Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 25 June 2008
Scotland
Departmental Buildings
The Scotland Office has not undertaken any new builds or major refurbishments in this period.
The Scotland Office has not undertaken any new builds or major refurbishments in this period.
Departmental Marketing
Departmental Sick Leave
All Scotland Office staff are on secondment from the Scottish Executive or the Ministry of Justice; the office does not maintain a central record of sick absences. Such records are held by the parent Departments who publish their sick absence statistics.
Transport
Aviation: Safety
National Air Traffic Services have modelled all public safety zones (PSZs) since, and including, the review of PSZs undertaken by the Department for Transport in 2002. The methodology underpinning this modelling is considered in the Department's publication Third Party Risk Near Airports and Public Safety Zone Policy' (ISBN 1 85112 418 7) as part of the studies that informed the review.
This document is available on the Department's website at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/aviation/safety/thirdpartyrisknearairportsan2989.
Bournemouth Airport
Manchester Airports Ltd., the owner of Bournemouth International Airport, has recently been granted planning permission to redevelop the existing terminal in order to cater for the predicted increase in passenger throughput from 917,000 passengers per annum in 2005-06 to 4.5 million by 2030. The approval was conditional upon its undertaking improvements to junctions on the existing network in the immediate vicinity of the airport and funding better public transport links to Bournemouth. It did not require the construction of a link to the A338 Bournemouth Spur road.
The draft Master Plan for Bournemouth Airport confirms that, based on current transport growth trends, a new road link from the A338 is not necessary for the airport to achieve its planned growth.
Furthermore, the South West region has not identified such a link as a regional priority within its regional funding allocation advice to Government, and no Major Scheme bid has yet been received by the Department for Transport.
Departmental Trade Unions
The Department for Transport staff are represented by the following trade unions: Public and Commercial Services, First Division Association and Prospect. The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency and the Government Car and Despatch Agency are also represented by Unite.
Departmental Vetting
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 18 June 2008, Official Report, column 938W.
Fuels: Prices
[holding answer 24 June 2008]: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform publishes data on EU pump prices in their Quarterly Energy Prices publication available at:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/energy/statistics/publications/prices/index.html
Table 1 as follows illustrates the EU pump prices in each individual country between January 2005 and April 2008. These numbers are in nominal terms and during this time the €/£ exchange rate changed from €1.43/£1 to €1.26/£1.
The Department for Transport does not hold such information for G8 member countries.
Petrol pump prices Diesel pump prices January 2005 April 2008 Percentage change January 2005 April 2008 Percentage change United Kingdom 79.0 107.6 36 84.2 116.6 39 Austria 64.0 98.8 54 58.8 99.7 70 Belgium 75.1 113.6 51 60.0 95.9 60 Denmark 77.2 111.0 44 63.9 105.8 66 Finland 80.4 113.0 41 61.6 100.1 63 France 73.0 110.2 51 64.3 102.8 60 Germany 78.1 112.7 44 68.2 106.5 56 Greece 53.9 89.7 66 54.4 94.5 74 Ireland 66.2 95.0 44 66.7 96.4 44 Italy 76.5 110.2 44 70.6 107.5 52 Luxembourg 63.4 96.3 52 50.9 89.8 76 Netherlands 87.8 124.3 42 63.9 103.7 62 Portugal 70.1 111.7 59 58.6 99.8 70 Spain 59.4 90.3 52 56.8 91.8 62 Sweden 77.6 105.6 36 68.7 109.0 59 Cyprus 53.2 82.2 55 50.7 86.5 71 Czech Republic 56.8 98.6 74 57.2 100.6 76 Estonia 47.4 83.8 77 49.0 91.0 86 Hungary 67.5 94.0 39 66.0 98.7 50 Latvia 50.4 83.0 65 49.4 87.6 77 Lithuania 49.8 84.1 69 50.3 87.9 75 Malta 60.9 87.1 43 58.3 87.6 50 Poland 61.7 100.1 62 58.6 99.0 69 Slovakia 60.2 96.8 61 61.4 102.6 67 Slovenia 57.7 85.4 48 57.4 88.8 55 EU average 65.9 99.4 51 60.4 98.0 62 Note: No data for pump prices in January 2005 were available for Bulgaria and Romania.
Lorries: Working Hours
The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) has not prosecuted any drivers of foreign-registered lorries for exceeding limitations on driving hours in the last 12 months.
There were very few prosecutions of drivers of foreign-registered lorries because it is not possible—either for VOSA or the police—to require non-UK residents to return to the UK to attend court on such matters. The introduction of graduated fixed penalties and deposits in spring 2009 will, however, ensure that they do pay the relevant penalty.
Parking: Disabled
Data on Blue Badge (previously Orange Badge) disabled parking permits are only available from 1994/95 onwards. Data are collected at county and unitary authority level only. It is therefore not available for Chorley, only Lancashire as a whole. Data are only available for England and not for the UK.
The latest available figures, as at 31 March for each year, are as follows: in 1995, 58,040 badges were issued in Lancashire and 1,462,798 in England as a whole. In 2007, 69,306 badges were issued in Lancashire and 2,318,367 in England.
This shows a 19 per cent. increase in Lancashire and a 58 per cent. increase for England between 1995 and 2007.
Railways: Leeds
Information in regards to rail is a matter for Network Rail as the owner and operator of the national rail network. Network Rail has advised that the information requested is not available.
On roads, there are currently two local major road schemes that are currently under construction within the Leeds Metropolitan district. These schemes are being taken forward by Leeds city council, as local highway authority, with the Department providing funding towards the scheme costs. Both are expected to be completed and opened to traffic later this year. Details are as follows:
East Leeds Link Road—this scheme is 2.4 miles in length and will connect the Inner Ring Road Stages 6 and 7, at South Accommodation Road, with the M1 at Junction 45.
Leeds Inner Ring Road Stage 7—this scheme is a 0.8 mile dual-carriageway extension largely on a viaduct from the recently completed Inner Ring Road Stage 6 to the Hunslet Distributor Road.
The Highways Agency is responsible for trunk roads and motorways. There are currently no Highways Agency roads within the Leeds West constituency. However, the Agency is currently examining the options for capacity and traffic management improvements on the M62 Junction 25-28 and M1 Junction 39-42, of which junctions 27-28 of the M62 and junctions 41-42 falls within the Leeds Metropolitan district area.
The M62 Junction 27-28 is approximately 3.29 miles and the M1 Junction 41-42 is 1.52 miles in length. It is not possible to cite the lengths of additional lane planned to be constructed, because options are still being examined and no specific scheme proposal has yet been approved.
In addition, there could be other schemes that are either underway or planned which will be funded by private developers with the two locations.
We expect to seek updated advice from regions on their transport priorities later in the summer as part of the second round of the regional funding allocations process. This will provide the opportunity for Leeds city council to inform the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Transport Board of any future proposals for local major road and public transport schemes.
Trains: Leeds
This information is not held by the Department for Transport.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Biofuels: EU Action
The Government are concerned about the effect of rising food prices and the contribution that the demand for biofuels can make to that. The Government will consider their position on the EU targets for biofuels in the light of the findings of the Gallagher Review, due to be published shortly.
Climate Change Bill
The Stern review does not set out any assumptions regarding interest rates. Therefore it is not possible to provide estimates of the costs and benefits of the Climate Change Bill using these assumptions.
Ozone Layer
(2) what estimate he has made of the proportion of ozone-depleting substances arising from the disposal of plastic foam insulation in building panels which will enter the waste stream in (a) 2008, (b) 2009 and (c) 2010.
Current estimates suggest that the proportion of ozone-depleting substances arising from the disposal of plastic foam insulation in building panels entering the waste stream between 2008 and 2010 should not be significant as the panels will still be in use in buildings.
The significance of plastic foam insulation as waste is expected to increase in the longer term as more buildings containing these panels are redeveloped. A rough approximation drawing on wider European and global estimates would suggest that around 100,000 tonnes of ozone-depleting substances might be in some one million tonnes of buildings foam in existing buildings in the UK.
Estimates are not available of overall quantities of ozone-depleting substances that will enter the waste stream in 2008-10. Ozone-depleting substances are currently being recovered for destruction from refrigeration and cooling equipment, from some insulation panels from cold stores and from walk-in refrigerators and end-of-life vehicles.
Pest Control
[holding answer 24 June 2008]: DEFRA does not collect statistics on the number of reported infestations of rats or other “vermin”.
DEFRA will shortly be publishing an interim report on rodent presence in domestic properties as revealed by the English House Condition Survey data for 2002-03 and 2003-04. Key findings are that the occurrences of rats inside and outside properties in these years are not significantly different from those observed in 2001.
Pesticides: EU Action
The Pesticides Safety Directorate recently prepared a report assessing the impact on crop protection in the UK of hazard-based approval criteria for active substances and provisions for comparative assessment and substitution of products, which are contained in the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market. The report assesses the potential impact of the Commission’s proposals and of amendments adopted in the first reading report of the Parliament. It concludes that the Commission’s proposals could remove up to 15 per cent. of the active substances assessed, while the Parliament’s proposed amendments could ultimately remove up to 85 per cent. of those substances.
I have put a copy of the report in the Libraries of both Houses.
Pesticides: EU Law
The Government agree that plant protection products should be properly controlled, and support much of the proposed regulation, particularly where it would improve harmonisation. The Government are, however, concerned that the proposals for hazard cut-off criteria could remove some active substances which are very important for agriculture and horticulture without securing any meaningful benefit in terms of consumer safety. The Government therefore abstained from voting when the presidency's compromise text was put to the Agriculture and Fisheries Council for political agreement in June.
Rivers: Hertfordshire
I have asked the Environment Agency for a report into this subject.
Seagulls and Pigeons
[holding answer 24 June 2008]: The information requested is as follows:
Gulls
The numbers of gulls breeding in England are only periodically surveyed. The last survey (‘Seabird 2000’) was carried out during the period 1998 to 2002. By comparing with the previous survey, conducted during 1985-88, Natural England is able to estimate changes in the size of English breeding populations. The following table provides estimates of the current (1998 to 2002) breeding abundance and recent (since 1985-88) population trends for the four most widespread species in England.
Species Estimated number of breeding pairs (1998 to 2002) Breeding population trend (1985-88 to 1998 to 2002) (percentage) Black-headed gull 82,728 +0.5 Lesser black-backed gull 44,133 +98 Herring gull 43,932 +59 Great black-backed gull 1,476 +4
Small numbers of both common and Mediterranean gull also nest in England.
Pigeons
There has been no assessment of the size of the breeding population of woodpigeons in England since 1988-91, when it was estimated at about 1.5 million pairs. Trends in the breeding season abundance of woodpigeons in England have been monitored annually since 1994 by the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), co-ordinated by the British Trust for Ornithology. Between 1994 and 2005, the numbers recorded by the BBS in England increased by 29 per cent. (and between 1999 and 2005 by 14 per cent.).
Feral pigeon population size was estimated at over 100,000 pairs in 1968-72 and 100,000-250,000 pairs in 1988-91. Data from the BBS have so far shown neither a significant increase nor decrease in the feral pigeon population since 1994.
[holding answer 24 June 2008]: DEFRA does not hold information on costs incurred by local authorities for clearing up damage arising from gull and pigeon populations.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 26 March 2008, Official Report, column 163W to the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski).
Aircraft Carriers: Nuclear Power
The average price of Brent Crude during the period of the assessment was approximately $19 per barrel. The assumptions behind the UK’s aircraft carrier programme remain sound and we are committed to the manufacture of these vessels, to their conventionally powered design, to meet the stated in-service dates.
Armed Forces: Uniforms
MOD has never purchased any bearskin pelts, only completed caps.
The materials tested as an alternative to real fur for bearskin caps are:
100 per cent. nylon—single denier and mixed denier monofilaments
Nylon mixed with mohair; Dynel™ (modacrylic); Rhovyl™ (PVC); single breed wool; two breeds of wool
100 per cent. Orion™ (acrylic pile)—26 oz and 30 oz
100 per cent. modacrylic—several versions
Acrylic/modacrylic blends—15 different samples in various percentage blends and constructions from various companies
Modacrylic/polyester blend
100 per cent. polyester—fibre and pile types
100 per cent. polypropylene
100 per cent. mohair
Mohair blended with wool; alpaca (several versions); llama
Various wools and sheepskins
Wool blended with hair; viscose
Unknowns—samples have been received under company trade names with no fibre content given.
Army: Manpower
The information is not held in the format requested.
Due to ongoing validation of data following the implementation of the new joint personnel administration system, flows information is only available at the Army level and is not yet available broken down to Arm/Service level. Unit level flows for the Army are not routinely published and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Assets
The Department depreciates its vehicles, computer hardware and telecommunications equipment as shown in the following table.
Category Years Transport Specialised vehicles 15-30 Other standard vehicles 3-5 IT and Comms equipment Computer hardware 3-10 Telecommunications equipment 3-30
It is not possible to provide information at a departmental level with regard to a ‘standard’ period over which computer software is depreciated; however, in determining the appropriate period for this and all other asset categories the Department is consistent with the accounting treatment laid out in the financial reporting manual (FReM).
Also in accordance with the FReM the Department does not capitalise furniture, therefore costs are immediately expensed to the operating cost statement.
Departmental Public Participation
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, records are available of services provided by polling companies which relate primarily to recruitment activities by the armed forces, and polling carried out by our central media and communications division to establish the attitudes of the public to various aspects of defence activity. In financial year 2007-08, the following were completed.
Purpose Firm employed Top level reputation tracking of the MOD and armed forces Ipsos MORI Army reputation tracking Populus Territorial Army recruitment and retention Cragg Ross Dawson1 Website visitor survey assessing views on the Royal Marine website Virtual Surveys1 Online surveys and interviews to inform recruiting to the Army Medical Services ICM1 1 Procured through Central Office of Information.
Destroyers
[holding answer 16 June 2008]: As I said in my reply to the hon. Member on 19 June 2008, Official Report, column 1099W, we do not intend to increase the current order of six Type 45 destroyers. Therefore, only the first six Type 42 destroyers due to be withdrawn will be replaced by Type 45s.
Lynx Helicopters
The Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with AgustaWestland for the delivery of 70 Future Lynx helicopters comprising 40 battlefield variant to enter service with the Army, and 30 maritime variant to enter service with the Royal Navy. None are due to be delivered to the Royal Air Force. It is intended that the Future Lynx maritime variant will operate principally from our Type 22 and Type 23 frigates and our Type 45 destroyers, although they will be capable of operating from other vessels as required.
Merlin Helicopters
(2) what assessment he has made of the load capacity of the flooring in the Merlin helicopters acquired from Denmark; and if he will make a statement.
All six of the helicopters acquired from Denmark, now designated as Merlin MK3a, were delivered fitted with a Terrain collision Avoidance system (TCAS) and whether radar system. These systems are not fitted to our other Merlin MK3 aircraft and therefore no long-term support is planned. We do, however, intend to evaluate the performance of the systems to inform future requirements which, if funded, would include appropriate long-term support arrangements.
The floor of the MK3a has a slightly different construction to our existing MK3 aircraft, but the uniformly distributed load capacity is the same. The Mk3 is capable of carrying 24 troops with their equipment and the full range of equipment required to be carried by this aircraft on operations.
The target forward fleet of Merlin Mk 1 helicopters available to the front line command for training and operations is 30, which represents 71 per cent. of the departmental fleet of 42. The number in the forward fleet as at 17 June 2008 is 23, which represents 55 per cent. of the departmental fleet.
Justice
Administration of Justice: Environment
The Legal Services Commission does not record information in such a way as to enable it to identify the number of applications for public funding of cases relating to environmental cases as this is not a distinct category of law under which legal aid is recorded. However, environmental matters may be funded under the legal aid scheme if there is sufficient public interest to do so.
The information requested is not held centrally and could be compiled only through a manual inspection of historic case records which would be disproportionately costly.
The Civil Procedure Rule Committee consults such persons as (it) considers appropriate under the Civil Procedure Act 3(1)(a). However the Committee’s current programme of work does not include consideration of amendments arising from the UNECE convention on access to information.
Departmental Assets
Departments should depreciate their assets over periods consistent with the accounting standards laid out in the Financial Reporting Manual (FReM). Depreciation rates for assets vary depending upon the user's anticipated life of the asset.
Following the creation of the MoJ, which brought together entities from two separate Departments, the Department will be reviewing its depreciation rates.
The core Department, HM Courts Service, the Tribunals Service, and the Office of the Public Guardian depreciate assets over the following periods:
(a) Vehicles: three to four years;
(b) Computer hardware: seven years;
(c) (Developed) computer software: seven years;
(d) Standard computer software: not capitalised unless part of the package bought with qualifying capital hardware;
(e) Furniture: high-density storage systems 10 years. (Other furniture is only capitalised in exceptional circumstances and is pooled by site—depreciated over 10 years); and
(f) Telecommunications equipment: seven years.
HMPS
The Prison Service Agency depreciates assets over the following periods:
(a) Vehicles: five to 10 years (cars five years, vans seven years, lorries 10 years);
(b) Computer hardware: three years;
(c) Bespoke computer software: five to seven years;
(d) Standard computer software: five to seven years;
(e) Furniture: seven years; and
(f) Telecommunications equipment: five years.
The majority of furniture acquired by HMPS is for staff and inmates and is not capitalised.
NOMS
NOMS depreciates assets over the following periods:
(a) Vehicles: five to 10 years (cars five years, vans seven years, lorries 10 years);
(b) Computer hardware: three years;
(c) Bespoke computer software: seven years;
(d) Standard computer software: five years;
(e) Furniture: five years; and
(f) Telecommunications equipment: five years.
OGJR
OCJR depreciates assets over the following periods:
(a) Vehicles: none held;
(b) Computer hardware: non-PC five years, PC three years;
(c) Bespoke computer software: non-PC five years, PC three years (some exceptions where extended to seven years);
(d) Standard computer software: non-PC five years, PC three years;
(e) Furniture: none held; and
(f) Telecommunications equipment: none held.
Departmental Expert Groups
The Ministry of Justice was established on 9 May 2007. Since that date, the Ministry has established the following expert groups:
Drug Treatment in Prisons Group (disbanded November 2007)
Prison Drug Treatment Review Group
Sentencing Commission Working Group
Advisory Board on Joint Inspection in the Criminal Justice System
Reference Panel on Rights and Responsibilities
Family Courts Information Pilot Advisory Board
Divorce Forms Reference Group
Care Proceedings Implementation Steering Group and Training Sub Group
Advisory Committee on Civil Costs
Departmental Transport
Following the creation of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), a high-level transport plan is currently being developed to help reduce the environmental impact of travel.
Parts of the MoJ have created transport plans and are implementing these within their individual areas.
The MoJ transport plan is expected to be complete by summer 2008 and a copy will be placed within the Library when complete.
Departmental Vetting
The Ministry of Justice applies the Cabinet Office Baseline Personnel Security Standard for recruitment to the civil service. This includes a check on each individual’s identity, employment history, nationality or immigration status and criminal record. More rigorous procedures may additionally be applied depending on the security status of the role or its location.
My Department does not hold this information centrally and it is, therefore, not possible to collate it without incurring disproportionate costs.
Criminal Records Bureau checks are completed for certain posts dependant on location and role.
Electoral Register
Section 9 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 placed a new duty on electoral registration officers to take all necessary steps to maintain the electoral register, including sending the annual canvass form more than once and making house visits.
Responsibility for issuing guidance to electoral registration officers on electoral registration lies with the Electoral Commission and thus my Department has not made any assessment about the level of compliance with guidelines for following up non-responses to the electoral canvass.
The Act includes a provision for the Electoral Commission to introduce new performance measures for electoral registration officers. The Electoral Commission is currently developing these standards and the final standards will be published in July 2008, a copy of which will be laid before the House. This will give us a better understanding of the actions being taken to increase registration.
Electorate
I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your questions asking how many and what proportion of registered voters there were in each constituency (a) in the first year after the most recent Boundary Review and (b) in the most recent period for which figures are available, ranking in descending order of number of electors. (211442).
Figures for the Parliamentary electorate for each parliamentary constituency for 1997 and 2007 are provided in Tables 1 and 2. Copies of the tables have been placed in the House of Commons Library.
The Office for National Statistics does not hold data for the population eligible to vote in parliamentary elections, which includes British Citizens resident overseas and excludes foreign citizens (from outside the British Commonwealth and Republic of Ireland) resident within the England and Wales. It is not therefore possible to provide the proportions requested.
Islam
We do not have any plans to introduce a data collection to provide the information requested since the cost would be disproportionate. The courts always take mitigating and aggravating circumstances into account when sentencing an offender. This can include circumstances relating to faith or change of faith, if they are relevant to the offence. However, aggravating or mitigating factors are not collated as part of our data collection. As these factors cover an enormous range and variety of circumstances, to do so would be complex and extremely resource intensive.
Prime Minister
Departmental Public Expenditure
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Watson) today.
Departmental Television
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Phil Hope) on 24 June 2008, Official Report, column 238W.
Post Offices: Closures
I have no current plans to do so.
Wood
(2) how much timber and timber products were procured by his Office originating from independently verified legal and sustainable sources or from a licensed FLEGT partner in each of the last five years; and at what cost.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Phil Hope) today.
Wales
Departmental Pay
The Wales Office has only made bonus payments in the last two financial years.
In 2006-07, three members of staff received bonuses, representing five per cent. of the workforce. All of the bonuses together came to £862.30 before tax, and the largest single payment was £362.30.
In 2007-08, four members of staff received bonuses, representing seven per cent. of the workforce. All of the bonuses together came to £1,250.00 before tax, and the largest single payment was £350.00
Departmental Sick Leave
Figures for the level of sickness absence at the Wales Office are available for each financial year since April 2004.
The average number of days of sickness absence is as follows:
Days 2004-05 4.59 2005-06 3.36 2006-07 5.18 2007-08 19.27 1 Average is skewed by isolated incidents of long term sickness absence.
Departmental Vetting
The Wales Office was created in 1999. It only recruits existing civil servants and does not conduct criminal records checks itself.
All staff are required to have Counter Terrorism Clearance (and in some cases Developed Vetting). This includes disclosure of all criminal convictions (spent and unspent).
Some staff have active clearance when they join us. Others are cleared on appointment. This is undertaken by the Ministry of Justice, and details of criminal records checked are not disclosed to us.
Providing numbers appointed and number of clearances requested over the past nine years could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
Culture, Media and Sport
Advertising: Broadcasting
(2) how many minutes of advertising were broadcast per hour of children's television programming in (a) the last period for which figures are available and (b) each year since 1979.
The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
EU Directives currently impose a maximum limit of 12 minutes of advertising per hour on television. This is also subject to an EU maximum average of nine minutes per hour. Within this European framework, the rules set by Ofcom impose further limits on public service channels which are subject to an overall maximum average of seven minutes per hour, and a specific average of eight minutes per hour between 6pm and 11pm. These restrictions are set out in Ofcom's rules on the amount and distribution of advertising. The limits do not include the amount of time that channels may use for promoting their programmes. Nor do they include ‘teleshopping windows’, which involve direct offers to viewers to purchase goods and services, for example by placing an order by telephone or e-mail. Ofcom requires broadcasters to comply with these rules, and receives independently-sourced data on many channels, including the public service channels.
Under the new Audio Visual Media Services Directive, the European framework for advertising regulation has been revised and Ofcom recently consulted on whether to make changes to the UK rules. Ofcom aims to announce its decision later this year.
Departmental Buildings
For DCMS as an entity, freehold land is restated to current value every five years using professional valuations in accordance with FRS 15. The freehold land was last valued professionally as at 31 March 2006. Assets have not been restated using appropriate indices because the modified historic costs are not materially different to the historic costs, therefore the historic costs have been shown in the balance sheet.
The Royal Parks properties are revalued as part of a five year rolling programme, using a methodology in line with the Government financial reporting manual (FreM). From 1 April 2007 The Royal Parks changed its policy on Government index revaluations. The Royal Parks considers that these revaluations do not have a material effect and as allowed under FRS15 has discontinued Government index revaluations for assets that are not physically revalued. These assets are shown at their 31 March 2007 current cost less depreciation.
Departmental Manpower
Although the DCMS has no plans to relocate posts, over 950 posts from our sponsored bodies are planned to relocate by 2010. This exceeds by over 50 per cent. the Department's agreed target of 600 relocated posts. To date, 661 posts from DCMS sponsored bodies have relocated already.
Digital Broadcasting
Overall, switchover in Copeland was successful, although we do realise that there are lessons to be learned.
This experience will help with work being done in the area surrounding the Selkirk transmitter which is the next place scheduled for switchover. Progress here is good: 99 per cent.1 of households are aware of switchover (compared with 90 per cent.1 nationally) and 82 per cent.1 have digital television services already. Digital UK are continuing to work in the area, building on their communications work and the Digital Switchover Help Scheme (DSHS) has started to operate in the region.
1 Ofcom/DUK DSO Tracker—Q1 2008
[holding answer 23 June 2008]: Overall, switchover in Copeland was successful, although we do realise that there are lessons to be learned.
This experience will help with work being done in the area surrounding the Selkirk transmitter which is the next place scheduled for switchover. Progress here is good.
99 per cent.1 of households are aware of switchover (compared with 90 per cent1 nationally) and 82 per cent.1 have digital television services already. Digital UK are continuing to work in the area, building on their communications work and the Digital Switchover Help scheme (DSHS) has started to operate in the region.
1 Ofcom/DUK DSO Tracker—Q1 2008
Libraries: Construction
Information is not held centrally on the number of public libraries which have been built in Jarrow, South Tyneside, the North-East or England in each year since 1997.
Public Library Statistics, an annual publication produced by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, provides information on the total number of libraries in South Tyneside, the North-East and England, but it does not publish information on the number of libraries in the parliamentary constituency of Jarrow. Copies of Public Library Statistics are available in the Library of the House.
Olympics 2012: Big Lottery Fund
Approximately £638.1 million held in the National Lottery Distribution Fund on the Big Lottery Fund's behalf will form part of the £1,085 million to be transferred to the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund between the first quarter of the current financial year (2008-09) and the second quarter of 2012-13.
Wood
The Department does not hold management information on procurement of timber and timber products.
The Department does not hold management information on the procurement of timber and timber products. However it is the Department's policy to procure verifiable legal timber where possible.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Higher Education
We want to give everyone who has the talent the chance to go to university whether they are about to leave school or already in work. Students should have access to local provision offering flexible courses to suit their needs. We are therefore delighted by the interest that our new university challenge has generated. Any proposals for new university campuses or centres of HE will be assessed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England against the broad criteria we published in our new “University Challenge” criteria published in March which include “underpinning population growth strategies” as part of unlocking the potential of towns and people. HEFCE plan to publish a consultation document shortly.
Higher Education: North West
The latest available information is shown in the table. Comparable figures for the 2007/08 academic year will be available in January 2009.
Academic year Chorley Lancashire North West2 1997/983 895 9,220 47,570 1998/99 1,010 10,350 44,795 1999/2000 1,115 11,060 44,820 2000/01 970 10,010 43,720 2001/02 1,145 11,605 48,020 2002/03 1,205 12,980 63,145 2003/04 1,045 12,510 68,525 2004/054 1,150 13,290 69,455 2005/06 1,115 12,385 70,895 2006/07 1,050 11,950 65,800 1 Figures are on a snapshot basis as at 1 December to maintain a consistent time series across all years and are rounded to the nearest five. Figures include the Open University but exclude those on writing up, sabbatical or dormant mode of study. Figures cover entrants to both full-time and part-time undergraduate courses. 2 Inconsistencies between figures in the time series for the North West Government office region are due to the inclusion/exclusion of Merseyside. In 1997/98, Merseyside was included in the North West. From 1998/99 to 2001/02, Merseyside was administratively classified as a separate region. From 2002/03 onwards, Merseyside was again included in the North West. Figures across the time series are not on a consistent basis, and as such, are not comparable. 3 Figures for 1997/98 exclude the Open University because there are no figures available for entrants to undergraduate courses at the Open University by local authority for this year. 4 As a consequence of a problem identified with data submitted by the Open University (OU) in the 2004/05 academic year, a number of students were not returned as entrants although included in the total enrolments figure. However as a result, the increase in entrants between 2004/05 and 2005/06 appears greater than in reality, particularly in respect of undergraduate entrants. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
Innovation: Business
We recently published our White Paper, Innovation Nation, that included a number of measures aimed at increasing the level of innovation within business. These included:
Increased support for business innovation through the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) by bringing forward five new Innovation Platforms over the next three years and doubling the number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships;
Plans to reform the Small Business Research initiative;
Provision of an innovation voucher to at least 1,000 businesses per year by 2010-11 to enable them to collaborate with a knowledge base institution with an overall aim to help those firms boost their innovation and profits; and
Plans to pilot a revenue-based FE Specialisation and Innovation Fund to build the capacity of the FE Sector to support businesses to raise their innovation potential.
In addition, we have also published a Higher Level Skills Strategy to provide an overall framework for driving up the higher level skills that contribute to innovation in business.
Solicitor-General
Departmental Trade Unions
The trade unions which represent staff at the Attorney-General's Office and its agencies are the First Division Association (FDA) and Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS). The staff of the Serious Fraud Office are also represented by Prospect.
Genetics: Data Protection
Following the inquiry by Peter Lewis, chief executive of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) into the handling of the Dutch DNA disk, disciplinary proceedings have been instigated against one member of staff but have not yet concluded. It is not appropriate to name the individual concerned.
Immediate measures were put in place within the relevant part of the Crown Prosecution Service headquarters (CPS HQ) to ensure that all incoming post is dealt with securely, and acted on both expeditiously and appropriately.
The wider recommendations about the handling of such mutual exchange arrangements in future are being taken forward by the National Policing Improvement Agency. They should ensure that in future the appropriate recipients, not the CPS, receive and are properly notified of the transmission of such data.
The chief executive has also commissioned a wider review to look at operating processes and working practices across the whole of CPS HQ to identify areas where further improvements can be made.
Prosecutions: Foreigners
I have not had any discussions about this case with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). A file of evidence relating to a serious allegation was submitted to the CPS for advice and the case was reviewed in accordance with the code for Crown prosecutors. The reviewing Crown prosecutor advised the police that there was not a realistic prospect of a conviction against Colonel Karuna for any criminal offence based on the evidence that was submitted.
Work and Pensions
Carers’ Allowances: Cleethorpes
As at November 2007, 870 people in Cleethorpes constituency were in receipt of the carer’s allowance.
Child Support Agency: Telephone Services
The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 25 June 2008:
In reply to your recent parliamentary question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has estimated (a) the average length of telephone calls to the Child Support Agency and (b) the average length of time callers are kept in a queue before their calls are answered. [212072]
The Agency has shown significant and sustained improvement in client service under its Operational Improvement Plan. In the year ending March 2008, the Agency received 5,369,000 calls from clients and answered 98 per cent. of calls available to be answered, with an average waiting time of just twenty seconds. The average length of telephone call to the Agency over this period was three minutes 25 seconds.
In contrast, in the year to March 2005, the Agency answered only 84 per cent. of calls and the average waiting time was one minute 40 seconds.
Information on telephony performance is routinely published in Table 16 of the Child Support Agency's Quarterly Summary of Statistics, the latest copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library or online:
www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_mar08.asp
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Children: Maintenance
The administration of the Child Support Agency is the matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the right hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Stephen Geraghty, dated 25 June 2008:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many outstanding cases the Child Support Agency has in Wales. [212700]
The information requested is routinely published in Supplementary Table 2a of the Child Support Agency’s Quarterly Summary of Statistics (QSS), the latest copy of which is available in the House of Commons library or online at:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/child_support/csa_quarterly_mar08.asp.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Departmental Accountancy
The information requested is not readily available and can only be obtained at disproportionate costs.
Since the introduction of its resource management system in 2005, the Department does not routinely publish its chart of accounts as the information is managed and controlled within the system.
The chart of accounts for 2008-09 reflects the Department's structure for the year and will not necessarily reflect the 2007-08 structure, or that for future years. The chart shows the relationship between parent codes (used for preparing resource accounts) and children codes (used for more detailed management purposes). Each code has a brief description that describes its use.
Departmental Manpower
The following table sets out the number and proportion of male, female, ethnic minority and disabled staff employed by the Department for Work and Pensions at March 2008. We are unable to provide the information on non-heterosexual staff as the Department only started monitoring this equality strand in April 2008 and we have not yet built up any meaningful data.
Number Percentage Male 35,423 31.2 Female 77,971 68.8 Ethnic minority 9,840 10.1 Disabled 5,982 5.5 Not heterosexual 1— 1— 1 Not known
Declaration of ethnicity and disabled status is voluntary. The proportions given are based on those individuals who have declared their status.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Since 2003, the Government have published on an annual basis the names and numbers of special advisers in each pay band. For the most recent information I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister on 22 November 2007, Official Report, columns 147-50WS.
Information on the employment of special advisers prior to 2003 was provided at regular intervals and is available in the Library of the House.
Departmental Paper
The information that is available is provided in the following table.
Type of product 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Core print (forms and leaflets) 24.0 21.9 18.3 25.1 22.1 Configurable print (letterheads, compliment slips and posters) 1.45 1.76 0.886 0.98 0.913 Secure print (girocheques and payable orders) 7.14 7.18 3.08 3.1 3.04 Cut paper (photocopier and printer paper etc) n/a n/a n/a 3.5 3.5 Totals 32.59 30.84 22.266 32.68 29.553 n/a – not available.
Expenditure figures on core, configurable and secure print include the cost of printing, storing and distributing the products and cannot be separately identified. Expenditure figures on cut paper for the years 2003-04 to 2005-06 are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
To reduce environmental impact, wherever technically possible, DWP uses recycled paper as standard and closely manages stocks to avoid wastage.
Departmental Pay
DWP employees in pay bands below the senior civil service are eligible for an annual individual performance bonus if they attain a ‘Top’, ‘Higher’ or ‘Majority’ rating under the annual performance and development system. The amount of bonus awarded is differentiated on the basis of the employee's pay band and the performance level achieved.
For the senior civil service end of year bonuses were determined on an individual basis by the relevant Pay Committee.
A total of £36.61 million was paid in performance bonuses in the 2007-08 financial year broken down in the following tables:
Financial year Total paid (£ million) Total number of recipients 2007-081 36.61 113,425
Agency/business Total paid (£ million) Number of recipients Child Support Agency 3.66 11,865 Corporate Centre 3.14 10,202 Disability and Carers Service 1.99 6,469 Jobcentre Plus 22.24 72,185 The Pensions Service 3.85 12,502 Total 34.88 113,223
Financial year Total paid (£ million) Number of recipients 2007-081 1.73 202 1 Performance awards from the year 2006/07 are paid in the financial year 2007-08.
The Department's Performance and Development system is designed to help manage performance throughout the reporting year. Bonus payments are linked to an end of year assessment and paid to those who achieve a ‘majority’, ‘higher’ or ‘top’ marking in their appraisal. To attain these markings employees are expected to meet or exceed all of their performance objectives. The latest period for which information is available is for the 12 months ending March 2007.
A distribution by gender, ethnicity and disability of all 111,943 staff who received a performance bonus for the year ended 31 March 2007 is in the following table. Information about the percentage numbers of the different individual groups in relation to overall employees is also included.
Group Number receiving performance bonus Percentage of performance bonus recipients (percentage) Female 77,847 69.5 Male 34,096 30.5 Ethnic minority 9,392 8.4 Ethnic majority 87,729 78.4 Not declared/recorded1 14,822 13.2 Disabled 6,049 5.4 Not disabled 101,765 90.9 Not declared/recorded1 4,129 3.7 1 Declaration of ethnicity and disability is voluntarily recorded on the Department's personnel system.
For the 2006-07 performance year to which these figures relate we did not gather data on sexuality.
Departmental Trade Unions
The Department for Work and Pensions and its agencies recognise three trade unions as representing members of staff; the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), FDA and Prospect.
Employment and Support Allowance
(2) what estimate he has made of how much a couple, both under the age of 35 years, who are eligible for the support component of the contributory employment and support allowance, would receive each week, assuming the rates as set out in the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 come into force in October 2008;
(3) what estimate he has made of how much a single recipient under the age of 35 years, who is eligible for the support component of the contributory employment and support allowance, would receive each week, assuming the rates as set out in the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 come into force in October 2008.
Employment and support allowance has a completely different structure to incapacity benefit. Contributory employment and support allowance is not payable in respect of couples. The employment and support regulations provide that single people in the support group will receive a rate of contributory benefit of £89.50 a week. If the claimant is single and has low or no other income they would receive an income-related top up taking their benefit of £102.10 a week, through the proposed passport to the enhanced disability premium.
If a contributory claimant has a partner and has low or no other income, they can also receive an income-related top up; including an automatic passport to the enhanced disability premium, guaranteeing couples where the claimant only is claiming employment and support allowance and is in the support group a minimum income of £142.10 a week. If both members of a couple are entitled to contributory employment and support allowance and in the support group, they would each receive £89.50 a week, making a total of £179 a week.
Incapacity Benefit: Lincolnshire
The available information is in the table.
Number of incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claimants: November 2007 Cleethorpes parliamentary constituency 3,440 Great Grimsby parliamentary constituency 4,650 North East Lincolnshire local authority 7,220 North Lincolnshire local authority 6,650 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Figures are also published on the NOMIS website at www.nomisweb.co.uk Source: DWP Information Directorate 100 per cent. WPLS
Lorries: Driving Instruction
Support for work-focused training can depend both on locality and a customer’s individual circumstances. Jobcentre Plus makes every effort to offer a flexible system of job seeking that is responsive to both the needs of the individual and the needs of the local labour market.
Employment training funded by the Department is generally limited to new deal programmes. The courses available are decided by each Jobcentre Plus district and will be not be the same around the country. Training allowances are payable to job seekers participating in full-time training in the options stage of new deal for young people or the intensive activity period stage of new deal 25 plus.
For Jobcentre Plus customers who are not eligible for the new deal, or in districts where Heavy Goods Vehicle training is not supported, Career Development Loans are available to help people overcome financial barriers to training.
Under the flexible new deal, which will replace existing provision for jobseeker’s allowance customers from next year, providers will be free to offer any support they deem appropriate for a customer if they decide it would help the customer enter and sustain employment.
Post Office Card Account
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Sir Robert Smith) on 12 June 2008, Official Report, columns 428-29W.
Sick Leave: Mentally Ill
I have been asked to reply.
Information is not collected centrally about diagnoses for any condition in primary care, so reliable data are not available about the number of people who took leave from work due to mental illness.
Social Security Benefits: Elderly
I replied to the hon. Member on 16 June 2008, Official Report, column 739W
Social Security Benefits: EU Action
As a result of the European Court of Justice decision C299/05, the special non-contributory benefits disability living allowance (care component), attendance allowance and carer's allowance were classified as sickness benefits under European law. I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement I made on 3 April 2008, Official Report, columns 83-84WS.
Welsh Language
My Department has adopted a Welsh language scheme approved by the Welsh Language Board on 13 July 2004 and is committed to treating the Welsh and English languages on a basis of equality when providing a service to the public in Wales. The scheme covers both the main departmental businesses and all sponsored bodies that do not have separate schemes of their own. The main DWP Scheme is currently being formally reviewed at the request of the Welsh Language Board.
My officials regularly and continuously monitor the use made of the Welsh language services we provide for the public in Wales. They also ensure that suitable Welsh language provision is built in to all new services and benefits being developed by the Department. In addition, each year officials in the main customer-facing businesses in Wales carry out voluntary staff audits to confirm that there are sufficient members of staff who are able to conduct business in Welsh.
The Welsh Language Board is satisfied that my Department is fully meeting the commitments set out in the scheme.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Departmental Furniture
This Department’s published “Annual Report and Accounts” contains information on its tangible fixed assets, which includes an additions category entitled “furniture, fixtures and fittings”.
These accounts can be found on the BERR website at the following address:
www.berr.gov.uk.
The following years accounts are on the website:
DTI Annual Report and Accounts 2006-07 (HC 584)—Chapter 5—Note 14
DTI Annual Report and Accounts 2005-06 (HC 1461)—Note 14
DTI Annual Report and Accounts 2004-05 (HC 612)—Note 13
DTI Annual Report and Accounts 2003-04 (HC 26)—Note 14
The 2007-08 Annual Report is due to be published in Mid-July 2008
I have approached the Chief Executives of the Insolvency Service and Companies House and they will respond to you directly.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 23 June 2008:
The Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of the Insolvency Services in respect of your question (2007/3018) how many (a) chairs, (b) desks and (c) other office furnishings have been purchased by his Department and its agencies in each of the last five years; and at what cost in each case.
Please see table below for the figures of the last five years 2003-2007.
Numbers £ Numbers £ Numbers £ 2003 316 76,100 181 37,700 334 88,600 2004 334 170,700 508 81,600 136 40,400 2005 471 233,800 711 141,300 462 113,700 2006 589 226,600 510 107,600 454 126,600 2007 578 230,900 727 199,600 216 60,900
Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 23 June 2008:
I am responding on behalf of Companies House to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Companies House has purchased chairs, desks and other office furnishings in each of the last five years as follows:
Financial year Number Cost (£) Number Cost (£) Cost (£) 2003-04 116 11,503 218 37,703 81,549 2004-05 502 56,569 416 90,506 401,686 2005-06 141 12,000 62 13,488 58,511 2006-07 24 1,997 0 0 35,409 2007-08 75 6,257 21 4,422 30,875
Other furnishings include costs for cupboards, filing cabinets, storage units, desk pedestals and meeting tables. Numbers are not available.
Morning Star
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has only one subscription for the Morning Star: this is ordered by the Employment Relations policy team. The cover price is 60p and the subscription merits a 15 per cent. discount.
I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service and Companies House and they will respond to you directly.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 23 June 2008:
The Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service in respect of your question (2007/2953) how many copies of the Morning Star publication his Department and its agency subscribes to each week; and at what cost.
The Insolvency Service Executive Agency of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform had no subscriptions to The Morning Star publication in the last 5 years.
Letter from Tim Moss, dated 23 June 2008:
I am responding on behalf of Companies House to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform,
Companies House does not subscribe to the Morning Star publication.
Post Office Card Account
(2) what estimate he has made of the cost to Post Office Ltd. of not securing the contract for the successor product to the Post Office card account.
The Department for Work and Pensions is currently managing a competitive tender process for the successor product to the Post Office Card Account and an announcement is expected later in the year. A number of bids are being considered, including one submitted by Post Office Ltd. In advance of the procurement decision being announced, it would not be appropriate for the Government to speculate on the consequences of any individual bidder failing to secure the contract.
The Government remains committed to allowing people to access their pension and benefit in cash at the post office if they choose to do so, and there are around 25 accounts which make that possible still generating income for Post Office Ltd. and sub-postmasters.
Post Offices: Closures
This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, managing director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, managing director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
[holding answer 19 June 2008]: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member. Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
[holding answer 19 June 2008]: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Government funding will support strategic changes to the post office network with up to 2,500 compensated closures nationally within a framework of minimum access criteria. These closures are being offset by the introduction of 500 new outreach services.
This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Post Offices: Leeds
This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director, of POL to reply direct to my right hon. Friend.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Regional Planning and Development: Electronic Government
The regional e-government partnerships were self-organised with the help of £300,000 each up to March 2006 of seed-corn funding from ODPM as part of the Local e-Government Programme, and supported by regional LGA groups. Since March 2006 they have been self-funded within each region by public and private members via a subscription- and events-based model.
The regional equality and diversity partnerships have been formed in a number of regions and are funded by a range of organisations, both public (including regional development agencies, regional assemblies, local authorities and the Big Lottery Fund) and private (including business, trade associations and trade unions).
Tourism: Regional Development Agencies
The following figures refer to spending by RDAs on core tourism and leisure objectives. RDAs have also spent money on activities related to tourism initiatives such as general marketing of a region; specific regeneration projects; or human resource development. The cost of these related activities are not included in the table.
£ million RDAs 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 AWM1 0 2.2 2.3 3.8 3.3 EEDA2 0.6 0.6 0.8 1.5 1.8 EMDA 1.9 3 4.5 5.3 4.7 LDA3 13.3 23.7 23.8 23.9 29.4 NWDA 2.7 4 5 6.1 8.9 ONE4 0.75 3.3 7.1 10.8 10.6 SEEDA 1.2 1.8 2.4 2.2 2.2 SWRDA 0.8 1.5 3 3.2 2.6 YF 0.6 1.7 2.2 3.9 6 1 AWM had no specific budget for tourism in 2003-04 over and above AWM’s marketing activities for general inward investment into the region. 2 EEDA’s business model for tourism changed significantly over the this three-year period, resulting in the increased level of investment for 2006-07. 3 LDA figures include core funding to Visit London. London is recognised by the UK tourism industry as supporting the success of other UK destinations through its gateway role and Visit London plays an important delivery role in promoting London as a gateway to the rest of the UK. 4 ONE took over the delivery of tourism in 2004-05, which is delivered from within the agency.
Home Department
Acceptable Behaviour Contracts: Cleethorpes
Data on acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) are not collected by the Home Office as they are voluntary agreements and therefore not suitable for central data collection. However, surveys carried out by the Home Office of the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) indicated that over 280 ABCs have been made in Lincolnshire since October 2003.
Information on the number of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued is not collected centrally at parliamentary constituency area level. The number of ASBOs issued in the Lincolnshire Criminal Justice System (CJS) area from January 2002 to December 2006 (latest available) is shown in the following table. CJS areas are coterminous with police force areas.
Lincolnshire 2002 2 2003 7 2004 12 2005 20 2006 17 Total 58 Note: 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. Prepared by CJEAU, Ministry of Justice.
Crime
The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for violent and non-violent offences in England and Wales, broken down by age group for the years 2002 to 2006 is shown in the following table.
Charging data are not held by the Ministry of Justice. Information on numbers proceeded against has been provided in lieu of charging data.
The court proceedings database held by the Ministry of Justice holds information on convictions and prosecutions data for persons aged under 10 who are under the age of liability.
These data are on the principal offence basis: the figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one 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.
Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available in the autumn of 2008.
The available information held by the Ministry of Justice on number of persons arrested is given in the other table from 2001-02 to 2005-06 (latest available). There is no link from these centrally reported data to any subsequent outcome.
Proceeded against Found guilty Age group 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 10-17 Violent offences 20,218 18,618 18,217 18,123 18,457 10,235 9,668 10,457 11,061 11,713 Non-violent offences 126,350 122,172 118,445 113,608 107,732 84,311 82,873 85,733 85,096 81,976 18-20 Violent offences 16,161 15,798 14,604 14,433 14,653 8,429 8,129 8,520 8,821 9,449 Non-violent offences 204,813 205,968 191,682 174,739 165,256 151,361 154,359 148,231 137,806 133,612 21 and over Violent offences 66,813 68,049 60,914 57,853 53,953 31,139 31,897 32,438 32,938 33,708 Non-violent offences 1,477,315 1,556,205 1,603,373 1,502,837 1,408,127 1,126,727 1,194,295 1,252,609 1,199,530 1,143,315 All ages Violent offences 103,192 102,465 93,735 90,409 87,063 49,803 49,694 51,415 52,820 54,870 Non-violent offences 1,808,478 1,884,345 1,913,500 1,791,184 1,681,115 1,362,399 1,431,527 1,486,573 1,422,432 1,358,903 1 Data are on the principal offence basis. 2 Data includes the following offence types: Violent offences: Violence against the person Sexual Offences Robbery Non-violent offences: Burglary Theft and handling stolen goods Fraud and forgery Criminal damage Drug offences Other indictable offences Indictable motoring offences Summary offences (excluding motoring) Summary motoring offences. 3 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, other agencies 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. Sources: Court proceedings data held by CJEAU Office for Criminal Justice Reform Ministry of Justice
Rounded Notifiable offence group Aged under 10 Aged 10-17 Aged 18-20 Aged 21 and over Age unknown All ages 2001-02 Violent offences 100 70,500 47,900 201,400 900 320,500 Other offences 400 243,800 160,300 544,200 2,500 951,400 Total 500 314,200 208,100 745,700 3,400 1,271,900 2002-03 Violent offences 100 70,600 50,800 226,600 900 348,700 Other offences 300 229,000 156,300 576,500 2,200 964,400 Total 500 299,500 207,000 803,200 2,900 1,313,100 2003-04 Violent offences 100 83,000 56,900 256,000 900 396,800 Other offences 500 230,300 145,200 555,600 1,900 933,800 Total 700 313,200 202,200 811,700 2,700 1,330,400 2004-052 Violent offences 200 96,700 66,800 294,000 900 458,400 Other offences 500 236,100 137,000 519,500 1,900 894,900 Total 800 332,800 203,700 813,400 2,800 1,353,400 2005-06 Violent offences 200 108,500 74,500 331,800 800 515,800 Other offences 500 239,900 140,300 531,100 2,000 914,000 Total 800 348,500 214,700 863,100 2,700 1,429,800 1 Violent offences includes the offence categories of: violence against the person; sexual offences; robbery offences. Other offences includes the offence categories of: burglary; theft and handling stolen goods; fraud and forgery; criminal damage; drug offences; other offences. 2 Figures updated since publication of 2004-05 bulletin. Note: 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 police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when these data are used.
Crime: Bournemouth
[holding answer 19 June 2008]: The arrests collection held by the Ministry of Justice covers persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) by age group, gender, ethnicity and main offence group. Data collected centrally are not available below police force area level nor can they be linked to subsequent convictions or other outcomes.
Crimes of Violence: Essex
A number of changes have been made to recorded crime in response to suggestions in the two reviews of crime statistics. One such change is that the term ‘violent crime' is no longer used in connection with recorded crime statistics and figures are now provided for violence against the person.
Statistics giving the number of offences of violence against the person per 1,000 population in Essex are given in the following table.
Rate per 1,000 population 2002-03 14 2003-04 16 2004-05 16 2005-06 15 2006-07 14
Genetics: Databases
As at 31 December 2007, there were 147,367 subject profiles on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) from persons currently aged under 16 submitted by forces in England and Wales. The estimated number of individuals represented on the NDNAD is lower than the number of subject profiles as some profiles are replicates. The subject profile replication rate is currently calculated as 13.3 per cent. The estimated number of individuals aged under 16 is, therefore, 127,767.
Police: Pay
It will have no effect on Home Office expenditure. Funding for the police service for the three years beginning 2008-09 was announced on 6 December 2007. The staging of the 2007-08 police pay award means that around £40 million is realised for police authorities to invest in the provision of policing services.
Racially Aggravated Offences
The Association of Chief Police Officers’ definition of hate crime is very broad and inclusive as follows:
A hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.
It is therefore possible that the ethnicity of the offender could be the same as the victim’s—for example, if a person in a mixed-race relationship was attacked by someone of the same ethnicity who disagreed with that type of relationship.
Sexual Offences
A person convicted of a sexual offence overseas is not generally required to declare the conviction when seeking to visit or remain in the UK. However, if the person needs a visa to enter the UK, he is required to disclose on his visa application form whether he has ever been convicted of any criminal offence.
We are aware that obtaining such information in relation to sex offenders is vital in ensuring that notification orders are used for the purposes for which they were intended, and that any other measures appropriate to protect the public can be taken. To try and ensure this we are actively engaged with a number of countries to try and develop ways of obtaining information on their convicted sex offenders and have already established such an arrangement with the Republic of Ireland.
Strip Clubs: Licensing
The Government are consulting with local authorities on any concerns they have which they feel cannot be addressed by existing controls, including the Licensing Act 2003 and whether we need to do more to protect local communities. We do recognise that people do not necessarily want lap-dancing establishments in their neighbourhoods and we want to ensure local authorities have the powers to reflect the views of local people when considering applications. We will therefore consider whether or not lap-dancing clubs should fall under the category of sex encounter establishments under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 and legislate if this is necessary.
Truancy
I have been asked to reply.
Under Section 16 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended), police officers may, if authorised to do so by a chief police officer, take excluded pupils who are in a public place during normal school hours and children who they believe are out of school without lawful authority to a designated place established by the local authority or to the school. This power is often used during a "School Attendance and Exclusions Sweep”.
This Department and the Home Department have issued joint guidance to local authorities and police services on the use of the power to remove pupils from public places and the organisation of exercises using it called "School Attendance and Exclusions Sweeps: Effective Practice and Advice" which explains the law and gives examples of practice that is in use.
Under Section 444A of the Education Act 1996 (as amended) police officers may issue fixed penalty notices to parents who fail to secure their child's regular attendance, if they have been authorised to do so by the local code of practice on the use of penalty notices.
Police community support officers may also use the powers to remove pupils from a public place and to issue fixed penalty notices, if they have been designated to do so under the Police Reform Act 2002 by the .chief officer of the force concerned.
The Department has not collected data on the number of "school attendance and exclusions sweeps" conducted by local authorities since autumn 2006, when we ceased co-ordinating national sweeps-allowing authorities to run sweeps according to local need. I have put the data we collected as part of the rationally co-ordinated exercises in the Library of the House.
Analyses of national data show that there is a correlation between absence from school and pupils' levels of achievement, with average performance of pupils in schools with lower levels of absence better than pupils in schools with higher levels of absence. Data for 2006-07 showed that in secondary schools with an average of 12 days absence per pupil 36 per cent. of pupils or more obtained five of more GCSEs at grade A* to C including English and maths compared with 91 per cent. of pupils in secondary schools with an average of less than six days absence per pupil In primary schools with an average of more than 12 days absence per pupil 52 per cent. of 11-year-olds achieved level 4 or above in English and mathematics compared with 84 per cent. of pupils in schools where the average absence was less than six days per pupil.
Number of Sweeps Local Authority Spring 2003 2003-4 school year 2004-5 school year 2005-6 school year Autumn 2006 Barking and Dagenham 3 11 6 6 3 Barnet 8 0 13 5 2 Barnsley 24 52 85 37 18 Bath and NE Somerset 7 14 7 0 0 Bedfordshire 14 28 42 38 16 Bexley 1 7 29 12 4 Birmingham 10 58 22 30 20 Blackburn 14 10 16 20 7 Blackpool 5 6 9 9 4 Bolton 2 3 4 1 2 Bournemouth 3 4 8 10 7 Bracknell Forest 12 13 9 11 8 Bradford 7 15 14 16 0 Brent 9 0 3 8 3 Brighton and Hove 2 3 2 4 6 Bristol City 38 115 5 6 5 Bromley 4 8 18 28 13 Buckinghamshire 0 6 8 12 10 Bury 10 112 70 46 10 Calderdale 5 20 20 12 4 Cambridgeshire 0 .20 29 21 5 Camden 3 5 20 17 8 Cheshire 1 5 23 17 10 City of Derby 32 94 74 62 0 City of Nottingham 25 38 32 33 8 City of Westminster 5 8 7 8 3 Cornwall 2 6 9 9 2 Corporation of London 0 3 4 4 0 Coventry 0 27 33 24 0 Croydon 4 4 10 9 2 Cumbria 0 4 8 4 2 Darlington 2 3 4 5 1 Derbyshire 4 29 25 26 0 Devon 0 5 11 12 5 Doncaster 4 11 24 0 11 Dorset 3 0 5 4 11 Dudley 0 18 7 9 4 Durham 18 42 39 47 21 Ealing 6 15 21 22 10 East Riding 4 10 21 0 0 East Sussex NB UG1 3 6 14 25 25 Enfield 5 8 5 2 5 Essex 6 12 26 29 14 Gateshead 11 24 21 20 14 Gloucestershire 6 10 12 16 8 Greenwich 9 10 15 10 5 Hackney 5 6 20 15 18 Halton 8 4 10 12 9 Hammersmith and Fulham 16 18 33 30 14 Hampshire 12 18 8 11 5 Haringey 8 17 16 27 10 Harrow 11 20 19 14 3 Hartlepool 4 9 18 12 9 Havering 3 0 2 6 4 Herefordshire 3 6 2 0 1 Hertfordshire 23 3 17 13 11 Hillingdon 16 29 38 38 17 Hounslow 8 12 18 64 21 Isle of Wight 9 17 8 4 4 Isles of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 Islington 10 18 25 20 7 Kensington and Chelsea 8 16 7 5 1 Kent 15 37 38 42 20 Kingston upon Hull 14 11 8 0 5 Kingston-upon-Thames 3 6 5 14 4 Kirklees 3 6 3 2 5 Knowsley 0 0 16 9 3 Lambeth 5 9 10 0 0 Lancashire 0 46 30 34 14 Leeds 4 35 44 37 5 Leicester City 2 4 5 8 3 Leicestershire 2 10 14 11 4 Lewisham 9 14 10 9 5 Lincolnshire 8 17 17 13 8 Liverpool 22 94 89 97 36 Luton 0 2 3 12 8 Manchester 6 14 10 19 20 Medway 0 4 3 11 3 Merton 2 9 8 11 5 Middlesbrough 9 21 25 20 10 Milton Keynes 6 18 10 11 2 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 15 41 36 32 8 Newham 0 30 14 10 4 Norfolk 0 2 15 7 0 North East Lincolnshire 5 8 7 4 2 North Lincolnshire 9 48 29 15 15 North Somerset 9 12 18 9 2 North Tyneside 5 15 5 5 0 North Yorkshire 8 8 26 18 5 Northamptonshire 8 5 8 6 9 Northumberland 9 17 24 18 10 Nottinghamshire 8 17 14 17 12 Oldham 4 8 9 7 5 Oxfordshire 21 16 10 6 3 Peterborough 1 5 5 0 0 Plymouth 3 6 3 0 3 Poole 1 6 9 4 0 Portsmouth 1 2 2 2 1 Reading 3 6 6 11 5 Redbridge 3 7 6 3- 3 Redcar and Cleveland 5 6 8 9 8 Richmond-upon-Thames 4 8 6 7 2 Rochdale 0 10 9 7 2 Rotherham 12 18 30 23 14 Rutland 0 1 2 4 2 Salford 0 11 10 7 5 Sandwell 21 78 46 71 27 Sefton 10 66 46 66 30 Sheffield 10 10 10 0 0 Shropshire 4 18 21 18 12 Slough 8 9 6 3 0 Solihull 5 0 26 23 6 Somerset 6 7 8 5 3 South Gloucestershire 5 5 7 7 10 South Tyneside 0 7 8 6 0 Southampton 2 8 20 3 7 Southend 3 3 5 2 0 Southwark 0 0 2 17 11 St. Helens 18 10 9 10 5 Staffordshire 27 55 27 32 22 Stockport 10 30 26 20 20 Stockton-on-Tees 2 5 5 6 0 Stoke-on-Trent 6 8 5 33 0 Suffolk 13 9 15 14 7 Sunderland 5 10 17 19 14 Surrey 9 19 18 14 9 Sutton 6 9 15 17 2 Swindon 4 1 8 10 7 Tameside 2 7 9 24 0 The Wrekin 6 23 20 32 11 Thurrock 5 10 10 3 29 Torbay 4 4 4 4 0 Tower Hamlets 3 12 38 43 30 Trafford 6 5 0 0 0 Wakefield 3 10 6 8 4 Walsall — 11 12 6 5 Waltham Forest 3 12 12 11 6 Wandsworth 6 7 3 6 2 Warrington 10 19 20 12 3 Warwickshire 0 4 4 4 3 West Berkshire 4 9 8 6 3 West Sussex 1 1 2 2 7 Wigan :2 4 6 12 16 Wiltshire 5 3 2 4 4 Windsor and Maidenhead 4 10 10 5 0 Wirral 4 13 16 15 7 Wokingham 0 2 1 a 0 Wolverhampton 6 12 11 11 6 York 4 47 22 25 23
Communities and Local Government
32 Smith Square: Valuation
The rateable value of the offices at 32 Smith Square was last assessed by the Valuation Officer when he compiled the 2005 rating list for the City of Westminster. This came into force on 1 April 2005. Full details of the assessment history of all hereditaments are available on the Valuation Office Agency's website at:
www.voa.gov.uk
Community Relations: Religion
The Department has been developing the terms of reference for the review in close consultation with community partners, academics and practitioners. The Secretary of State expects to be in a position to announce full details of the review shortly.
The following funds have been allocated to the National Muslim Women’s Advisory Group (NMWAG) for the three years from 2008-09.
Running costs Projects 2008-09 40,000 150,000 2009-10 40,000 200,000 2010-11 40,000 200,000
Council Tax
I have today placed in the Library of the House a copy of the research report ‘Council Tax Rebilling Costs’, which was completed in March 2005 and has been available publicly since then.
Council Tax: Valuation
The Valuation Office Agency's Programme Board for the postponed council tax revaluation in England met on:
31 March 2003
29 April 2003
26 June 2003
30 July 2003
28 August 2003
23 September 2003
21 October 2003
20 November 2003
11 December 2003
20 January 2004
17 February 2004
23 March 2004
6 May 2004
24 May 2004
22 June 2004
20 July 2004
24 August 2004
21 September 2004
19 October 2004
23 November 2004
21 December 2004
18 January 2005
16 February 2005
29 March 2005
20 April 2005
25 May 2005
22 June 2005
19 July 2005
20 September 2005
18 October 2005
22 November 2005
Departmental Assets
The Department depreciates its assets over periods consistent with the accounting standards laid out in the Financial Reporting Manual, published by HM Treasury.
Departmental Buildings
Asset values of land and buildings are restated, in the Department's resource accounts, at current value using professional valuations (in accordance with Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors guidance and Financial Reporting Standard 15) every five years and values are adjusted using the appropriate indices in intervening years. The resource accounts provide values at each 31 March, the Department's financial year-end.
Departmental Leave
Staff in Communities and Local Government are entitled to two and a half days privilege leave. For 2008 this will be as follows:
Maundy Thursday—20 March 2008 afternoon only;
The Queen’s birthday—which can be taken on either 23 May 2008 or 27 May 2008;
and
an additional day at Christmas—24 December 2008.
Staff working part-time have their privilege leave calculated on a pro rata basis.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Personal information about the applications submitted by special advisers, and other Crown servants, is made public only in accordance with the principles and practices followed in the operation of the Business Appointment Rules. This information, which includes details of the appointments of the most senior staff and statistical data about cases at the more junior levels, is published on the website of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (www.acoba.gov.uk) and in its reports.
Departmental Pay
The Department for Communities and Local Government made bonus payments to 495 staff under the terms of pay settlements for 2007. This represents 22 per cent. of the total work force as at 1 April 2007. This does not include staff in Government offices. For staff below the senior civil service, bonuses are paid to staff who exceed against their objectives for the year. For the senior civil service, bonuses are non-consolidated, non-pensionable cash payments that reward excellent performance during the year and are based on a judgment of how well an individual has performed relative to their peers. The total amount paid as bonus payments under these arrangements in 2007 was £1,018,350 and the largest single payment was £16,270. The Department has a special bonus scheme to reward exceptional performance over a limited period, in particularly demanding tasks or situations. The maximum bonus under these arrangements is £600 but records are not available to show the number of payments made under this scheme in 2007-08. The Department has not yet reached agreement on the level and award of bonus payments for 2008.
For the period before that, I refer the hon. Member to the replies given by my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon (Angela E. Smith) on 18 June 2007, Official Report, column 1523W, and on 6 December 2006, Official Report, column 456W.
For the total amount of bonuses paid in the last five years, I also refer the hon. Member to my replies to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) on 2 June 2008, Official Report, column 538W, and 11 December 2007, Official Report, column 543 W.
Departmental Procurement
The Department’s policy is that no purchase order will be raised without authorisation by a delegated budget holder. Additionally the Department's finance system enforces a further separate approval process to safeguard improper use funds.
Departmental Public Participation
In the answer of 2 June 2008, Official Report, column 539W, we had added the following information.
Dorset county council—Housing related research 8,800.00
This was added in error as the money for Dorset county council was not related to housing related research. The payment related to consultancy support for a business improvement package website. We are taking steps to rectify the answer.
Departmental Security
Five departmental passes have been reported as stolen by staff in the HQ buildings for Communities and Local Government during the period June 2006 to June 2008.
A further 122 replacement departmental passes have been issued in the same period. It is not possible to say how many of the passes were lost other than by theft. Security passes may need to be replaced for a variety of reasons including loss, theft, damage, or change of name and the Department does not record the reasons for the replacement of a departmental pass.
Identity cards are used in very limited areas within the Department and none have been reported lost or stolen in the period.
The Government office for the West Midlands re-issued all of their passes on 1 January 2008. No records have been retained about losses up to that date. Seven passes have been replaced in 2008 to date. A further 113 passes have been replaced and two reported as stolen in the remainder of the GO network. Although CLG has overall responsibility for these, the Government offices carry out functions on behalf of ten Departments.
In addition, a further 69 passes have been reported lost by the Executive agencies.
None of the passes for the HQ buildings, GOs or agencies have the name or address of the building, department or organisation to which it refers, on them. The Department assesses all cases of lost or stolen passes to determine any increased vulnerability to security. Additional controls and procedures are introduced as necessary.
Departmental Trade Unions
The following trade unions are officially recognised by the Department and its agencies to represent members of staff: Association of First Division Civil Servants (FDA), Prospect and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS).
In addition, the Fire Service College, an Executive agency of the Department, also recognises the General Municipal and Boilermakers Union (GMB) and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).
Employment: Young People
I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated June 2008:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what measures are in place to determine the level of youth unemployment in each region of England. I am replying in her absence. (208995)
The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates of unemployment by age and region on line at:
http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
The source of the information is the Annual Population Survey which collects information on around 350,000 people in a 12 month period. The historical estimates are currently in the process of being updated to reflect the latest estimates of the population.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Housing: Thermal Insulation
(2) what estimate she has made of the number of houses which are not suitable for cavity wall insulation.
I have been asked to reply.
Prior to drawing up the policy, DEFRA and the Energy Saving Trust commissioned a series of research projects, including in situ measurement of the heat loss through insulated cavities, to measure and understand the effectiveness of cavity wall insulation. Measurements were taken in a variety of geographical locations. The work was summarised in a report by Glasgow Caledonian University and published in 2006 on the DEFRA website. The report on the final stage of the in situ monitoring project is to be published shortly.
Our final estimate of the annual carbon savings from insulating the cavity of a three bedroom semi-detached house is 634 kgC02 per year. The financial savings, based on BERR fuel prices for the domestic sector in June 2007, are estimated at £78 per year (after deducting increased comfort). Given that the cost of insulation to the householder (i.e. after the energy suppliers’ subsidy) is estimated to be around £200, cavity wall insulation remains a highly cost effective measure. In terms of carbon savings, it is the single most important measure in CERT.
The Explanatory Memorandum for CERT estimates that there are around 1.2 million homes in Great Britain for which the cavities are technically unfillable, or difficult to fill at present.
INTERREG Programme: Finance
In 2003 Communities and Local Government's predecessor department awarded the POLYNET project £151,450 in matchfunding to assist in developing their bid for North West Europe Interreg IIIB programme funding.
POLYNET, led by the UK's Institute of Community Studies (now the Young Foundation), subsequently received a €1,144,114 ERDF grant from the Interreg IIIB North West Europe programme.
Local Area Agreements
The full text of round 2 and round 3 local area agreements were placed in the Library in April 2006 and April 2007 respectively. The agreements are also on the Improvement and Development Agency website at:
www.idea.gov.uk
Rounds 1, 2 and 3 local area agreements (LAAs) were signed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and her predecessors on behalf of Government. 21 LAAs were signed in round 1, 66 in round 2 and 62 in round 3.
First and second generation local public service agreements were signed on behalf of Government by a Minister of State at CLG (or its predecessors) and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. They were signed on behalf of the local authorities by the leader and chief executive. Round one local public service agreements were signed with 144 upper tier and unitary local authorities. Second generation local public service agreements have been signed with 57 areas.
Local Government Finance: Fixed Penalties
The extent to which authorities may retain income from fixed penalty notices, and the purposes to which that income should be put, will depend on the statute and rules relevant to each fixed penalty notice (FPN). Income from FPNs must be returned to the Exchequer through the Consolidated Fund, unless legislation under which each FPN is issued makes provision for local authorities to retain that income. The introduction of the comprehensive area assessment will not change the rules under which fixed penalty notices operate.
Local Government Finance: Greater London
The information requested on the central Government grant provided to each London borough per capita in each of the last 10 years is listed in the following table. Aggregate information for England is published in editions of “Local Government Financial Statistics” and the information is drawn from the Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns and Office for National Statistics' (ONS) mid-year population estimates.
£ per head 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Barking and Dagenham 750 848 944 1,030 1,094 1,162 1,344 1,351 1,393 1,729 Barnet 595 641 658 706 752 756 837 873 919 956 Bexley 590 640 691 740 797 837 912 945 1,014 1,068 Brent 843 878 911 945 999 1,028 1,212 1,289 1,368 1,447 Bromley 508 545 579 623 671 674 750 780 829 863 Camden 1,043 1,088 1,100 1,116 1,174 1,207 1,270 1,331 1,384 1,402 City of London 17,077 14,869 13,209 12,661 12,570 13,573 15,810 15,968 16,364 16,265 Croydon 601 642 672 729 796 860 962 1,015 1,091 1,152 Ealing 697 741 767 816 874 903 991 1,025 1,133 1,115 Enfield 693 751 806 873 952 980 1,094 1,148 1,179 1,391 Greenwich 931 976 1,063 1,148 1,215 1,263 1,448 1,535 1,700 1,726 Hackney 1,281 1,265 1,299 1,342 1,391 1,624 1,789 1,900 2,033 2,125 Hammersmith and Fulham 937 957 990 1,028 1,068 1,122 1,263 1,321 1,407 1,393 Haringey 922 1,004 1,084 1,232 1,339 1,350 1,510 1,548 1,591 1,626 Harrow 562 605 630 672 720 759 866 911 949 986 Havering 534 577 608 658 715 741 811 855 896 974 Hillingdon 603 642 709 699 854 872 954 1,017 1,152 1,137 Hounslow 746 772 819 863 919 953 1,050 1,102 1,164 1,209 Islington 1,082 1,133 1,280 1,369 1,433 1,510 1,710 1,729 1,737 1,902 Kensington and Chelsea 830 844 864 882 876 925 1,045 1,034 1,044 1,103 Kingston upon Thames 510 525 548 589 632 646 728 759 794 833 Lambeth 994 1,009 1,066 1,100 1,154 1,250 1,378 1,443 1,474 1,584 Lewisham 902 949 996 1,079 1,115 1,159 1,409 1,562 1,528 1,559 Merton 546 588 629 656 674 690 769 844 904 955 Newham 1,113 1,218 1,283 1,367 1,454 1,544 1,766 1,819 2,040 2,054 Redbridge 651 709 769 845 909 873 955 1,011 1,065 1,116 Richmond upon Thames 418 446 474 547 575 609 671 672 688 728 Southwark 997 1,043 1,127 1,242 1,270 1,370 1,672 1,763 1,896 1,781 Sutton 564 596 640 687 732 747 849 937 968 990 Tower Hamlets 1,350 1,436 1,495 1,574 1,666 1,742 1,972 2,106 2,269 2,316 Waltham Forest 815 867 952 1,035 1,117 1,189 1,265 1,340 1,402 1,451 Wandsworth 804 797 827 857 886 911 1,028 1,049 1,086 1,141 Westminster 1,149 1,114 1,136 1,140 1,152 1,177 1,306 1,311 1,339 1,398 Notes: 1. Central Government grant is defined here as the sum of Formula grant (Revenue Support Grant, Police grant, General GLA grant and redistributed non-domestic rates) and Specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF), i.e. revenue grants paid for council’s core services. In the past years, it also includes SSA Reduction Grant and Central Support Protection Grant. 2. Figures exclude grants outside AEF (i.e. where funding is not for authorities’ core services, but is passed to a third party, for example, rent allowances and rebates), capital grants, funding for the local authorities’ housing management responsibilities and those grant programmes (such as European funding) where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area. 3. Per capita figures are based on Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Mid-Year Population estimates for respective years. Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns.
Local Government: Borrowing
Data on local authority borrowing are collected from various financial returns that are sent to local authorities. A full list of these can be found at:
http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/stats/lgfforms/Lgfforms.htm
Local Government: Elections
There is no requirement on local authorities to inform the Secretary of State of their intention to change their electoral arrangements; under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 these are matters for local authorities themselves and the Electoral Commission.
Local Government: Pensions
Each of the 89 local authority pension funds in England and Wales underwent an actuarial valuation of their funds on 31 March 2007, as required by the Local Government Pension scheme regulations. Individual fund valuation results are available from the appropriate fund administering authority but no national conclusions are published.
Local Government: Standards
In the pilot round, 56 requests for local area agreement enabling measures were made and, out of these, 29 were accepted.
In round 2, 324 requests were made and, out of these, 127 were accepted, partly accepted or already permissible.
Non-domestic Rates: Greater London
The amount collected from national non-domestic rates by each London borough, between 2002-03 and 2006-07 is shown in the following table. The figures are given in £ millions and are the amount collected by the local authorities after any allowances for reliefs. No allowances have been made for any collection costs, losses in collection or interest paid on repayments. Data for 2007-08 are not yet available.
£ million 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Barking and Dagenham 40.6 41.7 41.5 41.9 44.6 Barnet 73.7 67.7 73.8 80.1 86.0 Bexley 48.7 48.1 44.5 52.7 55.1 Brent 62.0 61.6 64.8 70.1 73.0 Bromley 62.2 60.2 62.0 67.5 72.3 Camden 216.3 220.0 230.5 253.5 283.2 City of London 540.9 562.9 529.4 533.6 572.8 Croydon 89.0 85.3 86.8 91.2 93.6 Ealing 93.8 88.7 93.4 98.4 109.5 Enfield 62.1 66.2 66.8 72.1 79.2 Greenwich 40.2 43.2 40.3 43.2 47.5 Hackney 46.9 50.1 46.2 52.8 55.1 Hammersmith and Fulham 93.8 96.7 106.0 94.3 109.3 Haringey 42.8 35.5 41.9 47.3 46.9 Harrow 43.3 40.5 40.8 37.7 42.2 Havering 50.3 49.8 49.3 51.5 57.2 Hillingdon 229.9 231.6 245.7 230.8 252.3 Hounslow 113.1 103.7 111.0 112.6 114.3 Islington 106.9 109.5 99.1 117.9 127.2 Kensington and Chelsea 137.9 141.5 155.7 168.2 184.7 Kingston upon Thames 55.0 55.3 57.6 62.9 67.2 Lambeth 61.1 55.2 61.5 72.1 79.2 Lewisham 32.4 34.2 35.2 36.5 39.0 Merton 50.7 51.0 53.2 56.4 60.1 Newham 52.6 49.6 58.3 60.8 65.2 Redbridge 38.6 37.6 38.6 40.2 42.0 Richmond upon Thames 50.8 51.9 54.1 60.0 62.6 Southward 83.9 82.9 94.3 103.8 108.4 Sutton 36.6 34.7 36.7 39.1 42.7 Tower Hamlets 147.3 176.5 200.2 220.3 245.4 Waltham Forest 34.5 36.0 35.1 38.4 39.9 Wandsworth 56.1 60.5 64.7 71.6 78.4 Westminster 847.7 870.1 899.8 951.8 1,000.4 Total 3,741.6 3,800.1 3,918.9 4,131.0 4,436.5
The figures shown are outturn figures taken from audited National Non-Domestic Rates 3 (NNDR3) returns that are completed by all billing authorities in England.
Parish Councils: Council Tax
The methodology used to estimate the average Band D parish council tax precept is based on assumptions set out in Local Government Financial Statistics England, as referred to in the answer of 2 June 2008, Official Report, column 534W. My officials are not yet sufficiently confident of the quality of a 2008-09 estimate of the average Band D parish council tax precept to publish it at this stage.
Post Offices: Non-domestic Rates
The number of properties with a description of ‘post office and premises’ appearing in the rating lists for England as at 31 March 1997 was 4,742. This does not include post office facilities in premises primarily used for other purposes, such as shops, and many post offices appear in the rating lists as ‘shop and premises’, without any identifier to show they are also post offices.
Public Telephones
The number of separate assessments of stand-alone telephone boxes appearing in the local rating lists for England as at 27 May 2008 was 1,248. This figure is the number of assessments rather than individual boxes and some assessments will be in respect of clusters of telephone boxes. British Telecom and Kingston Communications (Hull) Ltd. telephone boxes are not separately assessed from their networks.
Strip Clubs: Licensing
I have been asked to reply.
The Government are consulting with local authorities on any concerns they have which they feel cannot be addressed by existing controls, including the Licensing Act 2003 and whether we need to do more to protect local communities. We do recognise that people do not necessarily want lap-dancing establishments in their neighbourhoods and we want to ensure local authorities have the powers to reflect the views of local people when considering applications. We will therefore consider whether or not lap-dancing clubs should fall under the category of Sex Encounter Establishments under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 and legislate if this is necessary.
Valuation Office: Databases
Individual dwelling details are regularly updated as part of the VOA’s statutory responsibility for maintaining accurate valuation lists. There is no record of the number of amendments made before or after the decision to postpone the council tax revaluation.
Health
Accident and Emergency Departments: Mentally Ill
Information is not available in the requested format because patients are not admitted to accident and emergency units (A and E). Patients may be admitted to hospital as emergency admissions via A and E and through other routes.
Information is available on the number of finished admission episodes (FAEs) for patients with a mental illness and who were treated under a consultant from a mental health or learning disability speciality, following emergency admission to hospital between 2002-03 and 2006-07, and these data are shown in the following table.
The data include patient episode numbers where patients with a mental illness were seen in A and E before admittance to hospital as an inpatient. Some patients may have completed more than one treatment episode during the course of a year so patient episode numbers are not a reliable indicator of patients numbers. The data exclude include those who attended A and E but were not subsequently admitted to hospital.
Emergency admittance via A and E services of health care provider Emergency admittance via other means including patients referred via the A and E department of another health care provider Total 2002-03 17,360 73,335 90,695 2003-04 17,883 69,076 86,959 2004-05 16,374 68,786 85,160 2005-06 13,828 65,199 79,027 2006-07 12,804 61,027 73,831 Source: The Information Centre for health and social care.
Anorexia
(2) how many cases of bulimia were diagnosed in England in each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by (a) region, (b) age and (c) sex.
The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Antidepressants: Prescriptions
Benzodiazepine drugs are used to treat a variety of conditions and therefore appear in several different parts of the British National Formulary (BNF) and are shown in table 1 as follows:
BNF generic name Item (thousand) Alprazolam — Chlordiazepoxide Hydrochloride 272.6 Clobazam 147.9 Clonazepam 474.1 Diazepam 4,722.5 Loprazolam Mesilate 108.1 Lorazepam 881.8 Lormetazepam 119.1 Midazolam 1.9 Midazolam Hydrochloride 49.2 Midazolam Maleate 4.3 Nitrazepam 1,249.9 Oxazepam 188.8 Temazepam 3,254.8 Total 11,475.0 ‘—’ Indicates the number of prescriptions dispensed was between 0 and 100. Source: Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system
Antidepressant drugs are grouped into BNF section 4.3 and are shown in table 2 as follows:
BNF generic name Item (thousand) Amitriptyline Embonate — Amitriptyline Hydrochloride 6,591.1 Amoxapine — Citalopram Hydrobromide 7,830.7 Clomipramine Hydrochloride 367.1 Desipramine Hydrochloride — Dosulepin Hydrochloride 2077.6 Doxepin 42.0 Duloxetine Hydrochloride 267.3 Escitalopram 1,373.9 Fluoxetine Hydrochloride 5,045.7 Flupentixol Hydrochloride 197.0 Fluvoxamine Maleate 29.9 Imipramine Hydrochloride 209.1 Isocarboxazid 3.3 Lofepramine Hydrochloride 421.6 Maprotiline Hydrochloride 0.3 Mianserin Hydrochloride 9.7 Mirtazapine 2,101.5 Moclobemide 24.9 Nefazodone Hydrochloride 0.5 Nortriptyline 180.0 Oxitriptan — Paroxetine Hydrochloride 1,765.9 Phenelzine Sulphate 24.4 Reboxetine 53.4 Sertraline Hydrochloride 2,032.8 Tranylcypromine Sulphate 12.7 Trazodone Hydrochloride 749.7 Trimipramine Maleate 142.6 Tryptophan 10.3 Venlafaxine 2,274.7 Total 33,839.7 ‘—’ Indicates the number of prescriptions dispensed was between 0 and 100. Source: PCA system.
Autism: Hertfordshire
This information is not held centrally.
Cancer: East of England
(2) if he will hold discussions with the Minister for Women and Equality on the possible effect of proposals for the reorganisation of oncology services in the East of England on women in Ipswich and the surrounding areas;
(3) if he will assess the impact of proposals for the reorganisation of oncology services in the East of England on those living in wards that are low down on the index of multiple deprivation in Ipswich and the surrounding areas;
(4) what assessment he has made of the impact of proposals for the reorganisation of oncology services in the East of England on carbon dioxide emissions in Ipswich and surrounding areas;
(5) if he will investigate the accuracy of the figures provided by Ipswich Hospital to the Suffolk Primary Care Trust on the number of head and neck cancer cases dealt with by that hospital.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) in conjunction with their strategic health authorities (SHAs), and other stakeholders are responsible for assessing and making decisions regarding local services.
We understand that no decisions have been made, and that Suffolk PCT has led a consultation from 5 March 2008 to 4 June 2008, on a proposal to change the provision of specialist head and neck cancer surgery for patients in East Suffolk and in West Suffolk. The right hon. Member may therefore wish to raise these issues with the chief executives of Suffolk PCT or the East of England SHA.
More generally where it is agreed that the proposals to reconfigure services include any significant change to the way services are provided, local trusts have a duty to consult with the public and the relevant overview and scrutiny committee (OSC). Following the consultation period, the national health service organisations will have to make a decision on the best way forward. Local OSCs have the power to review and scrutinise health services from the perspective of their local populations, and can refer proposals to the Secretary of State if they believe the plans are not in the interests of the health service. Ultimately, however, the configuration of healthcare services in a particular area is a decision that needs to be taken at a local level.
Cannabis: Rehabilitation
We encourage closer working between national health service (NHS) ‘Stop Smoking Services’ and those services that support cannabis cessation where there is a locally identified need for this.
This might include improving the systems locally for identifying such need within services or populations at risk and might also include developing models of integrated provision of services, the facilitation of mutual referrals between such services or a combination of both such approaches.
The nature of this closer work is a matter for the local NHS services to decide on and we expect commissioners and providers will develop such services in response to their ongoing assessment of local needs and priorities.
It is important to note that some cannabis users may also be using other illicit drugs and it therefore may be more appropriate for them to be given cannabis cessation advice within specialist drug treatment services.
Congenital Abnormalities
I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many (a) males and (b) females were born with amniotic band syndrome in each of the last 10 years. (212444)
The table attached provides the number of (a) male and (b) female live and still births notified to the National Congenital Anomaly System for England and Wales (NCAS) with a mention of amniotic bands or clinically similar terms, for 2000 to 2006 (the latest year available). Figures are not available prior to 2000.
The number of notifications received by NCAS is likely to be less than the actual number of infants born with an anomaly. NHS Trusts provide these notifications to NCAS on a voluntary basis, either on forms sent to the Office for National Statistics or via local congenital anomaly registers. The recording of congenital anomalies is more complete in those areas where a register operates, because the register can obtain additional information locally. Consequently, the figures for congenital anomalies are presented separately for areas where a register operated and for areas without a register in a particular year. While a few of these local congenital anomaly registers were already established in 2000, others were set up as late as 2003. In 2006, registers covered 43 per cent of births in England and all births in Wales.
Register areas Non-register areas Total Percentage of births covered by a register3 Male Female Male Female Male Female 2000 27 0 1 0 0 0 1 2001 26 1 0 0 0 1 0 2002 32 3 1 0 1 3 2 2003 45 5 3 2 3 7 6 2004 48 6 4 2 2 8 6 2005 48 9 4 1 2 10 6 20064 44 7 4 2 3 9 7 1 The table includes notifications coded to Q79.8 using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10) with a mention of amniotic bands, congenital constriction bands or limb body wall complex. 2 Figures are not available before 2000. 3 Births to women resident in England and Wales. 4 Figures for 2006 exclude data for some areas which used to be part of East Midlands and South Yorkshire congenital anomaly register.
Dental Services: Internet
The NHS Choices dentist directory lists the details of approximately 12,500 dental practices.
Dentist directory data is provided by two sources. The first source is NHS Connecting for Health’s primary care information service (PCIS). NHS Choices receives a daily data feed from PCIS which updates the dental directory every evening. This feed covers approximately 3,000 dentists. The accuracy and completeness of this data is the responsibility of the PCIS.
The second source of dental practice data is from primary care trusts (PCTs). PCTs are responsible for maintaining national health service dentist data for the remaining 9,500 dental practices. NHS Choices provides PCTs with a secure on-line facility to edit the details of dental practitioners with whom they contract. Changes made by PCT web-editors are generally shown on NHS Choices within 24 hours.
Departmental Conferences
This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Land
Details of national health service property sales are not held centrally. The following tables provide the requested details in respect of sales of assets in the ownership of the Secretary of State, as follows:
Table 1—receipts from land sales to third parties completed during 2007-08; and
Table 2—properties sold or expected to be sold to third parties during 2008-09.
In table 1, the sale price has been given where a property has been sold. Where a property remains to be sold, the anticipated receipt is commercially confidential and therefore has not been provided.
Three of the properties listed as sold in 2007-08 were transferred to English Partnerships as part of a much larger portfolio to assist with the Government’s Sustainable Communities programme, for which a single price was agreed. The proceeds listed are an apportionment of the total transfer price.
Properties sold to third parties Location Asset value (£000) Sale price (£000) 10 Woodside Plymouth 237 335 18 Paddington Green London W2 1,025 1,210 337-339 Hackney Road London E2 598 1,430 35 Higher Kingston Yeovil, Somerset 34 135 Eastry Hospital Kent 1,700 1,700 Land at former Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital Barrack Road, Exeter, Devon 0 165 Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital Hackney, London 7,632 8,500 Cane Hill Hospital Coulsdon, Surrey 17,641 110,666 St. Mary’s Hospital Stannington, Northumbria 9,993 3,875 103 Oakwood Drive Ulverston, Cumbria 133 129 Sedgefield Community Hospital Sedgefield, Co. Durham 3,067 3,269 Agricultural Land adj. Winterton Hospital, Sedgefield, Co. Durham 105 105 Willowburn Hospice, former Maiden Law Hospital Lanchester, Durham 191 185 18 Battlefields Lane Holbeach, Lincolnshire 144 116 112 Northbourne Road Jarrow, Tyne and Wear 83 83 140 Hedworth Lane Jarrow, Tyne and Wear 140 140 27 Willow Grange Jarrow, Tyne and Wear 131 131 Holbeach Hospital Holbeach, Lincolnshire 617 325 Land at Honey Lane Waltham Abbey, Essex 76 73 Land at Mollands Lane/Mollands Ct. South Ockendon, Essex 0 22 Land adj. to Warde Aldam Nursing Home, South Elmsall Wakefield, West Yorks 105 248 Cherry Knowle Hospital, part Ryhope, Sunderland 17,604 14,267 Land at Towers Hospital Leicester 758 1,592 Towers Hospital, Oakham House Leicester 56 1711 1 Part of portfolio transfer
Properties sold or expected to be sold to third parties Location Asset value (£000) Sale price (£000) 30 Paul Road Bodmin, Cornwall 97 97 332 High Road London N15 195 — Dog Kennel Wood Aylesford, Kent 42 — Napsbury North Land London Colney, St. Albans 443 — 10 houses in North West Surrey North West Surrey 2,064 2,200 10 Palmer Crescent, Ottershaw, Surrey 264 — Woodside Car Park Plymouth 132 — 22-38 Princes Road Redhill, Surrey 1,212 — 67 Warwick Avenue Kensington, London 1,286 — 667-669 Garratt Lane London SW17 268 — 63-65 Bardsley Drive Farnham, Surrey 379 — Blackbrook House Fareham, Hampshire 2,329 — Farm Lane House Plymouth 310 — Halcyon Plymouth 310 — Oaklands Plymouth 275 — Horton House Horton Hospital, Epsom 706 675 Stoke Mandeville Residences Stoke Mandeville, Bucks. 2,864 — 15 Ambleside Avenue Streatham, London 525 — 50 Scattergate Green Appleby, Cumbria 79 — White Hart Hotel, Cold Bath Road Harrogate, West Yorks 2,877 — Land at Northern View Bradford, West Yorks 8,229 — Eagle Cottages, Monkton Lane, Monkton Village Jarrow, Tyne and Wear 354 — Former Primrose Lane Hospital Site Primrose Lane, Huntingdon, Cambs 838 — Land at Cronehills Health Centre West Bromwich 50 — Land at Wellington Cottage Hospital Wellington, Shropshire 270 — Little Plumstead, Phase 2 Near Norwich, Norfolk 2,731 — Land at Dale Crescent, Balderton Near Newark 11 — Warwick Cottage, adjoining Melton War Memorial Hospital Melton Mowbray 116 —
Departmental Pay
The information requested is provided in the following table.
2007-08 2006-07 Amount paid as bonuses (£) 1,947,319 1,400,049 Number of staff receiving bonuses 618 420 Highest amount of bonus paid to an individual (£) 27,500 22,500 Average amount of bonus paid (£) 3,151 3,333 Number of staff receiving bonuses above £1,000 265 216 Number of staff receiving bonuses above £5,000 130 119 Number of staff receiving bonuses above £10,000 62 20 Number of staff receiving bonuses above £20,000 6 2
Special bonuses can be awarded to any member of staff in recognition of work beyond their normal range of duties. Annual bonuses are paid to staff who are members of the senior civil service, based on the extent to which objectives are met, how they are met and how stretching they are.
In total 618 staff in the Department received bonus payments in 2007-08. They represented 28 per cent. of the total work force. The total amount of bonuses paid was £1,947,319. The largest single payment was £27,500.
A significant proportion of bonuses paid were to staff who are senior civil servants, where the Department's policy is determined by the Cabinet Office guidance on civil service bonuses.
Gambling: Females
The information is not collected centrally.
Problem gamblers can access services in primary care and secondary care including specialised mental health and addiction services. Information is not collected centrally about diagnoses for any condition in primary care, so reliable data are not available about the number of women who contacted the national health service for help with problem gambling.
General Practitioners
We believe general practitioners (GPs) are fully able to tender to provide new primary care services for patients. We have asked primary care trusts to undertake open, fair and transparent procurements to ensure the fullest range of providers can bid, including existing GP practices. Many are planning to do this, for instance, in the East Midlands strategic health authority, around 70 per cent. of local GPs were successful in the early stages of the tendering process.
General Practitioners: Cornwall
Information is not collected centrally on individual general practitioner (GP) dispensing practices profits or income gained under the GP contract. Overall, dispensing GPs earned on average £127,061 in 2005-06, £20,000 more than non-dispensing GPs.
General Practitioners: Finance
Partial publication of the Carr Hill formula is contained within the ‘New GMS Contract 2003 Investing in General Practice’, annex D ‘Carr-Hill resource allocation formula’ published December 2003 (copies of this publication are available in the Library) and also within the jointly agreed NHS employers and British Medical Association ‘Review of the General Medical Services global sum formula’ published 9 February 2007. Copies of this publication are available in the Library
A full version of the Carr-Hill formula will now be made available for reference in the House of Commons Library.
Health Centres: Pharmacy
None. It is primary care trusts that will determine where services are located depending on local needs and circumstances and following local consultation. The Department does not have a polyclinic policy. We are asking the local national health service to develop new general practitioner (GP)-led health centres for local communities that will improve local services and access for patients.
Hemel Hempstead Hospital: Maternity Services
The Department is not aware of any recent representations on maternity facilities in Hemel Hempstead since November 2007.
More generally, on 25 January 2008, the Department announced an extra £330 million of funding for maternity services in England over the three years from April 2008. This will ensure that mothers will get the best possible care and will be guaranteed a full range of choices.
HIV Infection: Blood
The Department does not collect the data requested. However, the United Kingdom Haemophilia Centres Doctors’ Organisation has provided the following information:
Number of haemophiliacs (types A and B) infected with HIV Total deaths reported during the year1 2000 484 23 2001 461 14 2002 447 14 2003 433 9 2004 424 9 2005 415 9 2006 406 7 2007 399 6 1 This figure includes death by all causes for haemophilia A and B patients with HIV
Hospices: Finance
Information on national health service funding to hospices is not collected centrally.
It is for individual primary care trusts (PCTs) to decide the level of funding they allocate to end of life care services, including hospices, based on assessments of local needs and priorities. The level of funding a hospice receives is a matter for negotiation between the local PCT and the hospice.
Hospitals: East of England
(2) what definition he uses of sparsely populated area; and whether (a) Norfolk and (b) Suffolk are such areas within the terms of his definition.
The Department does not define ‘close geographical proximity’ or ‘sparsely populated area’. These are matters for local national health service organisations to consider, in conjunction with their strategic health authorities and other stakeholders.
The right hon. Member may therefore wish to raise these issues locally with the chief executive of Suffolk Primary Care Trust, or the chief executive of the East of England Strategic Health Authority.
Injuries: Offensive Weapons
Information is collected on the number of finished admission episodes (FAEs) to hospital via accident and emergency (Accident and Emergency). A FAE is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
Tables have been placed in the Library which provide a breakdown of relevant data by strategic health authority.
Ipswich Hospital
Ipswich hospital is a national health service trust and was established as such in November 1992, under the National Health Service and Community Care Act of 1990.
Medical Records: Data Protection
By reason of the relevant definition at Section 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998, the data controller for information held within the secondary uses service is currently the Secretary of State.
Data Controller responsibilities are a matter of fact determined in any particular case in accordance with the relevant definition contained in the Data Protection Act 1998.
In relation to the NHS care records service, the Secretary of State is a data controller for detailed care records in common with national health service organisations, which remain data controllers for information they hold about the patients for whom they provide care.
The Secretary of State has taken on certain responsibilities, for example for ensuring that the network is operated in a secure manner, by virtue of holding the contract for the new systems.
Data controller responsibilities are a matter of fact determined in any particular case in accordance with the relevant definition contained in the Data Protection Act 1998.
The data controller for the summary care record is currently the Secretary of State. With regard to detailed care records, the Secretary of State is currently a data controller in common with national health service organisations, which remain data controllers for information they hold about the patients for whom they provide care.
By reason of the relevant definition at Section 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Secretary of State is already currently a data controller for detailed care records, in common with the national health service organisations which create the records in providing health care to patients.
Medical Records: Lost Property
While the Department provides comprehensive guidance on expected practice, the security of patient records is a local responsibility with local accountability. Information about the numbers of patient records that have been lost is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The Department issued guidance to the local national health service and other health bodies in February 2008 clarifying when details of incidents involving actual or potential data losses should be reported to strategic health authorities (SHAs). The SHAs are now required to publish details of reported incidents each quarter on their websites.
Mental Health Services
The overall expenditure by the national health service on tier 4 personality disorder services in 2005-06, the year for which the most recent data are available, was approximately £9.6 million. Information is not available on expenditure by the independent sector.
In 2006-07, £8.45 million went into primary care trust (PCT) baselines in respect of tier 4 personality disorder services and those funds were fully spent on the services involved through service level agreements with commissioners.
From 2007-08 (when baseline allocations were £9.14 million), many PCTs have elected to commission services for people with severe personality disorders on a cost-per-case basis (i.e. individual placements). There is therefore no information on the actual level of expenditure.
Over the 2005-08 period, tier 5 NHS medium secure and community forensic services received £25.31 million. During this period, capital spending was £23.56 million. This revenue was devolved to local PCT and specialised commissioners for 2008-09.
Following commitments in the 1997 election manifesto, the Government have implemented a range of initiatives to improve services to those with a personality disorder. Two distinct but linked programmes have resulted from new investment: Managing Dangerous Offenders with a severe Personality Disorder and Personality Disorder - No Longer a Diagnosis of Exclusion.
These offer new interventions for the spectrum of patients in the population who pose a risk of harm either to themselves or to others as a result of their personality disorder. The effectiveness of our initiatives to improving services for the often hidden and excluded members of every local community will be significantly improved by the growing number of new and often innovative services for those with a personality disorder. The programmes also demonstrate a commitment to greater coherence and collaborative working between both Government agencies and public and independent services in the field.
An assessment of this nature has not been made. Compliance with clinical guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) forms part of the developmental standards for the national health service and NHS organisations are expected to move towards their full implementation.
(2) what the reasons are for variations in regional allocations of funding per capita spending on mental health in-reach teams in prison facilities.
The total amount allocated specifically to primary care trusts for national health service mental health in-reach services in prisons was £9.4 million in 2003-04. Since 2005-06, expenditure has been around £20 million each year.
Regional variations in funding occur because of the different numbers and types of prisons situated in each area. For example, large city male prisons need greater per capita mental health investment because they contain higher levels of prisoners with acute mental health problems.
NHS: Fuels
The arrangements for accessing fuel for national health service workers are handled at the local level. The Department encourages all NHS organisations to establish contingency plans in line with business continuity management advice and guidance, of which the sourcing of fuel is one element. It is the responsibility of primary care trusts to put in place local arrangements to enable them to meet their responsibilities as Category 1 and 2 responders under the terms of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.
The Government have also established emergency provisions, as a part of the National Emergency Plan—Fuel, which can be invoked should the essential services be unable to obtain fuel.
The Department liaised regularly across the NHS during the recent tanker drivers’ strike to ensure that local contingency plans were being implemented effectively to respond to the crisis.
NHS: ICT
We plan to publish the outcomes of the review shortly.
NHS: Reorganisation
As part of the NHS Next Stage review interim report and the comprehensive spending review process, we identified the need to secure additional resources for primary care trusts to:
make progress in improving the health and care to the population with the greatest need and poorest services;
to continue to improve access for patients to see a general practitioner at more convenient times; and
to provide greater choice for patients in accessing primary medical care services.
This new provision will also provide opportunities for primary care trusts (PCTs) to locally commission services that better enable tackling underlying causes of ill health, ensuring a greater focus on prevention, health promotion and integration of local services.
It is for PCTs to develop the detailed service specification it requires locally based on local needs and circumstances and to commission this service through an open, fair and transparent process.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular meetings and discussions with ministerial colleagues and others on a wide range of subjects.
NHS: Standards
The Healthcare Commission supplements its self-assessments with feedback from local stakeholders. These include patient and public involvement forums, local authority overview and scrutiny committees, strategic health authorities and, in the case of national health service foundation trusts, boards of governors. They also use information from other regulatory bodies, NHS patient and staff surveys, and previous Healthcare Commission studies to cross-check NHS trusts declarations of performance.
In addition, to validate the self-declaration process the Healthcare Commission inspect a sample of NHS trusts. The inspection guide for c15b is published on the Healthcare Commission's website.
Nursing and Midwifery Council
The Department is accelerating the process of moving towards a newly constituted council via reforms in the Nursing and Midwifery (Amendment) Order 2008, which will deliver a new, wholly appointed Council by the new year. This piece of legislation has already been endorsed by Parliament. In future, all Council members will be appointed rather than elected.
The Department will also be passing on our concerns to the Privy Council, to consider whether any action on their part is appropriate.
Nutrition
(2) what work the Nutrition Action Plan Delivery Board plans to undertake in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010.
It is envisaged that the final report from the Nutrition Action Plan Delivery Board (NAPDB) on progress made against implementing the Nutrition Action Plan will be published at the end of 2008. An interim progress report from the NAPDB will be published in the summer.
The Department will review whether to extend the NAPDB's existence beyond December 2008 upon consideration of their end of year report and any implications from that report.
Rampton Hospital
The information requested is not held centrally. My hon. Friend may wish to approach the chief executive of the Nottinghamshire Healthcare National Health Service Trust who might be able to provide some of this information.
Information is not held centrally on numbers of staff in national health service high security hospitals trained in restorative justice.
Information on the number of staff undergoing conflict resolution training at Rampton High Security hospital is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The number of staff reported as having undergone conflict resolution training from April 2004 to December 2007 at the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which includes Rampton High Security hospital, was 2,960.
Source: NHS Security Management Service
Suicide
As part of our ongoing assessment of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England we will continue to take into account emerging evidence from international suicide prevention strategies including those in the United Kingdom.
In addition, the five nations representing England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland have established a suicide prevention strategies coordinating group to share information, research and evidence on suicide prevention actions among the five nations. This group meets on a regular basis.
I refer my right hon. Friend to the reply I gave her on 4 June 2008, Official Report, column 1034W, on the plans for the future of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Africa: Diplomatic Service
It is estimated the annual savings listed in the following table, at 2008-09 values, were made from the closures of diplomatic posts in:
£ Mbabane, Swaziland 600,000 Maseru, Lesotho 820,000 Bamako, Mali 250,000 Antananarivo, Madagascar 540,000
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office continues to manage our overseas network to reflect changing demands and challenges, ensuring that our resources are aligned with our priorities and that the UK has a cost-effective and flexible network of overseas representation. We continue to keep UK representation in Africa under review and, where necessary, to make adjustments in individual countries to meet our operational needs.
Colombia: Capital Punishment
[holding answer 20 June 2008]: The annual report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Colombia for 2008 (A/HRC/39) details the persistence of extrajudicial executions attributed to members of the Colombian security forces, especially by members of the army. It also notes the Colombian Government’s attempts to tackle this by strengthening control mechanisms, the political will of senior personnel to adopt measures to prevent, investigate and punish those responsible and new directives issued by the Colombian Ministry of Defence.
I have outlined the Government’s strong concern about extrajudicial killings to the Colombian Minister of Defence on a number of occasions and raised the subject with the Colombian President at the EU-Latin America and Caribbean summit in Lima in May 2008. We are matching this advocacy with practical help. The UK has been very active and influential in promoting human rights training and adherence in the Colombian armed forces and police. Further work in this area, funded by the UK Conflict Prevention Pool, will include helping the Colombian Government to eradicate extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses and, equally importantly, to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
Departmental Buildings
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and British Council 2006-07 annual resource accounts include the latest published valuations for the Estate of £1.27 billion and £85.6 million respectively; With the exception of the British Council, no other associated body (Executive Agency or Non-Departmental Public Body) holds property; FCO Services are co-located with the FCO, and Wilton Park is leased.
Ethiopia: Eritrea
The UK’s policy towards the Ethiopia-Eritrea border dispute is based on three principles: to avoid any return to war; for the border to be demarcated; and for the parties to normalise their relations. Ethiopia and Eritrea should agree a way forward to allow demarcation to proceed and for a normalisation process to begin, as set out in the Algiers Agreements of June 2000 and December 2000, signed by Ethiopia and Eritrea.
We have set out this policy to both Ethiopia and Eritrea, including in November 2007 when my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary met with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin and when my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Baroness Vadera, and our ambassador in Addis Ababa met Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. My noble Friend the Minister for Africa, Lord Malloch-Brown, also conveyed these points to Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in November 2007 and to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles in January in Addis Ababa. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials continually reiterate these messages to both the Ethiopian and Eritrean ambassadors to London and to their interlocutors in the Governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea in Addis Ababa and Asmara respectively.
We will continue to pursue the aforementioned policy with our international partners, including through the UN Security Council (UNSC). In this regard, we fully support UNSC Resolution 1798, adopted unanimously on 30 January and the UNSC’s Presidential Statement of 30 April. We expect the parties to implement fully all the provisions of these, including those relating to demarcation of the border. We support all efforts of the UN with the parties, to which UK efforts are closely aligned.
We supported the UN Security Council Presidential Statement of 12 June in condemning Eritrea’s incursion and urging both sides to show maximum restraint.
The clashes along the Djibouti-Eritrea border contribute to the instability in the Horn of Africa sub-region, although we have yet to see any direct effects of these clashes on the Ethiopian-Eritrean border situation.
The UN Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) relocated from Eritrea on 19 May due to fuel restrictions placed on UNMEE in Eritrea by the Eritrean government. The UN Security Council (UNSC) had previously reiterated its condemnation of Eritrean action in a Presidential Statement dated 30 April.
The future of UNMEE and a UN presence in Ethiopia and Eritrea is next scheduled to be discussed in the UNSC on 23 June.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave today to parliamentary written question 212773, which lays out the Government’s policy towards the Ethiopia-Eritrea border.
We support all UN efforts to bring a resolution to this dispute. The effectiveness of any small observer mission deployed to the Ethiopia-Eritrean border to defuse tensions between the armed forces of the two countries would depend on the degree of co-operation from both parties.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave today to parliamentary written question 212773, which lays out the UK Government’s policy towards the Ethiopia-Eritrea border.
We support all UN efforts to bring a resolution to this dispute. The effectiveness of a UN Special Envoy for Ethiopia and Eritrea would depend on the degree of co-operation from both parties. The Government of Eritrea have, at times in the past, refused to meet with UN Special Envoys.
Iran: Israel
The UK considers that President Ahmadinejad’s recent comments are yet another example of his unacceptable and uncivilised approach to Israel which can only damage international confidence in Iran’s willingness to act as a respectable member of the international community. The Government have consistently condemned the Iranian President’s inflammatory comments about the State of Israel and his offensive statements about the Holocaust.
Most recently on 9 May 2008 the EU presidency, with strong UK support, issued a statement condemning in the strongest possible terms the recent anti-Israeli comments made by the President of Iran. It called on President Ahmadinejad to stop hostile rhetoric and refrain from all threats to other states.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him today (parliamentary written question 212976).
Iran: Nuclear Power
In 1976 the Shah of Iran contracted with a German company to build two nuclear power reactors at Bushehr. Before the first was completed, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 overthrew the Shah and led to the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. For many years construction was halted. After the Iran/Iraq War, Russia agreed in 1995 to fit one of their VVER-1000 power reactors into the original reactor building. This reactor, Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant-1, is now nearing completion. The Russians have secured a contract with Iran to supply the first 10 years worth of fresh fuel for the reactor and are willing to supply fuel for its lifetime. The Iranian authorities announced that the first shipment of low-enriched uranium from Russia was delivered to Bushehr on 17 December 2007.
There has been no formal response from Iran to UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1803. The 3 June deadline in UNSCR 1803 for Iran to comply with the Security Council's demands has now passed. Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities, or granted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) the greater access it seeks, as the IAEA Director General's latest report made clear. A generous engagement package was delivered to Tehran by Javier Solana and five E3+3 Political Directors on 14 June. We hope for a rapid, positive response. If this is not forthcoming, we will push forward on new, tougher sanctions, including a new UNSCR.
Dr Mohammad El Baradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reported on 26 May that Iran had failed to suspend enrichment-related activities, had made no progress on the transparency measures the UN Security Council (UNSC) and IAEA have long called for and had failed to answer the IAEA's questions relating to studies with a possible military dimension. Dr El Baradei said that these studies were a "matter of serious concern". On 8 April, Iranian President Ahmadinejad announced that Iran would increase the number of centrifuges from 3,000 to 6,000. Dr El Baradei has criticised this development. The Government agree with him that it is essential that Iran suspends its enrichment-related activities in accordance with its obligations to the UNSC. Unless Iran does so, the international community will have no confidence that Iran's nuclear programme is of an entirely civilian nature. We have called on Iran to provide answers to the IAEA's questions immediately. There is no justification for further delay.
Iran’s nuclear programme, which continues in breach of four UN Security Council Resolutions, threatens the stability of the region. By continuing with an enrichment programme for which we can see no apparent civilian purpose and in the face of clear international concern, Iran is doing little to address the serious lack of confidence in its assertions that its intentions are exclusively peaceful—a fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency continues to say it cannot verify. We have a close and ongoing dialogue with our regional allies on the issue and will be working with them in the coming months to increase the pressure on Iran to comply with its international obligations.
Iran: Sanctions
We are in constant contact with EU and E3+3 colleagues on the Iranian nuclear issue. The Government will continue to work closely with EU partners to pass further measures as soon as possible, including the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1803 in the EU. Discussions are continuing in Brussels and I will inform the House when these have been agreed. We are also discussing with US and EU partners a range of additional sanctions on Iran, including in the oil and gas sector. We will be seeking a new UNSCR in the coming months if Iran does not give a rapid, positive response to the E3+3's generous offer, delivered to Tehran on 14 June by Javier Solana.
Iraq: Christianity
[holding answer 23 June 2008]: Like all sectors of Iraqi society, the Christian community has been affected by the unacceptable level of violence in Iraq which continues despite improvements in the overall security environment. Our diplomatic missions and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Human Rights in Iraq, my right hon. Friend the Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd), regularly raise with the Government of Iraq the need for adequate protection of all minority groups.
Progress on national reconciliation is the fundamental requirement to create a sustainable and secure environment for all Iraqis and we continue to support the Government of Iraq to achieve that goal.
Israel: Human Rights
[holding answer 20 June 2008]: With UK support, Richard Falk was appointed as Special Rapporteur by the President of the UN Human Rights Council during its seventh session. Professor Falk made his first appearance at the UN Human Rights Council on 16 June when he presented his first report. We regularly raise a range of human rights issues with the Israeli Government such as the impact of border crossing closures, their conduct of security operations, the construction of illegal settlements and the barrier in the West Bank.
Maldives: Elections
The UK is co-financing Commonwealth technical assistance to the Maldivian Government to improve the Maldives’ electoral legislative framework. Separately, we are funding a Maldivian non-governmental organisation voter education programme, and through the BBC World Service Trust, training for journalists in election reporting. The UK also fully supports the work of the EU electoral expert seconded to the Maldivian Election Commission. Free, fair and credible elections are a crucial element of democratic reform in the Maldives. When my noble Friend the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, Lord Malloch-Brown, met President Gayoom on 11 June, he reiterated the UK’s support for the elections and democracy in the Maldives.
Pakistan: Foreign Relations
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is in regular contact with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on a wide range of issues. Pakistan remains a priority for UK foreign policy. In April 2008 my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary visited Pakistan where he met Foreign Minister Qureshi, and they last spoke in person on 12 June 2008 at the Afghanistan conference in Paris.
Rwanda: Official Visits
[holding answer 20 June 2008]: President Paul Kagame of Rwanda came to the UK by invitation of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to attend the Millennium Development Goals Call to Action event. The principal members of his delegation were Foreign Affairs Minister Rosemary Museminali and Rwandan ambassador to the UK Claver Gatete. A number of policy and security advisers accompanied the delegation along with security and support staff.
Treaty of Lisbon: Referendums
[holding answer 24 June 2008]: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary made a statement to the House on 16 June 2008, Official Report, columns 704-05, on the Irish referendum.
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made a statement to the House on 23 June 2008, Official Report, columns 23-26, following the European Council in Brussels from 19-20 June.
United Arab Emirates: Prisoners
[holding answer 18 June 2008]: It is a matter for the United Arab Emirates authorities to decide on their policy with respect to the import and possession of drugs. We cannot interfere in the judicial process of another country, just as we would not expect another country to interfere in ours. We cannot get people out of prison or detention, nor can we secure special treatment for them because of their nationality.
Our primary concern is the welfare of British nationals detained overseas. We will consider approaching the local authorities where a trial does not follow internationally accepted standards of practice, where a British detainee has a justified complaint of ill treatment against the local authorities or where welfare questions, for example dietary and medical issues of a British detainee, are raised with us.
We can only consider supporting pardon or clemency pleas in three very specific situations: where there are compelling compassionate circumstances, such as where a prisoner or close family member is chronically ill or dying; in cases of minors detained overseas; and, as a last resort, in cases where we have evidence that seems to point to a miscarriage of justice.
Our commitment to consular confidentiality and the Data Protection Act prevents us from providing specific examples about the cases of individuals.
Zimbabwe: Elections
My right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary discussed the elections in Zimbabwe with other Heads of Government and Foreign Ministers at the European Council from 19-20 June. Ministers are in regular contact with EU counterparts to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe and, in particular, the state-sponsored violence and intimidation which have marked the current electoral process.
International Development
Afghanistan
The annual cost of a DFID Afghanistan UK member of staff based in Afghanistan varies according to grade. The average annual cost is £240,643, which includes start up and end of tour costs, security, salary, pension contributions and national insurance payments, hardship and cost of living allowances, travel and accommodation costs.
The breakdown is as follows:
£ Security 96,072 Salary, pension and NI 62,471 Allowances (including travel) 40,600 Accommodation 21,400 Start up and end of tour costs 20,100 Total 240,643
Due to efficiency savings the unit cost of security has fallen since the original estimate, which was based on average costs over 2007. This has resulted in an approximate saving of £10,000.
Afghanistan: Reconstruction
In recognition of the scale of the development and stabilisation challenges that continue to face Afghanistan, the UK Government will provide over £800 million to Afghanistan in support to the five-year period of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS), between 2008-09 and 2012-13. This includes a further £613 million in reconstruction and development assistance in addition to the £500 million we committed at the London Conference in January 2006. This brings the amount pledged or spent by the UK on reconstruction and development assistance to Afghanistan since 2001 to over £1.65 billion.
Africa: Health Professions
The Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action call on bilateral leaders to provide co-ordinated and coherent support to formulate and implement comprehensive country health work force strategies and plans; to provide dependable, sustained and adequate financial support; and to give high priority and adequate funding to train and recruit sufficient health personnel from within their own country.
The Department for International Development (DFID) provides flexible funding to back national plans and priorities and to help strengthen health systems as a whole in the countries in which it works. UK health spend in developing countries was £750 million in 2006-07. Addressing the shortage of health workers in these countries is a high priority. The UK Government are also making a concerted effort to mobilise the international community to take action to address the global shortage of health workers.
The UK has had a code of practice for several years governing the international recruitment of health workers. We are now working with the Global Health Workforce Alliance towards a global code of practice. The UK has over the last few years increased the numbers of its own health professionals through new recruitment and training and getting previously qualified staff back to work in the national health service (NHS).
Asia: Unemployment
The Department for International Development (DFID) is committed to the achievement of the millennium development goals, including goal 8 and the new target 1.B, focusing on full and productive employment and decent work for all. DFID assistance programmes recognise that in southern and central Asia, youth unemployment is approximately twice that of adult unemployment1, requiring specific measures to stimulate growth.
In the short term, DFID supports a number of programmes that provide employment and income generation opportunities. These focus on the poorest, youth, women and disadvantaged groups—helping them take the first steps out of poverty. In Afghanistan, DFID has provided £18 million for the National Emergency Employment Programme, creating 5.8 million labour-days of employment. In India, DFID finances five major programmes that support rural employment with a total budget of £152.5 million. For example the Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project (phase 1 £16.6 million, 2004-07; phase 2 £45 million 2007-12) works with the Government's National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (NREGS) and has already helped 66,400 households in tribal areas. In Nepal, DFID's Rural Access Programme has created almost seven million labour days for over 100,000 people, through labour intensive rural infrastructure development and an additional £27.5 million has just been approved for follow on programmes that, with other donors, will provide an additional 22.3 million days of employment.
DFID is also involved in a number of programmes that more directly promote employment. For example in the Kyrgyz Republic, we are supporting the National Village Investment Programme, which has created over 5,000 jobs. In Nepal we have supported a UN programme that has helped 25,000 entrepreneurs from poor and excluded groups. This has increased the participants' incomes threefold, lifting them out of poverty. In Bangladesh, we also provide £11.8 million to the Katalyst Programme, which supports the private sector to develop small to medium enterprises, aiming to create around 730,000 jobs by 2013.
Departmental Buildings
The Department for International Development does not have detailed records for the last 10 years; the earliest detailed data we have are for the calendar year 2002.
Capital investment since 2002, by year and project, was as follows:
Country Description Year purchased Purchase cost (£) Malawi House purchases 2002 350,000.00 Malawi House purchase 2004 51,724.00 Yemen New embassy in Sanaa 2005 425,000.00 Uganda New Office in Uganda 2007 2,916,003.00 Ethiopia New office building 2007 1,078,125.00 Zambia House purchase 2008 £401,762.00 Yemen House purchase 2008 56,499.00
Refurbishment projects since 2002, by year and project, were as follows:
Country Description Year purchased Cost (£) UK—Abercrombie House Office refurbishment 2002 3,004,699.00 India Office refurbishment 2002 24,339.00 South Africa Office refurbishment 2002 2,747.00 Italy—Rome Office refurbishment 2002 5,703.00 UK—Palace Street Office refurbishment 2002 23,545.00 South Africa Office refurbishment 2003 2,761.00 UK—Palace Street Office refurbishment 2003 1,509,169.00 Italy—Rome Office refurbishment 2003 20,244.00 UK—Abercrombie House Office refurbishment 2003 9,433,797.00 India Office refurbishment 2003 4,376.00 Bangladesh Office refurbishment 2004 408,979.56 UK—Palace Street Office refurbishment 2004 264,302.00 Ethiopia Office refurbishment 2004 16,352.00 Barbados Office refurbishment 2004 32,559.00 Yemen Office refurbishment 2004 5,393.00 UK—Abercrombie House Office refurbishment 2004 3,805,677.00 Malawi House refurbishments 2004 17,694.00 UK—Palace Street Office refurbishment 2005 414,987.87 Nigeria Office refurbishment 2005 52,164.00 Bangladesh Office refurbishment 2005 26,981.00 Barbados Office refurbishment 2005 15,113.00 Pakistan Office refurbishment 2005 603,224.00 UK—Abercrombie House Office refurbishment 2005 893,763.00 Dem Rep of Congo Office refurbishment 2005 391,890.00 Malawi House refurbishments 2005 38,206.00 Sudan Office refurbishment 2005 76,028.00 Sierra Leone Office refurbishment 2005 151,327.00 Dem Rep of Congo Office refurbishment 2006 27,616.00 Malawi House refurbishments 2006 3,274.00 Pakistan Office refurbishment 2006 1,188,958.00 UK—Abercrombie House Office refurbishment 2006 58,774.00 Sierra Leone Office refurbishment 2006 22,219.00 Kosovo Office refurbishment 2006 22,915.00 Afghanistan House refurbishments 2006 151,248.00 Bolivia Office refurbishment 2006 6,211.00 Sudan Office refurbishment 2006 646,499.00 Cambodia Office refurbishment 2006 45,011.00 UK—Palace Street Office refurbishment 2006 18,206.00 Bangladesh Office refurbishment 2006 58,511.00 Nicaragua Office refurbishment 2006 58,221.00 UK—Palace Street Office refurbishment 2006 99,211.00 Jamaica Office refurbishment 2006 5,196.00 Rwanda House refurbishments 2006 4,058.00 Sierra Leone Office refurbishment 2007 60,541.00 Afghanistan House refurbishments 2007 323,230.00 UK—Abercrombie House Office refurbishment 2007 43,497.00 Rwanda House refurbishments 2007 74,319.00 Malawi House refurbishments 2007 70,565.00 UK—Palace Street Office refurbishment 2007 45,065.00 Zambia Office refurbishment 2007 16,160.00 Cambodia House refurbishments 2007 16,000.00 Nicaragua Office refurbishment 2007 6,342.00 Jamaica Office refurbishment 2007 37,306.00 Ghana Office refurbishment 2007 4,764.00 South Africa Office refurbishment 2007 24,753.00 Ethiopia Office refurbishment 2007 59,396.00 South Africa Office refurbishment 2007 17,483.00 Nepal Office refurbishment 2007 42,513.00 Sudan Office refurbishment 2007 1,385,845.00 Malawi House refurbishments 2007 111,909.00 Nigeria Office refurbishment 2007 4,257.00 Ghana Office refurbishment 2007 5,317.00 Malawi House refurbishments 2008 1,204.00 UK—Abercrombie House Office refurbishment 2008 62,771.00 Indonesia Office refurbishment 2008 3,055.00 Burma Office refurbishment 2008 28,139.00 Sudan Office refurbishment 2008 376,570.00 Malawi House refurbishments 2008 20,390.00 UK—Palace Street Office refurbishment 2008 211,434.00 Cambodia House refurbishments 2008 1,140.00 South Africa Office refurbishment 2008 26,919.00 Nepal Office refurbishment 2008 29,520.00 Dem Rep of Congo Office refurbishment 2008 351,984.00 Zambia House refurbishments 2008 11,879.00
Developing Countries: Solar Power
The Department for International Development (DFID) supports the use of concentrating solar power technology where appropriate as part of low carbon development ways to achieve millennium development goals (MDGs). DFID has not made a direct assessment of the potential of concentrating solar power technology to assist the fulfilment of the MDGs in the middle east and north Africa.
DFID provides core funds to key multilateral institutions including the European Commission, World Bank, International Finance Corporation and the European Investment Bank. These multilaterals are best placed to assist the region given their extensive experience and expertise in renewable energy, and the large financial resources they can provide directly and lever from others. For example, the World Bank has conducted an assessment of the World Bank/global environment facility strategy for the market development of concentrating solar thermal power, and is currently supporting solar thermal projects in Morocco and Egypt. The European Commission's Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) is currently conducting a feasibility study for a concentrated solar power plant in Tunisia.
Northern Ireland
Funding
I have regular meetings with all the Northern Ireland political parties covering a range of issues relating to Northern Ireland, including funding.
Security
While the latest IMC report indicated that PIRA remain fully committed to pursuing the political path, the threat from dissident republicans is, as the Chief Constable indicated, at its highest level for five years. Loyalists continue to make progress, but the issue of decommissioning remains unresolved. As I indicated recently, legal routes to decommissioning and the protection that comes with them cannot remain indefinitely.
Historical Enquiries Team
The Historical Enquiries Team (HET) have opened 1,150 of the 3,268 eligible cases and of these 363 have been completed. The majority of families engaging with HET have found the process helpful and they have welcomed the opportunity to have often long standing questions addressed.
Defence Estates Sales
The Government are committed to working with the Executive to ensure that disused military sites are effectively disposed of and developed.
Sesame Tree
I have no current plans to meet with Sesame Tree, the Northern Ireland version of Sesame Street. Culture and community relations are transferred matters and are now the responsibility of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.
Domestic Abuse: Women Pensioners
In 2007-08, 165 women aged over 60 years reported domestic violence in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Office continues to work in partnership with local Ministers to tackle domestic violence at every level.
McGurk’s Bar Bombing
The House will want to recognise the personal pain for the hon. Gentleman and his family; I know he lost his great uncle in the bombing. Although I cannot speak for those Ministers who made statements at the time, I personally am sorry for the hurt that was made worse by the erroneous reporting of responsibility for the explosion.
IRA Army Council
I am sure that everybody looks forward to the day when all vestiges of Northern Ireland’s paramilitary history, including the Army Council, have been relegated to where they belong—the past.
Crimes of Violence
The information is not available in the format requested. Northern Ireland conviction data do not include victim information in relation to the commission of an offence, therefore it is not possible to determine the number of convictions for assault of a female or male partner or the total number of convictions for assault of a child irrespective of relationship to the offender.
A wider range of information on the incidence and impact of domestic violence is available from the Northern Ireland Crime Survey at:
http://www.nio.gov.uk/experienee_of_domestic_violence_ findings_from_the_2005_northern_ireland_crime_ survey.pdf
and from PSNI Statistics at
http://www.psni.police.uk/2._domestic_incidents_and crimes-5.pdf.
It is possible to give the number of convictions for those offences which, in their definition, refer to a child or children. These are 'common assault on child or young person' and 'aggravated assault on male child'.
The data provided in the following table cover the calendar years 2004 to 2006 (the latest available years) and are collated on the principal offence rule; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
Convictions 2004 12 2005 8 2006 7 1 Data do not include sexual offences against a child or children.
Northern Ireland Executive
I have regular discussions with the First Minister and deputy First Minister covering a range of issues relating to Northern Ireland, including finance.
Treasury
Child Benefit: Personal Records
I refer the hon. Member to the statement my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer made today.
Construction Industry Scheme: Complaints
HM Revenue and Customs does not collect specific information on complaints about online payments made under the construction industry scheme.
Data Protection
Details on the number of requests made to data guardians for advice are not available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 28 February 2008, Official Report, column 1938W.
HMRC has continued to monitor the data guardians' training needs since their introduction, and will reflect these in any future training events.
Information is not available in the format requested.
Departmental Buildings
The accounting policy regarding revaluation of building estate is disclosed in note 1.4 of the Treasury’s annual report and accounts 2006-07 (HC 518). Copies of this document can be found at:
hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/departmental_reports/annual_report07.cfm.
Departmental Vetting
(2) what percentage of successful applicants for jobs in his Department are subjected to a criminal records check; how many (a) successful applicants and (b) criminal records checks there were in each of the last 10 years; how many successful applicants were found to have a criminal record after a criminal records check took place in each of the last 10 years; whether the selection of successful candidates to be subjected to a criminal records check is random or targeted; and if he will make a statement.
All successful applicants for posts in HM Treasury are required to undergo appropriate security vetting procedures, including criminal record checks. The other detailed information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Members: Correspondence
I replied to the hon. Member on 24 June 2008.
Revenue and Customs: Closures
HM Revenue and Customs does not maintain office records categorised by urban and rural areas as they are not standard property management classifications.
Revenue and Customs: Data Protection
The loss of the data cartridge was formally reported to senior managers in HMRC on 29 October 2007 and Ministers were first informed of the loss at the beginning of November 2007 by the former Chairman of HMRC.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 28 February 2008, Official Report, columns 1937-38W, which explained that each HMRC business unit has appointed a data guardian to monitor its data handling and transfer arrangements. Support has already been provided to these data guardians in the form of awareness events, written material and access to HMRC security specialists. HMRC will continue to assess the data guardians’ ongoing training requirements.
HMRC is also currently part way through a programme of mandatory half-day data security training and awareness workshops. Current plans envisage every single member of the Department having attended a workshop before the end of June.
(2) what additional (a) funding and (b) staffing will be required to implement revised data security policies and procedures in HM Revenue and Customs following the child benefit data loss; and what (i) secure storage facilities and (ii) other measures will be required for that implementation.
All costs incurred to date have been contained within HMRC’s existing funding allocations. These costs have arisen from the range of measures HMRC has introduced since November 2007 to enhance its data security procedures, and are highlighted in Kieran Poynter’s final report published today. A copy of the report is available in the Library of the House.
Revenue and Customs: Manpower
This information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Revenue and Customs: North West
Most of HMRC’s business units, including those with staff currently employed in Chorley, can operate more effectively by co-locating teams in a smaller number of locations, allowing more efficient work processes to be introduced. There will be some specific costs attached to the relocation of staff from one office to another, but the efficiency savings resulting from HMRC’s overall restructuring cannot be realistically apportioned to individual offices.
The fixed accommodation running costs for the offices at Lingmell House Chorley, Stone Cross House Bolton, Dukes House Southport and Chaucer’s Walk Blackburn are as follows:
Office £ Chorley 203,739.32 Bolton 633,835.98 Southport 343,815.60 Blackburn 299,890.68
These costs are made up of the facility price (FP) for the provision (by Mapeley) of the serviced accommodation at these addresses, the business rates, services and the utilities for each year.
Individual business units are allocated budgets to meet their total costs and overheads for all their staff. The Chorley HMRC office currently houses staff from four different business units and to break down the costs of each business unit to individual office level could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Revenue and Customs: Peterhead
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie) on 24 June 2008, Official Report, column 258W.
HM Revenue and Customs (previously the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise) have not retained records of the staff numbers at Peterhead before the 1 April 2002.
The staff in post figures for Keith House, Peterhead, for the last seven years is shown in the following table.
Date as at 1 April each year Full-time equivalent Headcount 2008 15.4 18 2007 17.59 20 2006 20.2 23 2005 23.5 26 2004 21.34 23 2003 24.6 27 2002 28.01 29
Share Fishermen
The Share Fisherman’s Scheme is administered by two HM Revenue and Customs’ offices: for England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is administered by a fishing unit based in Newton Abbot and for Scotland by a fishing unit based in Peterhead.
Payments received under the scheme in the last five years are as follows:
England, Wales and NI Scotland 2003 924,330 8,784,956 2004 1,149,963 5,254,087 2005 1,510,180 4,636,486 2006 1,594,124 4,804,904 2007 1,924,492 4,540,353
Valuation Office: Data Protection
Details of information management procedures at the Valuation Office Agency, including any incidents related to protected personal data since 2004, will be included in the Agency’s annual report for 2007-08 which will be published shortly.
Valuation Office: Digital Mapping
The Valuation Office Agency (‘VOA’) switched from an active role in the development of the digital national framework (‘DNF’) to becoming a correspondence member in August 2005. Since that time VOA and Ordnance Survey have developed a closer working relationship, addressing VOA requirements that had previously been fulfilled by attendance at the DNF expert group meetings.
Welfare Tax Credits: Complaints
(2) what the average length of time taken by the Adjudicator’s Office to complete an investigation of a complaint regarding tax credits has been in each year since the inception of tax credits.
HMRC does not hold this specific information in the requested format.
The Adjudicator, who acts as a fair and unbiased referee looking into complaints about HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), including the Tax Credit Office (TCO), keeps their own information on the complaints they deal with.
Available information on the Adjudicator’s Office is published in her annual reports which are available at: www.adjudicatorsoffice.gov.uk/publications.htm The Adjudicator expects to publish her 2008 report in July 2008.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander) on 18 December 2007, Official Report, column 1491W.
Duchy of Lancaster
Breast Cancer
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many breast cancer cases were diagnosed, and how many deaths from breast cancer there were, in each strategic health authority region in each of the last 11 years. [212811]
The most recent available figures for cancer incidence are for 2005. Figures requested are given in Table 1. The most recent available figures for cancer deaths are for 2006. Figures requested are given in Table 2.
SHA 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Male England 213 196 229 258 259 215 229 254 289 272 250 North East 7 6 11 10 13 9 16 17 15 14 17 North West 29 30 31 30 24 30 29 32 35 36 35 Yorkshire and the Humber 20 19 23 24 30 22 14 17 31 30 20 East Midlands 9 14 17 19 12 9 8 22 26 24 18 West Midlands 26 17 20 36 27 27 31 29 26 29 23 East of England 31 21 32 31 26 22 29 24 28 38 21 London 24 26 26 31 31 32 24 33 37 24 41 South East Coast 21 15 20 22 30 21 16 20 21. 27 21 South Central 21 19 18 19 23 14 27 16 22 21 19 South West 25 29 31 36 43 29 35 44 48 29 35 Female England 30,820 31,452 33,480 33,856 35,425 34,712 35,315 35,149 37,283 36,938 38,212 North East 1,368 1,543 1,546 1,683 1,668 1,698 1,746 1,729 1,944 1,960 1,968 North West 4,277 4,241 4,290 4,547 4,647 4,734 4,948 4,823 5,004 5,232 5,323 Yorkshire and the Humber 2,935 2,980 3,172 3,145 3,420 3,396 3,437 3,457 3,725 3,662 3,844 East Midlands 2,477 2,577 2,620 2,765 2,967 2,986 3,004 3,046 3,296 3,521 3,375 West Midlands 3,254 3,323 3,517 3,619 3,662 3,739 3,746 3,839 3,991 3,984 4,224 East of England 3,464 3,554 4,015 3,838 4,048 3,870 3,888 3,964 4,122 4,035 4,310 London 3,985 3,996 4,352 4,222 4,208 4,114 4,115 4,104 4,306 3,838 4,139 South East Coast 3,039 2,965 3,324 3,257 3,189 3,221 3,318 3,188 3,300 3,173 3,282 South Central 2,544 2,743 2,736 2,756 2,938 2,811 2,768 2,806 3,015 2,975 3,128 South West 3,477 3,530 3,908 4,024 4,678 4,143 4,345 4,193 4,580 4,558 4,619 1 Breast cancer is coded to C50 in the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (1CD-10) Source: Office for National Statistics
Table 2: Number of deaths where breast cancer was the underlying cause of death, by sex and strategic health authority (SHA)1, 1996 to 20062SHA19961997199819992000200120022003200420052006MaleEngland6366736268777964537859North East53432276235North West6771271087669 Yorkshire and the Humber59996775856East Midlands47573151247107West Midlands941281310983139East of England610947589684London6889411995119South East Coast57949681692South Central62137478372South West1199310747766FemaleEngland11,47111,25511,02510,80310,63110,86010,79510,50110,28810,29710,243North East575607567542516555508471522550527North West1,5951,5481,4801,5381,4551,5391,4971,4181,3741,3851,394Yorkshire and the Humber1,2041,0671,0051,0521,0171,0501,0431,0091,0409561,004East Midlands1,006987917900893984908912891929918West Midlands1,3221,2711,1931,2131,1371,1001,1871,1491,1431,0901,102East of England1,2251,2631,3631,1921,2411,2291,2781,2411,1501,2241,202London1,4401,4361,3361,3221,3351,3321,3061,2961,2351,1821,155South East Coast1,0149721,0171,0089831,0271,0419869831,0091,025South Central802823912862813817798798788776746South West1,2881,2811,2351,1741,2411,2271,2291,2211,1621,1961,170 1 Breast cancer was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 174 and 175 for the years 1996 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C50 for the years 2001 to 2006. The introduction of ICD-10 in 2001 had a significant effect on mortality rates for some diseases, causing a discontinuity in mortality trends for these causes of death. However ONS practice is not to adjust the historical numbers of deaths shown in PQ answers. More information on this issue can be found at www.statistics.gov.uk/icd10mortality. For female breast cancer the introduction of ICD-10 caused an increase of 2.7 per cent. in the number of deaths. An article specifically examining the changes for cancer trends was published in Health Statistics Quarterly 23*. This article also presents comparability ratios (the ratio of the number of deaths coded to a cause in ICD-10 to the number coded to the equivalent cause in ICD-9) for the most common cancer sites.* Brock A, Griffiths C, Rooney C (2004) The effect of the introduction of ICD-10 on cancer mortality trends in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 23, 7-172 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what proportion of female deaths were caused by (a) breast and (b) cervical cancer in each strategic health authority region in each of the last 11 years. (212812)
The table attached provides the percentage of female deaths where breast cancer was the underlying cause of death, by strategic health authority in England, for 1996 to 2006 (the latest year available). The corresponding figures for cervical cancer were less than one per cent of deaths in all cases.
SHA 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 North East 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 3 4 4 4 North West 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 Yorkshire and the Humber 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 East Midlands 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 West Midlands 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 East of England 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 London 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 South East Coast 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 South Central 4 4 5 5 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 South West 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 England 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 1 Breast cancer was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) code 174 for the years 1996 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C50 for the years 2001 to 2006. 2 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.
Construction: Manpower
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people were employed in the construction industry in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008. (213030)
The definitive source for the number of people employed is normally the Labour Force Survey (LFS). However, because of the interest in the construction sector an estimate has been compiled from the Workforce Jobs Series.
While estimates of the number of recruitments are not available explicitly, figures from surveys enable comparisons to be made of net changes in jobs from year to year.
The number of people employed in the construction industry in March 2007 was 2.21 million and the number employed in March 2008, the latest estimate available, was 2.22 million. Workforce Job statistics are published as part of the Labour Market Statistics First Release. The latest estimates can be found in Table 5(2) and can be obtained on the National Statistics website at:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/Product.asp?vlnk=1944
As with any survey, results from the Workforce Jobs Series are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Death: Leeds
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the latest estimate is of (a) the overall mortality rate and (b) cigarette smoking-related mortality rate in (i) Leeds West constituency and (ii) Leeds Metropolitan District in each of the last five years. (213359)
The table attached provides the age-standardised mortality rates for (i) Leeds West parliamentary constituency, for 2001 to 2005 (the latest year available) and (ii) Leeds metropolitan district, for 2001 to 2006 (the latest year available).
Deaths related to cigarette smoking cannot be directly estimated, as smoking status is not included on the death certificate. However, research published by the then Health Development Agency in 2004 suggested that, in the period 1998-2002, some 17 per cent. of all deaths in England were attributable to smoking.1
1 Twigg L, Moon G, Walker S (2004) The smoking epidemic in England. London; Health Development Agency
Rate per 100,000 Year (i) Leeds West (ii) Leeds 2001 728 683 2002 770 681 2003 717 672 2004 707 637 2005 685 626 2006 — 607 1 Age-standardised mortality rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the European Standard Population. Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. 2 Based on boundaries as of 2008. 3 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.
Departmental Assets
The Department’s most recent depreciation and amortisation policies in respect of tangible and intangible fixed assets are published in the Cabinet Office annual report and resource accounts 2006-07, available in the House of Commons Library.
The 2007-08 Cabinet Office annual report and accounts are expected to be published shortly before the summer 2008 recess.
Departmental Public Expenditure
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 23 June 2008, Official Report, column 124W.
The Cabinet Office has not incurred any expenditure on art.
The Cabinet Office spent the following on new vehicles.
Financial year New vehicles (£) 2004-05 37,050.00 2005-06 0.00 2006-07 0.00
Drownings
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people died from drowning in (a) public swimming pools, (b) private swimming pools, (c) garden ponds and (d) public lakes and ponds in each of the last five years, broken down by persons aged (i) under 16, (ii) 16 to 18 and (iii) over 18 years. (212219)
The most recent figures available are for deaths registered in 2006. The table below contains the number of deaths due to drowning, for the age groups requested, from 2002 to 2006 in England and Wales.
Drowning deaths may be identified by intent, for example, intentional self-harm, assault, undetermined intent, accidental drowning. Of these, only the last category allows deaths to be identified by place of drowning (bath-tub, swimming-pool, natural water). Coroners, however, are not asked to provide specific information on place of drowning, and so the information recorded at the Office for National Statistics will be partial. For this reason, figures for the place of death categories requested cannot be provided.
Age group All ages Under 16 16-18 Over 18 2002 500 38 16 446 2003 506 37 14 455 2004 468 26 13 429 2005 487 39 23 425 2006 487 33 15 439 1 Selected using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, code T75.1 2 Includes non-residents 3 Deaths registered in each calendar year
Employment: Gwent
(2) how many people under the age of 30 years in Islwyn constituency were recorded as being in full-time employment in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions. The first asks how many people under the age of 30 years in Islwyn constituency were recorded as being in full-time employment in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007 (212691). The second asks how many people in Islwyn constituency were in education, employment or training in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007. (212690)
The Office for National Statistics compiles employment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and its predecessor the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation definitions.
Table 1, attached, shows the number of people under the age of 30 years, resident in the Islwyn constituency, who were in full-time employment in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007. Table 2, attached, shows the number of people of working age, that is women aged 16 to 59 or men aged 16 to 64, who were in full-time or part-time education, employment or training in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007 resident in the Islwyn constituency. Estimates are obtained from the annual LFS for the 12 months ending in February 1997 and from the APS for the 12 month ending in September 2007, which is the most recent period for which estimates are available.
As these estimates are for a subset of the population in small geographical areas, they are based on small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty.
12 months ending Number (Thousand) February 1997 7 September 2007 5
12 months ending Number (Thousand) February 1997 31 September 2007 32 Notes: 1. Estimates are subject to sampling variability. 2. Changes in the estimates over time should be treated with particular caution. Source: Annual Population Survey and Annual Labour Force Survey
Income: Yorkshire and the Humber
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the average annual income has been in, (a) Yorkshire and Humberside, (b) Leeds Metropolitan District, and (c) Leeds West Constituency in each year since 2000. (209745)
Table 1 shows the average net weekly equivalised household income for Yorkshire and Humberside, both before and after housing costs, at 2004-05 prices, since 2000-01, 2002-03. These figures are based on the Department for Work and Pensions' Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series which is produced using the Family Resources Survey. It is not possible to present results from the HBAI series below the level of Government Office Regions. While HBAI more commonly presents median incomes, mean incomes are also shown here in order to be more comparable with the mean incomes shown for Leeds West Constituency and Leeds Metropolitan District.
Table 2 shows average net weekly equivalised household incomes for Leeds West and Leeds Metropolitan District, before and after housing costs, for the year 2004-05 (in 200-05 prices). These are based on experimental small area statistics published by the ONS (see background notes). Figures for other years are unavailable.
Equivalised household incomes are used as a proxy for living standards. Incomes are equivalised to account for household size and composition, and the members of each household are assumed to benefit equally from the household's income. Average household incomes are calculated by assigning the household income to all members of the household, and averaging among individuals.
It should be borne in mind that the Government Office Region statistics and the small area statistics are based on different methodologies. It is not possible to separate out methodological differences from real differences. Small differences or changes over time should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error.
£ per week Before housing costs5 After housing costs5 Median income Mean income Median income Mean income 2000-01 to 2002-03 308 374 262 321 2001-02 to 2003-04 317 380 272 328 2002-03 to 2004-05 322 380 279 332 2003-04 to 2005-06 322 377 280 332 2004-05 to 2006-07 328 381 298 332 1 Incomes are presented net of income tax payments, National Insurance contributions and Council tax. 2 Yorkshire and Humberside as defined by Government office region. 3 All figures have been rounded to the nearest pound. 4 Three-year averages have been presented, as single year estimates would be subject to volatility. 5 Housing costs include rent (gross of housing benefit), water charges, mortgage interest payments, structural insurance, ground rent and service charges. Source: Households Below Average Income', Department for Work and Pensions.
£ per week Mean income (before housing costs)3 Mean income (after housing costs)3 Leeds West Constituency 340 290 Leeds Metropolitan District 400 350 1 Incomes are presented net of income tax payments, National Insurance contributions and Council tax. 2 Figures rounded to the nearest £10. 3 Housing costs include rent (gross of housing benefit), water charges, mortgage interest payments, structural insurance, ground rent and service charges. 4 These estimates are based on experimental small area statistics (see background notes). Source: Office for National Statistics and Department for Work and Pensions.
Intelligence Services: Vetting
Information concerning security vetting cases is not held centrally. It has been the policy of successive Governments not to comment on individual cases.
Life Expectancy
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated June 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the life expectancy was of (a) men and (b) women in (i) Chorley, (ii) Lancashire, (iii) the North West Region and (iv) the UK in each year since 1997. (212617)
Period life expectancies at birth for (a) males and (b) females for (i) all local authority districts and unitary authorities in England and Wales, (ii) government office regions in England, and (iii) the UK, for rolling three-year periods from 1991-93 to 2004-06, are published on the National Statistics website at:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=8841
Life expectancy figures at county level are not readily available.
Lone Parents: Lincolnshire
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the latest estimate is of the number of lone parents with children under 16 years old in (a) Cleethorpes, (b) Great Grimsby, (c) North East Lincolnshire and (d) North Lincolnshire. (212835)
The number of lone parent families in the UK with children under 16 can be estimated using the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The table below shows 2007 estimates for the requested geographic areas.
Number of lone parent families with children under 16 (Thousand) Cleethorpes 2 Great Grimsby 4 North East Lincolnshire 5 North Lincolnshire 6 Note: Cleethorpes and Great Grimsby are parliamentary constituencies North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire are unitary authorities Source: LFS quarterly data, April to June, not seasonally adjusted
Official Secrets Act
Government information bearing a classification may only be passed to those individuals who have a need to know and, where necessary, hold the appropriate security clearance.
While there is no requirement for individuals to sign the Official Secrets Act, the provisions of the Act are drawn to the attention of Crown servants on appointment.
Under the Act, it is an offence to disclose official information in certain specified categories and, for most of those categories, when the disclosure is damaging. The provisions of the Act apply to Crown servants and Government contractors, and to members of the public who have, or have had, official information in their possession.
Prostate Cancer
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed, and how many deaths from prostate cancer there were, in each strategic health authority region in each of the last 11 years. (212813)
The most recent available figures for cancer incidence are for 2005. Figures requested are given in Table 1 below. The most recent available figures for cancer deaths are for 2006. Figures requested are given in Table 2 below.
SHA 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 England 19,473 19,866 19,878 20,375 22,203 24,256 27,380 27,672 27,777 29,406 28,886 North East 771 861 887 1,063 1,229 1,243 1,407 1,389 1,475 1,321 1,403 Northwest 2,733 2,839 2,554 2,626 2,843 3,096 3,651 3,525 3,637 4,468 4,293 Yorkshire and the Humber 1,730 1,784 1,857 1,818 1,923 2,372 2,631 2,598 2,639 2,909 2,729 East Midlands 1,495 1,601 1,465 1,531 1,747 1,939 2,115 2,136 2,090 2,415 2,619 West Midlands 2,035 2,144 2,085 2,247 2,411 2,723 3,076 3,235 3,249 3,377 3,350 East of England 2,283 2,396 2,247 2,266 2,609 2,938 3,192 3,270 3,194 3,164 3,453 London 2,449 2,400 2,593 2,661 2,742 2,797 3,074 3,115 3,062 3,012 2,875 South East Coast 2,078 1,889 2,081 1,997 2,225 2,289 2,441 2,302 2,270 2,268 2,317 South Central 1,543 1,549 1,480 1,632 1,808 2,038 2,349 2,361 2,334 2,484 2,169 South West 2,356 2,403 2,629 2,534 2,666 2,821 3,444 3,741 3,827 3,988 3,678 1 Prostate cancer is coded to C61 in the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) Source: Office for National Statistics
SHA 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 England 8,256 7,982 8,074 8,015 7,761 8,305 8,471 8,570 8,531 8,492 8,506 North East 356 368 386 374 352 383 413 401 457 392 466 North West 1,045 1,031 1,047 1,041 1,064 1,127 1,077 1,053 1,062 1,109 1,016 Yorkshire and the Humber 801 810 755 789 770 756 784 890 856 795 858 East Midlands 702 701 694 678 685 687 732 781 762 755 757 West Midlands 865 851 884 865 835 955 910 948 930 889 960 East of England 948 870 894 905 905 997 1,074 1,000 1,017 1,015 1,040 London 970 878 891 910 798 930 929 890 939 953 850 South East Coast 882 832 851 831 779 830 883 896 766 804 811 South Central 633 602 625 632 567 620 643 638 665 652 681 South West 1,054 1,039 1,047 990 1,006 1,020 1,026 1,073 1,077 1,128 1,067 1 Prostate cancer was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) code 185 for the years 1996 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code C61 for the years 2001 to 2006. The introduction of ICD-10 in 2001 had a significant effect on mortality rates for some diseases, causing a discontinuity in mortality trends for these causes of death. However ONS practice is not to adjust the historical numbers of deaths shown in PQ answers. More information on this issue can be found at www.statistics.gov.uk/icd10mortality. For prostate cancer, the introduction of ICD-10 caused an increase of 3.8 per cent. in the number of deaths. An article specifically examining the changes for cancer trends was published in Health Statistics Quarterly 23*. This article also presents comparability ratios (the ratio of the number of deaths coded to a cause in ICD-10 to the number coded to the equivalent cause in ICD-9) for the most common cancer sites. * Brock A, Griffiths C, Rooney C (2004) The effect of the introduction of ICD-10 on cancer mortality trends in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 23, 7-17. 2 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.
Television
The Cabinet Office’s central communications unit has neither commissioned nor sponsored any television programmes over this period.
Unemployment: Cleethorpes
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 25 June 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on how many and what proportion of households in Cleethorpes constituency had no one in full-time work in each of the last five years. (212841)
Estimates in the attached table are provided from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). There is currently no annual household dataset, so the figures are given for the April-June quarter to be consistent with those published in the ‘Work and worklessness among households’ First Release (see web link):
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/work0807.pdf
The household datasets (like the main quarterly LFS microdatasets) are weighted to the population estimates published by the Office for National Statistics in February and March 2003. They do not incorporate the more recent population estimates used in the headline LFS series.
Figures for households are based on working age households. A working-age household is a household that includes at least one person of working-age, that is a woman aged 16 to 59 or a man aged 16 to 64.
The LFS is a sample survey covering over 52,000 households in the United Kingdom in each three month period. As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Levels (Thousand) Percentage2 2003 4 22 2004 6 23 2005 9 30 2006 6 21 2007 4 15 1 A working-age household is a household that includes at least one person of working-age, that is a woman aged 16 to 59 or a man aged 16 to 64. 2 In calculating percentages, households with unknown economic status have been excluded. Notes: 1. Estimates are weighted to the 2003 population estimates. 2. As with any sample survey, estimates from the Labour Force Survey are subject to a margin of uncertainty. Source: LFS household datasets
Wood
(2) how much timber and timber products were procured by his Department originating from independently verified legal and sustainable sources or from a licensed FLEGT partner in each of the last five years; and at what cost.
The information can be obtained only at disproportionate costs. The Cabinet Office procures timber and timber products in line with UK Government timber procurement policy which requires central Government to actively seek to buy timber and timber products from legal and sustainable sources.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies: Lancashire
Currently there are no proposals to establish an academy in Chorley. We have agreed with the Lancashire local authority two academy projects in Accrington and Preston, in order to drive up standards in those areas. The establishment of a trust school is a matter for local decision. Three schools in Lancashire have informed the Department of their interest in acquiring trust status and are currently on our Supported Schools Programme to help them to do so. None of these schools is in the Chorley area.
Bexley
Revenue funding in 2005-06 for Bexley local authority was made up of the Education Formula Share (EFS), Standards Fund, Budget Support Grant, Transitional Support Grant, School Standards Grant and funding from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC); figures for these are provided in the following table. Total and per-pupil revenue funding figures are also provided. Figures are in cash terms.
Bexley local authority 2005-06 EFS (£ million) 142 2005-06 Other grants (£ million) 32 2005-06 Total (£ million) 174 2005-06 Total per – pupil (£) 4,280 Notes: 1. Price base: Cash. 2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of education formula spending (EFS) settlements and include the pensions transfer to EFS and the Learning and Skills Council. 3. The ‘Other Grants’ figure includes all revenue grants in DfES departmental expenditure limits relevant to pupils aged three-19. These exclude education maintenance allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level. 4. The pupil numbers used to convert £ million figures to £ per pupil are those underlying the EFS settlement calculations. Rounding: The EFS, other grants and total figures are rounded to the nearest £ million and the total per - pupil figures to the nearest £10.
The figures shown in the following table are taken from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) which was introduced in April 2006. They are not comparable with 2005-06 figures quoted above because the introduction of the DSG in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how local authorities are funded. This change does not affect the comparability of the other non-DSG grants identified above, although there are some year-on-year changes in terms of what grants were provided.
The 2005-06 figures quoted above are based on Education Formula Spending (EFS) which formed the education part of the local government finance settlement, plus various grants. The DSG is based on planned spend. In addition, the DSG has a different coverage from EFS, which comprises a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG’s local government finance settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. Consequently, there is a break in the Department’s time series as the two sets of data are not comparable.
To provide a comparison for 2006-07 DSG, the Department have isolated the schools block equivalent funding in 2005-06—the basis for the 2005-06 baseline figure quoted in the following table; as described above this does not represent the totality of ‘education’ funding in that year. The grants associated with the 2005-06 DSG baseline are the same as those given with the EFS figure above: Standards Fund, Budget Support Grant, Transitional Support Grant, School Standards Grant and LSC funding.
Revenue funding from the DSG, Standards Fund, School Standards Grant, Schools Standards Grant (Personalisation) and the Learning and Skills Council for years 2006-07 to 2007-08 for Bexley local authority are provided in the following table along with the comparable figures based on the 2005-06 DSG baseline. The figures are for all funded pupils aged three-19 and are in cash terms.
£ million 2005-06 DSG Baseline (£ million) 129 2005-06 Other grants (£ million) 32 2005-06 Total (£ million) 160 2005-06 Total per- pupil (£) 4,060 2006-07 DSG (£ million) 137 2006-07 Other grants (£ million) 33 2006-07 Total (£ million) 170 2006-07 Total per- pupil (£) 4,280 2007-08 DSG (£ million) 145 2007-08 Other grants (£ million) 35 2007-08 Total (£ million) 179 2007-08 Total per- pupil (£) 4,550 Notes: 1. This covers funding through the Dedicated Schools Grant, School Standards Grant, School Standards Grant (Personalisation) and Standards Fund as well as funding from the Learning and Skills Council; it excludes giants which are not allocated at LA level. 2. Price Base: Cash. 3. These figures are for all funded pupils aged three-19 4. DSG, Other Grants and Total figures have been rounded to the nearest £ million. The total per pupil figures have been rounded to the nearest £10. 5. Some of the grant allocations have not been finalised. If these do change, the effect on the funding figures is expected to be minimal.
The DSG indicative allocations (these are based on projected pupil numbers whereas the final allocations will be based on actual pupil numbers) and guaranteed per pupil unit of funding (GUF) for 2008-09 for Bexley local authority are shown in the following table.
These figures cover funding through the DSG only; there is funding from the other grants identified above that support the schools budget whose allocations have not yet been finalised for 2008-09. This covers all funded pupils aged three-15 and is in cash terms (rounded to the nearest £10).
Bexley local authority 2008-09 DSG Indicative allocations (£ million) 151 2008-09 GUF per- pupil (£) 4150 Notes: 1. The revenue funding figures only run to 2005-06 because we cannot provide a consistent time series beyond that year as the introduction of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how local authorities are funded. The 2005-06 figures are based on Education Formula Spending (EFS) which formed the education part of the local government finance settlement, plus various grants. This was an assessment of what local authorities needed to fund education rather than what they spent. In 2006-07 funding for schools changed with the introduction of the DSG which is based largely on an authority's planned spend. 2. In addition, DSG has a different coverage to EFS: EFS comprised a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG's local government finance settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. This means we have a break in our time series as the two sets of data are not comparable. 3. Some of the grant allocations have not been finalised. If these do change, the effect on the funding figures is expected to be minimal. 4. The 2008-09 figures cover funding through the Dedicated Schools Grants (DSG). This figure does not represent the totality of ‘education’ funding allocated in that year. There are other grants that support the schools budget whose allocations have not yet been finalised- these are not included in the provided DSG figure.
Children's Centres: Chorley
There are currently five designated Sure Start children's centres in Chorley. By 2010 all communities will have access to a children's centre. Lancashire county council is currently considering how many additional children centres they will need and where these should be located in order to meet this commitment.
The Department has allocated £324,637 in capital and £6,412,037 in revenue funding to Lancashire county council 2008-09. It is for local authorities to decide how to allocate funding to individual centres and information on how much has been allocated to the centres in Chorley is not collected centrally.
Class Sizes
The information requested has been placed in the Library.
Departmental Assets
Details of the period over which the Department depreciates the above assets categories are:
Years (a) Vehicles 5 to 8 (b) Computer hardware 3 to 7 (c) Bespoke computer software 3 to 7 (d) Standard computer software 3 to 7 (e) Furniture 7 (f) Telecommunications equipment 3 to 7
This information has been taken from the statement of accounting policies which forms part of the Department’s annually published Resource Accounts.
Departmental Aviation
The information requested is as follows:
(a) The number of domestic flights (one way trips) undertaken by representatives of the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in the financial year April 2007 to March 2008 was 1,128. The cost of the flights was £126,460. It is not possible without incurring disproportionate cost to separate the number of flights made by representatives of these two Departments that originally formed the Department for Education and Skills.
(b) The Department has no agencies.
Travel by Ministers and civil servants is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code respectively.
Departmental Furniture
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) does not hold information on the detail of spend incurred by its agencies and can only provide aggregate spends for the purchase of office furniture, inclusive of chairs desks and other office furnishings for the Department for each of the last four years.
The breakdown of aggregate spends for each of the last four years is:
Total cost (£) 2004/05 £524,490 2005/06 £315,124 2006/07 £123,703 2007/08 £1,269,169
Departmental Homeworking
The information requested is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
I can however confirm that home working is available to all staff in the Department for Children, Schools and Families and currently 50 per cent. of staff can access the Department’s IT infrastructure from home.
Departmental Manpower
There are currently 21 staff in my Department and its agencies that are classed as without permanent posts. These staff are all actively engaged in delivering a range of departmental projects and duties, while seeking a new permanent post through our Brokerage Service. These staff are known as priority movers and they are given individual tailored support to engage with the internal labour market and find suitable permanent posts.
There are no members of staff in people action teams.
Departmental Postal Services
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) spent £3,300 in total on mail overseas across each of our four current HQ buildings for the period 2007-08 using Royal Mail, the only delivery company used. This amounted to 1.1 per cent. of the postal budget for this period. Each HQ building holds autonomous and non-compatible recording systems, some going back further than others so the collation of records dating from 2001 would incur disproportionate costs even if the base information was extant.
Departmental Security
The number of building passes reported lost or stolen, for the Department for Children, Schools and Families formerly Department for Skills and Education in the last 24 months amounts to 313. The Department has no Executive agencies.
Departmental Sick Pay
Due to the wide range of posts and salary points in my Department, the actual cost of sick pay to staff in my Department could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. My Department’s general policy for full-time staff is to pay sickness absence on full pay for up to 182 days, followed by sickness absence on half pay for up to 183 days. Sickness absence is unpaid once entitlement to full and/or half pay has been exhausted, unless HR approves payment of sick pay at pension rate.
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Jim Knight: The information required is in the following table.
Number of pupils achieving A*-C grades in Biology, Chemistry and Physics Percentage of pupils achieving A*-C grades in Biology, Chemistry and Physics Number of 15-year-olds Number of pupils achieving A*-C grades in Biology, Chemistry and Physics Percentage of pupils achieving A*-C grades in Biology, Chemistry and Physics Number of 15-year-olds 2006-07 30,542 5.0 608,125 11,629 24.0 48,537 2005-06 28,283 4.7 600,650 11,558 23.9 48,292 2004-05 25,502 4.3 589,881 11,500 24.5 46,890 2003-04 23,161 3.9 596,602 11,635 24.8 46,958 2002-03 21,046 3.6 577,791 11,434 25.8 44,331 Notes: 1. These figures relate to 15-year-olds (age at start of academic year, i.e. 31 August) in all maintained and independent schools. 2. Maintained schools include academies and CTCs.
The information has been placed in the Library.
Grammar Schools: Disadvantaged
The readily available information is given in the table below. Information for each year since 1996-97 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Grammar schools State funded secondary-schools1 Number of pupils Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free schools meals Number of pupils Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free schools meals 19972 127,780 4,730 3.7 3,052,280 556,250 18.2 19992 140,010 4,320 3.1 3,134,470 527,340 16.8 20022 145,430 3,240 2.2 3,277,100 488,490 14.9 20053 153,270 3,300 2.1 3,349,220 473,470 14.1 20073 156,870 3,140 2.0 3,325,620 445,070 13.4 2008 Provisional3 154,420 3,030 2.0 3,293,650 433,010 13.1 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. Also CTCs and academies. 2 number of pupils include those with sole and dual registration. Excludes boarders. 3 Includes pupils with sole and dual main registration. Includes boarders. Note: Pupil numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and totals as shown. Source: School Census
Health Education: Sex
(2) what consultation will be undertaken on the recommendations of the group reviewing the delivery of sex and relationship education.
The external steering group which has overseen the review of sex and relationships education (SRE) in schools is due to present its report and recommendations to DCSF Ministers at the end of July 2008. Ministers will consider the recommendations and respond later in the year.
We do not intend to carry out a public consultation on the group’s recommendations. However it may be appropriate to consult more widely on particular action that the Government propose to take as a result of the group’s report.
Politics: Curriculum
Citizenship education, which has been compulsory in secondary schools since 2002, makes an important contribution to developing young people's political literacy. It enables them to improve their understanding and develop skills of democratic participation while helping them to appreciate that they have a stake in society. Through Citizenship Education, young people are taught about democratic institutions, processes and the importance of voting. We are keen to encourage active learning so that young people start early to experience democracy in action. We continue to monitor young people's attitudes to participation in the democratic process through UK-based research such as the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER)'s longitudinal study reports and international research such as the International Review of Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks Archive (INCA) report which looks at how citizenship education affects participation in 14 different countries.
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
The dedicated schools grant (DSG) was introduced in 2006-07 and the guaranteed units of funding per pupil (GUF) from 2006-07 to 2010-11 are provided in the following table. Prior to 2006-07, funding was not allocated through a guaranteed amount per pupil and so figures are not available for 1997-98 to 2005-06. This funding covers all funded pupils aged three to 15. Figures are in cash terms.
GUF (£) 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 Barking and Dagenham 4,097 4,379 4,563 4,725 4,917 Barnet 4,081 4,344 4,559 4,723 4,917 Barnsley 3,452 3,688 3,848 3,987 4,154 Bath and North East Somerset 3,492 3,715 3,891 4,033 4,204 Bedfordshire 3,407 3,633 3,817 3,961 4,134 Bexley 3,719 3,970 4,151 4,301 4,482 Birmingham 4,000 4,270 4,448 4,605 4,790 Blackburn with Darwen 3,828 4,083 4,254 4,405 4,583 Blackpool 3,573 3,818 3,982 4,125 4,296 Bolton 3,567 3,810 3,978 4,125 4,301 Bournemouth 3,435 3,665 3,825 3,964 4,130 Bracknell Forest 3,590 3,835 4,017 4,177 4,367 Bradford 3,642 3,919 4,107 4,275 4,470 Brent 4,316 4,663 4,894 5,102 5,342 Brighton and Hove 3,692 3,936 4,103 4,249 4,424 Bristol, City of 3,929 4,190 4,366 4,520 4,702 Bromley 3,525 3,775 3,966 4,123 4,311 Buckinghamshire 3,507 3,728 3,899 4,042 4,216 Bury 3,537 3,763 3,926 4,068 4,238 Calderdale 3,520 3,750 3,912 4,053 4,222 Cambridgeshire 3,407 3,623 3,787 3,926 4,093 Camden 5,551 5,923 6,161 6,373 6,618 Cheshire 3,471 3,692 3,880 4,021 4,190 Cornwall 3,362 3,585 3,742 3,879 4,043 Coventry 3,696 3,942 4,110 4,258 4,433 Croydon 3,806 4,080 4,267 4,432 4,627 Cumbria 3,447 3,671 3,831 3,970 4,137 Darlington 3,547 3,782 3,944 4,086 4,255 Derby 3,574 3,814 3,978 4,120 4,291 Derbyshire 3,429 3,649 3,825 3,964 4,130 Devon 3,335 3,551 3,707 3,843 4,005 Doncaster 3,541 3,778 3,941 4,083 4,252 Dorset 3,418 3,635 3,799 3,938 4,104 Dudley 3,549 3,786 3,949 4,092 4,263 Durham 3,581 3,818 3,982 4,125 4,296 Ealing 4,339 4,634 4,832 5,007 5,213 East Riding of Yorkshire 3,322 3,535 3,715 3,851 4,015 East Sussex 3,598 3,831 3,997 4,141 4,313 Enfield 3,984 4,257 4,437 4,596 4,785 Essex 3,524 3,752 3,924 4,067 4,238 Gateshead 3,585 3,822 3,986 4,129 4,300 Gloucestershire 3,358 3,574 3,744 3,881 4,046 Greenwich 4,745 5,120 5,361 5,576 5,827 Hackney 5,491 5,906 6,170 6,409 6,682 Halton 3,797 4,054 4,226 4,376 4,555 Hammersmith and Fulham 5,070 5,413 5,635 5,831 6,059 Hampshire 3,441 3,659 3,824 3,964 4,132 Haringey 4,482 4,791 4,987 5,161 5,364 Harrow 4,051 4,311 4,507 4,669 4,862 Hartlepool 3,620 3,864 4,029 4,173 4,345 Havering 3,719 3,962 4,137 4,287 4,468 Herefordshire 3,297 3,523 3,687 3,830 4,002 Hertfordshire 3,507 3,730 3,896 4,039 4,212 Hillingdon 3,919 4,179 4,361 4,519 4,709 Hounslow 4,167 4,457 4,651 4,822 5,024 Isle of Wight 3,640 3,883 4,051 4,198 4,373 Islington 5,146 5,555 5,812 6,043 6,310 Kensington and Chelsea 5,211 5,533 5,757 5,956 6,186 Kent 3,523 3,756 3,938 4,081 4,251 Kingston upon Hull, City of 3,738 3,999 4,168 4,317 4,493 Kingston upon Thames 3,826 4,069 4,256 4,410 4,596 Kirklees 3,543 3,781 3,947 4,093 4,266 Knowsley 3,737 4,038 4,236 4,414 4,621 Lambeth 5,208 5,596 5,848 6,075 6,337 Lancashire 3,536 3,765 3,927 4,069 4,238 Leeds 3,532 3,764 3,926 4,068 4,237 Leicester 3,700 3,972 4,151 4,310 4,497 Leicestershire 3,224 3,429 3,596 3,728 3,888 Lewisham 4,997 5,335 5,556 5,751 5,981 Lincolnshire 3,414 3,636 3,795 3,933 4,099 Liverpool 3,851 4,136 4,320 4,484 4,675 Luton 3,821 4,078 4,251 4,402 4,583 Manchester 4,104 4,390 4,571 4,731 4,919 Medway 3,626 3,868 4,034 4,179 4,351 Merton 4,004 4,270 4,452 4,612 4,801 Middlesbrough 3,759 4,013 4,182 4,330 4,506 Milton Keynes 3,620 3,865 4,080 4,231 4,413 Newcastle upon Tyne 3,643 3,916 4,096 4,256 4,443 Newham 4,526 4,860 5,071 5,259 5,478 Norfolk 3,423 3,648 3,807 3,945 4,111 North East Lincolnshire 3,719 3,966 4,134 4,281 4,455 North Lincolnshire 3,435 3,663 3,822 3,961 4,127 North Somerset 3,358 3,574 3,757 3,895 4,061 North Tyneside 3,451 3,676 3,836 3,974 4,140 North Yorkshire 3,458 3,676 3,854 3,993 4,160 Northamptonshire 3,384 3,602 3,785 3,923 4,088 Northumberland 3,330 3,552 3,711 3,850 4,016 Nottingham 4,041 4,321 4,500 4,658 4,843 Nottinghamshire 3,457 3,682 3,842 3,981 4,148 Oldham 3,687 3,944 4,118 4,271 4,453 Oxfordshire 3,480 3,704 3,870 4,011 4,182 Peterborough 3,681 3,929 4,098 4,246 4,422 Plymouth 3,493 3,728 3,889 4,030 4,198 Poole 3,349 3,568 3,724 3,860 4,024 Portsmouth 3,650 3,893 4,061 4,207 4,381 Reading 3,797 4,069 4,260 4,428 4,627 Redbridge 3,757 4,027 4,214 4,380 4,575 Redcar and Cleveland 3,583 3,825 3,990 4,133 4,305 Richmond upon Thames 3,880 4,119 4,311 4,467 4,654 Rochdale 3,744 4,000 4,171 4,321 4,500 Rotherham 3,633 3,879 4,045 4,190 4,363 Rutland 3,520 3,735 3,898 4,039 4,208 Salford 3,877 4,135 4,309 4,462 4,642 Sandwell 3,762 4,035 4,214 4,372 4,557 Sefton 3,523 3,755 3,917 4,058 4,227 Sheffield 3,529 3,778 3,947 4,096 4,272 Shropshire 3,339 3,551 3,715 3,850 4,013 Slough 3,911 4,203 4,404 4,582 4,792 Solihull 3,342 3,556 3,750 3,887 4,052 Somerset 3,365 3,582 3,752 3,889 4,052 South Gloucestershire 3,281 3,489 3,647 3,781 3,944 South Tyneside 3,670 3,923 4,092 4,241 4,417 Southampton 3,697 3,948 4,117 4,265 4,441 Southend-on-Sea 3,620 3,860 4,026 4,171 4,344 Southwark 5,162 5,525 5,756 5,961 6,200 St. Helens 3,577 3,813 3,977 4,120 4,290 Staffordshire 3,381 3,598 3,776 3,913 4,078 Stockport 3,484 3,706 3,902 4,043 4,211 Stockton-on-Tees 3,562 3,797 3,960 4,102 4,272 Stoke-on-Trent 3,651 3,904 4,070 4,215 4,388 Suffolk 3,372 3,591 3,763 3,900 4,065 Sunderland 3,576 3,823 3,990 4,137 4,311 Surrey 3,569 3,801 3,976 4,129 4,313 Sutton 3,810 4,066 4,253 4,409 4,596 Swindon 3,378 3,597 3,775 3,913 4,079 Tameside 3,578 3,818 3,983 4,126 4,298 Telford and Wrekin 3,515 3,750 3,911 4,052 4,219 Thurrock 3,708 3,958 4,141 4,291 4,470 Torbay 3,525 3,760 3,922 4,064 4,233 Tower Hamlets 5,610 6,028 6,289 6,523 6,792 Trafford 3,432 3,653 3,852 3,992 4,160 Wakefield 3,488 3,720 3,881 4,022 4,190 Walsall 3,577 3,843 4,023 4,183 4,371 Waltham Forest 4,115 4,399 4,584 4,747 4,940 Wandsworth 4,513 4,892 5,146 5,376 5,639 Warrington 3,414 3,631 3,819 3,958 4,125 Warwickshire 3,404 3,621 3,789 3,927 4,093 West Berkshire 3,569 3,809 3,984 4,137 4,321 West Sussex 3,488 3,711 3,877 4,018 4,186 Westminster 4,853 5,203 5,439 5,650 5,893 Wigan 3,552 3,784 3,948 4,091 4,262 Wiltshire 3,337 3,554 3,713 3,849 4,013 Windsor and Maidenhead 3,627 3,863 4,040 4,193 4,378 Wirral 3,514 3,765 3,937 4,089 4,269 Wokingham 3,422 3,660 3,844 4,005 4,198 Wolverhampton 3,684 3,961 4,145 4,309 4,502 Worcestershire 3,337 3,553 3,729 3,865 4,028 York 3,397 3,614 3,801 3,939 4,103 England Average 3,643 3,888 4,066 4,218 4,398 Notes: 1. This covers funding through the dedicated schools grant (DSG) which covers all funded pupils aged three to 15. 2. This figure does not represent the totality of ‘education’ funding allocated in each year. There are other grants that support the schools budget; these are not included in the provided DSG figure.
Religion: Education
Independent schools are required to meet standards set out in regulations which cover the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils. The relevant parts of this standard require schools to:
Enable pupils to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence;
Enable pupils to distinguish right from wrong and respect the law;
Encourage pupils to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative and understand how they can contribute to community life;
Assist pupils to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures in a way that promotes tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions.
Schools: Standards
This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the Library.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 17 June 2008:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for a response.
Between 01 September 2006 and 31 August 2007, three schools in Cornwall, 92 schools in the South West and 1,148 schools in England were judged to have outstanding overall effectiveness. These figures are shown in Table 1, where to put them in context, I also provide the numbers of maintained schools inspected by Ofsted over the same period. The schools in Cornwall judged outstanding during 2006/07 are listed in Table 2, with their parliamentary constituencies.
Area Number of schools judged outstanding for overall effectiveness Number of schools inspected Cornwall 3 116 South West 92 839 England 1,148 8,322
School name Phase School address Parliamentary constituency Mount Hawke Community Primary School Primary Rodda’s Road, Mount Hawke, Truro TR4 8BA Truro and St. Austell St. Mary’s Catholic School Primary Peverell Road, Penzance TR18 2AT St. Ives Penair School—A Science College Secondary St. Clement, Truro TR1 1TN Truro and St. Austell
A copy of this reply has been sent to Jim Knight, Minister for Schools and Learners, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Secondary and Primary Education
(2) how many primary schools (a) opened, (b) closed and (c) were amalgamated in each local education authority in each year since 1997-98.
Two tables showing the numbers of primary, secondary (and middle deemed primary and middle deemed secondary) schools opened and closed in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority, have been placed in the Library. The tables separate the phases of education.
A further table showing school amalgamations has also been placed in the Library. It is not possible to accurately state the number of amalgamations by year since 1997 as records did not always record the reason for opening/closure. Even the records from 1999 to 2002 can be inaccurate, as some of these were proposed prior to 1999, but implemented post 1999.
There are significantly more closures than new schools, because an amalgamation can be either where:
(a) two or more schools close and are replaced by a new school (sometimes on the site of a closing school(s)), or
(b) one or more schools close and a continuing school is altered, to accommodate the displaced pupils.
Secondary Education: Lancashire
The information requested is not collected centrally.
School pupil:teacher ratios in local authority maintained secondary schools are readily available. Figures for Chorley constituency, Lancashire local authority and England for January 2007 are provided in the following table.
Chorley constituency Lancashire local authority England Secondary 2007 16.5 16.0 16.5 1 The within-school PTR is calculated by dividing the total FTE number of pupils on roll in schools by the total FTE number of qualified teachers regularly employed in schools. 2 Excludes academies.
Secondary Education: Standards
The following table shows the number of secondary schools that were in special measures at the end of each academic year since 1997/98 in (a) Chorley, (b) Lancashire and (c) England.
End of academic year Chorley Lancashire England 1997/98 0 1 95 1998/99 0 1 81 1999/2000 0 0 83 2000/01 0 0 64 2001/02 0 0 52 2002/03 0 0 58 2003/04 0 1 94 2004/05 0 1 90 2005/06 0 1 54 2006/07 0 2 47 2007/08 (up to end of spring term) 0 3 51
The information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Figures for 11 year olds achieving level 4 and above in both English and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2 are only readily available at national level from 2003; these figures together with local authority level tables showing the percentages achieving the expected level in each of these subjects separately can be found in the Statistical First Release “National Curriculum Assessments at Key Stage 2 in England, 2007 (Revised)”, which is accessible via the following link:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000764/index.shtml
Local authority level information showing the percentage achieving the expected level in both English and mathematics will be published in the summer. These statistics will cover years 2005, 2006 and 2007 and will be placed on the Research and Statistics Gateway accessible via the link:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/whatsnew.shtml.
No secondary schools in Chorley were placed in special measures or issued with notices to improve during 2007.
The information requested for (c) is not published by the Department and can be provided only at disproportionate cost. All six secondary schools in Chorley had more than 30 per cent. of pupils achieving 5 A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent, including GCSE English and mathematics in 2007. Further information on the performance of Chorley’s secondary schools can be found in the secondary school (GCSE and equivalent) achievement and attainment tables at:
www.dcsf.gov.uk/performancetables/
Teachers
The information requested is not available in the format requested.
Truancy
(2) what assessment he has made of the effects of truancy on standards attained in education; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what guidance his Department has issued to (a) local education authorities and (b) the police on the detention of children truanting from school; and if he will make a statement.
Under Section 16 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended), police officers may, if authorised to do so by a chief police officer, take excluded pupils who are in a public place during normal school hours and children who they believe are out of school without lawful authority to a designated place established by the local authority or to the school. This power is often used during a “school attendance and exclusions sweep”.
This Department and the Home Department have issued joint guidance to local authorities and police services on the use of the power to remove pupils from public places and the organisation of exercises using it called "School Attendance and Exclusions Sweeps: Effective Practice and Advice" which explains the law and gives examples of practice that is in use.
Under Section 444A of the Education Act 1996 (as amended) police officers may issue fixed penalty notices to parents who fail to secure their child's regular attendance, if they have been authorised to do so by the local code of practice on the use of penalty notices.
Police community support officers may also use the powers to remove pupils from a public place and to issue fixed penalty notices, if they have been designated to do so under the Police Reform Act 2002 by the .chief officer of the force concerned.
The Department has not collected data on the number of “school attendance and exclusions sweeps” conducted by local authorities since autumn 2006, when we ceased co-ordinating national sweeps, allowing authorities to run sweeps according to local need. I have put the data we collected as part of the rationally co-ordinated exercises in the Library of the House.
Analyses of national data show that there is a correlation between absence from school and pupils' levels of achievement, with average performance of pupils in schools with lower levels of absence better than pupils in schools with higher levels of absence. Data for 2006-07 showed that in secondary schools with an average of 12 days absence per pupil 36 per cent. of pupils or more obtained five of more GCSEs at grade A* to C including English and maths compared with 91 per cent. of pupils in secondary schools with an average of less than six days absence per pupil In primary schools with an average of more than 12 days absence per pupil 52 per cent. of 11-year-olds achieved level 4 or above in English and mathematics compared with 84 per cent. of pupils in schools where the average absence was less than six days per pupil.
Number of Sweeps Local Authority Spring 2003 2003-4 school year 2004-5 school year 2005-6 school year Autumn 2006 Barking and Dagenham 3 11 6 6 3 Barnet 8 0 13 5 2 Barnsley 24 52 85 37 18 Bath and NE Somerset 7 14 7 0 0 Bedfordshire 14 28 42 38 16 Bexley 1 7 29 12 4 Birmingham 10 58 22 30 20 Blackburn 14 10 16 20 7 Blackpool 5 6 9 9 4 Bolton 2 3 4 1 2 Bournemouth 3 4 8 10 7 Bracknell Forest 12 13 9 11 8 Bradford 7 15 14 16 0 Brent 9 0 3 8 3 Brighton and Hove 2 3 2 4 6 Bristol City 38 115 5 6 5 Bromley 4 8 18 28 13 Buckinghamshire 0 6 8 12 10 Bury 10 112 70 46 10 Calderdale 5 20 20 12 4 Cambridgeshire 0 .20 29 21 5 Camden 3 5 20 17 8 Cheshire 1 5 23 17 10 City of Derby 32 94 74 62 0 City of Nottingham 25 38 32 33 8 City of Westminster 5 8 7 8 3 Cornwall 2 6 9 9 2 Corporation of London 0 3 4 4 0 Coventry 0 27 33 24 0 Croydon 4 4 10 9 2 Cumbria 0 4 8 4 2 Darlington 2 3 4 5 1 Derbyshire 4 29 25 26 0 Devon 0 5 11 12 5 Doncaster 4 11 24 0 11 Dorset 3 0 5 4 11 Dudley 0 18 7 9 4 Durham 18 42 39 47 21 Ealing 6 15 21 22 10 East Riding 4 10 21 0 0 East Sussex NB UG1 3 6 14 25 25 Enfield 5 8 5 2 5 Essex 6 12 26 29 14 Gateshead 11 24 21 20 14 Gloucestershire 6 10 12 16 8 Greenwich 9 10 15 10 5 Hackney 5 6 20 15 18 Halton 8 4 10 12 9 Hammersmith and Fulham 16 18 33 30 14 Hampshire 12 18 8 11 5 Haringey 8 17 16 27 10 Harrow 11 20 19 14 3 Hartlepool 4 9 18 12 9 Havering 3 0 2 6 4 Herefordshire 3 6 2 0 1 Hertfordshire 23 3 17 13 11 Hillingdon 16 29 38 38 17 Hounslow 8 12 18 64 21 Isle of Wight 9 17 8 4 4 Isles of Scilly 0 0 0 0 0 Islington 10 18 25 20 7 Kensington and Chelsea 8 16 7 5 1 Kent 15 37 38 42 20 Kingston upon Hull 14 11 8 0 5 Kingston-upon-Thames 3 6 5 14 4 Kirklees 3 6 3 2 5 Knowsley 0 0 16 9 3 Lambeth 5 9 10 0 0 Lancashire 0 46 30 34 14 Leeds 4 35 44 37 5 Leicester City 2 4 5 8 3 Leicestershire 2 10 14 11 4 Lewisham 9 14 10 9 5 Lincolnshire 8 17 17 13 8 Liverpool 22 94 89 97 36 Luton 0 2 3 12 8 Manchester 6 14 10 19 20 Medway 0 4 3 11 3 Merton 2 9 8 11 5 Middlesbrough 9 21 25 20 10 Milton Keynes 6 18 10 11 2 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 15 41 36 32 8 Newham 0 30 14 10 4 Norfolk 0 2 15 7 0 North East Lincolnshire 5 8 7 4 2 North Lincolnshire 9 48 29 15 15 North Somerset 9 12 18 9 2 North Tyneside 5 15 5 5 0 North Yorkshire 8 8 26 18 5 Northamptonshire 8 5 8 6 9 Northumberland 9 17 24 18 10 Nottinghamshire 8 17 14 17 12 Oldham 4 8 9 7 5 Oxfordshire 21 16 10 6 3 Peterborough 1 5 5 0 0 Plymouth 3 6 3 0 3 Poole 1 6 9 4 0 Portsmouth 1 2 2 2 1 Reading 3 6 6 11 5 Redbridge 3 7 6 3- 3 Redcar and Cleveland 5 6 8 9 8 Richmond-upon-Thames 4 8 6 7 2 Rochdale 0 10 9 7 2 Rotherham 12 18 30 23 14 Rutland 0 1 2 4 2 Salford 0 11 10 7 5 Sandwell 21 78 46 71 27 Sefton 10 66 46 66 30 Sheffield 10 10 10 0 0 Shropshire 4 18 21 18 12 Slough 8 9 6 3 0 Solihull 5 0 26 23 6 Somerset 6 7 8 5 3 South Gloucestershire 5 5 7 7 10 South Tyneside 0 7 8 6 0 Southampton 2 8 20 3 7 Southend 3 3 5 2 0 Southwark 0 0 2 17 11 St Helens 18 10 9 10 5 Staffordshire 27 55 27 32 22 Stockport 10 30 26 20 20 Stockton-on-Tees 2 5 5 6 0 Stoke-on-Trent 6 8 5 33 0 Suffolk 13 9 15 14 7 Sunderland 5 10 17 19 14 Surrey 9 19 18 14 9 Sutton 6 9 15 17 2 Swindon 4 1 8 10 7 Tameside 2 7 9 24 0 The Wrekin 6 23 20 32 11 Thurrock 5 10 10 3 29 Torbay 4 4 4 4 0 Tower Hamlets 3 12 38 43 30 Trafford 6 5 0 0 0 Wakefield 3 10 6 8 4 Walsall — 11 12 6 5 Waltham Forest 3 12 12 11 6 Wandsworth 6 7 3 6 2 Warrington 10 19 20 12 3 Warwickshire 0 4 4 4 3 West Berkshire 4 9 8 6 3 West Sussex 1 1 2 2 7 Wigan :2 4 6 12 16 Wiltshire 5 3 2 4 4 Windsor and Maidenhead 4 10 10 5 0 Wirral 4 13 16 15 7 Wokingham 0 2 1 a 0 Wolverhampton 6 12 11 11 6 York 4 47 22 25 23
Work Experience: Industrial Health and Safety
Schools have the primary duty of care for their students and must ensure that health and safety risk assessments are carried out for work experience placements. Assessments are frequently carried out on schools' behalf by education business partnership organisations. Employers are responsible for the health and safety of everyone on their premises. 95 per cent. of young people participate in work experience, amounting to over half a million placements each year within which the track record of health and safety is excellent reflecting the care that schools and employers take to keep young people safe and to maximise the benefits of work experience.
Young Offenders: Administration of Justice
The Youth Justice Board and local multi-agency youth offending teams were established in 1998 under the Crime and Disorder Act. A key role of the Youth Justice Board is to monitor the performance of, and standards for, the youth justice system. Its work is a key driver for the improvements the system has seen since the reforms introduced in 1998, and its ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of the system continues to influence policy on tackling youth crime and bringing about further improvements.
Youth offending teams were described by the Audit Commission in Youth Justice 2004 as
“a good example of a flexible, multi-disciplinary approach to service delivery from which other public sector partnerships could learn”.
In general, the new youth justice arrangements were described by the Audit Commission as
“a significant improvement and a good model for delivering public services”.
The Audit Commission also identified that following the reforms to the youth justice system young offenders are more likely to receive an intervention, young offenders are dealt with more quickly, young offenders are more likely to make amends for their wrong-doing, and magistrates are very satisfied with the service they receive from Youth offending teams.
Notable examples of improvements to the youth justice system are:
Figures for 2005-06 and 2006-07 show that the number of first time entrants to the criminal justice system has reduced from 97,329 in 2005-06 to 93,730 in 2006-07.
Self-reported youth offending levels are relatively stable, with about 25 per cent. of young people admitting to offending in the previous year although only a minority of this is serious and/or persistent.
The national statistics published in May 2008 showed a reduction of 17.4 per cent. in the frequency rate of re-offending between 2000 and 2005. The results also show that the percentage of offenders who re-offended over a one year period fell from 40.2 per cent. in 2000 to 38.4 per cent. in 2005.
Youth in Action Programme
The list shows those organisations so far approved in 2008 to receive funding from the UK National Agency under the European Union’s Youth in Action programme by action type. An organisation appears in the list more than once where it has been approved for funding for more than one project.
Records are not held by the UK for projects under this programme that are funded directly from the European Commission. These projects are therefore excluded from the list.
Action 1, Youth for Europe
Applicant:
Theatr Fforwm Cymru
Clubs for young people Wales
Point Europa
Portland Area Youth
The Mendip Centre
Devon and Cornwall Housing
KPC YOUTH
St. Comgalls Parish Youth Centre
Portadown YMCA
NEELB YOUTH SERVICE
Birches Community Association
Patrician Youth Centre
Brownlow Area Youth Project
Brownlow Area Youth Project
East Belfast Area Youth Project
Reach Across
Reach Across
Reach Across
Reepham International Community Group
Impact Youth Group
Stockport Youth Service: the Duke of Edinburgh Award—Gold exploration group
CSV Training and Enterprise North
Leeds college of music
Go Away and Learn GOAL
Percy Hedley Foundation
East Durham Youth in Action
Evenwood and AYCC joint youth project
Grey Lodge Settlement
South Lanarkshire Council, Youth Learning Services
Motherwell
Motherwell
Scripture Union England and Wales
Littlehampton Rangers
Groundwork North Northants
Leicester Stars Football Club
St. Matthews Community Solution Centre
Norfolk county council
South London Somali Society
Albert and Friends Instant Circus
Theatre Royal Stratford East
National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS)
Lido Youth and Culture Association
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC Youth Forum)
MeWe Art and Education
Middlesbrough Youth Service
4th Lymm Scout Group
NEELB Youth Service
Patrician Youth Centre
Spirit of Enniskillen Trust
Corpus Christi Youth Centre
Spirit of Enniskillen Trust
Inside Out
Lewis and Harris Youth Clubs Association
Perth and District YMCA
Loch Lomond Pilgrimage Centre
Muirhouse Youth Development Group (MYDG)
CHAI—Community Help and Advice Initiative
St. Ninian’s Church Youth Challenge
Bathgate PHAB Club
Grey Lodge Settlement
Scottish Youth Dance
Tullochan Trust
CHAI—Community Help and Advice Initiative
The Southside Project
Bishops Green Youth Project
Robert Elkins for Oxfordshire County Council Youth Service
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDCB)
Callington and District Twinning Association—CADTA
Bristol City Council
Wiltshire County Council Youth Development Service
Devon Federation of Young Farmers Club
Devon and Cornwall Housing Association
1st Wellington Scout Group
Cheddar Baptist Church Youth Group
Pen-y-sarn Youth Club
Wrexham Borough Council
BISYOC
Pit Stop 2000
Now or Never Generation
The Urban Art Project
Vertigo theatre drama group
Minority of Europe
Next Generation
Carmarthen Post 16
Hackney Remixed
Matt Roberts Arts Group
Lewisham Young Mayors
Youth promoters Leeds (Everything is possible)
Action 2, European Voluntary Service
A Rocha
Belfast Community Circus School
Bryson House—Ulster Wildlife Trust
Bryson House—RNIB Northern Ireland
Café Project
Concordia
CSV 2008 R1
CVNI
Depaul Trust
Depaul Trust Northern Ireland
Ecoseeds
Edinburgh Cyrenians
EIL Tools for Self Reliance
EIL Upton Warren
EIL First Key
EIL YMCA Winchester
EIL Malvern Hills
EIL YMCA Fairthorne
The Forest
ICP Cardigan Bay
ICP Sea Trust
ICP Meeting of Minds
ICYE Cambridge Cyrenians
ICYE Delos
Leonard Cheshire Seven Rivers
Options for Life
Point Europa
Public Achievement
StudentForce
SWYM
UNA
West London YMCA
UCAN2
Edinburgh University Settlement
ICYE
ICYE
Action Reconciliation Service for Peace
Bath YMCA
British Red Cross
Bryson Charitable Group—HI Nl
Bryson Charitable Group—Queen’s Uni
Bryson Charitable Group—UWT
CSV
EIL—First Key
EIL—Romford YMCA
EIL—Slimbridge Wildfowl
EIL—Worcester YMCA
Everything’s Possible—Arts
Everything’s Possible—Youth
Grey Lodge Settlement
ICYE—Cambridge Cyrenians
ICYE—Delos
ICYE—Treloar Trust
MYDG
National Trust
Options for Life
Pestalozzi
Point Europa
Southwell House
Student Force
Time for God
Tools for Solidarity
UNA Exchange
British Red Cross
Bryson Charitable Group
UNA Exchange
Depaul Trust
Everything’s Possible
Action 3.1, Youth in the World
Bridges Project
Play-a Part
South Gloucestershire Council Youth Service
Minorities of Europe
Northumberland Inter-Cultural Experience Group
Charnwood Racial Equality Council
Minorities of Europe
Minorities of Europe
Youthaction, Northern Ireland
Enterprising Newcastle
Clue Academy
Cambridge House
Minorities of Europe
Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs, WAYC
Axis Educational Trust
Tides Training and consultancy
International School for Peace Studies
Action 4.3, Youth Support
International Network for Culture and Arts
Everything’s Possible
Inside Out Project
Inside Out Project
Network4YOUth England
Canllaw Online Cyf
Community Education Services
Chester Lions Club
Point Europa
North Eastern Education and Library Board
Brouhaha International
Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster
Centre for Outdoor Education, Trinity College Carmarthen
Inside Out Project
Sherbourne Douzelage
ICP Partneriaeth
Point Europa
Apsley Paper Trail
Action 5.1, Youth Policy Co-operation
European Badminton Youth Network