Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 27 February 2008
Women and Equality
Departmental Marketing
A logo for the Government’s Office for Equalities was produced. The cost for this was £1,300. This is used on a range of publications and letter heading. Two exhibition banner stands have been purchased costing £354.25 including VAT. In addition a number of canvas bags were purchased for the Office at a cost of £1,437.21 for use as part of the European Year of Equal Opportunity for All and at events organised by the Office.
Equal Opportunities
There are a large number of factors that affect the career progression of women, and how much they earn. These include differences in men and women’s labour market experience (for example as a result of women taking time out to look after children), skills and education, occupational segregation, lack of quality part-time work (especially for women returning from maternity leave), historical culture, gender stereotyping, and pay discrimination.
Research published in 2006 by the Department of Work and Pensions1 tends to support the theory that gender differences in the labour market stem from the division of parental duties (including child care) between mothers and fathers in the home. Research published in the British Social Attitudes survey, published on 23 January 2008, suggests that only one in six men now believe that a woman’s place is in the home, compared with one in three in 1989. However the same survey found that 77 per cent. of people with partners say that the woman usually or always does the laundry, a similar proportion to that found in 1994 (81 per cent.). The British Social Attitudes Survey also found that the most liberal division of labour between women and men is found among couples where the woman works full-time, earns more than her partner, or has a partner who does not work.
The Government are working to enable families to have real choices about how they live their lives, including how they balance responsibilities at home and at work. The Government is committed to reducing the inequalities that still exist at home and in the workplace, including reducing the gender pay gap, through the introduction of practical measures across a wide front, for example the encouragement of flexible and good quality part-time working, improved maternity and paternity leave, better access to child care, and introduction of the minimum wage.
1 “Newborns and new schools: critical times in women’s employment”, DWP 2006
Equal Pay
[holding answer 7 February 2008]: The gender pay gap for full-time public sector workers (based on the median) was 10.2 per cent. in 2007 compared to 20.0 per cent. in the private sector. In 1997 the figures were 13.5 per cent. and 23.8 per cent. respectively.
Closing the pay gap between men and women in both the public and private sectors is a high priority for us, as Harriet Harman made clear in my statement to Parliament on women’s priorities last July. We see it as an essential part of enabling families to have real choices about how they live their lives, because the pay gap plays such a large part in the unequal division of labour in the home, preventing fathers from playing a more active role in their children’s early years and preventing women from fulfilling their opportunities to work. To galvanise this, closing the pay gap is now one of the indicators in the new Equalities Public Service Agreement. This will help to build on other practical measures we have introduced, such as: giving the parents of young, or disabled, children and the carers of adults the right to request flexible working, and providing more access to child care.
In the field of local government, we have issued £500 million of capitalisation directions to 46 local authorities in the current financial year (which enables those authorities to treat equal pay costs as capital expenditure, which they can then borrow against) to enable them to make equal pay back-payments. The Minister for Local Government confirmed on 5 February that the Government will continue to support councils through a further equal pay capitalisation round in 2008-09. Capitalisation can only be used by local authorities to meet equal pay back-payments, and not for any other costs.
Through the Equality Act 2006, which came into effect in April 2007, we also introduced a general duty on public authorities to promote gender equality and eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment. The Act and subsequent legislation also imposed specific duties on certain listed public authorities, including central and local government, which include:
drawing up and publishing a gender equality scheme every three years, which shows what authorities plan to do to improve gender equality (including the gender pay gap), and how they will do this. In drawing up such a scheme, authorities must gather relevant information and data, and consult employees and stakeholders to identify specific gender equality objectives.
ensuring that the impact of new legislation, policies, employment and service delivery changes on men and women is assessed. These assessments must also be published.
International Development
Afghanistan: Infrastructure
The data requested are not held centrally in Afghanistan and to obtain them would incur disproportionate cost.
Fairtrade Initiative
During Fairtrade Fortnight DFID is organising a seminar showcasing fair trade and ethical sourcing businesses. In addition to the range of Fairtrade products available to staff throughout the year, our catering provider is running special deals on Fairtrade tea, coffee and confectionery, and special Fairtrade menus are available throughout Fairtrade Fortnight.
Furthermore, East Kilbride—home of DFID’s Abercrombie House offices—was officially named a Fairtrade Town on 23 February, showing a commitment to ensuring that small producers of the developing world get a fair deal.
Members: Correspondence
A reply to the hon. Member’s letter of 13 November 2007 has been issued.
Non-Governmental Organisations: Overseas Aid
Total DFID expenditure channelled through UK Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in each of the last five years and planned expenditure for 2007-08 through the Civil Society Challenge Fund and Partnership Programme Agreements is set out in the following table. The table also includes planned funding in respect of the Development Awareness Fund and the Strategic Grant Agreement for 2007-08.
DFID also provides ad-hoc funding to agencies and CSOs working in country or at a regional level responding to specific emergencies. DFID’s Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Department (CHASE) estimate that in 2007-08 £8 million was spent on humanitarian relief across a range of natural disasters, from an earthquake in Peru to cyclones and floods in Bangladesh, India, Mexico, North Korea and. Pakistan, to winter shelter for extreme winter conditions in Kyrgyzstan. Of this, £5 million was provided through NGOs.
There is no central allocation of funding through CSOs for humanitarian assistance projects or other parts of the DFID programme.
Multilaterals also allocate funding to CSOs, among these are the European Commission, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Because multilaterals do not report the proportion of their expenditure allocated to CSOs, DFID are unable to attribute multilateral expenditure to CSOs.
£000 Total Civil Society Challenge Fund Partnership Programme Agreement Humanitarian Assistance Country and other DRD Programme 2002-03 (actual) 222,845 13,056 57,227 93,822 58,739 2003-04 (actual) 220,321 10,355 59,000 86,689 64,277 2004-05 (actual) 232,930 10,106 65,263 91,187 66,374 2005-06 (actual) 260,952 13,260 81,650 95,254 70,788 2006-07 (actual) 274,309 13,539 89,141 85,423 86,207 2007-08 (planned) — 14,280 90,191 — 14,200 1 Includes Development Awareness Fund and the Strategic Grant Agreement only
Final expenditure figures for 2007-08 will not be available until after the end of the fiscal year.
Northern Ireland
Crime: Drugs
Table 1 gives the number of persons charged for possession and supply of cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, amphetamine and cannabis for 2005-06 and 2006-07.
The court datasets do not hold information on the number of prosecutions and convictions for different drug types as these do not constitute separate offences by legislation. It is possible, however, to determine the class of drug. Table 2 outlines this information for the number of prosecutions and convictions for possession, possession with intent to supply unlawfully and the unlawful supply of illegal drugs. Data cover the calendar years 2005 and 2006 (the latest available years) and are collated on the principal offence rule; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
It is not possible to reconcile PSNI data routinely on the number of persons charged with offences and prosecution and conviction data as PSNI data 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.
2005-06 2006-07 Persons charged or summonsed with: Persons charged or summonsed with: Supplying Possession Supplying Possession Cocaine 44 97 65 133 Heroin 10 21 33 41 Ecstasy 65 112 118 229 Amphetamine 41 63 43 97 Cannabis 168 923 225 839 1 As a person can be charged with or summonsed for both supplying and possessing drug offences, the figures cannot be added to give the total number of persons charged or summonsed. Source: PSNI Central Statistics Unit.
2005 20061 Prosecuted Convicted Prosecuted Convicted Unlawful possession Class A 113 111 174 157 Class B 75 67 42 34 Class C 310 279 417 380 Total 498 457 633 571 Unlawful possession with intent to supply Class A 48 42 65 45 Class B 39 31 35 26 Class C 47 41 65 56 Total 134 114 165 127 Unlawful supply Class A 4 4 4 3 Class B 5 3 3 2 Class C 8 8 7 7 Total 17 15 14 12 Overall total 649 586 812 710 1 Data for 2006 are provisional. Source: NIO Statistics and Research Branch.
Departmental Correspondence
The Department collates information on letters from the public for the annual departmental report, as part of the six national standards for central Government which were introduced to the Department and its Executive agencies from April 1997.
The following table provides figures on the number of letters from the public and ministerial correspondence for the calendar years 2002 to 2006. Figures for 2007 are currently being collated.
Number of letters 2002 27,212 2003 21,088 2004 101,314 2005 103,141 2006 17,449
Departmental Retirement
Within the Northern Ireland Office fewer than five people have retired on the grounds of stress-related illness in each of the last three years. It is normal practice not to release the precise figures where the number retiring is less than five; to do so increases the potential of the individuals being identified.
Departmental Sick Leave
Within the Northern Ireland Office 27.9 per cent. of lost working days have been attributed to stress-related illness during the period 2006-07.
The health and safety of everyone in my Department is of paramount importance; we have a duty of care to help prevent staff becoming ill and to support them when they are. The Northern Ireland Office already has a series of effective policies and procedures in place which help achieve these aims. These include a Welfare Service and an independent confidential counselling service that is available 24 hours a day.
Departmental Translation Services
The Northern Ireland Office, associated agencies and non-departmental public bodies, translate the following documents for people in the UK who do not speak English:
First night and induction information for prisoners;
Committal interview forms;
Visits information for prison visitors;
Information booklet for life sentenced prisoners;
Various forms for routine prison procedures—clothing, telephone, tuck shop;
Information sheet on adjudication process for prisoners;
Dealing with complaints against the police;
Summons to defendants—front cover to explain in simple terms the nature of the document;
Requirement to attend court—front cover to explain in simple terms the nature of the document;
Decisions on compensation claims (when required this would be translated into appropriate language);
Written representations on published proposals for boundary changes;
Probation Board information leaflets, letters, correspondence and all enforcement documentation;
Community safety leaflets;
Making a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland: A Summary;
Your rights in Northern Ireland;
The Human Rights Commission routinely replies to written correspondence in the language used by the correspondent;
State Pathologist's Department—The Way Forward—A Consultation Document—January 2003.
In addition to this list of documents the Department is committed to providing any document in alternative languages or formats on request.
Electricity
The following table shows the amount the Northern Ireland Office (excluding its agencies and NDPBs) has spent on electricity in each of the last five years.
Financial year Electricity costs (£000) 2002-03 400 2003-04 470 2004-05 452 2005-06 494 2006-07 540
Eurostar
The information requested is as follows.
(a) Nil; and
(b) £1,052.50
Northern Ireland Prison Service: Long Service Awards
The Northern Ireland Prison Service is included in the case taken by the Ministry of Justice for the introduction of a long service and good conduct medal to operational staff in the UK Prison Services. A paper has been submitted to the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals and is currently under consideration.
Police Service of Northern Ireland: Driving Offences
The Chief Constable of the Police Service for Northern Ireland has advised that no serving police officers convicted of a motoring offence within the last 12 months have retained or been granted a firearms certificate in this period. Information on driving convictions before this period and relevant to firearms certificate applications are not readily available and could be obtained by means of an extensive manual check only at disproportionate cost to public funds.
Defence
Aircraft Carriers: Procurement
Armed Forces: Pay
[holding answer 25 February 2008]: Once identified, under payments are normally corrected in the next available pay run. If this is not possible arrangements are put in place for payments to be made at unit level. Without knowing which specific personnel the hon. Member is referring to, it is not possible to provide more information.
Astute Class Submarines: Procurement
It remains our plan to order seven Astute submarines.
European Fighter Aircraft
Negotiations with Partner Nations and industry are under way on Tranche 3, and decisions will be taken once these are complete.
Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
The Government do not comment publicly on intelligence matters of this nature.
Nuclear Weapons
I have been unable to identify any reports from the US Secretary of Defence to this Department referring to the nuclear material we hold in the UK.
Qinetiq
(2) in relation to the sale of which sites he expects to receive monies from QinetiQ as a result of the clawback agreement during 2008; how much he expects to receive in relation to each such site; and for which sites he does not expect to receive monies;
(3) what acreage of land has been transferred from his Department to QinetiQ; how much of that land has subsequently been disposed of and at what price; and if he will make a statement.
The requested information is not held centrally or in a consistent form. However, it should be possible to compile the requested information without incurring disproportionate cost. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as the work has been completed and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Substantive answer from Des Browne to Mike Hancock:
I undertook to write to you in answer to your Parliamentary Question on 21 January 2008 (Official Report, column 1604W) about monies received from QinetiQ following the sale of land as a result of the clawback agreement and what acreage of land has been transferred to QinetiQ and has subsequently been disposed of.
The table at Annex A shows the acreage of land transferred to QinetiQ together with an indication as to whether it has been substantially sold and if clawback has been received by the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
In respect to the value of the land transferred, I refer you to the answer by the then Under Secretary of State gave on 13 January 2003 (Official Report, column 404W) to the hon. Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin). In terms of the actual receipts, the attached table cross references the relevant passages of QinetiQ's Annual Accounts. However, additional details are withheld on grounds of commercial confidentiality.
In 2003, when a stake in QinetiQ was being sold to the Carlyle Group, the Aquilla and Chertsey sites had already been identified as surplus to QinetiQ's business requirements. QinetiQ's obligation to pay the proceeds to the Department were set out in the Aquilla and Chertsey loan note. As a result, £60m of the proceeds from the sale of these sites came directly to the MOD.
I am unable to comment on the likely future receipts from clawback as this very much depends on the future use of sites by QinetiQ, along with the company's schedule for disposal, the timing and terms and conditions of any sale. MOD officials are aware of two prospective sales at Bincleaves in Weymouth and Eastney in your constituency. This information is in the public domain as a result of planning applications or consultations made by the company.
I am placing a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Site title Hectares Site sold by QinetiQ Clawback triggered Aberporth 48 Yes. 2003 and 2004 No Alverstoke 9.21 No — Angle 19.41 Yes. 2006 Yes. Awaiting final negotiations over payment. Aquila 9.62 Yes. 2003 No. Aquilla and Chertsey sales tied o repayment of MOD loan to QinetiQ Bedford Sharmbrook <0.3 Yes. 2004 No Bedford Sports and Social 0.42 Yes. 2003 No Bedford Enclave 5.52 Yes. 2007 — Bedford Tunnels 35.2 — — Bedford Twinwood 31 — — Bincleaves 2.72 No. Possible sale 2008-09 — Chertsey - Northern Site 40.9 Yes. Part sales in 2003 and 2006 — Chertsey -Southern Site 80.2 — — Christchurch 2.69 No — Cobbett Hill 76.08 Yes. 2004 Yes. Payment received Farnborough Cody 148.8 No — Fort Halstead 135.17 Yes. 2005 Yes. Awaiting final negotiations over payment. Fraser 4.83 No. Possible sale 2008-09 — Funtington North 16.3 No — Haslar 15.84 No — Hurn Main 98 No — Hurn 142.5 No — Barnsfield — — — Hum Sandleheath 20.2 No — Hutton Moor 6.07 Yes. 2005 Yes. Awaiting payment Malvern Main Site 28.49 No — Malvern Science Park 4.66 Yes. 2006 No Nutley Farm 1.14 No — Pershore 110.4 No — Portsdown LBTS 10.52 No — Pyestock North 53 Yes. 2004 No Pyestock South 33.85 Yes. Part sale 2006. Part sale 2007 No West Drayton 1.76 Yes. 2004 No Winfrith 2.684 No — Notes: Annual report 2004 - page 1 Note 3c—Includes disclosable details of Chertsey Transaction. Annual report 2005 - page 55 Note 3—Includes disclosable details of Pyestock North transaction. Annual report 2006 - page 32 section on fixed asset disposals includes details on disclosable Fort Halstead transaction. Annual report 2006 - page 68 Note 6—Adds to disclosable information details of Pyestock South transaction. Annual report 2007 - page 74 Note 5b—refers to Bedford transaction.
Scotland
Departmental Correspondence
The Scotland Office currently has one member of staff dedicated to processing correspondence. The Office does not maintain a central record of the number of staff undertaking this function in previous years but, in 2006-07, had two members of staff undertaking these duties. The Office does not disaggregate its corporate and central running costs to this level of detail.
Departmental Sick Pay
The staff in the Scotland Office are seconded from other Departments who are reimbursed by the Office for salaries etc. The Office does not have a record of any sick pay element involved; that is a matter for the parent Departments.
Personal Injury: Applications
The Scottish Parliament has not yet legislated to facilitate compensation for pleural plaques through the Scottish civil courts. We are therefore unable to offer any accurate assessment of the associated potential Government liability for claims. Any estimates which could be drawn from the current numbers and value of claims across Government Departments may well be affected by legislation that is passed.
Olympics
Olympic Games 2012: Gun Sports
The total budget for the shooting venue has not been announced. Until such time as detailed venue requirements are agreed and contract negotiations are complete, the information about construction costs remains commercially sensitive.
It is important we deliver a legacy beyond 2012 and we are one of the first games to have made legacy a core component of our planning from the outset. We are still four-and-a-half years away from the opening ceremony and the Olympic stakeholders are making sure that we scope out an appropriate legacy. In the case of shooting, this will include LOCOG working with the Royal Artillery Barracks, the Home Office and Greenwich council to determine what is practical in terms of legacy at Woolwich after the games.
Transport
Boats: Licensing
Subject to satisfying the requirements of procedures published on the website of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency under Marine Guidance Note 333, an existing master in tidal category ‘C’ waters will be issued a ‘tier 2’ Boatmaster’s licence which will allow same type and area of operation. If an applicant wishes to change, or extend, his/her area or/and type of operation, beyond that authorised by their old licence, further assessment(s) may be required.
The examination procedures for new Boatmaster’s licence (BML) regulations are already in place. The regulations allow the assessment of the candidate’s knowledge underpinning his/her practical skills to be assessed through a written or oral test. Currently, the Underpinning Knowledge (UPK) for a BML generic licence is tested orally. However, preparations are in hand for assessment to be undertaken by written examination. This system is expected to be fully operational by the end of the current year.
Department Equality
The Department for Transport has had a policy of promoting gender equality since it was formed in 2002. No specific changes in human resources policy were introduced in response to the gender duty.
Individual actions to improve gender equality are set out in our Gender Equality Scheme, which is published on our web-site. The scheme action plan will be reviewed 12 months after publication in April 2008.
The PCS union has challenged by way of judicial review the Department for Transport’s Gender Equality Scheme for ‘allegedly’ failing to comply with its duty to eliminate sex discrimination, and failing to consult the PCS in generating the Gender Equality Scheme.
The PCS has issued equal pay claims in the employment tribunal on behalf of 37 of its members employed at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The claimants are female executive officers and compare themselves with driving examiners and/or senior driving examiners employed by the Driving Standards Agency.
The Equal Opportunities Commission wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport on the 4 September 2007 in relation to a cross-departmental equal pay audit. The contents of the letter were noted and the Secretary of State replied on 1 October 2007 stating consideration will be given to the issues raised.
Driving Tests: Interpreters
The Driving Standards Agency does not provide an interpreter for candidates who require this assistance when they take a practical driving test. It is the candidate's responsibility to arrange and pay for this service, therefore the agency does not incur any direct costs.
Lorries: Foreign Companies
We have carried out a study of options for compiling a database of foreign haulage operators and their vehicles to assist in the targeting of enforcement activity, including a “vignette” scheme whereby lorries would pay a charge for use of the roads for a given period of time. We published a progress report alongside the 2007 pre-Budget report. The study has raised a number of legal, technical and practical issues and we are considering the way forward.
Motor Vehicles: Repairs and Maintenance
Figures provided by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) from MOT computerisation give an indication of the rate of failure of all suspension springing components; these include front and rear spring leaf and coil springs, torsion bars, rubber bonded components etc. Individual figures for front suspension springs are therefore included in the overall failure rate figure.
For the year April 2006 to March 2007 out of 26,297,141 Class 3 and 4 vehicles tested, 490,776 failed for "springing" defects. That indicates a fail rate of 1.9 per cent. If it were possible to ‘drill down’ to the failure of front suspension springs, it is likely that defects relating to fracture of front road suspension springs would be significantly below 1.9 per cent.
For the year April 2005 to March 2006 out of 12,136,297 Class 3 and 4 vehicles tested, 228,432 failed for “springing” defects, making the fail rate 1.9 per cent.
Railways: Exhaust Emissions
[holding answer 22 February 2008]: Starting with the Intercity Express, the Department for Transport is working with the rail industry to ensure that all new train designs meet increasingly demanding energy efficiency targets. The Department is also working closely with the industry to identify and support the implementation of cost-effective carbon reduction measures. Notable current initiatives include the roll-out of regenerative braking on electric trains and trials of biofuels.
Railways: Planning
There is no existing or disused alignment for a route from London to Scotland. The July 2007 White Paper made clear there was no case for new lines in the immediate future but did not rule them out in the longer term. It would be premature to embark on any formal protection at this stage.
Registered Travellers Programmes
The Department seeks to maintain an understanding of all elements of the UK border security programme, through its very regular contacts with the Home Office, insofar as these may have potential implications for its own regulation of transport protective security. That regulatory regime does not itself include registered Traveller programmes.
Rolling Stock
The Secretary of State has no direct contracts with the rolling stock leasing companies and therefore cannot place any requirements on them.
Rolling Stock: West Coast Main Line
Some 20 per cent. of the total cost of £8.125 billion, to renew and upgrade the west coast main line, has been incurred to upgrade the line for greater capacity and higher speed operation. Virgin Trains, along with other passenger and freight train operators meet this total expenditure through the access charges they pay to Network Rail.
House of Commons Commission
Drinking Water
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 8 October 2007, Official Report, column 18, in which I told the House that a total of 105,957 litres of bottled water are recorded as being sold by the House of Commons Refreshment Department in the financial year 2006-07, the last year for which figures are available. In the same year, 16,200 litres of bottled water were supplied to the Serjeant at Arms’ Department for use in the Committee Rooms, and an estimated 34,000 litres of bottled water were provided—mainly in water coolers—to staff of the House.
Translation Services
The cost of translating the About Parliament pages on the website into Welsh and Scots Gaelic was £19,440.40. This covered the cost of translating 226 pages into each language (i.e. translating 452 pages in total).
Work and Pensions
Departmental Consultants
The external consultancy suppliers who received the highest payments from DWP in the last four years are as follows:
Consultancy 2004-05 Capgemini 2005-06 Capgemini 2006-07 IBM 2007-08 Accenture1 1The highest expenditure in the current financial year to date is with Accenture. This may change at year end and once expenditure figures have been collated and validated.
Departmental Data Protection
The Department, as a major data custodian, takes the security of personal data extremely seriously. The Departmental Audit Committee—which is chaired by an independent non-executive director—supervises an annual programme of reviews by the Department's Internal Audit function. The precise scope of each review is set out in specific and detailed terms of reference.
The Department has conducted a very large number of such audit reviews over the past 10 years. Many of these audits have examined system performance in relation to the management and processing of information, including personal and other data. Details of each such review could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
[holding answer 7 February 2008]: As soon as the incident was discovered, the Department’s permanent secretary launched an immediate investigation. All the documents involved have now been recovered and accounted for. The contracted courier company have undertaken an inquiry, and have assured the Department that they are further tightening their procedures as a result of this incident.
Departmental Information Officers
The Department for Work and Pensions was formed on 8 June 2001 from parts of the former Department of Social Security, the former Department for Education and Employment and the Employment Service. Information on costs prior to 2001 is not held centrally and could be obtained at disproportionate cost only.
The Department for Work and Pensions does not have a “communication officer” grade. The “White Book” of contacts in Government Departments and agencies contains listings for the Department and this book is updated twice yearly.
The numbers of Press Officers for full financial years (1 April to 31 March) is in the following table:
National press officers Regional press officers 2001-02 21 0 2002-03 13 16 2003-04 20 20 2004-05 19 23 2005-06 23 22 2006-07 19 125 1 Two part-time
The Department for Work and Pensions does not have a “communication officer” grade. The “White Book” of contacts in Government Departments and agencies contains listings for the Department and this book is updated twice yearly. The following table relates to press officers only.
DWP employees in pay bands below the senior civil service are eligible for an annual individual performance bonus if they attain a ‘Top’, ‘Higher’ or ‘Majority’ rating under the annual performance and development system (PDS). The amount of bonus awarded is differentiated on the basis of the employee’s pay band and the performance level achieved. However information relating to totals and individual awards could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
In addition all DWP employees are eligible to be nominated for a special bonus. The scheme enables managers to incentivise and reward valuable or exceptional contributions to business performance made by employees or teams. Amounts are not comparable from year to year or related to the number of staff involved. The following table contains information relating to press officer grades. Information on costs prior to 2004-05 is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
1 April-31 March Total (£) Highest Lowest 2004-05 750 250 250 2005-06 4,050 100 350 2006-07 900 50 350
Departmental Official Engagements
My predecessor and I carried out the full range of our ministerial responsibilities since 28 July 2007.
Departmental Public Expenditure
The annual budget information in respect of regulators and inspectorates for which DWP has responsibility is shown in the following table.
Financial year ending The Pensions Regulator Health and Safety Executive Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Independent Case Examiner Independent Review Service for the Social Fund 1997 3.40 177.85 3.44 1Nil 24.16 1998 7.74 178.09 5.80 1.03 24.26 1999 8.83 176.95 5.64 0.92 3.97 2000 9.84 181.74 5.88 1.04 3.63 2001 10.98 188.79 5.55 1.18 3.73 2002 12.96 202.70 7.11 1.62 3.66 2003 15.71 201.63 7.71 1.87 3.97 2004 17.18 197.27 7.86 2.24 3.81 2005 22.76 214.85 7.10 2.47 4.27 2006 327.38 4238.1 6 5.60 2.74 4.00 2007 31.92 232.85 3.44 2.79 4.19 1 The Independent Case Examiner's office was operational from 7 April 1997. 2 Include accommodation costs—budgeted centrally under PRIME from 1999. 3 Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority prior to 2006. 4 The 2005/06 outturn has been restated (for comparison purposes) to reflect the transfer of responsibility for rail regulation from HSE to the Office of Rail Regulation on 1 April 2006. The total amount before the transfer was £244.3 million.
The information on restructuring costs is not available/held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Security
It is established practice not to provide details on pass access to government buildings for security reasons
Departmental Telephone Services
[holding answer 7 February 2008]: 11,764 non-geographic telephone numbers are in use by my Department and its agencies.
The Department received a rebate of £1,463,738.45 for the period covering 1 October 2005 to 30 November 2007 and this was used to pay for other telecommunication services. No information is available for any earlier period and no breakdown of this figure is available. The Department ceased this arrangement on 14 December 2007 and no longer receives any rebate. This change in arrangement does not affect the charge a customer pays for contacting the Department.
[holding answer 28 January 2008]: The information requested is as follows:
(a) 11,749
(b) 94.
Dismissal
[holding answer 16 January 2008]: The Department introduced a new personnel computer system incrementally from November 2006, being fully implemented by April 2007. The following information reflects data recorded on that system for the number of staff dismissed because of their attendance record on grounds of sickness. Information is not available from this system prior to April 2007.
Government Office region Number East Midlands 25 East of England 18 London 32 North East 51 North West 136 South East 28 South West 40 West Midlands 47 Yorkshire and the Humber 65 Total England 442 Scotland 86 Wales 47 Grand total 575
Information about the number of staff dismissed because of their attendance record on grounds other than sickness is not available. This is because dismissals resulting from disciplinary action is not sub-divided.
Eyesight: Testing
I have been asked to reply.
Information broken down by patient eligibility type is currently only available at country level, and not strategic health authority (SHA), primary care trust (PCT) or constituency level. The Information Centre for health and social care (IC) only has information for England and Wales, not the United Kingdom. The information is shown in the following table.
Information on persons aged 60 and over receiving sight tests paid for by the national health service will be available in the publication “General Ophthalmic Services: Activity Statistics for England and Wales, April to September 2007”. Information will be available at PCT and SHA level. This report will be published by the IC in late March 2008.
Patients aged 60 and over became eligible for free NHS sight tests from 1 April 1999.
England Wales 2000 3,301,412 244,840 2001 3,753,315 242,426 2002 4,012,946 255,251 2003 4,135,712 273,660 2004 4,308,889 279,228 2005 4,303,128 295,752 2006 4,450,007 312,452 2007 4,518,672 287,446 Note: All figures are the total number of sight tests and do not take into account individuals who may have had more than one sight test in the same area within the same time period. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care.
Pensioners: Nottinghamshire
(2) how many pensioners there were in Nottingham North constituency in the most recent period for which figures are available.
As at May 2007 there were 14,890 recipients of state pension in the Nottingham, North parliamentary constituency of whom 6,250 were aged 75 or over.
Notes:
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.
Sexual Harassment
Statistics are kept on the number of cases reported to managers under the combined heading “harassment, discrimination and bullying” but complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination cannot be separately identified from these statistics.
However, it is possible to identify the number of complaints referred for investigation to the central investigations team on grounds of sexual harassment. These figures are shown as follows and represent the cases referred from January 2007 to December 2007. For confidentiality reasons they cannot be broken down by agency, as the numbers would be below five.
Based on Cabinet Office guidance the number of sexual discrimination complaints has been withheld for confidentiality reasons because of low numbers. Sexual harassment
Total number of complaints: 9
Social Security Benefits
Of those entitled, we assume that the proportion who will receive benefit remains broadly constant.
Information is not available in the format requested. Information is not available from 1984. Different historical information is available for each of the benefits; the available information is in the following tables.
All under 35 Under 25 25-34 1995 524,000 161,300 362,700 1996 532,900 157,400 375,600 1997 541,000 158,100 382,900 1998 539,600 156,500 383,000 1999 535,800 156,400 379,400 2000 546,740 164,500 382,240 2001 558,820 169,250 389,570 2002 555,830 169,860 385,970 2003 555,160 173,840 381,320 2004 551,340 175,770 375,570 2005 538,100 173,180 364,920 2006 514,620 166,740 347,880 2007 504,460 165,740 338,720 Notes: 1. May 1995 - May 1999 (inclusive) numbers are uprated to WPLS totals and rounded to the nearest hundred. May 2000 - May 2007 (inclusive) numbers are rounded to the nearest ten. 2. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 3. May 1995 - May 1999 (inclusive) numbers are based on a five per cent sample, and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation. These figures should be used as a guide to the current situation only. Source: DWP Information Directorate five per cent. sample and 100 per WPLS
All under 35 Under 25 25-34 1985 1,828,250 1,113,185 715,065 1986 1,849,285 1,093,255 756,030 1987 1,626,530 924,740 701,790 1988 1,283,230 712,600 570,630 1989 915,475 470,385 445,090 1990 829,325 420,320 409,005 1991 1,246,035 630,900 615,135 1992 1,519,925 747,275 772,650 1993 1,610,485 775,465 835,020 1994 1,447,080 682,545 764,535 1995 1,261,070 590,375 670,695 1996 1,152,870 530,155 622,715 1997 862,995 399,775 463,220 1998 710,880 333,525 377,355 1999 646,065 290,795 355,270 2000 557,185 256,050 301,135 2001 497,760 236,965 260,795 2002 482,270 236,660 245,610 2003 489,105 248,650 240,455 2004 442,865 233,735 209,130 2005 452,565 250,695 201,870 2006 509,895 288,850 221,045 2007 469,505 265,565 203,940 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest five. 2. Jobseekers allowance replaced unemployment benefit in October 1996. Source: Count of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer systems (computer held cases only).
All under 35 Under 25 25-34 1997 1,125,000 359,700 765,300 1998 1,067,000 340,700 726,300 1999 1,036,600 336,800 699,800 2000 1,030,450 343,380 687,070 2001 1,005,860 340,210 665,650 2002 953,370 318,320 635,050 2003 932,140 318,250 613,890 2004 890,690 309,350 581,340 2005 849,240 295,010 554,230 2006 821,740 286,590 535,150 2007 815,640 294,450 521,190 Source: DWP Information Directorate five per cent sample and 100 per cent WPLS
Social Security Benefits: Personal Records
[holding answer 15 January 2008]: The Department provides information to the National Audit Office either electronically or by paper copy.
The safeguards in place to ensure the security of such data include rigorous courier arrangements and a requirement that physical transfers of data must have the specific authority of a member of the senior civil service.
Winter Fuel Payments: Nottinghamshire
In winter 2006-07, 16,680 people received winter fuel payments in Nottingham, North. We expect the number to be similar for winter 2007-08.
Notes:
1. Figures rounded to the nearest 10.
2. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.
Source:
Information directorate 100 per cent. data.
Winter Fuel Payments: Overseas Residence
European Community law means that some benefits acquired in one member state must be paid to people when they move to another country within the European economic area. Winter fuel payments are only paid to former UK residents living in the European economic area if they qualified for a payment before leaving the UK. The number of winter fuel payments made to former UK residents living in the EEA in winter 2006-07 is in the following table.
Country Payments made Gibraltar 100 Republic of Ireland 4,271 Austria 114 Belgium 126 Denmark 49 Finland 40 France 11,480 Germany 648 Greece 653 Italy 729 Luxembourg 16 Netherlands 172 Norway 30 Portugal 907 Spain 24,642 Sweden 90 Switzerland 113 Iceland 16 Liechtenstein 1 Malta 574 Republic of Estonia 7 Republic of Latvia 12 Republic of Lithuania 3 Hungary 85 Poland 115 Cyprus 2,994 Republic of Slovenia 4 The Czech Republic 8 The Slovak Republic 2
Communities and Local Government
Care Homes: Essex
(2) how many beds were available in private care homes in Essex in each of the last five years.
I have been asked to reply.
The information requested, which has been provided by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), is shown in the following table.
Private Local authority Voluntary Other Total As at: Homes Places Homes Places Homes Places Homes Places Homes Places 1 April 2004 341 8,795 17 496 61 1,003 — — 419 10,294 1 April 2005 348 9,268 13 311 61 1,003 — — 422 10,582 1 April 2006 354 9,301 10 213 58 977 — — 422 10,491 1 April 2007 364 9,654 8 130 54 911 1 61 427 10,756 1 February 2008 371 9,852 8 130 52 862 1 61 432 10,905 Note: The number of places is the sum of the maximum registered places for each home. Source: CSCI Registration and Inspection database.
Community Relations: Migration
Communities and Local Government will be examining the business case for setting up a national body to manage the integration of new migrants during the course of this year. Work will include considering the role and future of existing bodies dealing with integration, for example the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Integration (ABNI) and determining a national strategy for integration drawing on existing experience and good practice.
Departmental Databases
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Official Hospitality
During the last 12 months the Department has spent £377,390 on hospitality.
All expenditure on hospitality is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
The response from the Department's agencies is as follows:
£ Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre 7,732 Fire Service College 3,170 Planning Inspectorate 1— Ordnance Survey 1— 1 Could be supplied only at disproportionate cost
Departmental Pay
Staff in this division, like all others in the Department, are covered by the policy on the payment of bonuses as stated in a reply by my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda) to the hon. Member for South Holland and the Deepings (Mr. Hayes) on 18 December 2007, Official Report, columns 1310-11W. Given the small number of staff in the home information packs division, it would be a breach of confidentiality and therefore inappropriate to give details.
The breakdown of information in the format requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
All departmental expenditure is claimed in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Managing Public Money.
Departmental Written Questions
The information in respect of Communities and Local Government (CLG) and its predecessor Department the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) is set out as follows:
Department Number Percentage Number Percentage 20021 ODPM 93 29 230 71 2003 ODPM 62 17 308 83 2004 ODPM 64 13 428 87 2005 ODPM 122 25 371 75 2006 ODPM/CLG 228 42 315 58 2007 CLG 345 51 335 49 1 29 May to 31 December 2002
Domestic Wastes: Waste Disposal
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) on 29 March 2007, Official Report, column 1736W.
Eco-Towns: National Parks
I can confirm that none of the eco-town proposals submitted fall within the boundaries of a national park.
Fair Trade Initiative
Communities and Local Government is taking various steps to promote Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 in its headquarter buildings. Over the next two weeks, our catering supplier is providing an increased range of Fairtrade products, including various snacks and drinks. A wider range of Fairtrade teas and coffees is also being offered in our vending machines. We are advertising the fortnight and new products with various posters in our staff restaurants.
This is in addition to the Fairtrade products that are normally supplied within our buildings.
Family Courts
I have been asked to reply.
We have not undertaken or evaluated research on this subject and have no plans to do so. Many difficulties can emerge following divorce or parental separation and children can be affected in a variety of ways. The Government believe that, where possible, parents should work together to agree contact and residence arrangements themselves and in the best interests of their children. The Children's Plan contains a commitment to improve support during and after family breakdown, including helping children to maintain contact with both parents. Where contact cases come to court, the child's welfare must be the court's paramount consideration. The Children and Adoption Act 2006 has extended the maximum duration of Family Assistance Orders from six to 12 months. This will expand the potential support that CAFCAS8 can provide in assisting families to respect agreements over contact The other provisions in the 2006 Act, when implemented, will give the courts more flexible powers in contact cases, including introducing contact activities, monitoring court-ordered contact, and new enforcement powers.
Gambling: Internet
[holding answer 21 February 2008]: I have been asked to reply.
As of 1 February 2008, the Gambling Commission has issued 144 remote operating licences to companies that allow those licensed to operate online gambling sites. 17 remote casino licences have been granted which allow those licensees to provide online gaming.
Home Condition Reports
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 21 January 2008, Official Report, columns 1526-27W.
IPSOS-MORI is still in the process of finalising its conclusions and a copy of the research report will be placed in the House Library once the project has been finalised.
Housing: Complaints
There are about 2,500 bodies registered with the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) owning and managing 2.5 million properties. The majority of these are registered social landlords (RSLs—housing associations registered with the Housing Corporation). It is a condition of the Housing Act 1996 that all RSLs are members of an approved housing ombudsman scheme. There are also a small number of members which are private rented sector landlords (just under 100) who join on a voluntary basis. The remit of the HOS does not cover councils or local and central Government agencies.
The HOS does not keep statistical information broken down by the body against whom a complaint is made. The HOS received the following number of complaints in each of the last 10 years.
Total cases received 1998 1,303 1999 1,153 2000 1,861 2001 2,275 2002 2,208 2003 2,112 2004 2,395 2005 2,852 2006 3,063 2007 2,895
This includes cases received which were not subsequently considered to fall within the housing ombudsman’s remit and those which were dealt with using mediation and other forms of dispute resolution. The HOS deals with most disputes in a conciliatory manner, using a range of alternative forms of dispute resolution as well as working with landlords and tenants through prevention initiatives to sustain and improve their relationship.
Formal investigations account for a minority of the work considered by the housing ombudsman. The average percentage of investigations into cases over the 10-year period has been 14 per cent., of which 27 per cent. resulted in findings of maladministration and 77 per cent. non-maladministration (although in the latter cases, the ombudsman frequently makes recommendations for improvements to the bodies involved).
The number of cases considered by the HOS has increased over the last 10 years. The number of properties within the housing ombudsman’s remit has doubled over this period and awareness of the service and that of member landlords’ own complaints procedures has increased resulting in the higher volume of complaints submitted to the HOS.
Housing: Construction
[holding answer 15 January 2008]: The proportions of new build completions in England that are houses and flats are tabled as follows. The information is presented as proportions not absolute numbers because dwelling type is collected centrally for only about half of the new build activity.
Houses Flats 2000-01 80 20 2001-02 77 23 2002-03 73 27 2003-04 66 34 2004-05 59 41 2005-06 54 46 2006-07 53 47 Source: National House Building Council
The information is published in the Housing Statistics Live Tables (table 254) on the Communities and Local Government website.
Housing: Floods
To date, West Northamptonshire Development Corporation has referred one housing application in an area of flood risk to the Secretary of State. On assessment, it was decided that there was no reason to call in the application for my right hon. Friend's determination.
Housing: Leicester
The target for the number of new homes to be built in local authority areas is stated in the relevant regional spatial strategy. For the Leicester city council area, this is the regional spatial strategy for the East Midlands (RSS8) adopted in March 2005. However, that document only covers the period to 2021, and only specifies a figure for the former structure plan area of Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. That figure is 3,150 homes a year over the period 2001-2021.
The regional spatial strategy for the East Midlands is under review. That review is intended to cover the period 2001-26 and to apportion housing targets down to the local authority level. The Secretary of State is currently considering the recommendations of the panel report into the examination in public of the East Midlands Regional Assembly's draft, with a view to adopting the strategy with any amendments towards the end of this year.
Neither the adopted 2005 regional spatial strategy nor the emerging review includes targets for the size of housing to be delivered. This is because it is not Government policy for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to determine the size of housing that should be built in local authority areas. Instead, Government policy on planning for housing which is set out in Planning Policy Statement 3 requires local planning authorities to state the proportions of market housing demand likely to arise from multi-person households including families with children, and to specify the size and type of affordable housing required in particular areas, through their local development frameworks.
Housing: Planning
A response was sent to Mr. Murphy on the 21 February 2008. A copy of the reply has been placed in the Library.
Housing: Unemployment
In my speech to the Fabian Society's conference on 5 February—which can be read at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/speeches/corporate/fabiansocietyaddress
I called for a wide-ranging debate about how best to tackle the challenge of worklessness in social housing, examining the full range of options.
Development of future policy proposals will be informed by this debate and by the range of available evidence, which includes the Hills Review of social housing, Housing Corporation research on “Housing associations tackling worklessness”, CORE data on new social lettings, labour force survey data, family resources survey data and survey of English housing data.
INTERREG Programme
The Interreg Monitoring and Steering Committees determine their own operating procedures and have decided that their discussions should be confidential to ensure that projects can be appraised objectively.
The draft IVA operational programmes can be found at the following web address:
http://www.go-se.gov.uk/gose/euroFunding/strucFunds/territorialCoOp/?a=42496
The approved IVB and IVC operational programmes can be found at the following web addresses:
http://www.nweurope.org/upload/documents/programme/2473.10thdraftOP_July2007.pdf
http://northsearegion.eu/ivb/content/show/&tid=38
http://www.coop-atlantico.com/en/documentacao.php
http://www.interreg4c.net/load/2007-07-26_INTERREG_IVC_OP_final.pdf
The contact details for the current three Interreg programmes are provided in the following table:
Programme Managing authority Certifying authority Audit authority North West Europe Conseil régional Nord Pas de Calais Hotel de Région - Centre Rihour - F- 59555 Lille Cedex Stéphane Pouilly, Directeur Europe Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations 15 quai Anatole France F-75700 Paris SP Mr. Sébastien Cazabonne CICC – Commission Interministérielle de Coordination des Controles – Fonds Structurels CICC : 5 place des Vins de France, F-75573 Paris CEDEX 12 (cf. 1.1). M. Jean-Pierre .JOCHUM, president Mme Armelle DAAM, chargée de mission Tel : 00 33 (0) 1 53 44 23 07 cicc@cicc.finances.gouv.fr North Sea Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority Vejlsøvej 29 DK-8600 Silkeborg Denmark Reference: Kaja Korgaard Central Denmark Region Skottenborg 26 DK-8800 Viborg Denmark Reference: Henrik M. Jensen Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority Dahlerups Pakhus, Langelinie Allé 17 DK-2100 København Denmark Reference: Ole Folkmann Atlantic Area Paulo Gomes Teresa Lameiras Armindo Carvalho Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Norte(CCDR-N) Rua Rainha D. Estefania, 251 4150-034 Porto Portugal Phone: +351 226 086 300 Fax:+351 226 061489 E-mail: coop- atlantico@ccdr-n.ptcomunicacao@ccdr-n.pt Website: www.ccdr-n.pt José Santos Soeiro Institute Financeiro para o Desenvolvimento Regional, I.P. Rua de S. Julião, 63 1149-030 Lisboa Portugal Phone: +351 218814091 Fax: +351 218881111 E-mail: jose.soeiro@dgdr.pt Website: www.qca.pt Inspeccao-geral de financas Rue Angelina Vidal, 41 1199-005 Lisboa Portugal Telephone +351 (0) 218113500 Fax +351 (0) 218162573 carlostrigacheiro@igf.min-financas.pt
Local Authorities Standards
CPA scores for single tier and county councils were introduced in 2002. Information on CPA and the scores themselves are publicly available on the Audit Commission's website at
http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/cpa/index.asp?page=index.asp&area=hpcpa
Local Authorities: Autism
Information on autism spectrum disorders training provided for staff who undertake assessments for Supporting People and local authority housing allocation is not collected centrally. Training needs associated with the provision of Supporting People services is a matter for the local authority and the service providers.
Local Authorities: Cost Effectiveness
The Audit Commission's tailored frameworks for CPA cover single tier and county councils, district councils and fire and rescue authorities. The frameworks pull together a range of information in an objective and comparable way to reach an overall judgment on a council's or fire and rescue authority's performance, and have four common components:
corporate assessments;
use of resources assessments;
service assessments; and
direction of travel assessments.
Value for money is reported on as one of the themes under the use of resources assessment, and the VFM scores assigned to each local authority in the comprehensive performance assessments are all publicly available on the Audit Commission's website at
http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/cpa/index.asp?page=index.asp&area=hpcpa
Local Authorities: Facilities
The Department does not issue guidance to local authorities on leasing or renting their facilities at below market rates.
Local Authorities: Property
The Department does not issue guidance to local authorities on the terms and rates at which council properties should be rented or leased to trade unions or other external organisations or individuals.
Local Government Finance: Foreign Workers
We have worked closely with local government, HM Treasury and other departments during CSR07 to identify all pressures over the next three years and the ways that they can be managed. We have been able to provide a fair and affordable settlement for local government in a tight spending round, providing an average real terms increase of 1 per cent. per year over the next three years.
When we calculated the distribution of formula grant between all authorities in England, we used the best data that were available on a consistent basis for all authorities and were available at the time.
In addition to formula grant, we have already announced a £50 million fund to address community cohesion. That money is there to help local authorities respond to their own particular challenges—including issues relating to migration.
Local Government: Standards
The Deputy Prime Minister's Office ("DPMO") was created as a separate Government department in May 2006 with a Resource DEL of £2.5 million. For administrative purposes Communities and Local Government ("CLG") maintained the DPMO's accounting records and produced monthly performance reports during 2006-07 as an integral part of the CLG monthly reports. No separate monthly reports were produced for the DPMO.
The DPMO has produced an Annual Report (Cm 7102) and Resource Accounts (HC 837) for 2006-07 and these have been placed in the Common's Library.
Migration Directorate
The migration directorate in Communities and Local Government currently employs 10 members of staff and receives support from many other parts of the Department dealing with housing, cohesion and local government finance policy. It also works closely with CLG’s analytical and economic advisers.
The directorate’s role is to co-ordinate the Department’s work on migration issues and to draw together the work being undertaken across Whitehall on supporting communities in managing the local impacts of migration. The directorate will be developing an evidence base on the local impacts of migration, working closely with local government and other stakeholders, to increase our understanding of how migration affects different localities. CLG will be co-ordinating a cross-government action plan setting out practical steps central government can take to support local areas in managing the impacts of migration. Migration Directorate is working closely with the National Statistician, who is leading a cross-government programme to improve population projections. The directorate also provides the secretariat, jointly with the Home Office, for the Migration Impacts Forum.
Communities and Local Government plans to publish the cross-government action plan on the local impacts of migration in the spring.
Minister for the South West
The Regional Minister for the South West has engaged both formally and informally with other Government Ministers but information relating to internal discussion and advice is not disclosed in order to protect the frankness and candour of internal discussion and advice.
National Muslim Women's Advisory Group
The National Muslim Women's Advisory Group comprises the following 19 women who are in positions of leadership or are working with the Muslim communities in Britain:
Siddika Ahmed
Fareena Alam
Parvin Ali OBE
Batool Al-Toma
Naheed Arshad-Mather MBE
Farkhanda Chaudhry MBE
Zulekha Dala MBE
Reedah El-Saie
Rokhsana Fiaz
Shaista Gohir
Rukaiya Jeraj
Samina Kauser
Shahda Khan
Sabira Lakha
Tasneem Mahmood
Adeeba Malik MBE
Sabin Malik
Andleen Razzaq and
Shahien Taj.
Members of the advisory group serve in their individual capacity, and do not represent the organisations they work for.
Out-of-Town Shopping Centres
In the Planning White ‘Paper Planning for a Sustainable Future’, we set out our intention to replace the current need and impact tests in Planning Policy Statement 6: ‘Planning for Town Centres’, with a new test which has a strong focus on our town centre first policy, and which promotes competition and improves consumer choice, avoiding the unintended effects of the current need test.
We will carry out a consultation on our proposed revisions to PPS6 shortly.
Sunbeds: Greater London
Communities and Local Government has no responsibility for the regulation of sunbed salons.
The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collect data on the number of sunbed salons which are licensed by local authorities.
Supermarkets: Planning Permission
The Government’s planning policy “Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for town centres” (PPS6) recognises that street and covered markets (including farmers’ markets) can make a valuable contribution to local choice and diversity in shopping, to the vitality of town centres and to rural economies.
PPS6 asks local authorities to seek to retain and enhance their existing markets and, where appropriate, reintroduce or create new ones, taking account of their local needs and particular circumstances. They are also asked to ensure that existing markets remain attractive and competitive by investing in their improvement.
It is for local authorities to decide for themselves how they use their powers and the level of support they give to street markets and market traders in their areas, having regard to local circumstances and their vision and strategy for their area.
Working Neighbourhoods Fund
Following Spending Review 2004 the Deprived Areas Fund (DAF) was allocated to wards based on benefit claim rates. The following wards attracted DAF allocations:
Any ward with a benefit claim rate of 25 per cent. or above; and
Any ward in the 10 local authorities with the lowest employment rates with a benefit claim rate of 20 to 25 per cent.
Three criteria were used to determine eligibility for the Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF):
Any authority that has 20 per cent. or more of its lower super output areas (LSOAs) in the most deprived decile on the employment domain; or
Any authority that has 20 per cent. or more of its lower super output areas (LSOAs) in the most deprived decile on the overall IMD; or
Any authority that ranks among the top 40 districts on an equally weighted measure of key benefit claim rate and employment rate.
Local authorities were only required to meet one of the above criteria to qualify for the fund.
Culture, Media and Sport
Alcoholic Drinks: Advertising
The Government’s national alcohol strategy, ‘Safe. Sensible. Social.’ includes a commitment to look at the relationship between alcohol price, promotions (including advertising), consumption, and harm. Discussions on these issues are ongoing within Government.
Archaeology
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) recognises that the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is of national importance. The British Museum and the MLA are fully committed to the continued success of the PAS and are working together with other stakeholders to ensure that this is achieved.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (James Purnell) met the Finds Liaison Officer for the North West region in December 2007.
The PAS is funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and administered on their behalf by the British Museum. Any assessment regarding the scheme is therefore a matter for the MLA and the British Museum.
English Sports Council: Education
[holding answer 26 February 2008]: The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) have responsibility for the provision of teacher training.
The focus of Sport England is on community sport. We are not aware that it has made any representations on the amount of physical education training included in primary initial teacher training.
Mass Media: Middle East
I have been asked to reply.
We currently have no plans to hold any such discussions.
National Lottery: Braintree
The grants awarded by the Big Lottery Fund and its predecessors, the Community Fund and the New Opportunities Fund, in each of the last five completed financial years for the Braintree constituency are listed in the following table.
The information is location specific. That is, the list includes only grants that are specific to locations in the constituency and excludes grants that might have gone to addresses in the constituency, to headquarters offices for example, but are not otherwise related to it. The Department’s lottery grants database is searchable at www.lottery.culture.gov.uk and uses information supplied by the lottery distributor.
Distributing body Recipient Award date Award amount (£) Big Lottery Fund Braintree District Voluntary Support Agency (BDVSA) 9 September 2006 30,000 Big Lottery Fund Braintree and Bocking Public Gardens Trust 23 November 2006 55,500 Big Lottery Fund Mersea Island Festival Trust 10 May 2005 22,342 Big Lottery Fund Braintree and District Crossroads 22 August 2005 13,425 Community Fund Witham Housing Association 8 June 2005 25,590 Community Fund Rayne Village Hall and Public Playing Fields 14 December 2005 63,023 Community Fund Tabor Centre 12 August 2004 17,067 Community Fund Witham Citizen Advocacy 6 October 2004 44,693 Community Fund Tabor Centre 9 December 2004 18,000 Community Fund Braintree, Halstead and Witham Citizens Advice Bureau 9 December 2004 52,556 Community Fund Braintree and Bocking Community Association 1 August 2003 18,095 Community Fund Essex Coalition of Disabled People 23 May 2002 200,717 Community Fund Braintree and District Citizens Advice Bureau 24 May 2002 72,678 Community Fund Shalford Village Hall 18 July 2002 33,565 Community Fund Peering Good Companions Club 26 September 2002 6,570 New Opportunities Fund Templars Community Housing Association 3 April 2003 80,000 New Opportunities Fund 2nd Witham Boys Brigade 12 December 2003 9,985 New Opportunities Fund Templars Community Housing Association 2 July 2002 3,500
National Lottery: Northern Ireland
The information requested is not readily available. The national lottery operator, Camelot, does not collect ticket sales information on a country basis. However, an analysis of sales data by postcode area is available in the Libraries of both Houses and provides information up to 2004.
Playing Fields: Planning Permission
The information requested, broken down at a regional level, could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Sports
The following table shows the top 10 sports in terms of active participation by males and females in various age ranges. The data are from Sport England’s Active People survey (2005-06), and considers sports participated in at least once in the last 28 days.
Data are unavailable for males and females aged 14 to 16-years-old.
Males Percentage 17 to 21-year-olds Football (all) 45.4 Gym 16.8 Swimming (all) 11.6 Tennis 6.0 Rugby Union 5.3 Basketball 5.2 Cricket 4.3 Running Road 4.1 Badminton 4.0 Golf 3.9 22 to 24-year-olds Football (all) 33.0 Gym 18.6 Swimming (all) 12.2 Golf 4.4 Tennis 4.3 Badminton 3.9 Squash 3.7 Running Road 3.4 Cricket 3.1 Weight Training 2.8 25 to 30-year-olds Football (all) 23.3 Gym 18.9 Swimming (all) 11.8 Running Road 5.6 Golf 5.0 Squash 3.8 Badminton 3.5 Tennis 2.8 Jogging 2.7 Cricket 2.4 Weight Training 2.4 31 to 35-year-olds Gym 16.0 Football (all) 15.8 Swimming (all) 12.5 Golf 6.4 Running Road 5.9 Squash 3.2 Badminton 2.9 Weight Training 2.5 Tennis 2.4 Running Cross Country/Beach 2.2 36 to 40-year-olds Swimming (all) 14.5 Gym 13.4 Football (all) 11.9 Golf 6.4 Running Road 4.9 Squash 3.1 Badminton 2.7 Tennis 2.5 Weight Training 2.5 Running Cross Country/Beach 2.3 41 to 55-year-olds Swimming (all) 11.8 Gym 9.7 Golf 6.9 Football (all) 6.6 Running Road 3.2 Badminton 2.6 Squash 2.2 Tennis 2.1 Running Cross Country/Beach 1.5 Weight Training 1.5 56 to 59-year-olds Golf 8.2 Swimming (all) 7.7 Gym 5.8 Badminton