This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the Chief Executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Steve Bundred:
There have been four occasions in the last 24 months when external meeting venues have been booked for Audit Commission meetings. These are listed as follows:
23-24 April 2008: Strategic Board Meeting
11 December 2008: Board Meeting (external venue was used during downsizing work to Millbank offices)
22-23 April 2009: Strategic Board Meeting
17 December 2009: Board Meeting (external venue was used due to lack of heating at Millbank offices)
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Eugene Sullivan, dated 29 March 2010:
Parliamentary Question: pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for on Audit Commission, for what purposes (a) Lexington Communications and (b) Consolidated Communications were hired by the Audit Commission; what public affairs and lobbying activity each undertook; and what the documents and other briefing materials each produced for the Commission
Your Parliamentary Question was passed to the Chief Executive who has asked me to reply in his absence.
Lexington Communications and Consolidated Communications were contracted to provide parliamentary and political monitoring research support.
The Audit Commission ceased its contract with Lexington Communications in 2005. There are no retained briefing notes produced for the Audit Commission by Lexington Communications.
In response to a recent Parliamentary Question by Bob Neill MP (PQ02427), we advised that the contract with Consolidated Communications had ceased in October 2008 and copies of all retained briefing notes were placed in the House of Commons Library.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the Chief Executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Eugene Sullivan, dated 29 March 2010:
Your Parliamentary Question was passed to the Chief Executive who has asked me to reply in his absence.
The Expotel contract is predominately used to book overnight hotel accommodation. There is the facility to use the Expotel service for external meetings but there is flexibility to negotiate directly with venues to secure better rates. The remaining 32% of spend identified as not going through Expotel relates to external meeting bookings and a small proportion of those are for hotels that do not accept bookings through Expotel.
Ten five star hotels were booked in 2008/09, which equates to 0.6% of total spend.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I will ask the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Eugene Sullivan, dated 29 March 2010:
Your Parliamentary Question was passed to the Chief Executive who has asked me to reply in his absence.
Government chauffeurs are not used by the Audit Commission. The Government Car and Despatch Agency is used as it is a greener and more cost effective alternative to black cabs.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Eugene Sullivan, dated 29 March 2010:
Your Parliamentary Question was passed to the chief executive who has asked me to reply in his absence.
On 18 July 2007 the purpose of the dinner was to discuss issues that would be relevant to the work undertaken by the Commission in the coming six months. The attendees were the Audit Commission Management Team (Chief Executive, MD Audit, MD Communications & Public Reporting, MD Corporate Services, MD Health, MD Human Resources, MD Local Government, MD Policy, Research & Studies), the Head of the Chief Executive's Office and an external speaker. The external speaker on this occasion was the Chief Executive of the National Consumer Council.
On 30 January 2008 the purpose of the dinner was to discuss issues that would be relevant to the work undertaken by the Commission in the coming six months. The attendees were the Audit Commission Management Team, the Head of the Chief Executive's Office and an external speaker. The external speaker on this occasion was the Director of Policy Exchange.
On 27 February 2008 the event was a lunchtime seminar to discuss issues on Devolution vs Centralisation since 1983 to aid the production of a paper on the subject. From the Audit Commission the attendees were the Chief Executive and the MD Policy, Research & Studies. The attendees were David Curry MP, David Heath MP, Sir Peter Soulsby MP, Peter Brokenshire, Jake Arnold-Forster and Sir Brian Briscoe & Paul Rigg, Local Government Association.
The purpose of the dinner on 9 July 2008 was to discuss issues that would be relevant to the work undertaken by the Commission in the coming six months. The attendees were the Audit Commission Management Team, the Head of the Chief Executive's Office and an external speaker. The external speaker on this occasion was the Senior Policy Adviser in the Prime Minister's Office.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Steve Bundred, dated 29 March 2010:
Your Parliamentary Question has been passed to me to reply.
In 2008/09, we made bookings with 34 hotels outside of the Expotel hotel reservations facility. The Expotel contract is predominately used to book overnight hotel accommodation, but we also use Expotel for events, some of which may include overnight accommodation. The bookings with the other hotels were made, in some cases, after direct negotiation to secure better rates and in others because of attendance at events at specific non Expotel hotels.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Eugene Sullivan, dated 29 March 2010:
Your Parliamentary Question was passed to the Chief Executive who has asked me to reply in his absence.
The attached schedule details the individual engagements of Roleplay UK in 2008 and 2009.
The majority of assignments related to recruitment assessment centres. Roleplayers were used to assist with the selection of new staff (graduate trainees and managers) and acted the parts of clients or employees in work sample roleplays.
There were nine development centres in 2008 where roleplayers played the part of a Chief Executive in order to assess staff skills in dealing with difficult client scenarios.
There was one training event in 2009 which involved roleplayers.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
Date Recruitment assessment centres 2 January District Auditor Assessment Centre 2 January Graduate Trainee Auditor Assessment Centre 4 February Senior Audit Manager Assessment Centre 25 February Audit Manager Assessment Centre 25 February CAAL Assessment Centre 25 February CAAL Assessment Centre 28 February CAAL Assessment Centre 3 March Graduate Trainee Auditor Assessment Centre 5 March Senior Audit Manager Assessment Centre 13 March Graduate Trainee Auditor Assessment Centre 13 March Senior Audit Manager Assessment Centre 14 March Senior Audit Manager Assessment Centre 17 March Principal Auditor Assessment Centre 25 March Audit Manager Assessment Centre 27 March Audit Manager Assessment Centre 14 April District Auditor Assessment Centre 24 April CAAL Assessment Centre 24 April CAAL Assessment Centre 24 April Principal Auditor Assessment 29 April Audit Manager Assessment Centre 1 May CAAL Assessment Centre 8 May Audit Manager Assessment Centre 16 May CAAL Assessment Centre 21 May Graduate Trainee Auditor Assessment Centre 28 May Audit Manager Assessment Centre 8 July Assessment Centre 23 July Principal Auditor Assessment Centre 31 July Audit Manager Assessment Centre 31 July Audit Manager Assessment Centre 12 August Audit Manager Assessment Centre 12 August Audit Manager Assessment Centre 26 August Graduate Trainee Auditor Assessment Centre 2 September Audit Manager Assessment Centre 7 October Performance Specialists—Benefits Assessment Centre 14 October Principal Auditor Assessment Centre 17 October Principal Auditor Assessment Centre 21 October Audit Manager Assessment Centre 21 October Performance Specialists—Benefits Assessment Centre 20 November Performance Specialists—Benefits Assessment Centre 25 November Audit Manager Assessment Centre 25 November Graduate Assessment Centre 11 December Audit Manager Assessment Centre 23 December Graduate Assessment Centre Development centres 2 January Corporate Assessment Accreditation Centre 10 January Corporate Assessment Accreditation Centre 14 January Corporate Assessment Accreditation Centre 6 February Corporate Assessment Accreditation Centre 25 February Corporate Assessment Accreditation Centre 30 March Corporate Assessment Accreditation Centre 16 April Corporate Assessment Accreditation Centre 6 June Corporate Assessment Accreditation Centre 19 September Corporate Assessment Accreditation Centre
Date Recruitment Assessment Centres 11 February Audit Manager Assessment Centre 6 May Audit Manager Assessment Centre 4 June Audit Manager Assessment Centre 11 May District Auditor Assessment Centre 28 September District Auditor Assessment Centre 9 July Finance Manager Assessment Centre 10 July Finance Manager Assessment Centre 20 November Finance Manager Assessment Centre 13 January Graduate Assessment Centre 26 January Graduate Assessment Centre 26 January Graduate Assessment Centre 11 February Graduate Assessment Centre 13 February Graduate Assessment Centre 27 March Graduate Assessment Centre 30 July Graduate Assessment Centre 30 July Graduate Assessment Centre 27 August Graduate Assessment Centre 8 June Performance Specialists—Benefits Assessment Centre 29 June Performance Specialists—Benefits Assessment Centre 17 July Performance Specialists—Benefits Assessment Centre 28 August Performance Specialists—Benefits Assessment Centre 14 May Senior Audit Manager Assessment Centre Training event 23 February Knowledge Sharing Session
This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Steve Bundred dated 29 March 2010:
Your Parliamentary Question has been passed to me to reply.
Seven employment tribunal claims have been brought against the Commission by members of staff or former staff in the last four years. The grounds of dispute, outcome and settlement payments in each case are outlined below.
1. A former employee argued that dismissal on grounds of redundancy was unfair. The matter was settled on cost efficiency grounds in the sum of £5000.
2. A former employee disputed the amount of holiday pay owed by the Commission on termination of employment. The Tribunal dismissed the claim. Counsel's fees were £778.
3. A former employee alleged breach of contract relating to an agreement to make payment in lieu of notice (PILON). The claim was settled for a nominal amount. Settlement and Counsel's costs were £1250.
4. A former employee brought a claim against the Commission for failure to make an ill-health retirement recommendation to the Commission's Pension Scheme Trustees. The claim was withdrawn with no Counsel or settlement costs.
5. A former employee argued that dismissal on grounds of redundancy was unfair. The claim was withdrawn with no Counsel or settlement costs.
6. Nine members of staff brought a claim against the Commission for equal pay. The claim was upheld by the Employment Tribunal and is the subject to an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Counsel's costs to date for hearing and appeal are £29,200. This case is ongoing.
7. A former employee has brought claims against the Commission for unfair dismissal, race discrimination, disability discrimination and other related claims. The claims are yet to be heard and are fully contested by the Commission. Counsel's costs to date are £850. This claim is ongoing.
These figures do not include costs associated with managing claims by Commission officers as this information is not collected.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the Chief Executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Eugene Sullivan, dated 29 March 2010:
Your Parliamentary Question was passed to the Chief Executive who has asked me to reply in his absence.
The Audit Commission has made the following payments to the City Inn Westminster in the last five years:
£ 2005-06 45,955.29 2006-07 40,318.46 2007-08 45,237.07 2008-09 157,402.42 2009-10 117,715.52 Note: Expotel data before April 2006 has been excluded from the 2005-06 total as this information has been archived and was not accessible in time for the response.
Payments increased in 2008/09 as the City Inn Westminster rates decreased in comparison to alternative hotels, making the City Inn a more cost effective option. The City Inn was then added to Expotel.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.