Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 24 February 2010
Wales
Manufacturing Industries
The estimated numbers of employee jobs in the manufacturing sector in Wales in each year since 1997 are as follows:
As at September each year Number 1997 214,006 1998 216,186 1999 206,861 2000 201,647 2001 194,762 2002 184,952 2003 181,649 2004 179.941 2005 172,090 2006 158,004 2007 160,293 2008 154,982 2009 140,593 Source: NOMIS, Employee Job Estimates
Ports
The Wales Office contributed to the formulation of the Government response to the Welsh Affairs Committee “Ports in Wales” Report for which the Department of Transport was the lead Department. There were no direct discussions between Ministers of the respective departments but the issues raised by the Report are discussed on an ongoing basis.
Scotland
Computer Games Industry
My right hon. Friend has regular discussions with colleagues on a range of issues affecting the games industry in Scotland.
During a visit to Abertay university, Dundee, in December 2009 my right hon. Friend announced a £2.5 million investment for a games industry centre from the Government’s strategic investment fund.
Social Deprivation: Ayrshire
I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues about deprivation and reducing poverty including discussions about tax credits, the national minimum wage and employment.
Economic Performance
I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues, representatives from business, trade unions and communities about the performance of the Scottish economy.
Common Agricultural Policy
My right hon. Friend and I have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on a range of issues.
Departmental Energy
The Scotland Office did not centrally record all of its utility usage before the current financial year. This information is, however, now recorded and will be reported in our forthcoming annual report.
Future Jobs Fund
The Future Jobs Fund is making a significant impact in Scotland. Last week I announced funding for a further 1,371 new jobs in Scotland through the Future Jobs Fund, which brings the total number of jobs created in Scotland to just under 9,000.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Dubai: Death
I refer the hon. Member to my answer to the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague) of 22 February 2010, Official Report, columns 22-23.
The defrauding of British passports is unacceptable. The Government will continue to take all the action that is necessary to protect British nationals from identity-fraud. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary made this clear in a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman in Brussels on 23 February 2010.
Nigeria: Human Rights
The UK is committed to supporting the Government of Nigeria in addressing the human rights challenges it faces. We welcome Acting President Jonathan’s commitment of 9 February 2010 to ensuring the safety and security of Nigerians’ lives and property while respecting human rights.
We have recently raised our concerns with the appropriate state and federal authorities about issues such as the rights of children in Akwa Ibom state, the handling of unrest by the Nigerian security services in Maiduguri in 2009 and Jos in 2010, as well as allegations of extra- judicial killings by the Nigerian police force in Enugu state, as identified in Amnesty International’s report of 9 December 2009. These issues have been covered particularly in discussions with the Inspector General of the Nigerian police force and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Our high commission in Abuja and the Department for International Development (DFID) will continue to raise UK concerns at the highest level, and to encourage reform and accountability in Nigeria’s police force, for example through DFID’s Justice for All programme.
Home Department
Drugs: Crime
The trafficking of drugs to the UK is the subject of constant attention by the law enforcement agencies working collaboratively, in the United Kingdom and overseas, against the drugs and individuals involved. In 2008-09 the Serious Organised Crime Agency was involved, with partner agencies, in seizures of 88 tonnes of cocaine and heroin. SOCA works closely with international partners to help them destroy production capability in source countries and deny traffickers the ability to operate their routes to the UK. This enforcement activity appears to have contributed to increases in the wholesale price of cocaine and a reduction in its purity at street level, changes which are suggestive of a shortage of supply of the drug in the UK.
We are currently implementing the recommendations of ‘Extending Our Reach: a comprehensive approach to tackling serious organised crime’ which was published in July 2009 which, through a wide range of measures, will improve the UK's effectiveness against organised crime, including drugs trafficking.
I had discussions with US counterparts (John Brennan, the President's Assistant on Counter-Terrorism, Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security Secretary, and Eric Holder, the Attorney General) in Washington in September. We discussed measures to tackle the trafficking of illegal drugs, looking at source countries and supply routes. Our discussions immediately followed my visit to the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force in Key West, Florida, where joint work is producing strong results in interdicting the traffic in cocaine from Latin America and the Caribbean. I secured agreement for the creation of a senior level US/UK group on organised crime, to include counter narcotics activity.
In my absence on other business earlier this month, Lord West met Gil Kerlikowske, the US Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in London and a number of common issues were discussed, including operational cooperation in tackling drug trafficking.
I continue to take a close interest in EU proposals and actions to tackle drug trafficking, where UK officials are fully engaged with our EU colleagues, focusing on work in Latin America and the Caribbean, West Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Powers of Entry
Applications are submitted to the Home Department in accordance with guidance issued to Government Departments on entry powers:
http://www.police.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/operational-policing/GuidanceonPowersofEntry.html
The function of referral to the Home Office is to assist Departments in complying with that guidance rather than refusing applications. The following statutory provisions have been subject to referral to my Department since October 2007.
Statute Department responsible Number of powers 1 Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill BIS 2 cl. 12 Power to enter premises and search for prohibited munitions cl. 21 Power to search and obtain evidence: issue of warrant 2 Flood and Water Management Bill DEFRA 1 Sch.1 para. 13 Powers of entry without warrant. 3 Sunbeds (Regulation) Bill 2009-10 DOH 1 cl. 7 Enforcement by local Authorities
Year Statute Department responsible Number of powers 1 2000 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (as amended by Political Parties and Elections Act 2009) MOJ 1 Schedule 19B Investigatory powers of Electoral Commission—Para. 2: Issue by JP of Inspection warrants authorising EC staff to enter premises 2 2006 Childcare Act 2006 (as amend by Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009) Part 3A Inspection of Children Centres. DCSF 2 s.98D: Inspection of Children Centres powers of entry without warrant. s.98F: Power of constable to assist in exercise of power of entry under a warrant. 3 2008 Regulatory and Enforcement Sanctions Act 2008 BIS (BERR) — Part 3 s.55 Power to make Order conferring/extending powers of entry, search seizure. 4 2008 Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Repeals and replaces powers of entry etc. under the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003) DOH 1 s.62-65: Powers of person authorised by Care Quality Commission to enter and inspect regulated premises. 5 2008 Pensions Act 2008 DWP — s.61 amends 2004 Act http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/pdf/ukpga_20080030_en.pdf 6 2009 Banking Act 2009—Enforcement of inter-bank payment system HMT 1 s.194: JP may issue warrant to authorised BoE inspector appointed under s.193 or constable to enter and search premises/part of premises where inter-bank payment system is managed or operated. 7 2009 Coroners and Justice Act 2009–Powers for Coroners to investigate deaths MOJ 1 Schedule 5: para. 3 Chief Coroner may authorise senior coroner to enter and search land 8 2009 Data Protection Act 1998 (as amended by Coroners and Justice Act 2009, Sch. 20 Part 6) MOJ 1 Schedule 9 (Powers of Entry and Inspection): Para. 1(1A)/(1B): Allows circuit judge or District Judge to grant warrant to authorise DP Commissioner to enter and search premises specified in an assessment notice to determine whether data controller is complying with DP principles. 9 2009 Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 Part 8, Chapter 2 Common enforcement powers DEFRA 4 s.246: Power of enforcement officer to board and inspect vessels and marine installations s.247: Power of enforcement officer to enter and inspect premises for purposes of exercising functions. s.248: Power of enforcement officer to enter and inspect vehicles purposes of exercising functions. s.249/Schedule 17: Provides for issue of warrant to authorise enforcement officer to enter a dwelling. (Believed these provisions may replace one or more powers in marine/fishery protection/regulation type legislation) DEFRA
No. Year SI No. Authority Title Department No. of powers 1. 2008 2347 European Communities Act 1972 Sea Fishing (Recovery Measures) Order 2008 [2008/2347] DEFRA 3 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20082347_en_1 Reg. 13 Powers of British sea-fishery officers in relation to fishing boats Reg. 14 Powers of British sea-fishery officers on land Reg. 15 Warrant to enter premises 2. 2008 2795 European Communities Act 1972 Cat and Dog Fur (Control of Import, Export and Placing on the Market) Regulations 2008 [2008/2795] BIS 1 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20082795_en_1 Reg. 3: Powers of investigation and enforcement. 3. 2009 1899 European Communities Act 1972 Motor Vehicles (Replacement Catalytic Converters and Pollution Control Devices) Regulations 2009 [2009/1899] Reg. 9(2) and Schedule Para. 5: Powers of search etc. DFT 2 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20091899_en_1 (2): Power of authorised enforcement officer to enter premises without warrant—not dwellings (5): JP may issue warrant authorising authorised enforcement officer to enter premises 4. 2009 261 European Communities Act 1972 Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2009 [2009/261] (Revoke and remake with amendments the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2008/41) DEFRA 1 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20090261_en_1 Reg. 46: Powers of authorised persons to enforce regulations. 5. 2009 2048 European Communities Act 1972 Port Security Regulations 2009 [2009/2048] DFT 1 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/pdf/uksi_20092048_en.pdf Reg. 25: Powers of a constable, port security officers and others to enter and search controlled buildings in designated ports. 6. 2009 463 European Communities Act 1972 Aquatic Animal Health (England and Wales) Regulations 2009 [2009/463] DEFRA 2 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20090463_en_5 Reg. 32(2): Entry and inspection of land and premises w/o warrant. Reg. 32(3): Warrant to enter dwelling 7. 2009 360 European Communities Act 1972 European Fisheries Fund (Grants) (Wales) Regulations 2009 [2009/360] NAFW 1 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/wales/wsi2009/wsi_20090360_en_1 Reg. 12: Powers of authorised officers. 8. 2009 842 European Communities Act 1972 Organic Products Regulations [2009/842] (revoke and replace Organic Products Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/1604) DEFRA 1 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20090842_en_4#pt5-l1g26 Reg. 23: Powers of entry—authorised officers Reg. 24: Powers after entry 9. 2009 209 European Communities Act 1972 Payment Services Regulations 2009 [2009/209] HMT 1 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20090209_en_8 Reg. 83: Entry, inspection without a warrant etc—FSA officer 10. 2009 717 European Communities Act 1972 Road Vehicles (Approval) Regulations 2009 [2009/717] DFT 1 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20090717_en_7#pt6-pb1-l1g34 Reg. 34: Powers of entry—authorised person 11. 2009 216 European Communities Act 1972 Ozone-Depleting Substances (Qualifications) Regulations 2009 [2009/216] (revoke and replace, with amendments, Ozone Depleting Substances (Qualifications) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/1510) DEFRA 1 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20090216_en_1 Reg. 8: Powers of an authorised person 12. 2009 2194 European Communities Act 1972 Motor Vehicles (Refilling of Air Conditioning Systems by Service Providers) Regulations [2009/2194] Reg. 8: Powers of search etc. DFT 2 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20092194_en_1 (2): Power of authorised enforcement officer to enter premises without warrant –not dwellings (4): JP may issue warrant authorising authorised enforcement officer to enter premises 13. 2009 1361 European Communities Act 1972 Marketing of Fresh Horticultural Produce Regulations 2009 [2009/1361] DEFRA 2 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20091361_en_1 Reg. 7(1) Power of authorised officer to enter without warrant to enforce Regs. Reg. 7(4): Entry on warrant 14. 2009 1551 European Communities Act 1972 Marketing of Fresh Horticultural Produce (Wales) Regulations 2009 [2009/1551] W151 NAFW 2 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/wales/wsi2009/wsi_20091551_en_1 Reg. 7(1) Power of authorised officer to enter without warrant to enforce Regs. Reg. 7(4): Entry on warrant 15. 2008 3252 European Communities Act 1972 Beef and Veal Labelling Regulations 2008 [2008/3252] http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/pdf/uksi_20083252_en.pdf Reg. 6(1) Entry to inspect w/o warrant DEFRA 2 Reg. 6(3) Entry on warrant Revokes Beef Labelling (Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2000 [2000/3047] 16. 2009 1850 European Communities Act 1972 DEFRA 3 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/pdf/uksi_20091850_en.pdf Sea Fishing (Landing and Weighing of Herring, Mackerel and Horse Mackerel) Order 2009 [2009/1850] Reg. 11 Powers of British sea-fishery officers in relation to fishing boats Reg. 12 Powers of British sea-fishery officers on land Reg. 13 Warrant to enter premises 17. 2010 Await European Communities Act 1972 (Proposed) Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (England) Regulations 2009 DEFRA — 18. 2010 Await European Communities Act 1972 (Proposed) Red Meat Industry (Wales) Measure NAFW —
UK Border Agency: Overtime
The amount that the UK Border Agency spent on overtime payments to civil servants at grade (a) senior civil service and (b) six in each of the last two years was (a) nothing and (b) £1,684.
Home Office civil servants in the UK Border Agency at grade (a) 5, are not eligible for overtime payments and, (this grade has now been re-graded into the senior civil service whose contracts specifically exclude overtime). Civil service staff at grade 6 level are not eligible for overtime payments. There is guidance on discretionary payments instead of overtime, which are used rarely.
Vetting: Compensation
The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) makes financial awards to redress customers for its maladministration in accordance with Treasury policy.
The following table shows the number of claims made, the number of those claims which resulted in an award and the amount paid out in each financial year since the Bureau's inception.
Financial year Total certificates issued Claims Awards Total paid (£) Percentage of Awards against total certificates issued 2002-03 1,437,094 340 112 29,882 0.008 2003-04 2,284,688 609 257 108,669 0.011 2004-05 2,430,937 466 125 62,812 0.005 2005-06 2,770,265 532 71 118,272 0.003 2006-07 3,277,957 684 151 165,043 0.005 2007-08 3,23,251 594 151 159,148 0.046 2008-09 3,855,881 1085 301 290,124 0.008 2009-10 3,215,409 1442 265 340,266 0.008
These figures are calculated by financial year and information for 2009-10 contains the figures up to December 2009. The full financial year's figure will not be available until after March 2010.
Work Permits
A work permit does not carry an entitlement to settlement.
Written Questions: Government Responses
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 22 February 2010, Official Report, columns 346-47W.
[holding answer 22 February 2010]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 22 February 2010, Official Report, column 373W.
House of Commons Commission
Members: Email
It is a matter for individual Members whether to make details of their encryption software available to their constituents.
Nurseries: Costs
The cost, including fees, of converting Bellamy's Bar, Bellamy's Club Room and the Astor Suite and surrounding rooms into a nursery is provisionally estimated to be some £490,000 excluding VAT.
Culture, Media and Sport
Castle Point
My Department’s aim is to improve the quality of life for everyone through cultural and sporting activities, to support the pursuit of excellence and to champion the tourism, creative and leisure industries.
The impact of bodies and policies of my Department on the Castle Point constituency since 1997 include:
Digital switchover is due to take place in Castle Point in 2012. By the time switchover is complete at the end of 2012, 98.5 per cent. of households nationwide will be able to receive digital TV—the same number that can currently receive analogue.
Over £4 million of national lottery grants made to applications from the Castle Point constituency since 1995.
The Castle Point constituency has also benefited from other policies and spending whose impact cannot be broken down by constituency. This includes:
£4 billion of Exchequer funding spent on culture.
More than £5.5 billion invested in sport by the Government and the national lottery since 1997.
Almost 800,000 free swims taken in the south east in the first eight months of the Free Swimming programme.
A 68 per cent. increase in national museum visits from 1998-99 to 2008-09—10 per cent. of which were by adults from lower socioeconomic groups.
£416.6 million in grants allocated by English Heritage since 1997.
48 per cent. of buildings on the original 1999 Buildings at Risk Register having their future secured.
90 per cent. of all pupils taking part in at least two hours of high quality PE or sport per week in 2008 from an estimated 25 per cent. in 2003-04—exceeding our target.
Departmental Energy
The information requested is shown in the following tables.
Electricity Kwh Electricity cost (£) Gas Kwh Gas cost (£) 2003-04 4,368,200 n/a 3,275,900 n/a 2004-05 4,186,300 n/a 2,643,900 n/a 2005-06 4,438,600 n/a 2,488,400 n/a 2006-07 4,320,100 361,500 2,631,300 86,600 2007-08 3,647,800 293,100 2,135,400 48,800 2008-09 3,091,900 318,500 1,344,400 37,300 n/a = Not available.
Since December 2005 the Department has purchased energy generated from 100 per cent. renewable sources. Information relating to years prior to 2003 is not available.
Electricity Kwh Electricity cost (£) Gas Kwh Gas cost (£) 1999-2000 1— 213,300 1— 45,700 2000-01 1— 228,400 1— 77,900 2001-02 1— 208,800 1— 78,800 2002-03 1— 245,000 1— 82,100 2003-04 1— 270,200 1— 107,000 2004-05 4,141,300 270,600 1,275,700 81,300 2005-06 3,346,100 360,000 1,402,600 2,100 2006-07 3,220,000 357,000 1,505,300 46,600 2007-08 2,995,000 224,900 1,490,500 61,900 2008-09 1— 505,600 1— 110,600 1 Not recorded.
Since 2002 The Royal Parks has purchased energy generated from 100 per cent. renewable sources. Information relating to years prior to 2002 is not available.
Departmental Internet
My Department commissioned one redesign of its website in 2005. We are currently redesigning the website home page.
Departmental Temporary Employment
The information requested is shown in the following tables.
(£) 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 Adecco UK Ltd. 96,969.99 217,233.72 453,499.54 Poolia UK Ltd. 109,206.97 106,107.84 47,714.39 Josephine Sammons 35,258.31 50,420.96 99,876.23 Venn Group 0.00 0.00 44,907.83 Morgan Law 161,065.94 50,290.00 36,895.00 Marks Sattin 0.00 7,226.25 26,709.54 Reed Personnel Services 0.00 0.00 38,826.75 TFPL Ltd. 40,670.04 6,319.60 0.00 Robert Walters Operations Ltd. 0.00 0.00 32,890.27 Goodman Masson Recruitment Services 0.00 0.00 0.00 Hays Office Support 76,648.69 13,824.64 0.00 Brook Street 283,321.95 52,591.39 0.00 Taylor Bennett 18,800.00 19,352.25 0.00 Odgers, Ray and Berndtson 54,991.18 238,210.59 149,048.92 Capita Resourcing 34,368.75 12,337.50 32,431.88 Whithead Mann Ltd. 0.00 0.00 164,368.02 Total 911,301.82 773,914.74 1,127,168.37
2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 Average number of temporary staff employed 31 21 22
Holiday Accommodation
My Department has been involved in discussions with the European Commission in relation to the specific matters raised by the hon. Member. These discussions have not been concluded and it would be inappropriate to comment on them at this time.
The Department’s objective is to ensure that the activities of VisitBritain and VisitEngland are compatible with the rules relating to state aid.
Theatre: Young People
Between February 2009 and November 2009, 121,742 tickets were taken up by young people under the ‘A Night Less Ordinary’ scheme. Over 20,000 of these tickets have been given away by organisations based in the West Midlands.
Results from 1 December 2009 to 28 February 2010 will be made available in April.
An independent evaluation project is running alongside the two year ‘A Night Less Ordinary’ scheme.
The evaluation will identify, record and measure the effectiveness of the scheme in achieving its objectives at a national and local level.
‘A Night Less Ordinary’ is a pathfinder programme and the report will help inform the future direction of the programme. We also expect the report to be a useful audience development tool for the entire theatre sector. Evaluation reports will be published in due course.
Olympics
Departmental Written Questions
Information on the average time taken to answer parliamentary questions is not readily available in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However in my role as Minister for the Olympics, during 2009, I answered 28 per cent. of ordinary written and 45 per cent. of named day questions on time. These figures are unacceptable and were due to failings in departmental processes. Work has been done to mitigate these failings, and future figures should reflect this.
Further to this, with effect from the current Session of Parliament, each Department will provide the Procedure Committee with sessional statistics on the time taken to answer written questions. This implements recommendation 24 of the 3rd report from the Procedure Committee, Session 2008-09.
Olympic Games 2012: Construction
At the end of December 2009, 41 per cent. of the Olympic park workforce were from parts of the UK outside of London. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) does not measure the number of workers from each region. People from the North East can access employment opportunities through the national Jobcentre Plus network and businesses from the North East that have won Olympic-related contracts are providing further economic benefits for the region.
In addition to those working on the park, the ODA has 17 direct suppliers registered in the North East, including the designer of the Broxbourne White Water Canoe Centre for Games and legacy from Newcastle upon Tyne. More businesses are securing work further down the supply chain, such as the Durham-based company providing roof cladding for the aquatics centre and the company from Wallsend who are supplying and operating jack machines for bridges and highways projects. More information on businesses that have won Games-related contracts can be found at the business section of the London 2012 website:
www.london2012.com/business
The ODA and its partners have put a range of measures in place to help local people in particular access training and employment opportunities on the Olympic park, which includes 48 hours’ exclusive access to vacancies.
Olympic Games 2012: Recruitment
Vacancies on the Olympic park can be accessed across the UK through the national Jobcentre Plus network. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and its partners have put in place a range of measures to help local people in particular access training and employment opportunities on the site.
Vacancies are offered exclusively to each of the five host borough employment brokerages and Jobcentre Plus offices in the area for a period of 48 hours, to give local people the best possible chance of accessing vacancies on the site. Vacancies unfilled after this time are then made available across London through Relay London Jobs and Jobcentre Plus for a further 24-hours, before being made available nationally through the Jobcentre Plus network. At the end of December 2009, 20 per cent. of the Olympic park workforce were from the five Olympic host boroughs, 33 per cent. from other London boroughs and 41 per cent. from the UK outside of London. 11 per cent. of the workforce were previously unemployed.
In addition to direct employment opportunities on the park, companies are winning contracts both directly with the ODA and in the supply chains of its contractors, helping to spread the economic benefits of the games across the UK. In the North West alone, 44 businesses are directly supplying the ODA and many more are winning work further down the supply chain, such as the Horwich-based company providing steelworks for the Stadium and the Merseyside company supplying roof cladding for the Aquatics Centre.
More information on businesses that have won games-related contracts can be found at the business section of the London 2012 website at:
www.london2012.com/business
Work and Pensions
Children: Maintenance
The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 24 February 2010:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases under consideration by the Child Support Agency involve absent parents in (a) Scotland and (b) Perth and North Perthshire constituency. [317061]
I have interpreted ‘under consideration’ as cases where an application has been made but which has yet to be cleared.
The Child Support Agency's performance has continued to show improvement over the last quarter, building on the stable base provided by successful completion of the Operational Improvement Plan in March 2009.
As at December 2009, the number of uncleared cases in Scotland was 2,120, which represents a 20% decrease from 2,650 in September 2009. In Perth and North Perthshire Parliamentary constituency the volume of uncleared cases fell from 55 in September 2009 to 45 in December 2009. These figures include both old and current scheme applications and those cases administered clerically.
Nationally, uncleared applications fell to 28,900 in December 2009, which is a 6,300 (18%) reduction from September 2009.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Departmental ICT
The provision of IT services to the Department for Work and Pensions in support of business change has been outsourced to private sector suppliers since it was created in 2001. There has been no further outsourcing in the last three years.
Departmental Surveys
DWP has conducted two such surveys in the last 12 months: in March 2009 and as part of the Civil Service People Survey in October 2009.
Employment Schemes: Financial Services
(2) how much her Department has spent on measures to fund employment for workers previously employed in the financial services sector in the last 12 months; and what steps it has taken to that end.
The Government are taking decisive steps to tackle the effects of the recession and reduce unemployment and are committed to helping every unemployed person return to work.
While we do not operate programmes specifically aimed at supporting redundant workers from the financial services sector, we have made available up to £5 billion, since November 2008, to offer a substantial package of new back to work support to all jobseekers, irrespective of their background, throughout their time on jobseeker’s allowance.
We have quadrupled funding to the Rapid Response Service which provides support to employees under threat of redundancy, helping them to find new employment quickly.
We have also significantly increased the funding to maintain and increase the existing support that is available to newly unemployed claimants through Jobcentre Plus and its external partners. As well as help with jobsearch, skills and access to basic skills training, newly unemployed people now have day one access to Local Employment Partnership vacancies, help to meet the expenses involved in finding work and, for some, access to Work Trials.
In April 2009, we strengthened this support by introducing group jobsearch sessions specifically targeted at newly unemployed people, as well as specialist back to work support for newly unemployed professionals and executives, delivered through recruitment agencies. We built on this in the recent White Paper “Building Britain’s Recovery: Achieving Full Employment”, and from spring 2010, we will be strengthening the support offered to professional customers by offering further access to a follow-up session with these agencies to maintain the momentum of their journey back to work.
Further back to work support is available to all jobseekers throughout their claim and the longer somebody is on jobseeker’s allowance, the more support they can get. This currently includes access to recruitment subsidies, self-employment support, work focused training and volunteering at six months and more intensive personalised support from external providers later in a claim.
There is also a substantial package of support available to 18 to 24-year-olds to help them get back to work which includes a guarantee of a job, work focused training or work experiences at the six month stage in a claim.
Employment Schemes: Young People
Information on graduate internships, non-graduate internships, work, and training through the Young Person's Guarantee, is not currently available, but will be made available from spring 2010 through a statistical release that is planned to cover the whole of the Young Person's Guarantee. This is normal practice for the Department's employment programmes and it allows time for the information to be collected, understood, verified and reported.
Future Jobs Fund
The information requested has not been recorded by parliamentary constituency and therefore cannot be provided.
The information requested is not currently available. Information on numbers of young people participating in Future Jobs Fund jobs will be made available in future through a statistical release covering the whole of the Young Person’s Guarantee. The first publication will be available in the spring, and quarterly thereafter.
Jobcentre Plus: Racism
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Darra Singh, dated 24 February 2010:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many complaints of racism have been made by Jobcentre Plus staff against other Jobcentre Plus staff in each of the last five years, broken down by smallest geographical area for which information is available. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The Department does not maintain any automated data to capture the volumes of formal complaints from current or former staff relating to race discrimination. Although Jobcentre Plus retains clerical information on official written complaints from existing or former members of staff; this data does not identify where complaints relate specifically to any allegations of racism.
Although formal investigations into allegations of harassment, bullying and discrimination are handled through our Department for Work and Pensions Human Resources Investigation Service, some complaints may be addressed separately through local management investigations and there is no available data to provide the requested information in full.
I am, therefore, unable to provide a more detailed reply.
Mining: Industrial Diseases
The information is not available in the format requested.
The current national position is that since the addition of osteoarthritis of the knee to the list of prescribed industrial diseases on 13 July 2009, 32,820 claims have been received nationally of which 7,713 have received an award of, or an increase of industrial injuries disablement benefit.
This information is based on an ongoing informal count by the Jobcentre Plus offices dealing with industrial injuries disablement benefit. We are looking into arrangements to publish this information as official statistics.
It is not possible to provide a reliable estimate because the Labour Force Survey contains insufficient cases of miners, or former miners, who have self-reported work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
The standard interest rate used to calculate Support for Mortgage Interest was 6.08 per cent. in each of the last 12 months.
The two-year period limit for jobseekers claiming Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) was introduced in January 2009. It applies only to customers receiving jobseeker's allowance.
No SMI customer has been affected by the introduction of this two-year limit because it is less than two years since it was introduced. The earliest date that a jobseeker could be affected by the two year limit is 5 January 2011 assuming continuous receipt of jobseeker's allowance including SMI throughout the two year period.
New Deal Schemes
Fourteen supplier organisations were contracted to start delivering flexible new deal from October 2009. Twelve of the 14 started delivery from 5 October, meaning there was a supplier operating in every contract package area from that date. By 20 October all 14 suppliers were fully operational in all phase one contract package areas covering 28 Jobcentre Plus districts.
New Deal Schemes: Feltham
The available information can be found in the following table.
Number of woman participants in the New Deal in Feltham and Heston parliamentary constituency: Time Series to August 2009 - Starters (Spells)New Deal for Lone ParentsNew Deal for PartnersFeltham and Heston19971—n/a199840n/a1999210n/a2000230n/a2001290n/a2002330n/a2003340n/a20043301020053102020063701020075801—20086101020092301— n/a = Not applicable.1 Nil or negligible.Notes 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Some additional disclosure control has also been applied.2. The latest New Deal figures will be affected by the introduction of the new Jobseeker's Regime and Flexible New Deal (gradual implementation started from April 2009).3. Westminster parliamentary constituency (post May 2005) is allocated using the Office for National Statistics Postcode Directory and customer's postcode.4. The New Deal for Lone Parents was introduced in October 1998.5. Data for New Deal for Partners are available from April 2004.6. Latest Data are to August 2009.7. Spells are not available for New Deal for Partners so individual level data are used instead. Spells are used for New Deal for Lone Parents.SourceDepartment for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate.
Over 2.2 million people have been helped into work through the New Deals, and we are building on the success of this programme to create the Flexible New Deal. This programme will better meet the employment and skills needs of those who have been on Jobseeker's Allowance for a long time or who have struggled to find a stable pattern of work.
Pension Credit: Kingston
The information requested is in the following tables:
As at August each year Household recipients Individual beneficiaries 2009 4,090 4,780 2008 3,990 4,660 2007 4,020 4,710
As at August each year Household recipients Individual beneficiaries 2009 3,180 3,710 2008 3,090 3,600 2007 3,140 3,670 Notes: 1. Numbers rounded to the nearest ten. 2. Pension credit is claimed on a household basis—household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a partner. Beneficiaries are the number of claimants in addition to the number of partners for whom they are also claiming. 3. Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics postcode directory. 4. On April 1 2009 structural changes to the local authorities of England took effect. Changes are reflected from May 2009 in the Tabulation Tool. Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study
Pensioners: Per Capita Costs
Complete information is not available. Such information as is available is in the tables.
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Jarrow 5,060 5,480 5,870 6,190 6,290 6,630 6,910 South Tyneside 5,080 5,530 5,890 6,210 6,330 6,660 7,010 North East 4,960 5,350 5,700 6,000 6,110 6,430 6,770 Great Britain 4,680 5,020 5,320 5,610 5,700 6,000 6,320
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Jarrow 6,030 6,360 6,620 6,850 6,770 6,930 7,050 South Tyneside 6,060 6,410 6,650 6,880 6,810 6,970 7,150 North East 5,910 6,200 6,430 6,650 6,570 6,720 6,910 Great Britain 5,580 5,820 6,010 6,220 6,140 6,280 6,450 Notes: 1. The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for expenditure in Great Britain only. Expenditure in Northern Ireland is a matter for the Northern Ireland Office. 2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £10. 3. Figures include spending on: state pension; attendance allowance; winter fuel payment; bereavement benefits; widow's benefit; minimum income guarantee; pension credit, over-65s payment and over-70s payment. figures for other benefits, and for these benefits before 2002-03, are not available. 4. Figures are estimated by dividing expenditure on the above benefits by the number of state pensioners in the relevant area. 5. Great Britain benefit expenditure data for all benefits, and local authority and parliamentary constituency benefit expenditure data for some benefits, can be found here: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp 6. The DWP Tabulation Tool, which gives caseload and expenditure data for some benefits split by local authority, parliamentary constituency and Government office region, among others, can be found here: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/tabtool.asp
Pensions
The information is in the table
State earnings-related pension scheme (SERPS) only State second pension (S2P) only Both SERPS and S2P Number of pensioners in receipt 6,491,000 144,900 1,838,000 Percentage of total number of recipients of any state pension 59 1 17 Notes: 1. Figures shown are for March 2009. 2. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest 100 pensioners. Percentages are rounded to the nearest percent. Note the denominator used in the percentages is total state pension caseload in Great Britain, rather than total population in Great Britain at or above state pension age. 3. The state second pension (S2P) scheme reformed the state earnings-related pension scheme (SERPS) from April 2002. Only people reaching state pension age from April 2003 onwards can have built up some entitlement to S2P. 4. Pensioners in receipt of additional pension under the S2P scheme but not under SERPS were either credited into S2P through caring or disability, or are receiving an S2P top-up on account of contracted-out employment. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, administrative data 5 per cent. sample
Post Office Card Account
The new Post Office card account contract began on 1 October 2009 and the current average cost to the Department for each payment made into a POca is around 50p.
Other payment method costs are: 1p per payment into a bank or other account; £2.00 per cheque; and 55p per payable order.
The costs are made up of contract costs and where appropriate, other costs such as postage, stationery and administration.
Social Security Benefits: Students
(2) what estimate she has made of the number of students who would be affected by the amendment of the deemed income rules to provide for income from student loans to be disregarded in respect of the eligibility for benefits of those students who suspend their studies because of serious ill health.
We are looking with colleagues in other Departments at the position for students who suspend their studies because of serious ill health and who, as a result, have not drawn down their student loan. I will also explore with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, education providers and students' representative bodies, whether we can strengthen the awareness and transparency of the current arrangements.
Information on the number of students that might be affected by such a change to the deeming rules for those who abandon their course is not available as it would depend on the detailed conditions that were set.
Unemployment Benefits
(2) what assessments her Department has made of the effectiveness of alternative sanctions regimes; and if she will publish the reports of those assessments;
(3) what changes she plans to make to the Jobcentre Plus sanctions regime;
(4) if she will publish each evaluation her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Jobcentre Plus sanctions regime.
Benefit sanctions are aimed at establishing a framework of rights and responsibilities with benefit customers, and encourage positive outcomes by obliging customers in receipt of working age benefits to engage with the support on offer and help them move into employment.
Benefit sanctions have been an integral part of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) since it was introduced and the detail is set out in the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996.
Since April 2000 the sanction regulations for Incapacity Benefit customers have been set out in various Work Focused Interviews (WFI) regulations: The Social Security (Work-focused Interviews) Regulations 2000 No. 897; The Social Security (Jobcentre Plus Interviews) Regulations 2001 No. 3210; The Social Security (Jobcentre Plus Interviews) Regulations 2002 No. 1703; The Social Security (Incapacity Benefit Work-focused Interviews) Regulations 2003 No. 2439; and The Social Security (Incapacity Benefit Work-focused Interviews) Regulations 2008 No. 2928, Regulation 9.
The sanctions regime for Employment and Support Allowance customers is set out in The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 No. 794, Regulation 63.
The Income Support sanction regime was introduced through the Social Security (Work-focused Interviews for Lone Parents) and Miscellaneous Amendments Regulations 2000; The Social Security (Jobcentre Plus Interviews) Regulations 2001; and the Social Security (Jobcentre Plus) Regulations 2002 respectively. Copies of all of this legislation are available in the Library.
The Department continually reviews the effectiveness of conditionality and the associated sanctions regimes across all working age benefits and undertakes research on their effectiveness in supporting customers to move into employment. Published reports on the operation of sanctions are listed on the Department for Work and Pensions website at:
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rrs-index.asp
and are available in the House Library.
The 2008 White Paper ‘Raising expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future’ (CM7506), set out the Government’s intention to test a model of escalating sanctions based on the principles set out in the 2008 independent review of conditionality ‘Realising Potential: A vision for personalised conditionality and support’ by Professor Paul Gregg. The model introduces five stages of sanctions, initially in Progression to Work pathfinder areas, which will allow for more attempts at contact and in depth case reviews with lone parents and partners of certain benefit recipients, and a number of stages before a financial sanction is considered.
Furthermore, the Welfare Reform Act 2009 introduced two new sanctions to the Jobseeker’s Allowance. The first is the power to sanction a customer who commits acts of violence or threatening behaviour against Jobcentre Plus staff during the course of a claim for Jobseeker’s Allowance. The second is a sanction for Jobseeker’s Allowance customers who fail to attend their mandatory appointments as part of the requirements of receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance, this change will be implemented from April 2010.
The Welfare Reform Act 2009 also introduced the power to sanction lone parents on Income Support and partners of certain benefit recipients, with younger children, for not undertaking agreed work related activity. The first stage of implementation for these measures will be in October 2010 in the Progression to Work pathfinder Jobcentre Plus districts.
As part of the ongoing review of support for Jobcentre Plus customers with disabilities and health conditions, we are reviewing the current sanctions regime for Employment and Support Allowance customers and we will publish details about any proposed changes in spring 2010.
Unemployment Benefits: Appeals
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Unemployment Benefits: Cancer
The information requested is not available.
Unemployment Benefits: Glasgow East
The available information is in the following table.
Attendance allowance, incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance and jobseeker’s allowance claimants in Glasgow East parliamentary constituency: May 2009
Caseload Average weekly amount (£) Attendance Allowance 3,380 61.34 Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance 8,920 53.75 Jobseeker’s Allowance 3,510 57.83 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and average amounts to the nearest penny. 2. Incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance figures do not include employment and support allowance. 3. Attendance allowance totals show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example, if they are in hospital. 4. Data is published on the Department for Work and Pensions’ website at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/ Source: DWP Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study
Unemployment Benefits: Medical Examinations
Information on the number of complaints received by the Department specifically about the work capability assessment element of employment and support allowance is not available.
Vocational Training: Disabled
It is the role of Jobcentre Plus to work with all customers and help them overcome any barrier to getting into work. Where this involves meeting a skills need, a customer, including one in receipt of either incapacity benefit or employment and support allowance, can be referred to a range of training provision provided by either Jobcentre Plus or the Learning and Skills Council.
There is a wide range of training provision on offer throughout the country for all customers, including those in receipt of incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance. Customer training needs are assessed on an individual basis and customers are then referred to provision that not only meets their needs but also the needs of local employers. The adequacy of skills training is therefore not assessed on a national basis but is driven by the local labour market and an assessment of the individual's needs.
The primary national return to work programme for people claiming incapacity benefits or employment and support allowance is Pathways to Work. In Pathways to Work areas, private and voluntary sector providers are contracted to tailor provision to meet the needs of the customer. It is their responsibility to ensure that any training is adequate and appropriate.
Last October we announced a review of Pathways to Work. The White Paper, ‘Building Britain's Recovery: Achieving Full Employment’, published in December, set out our underpinning principles for reform and confirms that we will bring forward proposals in the spring.
Train to Gain is not routinely offered to those on benefits. It is a programme aimed specifically at employers, giving them better access to a range of training opportunities for improving the skills of their employees and the productivity of their business.
Over the last few years, to boost demand and respond to the downturn the Government introduced a number of temporary funding flexibilities for qualifications delivered as part of Train to Gain. Until August 2010, this includes providing full funding in respect of full level 2 qualifications (5 A*-C GCSEs or the vocational equivalent) where the employee already holds a qualification at that level.
The National Skills Strategy Skills for Growth (November 2009), set out the Government's intention to focus their substantial investment through Train to Gain on areas of high growth and ensure a greater level of co-funding by employers. The emphasis will therefore be on fully supporting employers to upskill their employees, with employers contributing the costs where their staff need to reskill.
Winter Fuel Payments
(2) if she will estimate the cost to the public purse in real terms of paying winter fuel allowance in respect of all children aged under five years old in receipt of the higher care component of disability living allowance in each of the next five years.
It is not possible to identify these costs as it is not possible to identify disability living allowance customers who would not be entitled to a winter fuel payment because they are living in households that already receive a winter fuel payment.
Disability living allowance is specifically designed to help meet the extra costs of disability, including heating.
Winter Fuel Payments: Rotherham
For winter 2008-09 (the last winter for which information is available) we spent £3.4 million on Winter Fuel Payments in Rotherham.
Notes:
1. Expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million
2. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics postcode directory.
Winter Fuel Payments: Stroud
Information on the number of households in Stroud which received winter fuel payments for winter 2008-09 (the last year for which information is available) is in the House of Commons Library.
In winter 2008-09 (the last winter for which information is available) 25,540 people in Stroud received a winter fuel payment, at a cost of £5.4 million.
Notes:
1. Payment figures are rounded to the nearest ten
2. Expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million
3. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics postcode directory.
Justice
Drugs: Sussex
The number of persons found guilty at all courts in the Sussex police force area for offences of possession, and supplying or offering to supply, a controlled drug in 2008 (latest available) is shown in the following table.
Data are not available at parliamentary constituency level.
Data for 2009 are planned for publication in the autumn, 2010.
Offence description 2008 Having possession of a controlled drug 752 Having possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply 165 Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug 107 1 The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.
Family Conciliation Services
(2) what estimate he has made the total savings to the public purse likely to accrue from the implementation of compulsory mediation as an alternative to court action in child contact cases.
I have not received any representations regarding the effects on children of compulsory mediation in child contact cases. Family mediation in England and Wales is voluntary and I have not made any estimate of savings from the implementation of compulsory mediation.
On 20 January 2010, the Green Paper, Support For All: The Families and Relationships Green Paper, was published. Family mediation forms part of the consultation process as the Government are seeking views about whether mediation assessment (not mediation in its entirety) should be made compulsory for parents who go to court to seek to resolve residence or contact disputes, where it is safe to do so.
At the same time, the Government announced a comprehensive review of the family justice system, which will report jointly to the Secretaries of State for Justice and Children, Schools and Families and the Welsh Assembly Government. The principle that ‘the interests of the child should be paramount’ will be at the heart of this review. The review will focus on the management and leadership of the family justice system and what can be done to promote informed settlement and agreement of family law cases outside of the court system. It will seek to learn from the experience of other jurisdictions and from research and will be supported by the appointment of an expert, external advisory group. The review will report in 2011.
Her Majesty’s Courts Service does not record any information centrally on whether a court granted contact against the wishes of the child. Information on the wishes of the child could be obtained by inspection of individual case files only at disproportionate cost.
HMCS does record the total number of contact orders made. Table 1 shows the number of public and private law section 8 contact orders made in all tiers of court between the years of 2004 and 2008. 2008 is the latest full calendar year for which data are published. Statistics on contact orders made are published by the Ministry of Justice in the annual command paper “Judicial and Court Statistics”, copies of which are available in the Library of the House and on the Ministry’s website at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/judicialandcourtstatistics.htm
Public Private Total 2008 2,568 76,759 79,327 2007 2,471 69,713 72,184 2006 1,848 62,672 64,520 2005 1,562 60,294 61,856 2004 2,045 70,169 72,214 Notes: 1. Figures presented are for England and Wales only. 2. Figures relate to the number of children subject to each application. 3. All tiers of court are represented in the answer; specifically the Family Proceedings Court, county court and High Court. 4. There are known data quality problems with the figures for the Family Proceedings Courts. A new data collection method, introduced in April 2007, has made some improvements to the completeness of the data. 5. Section 8 is the part of the Children Act 1989 that refers to contact orders, residence orders, prohibited steps orders and specific issue orders. 6. Public Law refers to Children Act 1989 cases where there are child welfare issues and a local authority, or an authorised person, is stepping in to protect the child and ensure they get the care they need. 7. Private Law refers to Children Act 1989 cases where two or more parties are trying to resolve a private dispute. This is commonly where parents have split up and there is a disagreement about contact with, or residence of, their children. 8. Due to changes in methodology and data collection methods over time, comparisons between years should be avoided. Source: Judicial and Court Statistics
National Offender Management Service: Manpower
The prison and probation services operate within the framework of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Agency. For historical reasons the two services have different employment structures. Prison service staff are civil servants and are directly employed by the NOMS Agency. Probation service staff are not civil servants and are employed by a probation board or trust. It is recognised that there is a difference in the operational need of both services. This is reflected in their terms and conditions and different operational structures. Terms and conditions are kept under review in developing pay modernisation strategies for both services.
Paedophilia
The number of child sex offenders accommodated in approved premises (formerly known as probation and bail hostels) in England and Wales will vary from time to time. Statistical information about the offending history of offenders residing in approved premises at any one time is not collected centrally, although offenders' assessed level of risk of harm at the point of admission is.
Approved premises provide for enhanced and effective supervision of certain offenders. This would be much more difficult to achieve if such offenders were dispersed into less suitable accommodation in the community.
Prison Sentences
The following table shows the numbers of British, Irish and other EEA nationals serving mandatory life sentences, other life sentences (including discretionary life imprisonment) and indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPP) in prison establishments in England and Wales as at 30 June 2009. These are the latest available data.
British nationals Irish nationals Other EEA nationals Mandatory lifers 4,381 55 67 Other lifers 2,263 24 12 IPPs 4,882 38 63
The figures on mandatory and other lifers have been drawn from the prison IT system. The IPP figures were taken from the Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD) in the National Offender Management Service. The PPUD is a live database, updated on a regular basis. Data taken from the database on consecutive days will contain differences reflecting updates.
Both the prison IT system and the PPUD are administrative systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Prisoner Escapes
Figures on the number of foreign national prisoners who have absconded from each prison since 1997 are not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by accessing the individual record of each absconder.
A prisoner absconds if he or she absents themselves from prison without overcoming a physical security barrier such as that provided by fences, locks, bolts and bars, a secure vehicle or handcuffs. The rate of abscond from open prisons continues to fall and absconds are now at their lowest level since centralised reporting of this type of incident began in 1995.
Foreign nationals, including those subject to enforcement proceedings under the Immigration Act, must be risk assessed for open conditions in the same way as all other prisoners but with the additional requirement that the UK Border Agency is asked to contribute any information which might indicate an increased risk of abscond.
Prisoners
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is taking forward a wide-ranging programme of work to manage the risks of violent extremism and radicalisation among offenders. Part of this programme includes work to research, develop and evaluate potential intervention approaches.
Given the comparatively low numbers of terrorist offenders and the different motivations and behaviours they present in relation to their offending, it is difficult to identify with statistical significance and reliability factors associated with terrorist offending or reoffending. Therefore prison and probation staff need to use all available sources of evidence to assess the risk of serious harm or reconviction which terrorist offenders pose, and to identify appropriate intervention strategies.
For any intervention to be effective it will need to target the reasons why people offend which are different for each individual. There are currently no group work programmes specifically accredited for use with those convicted of offences related to terrorism. NOMS is working to understand the potential use of a wide range of intervention strategies which may help combat violent extremist offending and address the criminogenic factors of the individual violent extremist offender.
Prisoners’ Discharge Grants
The available information on the subsistence payments to offenders on end of custody licence in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10 is as follows:
1 July to 31 March 2007-08 2008-09 1 April to 30 September 2009-10 Paid by DWP on behalf of the National Offender Management Service 859,199.74 2,270,140.29 1,363,313.05 Paid direct by prison establishments 2,405,446.00 74,292.17
Prisoners released on End of Custody Licence, ECL, are paid subsistence in place of benefits. This subsistence payment is necessary to ensure that during their period of ECL they are able to purchase food and meet essential living expenses. Sentenced prisoners known to have over £500 in personal funds do not receive any subsistence payments.
When the ECL scheme was first introduced, offenders released for the maximum of 18 days received their subsistence payments in instalments through the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), which made payments on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. Prisoners released for less than 18 days were paid in full by prisons on release. From 23 June 2008, payment in instalments by DWP was extended to prisoners spending 15 days or more on ECL. From 15 December 2008, payment in instalments by DWP was further extended to offenders spending eight days or more on ECL. The advantage of the system of payments through DWP is that prisoners receive their subsistence in instalments rather than in a single lump sum.
It is not possible to break down the amount paid directly by prison establishments between 2007-08 and 2008-09. The available information has been collected manually from all prison establishments and may be subject to a margin of error. In addition, figures for payments by prisons in January-March 2009 cannot be identified and an estimated element has been included for these.
Prisoners Release: Reoffenders
Only one of the 12 offenders listed as follows is shown on the police national computer as having committed a further offence (theft/fraud) or is wanted for anything other than the release in error.
Prisoner discharge can be a complex area and the following table and associated notes reflect this complexity. Despite this the number of releases in error is small, accounting for fewer than 0.05 per cent. of discharges from prison.
The following table shows the details of the 12 offenders who had not been accounted for at the time of my answer of 11 January 2010. Since then, four of these 12 offenders have been returned to custody or have appeared in court and resolved the outstanding issue.
Offence Proportion of sentence served (percentage) Drug Production 1100 Other Motoring 1100 Breach of Bail 2100 Wounding 41 Fine Default 50 Fine Default 50 Burglary 3n/a Breach Community Service Order n/a Fine Default 4100 Wounding 498 Common Assault 4100 Theft 4, 5, 6n/a 1 Served all of sentence but released in error because offenders were due to be interviewed by another law enforcement agency. 2 Served all of sentence but released in error because offender was due to appear in court on further charges. 3 Sentence length not applicable—remand prisoner released in error prior to trial. 4 Four offenders have since appeared in court or been returned to custody to resolve the outstanding error. 5 Served all of current sentence but released in error because he had, prior to the current sentence, served a previous period in prison. He had been released on licence to serve the remainder of that earlier sentence in the community. While he was serving his second sentence it had been decided that he should serve some or all of the remaining period of the earlier sentence in prison. He was released in error before that could happen. The additional period he could have served would have been subject to the view of the Parole Board. That period could have been up to a maximum of a further one year and one day. 6 Committed further offence of theft/fraud since release in error but is now back in custody.
These figures have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
Prisons: Construction
In total, over 3,600 places are currently planned for delivery in 2010 as part of the Core Capacity Programme. Over 500 of these places have been provided through the more efficient use of cellular accommodation. The following table shows the locations of the new places to be provided in new prisons, expansions on existing sites and through cell reclaim schemes:
Location Places Accommodation type Littlehey1 Cambridgeshire 480 New build Swaleside1 Kent 176 Expansion Wymott1 Lancashire 16 Cell reclaim Lowdham Grange Nottinghamshire 260 Expansion Exeter Devon 8 Cell reclaim Holme House Cleveland 180 Expansion Nottingham Nottinghamshire 344 Expansion Birmingham West Midlands 10 Cell reclaim Bure Norfolk 264 Conversion2 Hollesley Bay Suffolk 20 Cell reclaim Elmley Kent 190 Expansion Feltham London 34 Cell reclaim Isis London 480 New build Moorland South Yorkshire 23 Cell reclaim Wealstun West Yorkshire 300 Conversion3 Buckley Hall Lancashire 60 Expansion Parc South Wales 330 Expansion 1 Already delivered. 2 Final phase of opening of new prison Bure. Not new build but a conversion of the former RAF Coltishall. 3 Places created through conversion of open accommodation to closed conditions.
The following table shows how many of these places are currently planned for delivery in each month in 2010. The number of places delivered in each month may be subject to change.
Number of places January 672 February 268 March 534 April 284 May 224 June 0 July 480 August 23 September 0 October 300 November 60 December 330
Terrorism: Compensation
The Government have tabled amendments to the Crime and Security Bill to establish a Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation scheme. This will be a forward looking scheme. In accordance with the long standing general principle that the Government and Parliament do not legislate retrospectively, the new scheme will only apply to designated terrorist attacks that take place on or after 18 January 2010 (that is, the date on which the scheme was announced). However, we appreciate that there will be victims of overseas terrorist attacks in recent years who continue to face hardship as a result of the on-going consequences of a disability arising from injuries sustained in such an attack. In recognition of this, the Government have announced plans to provide financial assistance to eligible victims of overseas terrorist attacks since 1 January 2002 who are in such a position. Although separate from the Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation scheme, the introduction of these non-statutory arrangements is subject to the passage of the provisions in the Crime and Security Bill.
Further details will be announced shortly.
Victim Support: Hounslow
Prior to 2001 records of specific allocation of how Victim Support decided to allocate Government funding, broken down into areas, is not available. The following table gives the detail of the allocation of Government funding to Hounslow from 2001 to date. In 2004-05, Hounslow joined the Middlesex region and London thereafter in 2008-09.
Victim Support region Funding allocated to Hounslow (£) Total government funding to Victim Support (£ million) 1996-97 Hounslow and Feltham n/a 11.7 1997-98 Hounslow and Feltham n/a 12.7 1998-99 Hounslow and Feltham n/a 12.7 1999-2000 Hounslow and Feltham n/a 17.5 2000-01 Hounslow and Feltham 28,803 18.6 2001-02 Hounslow and Feltham 65,159 25.1 2002-03 Hounslow including Brentford, Greenford and Southall 121,274 29.3 2003-04 Hounslow including Brentford, Greenford and Southall 123,532 30 2004-05 Middlesex 229,637 30 2005-06 Middlesex 229,637 30 2006-07 Middlesex 227,137 30 2007-08 Middlesex 227,137 35.8 2008-09 London 5,087,796 37 n/a = Not available
Young Offenders
The following table shows the number of remand decisions of (a) conditional bail, (b) unconditional bail, (c) local authority accommodation and (d) custody in each youth offending team area during the six-month period from October 2008 to March 2009.
The data have been supplied by the Youth Justice Board and have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and may be subject to change over time. Differences in counting rules may mean that figures from other databases are not directly comparable.
Conditional bail (including ISSP1) Unconditional bail Remand to local authority accommodation Court-ordered secure remand Remand in custody Barking and Dagenham 72 88 5 2 17 Barnet 42 41 1 0 10 Barnsley 29 50 1 0 5 Bath and North East Somerset 19 62 0 1 4 Bedfordshire 83 117 1 1 19 Bexley 45 52 1 3 4 Birmingham 288 626 22 10 96 Blackburn with Darwen 51 87 6 0 8 Blackpool 105 136 8 4 15 Blaenau, Gwent and Caerphilly 27 93 1 2 6 Bolton 60 178 0 3 27 Bournemouth and Poole 40 119 1 0 5 Bracknell Forest 18 48 0 0 7 Bradford 196 277 5 2 45 Brent 117 127 11 10 43 Bridgend 13 42 1 0 4 Brighton and Hove 27 63 2 2 6 Bristol 135 160 0 8 39 Bromley 73 102 2 4 16 Buckinghamshire 33 103 0 0 11 Bury 40 64 0 1 7 Calderdale 42 83 2 2 18 Cambridgeshire 80 92 5 2 18 Camden 83 100 0 2 16 Cardiff 138 132 4 1 21 Carmarthenshire 36 33 0 0 5 Ceredigion 8 17 0 0 1 Cheshire 84 121 0 0 19 Conwy and Denbighshire 57 84 1 0 6 Cornwall 40 58 2 0 5 Coventry 87 162 2 0 29 Croydon 106 174 4 0 20 Cumbria 36 85 5 0 9 Darlington 11 53 0 0 2 Derby 87 124 2 5 10 Derbyshire 102 251 5 3 13 Devon 50 203 3 1 14 Doncaster 45 114 2 1 13 Dorset 32 72 0 0 3 Dudley 51 70 3 0 13 Durham 62 234 1 0 10 Ealing 84 73 1 5 30 East Riding of Yorkshire 24 82 0 0 3 East Sussex 52 168 2 3 17 Enfield 97 110 4 4 14 Essex 121 272 4 1 23 Flintshire 37 22 1 0 0 Gateshead 18 5 0 3 4 Gloucestershire 64 154 1 3 10 Greenwich 94 82 5 3 27 Gwynedd Mon 33 11 6 0 2 Hackney 101 118 2 4 35 Halton and Warrington 50 71 3 3 10 Hammersmith and Fulham 66 70 1 1 6 Haringey 81 104 1 2 12 Harrow 52 73 3 5 8 Hartlepool 26 59 3 0 5 Havering 37 38 7 0 6 Hertfordshire 111 229 6 0 20 Hillingdon 46 96 1 2 13 Hounslow 73 79 1 2 23 Islington 64 116 1 2 14 Kensington and Chelsea 56 45 2 2 12 Kent 292 309 14 4 36 Kingston-upon-Hull 104 119 5 3 18 Kingston-upon-Thames 23 52 0 3 5 Kirklees 114 300 8 4 16 Knowsley 56 69 0 2 10 Lambeth 103 150 2 0 39 Lancashire 171 145 9 7 37 Leeds 335 428 16 12 64 Leicester City 65 173 4 3 13 Leicestershire 43 121 3 3 8 Lewisham 151 122 7 5 38 Lincolnshire 72 140 4 2 10 Liverpool 153 281 3 4 27 Luton 64 81 0 0 6 Manchester 194 386 0 9 66 Medway 47 83 2 2 13 Merthyr Tydfil 33 24 1 0 4 Merton 38 67 0 0 5 Milton Keynes 50 100 5 0 9 Monmouthshire and Torfaen 11 70 0 0 0 Neath Port Talbot 15 50 0 1 3 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 75 214 1 0 18 Newham 75 101 4 5 40 Newport 41 86 0 2 3 Norfolk 103 246 3 3 11 North East Lincolnshire 96 105 22 3 24 North Lincolnshire 49 80 13 4 21 North Somerset 34 35 9 1 8 North Tyneside 64 133 0 1 10 North Yorkshire 77 148 8 0 11 Northamptonshire 210 198 9 11 15 Northumberland 82 188 0 0 8 Nottingham 102 225 13 1 41 Nottinghamshire 66 196 4 4 10 Oldham 77 139 2 5 8 Oxfordshire 49 118 5 2 15 Pembrokeshire 22 23 2 1 4 Peterborough 50 74 0 2 13 Plymouth 43 133 0 0 7 Powys 8 29 0 0 0 Reading 39 83 0 0 9 Redbridge 75 47 3 0 12 Rhondda Cynon Taff 45 75 3 2 6 Richmond-upon-Thames 21 12 0 0 4 Rochdale 67 159 2 0 18 Rotherham 52 103 2 4 9 Salford 62 113 2 0 15 Sandwell 87 112 4 2 22 Sefton 50 50 0 0 12 Sheffield 134 174 5 9 35 Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin 66 100 2 0 7 Slough 54 81 0 0 11 Solihull 18 38 0 0 9 Somerset 46 68 3 1 7 South Gloucestershire 28 78 0 0 5 South Tees 83 144 2 3 17 South Tyneside 61 139 3 0 6 Southend-on-Sea 48 52 0 0 7 Southwark 115 142 1 5 29 St. Helens 62 79 0 2 17 Staffordshire 91 201 5 1 13 Stockport 25 78 0 0 6 Stockton-on-Tees 25 58 0 0 3 Stoke-on-Trent 66 161 3 3 11 Suffolk 68 167 2 1 9 Sunderland 34 189 0 0 3 Surrey 71 158 1 2 12 Sutton 36 49 0 1 3 Swansea 52 62 0 1 3 Swindon 86 119 4 1 2 Tameside 61 87 0 0 10 Thurrock 39 47 2 1 10 Torbay 11 46 2 1 2 Tower Hamlets and City of London 90 75 2 2 14 Trafford 57 86 0 0 20 Vale of Glamorgan 46 49 2 4 4 Wakefield 67 101 2 0 8 Walsall 48 100 6 1 12 Waltham Forest 95 86 1 1 22 Wandsworth 133 96 6 11 21 Warwickshire 56 103 2 2 5 Wessex 365 742 34 16 82 West Berkshire 18 49 0 0 2 West Sussex 64 221 1 5 15 Westminster 60 38 2 0 6 Wigan 37 98 3 0 11 Wiltshire 67 81 1 0 4 Windsor and Maidenhead 2 30 1 0 3 Wirral 54 86 0 7 9 Wokingham 15 44 0 0 0 Wolverhampton 62 148 6 1 12 Worcestershire and Herefordshire 122 237 8 4 13 Wrexham 39 49 3 2 9 York 53 61 0 0 10 1 Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme. Source: Data provided by YJB
Northern Ireland
Departmental Energy
The information requested is contained in the following tables.
Total energy Kw/h Total cost( £) Percentage of electricity purchased generated from renewable sources Biomass Kw/h 2004-05 4,216,520 174,877 12 0 2005-06 5,625,286 253,901 19 0 2006-07 4,852,080 309,608 17 0 2007-08 5,660,863 347,854 18 0 2008-09 3,446,157 377,179 16 43,200
Total energy usage Kw/h £ 2004-05 174,9371 122,620 2005-06 2,082,376 190,063 2006-07 3,024,459 281,620 2007-08 3,276,114 341,330 2008-09 3,281,271 303,600
Total energy usage Fuel (Oil) (£) Electric (£) 2004-05 9,453 10,774 2005-06 5,535 6,366 2006-07 11,441 16,506 2007-08 6,696 9,071 2008-09 19,595 13,065
Total Kw/h Total (£) Percentage green electricity Total renewable 2004-05 42,610,301 2,134,684 15 4.1 2005-06 55,708,772 2,530,790 20 4.4 2006-07 58,238,073 2,941,982 20 4.4 2007-08 58,631,316 3,169,019 20 4.5 2008-09 60,377,730 4,273,141 100 23.0
Total energy usage Kw/h £ 2006-07 2,048,872 98,892 2007-08 1,999,447 92,285 2008-09 2,325,183 139,595
Total energy usage Kw/h £ 2004-05 206,525 2005-06 246,966 2006-07 359,759 2007-08 255,494 2008-09 380,590
The Compensation Agency’s best estimate is that the energy costs since 1997 directly paid have been £10,000 per annum.
Weapons
The decommissioning arrangements ended in the United Kingdom on 9 February 2010 and end in Ireland on 25 February 2010. The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) will shortly provide both Governments with a report on the decommissioning which has taken place in the last six months. I will place copies of that report in the Libraries of both Houses. I am discussing with the Irish Government and the IICD arrangements to conclude the work of the IICD.
Defence
Defence Medical Services: Manpower
I apologise for the delay in responding to this question.
The latest available data are summarised in the following table:
Requirement Trained strength Shortfall (percentage) Medical officers 818 476 42 Nurses 1,900 1,500 21 Medical support services 4,083 3,882 5 Dental officers and allied dental healthcare professionals 777 764 2 Total 7,578 6,622 13 Notes: 1. Requirement excludes the manning and training margin. 2. Trained strength only includes personnel that are qualified in their speciality. 3. ‘Medical support services’ include the paramedics cadre. 4. Dental officers and allied dental healthcare professionals includes dental practitioners, dental support officers, dental surgery assistants and dental technicians.
It has been decided that detailed data will no longer be published where this would highlight potential pinch points within the armed forces, including the Defence Medical Services. I am withholding information on pinch points as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
In order to maintain appropriate external scrutiny of such data, the Department will continue to provide comprehensive restricted manning data to the House of Commons Defence Committee.
Departmental Manpower
This information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Public Expenditure
We have recently raised our 2009-10 Urgent Operational Requirements estimate to £936 million. The precise in-year spend will not be known until after the end of the financial year but we are currently forecasting that we will spend close to, but below, the estimate.
Nuclear Submarines: Decommissioning
I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 24 November 2009, Official Report, column 54W and on 30 November 2009, Official Report, column 418W.
(2) what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the submarine dismantling project in (a) Rosyth Dockyard and (b) Devonport Dockyard.
The project currently has approval to undertake a £14 million assessment phase due to complete in 2011. This will be followed by the demonstration phase, which will run from 2011 to 2013; costs for this phase have not yet been approved. Whole life cost figures will be developed as part of the preparation of the main gate business case, which is planned to be submitted for approval in 2013.
The development of the costs associated with different project options, including site options, will form a part of this work.
(2) what sites his Department is considering to use for the (a) submarine dismantling and (b) radioactive waste storage elements of the submarine dismantling project.
There are currently four regions where there are MOD or defence-related commercial sites that are likely to be considered for submarine dismantling project activities. These regions are Devon, Fife, Argyll and Bute and Berkshire. A number of briefings to elected representatives in these regions have already been carried out, including to the hon. Member, and others have been scheduled.
The project is at an early stage in the process to develop an effective public consultation and associated strategic environmental assessment. This work has included identification of existing nuclear sites, both defence and civil, that are technically capable of submarine dismantling or storing the resultant radioactive waste. At this stage, two sites have been identified that could be technically capable of carrying out dismantling activities and 12 sites have been identified that could be technically capable of carrying out waste storage. Technical capability is only one aspect and the wider suitability of sites has not yet been assessed.
Further analysis work is still required and, until the public consultation is complete, no decisions will be taken on sites for either submarine dismantling or waste storage. I am withholding details of the individual sites identified at this time, as the MOD intend to publish this information in the future as part of the planned public consultation and strategic environmental assessment.
No technical barriers have been identified that would prevent either submarine dismantling or radioactive waste storage from taking place. Most technical aspects of the work have already been demonstrated elsewhere, either in other industry sectors, particularly the civil nuclear sector, or through other countries' work on dismantling nuclear submarines.
We continue to work closely with a range of organisations, including both industry and Government, in the UK and elsewhere, to ensure that we develop appropriate technical solutions that are both safe and effective.
International Development
Developing Countries: Overseas Aid
The Department for International Development (DFID) spent £688,453,000 in 2007-08 and £684,014,000 in 2008-09 bilaterally on promoting good governance. The figure for 2009-10 is not yet available.
DFID supports a broad definition of good governance and the above figures include funding for elections, civil society strengthening, security sector reform, post-conflict peace building, legal and judicial development, corruption and public sector financial management.
DFID bilateral spend by country, by sector and by year is available on DFID's website at:
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-DFID/Finance-and-performance/Aid-Statistics/Statistics-on-International-Development-2009
The Department for International Development (DFID) supports Parliaments in our partner countries as part of our overall support to governance. We do not track absolute values of support to Parliaments within this category. DFID bilateral aid for promoting good governance totalled £688,453,000 in 2007-08 and £684,014,000 2008-09. The figure for 2009-10 is not yet available.
Remittances
The Department for International Development (DFID) does not independently compile data on remittances. We monitor trends in remittance flows using data compiled by the World Bank, which sources its information directly from Central Banks. Based on the information currently available, the World Bank is expecting remittance flows to Sub-Saharan Africa in 2009 to have remained stable at 2008 figures of $21 billion.
Health
Blood
The current NHS Blood and Transplant contract for the supply of blood to hospitals stipulates that blood components, whether purchased directly or on behalf of a third party, must not be sold on for a profit. This contract came into force on 1 April 2008, and runs until 31 March 2011. Current contractual arrangements allow hospitals to supply blood to other NHS or private hospitals and pass on the costs, provided no profit is made.
Crimes of Violence: Females
The Department has allocated approximately £335,000 to the taskforce on the health aspects of violence against women and girls in 2009-10. This funding has paid for a series of detailed focus groups to explore the experiences of women and children who are victims of violence and the national health service response, employment of staff, a literature review, publication of associated reports and ongoing support for the running of taskforce itself.
Health Protection Agency
The documents to which the hon. Member refers have not been submitted to the Department.
The Department does not disclose business cases, such as this, which contain commercially sensitive information.
Health Protection Agency: Location
The Health Protection Agency’s (HPA’s) clinical microbiology activity at Newcastle is to be transferred to other national health service accommodation in Newcastle as a result of redevelopment plans for Newcastle General Hospital. No clinical microbiology staff or activities have yet been transferred.
The HPA’s Food, Water and Environmental Unit at Newcastle is transferring to Leeds as part of a phased transfer. Three senior staff will transfer to Leeds or will work remotely, as part of this transfer. The remainder of the staff have been offered alternative employment within the Newcastle Clinical laboratory and will re-locate with these units to sites within Newcastle Trust. The HPA is aiming to complete this process by 31 March.
Health Protection Agency: Porton Down
The Health Protection Agency has made no recommendation to the Department to close its site at Porton Down. The Department does not disclose business cases, such as this one, which contain commercially sensitive information.
Muscular Dystrophy
It is the responsibility of local health bodies to ensure they have appropriate facilities available for the care of those living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Neuromuscular services, including those for muscular dystrophy, are included within the Adult Neurosciences Chapter of the Third Edition of the Specialised Services National Definitions Set (SSNDS). SSNDS helps hospitals to provide soundly based costings and commissioners to effectively plan, procure and monitor specialised services activity. The third edition of the set will improve the precision and coverage of the definitions, incorporating the most up to date diagnosis and intervention codes to make the SSNDS as comprehensive as possible.
The National Specialised Commissioning team has brought to Specialist Commissioning Groups attention the key issues arising from the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign ongoing awareness campaign.
The Government’s National Service Framework (NSF) for Long-term Conditions focuses on improving the standard and quality of services for people with neurological conditions including muscular dystrophy. The aim of the NSF is to ensure all those with these conditions will get faster diagnosis, more rapid treatment and a comprehensive package of care.
Prostate Cancer: Medical Treatments
This information is not held in the requested format. We are not able to provide figures relating to watchful waiting, active surveillance, radical prostatectomy and bisphosphonates, as these are not captured in Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS)-4 codes.
We have provided a count of finished consultant episodes where the primary diagnosis was prostate cancer and this information has been placed in the Library.
The information requested has been placed in the Library, apart from constituency information, which is not collected centrally.
The tables provide the net ingredient cost of prescription items dispensed in the community by primary care trust (PCT) and nationally. Information on usage in hospitals is available and has been included in the response for England but is not available at PCT level.
Swine Flu: Musgrove Park Hospital Taunton
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is collected at trust level. Musgrove Park Hospital is part of Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has treated an estimated 62 in-patients with swine flu (H1N1 swabbed or clinically presumed) from 8 am 6 July 2009 to 8 am 11 February 2010. The Department did not collect data prior to 6 July 2009.
Turning Point
Delivering Connected Care in Hartlepool is one of the Department's social enterprise pathfinder projects. The Department's 26 social enterprise pathfinder projects have been collectively evaluated but no specific evaluations of Turning Point in this regard was undertaken. The evaluation focused on the processes, barriers and enablers to social enterprise in the health and social care sector.
Cabinet Office
Central Office of Information: Contracts
Livity Ltd were engaged by Cabinet Office to work on communicating the themes in Building Britain’s Future to young audiences. The total value of the contract was £20,000 (excluding VAT).
The Cabinet Office does not place contracts with its commercial suppliers in the Library as they are classified commercial in confidence. In this instance, the contract with Livity Ltd was drawn up by COI. The standard Terms and Conditions were those as per the COI’s Cultural Diversity Framework. A copy of these has been placed in the Library. Future COI Framework Terms And Conditions will be published on the COI website when renewed.
I have asked the Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Mark Lund, dated 8 February 2010:
As Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question [315231] asking for information regarding the Strategic Consultancy Framework.
There is no estimated monetary value of the Branding lot of the Central Office of Information's Marketing and Brand Strategy Consultancy Framework.
Two contracts have been awarded from the lot to Dept for Innovation and Shills and the National Fraud Authority Development Board.
The estimated total monetary value of all contracts under this Framework agreement is £13-14m over 4 years.
I have asked the Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Mark Lund, dated 2 February 2010:
As Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question [315232] on the Internal Communication, Engagement and Change Framework;
No contracts have been awarded under Lot 3 (Brand & Values) of the Internal Communications, Engagement and Change framework.
Total estimated monetary value of all contracts to be let under the duration (4 years) of the ICEC Framework Agreement is £9-10 million.
Departmental Computer Software
Government policy regarding installation and use of web browsers is that all decisions must be in line with value for money requirements. In addition, the Open Source, Open Standards, Re-use strategy requires Departments to consider open source browsers such as Firefox and Opera on a level basis with proprietary browsers such as Internet Explorer. The strategy can be found at:
www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/318020/open_source.pdf
Departmental Freedom of Information
Requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are handled in accordance with the Act. Section 10 of the Act deals with the time for compliance with requests. Requests must be responded to promptly or in any event not later than 20 working days following receipt. In certain circumstances this 20 working day deadline can be extended.
Government Departments: Advertising
This information is not collected centrally. Each Government Department, agency and non-departmental public body is responsible for setting its own communications priorities and outputs, and each Secretary of State is responsible to Parliament.
While no central figures are held on the total Government communications spend, figures for Departments’ expenditure through the Central Office of Information (COI) are shown in the COI Annual Report. Copies are available in the Libraries of the House. However these figures only provide a partial picture and do not distinguish between different advertising media.