Written Answers to Questions
Friday 13 March 2009
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Departmental Buildings
This Department will place in the Library a copy of the display energy certificates and their associated advisory reports in respect of each property occupied by this Department.
I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service and Companies House and they will respond to the hon. Member directly.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 13 March 2009:
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service in respect of your question (1096/2008) asking for display energy certificates and advisory reports to be placed in the House of Commons Library.
The Insolvency Service is placing a copy of these items in the Library in respect of each property occupied by the agency for which they are required.
Display Energy Certificates and advisory reports have been obtained for
Bloomsbury Street
Birmingham—Cannon House
Birmingham—Cobalt Square
Croydon
Leeds.
Letter from Tim Moss, dated 13 March 2009:
I am responding on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 5 February 2009, UIN 256038, to the Minister of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
As requested I have arranged for a copy of our Display Energy Certificate and the advisory report to be placed in the Library.
Departmental Data Protection
Information is a key asset to Government and its correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of HMG. The Security Policy Framework, the Data Handling Report and the National Information Assurance Strategy produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handle and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
BERR is compliant with the security policies contained in the Government Security Policy Framework including those for information security and assurance.
Information is a key asset to Government and its correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of HMG. The Security Policy Framework, the Data Handling Report and the National Information Assurance Strategy produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handle and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
It is not in the interests of the security of the Department, or that of the public, to disclose detailed information pertaining to the hierarchy of IT security within the Department. Disclosing such information would enable criminals and those who would attempt to cause disruptive threats to the Department to deduce how to conduct attacks and therefore potentially enhance their capability to carry out such attacks.
Information is a key asset to Government and its correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of HMG. The Security Policy Framework, the Data Handling Report and the National Information Assurance Strategy produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handle and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
It is not in the interest of the security of the Department, or that of the public, to disclose detailed information pertaining to electronic breaches of security of department's IT systems. Disclosing such information would enable criminals and those who would attempt to cause disruptive threats to the Department to deduce how to conduct attacks and therefore potentially enhance their capability to carry out such attacks.
Information is a key asset to Government and its correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of HMG. The Security Policy Framework, the Data Handling Report and the National Information Assurance Strategy produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handle and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
BERR is compliant with HMG IA Standard No 4 —Communication, Security and Cryptography for the encryption of data. BERR follows CESG guidance on the use of the Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) communications security protocols in order to protect wireless networks carrying protectively marked (up to RESTRICTED/IL3) traffic. The configuration and operation standards for WPA2 are set out in CESG's Infosec Manual Y, Use of WPA2 Wireless Security in Government Systems.
Information is a key asset to Government and its correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of HMG. The Security Policy Framework, the Data Handling Report and the National Information Assurance Strategy produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that government handles and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
Compliance arrangements comprise a system of self assessment, accreditation, assurance reporting, audit and review.
In the last 12 months fewer than five staff have broken BERR IT security policies and have been sanctioned for the breach.
Departmental Official Hospitality
This Department was formed in June 2007. In 2007-08, the budget for entertainment was £813,105. In 2008-09, the budget for entertainment is £749,442.
Departmental Official Visits
Expotel Hotel Reservations Ltd. deal with UK hotel accommodation on behalf of BERR.
Since BERR was established on 28 June 2007, the following hotel accommodation has been booked through Expotel:
28 June 2007 to 31 March 2008
6,772 nights at a total cost of £705,175.32.
1 April 2008 to 28 February 2009
8,790 nights at a total cost of £955,329.40.
BERR does not make a direct payment to Expotel. Expotel earn a commission from hotels for the bookings taken.
Departmental Training
A junior Minister in BERR has undertaken training at public expense since 1 January 2008.
There are no central rules governing the holding of departmental away days.
Away days are a useful development tool but as learning and development budgets are delegated to local units within BERR, it is up to those units to determine where they hold away days and for local budget holders to ensure value for money. This will depend on the nature and objectives of the away day and availability of departmental premises.
Members: Correspondence
[holding answer 3 March 2009]: I responded to the hon. Member on 1 March 2009.
Tourism: Coastal Areas
I have been asked to reply.
The English Tourism Council's report ‘Sea Change’ was published in 2001. I have made no recent assessment of the impact of that report on seaside towns, but it remains the case, as the report concluded, that seaside towns make a significant contribution to the cultural identity of England and contain some of the finest examples of our built heritage.
In a recent response to the Government Select Committee report, ‘Coastal Towns’, Government made clear the underlying principles that the visitor economy needs to be part of a wider agenda to regenerate and diversify the economies of coastal areas. The development of tourism has an important role to play but it is only one part of a bigger picture and it must also be linked with wider regeneration work in the region.
Last year my Department announced a programme called Sea Change, which will run for three years to 2011. It is intended to boost regeneration in coastal areas through investment in culture and heritage, and, giving £45 million in total, it will encourage new visitors to coastal areas and help support and enrich existing communities.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
The academies clauses in the Apprenticeships, Children, Skills and Learning Bill give powers to the Secretary of State which will enable him to require the YPLA to carry out certain academies functions. But the Secretary of State can only ask the YPLA to exercise, on his behalf, powers which he has himself, either in law, or through academy funding agreements.
Funding agreements contain requirements and certain express direction powers in relation to admissions. The YPLA, on behalf of the Secretary of State, would consider complaints and objections which relate to funding agreement admissions requirements, and could take action to remedy any breaches. That could include, for example, requiring an academy to change its admission arrangements to achieve compliance with the funding agreement. In relation to the express powers of direction available to the Secretary of State, we are considering whether or not it would be appropriate to authorise the YPLA to use these powers, relating to admissions either with or without the Secretary of State's prior approval.
Funding agreements also contain curriculum requirements and cover the need to have in place a behaviour policy and pay arrangements. However, there are no specific direction powers in these areas. Behaviour policies and pay are areas where academies are free to adopt the arrangements which they believe will best support raising standards.
Departmental Public Appointments
This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Training
Voice coach training is not part of the core training and development offering available to staff in the Department. However, local managers are able to book external courses based on identified need and value for money. A search of local records would result in disproportionate cost.
Domestic Violence: Curriculum
We agree that schools have an important role in raising awareness of domestic violence and abuse issues by giving children and young people the knowledge and skills to not only deal with their own anger but anger and violence directed towards them. Through the non-statutory framework for Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education children and young people are taught a number of the skills pertaining to relationships with partners, friends and family, thus promoting harmonious relationships. In October 2008, we announced our intention to make PSHE statutory, in recognition of the key role it plays in equipping children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need to lead healthy and successful lives. At the same time we launched an independent review of how the principle that PSHE should have a statutory status can be translated into a practicable way forward. Sir Alasdair Macdonald, the head teacher of Morpeth School in Tower Hamlets, is leading the independent review and will report in April 2009. Proposals for the statutory implementation of PSHE education will be the subject of a full public consultation. Due to the time needed for full public consultation and parliamentary process, statutory PSHE is unlikely to come into effect before 2011.
The secondary curriculum also encourages schools to tackle social issues through cross-curricular links. For example, Citizenship teaches children and young people about legal and human rights and responsibilities underpinning society, basic aspects of the criminal justice system and the importance of resolving conflict fairly.
Headteachers: Pay
The information available is not sufficiently reliable to provide the requested information for head teachers only.
The following table provides the number of local authority maintained school leadership teachers paid more than £80,000, £90,000, £100,000, £110,000 and £120,000 in March 2007 the latest information available.
Number £80,000 to £89,999 740 £90,000 to £99,999 290 £100,000 to £109,999 90 £110,000 to £119,999 20 Over £120,000 20 Total 1,160 1 Includes head, deputy and assistant head teachers. 2 Provisional. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Database of Teacher Records
Pupils
The information requested is given in the following table:
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Pupils on roll 8,334,880 8,274,470 8,215,690 8,149,180 8,102,190 (a) Pupils with SEN statements 247,590 242,580 236,750 229,110 223,610 Incidence (percentage)3 3.0 2.9 2.9 2.8 2.8 (b) Pupils with SEN without statements 1,197,490 1,230,800 1,293,250 1,333,430 1,390,670 Incidence (percentage)4 14.4 14.9 15.7 16.4 17.2 (c) Pupils with no SEN 6,889,800 6,801,090 6,685,690 6,586,640 6,487,910 Incidence (percentage)5 82.7 82.2 81.4 80.8 80.1 1 Excluding dually registered pupils. 2 Including general hospital schools but note that data for pupils with SEN without statements is not collected from these schools. Incidence rates are not significantly affected. 3 Incidence of pupils—the number of pupils with statements expressed as a proportion of the number of pupils on roll. 4 Incidence of pupils—the number of pupils with SEN without statements expressed as a proportion of pupils on roll. 5 Incidence of pupils—the number of pupils with no SEN expressed as a proportion of pupils on roll. Note: Totals may not appear to equal the sum of the component parts because numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School census
Figures on SEN pupils with and without statements are taken from tables 1a and 1b of the Statistical First Release on Special Educational Needs in England: January 2008, accessible via the following link:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000794/index.shtrril.
Schools: Drugs
We are committed to tackling all of the harms associated with cannabis use, including poor school performance or disengagement from education. Although there is no specific research currently planned on the effects of cannabis use on academic outcomes, we will keep this under review as part of our work in relation to developing a cross-Government drugs research strategy. Through delivery of the National Drugs Strategy we will continue to drive the sustained fall in cannabis use amongst young people that we have experienced since 2001.
The Department's guidance, Drugs: Guidance for Schools (DFES 2004) makes it clear that head teachers can introduce voluntary drug testing if they consider that such an approach is appropriate. It is essential that before a school takes the decision to introduce drug testing that it considers very carefully all of the factors outlined in the guidance, including whether such action will result in appropriate support for pupils most in need. In deciding whether to use this approach, schools are encouraged to consult with local partners, such as the police, who may be able to offer advice and support.
Secondary Education: Admissions
There are 164 local authority maintained secondary schools that select by ability in England. There are no such schools in the Leicestershire local authority area, nor in the Leicester East parliamentary constituency.
Communities and Local Government
Business Growth Incentive Scheme
Funding under the local authority business growth incentive scheme is paid as an unringfenced grant. Information about how the money is spent is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Council Tax: Valuation
This information is currently being assembled for publication. I will place a copy in the Library of the House as soon as possible.
Housing: Carbon Emissions
I have been asked to reply.
On Thursday 12 March the Government published a consultation on the Draft Order to implement the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC). As part of the consultation package of documents, DECC published a user guide which includes guidance on how scheme participants might calculate the emissions baseline.
The baseline year for CRC is 1 April 2010-31 March 2011. Prior to the baseline period commencing, the scheme administrators will publish detailed guidance on how scheme participants should calculate their emission baseline.
Local Government
The Local Government Act 2000 allowed local authorities whose area had a population of less than 85,000 on 30 June 1999 to adopt a reformed, streamlined committee system of governance instead of adopting governance arrangements with an executive. We understand that the following councils currently operate such a system:
Council
Alnwick district council
Babergh district council
Barrow-in-Furness borough council
Berwick-upon-Tweed borough council
Brentwood borough council
Bridgnorth district council
Broxbourne borough council
Castle Morpeth borough council
Christchurch borough council
Corby borough council
Craven district council
Daventry district council
East Cambridgeshire district council
East Dorset district council
East Northamptonshire district council
Ellesmere Port and Neston borough council
Epsom and Ewell borough council
Forest Heath district council
Forest of Dean district council
Gosport borough council
Harlow district council
Kennet district council
Maldon district council
Malvern Hills district council
Melton borough council
Mid Suffolk district council
North Cornwall district council
North Warwickshire borough council
Oadby and Wigston borough council
Penwith district council
Purbeck district council
Ribble Valley borough council
Richmondshire district council
Runnymede borough council
Ryedale district council
Selby district council
South Derbyshire district council
South Shropshire district council
Tandridge district council
Teesdale district council.
Tewkesbury borough council
Torridge district council
Tynedale district council
Uttlesford district council
Wear Valley district council
Wellingborough borough council
West Lindsey district council
Weymouth and Portland borough council
West Devon borough council
We are aware that eight of these authorities are considering moving to executive arrangements.
Local Government Finance
Business rates are pooled centrally and the revenue contributes towards funding local government alongside other grants.
I have placed in the Library of the House a table showing the details of amounts from the national business rates pool, the amounts of other grant payments and the proportion of the total that each represents, in each local authority area for 2007-08.
For Local Area Agreements (LAA) and Local Public Service Agreements (LPSAs) agreed prior to 2008 the total potential reward grant (if all targets are achieved) is equivalent to 2.5 per cent. of an authority's net budget requirement (the budget requirement plus dedicated schools grant less parish precepts) in the financial year prior to the start of the LAA or LPSA. In the case of two-tier areas, the net budget requirement of any district councils was also included in the calculation. Grants are paid as half revenue grant and half capital grant.
The proportion of the potential grant payable to any authority is determined by their performance in relation to the improvement targets agreed. Local authorities are currently submitting claims and £378 million is allocated to meet these claims in 2008-9. For 2009-10 a total of £257 million has been allocated. It is difficult to accurately predict in advance the exact funding levels required as this depends upon the final performance achieved in relation to each target.
Local Government Services: Children
Forty-five of local authorities have set targets in their local area agreements against National Indicator 116—Proportion of Children in Poverty. Performance data against the indicator apply to all areas in England, not just those areas that have a target.
The full list of local authorities across England that adopted this and other National Indicators is available on the Improvement and Development Agency for local government (IDeA) website:
http://www.idea.gov.uk
Non-Domestic Rates
Automated techniques have been used to inform the analysis of rents of industrial property in a limited number of local authority areas.
All final valuations will be produced by VOA staff.
Non-Domestic Rates: Ports
The letter contains information supplied to me on a confidential basis, and I am not therefore in a position to release it publicly.
Non-Domestic Rates: Small Businesses
Data on the number of businesses who are eligible for small business rate relief and do not claim as at 31 December 2008 are currently being collected and will be available later this year.
Regeneration
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 6 October 2008, Official Report, column 315W. Details are given in the Communities and Local Government resource accounts 2007-08 (HC791).
Regional Development Agencies: Finance
The Department for Communities and Local Government's contribution to the budgets of the Regional Development Agencies is covered by audits and performance assessments of RDAs. Annual audits are carried out by the National Audit Office for those RDAs outside of London and by the Audit commission for the London Development Agency. The Government have commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an independent evaluation of the economic impact of RDAs and will publish results from the evaluation shortly.
Regional Planning and Development
The departmental expenditure limits stated in the written ministerial statement of 12 February 2009, Official Report, column 74WS, para. 4(c), cover financial corrections relating to 97-99 closure audits in the NW and NE.
Regional Planning and Development: EC Action
In the Spring Supplementary Estimate 2008-09, the Department sought non-cash provision of £8,000,000 to cover potential write-offs in respect of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programmes from the 1994-99 and 2000-06 programme rounds.
Rented Housing: Greater London
The following tables set out the guideline rent increases for each local authority in London for the years 2004-05 to 2008-09.
Information on actual rent increases applied by London local authorities is not readily available.
Guideline rent pd 2004-05 (£) Guideline rent pd 2005-06 (£) Cash change (£) Percentage change Guideline rent pd 2006-07 (£) Cash change (£) Percentage change London Barnet 61.74 65.22 3.48 5.64 70.49 5.27 8.08 Brent 62.20 66.25 4.05 6.51 72.13 5.88 8.88 Camden 62.69 67.10 4.42 7.04 72.88 5.77 8.61 City of London 61.07 64.89 3.82 6.26 69.76 4.86 7.49 Croydon 62.43 65.60 3.17 5.08 70.71 5.11 7.79 Ealing 60.54 63.82 3.28 5.41 68.66 4.84 7.58 Enfield 59.65 62.77 3.12 5.24 67.77 5.00 7.96 Greenwich 57.79 60.94 3.15 5.46 66.24 5.30 8.70 Hackney 57.79 59.62 1.83 3.18 65.13 5.51 9.24 Haringey 62.14 65.94 3.80 6.11 70.97 5.04 7.64 Harrow 65.36 68.41 3.04 4.66 73.51 5.10 7.46 Havering 55.91 58.44 2.53 4.52 64.15 5.72 9.79 Hounslow 59.17 62.50 3.33 5.63 67.80 5.30 8.48 Islington 63.78 67.44 3.66 5.74 73.01 5.56 8.25 Lambeth 61.31 61.74 0.43 0.70 68.07 6.34 10.26 Lewisham 55.94 57.88 1.94 3.46 63.59 5.72 9.88 Merton 56.07 62.64 6.56 11.70 68.84 6.20 9.90 Newham 56.48 57.82 1.34 2.37 62.91 5.09 8.81 Redbridge 60.20 64.26 4.06 6.74 68.28 4.03 6.27 Southwark 59.92 63.50 3.58 5.97 69.05 5.55 8.75 Sutton 59.22 63.18 3.96 6.68 68.37 5.19 8.22 Tower Hamlets 59.21 63.16 3.95 6.66 69.12 5.96 9.44 Waltham Forest 59.01 60.91 1.91 3.23 66.45 5.53 9.09 Wandsworth 65.70 70.75 5.05 7.68 77.01 6.26 8.85 Westminster 68.62 73.21 4.59 6.69 79.19 5.97 8.16
Guideline rent pd 2007-08 (£) Cash change (£) Percentage change Guideline rent pd 2008-09 (£) Cash change (£) Percentage change London Barnet 77.77 7.28 10.32 79.42 1.65 2.12 Brent 79.80 7.67 10.64 81.82 2.01 2.52 Camden 83.22 10.34 14.18 85.50 2.29 2.75 City of London 77.88 8.12 11.64 79.70 1.82 2.34 Croydon 77.79 7.08 10.01 79.39 1.61 2.07 Ealing 76.84 8.18 11.91 77.52 0.68 0.89 Enfield 74.46 6.69 9.88 75.97 1.50 2.02 Greenwich 73.31 7.06 10.66 75.05 1.75 2.38 Hackney 71.88 6.75 10.36 73.53 1.64 2.29 Haringey 77.68 6.70 9.45 79.26 1.58 2.04 Harrow 80.89 7.37 10.03 82.56 1.68 2.07 Havering 70.52 6.36 9.92 71.94 1.42 2.01 Hounslow 75.00 7.20 10.61 76.70 1.70 2.27 Islington 81.75 8.74 11.97 83.76 2.01 2.46 Lambeth 76.00 7.92 11.64 78.10 2.10 2.77 Lewisham 70.53 6.94 10.91 72.04 1.51 2.14 Merton 76.21 7.37 10.70 78.08 1.87 2.46 Newham 69.56 6.65 10.56 71.15 1.59 2.29 Redbridge 75.13 6.84 10.02 76.69 1.56 2.08 Southwark 76.87 7.82 11.32 78.72 1.85 2.40 Sutton 75.76 7.38 10.80 77.65 1.89 2.50 Tower Hamlets 77.20 8.07 11.68 79.47 2.27 2.94 Waltham Forest 73.11 6.66 10.02 74.83 1.72 2.35 Wandsworth 87.21 10.20 13.24 89.49 2.28 2.61 Westminster 88.18 9.00 11.36 90.34 2.16 2.45
Culture, Media and Sport
Film: Government Assistance
The Government’s principal support for the UK film industry is through the film tax relief which encourages the sustainable production of culturally British films. Figures from HM Revenue and Customs tell us this provided £104 million to the industry between January 2007 and March 2008.
The Government continue to support the British film industry through the UK Film Council. The Film Council is the Government’s strategic agency for film and invests grant in aid and lottery money in developing new filmmakers, in funding exciting new British films and in getting a wider choice of films to audiences throughout the UK. The Film Council also invests in training, promoting Britain as an international filmmaking location and in raising the profile of British films abroad.
We are in continual dialogue with the Film Council about potential new methods and ways to improve current schemes to support the industry and to help filmmakers deliver the box office and awards successes we have seen recently.
The Public Service Broadcasters, the BBC and Channel 4, also contribute support to the industry through their film divisions.
National Lottery
The table shows the total income for each of the national lottery good causes for each financial year since 1995. Figures are adjusted to 2007-08 prices, using GDP deflators for the most recent year available from the Treasury. All figures are rounded to the nearest £000.
The sport good cause comprises the following Lottery Distributing Bodies: UK Sport, Sport England, Sport Northern Ireland, Sports Council Wales and Sport Scotland. The arts good cause comprises Arts Council England, Arts Council Wales, Arts Council Northern Ireland, Scottish Screen, UK Film Council and Scottish Arts Council. The millennium good cause comprises the Millennium Commission, which was dissolved in 2006-07. The heritage good cause comprises the Heritage Lottery Fund. The health, education, environment and charitable expenditure good cause comprises the Big Lottery Fund, which is the successor to the Community Fund and the New Opportunities Fund.
Amount adjusted to 2007-08 prices (£000) Sport 1995-96 414,449,000 1996-97 412,903,000 1997-98 461,478,000 1998-99 376,564,000 1999-2000 336,684,000 2000-01 354,988,000 2001-02 355,436,000 2002-03 294,489,000 2003-04 252,162,000 2004-05 258,795,000 2005-06 258,242,000 2006-07 219,656,000 2007-08 217,040,000 The Arts 1995-96 414,307,000 1996-97 410,549,000 1997-98 449,106,000 1998-99 350,408,000 1999-2000 322,940,000 2000-01 333,917,000 2001-02 344,006,000 2002-03 288,519,000 2003-04 251,233,000 2004-05 257,352,000 2005-06 256,301,000 2006-07 216,497,000 2007-08 214,523,000 Millennium 1995-96 415,414,000 1996-97 418,542,000 1997-98 505,854,000 1998-99 487,632,000 1999-2000 431,085,000 2000-01 412,032,000 2001-02 164,547,000 2002-03 24,396,000 2003-04 7,140,000 2004-05 6,568,000 2005-06 4,162,000 2006-07 1,651,000 2007-08 — Heritage 1995-96 413,487,000 1996-97 412,764,000 1997-98 464,612,000 1998-99 385,851,000 1999-2000 355,982,000 2000-01 380,591,000 2001-02 377,282,000 2002-03 331,955,000 2003-04 273,268,000 2004-05 287,588,000 2005-06 285,886,000 2006-07 238,112,000 2007-08 217,043,000 Health, education, the environment and charitable expenditure 1995-96 415,122,000 1996-97 412,853,000 1997-98 596,000,000 1998-99 783,272,000 1999-2000 670,433,000 2000-01 640,705,000 2001-02 895,866,000 2002-03 870,631,000 2003-04 755,864,000 2004-05 774,797,000 2005-06 770,942,000 2006-07 648,155,000 2007-08 651,124,000
Defence
Defence Intelligence Staff: Manpower
I refer the hon. Member to my answer on 9 February 2009, Official Report, column 1528W. I should point out that the answer contained an error for April 2007. The correct figure is provided in the following table.
The breakdown of DIS staff numbers for the years since April 2006 is as follows:
2006-07 2007-08 2008 Military 2,696 2,609 2,577 Civilian 1,724 1,699 1,788 Total 4,420 4,308 4,365
The projected figures for the next five years are:
2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Military 2,798 2,842 2,873 2,860 2,860 Civilian 1,874 1,880 1,823 1,820 1,820 Total 4,672 4,722 4,696 4,680 4,680
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Costs incurred on reimbursable expenses in 2008-09, will be available only when the Department's resource accounts are fully audited and laid before Parliament. This is expected to be before the 2009 summer recess.
Departmental Public Consultation
No payments have been made centrally by the MOD to either Deborah Mattinson or Opinion Leader Research Limited since December 2007.
Central payments represent some 95 per cent. of the departmental total and exclude only those payments made (a) on behalf of other Government Departments or by other Government Departments on the MOD's behalf, (b) by the MOD's trading funds (which lie outside the MOD's accounting boundary), (c) locally by the Department, or (d) in relation to collaborative projects where the payments are made through international procurement agencies or overseas Governments.
Departmental Visits Abroad
Since 1999, the Government have published a list of all overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers costing over £500. Information for the financial year 2007-08 was published on 22 July 2008, Official Report, column 102WS, and for the first time, included details of overseas visits undertaken by all Ministers. The information is also available at:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/cabinetoffice/propriety_and_ethics/assets/travel_2007_2008.pdf
The information for the financial year 2008-09 will be published as soon as possible after the end of the financial year. All travel by Ministers is undertaken in accordance with the “Ministerial Code”.
The expenditure incurred in respect of overseas visits by senior officials is made in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code and the requirement to make efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. However, the details for 2008 could be collected only at disproportionate cost.
Ex-servicemen: Mental Health Services
Health care for veterans is the responsibility of the health departments and NHS and the 2009 NHS Operating Framework includes a section on veterans' services. NHS services such as screening are not decided centrally but commissioned in line with local needs and priorities. MOD, DOH and the third sector are working together to raise awareness of military issues among civilian health professionals and administrators and NHS-led veterans’ mental health services providing best practice assessment and treatment in an accessible acceptable way are being piloted at sites across the country. These pilots will run for two years with independent evaluation and analysis. Lessons learned will inform future service planning. For those veterans with mental health problems living outside pilot areas and who have served in operations since 1982, the Medical Assessment Programme at St. Thomas's hospital, London, provides a mental health assessment by an expert in the problems that arise from military service. Treatment recommendations are then made to the GP.
Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
Records held by the MOD reflect the difference between the amount of blood supplied to operations and the amount transfused. From August 2007 to the end of February 2009, the difference between the amount of blood supplied to Iraq and the amount transfused was 396 units of blood platelets and five units of fresh frozen plasma. Each unit contains approximately 300 ml. There are a number of reasons for this difference, for example expiration of the use-by date, damage in transit or accidental exposure to high temperature.
Prior to August 2007, information was not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Northern Ireland Security Guard Service
The Northern Ireland Security Guard Service (NISGS) are MOD employees and are a professional, armed and trained body who provide security at MOD establishments in Northern Ireland. The NISGS review was initiated in order to examine the structure and responsibilities of the NISGS as part of the normalisation process. It was neither designed as a review into NISGS capability nor as a security review. It was divided into two parts: Part 1 examined the establishment (numbers) of the NISGS to support the reducing number of military bases and examine their roles and responsibilities; Part 2 was to determine future requirements including the retention of special constable (SC) status.
The paper has been staffed through the chain of command and the review is in its final stage. The decision on removal or retention of SC status is pending until consultation with trade unions is complete and resource implications are fully addressed.
We expected the review to be completed by the end of 2008 but this deadline was internal and self-imposed by HQ NI and 38 (Irish) Brigade. The review was more complex than originally anticipated with a broad range of subject matter experts’ views to be sought. Further work was therefore directed to ensure all resource implications and advice had been properly addressed. The report date was therefore slipped to the end of March 2009, with the full knowledge of both the MOD and trade unions. Trade union consultation on the findings of the review will commence shortly, before promulgation of the outcome to NISGS personnel.
Energy and Climate Change
Members: Correspondence
I signed a reply to the hon. Member on 9 March and apologise for the delay, which was due to departmental re-organisation.
Warm Front Scheme: Lancashire
Warm Front grants to residents in West Lancashire totalled £1,333,018.45 in 2007-08.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Land
No estimates for the area of farmland in England by land grade classification have been made. Figures for Wales fall under the jurisdiction of the devolved authority.
Recycling: Glass
There are no plans to do so, however, where an agreement has been made between the waste generator and the local authority or site operator, then such commercial use of a site is permitted.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
British Council: Finance
The British Council, received £6 million funding, over three years, for their Reconnect programme. The main aim of the initiative is to train 10,000 overseas young leaders at most risk of radicalisation or extremism. Decisions on particular funding allocations for countries or projects are based on a number of factors including the priority the Foreign and Commonwealth Office accords a particular country as well as the quality of particular project proposals. This programme will be monitored regularly to ensure it remains on track and will be evaluated on completion. The British Council has ongoing professional evaluation in place for all its programmes.
Departmental Training
We have identified and defined the core skills needed to deliver the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)’s departmental strategic objectives, and existing levels of proficiency. We are also defining specialist skills which reflect the work of the FCO across its network. As part of this process we mapped skills required against roles within the organisation. The next step will be to record the skills we have throughout our work force. This will be an ongoing process which will help inform decisions on learning and development, recruitment and workforce planning.
I am placing in the Library of the House information on our skills work. The documents set out our core skills, which are compatible with Professional Skills for Government, and details and explanations of levels of proficiency. The documents also give details of the mapping exercise which identified skills within the organisation and contributed to the development of the core skills framework.
EU Globalisation Fund
The UK has made no applications to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund since 2007.
Iran: Arms Trade
I am aware of reports that Iran has breached UN Security Council Resolution 1747 by attempting to transfer arms-related material via the MV Monchegorsk, a Cypriot-flagged vessel.
We understand that the MV Monchegorsk was ordered into Limassol harbour by the Government of Cyprus in late January, where it now remains. Cypriot Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou has said that the Monchegorsk was in “clear” breach of UN sanctions banning Iran from exporting arms and related material. Cyprus has dealt with the situation effectively and entirely in line with UN and EU requirements.
We continue to urge Iran to comply with international law. It is unacceptable that Iran acts in breach of UN Resolutions and such action only serves to further undermine international confidence in Iran.
Somalia: Peacekeeping Operations
The UK supports the mandate given to the African Union (AU) Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) by the UN, most recently through UN Security Council Resolution 1863. This resolution provides a mandate to AMISOM until 16 July 2009, as well as providing for a package of support to that mission. The AU’s own mandate for this mission is a matter for AU member states themselves, but the UK has encouraged these states to extend this mandate beyond 19 March 2009, including by my noble Friend Lord Malloch-Brown at the AU Summit on 1-2 February 2009. The UK is also supporting the implementation of AMISOM’s mandate financially, with a contribution of £10 million during this financial year toward the costs of the mission. We also intend to contribute to the UN trust fund and logistical support package for AMISOM authorised under resolution 1863.
Tibet: Politics and Government
We have received several reports of increased security measures in Tibet, including significant increases in numbers of People’s Armed Police and People’s Liberation Army forces into Tibetan areas, severely restricting Tibetans’ right of freedom of expression.
We have also received claims from several sources that the so-called ‘Strike Hard’ campaign launched in January 2009 has in fact been used for political purposes, rather than its stated aim of cracking down on criminal activity. We are concerned at such reports, and continue to urge the Chinese authorities to respect the right of peaceful expression and assembly in Tibet.
Health
Cannabis: Research
At the request of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, the Government’s advisory committee on drugs, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) carried out a substantial review last year of the harms associated with cannabis use, including the physical and psychological effects of cannabis. The report, “Cannabis: Classification and Public Health (2008)”, was published in May 2008 and copies have already been placed in the Library.
Christmas
The Department does not offer its staff either additional leave entitlement for Christmas shopping or Christmas bonus payments.
Staff can request an advance on December salary—up to £500 for full-time staff (pro-rated for part-time staff)—to help them budget over the Christmas period. This advance is paid with November salary and recovered in full from December salary.
Cord Blood
(2) what plans he has for the involvement of (a) Government bodies, (b) the third sector and (c) the private sector in his Department’s consideration of the collection and use of cord blood.
Following the publication of the international comparison report on cord blood banking policy and practice, the Department is assessing the need to enhance national health service cord blood collection services to ensure the United Kingdom remains at the forefront of this work and able to meet its international obligations in matching stem cell donations to patients in need of a transplant.
The two largest UK bodies providing stem cells for unrelated transplant, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and the Anthony Nolan Trust, have been asked to report back to us by the end of March 2009. There are no plans to involve other organisations at this time.
Departmental Car Allowances
Guidance on mileage allowances for Agenda for Change Staff, which includes district nurses, is set out at Section 17 of the Agenda for Change terms and conditions of service handbook. The mileage allowances are set out at Annex L of this handbook. These allowances were last increased on 1 July 2008 in Pay Circular (A for C) 4/2008 issued on 7 July 2008. A copy of the Pay Circular has been placed in the Library.
Unless specified in individual terms and conditions, very senior managers follow this Agenda for Change guidance
Guidance for hospital medical and dental staff and doctors and dentists in public health, the community health service and salaried primary dental care (England) is set out in Pay Circular (M and D) 5/2008 issued on 4 August 2008. A copy of the Pay Circular has been placed in the Library.
Changes to all these national allowances are published in pay circulars issued by NHS employers and are available, along with the Agenda for Change terms and conditions of service handbook, at:
www.nhsemployers.org/Pages/home.aspx
Departmental Internet
Page hits for the main departmental websites are detailed as follows.
Page hits for the Department’s website:
www.dh.gov.uk
March 2008 to February 2009—64,678,663
Number of visits Page impressions February 2009 1,361,442 5,642,052 January 2009 1,507,257 6,205,364 December 2008 1,041,753 4,403,460 November 2008 1,278,086 5,578,886 October 2008 1,257,254 5,555,268 September 2008 1,126,097 4,717,921 August 2008 859,571 3,647,145 July 2008 1,226,589 5,122,615 June 2008 1,389,120 5,883,074 May 2008 1,316,806 5,842,608 April 2008 1,402,508 6,474,523 March 2008 1,191,293 5,605,747
Page hits for:
www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk
March 2008 to February 2009—1,756,641
Number of visits Page impressions February 2009 44,594 133,699 January 2009 47,567 143,423 December 2008 52,483 156,840 November 2008 61,437 181,291 October 2008 65,873 190,170 September 2008 47,812 133,031 August 2008 43,895 126,039 July 2008 55,151 137,455 June 2008 68,211 147,110 May 2008 80,641 145,979 April 2008 79,440 138,647 March 2008 65,210 122,957
Page hits for:
www.nhs.uk
March 2008 to February 2009—199,738,205
Number of visits Page impressions February 2009 5,730,784 28,675,990 January 2009 5,653,486 28,419,522 December 2008 4,057,157 19,962,397 November 2008 4,243,219 22,078,113 October 2008 3,118,019 14,362,161 September 2008 2,636,926 12,982,408 August 2008 2,566,666 13,004,201 July 2008 2,834,392 14,488,807 June 2008 2,522,515 12,837,873 May 2008 2,239,637 11,122,658 April 2008 2,053,826 11,436,278 March 2008 1,927,864 10,367,797 Notes: Explanation of terms Visits: the number of times a visitor has entered a website within a given timescale. Thus, multiple visits are recorded. Page impressions: also known as ‘hits’, this is when a website page is displayed on a visitor’s browser. To provide page hits for the other websites listed in the 4 February answer would incur disproportionate cost.
Departmental Lost Property
From 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2008, the following items of departmental property were reported as lost or stolen with an estimated total replacement cost of £40,000.
Number Laptop computers 37 Mobile phones 19 Blackberry handheld devices 18 Projectors 3 Audio conferencing phone 1 Other miscellaneous equipment 8
There are strict rules on data security that the Department is required to adhere to. Safeguards include the encryption of all electronic equipment including memory sticks and PDAs and the Department is confident that no personal data have been compromised.
Drugs
In relation to substance misuse, following World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, the term ‘addiction’ has been replaced by ‘dependence’.
The WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 clinical defines ‘dependence’ as:
“A cluster of physiological, behavioural, and cognitive phenomena in which the use of a substance or a class of substances takes on a much higher priority for a given individual than other behaviours that once had greater value. A central descriptive characteristic of the dependence syndrome is the desire (often strong, sometimes overpowering) to take psychoactive drugs (which may or may not have been medically prescribed), alcohol, or tobacco. There may be evidence that return to substance use after a period of abstinence leads to a more rapid reappearance of other features of the syndrome than occurs with nondependent individuals.”
‘Addiction’ can also be understood to refer to some patterns of compulsive behaviour not involving substance misuse, but there is no ICD-10 definition encompassing this meaning.
Eating Disorders
It is for local national health service employers to recruit their own staff to best meet the health care needs of their local population.
Hospitals: Transport
The information requested is not held centrally.
The hon. Member may wish to approach his local national health service organisations for further information.
Hospitals: Waiting Lists
The median referral to treatment waiting times by treatment function for each national health service acute trust in each month for which figures are available since 2007 are shown in the document, “Median by month acute trusts”, which shows data for each organisation as they were submitted to the Department in the relevant year, has been placed in the Library.
Nationally, the median referral to treatment time waited of patients who were admitted for treatment has come down from 18.8 weeks when data were first collected in March 2007 to 7.6 weeks in December 2008. Nationally, the median referral to treatment time waited for non-admitted patients was 4.1 weeks in December 2008, compared to 7.4 weeks in August 2007 when data were first collected.
NHS Treatment Centres: Private Sector
No research has been commissioned to date on the future financial position of independent sector treatment centres.
Plans for the management of contract expiry including independent sector treatment centre wave 1 contracts are being developed. Consideration of Phase 2 has not begun, as the contracts will expire between 2011 and 2017. Decisions will be taken based on local service need and value for money. All of this will be considered as part of the process.
Primary care trusts as commissioners and strategic health authorities will have an important role in taking this work forward. No other bodies are currently involved.
The total cost liability associated with the treatment of national health service patients arising from the independent sector treatment programme (ISTC) over the next five years is estimated to be £1,412 million. (This is the expected payment to ISTC Wave 1 and Phase 2 providers based on the contracted value of activity for the next five years from 1 April 2009).
There are no plans to bring national health service independent sector treatment centre (ISTC) facilities into the NHS at this stage. The ISTC providers are part of NHS capacity.
NHS: ICT
Measuring health outcomes and using that information to improve services is integral to the delivery of effective health care. For example, cancer registry data are used in the planning and delivery of services, and also on a wider scale for the development of national policy on public health interventions and for the prioritisation of research. The National Programme for IT infrastructure provides a vehicle for collecting, sharing and storing health outcomes data, among many other applications.
The specific information requested is not available as a separately identifiable reporting line within overall national health service expenditure.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 9 March 2009, Official Report, columns 117-18W.
NHS: Standards
There is no standard definition of ‘routine surgical operations’. The national health service collects information on surgical operations from a range of data sources, for example:
(i) There are limited clinical audit outcomes data on surgery for cancer (lung, head and neck, bowel, oesophago-gastric, mastectomy and breast re-construction), and heart disease (cardiac and paediatric surgery). Reports on these have been placed in the Library.
(ii) Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) is the national statistical records-based system for England for the care provided by NHS hospitals and for NHS hospital patients treated elsewhere. Each HES record—one for each period of care—contains clinical information about diagnoses and operation. There is no nationally agreed definition of ‘main procedure and intervention’. Each episode in HES has 24 procedure and intervention fields. The ‘main procedure and intervention’ should be the one that is the most resource intensive. Procedure and interventions are recorded using the latest version of the Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys: Classification of Interventions and Procedures, 4th Revision, OPCS-4.4 for 2008-09, and a copy of this has been placed in the Library.
The National Centre for Health Outcomes Development (NCHOD) has linked HES data with Office for National Statistics deaths data to develop indicators on deaths within 30-days of a coronary artery bypass graft and within 30-days of surgery for non-elective admissions (excluding diagnostic procedures and spells with cancer).
(iii) Patient Reported Outcome Measures—From 1 April 2009 all providers of NHS-funded care who are subject to the terms of the Standard NHS contract for acute services will be obliged to invite patients undergoing hip and knee replacements, groin hernia and varicose vein surgeries to complete patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) questionnaires.
The Department is actively exploring extending the use of PROMs into other clinical areas including long-term conditions. Any future decision to extend the use of PROMs will be based on a sound evidence base.
The Department is aware of a number of examples where local providers and regional networks are involved in other data collection exercises, including local PROMs collection, although there is no central register of these activities.
“High Quality Care for All” stressed quality as the organising principle of the NHS and the need for this to be supported by measurement. Therefore, the Department set out the vision for developing quality indicators across patient safety, effectiveness and patient experience including outcomes of care, PROMs and surgical outcomes, and using these to improve the quality of services in the NHS. This is described in “Measuring for Quality Improvement (MQI)—The Approach”. A copy of this document has been placed in the Library.
Prostate Cancer
(2) when he expects the revised prostate cancer risk management programme to be published;
(3) what plans he has to (a) monitor and (b) evaluate the use of the revised prostate cancer risk management programme by GPs.
A comprehensive strategy has been developed to inform general practitioners (GPs) of the revised prostate cancer risk management programme (PCRMP) when it is relaunched in summer 2009. This includes:
a medical press launch;
proactive educational programmes;
development of a slide set;
a road show using the slide set, co-ordinated by the British Association of Urological Surgeons;
a web cast;
making the PCRMP materials available on GP information technology systems;
a peer reviewed paper in a peer reviewed journal; and
a British Medical Journal e-learning module.
The Cancer Research UK Primary Care Education Research Group will undertake a detailed evaluation of the use and effectiveness of the revised PCRMP packs, as they did with the original packs.
Schizophrenia
The information requested is not available.
Each mental health service user should have an opportunity to be actively involved in agreeing their treatment plans wherever possible. This is not dependent on diagnosis, but may be affected by the severity of the condition at any particular time.
Suffolk Primary Care Trust: Consultants
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no discussions with the East of England strategic health authority on Suffolk primary care trust’s understatement of spending on management consultants.
Home Department
Identity Cards: Marketing
IPS has budgeted to spend approximately 0.25 per cent. of the 2008-09 budget for the national identity scheme for publicity and advertising.
Written Questions: Government Responses
I wrote to the hon. Member on 12 March. My Department makes every effort to answer all Members correspondence within a reasonable time scale. However, this is not always possible.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Departmental Data Protection
Information is a key asset to Government and its correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of HMG. The Security Policy Framework, the Data Handling Report and the National Information Assurance Strategy produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handle and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
It is not in the interest of the security of the Department, or that of the public, to disclose detailed information pertaining to the specific technical measures employed to protect our networks (wireless or other). Disclosing such information would enable criminals and those who would attempt to cause disruptive threats to the Department to deduce how to conduct attacks and therefore potentially enhance their capability to carry out such attacks.
The Department follows CESG guidance on the use of the Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) communications security protocols in order to protect wireless networks carrying protectively marked (up to RESTRICTED/IL3) traffic. The configuration and operation standards for WPA2 are set out in CESG’s Infosec Manual Y, Use of WPA2 Wireless Security in Government Systems. The Department also complies with HMG IA Standard No 4—Communication, Security and Cryptography for the encryption of data.
(2) what scanning for vulnerabilities his Department conducts of each of its IT devices; what method is used for IT device scans; and how many vulnerabilities have been detected as a result of such scans in the last 12 months.
Information is a key asset to Government and its correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of HMG. The Security Policy Framework, the Data Handling Report and the National Information Assurance Strategy produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handle and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
It is not in the interest of the security of the Department, or that of the public, to disclose detailed information pertaining to electronic breaches of security of Department’s IT systems. Disclosing such information would enable criminals and those who would attempt to cause disruptive threats to the Department to deduce how to conduct attacks and therefore potentially enhance their capability to carry out such attacks.
Information is a key asset to Government and its correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of HMG. The Security Policy Framework, the Data Handling Report and the National Information Assurance Strategy produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handle and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
The Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills is compliant with the security policies contained in the Government Security Policy Framework including those for information security and assurance.
Depending upon the circumstances, a range of sanctions are available including disciplinary or administrative action, and in extreme or persistent cases, termination of employment/services and, if appropriate, criminal proceedings.
Departmental Lost Property
According to our records, the following items have been lost or stolen in the last 12 months.
17 security tokens lost, of which one was subsequently recovered, estimated cost of £1,120
Two Laptops stolen, of which one was subsequently recovered, estimated cost of £1,400
Two Blackberry devices stolen, estimated cost of £400
Three Blackberry devices lost, one of which was subsequently recovered estimated cost of £400
Departmental Official Hospitality
The Department records details of expenditure on food aggregated with wider costs for events such as conferences and meetings or with general entertainment expenses, as well as being included in individual subsistence claims. Where there is a spend on alcohol, this is also aggregated with costs for conferences and meetings. Consequently, the information requested is available only at disproportionate cost.
All expenditure incurred, including that on food and alcohol, is in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
In particular, there is a presumption that public money will not be used to purchase alcohol. However, exceptionally, if not providing alcohol to non-civil servants could lead to greater embarrassment for the Department, moderate amounts (in quantity and quality) may be purchased for formal gatherings such as meals or presentations. As with any expenditure on personal entertainment, the reasons are required to be justified.
The Department does not have a specific budget for entertainment. In respect of expenditure, the Department records details of expenditure on entertainment aggregated with costs for events such as conferences and meetings as well as being included in some individual subsistence claims. Consequently, the information requested is available only at disproportionate cost.
All expenditure incurred is in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Departmental Postal Services
The Department's postal services are provided through the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Research Councils, which manage the buildings that DIUS occupies. None of these organisations separates mail sent by DIUS from its own mail, so information on the number of items of mail sent by DIUS is not held.
Royal Mail has been the sole postal service provider for all office locations in the last 12 months.
Postgraduate Education
Information on the socio-economic group of postgraduate students is not held centrally. Socio-economic group information is held for full-time undergraduate students, as it is collected as part of the UCAS application process. Postgraduates apply directly to institutions, rather than through UCAS, so this information is not collected.
Skilled Workers: Rural Areas
The Department for Communities and Local Government published ‘England's Seaside Towns—a Benchmarking Study’ in November 2008. The report presents a range of statistical evidence on socio-economic conditions including skills and qualifications in seaside towns and compares figures with regional and English averages.
The Department for Innovation, Universities, and Skills is represented on the cross-Government working group which commissioned this report. A copy of the report has been placed in the House Libraries.
International Development
Colombia: Overseas Aid
Details on Official Development Assistance (ODA) can be found on the OECD Development Assistance Committee's (DAC) website at:
www.oecd.org/dac/stats/idsonline.
The relevant figures are reproduced below.
Total ODA to Columbia 1999 301.97 2000 186.51 2001 380.12 2002 439.72 2003 801.07 2004 518.38 2005 624.59 2006 987.44 2007 730.83
Departmental Visits Abroad
Since 1999, the Government have published a list of all overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers costing over £500. Information for the financial year 2007-08 was published on 22 July 2008, Official Report, column 102WS and for the first time, included details of overseas visits undertaken by all Ministers. All travel by Ministers is undertaken in accordance with the ministerial code.
Private Sector
The Department for International Development’s (DFID) Private Sector Development Strategy was launched in January 2009 and is available on the DFID website at:
www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/Private-Sector-development-strategy.pdf
No review is currently under way.
Terrorism: Finance
(2) how much of the £300 million his Department plans to spend on tackling terrorism and promoting understanding overseas will be spent (a) in each country and (b) on each type of project in each year from 2008-09 to 2010-11;
(3) how he plans to assess the effectiveness of his Department's expenditure to tackle terrorism and promote understanding overseas.
Pursuant to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's answer of 3 March 2009 highlighting expenditure to tackle radicalisation and promote understanding overseas, £300 million represents the portion of the Department for International Development's (DFID) budget that will be spent on poverty reduction programmes that help to address the development-related causes of radicalisation.
The £300 million (over the period 2008-11) will be spent in Pakistan (£131 million), Bangladesh (£67 million), Somalia (£7 million), Kenya (£17 million), Sudan (£19 million), Yemen (£37 million), Afghanistan (£19 million), and Iraq (£1 million). These figures are subject to revision based on modifications to DFID's country assistance programmes.
The programmes in these countries will help to build Government institutions that are more efficient and accountable to their people, promote good governance and the rule of law, education reform and skills provision, access to equitable and affordable justice and police reform. These programmes will contribute to counter-radicalisation objectives by addressing the underlying social, political and economic grievances that can bring some communities to support violent extremism.
Zimbabwe: Overseas Aid
The Department for International Development's (DFID) programme in Zimbabwe is focused on providing immediate humanitarian support and broader livelihoods assistance to meet the essential needs of the people of Zimbabwe. This year we have provided: £9 million to the World Food programme for food aid; £10 million to support the growing season; and £10 million to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. We also recently made £10 million available to tackle the cholera outbreak and support life-saving essential health systems. We anticipate a total spend of £49 million this financial year across these vital areas of support. Our aid is channelled through the UN and NGOs and not the Government of Zimbabwe.
We anticipate the need for sustained large-scale humanitarian support from the international community for the foreseeable future and we are monitoring the situation very closely. However, a sustainable and credible political solution is required to fully address Zimbabwe's problems. In principle, we are ready to support economic and social recovery in Zimbabwe but this will depend on the new Government's commitment to reform, including a clear commitment to macroeconomic stabilisation and sound economic management; restoration of the rule of law; commitment to democracy; respect for human rights, and the guarantee of full humanitarian access.
Justice
Departmental Bank Services
For the financial year 2008-09, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) have held contracts with banks for the provision of banking operational services only, and not for the provision of financial advice.
All MOJ Banking transactions are completed in line with the MOJ Banking and Cash Handling policies that have been drawn up in accordance with HM Treasury guidelines.
Under section 18 of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866, the Treasury determines the banks at which public monies can be kept. Public monies are held centrally by the Exchequer to the maximum possible extent consistent with value for money principles.
Legal Opinion
The accounting systems in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and the Office of Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) do not separately distinguish expenditure on external legal expenses from other types of legal expenditure. This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, OCJR has been able to determine that expenditure on external legal advice in 2007-08 was £64,304.71.
For activities relating to the former Department of Constitutional Affairs (comprising the core department and its agencies, HM Courts Service, Tribunal Service and Office of the Public Guardian) accounting records indicate that expenditure over the last five years on external legal services was as follows:
£ 2004-05 1,827,261 2005-06 968,636 2006-07 1,914,155 2007-08 2.297,148 2008-09 (to 31 December 2008) 1,537,176
Expenditure on external legal services includes all use of counsel and solicitors in private practice and excludes advice from in house legal advisers or Treasury Solicitors.
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) and the Ministry of Justice have not commissioned specific research on the effect of CDS Direct or the DSCC on the number and proportion of suspects who receive legal advice in person, but the LSC continues to record the number of cases funded each year. In 2007-08, there were 602,000 (574,000) cases in which publicly funded legal advice was provided in person at a police station and 94,000 (48,000) cases in which telephone advice was provided by an individual solicitor or firm. In addition, in 2007-08 CDS Direct dealt with 78,000 (123,000) telephone advice cases. Final figures will not be available until after the financial year ends, but the figures in brackets represent cases for the 2008-09 period up to February 2009.
The Defence Solicitor Call Centre handles all requests for legal advice from police stations and refers them, as appropriate, to either the duty solicitor, the detainee's own solicitor if they have one, or to Criminal Defence Service (CDS) Direct.
CDS Direct is a separate service which provides telephone advice to individuals detained at police stations in England and Wales in relation to one of a small group of specified offences such as drink driving. These are relatively less serious, non-imprisonable offences that do not normally require the police to interview the suspect and therefore telephone advice is considered to be appropriate and cost-effective. In February and April 2008 the service was expanded in two phases to handle all cases appropriate for telephone advice, including those where the detainee has named a particular solicitor or firm. Even prior to the expansion of CDS Direct, if a named solicitor provided advice directly to a client on a case involving this group of offences, that solicitor would receive a fee from public funds for telephone advice only. The expansion of CDS Direct in early 2008 has not increased the scope of publicly funded telephone advice or reduced entitlement to face to face advice.
Michael Shields
On 17 December the High Court decided that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor could consider an application from Mr. Shields for a free pardon and he immediately appointed senior counsel to advise him. On counsel's advice he asked the Merseyside police to look at certain matters arising on Mr. Shields' application.
My right hon. Friend is determined to make the best and fairest decision that he can, but he can do so only after properly assessing all of the material that is available and his consideration needs to be thorough. Regrettably he does not anticipate that it will be possible to make a decision before the end of May at the earliest.
National Offender Management Service: Temporary Employment
NOMS expenditure on agency and temporary staff is shown in the following table. Owing to the way data is recorded on accounting systems it is not possible to show a split between agency staff and temporary staff. Within NOMS centre and HMPS staff on short-term employment contracts are not included as their costs are included in overall salary account codes. For Probation—NPS—both agency staff and temporary staff are within the figures shown in the table. It would not be possible to split these figures without asking for work to be carried out at each business unit within the NOMS agency, which would incur disproportionate costs.
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 NOMS 2,159,550 3,542,483 5,428,550 5,932,227 NPS 12,025,000 19,764,000 14,565,000 15,476,000 HMPS 45,883,000 30,999,000 25,028,000 21,461.000 Total 60,067,550 54,305,483 45,021,550 42,869,227
Offensive Weapons: Mentally Disturbed Offenders
I have been asked to reply.
This information is not held centrally.
Police Custody
Operation Safeguard was activated in mid-October 2006 and ended just before Christmas 2006. It was then re-activated between 16 January 2007 and 31 October 2008. Police cells have not been used since 22 September 2008 and no police cells have been on stand by since the end of October 2008.
The following tables detail usage by police force area between October 2006 and 31 October 2008 and gives the aggregated total of the number of prisoner nights in which a police cell was used. It is not possible to ascertain how many individual prisoners these totals cover.
Invoices to the value of £14,373,500 were paid for the activation of Operation Safeguard in the 2006-07 financial year, £50,687,200 for the 2007-08 financial year and £10,790,000 for the 2008-09 financial year (up to 31 December 2008).
Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Avon and Somerset — — — 24 1 32 6 20 6 1 6 6 11 9 0 Bedfordshire — — — 6 0 52 51 73 60 0 3 56 55 43 15 Cambridgeshire 32 118 62 23 17 132 94 174 173 0 82 195 183 155 34 Cheshire — 32 71 85 105 288 117 506 562 37 321 754 935 706 21 Cleveland — — — 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cumbria — — — 0 3 36 25 77 78 0 0 7 77 48 0 Derbyshire 15 52 46 51 14 137 45 19 24 2 42 38 43 30 9 Devon and Cornwall — 12 26 84 10 194 131 376 314 36 167 241 209 197 36 Dorset 3 38 30 26 7 66 52 85 92 0 10 1 0 40 1 Durham — 11 31 24 9 73 58 216 189 6 120 188 204 134 5 Dyfed Powys — — 1 34 4 99 118 186 120 0 5 2 114 0 0 Essex 199 423 387 107 196 452 406 538 563 62 332 541 538 448 204 Gloucestershire — — — 7 0 4 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 GMP — — 15 96 109 381 163 504 507 69 163 184 417 446 47 Gwent — — — 17 0 18 2 14 38 38 160 225 240 191 19 Hampshire — — 65 70 31 220 77 50 226 37 183 203 221 210 27 Hertfordshire — — 40 26 27 89 90 184 140 11 125 201 175 115 33 Humberside — — 30 1 18 11 8 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kent 85 58 192 56 177 385 362 467 428 116 359 383 410 382 129 Lancashire — — — 54 36 175 143 296 244 23 88 189 312 220 22 Leicestershire — — — 0 6 1 151 379 542 64 334 491 460 366 176 Lincolnshire 27 109 32 71 32 233 81 204 263 0 26 246 251 135 27 Merseyside — 111 85 3 0 51 3 40 24 0 4 32 7 6 0 MET — 67 266 199 293 1061 902 1294 1622 73 947 1221 1320 1108 700 Norfolk — — — 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 7 3 5 1 0 North Wales 8 6 — 30 11 144 121 467 379 0 0 0 385 243 5 North Yorkshire — — — 3 0 3 3 10 7 0 2 2 2 6 1 Northamptonshire 32 118 69 68 21 241 122 249 254 0 3 53 108 78 35 Northumbria — — — 36 46 193 63 254 216 0 3 55 228 148 0 Nottinghamshire — — — 50 3 22 23 60 5 0 6 12 6 1 0 South Wales 14 52 15 47 9 110 67 281 237 19 123 128 112 244 24 South Yorkshire — — — 8 0 27 27 202 221 0 54 122 190 135 29 Staffordshire — — — 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 Suffolk 27 56 — 29 3 134 112 182 203 0 8 132 190 141 37 Surrey — — — 33 0 10 14 20 11 0 3 16 0 0 0 Sussex 62 152 124 16 0 14 24 47 55 0 23 28 46 9 0 TVP 81 172 180 129 36 363 246 479 328 39 214 282 319 233 59 Warwickshire 12 46 35 30 1 125 49 138 158 2 70 200 175 189 54 West Mercia — — — 14 0 6 4 8 5 25 1 0 0 0 0 West Midlands 30 235 305 155 62 755 330 1104 950 110 617 885 1044 827 120 West Yorkshire — — 45 188 16 337 165 396 578 40 328 518 567 448 91 Wiltshire — — — 8 0 2 37 22 6 0 10 0 6 0 0 Total 627 1868 2122 1942 1286 6683 4498 9631 9845 810 4950 7840 9565 7693 1960
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Total Avon and Somerset 10 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 157 Bedfordshire 3 66 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 496 Cambridgeshire 39 193 40 19 0 21 61 41 0 1888 Cheshire 147 846 80 0 15 65 169 236 0 6098 Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Cumbria 15 74 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 440 Derbyshire 33 256 34 0 0 0 15 3 0 908 Devon and Cornwall 44 210 41 0 0 15 46 65 11 2465 Dorset 6 64 4 0 0 1 17 14 3 560 Durham 15 242 13 0 14 0 51 42 0 1645 Dyfed Powys 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 683 Essex 92 200 146 10 4 23 92 68 10 6041 Gloucestershire 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 GMP 13 555 43 0 0 0 0 0 0 3712 Gwent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 962 Hampshire 55 220 56 0 0 6 42 94 2 2095 Hertfordshire 53 206 57 0 0 0 40 39 0 1651 Humberside 4 26 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 111 Kent 179 431 260 74 4 0 0 0 0 4937 Lancashire 0 153 21 0 0 0 36 53 0 2065 Leicestershire 21 379 64 0 6 22 136 79 16 3693 Lincolnshire 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1739 Merseyside 7 34 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 409 MET 628 1340 777 162 77 299 776 290 74 15496 Norfolk 1 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 32 North Wales 0 339 32 0 0 5 0 77 0 2252 North Yorkshire 6 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 59 Northamptonshire 43 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1494 Northumbria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1242 Nottinghamshire 5 25 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 222 South Wales 38 337 50 0 0 53 102 135 0 2197 South Yorkshire 6 147 26 0 0 0 3 12 0 1209 Staffordshire 0 50 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 60 Suffolk 42 176 43 1 0 12 34 51 10 1623 Surrey 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 116 Sussex 10 73 0 0 0 0 83 46 11 823 TVP 87 368 81 24 0 22 64 42 0 3848 Warwickshire 100 324 50 0 0 61 85 199 74 2177 West Mercia 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 64 West Midlands 32 596 0 0 0 16 182 113 0 8468 West Yorkshire 26 613 61 0 0 7 147 94 0 4665 Wiltshire 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 97 Total 1766 8605 2004 290 120 630 2182 1793 211 88921
Prisons
Offences relating to bringing prohibited articles into prisons and young offender institutions form part of the 2007 Offender Management Act which came into force in April 2008.
The data for 2008 will be available in November 2009, answers therefore should be based on published National Statistics in order to ensure quality checks have been carried out, also statistics on court proceedings and cautions should be published annually. It takes several months for court proceedings data to be received by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, validated and corrected.
Leader of the House
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill 2007-08
Information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees, including Cabinet Committee papers, is generally not disclosed, as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.
Members: Allowances
The principles set out in the Green Book are derived from the principles in the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament. These are in turn based on the principles of conduct identified by the Committee on Standards in Public Life in its First Report (Cm 2850) as applying to holders of public office.
Prime Minister
Cabinet
(2) what proportion of the cost of the Cabinet meeting in Liverpool on 8 January 2009 was attributable to (a) transport, (b) policing, (c) catering and (d) additional costs.
The visit of the Cabinet to Liverpool on 8 January 2009 was linked with a large number of ministerial visits across the region; there was a public engagement event with around 170 people and a formal Cabinet meeting. The cost of the public engagement event and the cabinet meeting was approximately £76,620, excluding VAT. The figure includes the cost of hiring the venue, catering, associated security and delegate management. There are no separate figures for the Cabinet meeting. In addition, Departments and agencies will have incurred costs in terms of travel, staff time and other support. The cost of any security provided by the police is a matter for the relevant police force.
Further such visits are planned for the future; announcements of these will be made at the appropriate time.
Departmental Buildings
(2) much has been spent on (a) maintaining, (b) decorating and (c) otherwise improving his Office’s buildings in the last five years; how much has been spent on wallpaper since 2001; and what plans there are for further spending on such decoration.
The Downing street estate is undergoing essential maintenance work required to maintain it to the standards appropriate to its Grade 1/2 listed status required by English Heritage.
The total resource expenditure for maintaining the entire Downing street estate for the financial year 2007-08 was £1.288 million. This includes the exceptional resource cost of £810,664, which has already been published, for essential work to the exterior of the Downing street estate again in consultation with English Heritage. Resource spend includes maintenance of fixed assets, the fabric of the building, floors, walls and ceilings and the upkeep and repair of heritage assets.
Information on capital expenditure on improving Cabinet Office buildings, including the Downing street estate for 2007-08 is included in the annual Cabinet Office Resource Accounts. Copies are available in the Library of the House. Capital works included railings alterations, ICT cabling installation and alteration, Front Hall renovation, Cabinet Room redecoration, infrastructure work such as new risers for ICT cabling, repair of collapsed drain, installation of new Building Management System and energy monitoring equipment, access improvements works, such as corridor ramping and dropped kerbs in Downing street and security works.
As part of the resource spend, the cost of routine maintenance on the flat above No. 11 Downing street for the most recent financial years is set out as follows:
£ 2005-06 35,293 2006-07 14,832 2007-08 28,150
Expenditure on other official residences is a matter for the relevant Department. Information for previous years is a matter of public record and can be found in the official report.
Departmental Postal Services
The information requested is not held centrally. Letters are sent by my Office in the most cost effective manner. This includes the use of the Government Internal Delivery System and the Royal Mail as appropriate.
Diplomatic Service
(2) from which budget the funding for special representatives and special envoys appointed by him to particular countries and regions is drawn.
I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave on 23 October 2008, Official Report, columns 553-4W. Information for previous years is a matter of public record and can be found in the Official Report.
Group of Twenty
(2) whether he has invited any foreign heads of state to No. 10 Downing Street in April 2009;
(3) which foreign heads of state and government have signified their intention (a) to attend and (b) not to attend the G20 summit in April 2009.
Details of those who have been invited to the G20 summit in April are available on the London summit website:
http://www.londonsummit.gov.uk/en/media-centre/latest-news/?view=News&id=13821294
A copy of this webpage has been placed in the Library of the House.
Transport
Civil Service Agencies
Of the Department's seven Executive agencies, four are designated as Trading Funds and are therefore funded primarily through fees. For the remaining agencies, Department officials provide a sponsorship role in reviewing and challenging agency plans in light of the funding available to the Department and to adjust the plans where necessary.
Each of the Department’s Executive agencies then completes a Business Plan that is published before the commencement of each financial year setting out the direction for the agency’s activities and the resources required to deliver them. Department officials also review these Business Plans to ensure that they include the Department’s policy requirements and to align the plans with delivery of the Department’s own objectives. The plans are then subject to agreement with Ministers.
Diesel Trains
We are in regular dialogue with the rolling stock companies. Officials discussed the proposal to create Diesel Trains Limited with each of the rolling stock companies prior to the company's incorporation on 25 February.
The Department for Transport will be inviting the market to bid either for the company or for the assets and related contracts within it, and to take on the ownership and leasing of the trains. We wish to commence this process as soon as reasonably practicable.
Diesel Trains Limited has been incorporated to purchase 202 diesel multiple unit vehicles. It is not anticipated at this time that the company will purchase other rolling stock.
Driving Tests: Hertfordshire
There are no driving test centres within Hemel Hempstead. Data for car and motorcycle practical tests in Hertfordshire are shown in the following table.
Conducted Passed Percentage Pass Car 2007-08 42,123 18,825 44.7 2006-07 38,994 17,546 45.0 2005-06 35,845 15,828 44.2 2004-05 29,757 13,209 44.4 2003-04 22,361 10,429 46.6 Motorcycle 2007-08 1,163 750 64.5 2006-07 1,215 794 65.3 2005-06 1,461 896 61.3 2004-05 1,420 865 60.9 2003-04 1,318 873 66.2
Practical tests for lorry and bus driving categories are not conducted at test centres within Hertfordshire.
Driving: Disqualification
Although the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency records details of driving convictions on its driving licence records, it does not have available a statistical breakdown of the numbers of licence holders who have been disqualified from driving.
Heathrow Airport
[holding answer 25 February 2009]: The Department's Aviation Directorate makes regular use of risk registers to monitor strategic projects, as well as non-strategic projects and business as usual activities relating to regulatory issues, airport capacity and operations, aviation and the environment, and aviation safety. In line with this, risks relating to Heathrow airport were reported to the Heathrow Project Board until October 2007 and to the Aviation Programme Board thereafter.
The Department for Transport has no plans to withdraw from public scrutiny the responses to the Adding Capacity at Heathrow consultation. The complete set of nearly 70,000 responses has been made available for inspection in the Department until 10 April and we consider this to be a reasonable period to provide this facility. After 10 April, the Department will allow interested parties to view named responses on request.
Heathrow Airport: Public Consultation
In addition to the response analysis undertaken by Detica, the Department for Transport carried out some supplementary analysis of the responses from stakeholders listed in Appendix D2 to the Detica report. This was subject to scrutiny by the independent peer reviewer whose report is available on the Department's website at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/aviation/heathrowconsultations/heathrowdecision/
Lorries: Licensing
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) is responsible for setting and administering testing fees for goods vehicles and their operators while the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) is responsible for setting the fees for the testing of goods vehicle drivers.
Since VOSA and DSA are established as a Trading Funds they are required to set fees to meet their outgoings. On 27 October 2008, DSA issued a public consultation on changes to the level of fees applicable to the practical driving test for goods vehicles while on 6 November 2008, VOSA issued a public consultation on changes to the level and structure of its fees for the testing of goods vehicles and operators, both to come into effect in April of this year.
This followed extensive discussion with Department officials that included analysis to ensure that:
proposed fees have been calculated in line with Government guidance on the setting of statutory fees;
that there are sound and appropriate assumptions upon which the agency’s financial forecasts are based;
that the plans provide sufficient revenues to support the policies and objectives of the Department.
Following closure of the public consultations in January 2009, the agencies have prepared analyses of the responses from the consultation that form the basis of recommendations to the Minister on what fee changes should be made in April.
Motor Vehicles: Licensing
The Secretary of State met the chief executive of the Driving Standards Agency in November to discuss the ‘Learning to Drive’ consultation. I have regular update meetings with these agencies.
The Driving Standards Agency, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency along with two other executive agencies and three central policy directorates form the Safety, Service Delivery and Logistics Group (SSDL) of the Department for Transport.
During 2006 and as part of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review these executive agencies undertook a zero-based review of their key services in order to identify opportunities for improved efficiency or effectiveness in the delivery of those services.
The results of the zero-based review was a value for money delivery plan that targets £112 million of efficiencies and cost savings over the 2008-11 years resulting from a combination of:
the consumer take-up of new and existing electronic services;
the use of information to more effectively target enforcement activities;
the introduction of new working practices and processes; and
the rationalisation of the Group’s estate.
In addition, the SSDL Group seeks to ensure that value for money principles are embedded in all of its activities by including the requirement for agencies to undertake external benchmarking of processes that are being renewed or changed.
Motor Vehicles: Testing
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency has over 1,000 checkpoint sites, to find out the requested enforcement information would result in disproportionate cost being incurred.
Roads: Safety Measures
The Department is working with the contractors, TRL, to ensure the road safety and cycle project maintains on schedule with the publication of the project's final reports in autumn 2010.
Treasury
Bradford and Bingley
On 10 March 2009, the Government announced that they were inviting applications for the position of independent valuer to assess any compensation that may be payable to former holders of the shares in Bradford and Bingley plc that were transferred to the Treasury in September last year (and other specified persons affected by the transfer).
The closing date for applications is 7 April 2009. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to present to a selection panel in May 2009. Thereafter, the panel will submit their recommendation to Treasury Ministers. Further details can be found on the Treasury website at:
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/valuer
Consolidated Fund: Fines
For all central Government Departments most cash receipts, either by specific legislation or by the Civil List Act 1952, are required to be paid into the Consolidated Fund. Local authorities are not required to surrender income from fines to the Consolidated Fund.
The requirement to surrender income ceases to apply where the Treasury lays an omnibus minute, alongside each Supply Estimates publication, under section 2 of the Government Resource and Accounts Act 2000. This enables Departments to use specified income to offset the costs of their expenditure. The Supply Estimates provide details of the income appropriated in aid.
The Resource Accounts of each Department contain information on both amounts appropriated in aid and those surrendered as Consolidated Fund Extra Receipts. The level of detail disclosed on fines will vary between the accounts and will be influenced by factors such as the materiality of fines to the figures in the accounts.
Details of fines are not separately identifiable within the Consolidated Fund’s receipts.
Members: Correspondence
A reply has been sent to the hon. Member.
Private Finance Initiative
HM Treasury will use the skills of a combination of Treasury employees and secondees.
The private finance initiative (PFI) should only be used where it demonstrates value for money in absolute terms and when compared with other forms of procurement. Competition among PFI providers is designed to ensure that the best value for money options are selected, helping to ensure that investors' returns on capital invested in PFI projects are appropriate.
The Government will determine which projects will receive what quantity of senior debt on a project-by-project basis.
The Treasury's lending facility will operate at arm's length from the authorities procuring private finance initiative (PFI) projects. It will operate on a commercial basis with robust risk management procedures and will lend on commercial terms.
(2) whether his Department's value for money assessment guidance will apply in determining the projects for which the Government will provide the full amount of senior debt for a private finance initiative infrastructure project;
(3) if he will place in the Library a copy of any comparative cost-benefit analysis of switching to alternative procurement methods in private finance initiative infrastructure projects undertaken by or on behalf of his Department.
HM Treasury's Green Book (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/data_greenbook_guidance. htm) states that all new policies, programmes and projects should be subject to comprehensive assessment, including an appraisal of value for money.
Private finance initiative projects are required to further test value for money using tailored qualitative and quantitative appraisals which must form part of the project's business case (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ppp_vfm_index.htm).
Competition among PFI providers is designed to ensure that the best value for money options are selected.
The Treasury will lend to projects only where appropriate funding is not available from the market. It will be a temporary intervention. As with normal commercial lending these loans will bear interest and will be repaid over the life of the project.
The Treasury envisages selling the loans it makes prior to their maturity as favourable market conditions return.
(2) what criteria the Government will use to determine appropriate means of funding provision for a private finance initiative infrastructure project.
It is intended that the Government will lend to PFI projects on commercial terms, alongside other commercial lenders and/or the European Investment Bank.
The Government will only lend to those PFI projects that cannot raise sufficient debt finance on acceptable terms.
All PFI projects in procurement (that have, to date, issued a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU)) will be eligible for this finance from the Government. Future projects intending to go to market soon will also be eligible, provided they meet the usual value for money and affordability criteria, and subject to Treasury approval before issuing their OJEU notice.
Retaining the PFI structure will mean that the private sector will continue to bear the risk of cost over runs and delays. As such equity investors will continue to bear the primary risk in these projects. Where available, private sector debt will continue to be provided and will therefore also take risk.
Royal Bank of Scotland
RBS has agreed not to claim certain UK tax losses and allowances for a number of years, meaning that when they do return to profitability, they will not be able to benefit from the losses accrued in the intervening period. Final arrangements are subject to ongoing discussions with, and quantification by, HMRC.
Further information about RBS's undertakings will be available when all of the detailed terms of RBS's entry into the asset protection scheme have been finalised.
Taxation
The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Information on the number of people receiving income tax repayments is not available. The following table provides the numbers of income tax repayments made to individuals. In some cases, one person will have received more than one repayment.
Total number of repayments (million) 2003-04 6.55 2004-05 6.59 2005-06 6.28 2006-07 5.93 2007-08 5.58
Amounts of interest charged on unpaid direct taxes are not available on a financial year basis, HM Revenue and Customs collect figures to an annual October date.
The table provides the amount of interest charged for 2003-04 to 2006-07, figures for 2007-08 have not yet been finalised. These figures do not necessarily equate to interest received by HMRC and do not include interest charged on corporation tax liabilities raised prior to the start of CT self assessment (CTSA).
Period £ million To October 2004 547.3 To October 2005 635.4 To October 2006 730.2 To October 2007 957.8
The following table provides figures for the interest charged on unpaid VAT; these run from 1 April to 31 March each year. Data are not readily available for indirect taxes other than VAT, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
£ million 2004-05 57.7 2005-06 80.2 2006-07 82.5 2007-08 99.6
No such estimate has been made.
Taxation: Business
The Chancellor announced a number of measures at the 2008 pre-Budget report to reduce the burden of taxation on small and medium-sized enterprises, including a deferral of the planned increase in the small companies' rate of corporation tax, the business payment support service and more generous use of the loss carry-back rules. Currently, there are no plans to provide specific tax reliefs for businesses that work with young people most at risk of committing anti-social behaviour.
Wales
Departmental Bank Services
Departmental Lost Property
Departmental Official Hospitality
The Wales Office hosts a limited number of receptions over a year to mark, for example St. David's Day. Parliamentarians, journalists and those with an interest in Welsh affairs are invited. In some years these have been supplemented by joint Wales Office/National Assembly for Wales receptions. The cost over the last five years were:
On food On alcohol 2004-05 6,238 0 2005-06 6,849 10 2006-07 12,302 1,182 2007-08 7,664 1,752 2008-09 3,617 990 1In London.
In 2005-06 the cost of a Cardiff reception included alcohol, but this was not listed separately, therefore has been included in the figure for food.
My Department does not have an entertainment budget, however in the last five years we have spent the following amount on receptions.
£ 2004-05 6,238 2005-06 8,528 2006-07 16,467 2007-08 12,052 200S-09 8,058
From 2005-06 figures are reckoned on a different basis to reflect costs more fully.
Departmental Translation Services
The Wales Office pays an average of 10p per word for outsourced translation of documents.