2 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.6 4.6 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 Lancaster 2.4 2.5 2.1 1.6 2.5 2.8 2.9 2.5 2.8 2.6 Latchmere House 5.0 4.6 4.5 4.7 4.4 4.8 5.1 5.6 5.4 5.3 Leeds 2.5 2.7 2.8 2.8 3.0 3.0 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.7 Leicester 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.1 2.4 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.6 Lewes 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.6 3.0 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 Leyhill 5.4 5.2 5.4 5.2 5.8 6.7 7.3 7.1 6.2 5.1 Lincoln 2.6 2.1 2.1 2.0 2.3 2.1 2.2 2.1 2.3 2.4 Lindholme 3.5 3.8 3.3 2.9 3.5 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.8 4.1 Littlehey 4.1 3.9 3.9 3.8 4.0 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.4 Liverpool 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.1 3.0 Long Lartin 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 Low Newton — — 1.2 1.8 2.3 2.3 2.0 2.0 1.7 1.7 Maidstone 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.7 2.0 2.6 3.1 3.6 3.6 3.8 Manchester 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.6 3.0 3.0 2.7 2.5 2.5 Moorland 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.9 2.9 2.9 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 Morton Hall 6.2 6.2 6.1 2.5 2.6 2.8 2.9 2.8 2.5 3.0 New Hall 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.5 2.4 2.0 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.6 North Sea Camp 6.2 5.8 6.0 6.1 5.7 7.1 7.0 5.9 5.4 5.0 Northallerton — — — 2.6 2.6 2.9 — — — — Norwich 2.8 2.9 2.8 2.6 3.1 3.2 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.1 Nottingham 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.8 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.5 2.4 Onley — — — — — — — 2.7 2.8 3.2 Parkhurst 1.4 2.0 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.7 2.5 2.5 2.7 2.7 Pentonville 2.5 2.9 2.9 2.9 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.1 3.0 2.8 Preston 2.2 2.3 2.3 2.0 2.2 2.6 2.8 2.7 2.5 2.7 Ranby 3.8 4.3 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.1 3.6 3.8 Risley 2.4 2.4 2.6 2.7 2.9 3.2 3.5 3.7 3.8 3.7 Rochester 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 1.6 1.2 — — — — Send 4.3 1.4 2.1 2.9 3.1 3.5 3.2 3.1 2.6 2.6 Shepton Mallet 2.9 2.9 2.8 2.2 2.6 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 3.0 Shrewsbury 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.9 3.1 3.1 2.8 2.6 3.0 Stafford 3.0 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.4 3.7 3.8 4.0 4.1 4.2 Standford Hill 4.8 4.6 3.8 3.9 4.3 4.8 4.6 4.9 5.5 5.6 Stocken 3.7 4.3 4.0 4.1 4.1 4.2 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.1 Styal 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.4 2.1 2.1 2.3 Sudbury 7.0 7.4 7.4 7.5 8.0 8.0 7.9 8.0 8.1 7.9 Swaleside 2.8 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.3 3.2 3.0 3.1 3.4 Swansea 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.8 2.6 2.4 2.6 2.8 The Mount 4.3 4.5 4.0 4.6 4.8 5.2 5.1 5.0 4.8 4.6 The Verne 4.2 4.4 4.3 4.5 4.6 4.9 5.2 5.1 5.1 5.3 Usk/Prescoed 3.1 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.7 3.8 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.2 Wakefield 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.8 Wandsworth 2.2 2.8 3.0 3.0 3.4 3.8 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.7 Wayland 4.4 4.3 4.0 4.2 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.6 Wealstun 3.9 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.2 3.9 3.6 3.5 4.0 4.0 Weare — 2.8 2.9 2.9 3.1 3.3 3.2 3.2 5.5 — Wellingborough 2.8 3.0 2.8 3.2 3.5 3.7 3.4 3.0 3.2 3.6 Whatton 3.1 3.4 3.7 3.7 3.3 3.2 3.4 2.7 1.8 3.4 Whitemoor 1.0 1.1 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 Winchester 2.2 2.4 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.8 3.0 3.0 3.3 3.2 Woodhill 1.9 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.7 1.8 Wormwood Scrubs 3.0 2.8 2.0 2.5 3.3 4.0 3.8 3.8 3.9 3.9 Wymott 3.3 3.5 3.7 3.8 4.0 3.7 3.3 4.0 4.1 4.0 GSL Prisons4 — — — — — — 5.7 5.7 5.5 5.8 Bronzefield — — — — — — — 3.6 2.8 2.7 Dovegate — — — — — 3.8 4.3 3.5 3.6 3.7 Doncaster — — — — 9.2 6.1 4.5 4.3 4.1 4.4 Forest Bank — — — — — — 5.7 5.7 5.4 5.4 Lowdham Grange — — — — 3.9 4.2 4.3 4.0 3.7 3.6 Peterborough — — — — — — — — 2.7 3.3 Parc — 3.9 3.2 3.2 3.5 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.6 1 The ratio is the average prisoner population against the average number of officer grade staff except for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 officer figures where a snapshot at the start of the year is used. This is the standard form of ratio that is captured. 2 A blank entry means that the establishment was either not open during the year, not that category during the year or, for contracted establishments, officer numbers were not available for the period. An establishment can therefore appear in more than one table. 3 Staff numbers for Blakenhurst and Buckley Hall are not available for the period when they were privately managed. 4 GSL reported staff numbers together for the three prisons they manage—Altcourse, Rye Hill and Wolds.
1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Aylesbury 2.0 2.0 1.9 2.0 2.0 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.3 2.4 Brinsford 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.2 2.1 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 Castington 2.4 2.6 1.7 1.1 1.4 1.5 1.3 1.7 1.6 1.8 Deerbolt 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.8 2.8 3.0 2.5 2.5 2.2 2.3 Dover 2.7 2.6 2.4 2.5 — — — — — — Feltham 2.7 2.6 2.3 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.5 Glen Parva 2.9 2.8 2.9 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0 2.8 2.9 3.0 Guys Marsh 3.8 4.0 3.9 — — — — — — — Hindley 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.9 1.9 2.0 1.9 1.8 2.0 Hollesley Bay — — — 1.9 — — — — — — Huntercombe 2.9 3.0 1.9 2.0 — — — — — — Lancaster Farms 2.6 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.5 2.4 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.1 Low Newton 2.6 1.8 — — — — — — — — Moorland 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.9 2.9 2.9 — — — — Northallerton 2.6 2.9 3.1 — — — 3.2 3.2 3.1 3.6 Onley 3.3 3.0 2.6 2.3 2.4 2.4 2.1 — — — Portland 3.2 3.5 3.3 2.9 2.7 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.3 2.7 Reading 1.8 1.9 1.7 1.7 1.9 2.3 2.3 2.2 2.4 2.3 Rochester — — — — — — 1.5 2.4 2.7 2.7 Stoke Heath 3.5 3.3 3.0 2.3 2.3 2.7 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.8 Swinfen Hall 2.3 2.3 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.1 2.9 2.9 Thorn Cross 2.1 2.0 2.2 2.0 1.9 1.9 2.0 2.4 2.1 1.9 Usk/Prescoed 3.1 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.7 3.8 — — — — Werrington 3.3 — — — — — — — — — Wetherby 2.8 2.2 2.1 1.7 — — — — — — 1 The ratio is the average prisoner population against the average number of officer grade staff except for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 officer figures where a snapshot at the start of the year is used. This is the standard form of ratio that is captured. 2 A blank entry means that the establishment was either not open during the year, not that category during the year or, for contracted establishments, officer numbers were not available for the period. An establishment can therefore appear in more than one table.
Prison Service: Overtime
Expenditure on overtime in HM Prison Service is as follows.
£ 2006-07 10,610,045.39 2005-06 11,290,807.25 2004-05 11,845,928.68 2003-04 12,253,706.70 2002-03 12,074,887.73
In addition, the prison service has operated in some establishments a Contracted Supplementary Hours (CSH) scheme to meet specific operational needs, by which it pays for agreed volumes of additional hours from individual staff for specific periods at a standardised hourly rate. In some localised circumstances it is also possible for staff to work additional hours, for which they receive time off in lieu of payment. The expenditure on CSH (to nearest thousand pounds) is as follows:
£ 2006-07 19,684,000 2005-06 15,226,000 2004-05 17,183,000 2003-04 18,341,000 2002-03 1— 1 Not separately recorded.
Expenditure on overtime in the contracted out prisons is not collected by the Ministry of Justice.
The Ministry of Justice does not currently collect information on overtime expenditure from the 42 probation boards.
Prison Service: Professional Standards Unit
The Investigation Support Section of the Professional Standards Unit registers, tracks the progress of and logs all formal investigations. The Commissioning Authority, not the Professional Standards Unit, is responsible for checking the quality of the report and ensuring that terms of reference have been met.
Prisoners
NOMS undertakes a rolling programme of refurbishment on the prison estate. As schemes come back into use following refurbishment, other schemes are taken forward and the accommodation is taken out of use.
8,000 new prison places were announced by the Home Secretary in July 2006 and a further 1,500 places by the Lord Chancellor on 19 June. The programme is still in the planning stages and the number of places to be provided beyond 2007 has not been finalised.
Prisoners Release
Figures showing the numbers of prisoners who were released under End of Custody Licence between 29 June and 5 July from prison establishments within England and Wales, showing from which prison they were released and the offence group for which they were serving sentences, can be found in the following table. These figures are based on statistics published on 16 July and updates will be published monthly.
The End of Custody Licence was introduced on 29 June 2007. Eligible prisoners serving between four weeks and less than four years may be released under licence from prison up to 18 days before their automatic release date.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Male Female Total All ECL releases between 29 June 2007 and 5 July 2007 1,552 149 1,701 By offence Violence against the person1 317 27 344 Robbery 22 2 24 Burglary 148 1 149 Theft and Handling 354 50 404 Fraud and Forgery 31 6 37 Drug offences 57 8 65 Motoring offences 213 6 219 Other offences 379 48 427 Offence not recorded 31 1 32 1 Excludes serious violent offences such as murder, manslaughter, wounding with intent to commit grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, child cruelty and serious explosives offences. A full list of exclusions can be found in Prison Service Instruction 27/2007. Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. See Data Sources and Quality section of report for more information.
Figures showing the daily number of releases of prisoners released on End of Custody Licence up to the end of the period for which published material is available, and the numbers returned to prison, are in the following tables:
Date Number of releases Friday 29 June 2007 884 Monday 2 July 2007 506 Tuesday 3 July 2007 124 Wednesday 4 July 2007 87 Thursday 5 July 2007 100
Number Decisions to recall as notified to NOMS 30 By reason for recall: Re-offended1 6 Failed to reside2 6 Out of touch3 11 Poor behaviour4 7 Number of offenders unlawfully at large on 5 July 2007 18
Information on the number of arrests for suspected offences is not held centrally.
These figures are based on statistics published on 16 July and updates will be published monthly. The End of Custody Licence was introduced on 29 June 2007.
Eligible prisoners serving between four weeks and less than four years may be released under licence from prison up to 18 days before their automatic release date. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Prisoners: Dorset
The data requested are provided in the following table. These figures are for 20 July 2007.
Prison Certified normal accommodation1 Operational capacity2 Population Dorchester 147 260 235 Guys Marsh 520 578 561 Portland 519 557 543 Verne 558 593 586 1 The Certified normal accommodation (CNA) of a prison measures its capacity to accommodate prisoners in uncrowded conditions. 2 Operational capacity for establishments is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime.
Probation
Information on the number of persons supervised by each probation service area in England and Wales at 31 December in each year from 2002 to 2005 is shown in the following table. Data for 2006 are due to be published on 31 July 2007. The data at local area level were not sufficiently robust for publication prior to 2002.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
2002 2003 2004 2005 Avon and Somerset 3,587 3,751 3,989 4,120 Bedfordshire 1,983 2,306 2,509 2,303 Cambridgeshire 1,974 2,148 2,269 2,635 Cheshire 2,548 2,605 2,763 3,256 Cumbria 1,805 1,837 1,924 1,881 Derbyshire 3,560 3,616 3,715 3,864 Devon and Cornwall 3,980 3,991 3,767 3,910 Dorset 1,680 1,567 1,647 1,781 Durham 2,175 2,247 2,255 2,371 Dyfed-Powys 1,241 1,293 1,290 1,341 East and West Sussex 4,159 4,473 4,798 4,515 Essex 3,905 4,169 4,691 5,098 Gloucestershire 1,435 1,470 1,605 1,723 Greater Manchester 12,896 13,514 14,386 14,988 Gwent 2,458 2,369 2,486 2,445 Hampshire 5,164 5,085 5,458 5,896 Hertfordshire 2,311 1,767 2,837 2,983 Humberside 3,498 2,512 3,785 3,979 Kent 4,633 4,719 4,619 4,685 Lancashire 6,029 5,995 6,083 6,421 Leicestershire 3,340 3,505 3,462 3,709 Lincolnshire 1,662 1,976 2,032 1,882 London 31,992 30,690 34,011 41,665 Merseyside 7,912 8,704 9,249 10,297 Norfolk 2,273 2,270 2,290 2,430 North Wales 2,060 2,104 2,242 2,398 North Yorkshire 1,697 1,876 1,984 2,237 Northamptonshire 1,998 2,133 2,205 2,303 Northumbria 5,686 5,848 5,742 5,944 Nottinghamshire 4,869 5,361 5,540 5,581 South Wales 5,525 5,657 6,197 6,394 South Yorkshire 5,830 6,108 6,299 6,403 Staffordshire 3,559 3,646 3,753 3,865 Suffolk 1,393 1,563 1,684 1,879 Surrey 1,535 1,663 1,726 1,799 Teesside 3,071 3,347 3,489 3,402 Thames Valley 5,408 5,011 5,394 5,883 Warwickshire 1,368 1,387 1,428 1,412 West Mercia 3,184 3,277 3,356 3,747 West Midlands 16,336 16,697 18,225 18,124 West Yorkshire 9,590 9,992 10,768 11,042 Wiltshire 1,555 1,690 1,509 1,503
Probation: Finance
The resource budget allocations to probation boards from 2001-02 are given in the table. Prior to 2001-02, probation services were delivered through local Probation Committees which were partly funded by local authorities and were organised on a slightly different basis.
During the six year period from 2001-02 there have been changes to the budget allocation methodology and to accounting treatment, which will affect the comparability of the figures.
Revenue (£000) Boards 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 2002-03 2001-02 Avon and Somerset 19,771 18,273 16,851 15,612 14,891 15,856 Bedfordshire 8,499 8,180 7,182 6,517 6,196 5,526 Cambridgeshire 9,273 8,895 7,375 6,835 6,168 6,365 Cheshire 15,688 15,393 13,427 11,692 10,012 8,984 Cumbria 7,897 7,466 6,241 6,279 5,710 5,288 Derbyshire 12,891 12,166 11,088 10,335 9,516 8,534 Devon and Cornwall 19,638 18,184 15,646 15,667 13,967 12,740 Dorset 8,277 7,989 7,338 7,307 6,876 5,761 Durham 10,245 9,513 8,697 7,820 7,431 5,975 Essex 18,922 17,839 16,220 14,849 14,502 13,700 Gloucestershire 6,959 6,524 5,975 5,874 5,102 4,943 Hampshire 23,057 21,872 20,026 18,427 18,079 13,841 Hertfordshire 10,569 9,618 8,691 8,409 8,654 7,034 Humberside 16,130 14,964 13,010 12,422 11,090 9,414 Kent 20,340 19,052 16,760 16,322 15,116 13,673 Lancashire 21,394 20,251 18,837 18,600 16,859 14,307 Leicestershire 13,805 13,071 11,778 11,086 9,911 8,774 Lincolnshire 9,038 8,446 7,469 7,134 6,127 5,606 Norfolk 10,608 10,205 8,477 7,927 7,171 6,543 Northamptonshire 8,816 8,149 7,158 6,920 6,018 5,131 North Yorkshire 9,478 8,998 7,937 7,486 6,877 5,701 Nottinghamshire 18,117 17,190 14,861 14,232 13,220 11,658 Staffordshire 15,913 14,361 12,319 11,769 10,930 9,586 Suffolk 9,445 8,771 7,583 7,361 6,889 6,268 Surrey 10,081 9,421 7,779 7,784 7,523 6,881 Sussex 16,991 15,677 14,033 12,789 11,367 10,396 Teeside 13,052 12,178 10,954 10,613 9,523 9,805 Thames Valley 24,373 23,421 20,795 19,787 18,463 20,831 Warwickshire 6,743 6,492 5,698 5,452 4,749 4,368 West Mercia 13,642 13,197 11,774 11,188 10,057 9,251 Wiltshire 7,720 7,224 5,964 5,510 4,874 4,606 Greater Manchester 47,532 45,645 40,985 38,521 34,479 31,731 Merseyside 28,820 28,643 25,798 24,621 22,410 23,062 Northumbria 26,964 26,005 22,999 22,113 18,459 16,641 South Yorkshire 24,058 23,041 20,858 20,381 18,191 16,153 West Midlands 53,377 50,140 44,076 41,932 38,581 37,865 West Yorkshire 38,193 36,226 33,366 30,986 28,062 26,931 London 137,416 132,637 107,888 110,390 106,612 94,328 Dyfed-Powys 8,058 7,541 6,478 5,784 5,162 4,579 Gwent 10,930 10,018 8,938 8,029 7,197 5,215 North Wales 11,696 11,027 10,067 9,044 8,223 6,774 South Wales 24,402 23,098 20,917 19,328 18,104 17,062 Total 828,817 786,995 690,312 661,130 609,348 557,686 Note: The 2002-03 figures for Warwickshire and North Yorkshire are estimated.
Probation: Manpower
Information is not available for the full period requested. Data collected prior to 1 April 2003 are unreliable, and are not directly comparable with the more accurate figures collected since that time. The figures presented in the following table show full time equivalent (FTE) figures for the period 2003-2006. The figures for each year are as at 31 December.
Area PO NPS PO NPS PO NPS PO NPS Avon and Somerset 112.90 499.13 153.70 493.79 166.20 525.00 185.30 527.60 Bedfordshire 61.10 189.02 61.00 182.05 65.30 192.30 64.40 203.80 Cambridgeshire 85.35 225.32 78.27 223.12 79.30 242.18 83.40 251.03 Cheshire 112.30 354.69 113.90 345.00 124.30 375.04 128.95 377.53 Cumbria 59.90 173.69 57.50 171.84 63.30 189.06 70.30 197.35 Derbyshire 106.70 337.90 109.20 345.60 119.50 364.00 120.30 348.00 Devon and Cornwall 149.35 465.12 149.10 447.90 165.40 492.00 163.02 510.17 Dorset 68.00 200.50 66.79 212.09 75.60 225.87 72.03 222.76 Durham 86.50 261.80 96.70 290.47 99.50 297.10 101.90 297.61 Dyfed Powys 46.30 144.10 49.10 148.18 55.70 165.86 48.80 193.44 Essex 111.20 393.10 120.11 432.60 120.80 475.80 122.60 473.80 Gloucestershire 56.40 170.23 59.69 177.44 59.80 183.70 52.78 192.18 Gwent 68.10 236.10 67.30 235.50 65.30 256.60 92.10 280.10 Hampshire 173.59 515.74 190.40 518.50 197.40 582.60 187.20 601.70 Hertfordshire 65.90 212.70 71.70 220.30 73.20 228.20 62.40 246.86 Humberside 139.78 433.56 147.91 446.72 161.80 477.56 167.25 467.24 Kent 148.55 454.85 146.20 456.97 154.10 475.37 153.27 504.85 Lancashire 243.60 594.80 253.20 600.70 253.70 577.40 255.80 564.00 Leicestershire 125.00 393.30 138.20 442.00 153.20 466.80 154.00 477.80 Lincolnshire 61.60 230.95 63.60 228.06 67.10 228.91 71 03 252.84 London 840.50 2,510.00 835.41 2,398.30 821.40 2,557.54 830.17 2,856.73 Greater Manchester 399.80 1,204.20 404.40 1,305.27 385.80 1,340.16 455.79 1,409.83 Merseyside 241.50 723.10 268.43 776.18 281.20 783.03 267.95 753.13 Norfolk 76.88 239.72 79.85 238.27 86.40 283.67 78.35 303.33 North Yorkshire 75.80 208.00 88.60 228.40 89.60 222.55 86.50 229.99 North Wales 67.10 230.30 84.20 237.30 87.30 243.30 90.10 256.80 Northamptonshire 65.00 235.90 66.63 211.86 68.30 230.49 87.10 263.13 Northumbria 252.26 665,56 267.95 674.88 283.30 670.11 277.95 660.67 Nottinghamshire 171.50 488.70 166.11 492.12 168.20 545.20 177.00 570.70 South Wales 157.60 530.28 195.90 561.10 215.10 618.30 200.10 620.63 South Yorkshire 203.00 641.40 212.70 654.00 226.80 662.70 221.40 643.42 Staffordshire 147.10 390.80 152.30 415.30 160.60 421.40 163.30 418.70 Suffolk 81.75 209.36 83.00 207.56 86.10 222.70 86.04 236.10 Surrey 63.90 232.80 68.30 245.18 70.00 262.91 69.20 264.17 Sussex 123.30 330.48 128.74 363.35 147.10 402.04 151.62 427.21 Teeside 76.60 314.70 87.65 312.15 104.10 330.38 104.80 332.42 Thames Valley 176.70 594.30 176.40 610.70 180.20 622.20 180.40 649.00 Warwickshire 55.00 160.80 51.33 162.97 59.30 174 42 52 53 172.40 West Mercia 125.46 370.47 141.30 372.69 144.50 374.09 150.99 396.54 West Midlands 429.20 1223.70 444.50 1235.80 493.50 1339.97 497.42 1420.44 West Yorkshire 310.48 1,027.05 343.37 1,051 73 361.00 1,041.55 370.06 1,064.68 Wiltshire 48.90 145.60 44.30 149.00 54.20 172.00 61.60 188.30 Total 6,271.45 19,163.82 6,584.94 19,522.94 6,894.50 20,542.06 7,017.20 21,328.98
Public Defender Service: Liverpool
The set up costs and annual running costs of the Liverpool Public Defender Service Office are as follows:
Amount (£) 2001-02 1164,348 2001-02 2385,332 2002-03 2488,927 2003-04 2564,784 2004-05 2682,617 2005-06 2639,983 1 Set up costs. 2 Running costs.
These figures were published in the PDS Annual Reports which are available on the Legal Services Commission's website (www.legalservices.gov.uk).
Public Defender Service: Pilot Schemes
The Public Defender Service pilot, running in Birmingham, Cheltenham, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Pontypridd, Swansea, Chester and Darlington, concluded on 31 March 2005. The Middlesbrough office closed during 2006, and in February 2007 the Legal Services Commission proposed to close the Birmingham, Chester and Liverpool offices. All operated in areas with ample alternative Criminal Defence Service supply. The Cheltenham, Darlington, Pontypridd and Swansea offices continue to operate.
The Government commissioned an independent team of leading academics, lead by Professor Lee Bridges of the University of Warwick, to undertake a full evaluation of the PDS pilot. The final report entitled “Evaluation of the Public Defender Service in England and Wales” was published in January 2007 and can be found on the Legal Services Commission's website at;
www.legalservices.gov.uk/docs/pds/Public_Defenders_Report_PDFVersion6.pdf.
A copy of the final report can also be found in the Libraries of the House.
Public Defender Service: Standards
The Independent Evaluation of the Public Defender Service (PDS) in England and Wales, which was published in January 2007, includes an assessment of the comparative cost and quality provided by the PDS. The final report entitled “Evaluation of the Public Defender Service in England and Wales” was published in January 2007 and can be found on the Legal Services Commission's website at;
www.legalservices.gov.uk/docs/pds/Public_Defenders_Report_PDFVersion6.pdf.
A copy of the final report can also be found in the Libraries of the House.
Repossession Orders: Greater London
The table shows the number of mortgage possession orders made in each London county court since 2004.
The civil procedure rules provide that all claims for the repossession of land must be commenced in the district in which the land is situated. However, these county courts cover areas that are not necessarily consistent with other administrative or constituency boundaries, and therefore for example, possession orders made at Croydon county court may relate to properties in other London boroughs besides Croydon.
These figures do not indicate how many houses have been repossessed through the courts, since not all orders result in the properties actually being repossessed.
Possession orders made1 2004 2005 2006 Barnet 287 552 580 Bow 897 1,423 1,702 Brentford 372 602 779 Bromley 585 1,037 1,121 Central London 265 506 409 Clerkenwell and Shoreditch 406 661 804 Croydon 895 1,474 1,856 Edmonton 644 1,121 1,249 Ilford 392 563 650 Kingston-upon-Thames 209 356 420 Lambeth 553 920 1,089 Mayors and City 3 1 9 Romford 486 900 981 Uxbridge 347 515 595 Wandsworth 340 555 582 West London 141 287 293 Willesden 497 893 1,080 Woolwich 343 624 903 London total 7,662 12,990 15,102 1 Includes suspended orders. The court, following a judicial hearing, may grant an order for possession immediately. This entitles the claimant to apply for a warrant to have the defendant evicted. However, even where a warrant for possession is issued, the parties can still negotiate a compromise to prevent eviction.
Road Traffic Offences: Prisoners Release
The End of Custody Licence came into use on 29 June 2007. Eligible prisoners serving four weeks or more but less than four years may be released under licence from prison up to 18 days before their automatic release date. Full details of the eligibility criteria are set out in Prison Service Instruction 27/2007. Prisoners convicted of motoring offences are eligible for release on End of Custody Licence.
Theft: Bicycles
One person was prosecuted and one sentenced in the Eastbourne and Hailsham court area in 2001 for bicycle theft. In the same year, 10 people were prosecuted and six sentenced in the Eastern Sussex court area for the same offence.
From 1 January 2002 it was not possible to separately identify people prosecuted and sentenced in the Eastbourne and Hailsham court from those in other courts within the Eastern Sussex court area. The following table shows the number of people prosecuted and sentenced in the Eastern Sussex court area from 2002 to 2005, the latest year for which data are available.
Proceeded against Sentenced 2002 1 1 2003 3 3 2004 3 3 2005 3 2 1 These data are on the principal offence basis. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Note: In 2001 it was possible to give the number of people proceeded against and sentenced for bicycle theft within the Eastbourne and Hailsham court area. However, from 1 January 2002 it is not possible to separate data in relation to the individual courts within the Eastern Sussex court area.
Thorn Cross Young Offender Institution: Vocational Education
In the periods 2005-06 and 2006-07, 104 and 145 prisoners respectively acquired vocational qualifications at HMYOI Thorn Cross. In the first three months of the current business year 2007-08, 91 prisoners have so far gained a vocational qualification at the establishment.
Tribunals
The Tribunals Service has been operating as a government agency since April 2006. The net running costs in 2006-07 were £286.8 million. The Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill was published on the 16 November 2006. That identified the estimated additional cost of implementation as £50,000. This was for establishing the Tribunal Procedure Committee as set out in The Regulatory Impact Assessment. These estimates will be updated as required by the Cabinet Office guidance on Impact Assessments.