Written Answers to Questions
Monday 20 April 2009
Olympics
Legacy: Young People
The Olympics sporting venues in East London and elsewhere in the UK will be available for use after the games at all levels from local communities to elite athletes.
The legacy business plans being prepared for the sports venues—including the stadium, the aquatics centre and the velodrome and velopark—have the provision of affordable access for young people at their heart; for example we anticipate over half a million visits a year at the Aquatics Centre, of which over 100,000 will consist of use by schools, swimming lessons and clubs, and many more by young people visiting during community sessions.
The stadium will include, in addition to a 25,000-seat, IAAF-compliant athletics facility with the capacity to host domestic and international events, a range of other educational and sporting uses including a school with a sporting specialism for 300 to 400 14 to 19-year-olds and a National Skills Academy for sport and leisure providing skills training focused on the 19 to 24 years age group.
Construction Programme
Over 30 per cent. of the Olympic Delivery Authority's Programme is now complete. All the major venues are on schedule and the Olympic stadium and Aquatics Centre are ahead of schedule.
Construction of the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre commenced last week and, in the past few weeks, work has begun on the foundations for the Velodrome and on the construction of the sweeping roof of the Aquatics Centre.
Olympic Delivery Authority Contracts
To date, the Olympic Delivery Authority has awarded contracts to 935 businesses. Of these 424 were to businesses registered outside of London, including three in my hon. Friend's own constituency.
London 2012 expects to directly procure £6 billion worth of contracts, generating 75,000 supply chain opportunities.
Early evidence shows businesses across the UK are already benefiting.
Housing
I and my colleague, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, are working together to ensure the Games will provide a housing legacy of up to 35 per cent. affordable homes, as provided for in planning approvals and associated section 106 agreements.
After the Games the Olympic Village will be converted into mixed tenure housing which will be available to rent or buy for a wide range of people, including existing local communities.
The allocation of affordable homes after the Games will be agreed between the relevant London boroughs and the Homes and Community Agency.
Employment: Olympic Park
The figures published by the Olympic Delivery Authority in January 2009 show that at the end of December 2008 there were 3,315 people working on the Olympic Park site. Of these 23 per cent. were residents of the five Olympic host boroughs. 17 per cent. of these declared themselves as unemployed prior to working on the site.
Olympic Games 2012: Tourism
[holding answer 23 March 2009]: Using London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games' (LOCOG) London 2012 Ticket Allocation Model, The Oxford Economics Study ‘The Value of the London 2012 Games and Paralympic Games to UK Tourism', published in September 2007 and commissioned by VisitBritain and Visit London, estimates that there will be approximately 900,000 attendees for events related to the 2012 games. However, this will contribute only a small part of the estimated £2.1 billion tourism gains for the UK as a whole that will result from the games in the period 2007 to 2017. The Oxford Economics study has also identified that there will be in excess of 32 million UK-wide extra nights stayed by visitors as a result of the games.
Scotland
Departmental Buildings
The Scotland Office has not sold any properties in the last five years.
Departmental Computers
The Scotland Office shares an information technology system (SCOTS) with the Scottish Executive, which is responsible for the development, administration and maintenance of the system, including the provision of hardware.
The Office has a pool of eight secure SCOTS laptops at its disposal that are available for Ministers, special advisers and staff to use. A couple have been allocated for the sole use of Ministers and special advisers, but they remain allocated to the Office as a whole. The laptops were provided as part of an ongoing technology refresh to the SCOTS IT system, the direct costs of the hardware came to £6,091.20.
Departmental Coordination
The Scotland Office does not directly employ staff. All staff in the Office are on secondment from other Government Departments, which administer the personnel records of their staff. The Scotland Office has its own separate set of books within Scottish Executive’s financial system and have access to their ICT system. No accommodation or other administrative support services are received from either Department.
Departmental Empty Property
The Scotland Office does not own any buildings.
Departmental Pay
Since 2003, the Government have been committed to publishing an annual list detailing the number and costs of special advisers. Information for 2007-08 was published by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 22 July 2008, Official Report, columns 99-102WS. The salary costs of communications and press officers in the Scotland Office is as follows:
Communications and press officers (£) 2003-04 114,643 2004-05 105,266 2005-06 93,114 2006-07 70,283 2007-08 113,235
Plans for 2010-11 have yet to be finalised.
Departmental Public Expenditure
The Scotland Office (SO) does not share any accommodation with either the Scottish Executive (SE) or the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The SO maintains its own separate set of books within the SE accounting system, at no additional cost. The SO does not directly employ staff—they are all secondees from other Government Departments, which invoice the SO for pay costs but administer personnel records for secondees themselves. The SO paid the SE £115,073 for ICT support for the last 12 months. No other administrative services were received from either the SE or MoJ.
Departmental Training
The Scotland Office has incurred no expenditure on media training for Ministers in the last three years.
Opinion Leader Research
The Scotland Office has not used Opinion Leader Research since November 2007.
House of Commons Commission
Departmental Manpower
As at 31 March 2009 the Department of Resources held 2,344 contracts of employment.
Parliament: Visits
Information is not available in exactly the form requested. The table gives a regional breakdown of the number of tours booked by Members through the Central Tours Office for the year April 2008 to March 2009 inclusive.
Region Number of sponsoring Members Number of tours booked Percentage East Midlands 44 802 6 East of England 57 1,341 11 London 78 2,459 20 North East 29 328 3 North West 74 1,170 9 South East 83 2,058 17 South West 51 1,025 8 West Midlands 58 964 8 Yorkshire and The Humber 54 746 6 Northern Ireland 15 232 2 Scotland 57 739 6 Wales 40 456 4 Incomplete data 2 26 0 Total — 12,346 100
Publications: Internet
Target upload times are the same for intranet and internet versions of parliamentary publications. Target upload times are as follows:
Publication Target upload times Official Report: Daily Part 8 am Public Bill Committees 12.30 pm Chamber and Westminster Hall (Today in the Commons) 3 to 4 hours after delivery of speeches in the Chamber or Westminster Hall, reducing to 2 to 3 hours on the rising of the House Summary Agenda/Order of Business 7.30 am Future Business 7.30 am Votes and Proceedings 8.30 am Early Day Motions Between 7.30 and 8 am Question Books Parts 1 and 2 9.30 am
In the period January to March 2009, the following items have been uploaded late:
Publication Number of occasions of late uploading Official Report: Daily Part 3 Chamber and Westminster Hall (Today in the Commons) 2 Summary Agenda/Order of Business 1 Votes and Proceedings 6 Early Day Motions 3 Question Books Part 2 3
Full information on the reason in each case for late uploading is not recorded. Delays have occurred in part because of the need to amend links or to amend and reload files. Upload times are monitored to ensure timely publication on the intranet and internet and to ensure that publication difficulties are resolved.
In addition to the publications listed, regular updates are made to other parliamentary intranet and internet pages. These include the following:
Announcements of ministerial statements - hourly uploads from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm
Business statement—an hour after the end of the statement
Announcements of Select Committee evidence sessions—usually by 5 pm Thursday
Announcements of General Committees—by 5 pm Wednesday and updated where necessary by 5 pm Thursday
Updates to Today's business on www.parliament.uk are published at midnight. This section also links to the parliamentary calendar, which shows daily business in the Chamber, Westminster Hall and Select and General Committees. Latest news on:
www.parliament.uk
is updated daily and updates can be published hourly from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm and at midnight.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Education
The table shows the number of full level 2 qualifications achieved by adult learners in further education which included GCSE mathematics or GCSE English. Information is provided for 2003/04 to 2007/08. Comparable figures prior to 2003/04 are not available.
Of the total full level 2 achievers Academic year Full level 2 achievers total Achieving GCSE English Achieving GCSE mathematics Of which, achieving both 2003/04 72,800 160 130 30 2004/05 88,500 190 160 60 2005/06 109,100 200 210 60 2006/07 116,000 250 240 90 2007/08 116,700 270 240 80 Notes: 1. Age is based on age as at 31 August (academic age). 2. This information does not include learners achieving a full level 2 qualification in school sixth forms. It also does not include information on learners in higher education institutions, including those that deliver FE provision, unless a provider has submitted an FE individualised learner record return. 3. Learners achieving a full level 2 including both GCSE mathematics and GCSE English are included in both of the columns for these GCSEs and also the column for learners achieving both. Source: FE ILR
Over the last few years the Government have prioritised funding towards longer and fuller programmes such as full level 2 qualifications (equivalent of five A*-C GCSEs or vocational equivalent). This has increased the number of adults achieving the broad platform of skills for entering and progressing into employment.
Aimhigher Programme
(2) how many 16 to 18-year-olds who attended Aimhigher courses subsequently enrolled in a university in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2005-06;
(3) how the effectiveness of the Aimhigher programme in encouraging school students into higher education is measured;
(4) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Aimhigher programme.
Aimhigher is making a significant contribution towards raising the aspirations of young people towards university, and their pre-entry attainment levels. Over 50 per cent. of young people from all social backgrounds now aspire to university.
It is not possible at a national level to identify young people entering university who previously participated in Aimhigher activities.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England has commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to work with partnerships on the collection of consistent and coherent local data so that the impact of the programme can better be assessed. We expect the results from a separate study of early Excellence Challenge participants into higher education to be available later in the spring. This will give us the first information to date on the impact of Aimhigher on entry to university.
Evaluation of Aimhigher's predecessors showed, for example, that after just 18 months of the Excellence Challenge programme:
pupils in schools with Excellence Challenge improved by 2.5 GCSE points compared to those in comparison schools;
there was a significant improvement in the proportion of young people in Excellence Challenge schools attaining levels 4, 5 or 6 in the key stage 3 tests between 2001/02 and 2002/03: it is estimated that Excellence Challenge led to a 4.6 percentage point increase in Maths attainment at key stage 3; and
aspirations to HE were 3.9 percentage points higher in Excellence Challenge schools than in non-Excellence Challenge schools.
This information is not available at a national level. The report ‘Aimhigher summer schools: Analysis of provision and participation in summer schools 2004-2008’ (Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), 2009) says that, during the five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, the Aimhigher summer school programme funded over 1,350 summer schools which helped 41,000 young people. Nine out of 10 school participants in summer schools were from school years 10 and 11, with the remainder mainly drawn from school year 12.
The Department is currently working with HEFCE to develop a new web based database that will record Aimhigher participants and activities, and this will be trialled shortly.
(2) how much was spent on all programmes to encourage and widen participation in higher education in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2005-06;
(3) what the advertising budget was for Aimhigher programmes in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2005-06.
The budget for Aimhigher in the years 2005-06 to 2007-08 was as follows:
Aimhigher1 budget (£ million) 2005-06 102 2006-07 87 2007-08 80 1 Aimhigher is funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Learning and Skills Council and the Department for Health. The budgets include funding for the Aimhigher Associates programme.
The amount spent on all programmes to encourage and widen participation in higher education in the years 2005-06 to 2007-08 was as follows:
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Aimhigher and predecessors1,2 102 87 80 Student support3 1,411 1,634 1,962 Widening participation allocation4 284 345 356 University bursaries and outreach — 116 192 Total 1,797 2,182 2,590 1 The unified Aimhigher programme was introduced in 2004. Predecessor programmes were Excellence Challenge, funded by the then Department for Education and Skills, and Partnerships for Progression, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). Aimhigher is funded jointly by DIUS, HEFCE, the LSC and the Department for Health. 2 The figures include, annually, £47.9 million from the Department, and £29 million from HEFCE. 3 All student support figures are for English domiciled students. 4 These figures also include the allocations for improving the retention of non traditional students, and to widen access and improve provision for disabled students.
There is no specific budget for the advertising of Aimhigher programmes. The majority of the Aimhigher budget is allocated to Aimhigher partnerships of schools, colleges and universities. Partnerships draw up plans setting out their vision and strategic priorities, their strategic objectives for the year, including indicators of success and timescales, and their evaluation plans. Information on advertising is not collected nationally.
Basic Skills
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 26 March 2009, Official Report, column 696W. All those who have registered for a skills account can make use of it in a number of ways. These include finding out how much Government funding an individual may be entitled to support their learning, checking the availability of that learning in the local area, and getting advice and guidance on careers and jobs.
The Government are committed to rolling out skills accounts from autumn 2010. Ultimately, we want accounts to deliver a high level of personal empowerment, giving adults the power to choose the training they need and to commission that training direct from providers.
Building Colleges for the Future Programme
(2) how much has been spent on the Building Colleges for the Future programme in each region in each year since the programme’s inception;
(3) how many Building Colleges for the Future projects which have cleared the application in detail stage (a) have been completed and (b) are under way.
(2) which colleges had received funding from the Learning and Skills Council in advance of an approval in principle for a capital building project at the latest date for which information is available.
Capital funding for further education colleges is administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested pertains to records held by the Council, I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Members with the information requested. A copy of his letters will be placed in the House Libraries.
The Department has and continues to have regular discussions with both HM Treasury and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), on the Building Colleges for the Future programme.
DCSF already contributes to FE modernisation from the 16-19 capital fund to support growth of 16-19 places in college projects with the FE capital programme and plans to continue to do that.
Further education capital projects are funded through the Building Colleges for the Future programme, which is administered by the Learning and Skills Council on behalf of the Department.
The Building Schools for the Future programme, as administered by Partnerships for Schools on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools, and Families, does not include further education colleges and as such there are no capital projects to list which will not be funded in the current spending round.
Departmental Bank Services
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has not made any payments to date to Deutsche bank under their contract as Sales Arranger for the Student Loan Sales Programme.
Departmental Computers
Under the Department's ICT service provision contract, all staff are provided with laptop computers in place of desktop computers. Docking stations are provided on a hot desk basis in official buildings. The laptop is their only computer. The cost to the public purse is the standard charge for the ICT managed service provision.
The Department supports five Ministers, two special advisers, the Chief Scientific Officer and just over 1,000 civil servants. In 2008-09 the standard charge for ICT managed service provision was £1.7 million.
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Information on sickness absence in the Department can be found the DIUS website:
http://www.dius.gov.uk/news_and_speeches/announcements/dius_staff
Departmental Energy
The Department’s building services are provided through the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), which manage the buildings that DIUS occupies.
The Department and its agencies have taken a number of steps over the last 12 months to improve the thermal efficiency in their buildings. These include:
London, Kingsgate House
Over the last 12 months the building management system has been enhanced with new control systems, upgraded time schedules and automated metering. This provides half-hourly energy readings to suppliers which enable savings to be made through improved customer monitoring. There is also a scheduled quarterly boiler maintenance plan to optimise efficiencies.
Sheffield, Moorfoot
The current building is end of life. DCSF and DIUS are acquiring new accommodation in Sheffield for staff. Therefore, it has not been economically viable to make improvements to energy efficiency in this building. Energy efficiencies will naturally feature in the new building project that the Departments are currently pursuing to ensure maximum efficiency.
National Physical Laboratory Teddington (NPL)
The NPL have installed comprehensive metering to identify where energy is being consumed and are also exploring the possibility of using ground source energy.
National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) Teddington
The NWML have installed a smart meter to measure electricity consumption. This highlights areas where consumption is high giving an indication of poor thermal efficiency. The air conditioning system has been examined to establish areas where it can be switched off for periods of the day or week. Reflective film has been applied to the outside of the windows to reduce heat being radiated into glass and conducted into the metal frames. The heat is then reflected back into the building.
Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Newport and Cwmfelinfach
The IPO have a building energy management system (BEMS) which provides control over the main heating, cooling and ventilation systems. This enables us to adjust the heating needed within specific areas of each building and identify where there may be poor thermal efficiency.
The air conditioning system has been examined to establish areas where it can be switched off for periods of the day or week. Thermal efficiency has been increased by the introduction of ‘tin foil’ between the radiators and exterior walls to reflect the heat inwards in places where there are specific problems. Electric doors have been installed to isolate the loading bay and downward blowers have been put in place at exterior doorways to contain heat within the building. The IPO are also investigating insulating ceilings where this is cost-effective.
The Department’s building services are provided through the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), who manage the buildings that DIUS occupies.
DIUS was established in June of 2007. No baseline data exist for 1999-2000. As 2008-09 will be the first full year of reporting we cannot yet record improvements against a baseline. Therefore the 15 per cent. efficiency savings target is not applicable to DIUS. However DIUS is making improvements:
London
Over the last 12 months the building management system has been enhanced with new control systems, upgraded time schedules and automated metering. This provides half-hourly energy readings to suppliers which enable savings to be made through improved customer monitoring. There is now also a scheduled quarterly boiler maintenance plan to optimise efficiencies.
Sheffield
DCSF and DIUS are in the process of acquiring new accommodation in Sheffield. The existing building will be vacated before any improvements in energy efficiency could be realized. Energy efficiency will be a feature of the new accommodation project that the Departments are currently pursuing.
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was created on 28 June 2007. The total amount of electricity, gas and other fuel used in the Department's and its agencies' buildings are given in the following table. The figures for the Department itself are estimates, obtained by apportioning the energy consumption in each building according to the number of DIUS staff as a proportion of the total.
Fuel type Intellectual Property Office (agency) June 2007 to March 2009 National Weights and Measures Laboratory (agency) June 2007 to February 2009 DIUS London building June 2007 to February 2009 DIUS Sheffield building June 2007 to February 2009 Electricity 5,912,250 995,257 3,184,181 1,795,272 Gas 3,224,020 0 1,587,894 20,173 Other fuel type 0 0 0 1,048,622 (steam)
Departmental Mobile Phones
(2) how many (a) Blackberrys and (b) other mobile telephones have been provided to (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since its establishment.
Blackberry devices and mobile phones are provided to individuals while they are in post, and are recovered when the individual leaves.
The Department currently provides a total of 222 Blackberry devices, split as follows:
Number (i) Ministers 3 (ii) Special Advisers 2 (iii) Civil Servants 217
At the end of 2007/08, the Department was providing 182 Blackberry devices, split as follows:
Number (i) Ministers 4 (ii) Special Advisers 2 (iii) Civil Servants 176
The Department currently provides a total of 256 mobile phones, split as follows:
Number (i) Ministers 3 (ii) Special Advisers 2 (iii) Civil Servants 251
At the end of 2007/08, the Department was providing 56 mobile phones, split as follows:
Number (i) Ministers 4 (ii) Special Advisers 2 (iii) Civil Servants 50
The cost of these devices is as follows:
£ Blackberrys Initial cost 136 Monthly cost 19.50 Mobile phones Monthly cost 2.50
An analysis of the cost of calls split across the categories requested could be achieved only at disproportionate cost. The overall cost of calls for 2008/09 is £256,469 which is the cost of all Blackberry, mobile phone and 3G data card provision, once the regular monthly costs have been subtracted.
Departmental Pay
The Department’s annual non-consolidated performance payment for 2008-09 totalled £535,006 and was met within existing pay controls.
Payments are used to drive high performance and those for the senior civil service are based on recommendations from the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.
Departmental Public Expenditure
The latest capital expenditure figures for Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills are as follows:
(a) £2.2 billion
(b) £2.5 billion
(c) £ 1.8 billion
(d) The Government have not set Departments’ Capital DEL budgets for years beyond 2010-11. Capital DEL budgets for 2011-12 and beyond are a matter for the next spending review. The Government do, however, publish projections for PSNI (Public Sector Net Investment) over the forecast period at Budgets and pre-Budget reports.
Departmental Publicity
National Marketing and Communications for Train to Gain is delivered by the national Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on behalf of the Department. The total Train to Gain spend on advertising for January to December 2008 was £7,716,021 including VAT. This is broken down as follows:
Gross media spend (£) Digital 217,872 Poster 561,558 Radio 723,565 TV 4,528,935 Press 512,476 VAT 1,145,271 Total 7,689,677
£ Digital 2,000 Press 20,398 VAT 3,946 Total 26,344
Departmental Recycling
The Department's waste services in 2007-08 were provided by Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) which manage the buildings that DIUS occupies. Neither of these organisations separates waste produced by DIUS from its waste, so information on the precise amount of waste produced by DIUS is not held.
Departmental Standards
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) does not maintain information specifically identifying the separate costs of measuring compliance with its targets under its Public Service Agreements (PSAs). With the cost of generating this information being disproportionate, any costs of measuring compliance with the Department’s targets under its PSAs, beyond those incurred in the normal course of managing its business and performance, are likely to be small.
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.
Of the four courses referred to in my earlier answer the Cabinet Committee courses and European Union courses incurred no cost to the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills. The other two courses referred to in my earlier answer were foreign language lessons and media training. These cost £1,343 and £1,276 respectively.
Identifying Ministers who undertake training would, or would be likely to, discourage participation in future training sessions, acting as a disincentive for Ministers to undertake formal professional development.
Foreign Students: USA
The Prime Minister said,
“I can give a commitment that British students who need financial support to pay the travel costs of taking up a term of study in the U.S. will receive that support.”
The provisions for eligible students travelling to the USA are as follows:
A grant for travel is available to eligible students in respect of reasonable expenditure which they are obliged to incur in a qualifying quarter of their course, for the purpose of taking up a term of study at an overseas institution including one in the USA. A qualifying quarter is one in which the student is required to attend the overseas institution for at least half the length of the period covered by that quarter.
The grant for travel meets the costs of:
travel within and outside the UK in order to attend the university or college including airfares
medical insurance for treatment provided outside the United Kingdom
visas required to attend the overseas institution
medical costs incurred to meet a mandatory condition of entry into a country (e.g. vaccination costs).
Except for the first £295 of travel costs incurred, eligible students from households with incomes of up to £39,796 may be entitled to have all their reasonable travel related expenditure met by the grant for travel. Income over £39,796 is taken into account and reduces the amount of travel related expenditure that the grant will cover. Income is taken into account at the rate of £1 for each £9.27 over £39,796, subject to a maximum income contribution of £6,210.
DIUS has responsibility for higher education in England only. The devolved Administrations have responsibility for it in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Further Education: Finance
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has already begun discussing options for prioritisation with the further education sector. Once the consultation is complete, the LSC will advise on options. Until that process is complete, it is not possible to say whether capital projects will be required to be redesigned. But the potential impact on college projects including the need for redesign will be considered fully when the LSC comes forward with proposals.
Higher Education: Disadvantaged
We are committed to improving choice and reducing barriers to ensure that there is fair access for all to the learning opportunities available. Further education operates across society, having a real impact on businesses, young people and adults, including those from disadvantaged and minority communities. In 2007-08, over 2.6 million people were participating in learning at a FE college.
This Government are fully committed to ensuring every young person has a fair chance of attending university. And we are making progress with the proportion of young entrants from lower socio-economic groups going to university increasing steadily, reaching almost 30 per cent. in 2007. A New University Challenge, with an investment of up to £200 million, will establish new campuses, particularly in areas with no history of provision, and provide places for 10,000 extra students.
In January 2009, the New Opportunities White Paper announced a wide-ranging package of investment and support from across Government for people to make the most of their potential throughout their lives giving them lifelong chances to succeed.
Innovation: Motor Vehicles
The technology strategy board’s portfolio of collaborative R and D projects comprises DTI funded legacy projects that preceded its establishment as an executive body, and those funded under its low carbon vehicles innovation platform. The projects are typically of three year duration, and the following list includes the name of the lead consortium partner:
Legacy projects
Enhanced Diesel Engine Lubrication Systems for Reduced C02 Emissions—Ford Motor Company.
2/4SIGHT—Downsized 2 Stroke/4 Stroke switching engine for passenger cars—Ricardo.
Energy Efficient Electric Urban Transport—Zytek Electric Vehicles.
LIFECar-Morgan.
Development of the rheo-diecasting process for lightweight automotive components—Innoval.
Low carbon vehicle innovation platform
Axon 60: A structural carbon fibre car with plug-in hybrid option—Axon Automotive Ltd.
Li-ion Batteries for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles—FiFe Batteries Ltd.
Engine optimisation for reduced parasitic losses—Ford Motor Company Ltd.
Commercial vehicle fuel and carbon reduction by the use of ‘aerospace aero’ devices—Hatcher Components Limited.
Flywheel Hybrid System for Premium Vehicles—Jaguar Cars Limited.
Limo-Green—Jaguar Cars Ltd.
Lower Cost, Lightweight Vehicles by Increasing the Use of Post Consumer Aluminium Scrap—Jaguar Land Rover.
Range Extended Electric Vehicle REHEV—Land Rover.
High torque density electric drive for commercial vehicles (HiTED)—Magnomatics Ltd.
2/4CAR 2/4-Stroke Switching Carbon Reduction Vehicle—Ricardo UK Ltd.
Lightweight lead Acid Battery for Low Carbon Vehicles (LAB-LCV)—TWI Ltd.
Adventurous R and D projects such as these have an element of uncertainty and risk by their very nature. Exploitation strategies, which are commercially confidential, setting out how the project consortium plans to exploit the results are a key component of the business case submitted to the technology strategy board and can include the development of new products or processes, the publication of results or the stimulation of further work.
These strategies are re-visited during the course of the work and the technology strategy board have monitoring systems in place to encourage robust self-monitoring and to maximise exploitation during and beyond the project’s life-time and to monitor the impact of projects at least five years after the end of the project.
While the projects funded under the innovation platform are at a formative stage, a majority of the legacy projects such as those led by Zytek and Ford have already resulted in excellent technical outputs, while the Morgan LIFECar have been presented at the Geneva Motor Show and been featured extensively in the UK press and media. The technology strategy board will now work to ensure that where appropriate, technical advances are incorporated into the relevant company development plans.
Learning and Skills Council for England: Finance
We agreed with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on 27 January that Sir Andrew Foster would undertake a review of the LSC further education capital programme to assess:
the main causes of the increased demand for capital funding;
the internal LSC processes and scrutiny of the capital programme and how these could be improved; and
any further steps that can be taken to ensure that for the future the expectation and demand for capital funds are kept in line with budget requirements, bearing in mind the development of the Skills Funding Agency and Young People’s Learning Agency, and the proper role of DIUS and DCSF for capital matters.
Each autumn, in its annual grant letter to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) sets out the funding envelope for further education for the coming financial year. The grant letters published in October 2007 and November 2008 set out the planned investment for 2008-09 and 2009-10 respectively.
The publication of the grant letter starts the allocations process, which is led by the LSC. The LSC enter into a dialogue with colleges and providers, to determine their allocation based on expected delivery of both adult learner responsive and employer responsive provision.
This dialogue continues throughout the year, and during this time, the LSC and DIUS have regular discussions regarding the progress of the allocations process. Final allocations are made in the spring before the academic year to which they refer.
This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.
Nuclear Engineering: Higher Education
Data at the level of detail requested by this question are not collected centrally. The following table sets out the overall numbers of chemical, process and energy engineering students at English higher education institutions over the last five years which would include nuclear engineering students. Data for 2009 are not yet available.
Academic year Masters Doctorates 2003/04 935 605 2004/05 865 645 2005/06 870 630 2006/07 920 665 2007/08 725 865 Notes: 1. Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded to the nearest five. 2 Covers enrolments of all domiciles to both full-time and part-time courses. 3 Excludes the Open university due to inconsistencies in their coding of subject over the time series. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
Postgraduate Education
[holding answer 9 February 2009]: The latest available figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) are shown in the table. Figures for the 2008/09 academic year will be available in January 2010.
Old2 New3 Enrolments 1,169,085 961,715 Of which: Postgraduate 289,290 179,800 Percentage postgraduate 24.7 18.7 1 Covers enrolments of all domiciles to both full-time and part-time courses. 2 Covers pre-1992 universities. 3 Covers post-1992 universities. Note: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded to the nearest five. Percentages are based on unrounded figures. Figures exclude Higher Education Colleges and the University of Buckingham, which is an independent institution. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
Students: Fees and Charges
All students who are eligible to pay the home rate of fee have their tuition fee subsidised by public funds in the form of HEFCE funding payable directly to the Higher Education Institution.
Academic year Students 2003-04 1,306,500 2004-05 1,319,700 2005-06 1,348,300 2006-07 1,354,900 2007-08 1,360,000 1 Covers students on both full-time and part time courses. 2 Includes the Open university. Notes: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population. Source: HESA.
Additionally eligible students may apply for student support:
Students eligible for tuition fee grants
Students who entered higher education before 2006-07 may apply for a means tested tuition fee grant towards the cost of their tuition fees (up to £1,255 in 2008-09). The grant, paid from public funds, is paid direct to HE institutions, with students paying the balance of the tuition fee.
Academic year Full fee support Partial fee support Total2 2005-06 314,900 92,100 407,100 2006-07 190,400 59,000 249,400 2007-08 102,400 30,900 133,300 2008-09 (provisional)3 30,300 8,600 38,800 1 English domiciled students studying in the UK. Data are not readily available for 2004-05. 2 Constituent parts may not add to totals due to rounding, figures are rounded to nearest 100. 3 2008-09 figures are provisional and may increase substantially due to late applications. Source: Student loans company.
Students with tuition fee loans
All students entering higher education since 2006-07 may apply for a non-means tested loan to cover the whole cost of their tuition fees. The loan is repaid after leaving university and when income is above £15,000. A loan is also available to pre-2006-07 entrants if they are required to contribute to their fees.
Academic year Pre-2006-07 entrants Entered from 2006-07 Total2 2006-07 157,900 239,400 397,300 2007-08 99,100 454,500 553,500 2008-09 (provisional)3 31,200 682,500 713,700 1 English domiciled students studying in the UK and EU domiciled students studying in England. 2 Constituent parts may not add to totals due to rounding, figures are rounded to nearest 100. 3 2008-09 figures are provisional and may increase substantially due to late applications. Source: Student loans company.
Students: Finance
In 2007-08 there were 1,143,000 HEFCE-funded student places (in full-time equivalent terms). The mix of students between undergraduate and postgraduate courses is an institutional decision. In 2007-08 around 990,000 of the 1,143,000 places were undergraduate. We do not have information on how many of these were first-time undergraduates.
2007-08 are the latest data we have on HEFCE-funded student numbers. DIUS funded an additional 20,000 places for core students in 2008-09, and a further 10,000 in 2009-10. Further information can be found in the 2009 HEFCE Grant Letter. We will not receive outturn data on the 2008-09 student population until early 2010.
Vocational Guidance: Internet
The number of unique visitors to the website:
http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk
were (a) 6.9 million in 2008; and (b) 5.4 million in 2007. The URL for the website changed from:
http://learndirect-advice.co.uk
to:
http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk
in September, 2008.
Vocational Training
(2) how many learners were on advanced apprenticeships funded by the Learning and Skills Council at the end of each quarter of 2007-08.
Table 1 shows the number of Train to Gain and work-based learning starts by quarter for the 2007/08 academic year.
Quarter Train to Gain starts Work-based learning starts1 August to October 2007 73,100 102,600 November 2007 to January 2008 75,800 48,500 February to April 2008 92,200 59,900 May to July 2008 90,600 69,500 2007/08 total 331,800 280,600 1 Apprenticeship starts have not historically been spread uniformly throughout the academic year. It is usual to see a peak in starts in the first quarter of the year, followed by a lower level of starts in the second quarter and then a gradual increase until the year end.
Table 2 shows the number of advanced apprenticeship starts by quarter for the 2007/08 academic year.
Quarter Starts1 August to October 2007 28,000 November 2007 to January 2008 11,600 February to April 2008 15,800 May to July 2008 17,500 2007/08 Total 73,000 1 Apprenticeship starts have not historically been spread uniformly throughout the academic year. It is usual to see a peak in starts in the first quarter of the year, followed by a lower level of starts in the second quarter and then a gradual increase until the year end. Notes: 1. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. Figures for advanced apprenticeships include Higher Level Apprenticeships (HLA) to be consistent with information published in statistical first releases. HLA numbers are currently too small to include as a separate category. 3. Work-based learning figures include apprenticeships, Entry to Employment and a small number of NVQ learners. Source: WBL ILR
In “World-Class Apprenticeships”, we announced that we were changing the way we count apprenticeships, moving to counting the number of people starting an apprenticeship in the year (‘starts') and the percentage who complete an apprenticeship (‘completion rate').
The Government are committed to rebuilding apprenticeships. Since 1997 we have witnessed a renaissance in apprenticeships from a low point of 65,000 to a record 225,000 apprenticeship starts in 2007/08. Completion rates are also at a record high with 64 per cent. successfully completing an apprenticeship—up from 37 per cent. in 2004/05.
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has, through the LSC, conducted a number of evaluations examining the effectiveness of skills training courses. These are as follows:
Published reports:
Train to Gain evaluation—waves 1, 2 and 3
Evaluations currently in progress:
Train to Gain wave 4
Employability Skills Programme
Apprenticeship for Adults and
Skills for Jobs
These reports are due to be published during summer 2009.
Regarding outcomes; this information is not readily available for particular programmes or course, although one-off studies of leavers from FE have in the past looked at their destinations. This type of information will in future be collected using the Framework for Excellence learner destination survey with the first results for all FE colleges and work based learning providers available in spring 2009.
These destination data are not measured for Train to Gain participants.
Young People: Unemployment
The tables show estimates of people aged1 16 to 18 and 19 to 24 not in employment, education or training (NEET) in England. These estimates are from the Quarter 4 Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Between 2000 and 2008, the percentage of NEETS has remained largely stable.
We are unable to provide NEET estimates back to 1997 from the LFS as all the data necessary to produce them is not available on datasets prior to Quarter 2 2000.
1 Age used is the respondent’s academic age, which is defined as their age at the preceding 31 August.
Male Female NEET Percentage1 NEET Percentage 2000 84,000 9.5 67,000 7.9 2001 85,000 9.1 86,000 9.9 2002 95,000 10.0 82,000 9.1 2003 95,000 9.9 81,000 8.9 2004 105,000 10.6 83,000 8.8 2005 132,000 13.2 85,000 9.0 2006 114,000 11.2 84,000 8.8 2007 111,000 11.0 81,000 8.6 2008 108,000 10.8 98,000 10.1 1 Percentages are given as a proportion of NEETS within each gender. Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 4
Male Female NEET Percentage NEET Percentage 2000 156,000 9.3 322,000 18.8 2001 187,000 10.9 305,000 17.5 2002 175,000 10.0 307,000 17.3 2003 178,000 9.8 312,000 17.3 2004 207,000 11.1 349,000 18.9 2005 244,000 12.8 376,000 20.0 2006 247,000 12.6 364,000 18.8 2007 226,000 11.2 364,000 18.4 2008 256,000 12.5 395,000 19.7 Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 4 Base: 19 to 24-year-olds, England
Prime Minister
Departmental Training
Departmental Visits Abroad
Since 1999, the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. Copies of these lists are available in the Library of the House. Information for the financial year 2008-09 will be published in the usual manner.
Fred Goodwin
Since June 2007, Sir Fred Goodwin attended a meeting of representatives of financial institutions on 15 April 2008. Details of this event are available on the No. 10 website:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page15275
A copy of this web page has been placed in the Library of the House.
G20
Since 1999, the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. Copies of these lists are available in the Library of the House. Information for the financial year 2008-09 will be published in the usual manner.
Hospitals
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 16 October 2007, Official Report, column 959W.
Iraq: Inquiries
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) during my Statement on Iraq on 18 December 2008, Official Report, column 1239.
Ministers: Members Interests
The Government’s position remains as set out in “Investigating the conduct of Ministers: Government Response to the Committee’s Seventh Report of Session 2007-08” (HC 1056). Copies are available in the Libraries of the House.
Ministers: Pay
Details of all Ministers since 1997 are contained in editions of the “List of Ministerial Responsibilities”, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House, and in the press notices of ministerial appointments issued by my Office.
National Security
The Forum members bring a breadth of experience and varied perspectives to the Government’s thinking about national security. Where appropriate, Forum members will also be encouraged to call on selected experts outside Government for advice, support and specialist research.
Oral Questions: Government Responses
The information requested is a matter of public record and can be found in the Official Report.
President Obama: Discussions
(2) what discussions he has held with President Obama on co-operation with the United States of America on the current global economic situation.
I discussed a wide range of issues with President Obama during our recent meetings. I refer the hon. Member to the joint press conferences I held with President Obama on 5 March 2009 and 1 April 2009. Transcripts of these are available on the No. 10 website:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18514
and
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18896
Copies have also been placed in the Library of the House.
Russia
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 12 February 2009, Official Report, column 2137W.
For security reasons, my future engagements are announced as and when appropriate.
USA
Since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. Copies of these lists are available in the Library of the House. Information for the financial year 2008-09 will be published in the usual manner.
USA: Ballistic Missile Defence
I discussed a wide range of issues with President Obama during our recent meetings. I refer my hon. Friend to the joint press conferences I held with President Obama on 5 March 2009 and 1 April 2009. Transcripts of these are available on the No. 10 website:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18514
and
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18896
Copies have also been placed in the Library of the House.
Culture, Media and Sport
Regional Community Sport
England has streamlined its funding process, so funding will no longer be allocated regionally. These changes will help to realise savings of approximately £20 million over the next four years, which will allow reinvestment in community sport projects.
The vast majority of Sport England's funding—nearly half a billion pounds over the next four years—will be allocated to national governing bodies. This represents a significant change towards investment in grassroots sport, and NGBs will be funded on the basis of their potential to deliver against the strategic outcomes of grow, sustain and excel. Investment will in turn be directed by NGBs into areas where they believe it will best achieve their, and our, strategic outcomes. NGBs are currently taking decisions on where best to invest their money, and we are unable to provide a regional breakdown of this investment for 2009-10.
This complements the huge amount of funding—£780 million nationally over the next three years—that is being invested in school sport. This will largely be channelled through local School Sport and County Sport Partnerships, and will deliver a real difference in the amount and quality of sport for children and young people across the country.
Tourism
In 2008-09 my Department gave VisitBritain £47.9 million, of which, £8.46 million went on England marketing.
However this does not fully reflect the funding for all England activities because of ‘shared services’ like IT, HR and the fact that expenditure for improving the quality of our tourist accommodation and facilities counts as an industry service and not England marketing. In this exceptional year of restructuring it is not possible to give a detailed split between Britain and England spending for 2008-09.
In 2008-09 the combined VisitBritain/VisitEngland corporate services budget was £6.25 million.
We have held a number of discussions with ministerial colleagues, including a recent meeting with my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Employment Relations at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, to discuss business support measures for the tourism industry, and with my hon. Friend the Minister for Borders and Immigration at the Home Office to review the effect of visa processes on inbound tourism.
We will also be convening a joint meeting of ministerial colleagues shortly to discuss cross-cutting issues relevant to promoting the visitor economy.
Market research carried out by VisitBritain indicates that heritage is one of the key motivators for those considering a visit to Britain. In the 2008 National Brand Index survey Britain is ranked as the 4th best nation (behind Egypt, Italy, and France) for built heritage which is therefore a real strength in our tourism offer.
Sport: North East England
Sport England has streamlined its funding process, so funding will no longer be allocated regionally. These changes will help to realise savings of approximately £20 million over the next four years, which will allow reinvestment in community sport projects.
The vast majority of Sport England’s funding—nearly half a billion pounds over the next four years—will be allocated to national governing bodies. This represents a significant change towards investment in grass roots sport, and NGBs will be funded on the basis of their potential to deliver against the strategic outcomes of grow, sustain and excel. Investment will in turn be directed by NGBs into areas where they believe it will best achieve their, and our, strategic outcomes. NGBs are currently taking decisions on where best to invest their money, and we are unable to provide a regional breakdown of this investment for 2009-10.
This complements the huge amount of funding—£780 million nationally over the next three years—that is being invested in school sport. This will largely be channelled through local school sport and county sport partnerships, and will deliver a real difference in the amount and quality of sport for children and young people across the country.
Local News Media
I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Congleton (Ann Winterton).
Apprenticeships
High quality provision of apprenticeships is an important part of the national skills strategy for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector. My Department has received detailed recommendations from the industry, through People 1st, on how to achieve this.
I chair the Monitoring and Implementation Group for this strategy, and a senior official from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is represented on that group.
In addition, I will shortly be convening a meeting of ministerial colleagues to discuss issues relevant to the tourism industry, and a DIUS Minister is being invited.
Newspaper Advertising
The Minister for Women and Equality convened a meeting with the Newspaper Society on 1 November 2007 to talk about how to combat sex trafficking. The Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism attended that meeting.
Subsequently, the Newspaper Society updated and strengthened the legal advice and guidance it provides to publishers on accepting personal ads. Among other things, this warns publishers to be wary of ads, such as for massage parlours, which may disguise sexual services.
Regional Theatres
Arts Council England plan to invest £318 million in theatre across England between 2008-09 and 2010-11.
The recently launched A Night Less Ordinary scheme will provide 618 000 free theatre tickets to under-26-year-olds over the next two years.
My Department is supporting this initiative, which will help theatres fill their seats while building the audience of the future.
London Olympics
Sport and culture play a significant role in plans for the Olympic and Paralympic games and Olympic Legacy.
As part of wider Government plans for getting two million people more active for 2012, we will get one million more people playing sport. 80 local authorities have signed up to having National Indicator 8 on Sport and Active Recreation, and nearly 300 are participating in the Government's Free Swimming Programme. In addition, Sport England will be having several themed (e.g. the first round recently targeted at rural communities) rounds of funding over the next four years, up to £30 million per year, which will be open to local authorities to bid for.
Local authorities have also already played a role in the delivery of the Cultural Olympiad, which aims to provide opportunities for a variety of organisations involved in culture to be part of the cultural celebrations linked to the games, and we expect they will continue to do so.
Following the success of ‘Open Weekend' last year to celebrate the launch of the Cultural Olympiad, July 24 to 26 2009 will see the ‘London 2012 Open Weekend' taking place across the country, and I encourage local authorities to get involved with local cultural, sporting and sustainability-related events over the weekend to celebrate London 2012 in the heart of our communities.
Alcoholic Drinks: Licensing
Statistical bulletins on licences to sell alcohol include the number of premises licences and club premises certificates revoked, but do not indicate the reason why. Licences and certificates may be revoked on review for one or more reasons relating to the four licensing objectives, including sales of alcohol to children.
The first DCMS Statistical Bulletin on Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshment, under the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 reported that there were 675 completed reviews between April 2006 and March 20071. Following which, 91 licences or certificates were suspended, 92 licences were revoked or club premises certificates withdrawn, and 52 Designated Premises Supervisors were removed (Premises Licences only). It is not known which of these suspensions, revocations, withdrawals or removals related to underage sales.
The second statistical bulletin, covering the period between April 2007 and March 2008, reported that there were 1,008 completed reviews for England and Wales2. 396 of these completed reviews were carried out for reasons relating to the protection of children from harm (based on 91 per cent. of returns), but it is unknown if they relate to a one-off case of selling alcohol to children or the persistent selling of alcohol to children. The number of suspensions, revocations, withdrawals or removals following these completed reviews is unknown. However, following all completed reviews 167 licences or certificates were suspended, 155 licences were revoked or club premises certificates withdrawn and 102 designated premises supervisors were removed3.
Since 6 April 2007, in addition to actions following reviews, 18 premises licences were suspended by a court under Section 147B(1) of the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) for the sale or supply of alcohol, following an offence of persistently selling to underage children.
Prior to the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003, data on the number of alcohol licences revoked in England and Wales were collected by petty sessional division (magistrates court areas), on a triennial basis. Between July 2003 to June 2004, there were a total of 354 revocations of on and off-licences. Again, it is not known how many revocations related to underage sales.
1 Based on returns from 85 per cent. of licensing authorities in England and Wales.
2 Based on 97 per cent. of returns.
3 Based on around 94 per cent. of returns.
Bookmakers: Licensing
[holding answer 1 April 2009]: The operators of betting exchanges located in Great Britain are regulated by, and require a licence from, the Gambling Commission, and are required to contribute to the Horserace Betting Levy. Any person providing facilities for gambling in Great Britain who uses betting exchanges in the course of business requires a remote operating licence from the commission, and any bookmaker who carries on a business which includes horse race betting transactions is required to contribute to the Horserace Betting Levy.
I am aware of some concerns around compliance in this area and my officials are exploring these issues with relevant bodies and licensed operators.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
The Department has been following the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management programme for three years.
Departmental Energy
The electricity, gas and other fuel used by the Department and The Royal Parks on its office estate is detailed as follows.
Kwh Electricity Gas Other Fuel 1999-2000 n/a n/a n/a 2000-01 n/a n/a n/a 2001-02 n/a n/a n/a 2002-03 n/a n/a n/a 2003-04 4,368,192 3,275,860 0 2004-05 4,186,267 2,643,861 0 2005-06 4,438,625 2,488,443 0 2006-07 4,320,106 2,631,318 0 2007-08 3,647,784 2,135,379 0 April 2008 to February 2009 2,881,646 1,240,516 0
Kwh Electricity Gas Other Fuel 1999-2000 n/a n/a n/a 2000-01 n/a n/a n/a 2001-02 n/a n/a n/a 2002-03 n/a n/a n/a 2003-04 n/a n/a n/a 2004-05 4,141,338 1,275,682 0 2005-06 3,346,056 1,402,580 0 2006-07 3,220,032 1,505,334 0 2007-08 2,995,048 1,490,492 0 2008-09 n/a n/a n/a
Data are not available prior to April 2004 and since April 2008 The Royal Parks have not recorded data on kwh consumed.
Departmental Public Expenditure
The latest estimate of the capital spending by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport excluding the Olympics can be seen in the table.
£000 2008-09 235,353 2009-10 182,400 2010-11 181,400
Spending plans for 2011-12 are not yet available.
Departmental Training
The cost of the course was £500.
Identifying Ministers who undertake training would, or would be likely to, discourage participation in future training sessions, acting as a disincentive for Ministers to undertake formal professional development.
DCMS is committed to developing our staff and also ensuring that they have the right skills and expertise to enable them to work effectively.
Training courses Cost (£) (a) Staff 2006-07 126 737,782.94 2007-08 183 841,383.13 2008-09 358 578,037.84 (b) Ministers 2006-07 2 1,260 2007-08 2 450 2008-09 6 3,191.84
Gambling
The advertising provisions of the Gambling Act 2005, including the arrangements for whitelisting under section 331, only came into effect in September 2007. Much of the assessment work was carried out by DCMS officials with input from legal advisers, the Gambling Commission, HM Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As a result it is not possible to give a full and detailed assessment of costs.
Local Press
I have recently had discussions with the Society of Editors and the Newspaper Society; and the National Union of Journalists Parliamentary Group.
I shall be holding a summit shortly to discuss local media provision.
Swimming: Concessions
(2) what recent estimate he has made of the number of over 60 year olds who have been provided with free swimming; and if he will make a statement.
Around 10 million people aged 60 or over in England stand to benefit from the Government’s Free Swimming programme. We will be monitoring closely the impact of the scheme on levels of participation.
Nearly 300 local authorities will be offering free swimming to those aged 60 or over. This means that people in that age group who wish to swim, at any time throughout the year, when they would normally be admitted to the pool for public swimming, and in accordance with local programming, should not be charged for doing so. Beyond that condition of grant funding, we have not been prescriptive on how participating local authorities should deliver their offer locally.
We estimate that approximately (a) 38 swimming pools in Lancashire and (b) over 1,000 swimming pools in England are taking part in the Government’s Free Swimming programme. We will be collecting information from participating local authorities on free swimming in their pools as part of our monitoring and evaluation of the programme.
Television: Licensing
TV Licensing, which administers free television licences for people aged 75 or over as agents for the BBC, advises that it is not able to provide breakdowns by constituency of the number of free licences issued.
Tourism: South West
(2) pursuant to the answer of 20 March 2009, Official Report, columns 1340-1W, on tourism: South West, how much of the £3.5 million funding was allocated to each regional development agency.
[holding answers 18 and 23 March 2009]: Funding for regional development agencies (RDAs) is not ring-fenced for particular economic sectors, such as tourism. However, in each year since 2003-04, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has contributed £3.6 million to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s (DBERR’s) Single Programme budget (the “Single Pot”) in respect of the tourism responsibilities of the eight RDAs outside London.
The Single Pot, which will total approximately £2.2 billion, £2.2 billion and £2.1 billion in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively, is allocated among the RDAs by DBERR. DCMS’s contribution will be £3.5 million, £3.4 million and £3.3 million in these years.
Tourism: Summertime
[holding answer 1 April 2009]: My Department has received representations on the merits of daylight saving from the Tourism Alliance, the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions and other members of the attractions sector. I discussed this issue at a meeting with my right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs (Mr. McFadden) at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and industry representatives on 8 November 2008.
Women and Equality
Age: Discrimination
The consultation paper “A Framework for Fairness: Proposals for a Single Equality Bill for Great Britain” (June 2007), called for evidence of unfair age discrimination in the supply of goods, facilities and services. The majority of the nearly 750 responses on this issue (around 80 per cent.) were in favour of legislation to tackle harmful age discrimination outside the workplace, but only a small number of respondents felt that the marketing of products and holidays to specific age groups was discriminatory and very few felt that such marketing was harmful.
We have been taking forward discussions with relevant representatives of industry and stakeholders with an interest in age discrimination to better understand the benefits and consequences of the ban on age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services we are including in the Equality Bill. These discussions have helped us develop an approach which takes account of the need to ensure that the legislation does not prevent service providers offering age-specific goods and services where this is beneficial or can be justified. We will consult on our detailed proposals for the exceptions from the ban on age discrimination in the summer.
We have always been clear that the legislation banning age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services—to be included in the Equality Bill—will bite on harmful age discrimination and allow justifiable and beneficial age-based practices to continue.
The legislation will not prevent different treatment on grounds of age in the provision of insurance, where this is based on actuarial evidence. Nor will it prevent holidays for particular age groups.
Consideration of how to frame the legislation is continuing, taking account of relevant evidence such as the October 2008 report of the Financial Services Expert Working Group established by Government to provide and analyse evidence of the implications and impacts of outlawing age discrimination, and recent research published by the Association of British Insurers in March 2009. In addition, the Government Equalities Office has recently commissioned additional independent research to explore this area further.
We will consult on our detailed proposals for the exceptions from the ban on age discrimination in the summer.
Departmental Bank Services
The Government Equalities Office has not held any contracts with banks for the provision of financial advice.
Equality and Human Rights Commission: Manpower
The total number of staff employed by each of the legacy commissions in their last full year of existence (2006-07) and who were (a) paid between £50,000 and £100,00 and (b) paid over £100,000 is shown in the following table.
(a) paid between £50,000 and £100,000 (b) paid over £100,000 (i) Disability Rights Commission 11 1 (ii)Equal Opportunities Commission 7 1 (iii) Commission for Racial Equality 13 1
The staff costs for 2008-09 by Directorate within the Equality and Human Rights Commission is shown as follows. This information is the best estimate available.
Total (£000) Corporate Management 6,240 Commissioners Office 1,238 Communications 5,498 Legal 3,612 Strategy and Research 3,993 Scotland 1,303 Transition Team 464 Wales 1,255 Totals 23,603
Equality and Human Rights Commission: Pay
The information asked for under (a) will be part of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Annual Report and Accounts for the transition period of October 2007 to March 2008. The Commission intend that the Annual Report is laid before Parliament before the summer recess.
The cash equivalent transfer value information (b) will also appear in the remuneration report section of the Annual Report and Accounts.
As of 31 March 2009, the number of staff employees of the Equality and Human Rights Commission paid:
(a) between £50,000 and £100,000 was 28; and
(b) over £100,000 was three.
Leader of the House
Departmental Computers
The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons joined the Cabinet Office in 2007. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by the Cabinet Office.
It would not be possible to provide information prior to 2007 without incurring a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Mobile Phones
(2) how many (a) Blackberrys and (b) other mobile telephones have been provided to (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in her Office in each year since 2005.
The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons joined the Cabinet Office in 2007. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by the Cabinet Office.
It would not be possible to provide information prior to 2007 without incurring a disproportionate cost.
Church Commissioners
Departmental Finance
Expenditure for the Commissioners’ administration of national Church functions, governance, restructuring and rent, refurbishment and repairs to Commissioners’ offices were £4.9 million in 2006 and £6.6 million in 2007.
Departmental Land
The Commissioners do not record this information and could not establish it retrospectively without incurring disproportionate cost.
The Commissioners do not record average proceeds per acre but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that total proceeds for agricultural land for each year between 2001 and 2007 were as follows:
£ million 2001 7 2002 5.9 2003 5.3 2004 15.6 2005 6.1 2006 36.2 2007 59.7
In 2000, agricultural sales were not recorded separately so the total proceeds for the year (£11.2 million) represents a mixture of agricultural and residential sales.
Figures for 2008 are not yet fully audited; they will be published in May.
Departmental Manpower
The Church Commissioners are a joint employer of most staff of the National Church Institutions. They also employ staff engaged in local property management.
In 2007, the last year for which fully audited figures are available, the number of staff for which the Commissioners were the managing employer averaged 174, at a salary cost of £4 million (not including employer’s national insurance and pension contributions).
Property Development
The Commissioners’ strategic land portfolio comprises about 40 property development schemes located throughout England. Of the few that are being developed, the Commissioners have agreements in place with developers for them to take forward the schemes at their risk. Most are pre-development, comprising sites which have yet to be allocated for development in a development plan, those allocated without planning permission, and those with planning permission but yet to be developed. In the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, the Commissioners are jointly promoting the Bognor Regis Eco Quarter proposal with other landowners. This is part of Option 1 in the Arun District Council’s current development options consultation exercise.