Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 30 June 2009
Olympics
Olympic Games 2012: Facilities
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has responsibility for staging the Olympic and Paralympic games at existing venues. The direct costs associated with staging the events at existing venues come from LOCOG's revenues which are primarily derived from commercial sponsorship, broadcast rights, ticket sales and merchandising/licensing—not from the public purse.
There will be attributable costs to the public purse, for example in respect of the security and transport functions associated with the venue. However these costs have not yet been identified separately for individual venues, but they will form part of the overall security and transport budgets.
Energy and Climate Change
Carbon Emissions: Housing
The following number of grant applications for funding were received by the Low Carbon Buildings programme in respect of projects in (a) schools, (b) hospitals and (c) other public buildings in (i) the East of England region and (ii) Castle Point in each year since the scheme's inception.
Low Carbon Buildings Programme—Phase 1
East of England
(Communities and Stream 2 A)
Applications received (including withdrawn, rejected, expired)
Organisation July August September November January March April June September Total Hospital 1 1 School 1 1 1 1 3 7 Other 1 2 1 4 1 3 3 3 18 Total 1 2 3 1 4 2 3 3 7 26
Castle Point
We are unable to check results at local borough level. However, applications under all streams of phase 1 have been checked against the towns in the following table which make up the local borough area, and no applications were submitted (Convey Island, Benfleet, Thundersley and Hadleigh).
There were no applications from Castle Point.
Low Carbon Buildings Programme—Phase 2
East of England
Organisation 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 Total Hospital — 2 — 2 School 24 42 5 71 Other public buildings 10 12 4 26
There were no applications from Castle Point.
Carbon Emissions: Standards
The consultation in question sought views on a definition of the term ‘carbon neutral’ and on practical guidance on applying the definition, including recommendations on what constitutes good practice. Departmental expenditure on the consultation related to administration costs only. Salary costs have been estimated at between £35,000 and £40,000. Work on the consultation was carried out by one official in pay range D with a small amount of support from staff at pay ranges C and H. Other costs relate solely to stationery and are estimated at less than £50.
Departmental Billing
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority are unable to separately identify interest paid under the Act since DECC was created due to systems constraints. None of the Department’s other non-departmental public bodies have paid interest under the Act.
Departmental Data Protection
There have been no breaches of information security in the Department.
The Department and its agencies will report all significant personal data security breaches to the Cabinet Office and the ICO. Information on any personal data security breaches are published on an annual basis in the Department's annual resource accounts as was announced in the Data Handling Review published on 25 June 2008.
Additionally, all significant control weaknesses including other significant security breaches are included in the Statement of Internal Control which is published within the annual resource accounts.
Departmental Energy
Since DECC’s inception, BERR and DEFRA manage the Department’s estate. Given that, I refer the hon. Member to the answers given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Natural and Marine Environment, Wildlife and Rural Affairs on 20 April 2009, Official Report, column 84W, and by my hon. Friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on 20 April 2009, Official Report, columns 401-02W.
DECC has identified and is implementing a number of measures aimed at increasing energy efficiency at its HQ, in line with Good Practice Guide 286—Energy Performance in the Government’s Civil Estate.
As at 30 March 2009 the Department used approximately 1,066,912 kWh of electricity and 570,944 kWh of gas since its inception. This is based on average daily usage. DECC has no agencies.
Departmental Work Experience
DECC does not currently have a central system for monitoring internships. However, a trawl of all directorates has revealed that there are currently no paid or unpaid graduate internships in the Department.
Electric Cables
(2) when his Department last assessed the need to retain all parts of the overhead electricity transmission and distribution network; and if he will make a statement.
Any such assessments are a matter for Ofgem and the network operators and would be carried out as part of the price control review mechanism through which the transmission and distribution network companies are regulated.
Energy Supply
In order to inform the development and support delivery of policy the Secretary of State and Ministers have met on a regular basis with a broad range of companies, interest groups and the regulator since the creation of DECC in October 2008.
Energy: Consumers
DECC takes account of externally available research about consumer awareness of energy use and energy efficiency and effects on behaviour, in order to inform its policy development.
DECC is co-funding the Energy Demand Research Project, which is enabling the Government, energy suppliers and others to test through a variety of interventions how electricity and gas customers respond to better information about their consumption. The project explores the impact on energy consumption and energy efficiency of smart meters in combination with awareness raising tools including real-time display devices and additional billing information, as well as the provision of energy efficiency information and community engagement.
Entec UK
DECC has two contracts with Entec:
(a) Appraisal of Sustainability of five energy National Planning Statements (a requirement of the Planning Act 2008) and
(b) Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Framework for the Development of Clean Coal (a requirement of Directive 2001/42/EC—the ‘Strategic Environmental Assessment’ directive).
The value of both of these contracts is considered commercially sensitive.
Mike Anderson
Mike Anderson no longer holds a position in the Department.
Nuclear Power Stations
The Office for Nuclear Development has published an indicative timeline for the new nuclear build programme on their website. It sets out at a strategic level how the key parts of the new nuclear programme fit together.
The timeline shows we expect to publish and consult on the draft Nuclear National Policy Statement (NPS) in the autumn of this year. We expect the Nuclear NPS to be designated in the spring of next year and the IPC will be ready to receive applications shortly after this.
The indicative timeline can be viewed at:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/nuclear/index.html
Radioactive Fallout: Exemptions
The Department will reimburse reasonable travel costs and will consider accommodation costs on a case by case basis. The timing and location of the workshop has been chosen to help stakeholders participate from across the UK.
Warm Front Scheme
[holding answer 24 March 2009]: The average waiting times since the start of the current Scheme in 2005 until 28 February 2009 are detailed in the following table. These waiting times are within the Department’s contractual guidelines, which state that heating measures will be installed within 120 days of survey and insulation measures within 40 days.
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Heating Installation 66.0 days 81.9 days 63.8 days 64.7 days Insulation Installation 28.2 days 32.7 days 27.4 days 35.8 days
Culture, Media and Sport
Digital Broadcasting: Derbyshire
The White Paper sets out various proposals in respect of broadcasting. The Government will shortly be consulting on how to secure and fund essential public service content and it is too early to say how this will be allocated or which regions may benefit.
National Lottery: Merseyside
The following table shows the value of lottery grants awarded to organisations in Merseyside and Crosby in the same years, along with the total amount of lottery grants awarded in the last five years. Merseyside is taken to be the boroughs of Knowsley, Liverpool, St. Helens, Sefton and Wirral.
£ 2004-05 Total lottery money awarded 1,631,700,181 Total lottery money to Merseyside 40,285,448 Total lottery money to Crosby 350,989 2005-06 Total lottery money awarded 1,249,237,162 Total lottery money to Merseyside 21,783,707 Total lottery money to Crosby 155,174 2006-07 Total lottery money awarded 969,785,678 Total lottery money to Merseyside 31,383,133 Total lottery money to Crosby 123,348 2007-08 Total lottery money awarded 1,550,673,214 Total lottery money to Merseyside 23,624,868 Total lottery money to Crosby 649,309 2008-09 Total lottery money awarded 920,814,373 Total lottery money to Merseyside 20,194,869 Total lottery money to Crosby 127,807
These statistics have been prepared using the Department's lottery grants database. The database is searchable at:
www.lottery.culture.gov.uk
and uses information on lottery grants supplied by the lottery distributors.
I have arranged for a list to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses of organisations in Merseyside and Crosby that received lottery awards in those years.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Billing
This is an operational matter for the non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) of the Northern Ireland Office, which operate independently of Government. I would encourage the hon. Gentleman to write to the NDPB chief executives.
A list of these NDPBs is available on page 7 of the Northern Ireland Office departmental report, published in June 2009.
Departmental Energy
The Director of Resources, Anthony Harbinson, takes responsibility for sustainable development matters, including energy efficiency.
Departmental Internet
The cost of maintaining the Northern Ireland Office website (www.nio.gov.uk) is detailed in the following table.
£ 2008-09 4,227 2007-08 4,308
Departmental Recruitment
All appointments to the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) are made on merit.
The Northern Ireland Office’s Diversity Delivery Plan 2008-10 includes:
“Our aim is to ensure that representation of Protestants and Catholics in the NIO is comparable to the wider NI civil service.”
The plan highlights the fact that Catholic representation has continued to make steady progress from 25 per cent. in 1997 to 35 per cent. in 2008.
Departmental Training
In the past 12 months the Northern Ireland Office special advisers have not attended any training courses.
Northern Ireland Act 2009
The Northern Ireland Office did not receive any letters either in favour or against the Northern Ireland Act 2009 before it was enacted.
Parades
I hold regular discussions with the Parades Commission on a range of parades related matters, including forthcoming parades. The Parades Commission remains the final arbiter of parades and is independent of Government.
Work and Pensions
Business: Government Assistance
The recruitment subsidy was introduced on 6 April 2009 and data are only starting to feed through. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish official statistics from autumn 2009.
Carers Benefits: Pensioners
The number of people over state pension age who are entitled to carer's allowance but not receiving any payment because of the overlapping benefit rule is 362,350. The estimated maximum annual cost of paying carer's allowance to pensioners who are subject to the overlap is around £1 billion.
Notes:
1. This estimate does not include people who do not make a claim for carer's allowance, as we have no way of calculating how many there are.
2. It should be noted that unless major changes to rules on how carer's allowance is treated within pension credit were to be introduced, the overall Exchequer cost of such a measure would be smaller due to the offsetting reduction in pension credit expenditure.
Departmental Data Protection
I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave to the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander), on 23 June 2009, Official Report, columns 815W-16W.
Departmental Food
The Department has a contract for the provision of fully serviced accommodation with Telereal Trillium which includes catering and food procurement. Annually, 63 per cent. of meat, 33 per cent. of fruit (100 per cent. when seasonably available) and 62 per cent. of vegetables procured by the Department's supplier is produced in the UK.
EC Law
To date during the 2008-09 session, the Department has been responsible for 61 Statutory Instruments and two Government Bills (including six S.I.s from the Health and Safety Executive), some of which consolidated and revoked previous instruments. The Department estimates that around 5 per cent. of these (three Statutory Instruments, including one from the Health and Safety Executive) give effect to obligations arising from EU legislation.
Electronic Government: Operating Costs
The costs for Directgov in each financial year since 2004 are set out in the following table:
Financial year £ million 2004-05 5.1 2005-06 10.5 2006-07 12.8 2007-08 13.9 2008-09 30.7
Employment Schemes
(2) from what source funding for the implementation of the progression to work pathfinders will come;
(3) how many additional jobcentre staff are planned to implement the progression to work pathfinders.
The impact assessment associated with the White Paper ‘Raising Expectations and Increasing Support—reforming welfare for the future’ estimated that the increase in work-focused interviews and provision to support work and skills-related activity could cost up to an extra £20 million a year for parents with younger children. For employment and support allowance customers we are assessing the appropriate balance between provision of the service by Jobcentre Plus and providers. Additional costs will be met from within the current agreed Department spending plans.
A cadre of skilled and capable personal advisers will be absolutely essential to effectively implement the Progression to Work model. Our discussion document ‘Realising Potential: developing personalised conditionality and support’ made clear that that it will be necessary to think through the implications for the adviser role and implement a work force development strategy for Jobcentre Plus staff. This is an issue we will discuss in detail with stakeholders. Until pathfinder locations are decided final decisions cannot be made on the number of personal advisers necessary to deliver the Progression to Work pathfinders.
The recruitment subsidy was introduced on 6 April 2009 as part of the six-month offer of extra support for jobseekers and data are only starting to feed through. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity. We intend to publish Official Statistics from autumn 2009.
Employment Schemes: Greater Manchester
The Government are committed to giving everyone the support they need to find employment as quickly as possible, whatever their age.
A major factor in the employment of older people is employer behaviour. In addition to providing generic good practice guidance to employers, the UK's Age Positive initiative is working in partnership with business leaders to develop sector-based models of flexible retirement to support the increased employment and retention of older workers and the removal of fixed retirement ages.
Our plans for the future include providing guidance to older workers on their options for working longer, encouraging employers to increase flexible work and phased retirement opportunities, a review of the Default Retirement Age in 2011—if it is found to be no longer needed it will be removed, and monitoring the impact of the economic downturn, identifying which groups are being most affected and further increasing help where it is most needed.
For young people who are in danger of slipping into long-term unemployment, funding was provided in the Budget for the Young Person's Guarantee; a guaranteed offer of a job, work-focused training, or meaningful activity to all 18 to 24-year-olds who reach the 12-month stage of their claim to jobseeker's allowance. At the discretion of the Jobcentre Plus adviser, parts of this guaranteed offer could also be extended to people over 24 who face significant barriers in the labour market.
As part of the Young Person's Guarantee, the Future Jobs Fund will help create up to 100,000 new jobs. It will also help create up to 50,000 new jobs in areas of high unemployment, and is available to all people of working age claiming out of work benefits. We expect the Young Person's Guarantee to be available from January 2010 but we want to get Future Jobs Fund jobs up and running as soon as possible—with some places starting as early as October this year.
In addition to this, on 6 April 2009, as part of the Government's response to the economic downturn, the Department for Work and Pensions put in place extra support for newly unemployed customers of all ages, including information and advice about the latest job search techniques and coaching on how to make the most of transferable skills. Extra help for those who have been claiming jobseeker's allowance for six months was also introduced, including opportunities to volunteer, support to become self-employed, recruitment subsidies and work-focused training.
Since last autumn, the Department has also quadrupled the available funding for the Rapid Response Service, which provides advice and support to customers facing redundancy. It has also extended Local Employment Partnerships, the Adviser Discretion Fund and Access to Work so they are available to customers from the first day of their claim, alongside the support they receive from their Jobcentre Plus personal adviser. This help is available to customers of all ages to ensure that everyone has the best possible chance of finding work.
The introduction of the Flexible New Deal across Phase 1 areas from October 2010 will give providers the freedom to offer personalised, tailored support to everyone who has been claiming jobseeker's allowance for 12 months, helping them overcome their individual barriers to work. Greater Manchester East and West and Greater Manchester Central districts are included in Phase 1 of the New Jobseeker's Regime and Flexible New Deal and are also pilot districts for Integrated Employment and Skills.
Across the whole of the Greater Manchester area, Jobcentre Plus also promotes a range of partner provision to enhance the confidence, skills and employability of all of our customers, including those aged 18 to 24 and 50+.
Employment Services
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question of 24 April about what guidance has been issued to Jobcentre Plus staff on referrals to (a) the newly unemployed (non-professional) support delivered by programme centres and (b) the newly unemployed professional and executive support delivered through commercial employment provision. This is something that falls within my responsibilities as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The guidance issued to Jobcentre Plus staff on referrals to newly unemployed support delivered by Programme Centres and commercial employment provision has been placed in the Library.
Jobcentre Plus: Complaints
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Ruth Owen:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many complaints regarding Jobcentre Plus have been received in each month for the last two years. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to Mel Groves as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. As Mel Groves is currently on annual leave, I am replying in his absence.
The information requested is in the following table below.
Total customer complaints April 2007 3,906 May 2007 4,268 June 2007 3,972 July 2007 4,187 August 2007 4,345 September 2007 3,547 October 2007 4,144 November 2007 3,946 December 2007 3,093 January 2008 3,822 February 2008 3,520 March 2008 3,102 April 2008 3,373 May 2008 2,950 June 2008 3,637 July 2008 4,064 August 2008 3,608 September 2008 3,652 October 2008 4,051 November 2008 3,493 December 2008 3,294 January 2009 3,860 February 2009 4,219 March 2009 5,001 Source: Jobcentre Plus
By way of context to these figures, Jobcentre Plus currently has over four and a half million customers. Every working day, Jobcentre Plus conducts 45,000 adviser interviews, processes over 18,000 new benefit claims, and Contact Centres receive over 93,000 calls.
Jobcentre Plus: Manpower
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many personal advisers have been working in each Jobcentre Plus District in each month of the last two years. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The available information showing the number of personal advisers in each Jobcentre Plus District in each month from November 2006 to October 2008 is in the attached tables. This information will be placed in the Library.
2006 2007 November December January February March Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 167 167 167 167 164 Cambridgeshire and Suffolk 151 151 150 150 151 Essex 206 205 201 201 194 Norfolk 114 112 111 113 110 Derbyshire 134 134 136 137 137 Leicestershire and Northamptonshire 163 162 165 165 163 Lincolnshire and Rutland 69 67 69 70 70 Nottinghamshire 138 137 135 135 135 Central London 153 161 162 154 157 City and East London 213 211 210 203 198 Lambeth Southwark and Wandsworth 206 214 215 207 208 North and North East London 344 340 333 330 324 South London 342 337 348 347 347 West London 291 290 290 291 292 Northumbria 198 220 208 210 188 South Tyne and Wear Valley 186 186 185 184 183 Tees Valley 160 160 161 161 159 Cheshire and Warrington 95 94 95 93 92 Cumbria 84 76 75 75 75 Greater Manchester Central 216 209 210 211 203 Greater Manchester East and West 270 272 278 280 274 Greater Mersey 166 162 161 162 162 Lancashire 257 258 257 261 263 Liverpool and Wirral 192 195 194 194 191 Ayrshire Dumfries and Galloway and Inverclyde 148 147 151 150 147 Edinburgh and Lothian and Borders 141 142 143 141 138 Forth Valley Fife and Tayside 194 194 191 188 186 Glasgow 174 164 166 160 157 Highland Islands Clyde Coast and Grampian 193 195 201 195 192 Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire 159 159 159 160 155 Berks Bucks and Oxfordshire 159 159 162 161 160 Hampshire 187 183 175 169 162 Kent 196 203 200 201 202 Surrey and Sussex 229 227 228 233 228 Devon and Cornwall 231 228 228 224 210 Dorset and Somerset 127 127 126 120 121 Gloucestershire Wiltshire and Swindon 121 118 117 121 119 West of England 143 142 145 148 147 North and Mid Wales 103 101 100 100 98 South East Wales 136 137 137 137 134 South Wales Valleys 132 132 130 125 125 South West Wales 122 123 126 122 124 Birmingham and Solihull 252 256 262 263 263 Black Country 231 223 221 220 215 Coventry and Warwickshire 92 93 94 93 91 Staffordshire 139 133 142 142 141 The Marches 138 137 140 140 138 North and East Yorkshire and the Humber 239 239 237 235 232 South Yorkshire 239 233 226 224 219 West Yorkshire 357 352 355 354 349
2007 April May June July August September Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 165 165 166 168 166 164 Cambridgeshire and Suffolk 148 147 147 147 147 148 Essex 193 195 196 197 199 200 Norfolk 108 109 106 104 103 109 Derbyshire 179 175 172 162 162 166 Leicestershire and Northamptonshire 171 168 170 170 174 175 Lincolnshire and Rutland 68 69 69 70 70 69 Nottinghamshire 138 140 139 138 139 141 Central London 154 154 153 150 151 154 City and East London 203 199 188 192 194 200 Lambeth Southwark and Wandsworth 218 213 209 209 210 210 North and North East London 357 355 354 338 333 333 South London 390 387 388 395 393 399 West London 274 277 275 267 263 264 Northumbria 217 222 223 219 221 219 South Tyne and Wear Valley 236 229 231 234 232 235 Tees Valley 165 164 161 160 163 159 Cheshire Halton and Warrington 131 132 133 131 128 129 Cumbria and Lancashire 356 356 352 352 330 340 Greater Manchester Central 236 241 233 230 228 231 Greater Manchester East and West 274 270 267 268 271 281 Merseyside 367 361 362 362 363 348 Ayrshire Dumfries and Galloway and Inverclyde 151 150 150 149 148 150 Edinburgh and Lothian and Borders 139 138 135 136 139 138 Forth Valley Fife and Tayside 194 195 195 193 191 194 Glasgow 156 157 153 154 156 155 Highland Islands Clyde Coast and Grampian 205 206 206 204 203 198 Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire 159 156 154 157 155 158 Berks Bucks and Oxfordshire 165 166 164 170 171 172 Hampshire 163 159 160 161 158 160 Kent 197 197 198 193 191 194 Surrey and Sussex 220 219 219 223 220 222 Devon and Cornwall 212 212 214 209 214 216 Dorset and Somerset 147 145 143 144 141 140 Gloucestershire Wiltshire and Swindon 119 120 118 118 117 117 West of England 147 143 142 143 143 136 North and Mid Wales 99 101 104 103 103 104 South East Wales 131 131 135 130 131 130 South Wales Valleys 156 155 154 154 155 154 South West Wales 142 140 140 141 140 139 Birmingham and Solihull 265 265 264 260 261 279 Black Country 223 220 221 225 225 223 Coventry and Warwickshire 91 92 92 95 95 95 Staffordshire 150 149 150 150 153 151 The Marches 133 134 130 129 135 136 North and East Yorkshire and the Humber 247 243 242 241 242 244 South Yorkshire 238 242 239 245 242 255 West Yorkshire 360 360 370 379 381 384
October November December January February March Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 165 168 169 168 166 163 Cambridgeshire and Suffolk 149 152 152 153 152 147 Essex 199 202 200 199 197 196 Norfolk 107 107 108 110 109 108 Derbyshire 161 156 153 151 151 149 Leicestershire and Northamptonshire 181 182 186 190 188 186 Lincolnshire and Rutland 68 67 73 75 76 75 Nottinghamshire 140 143 142 141 139 138 Central London 151 151 149 151 143 136 City and East London 201 199 199 197 200 199 Lambeth Southwark and Wandsworth 206 204 203 208 214 216 North and North East London 332 326 324 323 328 336 South London 377 351 340 339 331 332 West London 254 262 263 261 259 257 Northumbria 211 206 208 212 209 204 South Tyne and Wear Valley 236 240 240 244 241 233 Tees Valley 160 167 166 169 164 157 Cheshire Halton and Warrington 130 130 129 127 125 126 Cumbria and Lancashire 342 344 345 335 332 331 Greater Manchester Central 231 226 224 208 207 209 Greater Manchester East and West 281 282 289 293 295 290 Merseyside 346 346 342 349 338 333 Ayrshire Dumfries and Galloway and Inverclyde 151 149 149 150 150 148 Edinburgh and Lothian and Borders 140 133 132 127 126 125 Forth Valley Fife and Tayside 193 191 193 190 186 184 Glasgow 160 161 161 161 159 158 Highland Islands Clyde Coast and Grampian 198 201 198 198 196 193 Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire 159 156 154 153 152 147 Berks Bucks and Oxfordshire 170 168 170 174 179 178 Hampshire 166 168 169 169 165 168 Kent 196 202 203 205 204 204 Surrey and Sussex 216 215 209 209 208 204 Devon and Cornwall 214 217 221 219 217 213 Dorset and Somerset 138 137 136 138 135 133 Gloucestershire Wiltshire and Swindon 119 120 121 119 118 119 West of England 134 131 130 129 129 128 North and Mid Wales 104 104 104 102 103 103 South East Wales 130 134 131 130 131 127 South Wales Valleys 154 152 148 146 145 143 South West Wales 137 135 133 132 135 136 Birmingham and Solihull 298 296 294 296 294 296 Black Country 231 233 231 233 230 230 Coventry and Warwickshire 98 103 103 104 102 104 Staffordshire 150 150 156 151 147 146 The Marches 129 133 130 129 131 133 North and East Yorkshire and the Humber 243 236 243 251 248 249 South Yorkshire 254 260 265 262 265 258 West Yorkshire 380 381 393 398 400 395
Jobseeker’s Allowance
[holding answer 1 June 2009]: Information about the estimated additional on-flows to jobseeker’s allowance as a result of employment and support allowance replacing incapacity benefit for new claims from October 2008 is in the following table.
Number May 2009 3,000 August 2009 3,000 November 2009 2,000 February 2010 3,000 May 2010 3,000 August 2010. 3,000 November 2010 3,000 February 2011 3,000 Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000.
There are currently no plans to move any groups off Income Support in the quarters referred to other than lone parents with older children.
Local Employment Partnerships
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: Figures for people moving into work through the Local Employment Partnership scheme by age group are not available.
Jobcentre Plus's administrative records show that more than 100,000 people were helped into work through Local Employment Partnerships in the six months from November 2008 to the end of April 2009.
New Deal for Young People: Suffolk
In the 12 months up to and including November 2008 1,410 people entered the New Deal for Young People (NDYP) in Suffolk. This figure represents the number of individuals to have started NDYP for the most recent year available.
The figure is rounded to the nearest 10. It should be noted that some individuals may have started the New Deal more than once.
Poverty: Merseyside
Poverty statistics, published in the Households Below Average Income series, only allow a breakdown of the overall number of people in relative poverty at Government office region level or for inner or outer London. Therefore, information for Merseyside and the Crosby constituency is not available.
Social Security Benefits
[holding answer 18 June 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is the responsibility of the acting chief executive, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Ruth Owen:
The Secretary of State has asked Mel Groves to reply to your question asking how many benefit offices have been open in each year since 1998; and how many offices scheduled for closure in each such year had the closure suspended. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to Mel Groves as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. As Mel Groves is currently on annual leave, I am replying in his absence.
Information is only available on Jobcentre Plus offices since April 2002, when Jobcentre Plus was created by the merger of the former Employment Service and Benefits Agency. I have attached a table at Annex 1 of the available information.
Jobcentre Plus inherited around 1,500 offices from the merger of the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service in 2002. We have modernised our Jobcentre network to improve customer service, rationalising our estate to provide excellent high street coverage and a single, integrated customer facing office, at the same time reducing cost to the tax payer. We remain the largest office network in Government with 741 modern Jobcentres. This high street presence is supported by 31 modern, industry standard, contact centres and 79 main benefit processing centres.
Jobcentres continue to provide an essential service—especially to those customers most in need of tailored help. However, the great majority of our services (in common with most large, modern organisations) are now also delivered through the telephone and internet. For example, to give customers more convenient access we have around half a million vacancies on-line at any time (our website receives close to one million job searches every working day), and new claims to benefit are predominantly taken by telephone with some taken on-line.
Wherever we have considered the closure of a public facing office we have undertaken a full consultation with local stakeholders, including MPs. When finalising our Service Delivery Plans, our District Managers take account of this consultation and may, in the light of that consultation, decide not to pursue closure. We do not retain records of offices that remain open following a consultation exercise, but, in the light of the current economic conditions and welfare reform changes planned for the next two to three years a decision was taken in November 2008 to suspend the closure of 25 Jobcentres which were being considered for closure. Three small offices in London, where closure had been previously announced, subsequently closed this year. There will be no new Jobcentre closures while the current economic conditions exist.
Annex 1
January Region Currently 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 East of England 57 57 66 67 72 84 85 90 90 East Midlands 53 53 54 56 69 71 75 83 83 London 74 77 80 90 114 121 132 138 139 North East 45 45 47 49 53 60 64 65 65 North West 97 97 104 112 129 139 153 160 160 Scotland 99 99 100 103 125 139 150 153 153 South East 74 74 77 82 97 107 121 123 123 South West 57 57 79 83 91 102 114 118 118 Wales 63 63 63 64 87 95 108 111 111 West Midlands 63 63 67 79 98 105 108 115 116 Yorkshire and the Humber 59 59 60 61 68 79 87 88 88 Totals of all regions 741 744 797 846 1,003 1,102 1,197 1,244 1,246 1 Prior to implementing our network of Benefit Delivery Centres, from April 2006, many sites delivered both customer facing and benefit processing services. This table reflects the rationalisation of the former network of Employment Service and Benefit Agency offices right through to the current network where all offices are integrated Job Centre offices.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Environment Agency: Manpower
The following table shows the information requested broken down by each Environment Agency region. It also includes figures for its head office. The information has been provided in this way because the Environment Agency has over 250 offices.
Based on organisation region Grouping 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Anglian Director 0 0 0 0 0 Senior manager 6 8 7 7 8 Manager 43 37 40 42 45 Specialist 21 21 21 25 33 Executive support and administration staff 24 19 19 14 17 Midlands Director 0 0 0 0 0 Senior manager 8 8 9 8 8 Manager 43 37 39 34 40 Specialist 18 17 21 18 22 Executive support and administration staff 12 16 15 12 14 North East Director 0 0 0 0 0 Senior manager 7 7 7 6 7 Manager 38 34 36 39 39 Specialist 20 22 22 23 19 Executive support and administration staff 20 20 19 16 15 North West Director 0 0 0 0 0 Senior manager 7 7 6 6 7 Manager 44 40 43 39 40 Specialist 31 33 33 34 39 Executive support and administration staff 9 10 10 9 10 Southern Director 0 0 0 0 0 Senior manager 7 6 7 7 6 Manager 36 31 35 35 40 Specialist 9 8 13 13 18 Executive support and administration staff 8 8 8 9 10 South West Director 0 0 0 0 0 Senior manager 8 10 7 7 7 Manager 44 33 33 37 34 Specialist 12 12 16 14 18 Executive support and administration staff 14 15 13 13 13 Thames Director 0 0 0 0 0 Senior manager 10 8 8 8 10 Manager 56 59 71 73 77 Specialist 30 30 41 37 35 Executive support and administration staff 16 23 21 27 21 Wales Director 0 0 0 0 0 Senior manager 8 8 6 7 9 Manager 51 55 59 59 59 Specialist 19 24 26 28 35 Executive support and administration staff 13 12 13 12 12 Head Office Director 8 8 7 8 8 Senior manager 74 87 95 96 99 Manager 395 428 464 475 548 Specialist 353 378 407 406 464 Executive support and administration staff 99 95 86 79 73 Overall Total Director 8 8 7 8 8 Senior manager 135 149 152 152 161 Manager 750 754 820 833 922 Specialist 513 545 600 598 683 Executive support and administration staff 215 218 204 191 185
Forests
The Forestry Commission is leading a process to develop the policy on restoring and expanding open habitats such as lowland heathland from woods and forests in England. The Forestry Commission completed a public consultation on the open habitats policy in June 2009 which received over 170 responses. A report on the consultation will be published in the summer and I expect to receive recommendations on policy options in the autumn.
The approach followed on the public forest estate will then reflect our decisions on the policy options as well as and conclusions from the study of the long-term role of the Public Forest Estate announced in November 2008.
The Forestry Commission published the results of a survey of open habitats and open habitat potential on the public forest estate in May 2009. The survey shows that the area of plantation forest that could be restored to lowland heathland as 29,433 hectares and the area of plantation forest that could be restored to blanket bog as 1,794 hectares.
The area of lowland heathland and blanket bog restored by the Forestry Commission on the public forest estate since 2005 is 672 hectares and 315 hectares respectively. We do not hold the information centrally on other public bodies. However, Natural England has entered into Environmental Stewardship agreements with landowners to restore 12,763 hectares of lowland heathland and 24,795 hectares of blanket bog.
Wales
Departmental Pay
Pay offers are not negotiated at Wales Office level as staff in the Wales Office are employed by the Ministry of Justice or the Welsh Assembly Government.
Olympic Games 2012
As part of their duties a number of my officials (together with colleagues from the Welsh Assembly Government) have and continue to work towards maximising Wales’ contribution to a successful London 2012.
Business, Innovation and Skills
Debts
Addressing financial problems at an early stage is essential to identifying a sustainable solution to an individual’s problems. Part 5 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act (TCEA) 2007 contained a series of measures to support those debtors for whom the current statutory provisions of bankruptcy and individual voluntary arrangements may not be the best option.
One of these was a low income, low asset bankruptcy scheme, which was introduce into the Insolvency Act 1986 on 6 April 2009 and is known as a Debt Relief Order (DRO).
The TCEA 2007 also contains powers for the Lord Chancellor to introduce statutory debt management schemes that could have similar features to the debt assistance scheme.
The implementation of part 5 of the TCEA 2007 is currently being reviewed and an announcement is expected to be made shortly.
Internet: Iran
[holding answer 25 June 2009]: There are currently no plans to restrict further or prohibit the supply to Iran by UK companies of technologies capable of use to monitor, inspect or filter internet content. The export of these technologies would already be controlled if they employed cryptography or were specially designed for military use. In such cases, all export licence applications are rigorously assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria and a licence would not be issued if to do so was inconsistent with the criteria. In particular a licence would not be issued if there was clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression.
Jordan: Overseas Trade
UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) provide a range of support services to UK companies wishing to trade with Jordan. These are detailed on the UKTI web pages.
Specific events that have been supported by UKTI in the last year to encourage trade between Jordan and the UK include:
two education events in October 2008 and February to promote the opportunities in Jordan to UK companies;
a trade mission with UK health care companies to Jordan in February;
a joint event with the Arab British Chamber of Commerce to promote the opportunities in Jordan to UK companies;
several regional Gulf events such as Arab Health and the Big 5 (construction) exhibitions where UK companies could access information about doing business in Jordan.
The value of goods exported to Jordan in 2004 amounted to £161 million, in 2005 £186 million, in 2006 £160 million, in 2007 £164 million and in 2008 £210 million.
The value of goods imported from Jordan in 2004 amounted to £20 million, in 2005 £22 million, in 2006 £20 million, in 2007 £37 million and in 2008 £21 million.
Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries
The Government remain committed to providing guarantees, where appropriate, to help unlock up to £1.3 billion in European investment bank loans to UK automotive companies. While no guarantees have at this stage been provided, BIS is actively supporting the EIB applications of a number of UK automotive companies and stands ready to offer a guarantee where necessary and in accordance with the published criteria for the Automotive Assistance Programme.
Regulatory Policy Committee
Members will be appointed to the new Regulatory Policy Committee in the coming months.
Estimates on the establishment and the operation of the new Regulatory Policy Committee will be made in due course.
Science: Education
There is good evidence that participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) enrichment activities improves young people's progression in science education. A recent OECD study “Science Competencies for tomorrow's world” (PISA 2006) shows that students in schools that hold more extracurricular science activities tend to perform better than their counterparts in schools that run fewer activities. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and its predecessor departments have funded a number of initiatives with the specific aim of providing enrichment and enhancement activities for young people, thereby increasing numbers taking these subjects at GCSE level and beyond.
We have undertaken several studies on the impact of those Government-funded initiatives whose aim is to increase the numbers of young people studying STEM subjects. It is not usually possible to prove a quantitative causal link between any one initiative and impact on numbers, because many factors affect the decision-making process when choosing specific courses.
Recent studies include:
An evaluation of SETNET (now STEMNET), published in 2007, carried out by the Tavistock Institute. STEMNET has recently commissioned a follow-up evaluation, which will be published next year.
In July 2008, DIUS commissioned a study on the impact of science centres on both numbers studying STEM and wider public engagement with science. Science centres in England are principally funded by users and regional or charitable bodies, rather than by central Government. The research compares the contribution of science centres to STEM objective with that of a number of Government-funded initiatives, including STEMNET's STEM ambassadors programme, outreach work of the Royal Academy of Engineering (including the London Engineering Programme), Research Councils UK, and the British Science Association (including the CREST Star Investigator programme). This research will be published shortly.
In January 2009 DIUS published a report on “the Demand for STEM skills” which reviewed the evidence from employers on STEM recruitment alongside analysis of the supply of young people with STEM qualifications and their labour market outcomes. The report included recent trends of STEM qualifications at A Level, First Degree and Postgraduate levels. In addition, DIUS commissioned the Warwick Institute of Employment Research to provide some benchmark projections and associated implications of the demand and supply of STEM graduates. These studies identify the important contribution made by STEM enrichment activities in stimulating interest among young people and their increased attractiveness to employers which results.
On 26 May 2009, DIUS launched a Science and Society strategy, which tackles the five key themes identified in last year's public consultation. In so doing we will develop a more coherent approach to evaluating the impacts of science and society initiatives, including those related to STEM enrichment and enhancement, and the take-up of STEM courses by young people.
Setanta
[holding answer 29 June 2009]: The company approached the Department on 28 May to seek our influence with certain commercial stakeholders to help facilitate rescue discussions. Although we were unable to intervene in commercial discussions, officials kept in contact with the company throughout the period in which it was attempting to agree a rescue deal.
The administrators are shutting down the company's UK operation and have made 102 London-based staff redundant, along with a further 73 staff in Glasgow. They are keeping on another 21 staff in the short-term to help close the business down; 15 in London and six in Glasgow. Setanta's sales team is outsourced and I understand that the loss of Setanta's contract will result in around 95 redundancies at the out-sourcing company.
Students: Loans
The Government still intend to make sales from the student loan book, but it is clear that this should be done only at a time when we can get a good return for the taxpayer. For the time being, the market conditions do not allow this. However, we will actively look to identify opportunities for a sale that represents value for money as market conditions improve.
UK Trade and Investment: Offices
The following table reflects the allocation of UKTI full-time equivalent staff in Brazil, Russia, India and China each year since 2008.
2003-4 2004-5 2005-6 2006-7 2007-8 2008-9 Brazil 51.11 39.13 39 33.65 38.15 38.18 Russia 17.19 17.92 16 25.75 29.30 29.30 India 81.26 76.12 76.34 73.98 80.42 86.30 China1 (including Hong Kong) 87.74 94.63 98.75 113.47 116.81 116.47 1 In addition to the total given for China, since June 2007 17.5 full-time equivalent staff of the China Britain Business Council based in China have delivered, on behalf of UKTI, the majority of trade services in respect of China.
Defence
Afghanistan: Armed Forces
[holding answer 25 June 2009]: We regularly assess the military capability required for operations in Afghanistan; periodic theatre capability reviews are one element of this assessment process. Following the most recent assessment submitted to Ministers, the Prime Minister announced on 29 April 2009, Official Report, column 869, the deployment of additional troops to provide extra security during the Afghan election period, improve force protection particularly against improvised explosive devices and to command the International Security Assistance Forces' Regional Command (South).
Armed Forces: Health Services
The information requested, up until 31 March 2009, can be found in the following table.
Number of patients treated Contract value (£ million) 1 December 2003 to 31 March 2004 58 0.4 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 321 4.2 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006 351 4.5 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 305 3.4 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 289 3.9 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 284 3.3
These figures take into account the cost of assessing patients as well as any treatment programmes provided; the individual care needs of each patient will vary depending on their particular medical circumstances. They also include services provided by the Priory Group between 1 December 2003 and April 2004 prior to the formal contract start date.
The contract with the Priory Group has been replaced by a new one, awarded in November 2008 following open competition, with a partnership of seven NHS trusts led by South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust. This ensures coverage across the country, and complements the community-based approach we follow for our out-patients who are seen at our regional military mental health centres.
Armed Forces: Mental Health Services
(2) how many community veterans' mental health therapists there were in each region of (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years;
(3) what funding (a) his Department and (b) the Department of Health has provided to each of the community veterans mental health pilots in each year since their inception; and how much has been allocated to each in the next two years;
(4) how many veterans have used each of the community veterans mental health pilots in each year since their inception;
(5) what progress there has been on the pilots to examine ways of meeting the needs of veterans with mental health problems announced in 2007.
Veterans’ health care has been the responsibility of the national health service (NHS) since 1948. The MOD is committed to good mental health and well-being for its personnel both in service and after.
While it appears that most veterans use community wide NHS service provision satisfactorily, including for mental health, the Government have taken a number of specific steps to meet the needs of veterans with mental health issues. These steps include creating the Reservists Mental Health Programme, open to any current or former member of the UK Volunteer and Regular Reserves who has been demobilised since 1 January 2003; the Medical Assessment Programme available to veterans deployed on operations since 1982; and more recently engaging with the four UK Health Departments and the ex-service charities in piloting a new best practice, culturally sensitive, mental health care service for veterans in six NHS trusts across the UK.
Each of the six pilots across the UK are operational and being led by a Community Veterans' Mental Health Therapist. The early take up results of the pilots suggest that veterans are willing to access the service, however the numbers making use of the service are currently being validated and are not yet available. An independent evaluation of the pilots is currently under way with a final report due in 2011. Outcomes will include the range of disorders and the level of demand to inform future service planning and subsequent roll out nationwide.
Departmental Information and Communications Technology
No contract has yet been awarded and any estimate of payment is subject to ongoing negotiations and as such is commercially sensitive and cannot be released at this stage.
The value of payments to ATLAS in respect of those members of staff who occupied in-scope posts, transferred to ATLAS under TUPE arrangements and subsequently made redundant, is between £5 million and £6 million.
Economic and Monetary Union
The Ministry of Defence does not have a specific Minister for Europe. The Secretary of State for Defence has responsibility for NATO and European Security and Defence Policy issues, supported by the Minister for International Defence and Security, Baroness Taylor. Both the Secretary of State and Minister (IDS) have attended meetings of EU Defence Ministers under successive EU presidencies, where discussion typically focuses on issues of operations, capabilities and partnerships.
Equipment: Procurement
[holding answer 29 June 2009]: The MOD’s general approach to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is to leave ownership of rights in design information with industry and to secure access and user rights in that information. There is a series of MOD standardised contract conditions (IPR DEFCONs) that are available to secure these rights under contract. However, our approach on an individual project may vary, according to its specific requirements. Details of MOD’s IPR policy are publicly available as part of the Acquisition Operating Framework at:
www.aof.mod.uk/aofcontent/tactical/toolkit/downloads/ipr_ov/iprpol.pdf
Earlier this month I announced the launch of MOD’s new Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFV) sector strategy, 23 June 2009, Official Report, column 52WS. For this sector, we will in future in principle wish to acquire at the outset rights over design information, as well as assured access to relevant design knowledge, sufficient to allow third party modification of designs where appropriate, and to permit routine maintenance repair and overhaul activities.
The MOD continues to develop a number of industrial sector strategies, under the umbrella of the Defence Industrial Strategy 2005. We expect to make announcements about these, including any relevant IPR issues, as they mature.
Pakistan: Military Aid
I can confirm that there are currently 31 UK military personnel based in Pakistan undertaking a variety of roles including training, liaison and diplomatic duties. The number of military personnel based in Pakistan varies from time to time. This can be for a variety of reasons, including revised tasking and changes to previous roles.
Type 45 Destroyers
The Government have previously acknowledged that the original estimates of the Type 45 destroyers in-service dates were overly optimistic. These judgments were made in the early period of the programme's life when the ship design was still relatively immature. Since a review of the programme and subsequent renegotiation of the contract in 2007, Type 45 has made strong progress, achieving a series of critical programme milestones without any further time or cost overruns.
Veterans Forum
The Veterans Forum has met 18 times since its establishment in 2002 and currently meets bi-annually. It is chaired by the Under-Secretary of State and Minister for Veterans, and is attended by a number of officials from the Ministry of Defence, including single service representatives. Representatives are also invited from other Government Departments including the Department for Health; Children, Schools and Families; Communities and Local Government; as well as from each of the Devolved Administrations. A number of ex-service organisations are also in attendance making the total number of attendees more than 30 at each meeting.
Transport
A419
The proposed A419 Cowley to Brockworth Improvement Scheme has been considered by the South West Region as part of its refresh of regional funding priorities. The region has not included the scheme in their forward programme of priorities up to 2019 and I am currently considering their advice.
Bus Lanes: Essex
The Department for Transport received advice in February 2009 from the East of England region on its transport priorities in the period up to 2018-19 as part of its Regional Funding Advice to Government. This includes proposals for investment in Essex for bus-based schemes such as South Essex Rapid Transit and the A13 Passenger Transport Corridor. The Department expects to be in a position to respond to this advice in the next few weeks.
Buses: Concessions
The Government are now providing around £1 billion each year to support the statutory minimum concession which improves social inclusion for older and eligible disabled people who can now travel free on local buses at off-peak times in any part of England. The Government are very confident in the adequacy of this statutory minimum. The provision of services over the network of bus routes and their frequency is for operators to decide as most services are run on a commercial basis. Where a commercial service is not considered viable, local authorities may contract with bus operators to provide services.
Channel Tunnel Railway Line
The Government are currently engaged in a restructuring of London and Continental Railways. Following this, it is the Government's intention, as market conditions allow, to sell, via an open and competitive auction, a long-term concession for High Speed 1 in such a way as to maximise value for money for the taxpayer.
High Speed 1 is incentivised to maximise usage of the line, and to help operators develop new international services. London to Amsterdam is a large market under consideration by train operators. Operators that wish to utilise High Speed 1 will negotiate access rights with the holder of the concession to operate the railway.
Crossrail Line: Contracts
[holding answer 29 June 2009]: The Programme Partner and Delivery Partner contracts were awarded by Crossrail Ltd., the Project Representative contract was awarded by the Department in conjunction with TfL, and the Network Rail Delivery Partner contract was awarded by Network Rail.
The Crossrail contracts referred to above were awarded as shown in the following table. All of the contracts in the table were awarded under European procurement rules.
Client Contract Awarded to Supplier country of origin Crossrail Ltd. (a) Crossrail Programme Partner Transcend—Joint Venture between AECOM, CH2M Hill and The Nichols Group AECOM—US CH2M Group—US Nichols—UK Crossrail Ltd. (b) Crossrail Delivery Partner Bechtel Ltd. US DfT/TfL (c) Project Representative Jacobs Engineering Ltd. US Network Rail (d) Network Rail Delivery Partner Bechtel Ltd. US
All contracts of this scale are subject to the European rules on procurement which require contracts to be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union where any supplier that wishes to do so can express an interest, thus attracting the widest possible field of prospective bidders.
Under the “restricted procedure” interested suppliers are narrowed down, usually by means of some kind of qualifying questionnaire, to a shortlist from which suppliers are invited to tender.
Cycling: Schools
The Department for Transport provides advice on safer cycling for children of all ages on its “Think” website.
The Department also funds cycle training in schools. Grants are available for local authorities and school sports partnerships for national standard cycle training promoted as Bikeability training in England. The decision on which schools take part is for individual local authority and school sports partnerships to determine. We do not therefore hold information about which schools have taken part to date, though we do plan to ask for it in the future as the delivery in schools expands. To date we have funded around 146,000 training places and have made grants of around £10 million available in 2009-10 to fund over 200,000 places.
Safety may also be covered in a school’s travel plan. Every school should have a travel plan by March 2010. We do not hold data on which plans include any safety aspect.
Most local authorities fund some form of cycle training in their schools usually through their Local Transport Plan funding. Not all of it is National Standard training (see reply to PQ 2588 08/09).
We have in recent years supplemented local authority spend and funded schools direct through their School sports Partnerships to increase the number of children who can receive national standard training as part of our target of delivering an additional 500,000 training places by 2012.
We announced cycle training grants amounting to £5.4 million earlier this year for 94 local authorities and our cycle demonstration towns. All bids for grant were awarded in full. This money will fund around 135,000 training places in addition to the estimated 100,000 being funded through our grants of £4 million to School Sports Partnerships. This builds on the 146,000 places we have already funded and goes a long way to meeting our 2012 target.
The Department for Transport only provides grant for cycle training that meets the National Standard, promoted as Bikeability training in England. We have made over £9 million available to local authorities and school sports partnerships to deliver the national standard in 2009-10.
The National Standard replaces the old cycling proficiency and been designed and developed by leading experts in the road safety and cycling fields including RoSPA, Local Authority Road Safety Officers (LARSOA) and the Cyclists Touring Club. It is based on similar principles to lessons for motorcycles, allowing cyclists to assess risks and obstacles faced on the road. It involves a higher standard of cycle training, including an on-road element and is designed to give confidence and skills to deal with today’s road conditions. It can only be delivered by qualified national standard trainers.
The training consists of three levels:
Level 1: aimed at 7-9 year olds-off road teaching of basic cycling and balance skills;
Level 2: aimed at 10-11 years-on-road training building on the first level;
Level 3: aimed at older children/adults-includes tackling difficult road features (e.g. roundabouts) and the safe use of cycle facilities.
The National Standard deals with positioning and identifying the different hazards and road conditions cyclists may face on the road including being able to recognise the dangers that can be posed by large vehicles. Positioning and filtering is particularly important when sharing road space. Filtering allows a cyclist to move inside or outside of slow or stationary traffic but the choice to filter rests with the cyclist who needs to know how to judge when to filter. These skills are primarily taught at Level 3. Not filtering up the left of large vehicles at junctions is the main proviso cyclists are taught because the drivers of large vehicles have a blind spot on their nearside when turning left and the space there if occupied by a cyclist becomes closed.
A number of local authorities and other organisations give advice to HGV drivers about sharing road space with cyclists.
None since the Secretary of State only recently took office. However both Department for Transport Ministers and officials here engage with Her Majesty’s Government colleagues on these issues as necessary. Meetings are held regularly with the Department of Children, Schools and Families on the part increases in cycling, particularly cycling to school can play in improving the health and fitness of children as part of the Government’s initiatives to reduce child obesity and increase physical activity.
Departmental Manpower
The table shows the forecast change in headcount (permanent staff and those on fixed term contracts), expressed as full-time equivalents, between 31 March 2009 and 31 March 2010 in the centre of the Department for Transport and each of the Department’s bargaining units.
Actual for 31 March 2009 Forecast for 31 March 2010 Change Department for Transport Centre 1,902 1,902 0 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency 6,329 6,328 -1 Driving Standards Agency 2,574 2,560 -14 Government Car and Despatch Agency 315 350 35 Highways Agency 3,416 3,416 0 Maritime and Coastguard Agency 1,128 1,127 -1 Vehicle Certification Agency 136 144 8 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency 2,638 2,679 41
I have been asked to reply.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Department for Transport were formed in 2002, from the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. ODPM then became the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) in 2006. CLG does not hold any data on performance management markings before 2002.
The Department for Transport line management are in the process of meeting all permanent staff to deliver annual performance management reviews. Once this process is completed, the results will be collated and published as part of the Department’s annual equality monitoring duties. The Department expects to finalise this process by November 2009.
Departmental Pay
Within the Department for Transport, its agencies and associated non-departmental public bodies no bids for efficiency savings have been submitted to be used for pay improvements in 2009 pay offers.
Fuels: EU Law
The Department for Transport is not aware of such a derogation ever having been either requested by or granted to a Member State. EU Fuel Quality Monitoring reports1 suggest that, with the exception of transitional problems for two accession Member States in 2005, EU petrol and diesel are generally well within the mandatory sulphur content limits.
1 http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/intemal_market/single _market_for_goods/motor_vehicles/interactions_industry _policies/l28077_en.htm
Highways Agency
Bonus payments to (a) directors are managed by the central Department. A comprehensive breakdown of (b) senior managers, (c) specialist and delivery managers and (d) executive support and administration staff in the Highways Agency can be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, total figures for each of the last five financial years are as follows:
Financial year PB1-8 2003-04 89,314 2004-05 114,224 2005-06 182,930 2006-07 230,675 2007-08 202,590
Ports: British Overseas Territories
The security of seaports in the British Overseas Territories falls within the remit of the Transport Security and Contingencies Directorate (TRANSEC) within the Department for Transport. TRANSEC provides the Governors and port facility operators in each territory with advice and guidance on port security, based on the globally-adopted International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code).
Railway Stations: Disabled
Studies carried out for the Strategic Rail Authority in 2005 showed that 254 railway stations in London did not provide full step free access. More detailed information about station facilities is held by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and is available from the National Rail Enquiries Service at
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/search.html
A programme of access audits is currently under way to update this information.
Railways: Franchises
There is no requirement for windows that can be opened in any franchise agreement.
Railways: Hearing Impaired
The Department for Transport has not had recent discussions with rail franchisees, or other transport operators, about the way they provide their services to deaf and hard of hearing passengers. However, improving access to travel for disabled people is an ongoing objective of the Government, and the Department expects all service providers to consider the needs of deaf and hard of hearing passengers as required by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended).
The Department for Transport sets out the strategy for improving access to rail transport in ‘Railways for All: The Accessibility Strategy for Great Britain's Railways’. This strategy anticipates that holders of rail franchises will ensure their services improve access to travel for disabled passengers, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Railways: Maintenance
The number of rail services (a) planned to run and (b) cancelled in the last quarter of 2008-09 are shown in the following table by operating company:
Train operating company (a) Number of trains planned (b) Number of trains fully cancelled Arriva Trains Wales 75,583 179 c2c 27,431 189 National Express East Anglia 143,254 1,809 Chiltern 25,642 156 London Midland 83,202 2,235 First Capital Connect 83,179 2,455 First Great Western 112,848 1,796 National Express East Coast 10,724 172 Merseyrail 48,687 283 Northern Rail 202,449 1,302 Southeastern 130,308 3,569 Southern 180,652 5,294 Stagecoach Southwestern 141,893 3,161 Trans Pennine Express 23,883 156 Virgin Trains 20,576 896 Crosscountry 22,327 236 East Midlands Trains 34,929 222 London Overground 32,540 440
The Department for Transport does not hold information on how many rail services of each train operating company were not in planned preventative maintenance in the last quarter of 2008-09.
Railways: West Midlands
The information is not available in the form requested. Responsibility for delivering capacity enhancements on the railway rests with Network Rail who also fund any works.
Government support for the railway, including a breakdown of support by region is available in the Department for Transport’s annual report. Copies are available in the Library of the House.
Road Traffic
The Department for Transport's records reveal that the following numbers of ministerial and official correspondence have been received over the last five years which have 'traffic congestion in town centres' within the subject heading:
Number 2004 16 2005 40 2006 27 2007 47 2008 17 2009 8
There will have been many more representations to the Department on this issue, but it would not be possible to provide figures for these without disproportionate cost.
[holding answer 29 June 2009]: It is estimated that foreign registered cars and light goods vehicles travelled 319 million kilometres on Britain's motorways in 2008, accounting for around 0.4 per cent. of the total distance travelled by these types of vehicles.
On other roads in Great Britain, it is estimated that foreign registered cars and light goods vehicles travelled 1.438 billion kilometres in 2008, around 0.2 per cent. of the total distance travelled by these types of vehicles.
The estimates are based on information collected through the Department for Transport's Vehicle Excise Duty Evasion survey in June 2008. They have been calculated on the assumption that the rate of foreign registered vehicles in traffic observed during this month is representative of the rate throughout the year.
Estimates of foreign registered traffic are split between motorways and all other roads, while the Highways Agency is responsible for managing both motorways and other major trunk roads in England. Estimates covering all Highways Agency routes are therefore not available, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Roads: Construction
All major road schemes submitted to the Department for Transport by local authorities or promoted by the Highways Agency are subject to a full assessment against the Government's five overarching objectives of safety, environment, economy, integration and accessibility.
The Highways Agency also has in place a set of advice notes in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges that deal with the environmental design and management of roads. These advice notes state clearly that good environmental design is a matter of respecting the special character of each individual location where a road improvement may be sited. While this is written with the trunk road system in mind, local highway authorities are likely to find it useful for their purposes, too.
In addition, the Department has commissioned research into valuing transport's impact on the natural landscape. The results of phases 1 and 2 of the study are reported on the Department's website at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/economics/rdg/landscape/
The Highways Agency has recently released a report, ‘Post Opening Project Evaluation: Meta Analysis’, on the evaluation of a number of Highways Agency schemes. A copy of the report can be found at the following weblink:
http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/18386.aspx
The Highways Agency is also developing an improved methodology to account for the changes to the quantity of vehicle emissions that affect air quality that can result from new road schemes.
Finally, the Department is collaborating with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to manage research that they have commissioned to investigate the health impacts of environmental noise.
Transport: Essex
The Department for Transport receives representations from time to time about the allocation of funding for various issues, including the construction of bicycle paths, bicycle lanes and footpaths. However, the Department is not aware of any specific representations on these subjects in relation to Essex or Castle Point. Such representations would generally be made to the local authority in question.
Cabinet Office
Breast Cancer: Males
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply to the hon. Member. A copy of its response will be placed in the Library.
Central Office of Information: Expenditure
I refer the hon. Member to answer given to him on 20 April 2009, Official Report, column 352W.
Central Office of Information: Security
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Central Office of Information. I have asked the chief executive to reply.
Letter from Mark Lund, dated June 2009:
As Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on the Security Breaches (276941).
In the last five years the Central Office of Information (COI) has had no reported breaches of security.
It is COI policy to report all significant personal data security breaches to the Cabinet Office and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Information on personal data security breaches is published on an annual basis in the department's Annual Report and Accounts as announced in the Data Handling. Procedures in Government Review published on 25th June 2008.
Additionally, all significant control weaknesses including other significant security breaches are included in the Statement of Internal Control which is also published within the Annual Report and Accounts.
Jobseeker’s Allowance: South Yorkshire
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated June 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for what average length of time jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claimants resident in (a) Barnsley and (b) Doncaster received JSA in each of the last five years. (282785)
The number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) is taken from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. The length of a claim has been defined as the time between the start of an individual's claim and that claim ending. Table 1 shows the median length of completed claims during the May count period of the last 5 years.
Months May Barnsley Doncaster 2005 8.5 9.3 2006 11.0 10.7 2007 10.0 12.3 2008 9.5 9.7 2009 12.2 10.8 Source: Jobcentre Plus administrative system.
Regional Planning and Development: South East
The Cabinet Office received no representations on the South East England Regional Spatial Strategy.
Unemployment: Merseyside
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated June 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the average unemployment rate among working age population in (a) Merseyside and (b) Crosby was in each of the last five years. (282522)
The Office for National Statistics compiles unemployment statistics in line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS).
Table 1 shows the unemployment rate for people resident in Merseyside and Crosby parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years. The latest period for which data are available is October 2007 to September 2008. Unemployment rates are normally provided for people aged 16 and over, rather than people of working age, thus estimates provided are consistent with this definition.
As these estimates are for a subset of the population in small geographical areas, they, are based on small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty.
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment and unemployment are available from the NOMIS website at:
http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
Unemployment rate (percentage) 12 month period Merseyside Crosby January to December 2004 6.1 2.5 January to December 2005 7.0 3.8 January to December 2006 7.0 7.2 January to December 2007 7.3 3.6 October 2007 to September 2008 6.9 6.0 1 Number of unemployed people aged 16 and over as a percentage of the economically active population. Source: Annual Population Survey.
Home Department
Community Policing: Enfield
It is for individual police forces and authorities to ensure the effectiveness of neighbourhood policing in their area. The Government will hold forces to account for progress through the single top-down target we have set them to improve public confidence that crime and antisocial behaviour issues are being tackled locally, and in the light of inspection work by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).
HMIC has inspected every force in England and Wales to assess their capabilities in delivering Neighbourhood Policing and Developing Citizen Focus. HMIC’s assessment in September 2008 was that all forces, including the Metropolitan Police Service, had met this standard.
Crimes of Violence
Available information for knife and sharp instrument offences recorded by the police for selected offences are provided for 2007-08 only. Data are not available for previous years.
Data for 2008-09 will be published on 16 July. It should be noted that GBH offences for 2008-09 will not be comparable with those published for 2007-08.
This is due to a change in the clarification rules for recording GBH with intent, and a change in the definitional coverage of GBH without intent.
Number Police force Attempted murder Wounding with intent to do GBH Wounding or inflicting GBH without intent Avon and Somerset 3 85 27 Bedfordshire 4 67 14 British Transport Police 0 11 1 Cambridgeshire 3 21 16 Cheshire 1 64 26 Cleveland 4 76 17 Cumbria 2 20 35 Derbyshire 2 49 28 Devon and Cornwall 5 127 45 Dorset 0 20 11 Durham 2 53 8 Dyfed-Powys 3 31 31 Essex 6 89 10 Gloucestershire 1 15 4 Greater Manchester 20 600 315 Gwent 1 79 8 Hampshire 7 88 108 Hertfordshire 8 46 35 Humberside 2 55 34 Kent 10 94 32 Lancashire 8 138 46 Leicestershire 5 99 25 Lincolnshire 0 29 9 London, City of 1 3 2 Merseyside 3 312 52 Metropolitan Police 59 878 869 Norfolk 1 22 13 North Wales 1 56 25 North Yorkshire 1 21 4 Northamptonshire 3 83 10 Northumbria 1 140 64 Nottinghamshire 5 122 27 South Wales 0 333 46 South Yorkshire 6 111 43 Staffordshire 1 34 75 Suffolk 2 33 42 Surrey 6 25 18 Sussex 2 62 84 Thames Valley 9 63 30 Warwickshire 2 41 14 West Mercia 1 43 20 West Midlands 14 561 370 West Yorkshire 10 306 75 Wiltshire 6 43 17 1 Includes racially or religiously aggravated wounding or inflicting GBH.
Departmental Consultants
In 2008-09, the Home Office and its agencies (the UK Border Agency, the Identity and Passport Service and the Criminal Records Bureau) spent £140 million on consultancy services, such as project management, legal services and assistance with major projects, with a wide range of consultants. This represents 7 per cent. of Home Office expenditure on third party goods and services.
DNA: Databases
The information requested is not collected. In 2007-08, there were 37,376 crimes with a DNA match. If the National DNA Database (NDNAD) matches a DNA profile found at a crime scene with that from a known individual, a match report is sent to the police for further investigation. However, the NDNAD does not hold information on the outcome of the police investigation following the match—for example, whether the person concerned is arrested or charged—as its purpose is only to match DNA profiles.
These figures do not constitute part of National Statistics as they are based on internal management information. The information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols, should be treated as provisional and is subject to change.
Entry Clearances
No telephone interviews have been conducted with visa applicants from either country since 27 October. Visa section staff may contact visa applicants to clarify certain aspects of an application, and there is routine verification of supporting documents which may also result in telephone inquiries being made.
Forced Marriages: Victim Support Schemes
(2) what proportion of his Department's budget for 2009-10 is allocated for support for the victims of forced marriage.