Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 15 October 2008
Church Commissioners
Churches: Repairs and Maintenance
Representatives of the Church of England have had constructive discussions with Ministers and officials from the Treasury, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Office of the Third Sector and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. These interdepartmental discussions are ongoing and I would hope to be able to report the outcome before the Christmas recess.
By way of a statement, the overall aim is to examine the contribution made by church buildings of all faiths to the agendas of Departments and to identify available funding from national, regional and local government sources. From there, the working group is looking at ways of ensuring that these funding streams are fully accessible to churches.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Bluetongue Disease
Currently, there are several bluetongue serotypes circulating in different parts of the EU, including serotypes 1, 2, 4, 8, 9 and 16. A map of the current protection zones in place for each serotype can be found on the European Commission website.
Of most importance to the UK are bluetongue serotypes 1 and 8. Bluetongue serotype 8 (BTV-8) was first found in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Western Germany and in parts of North Eastern France in summer/autumn 2006. In 2007, Northern Europe experienced a dramatic increase of new cases in all existing infected areas, and cases numbered into the tens of thousands as disease steadily spread across Europe.
In 2008, the number of new cases of BTV-8 in many EU member states has declined, but depending on weather conditions, it is possible that there may be further outbreaks this year. BTV-8 continues to be highly prevalent in France (with over 16,000 new cases in 2008) and Germany (over 1,300 new cases). BTV-1 is prevalent in Spain (over 1,000 new cases) and France (over 2,600 cases).
Departmental Paper
From information held centrally, the figures are as follows:
Tonnes Percentage from recycled sources Photocopier paper 2006-07 547.9 97 2007-08 601.11 98 Printer paper 2006-07 318.7 100 2007-08 281.7 100
DEFRA’s sustainable procurement policy is adherence to the highest standards of recycled paper. DEFRA currently buys paper that contains 75 per cent. recycled fibre for coated paper used in publications and for office paper (copier) and publications using uncoated paper, there is a 100 per cent. recycled fibre target. The only exceptions to these standards are where recycled paper is not available for a specific process e.g. some coloured stocks, security paper and non-carbon reproduction (NCR). Meeting the targets owes much to the fact that a considerable proportion of DEFRA’s printed publications are commissioned from a single central business unit using a centrally negotiated contract for recycled paper. The increase in photocopier usage is accounted for by print jobs related to cattle statements, herd statements, herd movements, single payments scheme and animal health disease outbreaks.
Departmental Press
In the last 24 months, DEFRA spent £26,031.55 on subscriptions for magazines and newspapers. It is not possible to give a monthly breakdown as the amount varies depending on the length of the subscription.
Floods
[holding answer 17 September 2008]: The following table shows the number of critical facilities sites at risk of flooding. The Environment Agency is unable to give the location of these sites for national security reasons.
Asset Significant (1 in75) Moderate (1 in 75-200) Low (1 in 200 or fewer) Total in all three zones Water and sewerage (Number) 737 223 179 1,145 Electricity, generation and distribution (Number) 2,215 2,263 3,818 8,423 Gas, works and distribution (Number) 5 8 10 23 Telephone exchanges (Number) 82 67 86 241 Motorways (Kilometres) 139 104 132 382 A roads (Kilometres) 884 553 809 2,278 Railway lines (Kilometres) 1,470 750 948 3,213 Note: Taken from an Environment Agency study showing infrastructure overlain on flood risk maps (river and sea floodplains).
International Panel on Climate Change: Correspondence
I have been asked to reply.
The Meteorological Office will review correspondence between Professor Mitchell and the IPCC in the last 12 months. Where appropriate, copies will be placed in the Library of the House.
Non-Departmental Public Bodies
[holding answer 14 October 2008]: Requested details for arms length bodies and gross controlled agencies for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 are provided in the following tables. HM Treasury deflators have been used to derive net change in real terms at 2008-09 prices.
DEFRA’s other Executive Agencies: the Central Science Laboratory (CSL), the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) recover their full economic costs through charges made to customers for services provided.
How the changes in budget levels between the two years will be applied, are matters for the chief executives of individual NDPBs and Executive Agencies, in consultation with Ministers.
£ million 2008-09 2009-10 Resource Cap Total Resource Cap Total. Environment Agency 467.5 330.0 797.5 473.8 357.5 831.3 Natural England 169.9 6.1 176.0 165.9 6.1 172.0 Carbon Trust 58.7 30.4 89.1 58.7 27.0 85.7 British Waterways 34.1 23.6 57.7 33.8 24.6 58.4 National Parks 46.6 — 46.6 51.0 51.0 Waste and Resources Action Programme 37.0 3.0 40.0 37.0 3.0 40.0 Energy Savings Trust 36.1 — 36.1 39.5 1.0 40.5 Royal Botanical Gardens Kew 17.6 8.8 26.4 17.6 10.9 28.5 Joint Nature Conservation Committee 1.9 — 1.9 1.9 — 1.9 Committee for Rural Communities 6.4 — 6.4 6.4 — 6.4 ENCAMS 5.0 — 5.0 5.0 — 5.0 Food from Britain1 4.0 — 4.0 0.0 — 0.0 National Forest Co. 3.6 — 3.6 3.6 — 3.6 Gangmasters Licensing Authority 1.5 — 1.5 1.5 — 1.5
Net change from 2008-09 to 2009-10 Resource Capital Cash Percentage Real Percentage Cash Percentage Real Percentage Environment Agency 6.3 1.3 6.1 1.3 27.5 8.3 26.8 8.1 Natural England -4.0 -2.4 -3.9 -2.3 — — — — Carbon Trust — — — — -3.4 11.2 -3.3 10.9 British Waterways -0.3 -0.9 -0.3 -0.9 1.0 4.2 1.0 4.1 National Parks 4.4 9.4 4.3 9.2 — — — — Waste and Resources Action Programme — — — — — — — — Energy Savings Trust 3.4 9.4 3.3 9.1 1.0 — 1.0 Royal Botanical Gardens Kew — — — — 2.2 24.6 2.1 23.9 Joint Nature Conservation Committee — — — — — — — — Committee for Rural Communities — — — — — — — — ENCAMS — — — — — — — — Food from Britain1 -4.0 100.0 -3.9 97.3 — — — — National Forest Co. — — — — — — — — Gangmasters Licensing Authority — — — — — — — —
Net change from 2008-09 to 2009-l0 Total Cash Percentage Real Percentage Environment Agency 33.8 4.2 32.9 4.1 Natural England -4.0 -2.3 -3.9 -2.2 Carbon Trust -3.4 -3.8 -3.3 -3.7 British Waterways 0.7 1.2 0.7 1.2 National Parks 4.4 9.4 4.3 9.2 Waste and Resources Action Programme — — — — Energy Savings Trust 4.4 12.1 4.3 11.8 Royal Botanical Gardens Kew 2.2 8.2 2.1 7.9 Joint Nature Conservation Committee — — — — Committee for Rural Communities — — — — ENCAMS — — — — Food from Britain1 -4.0 100.0 -3.9 97.3 National Forest Co. — — — — Gangmasters Licensing Authority — — — — 1 Food from Britain will cease operations from 1 April 2009
£ million 2008-09 2009-10 Resource Cap Total Resource Cap Total RPA Operations 201.6 22.0 223.6 182.7 19.5 202.2 RPA OCDS Costs1 32.4 — 32.4 — — — Marine and Fisheries Agency 20.5 3.0 23.5 20.5 3.0 23.5 Animal Health 114.0 14.1 128.1 115.5 10.7 126.1 Govt Decontamination Service 3.0 — 3.0 3.0 — 3.0
Net change from 2008-09 to 2009-10 Resource Capital Cash Percentage Real Percentage Cash Percentage Real Percentage RPA Operations -18.9 -9.4 18.4 -9.1 -2.5 11.3 -2.4 11.0 RPA OCDS Costs1 — — — — — — — — Marine and Fisheries Agency — — — — — — — — Animal Health 1.5 1.3 1.4 1.3 -3.4 24.3 -3.3 23.6 Govt Decontamination Service — — — — — — — —
Net change from 2008-09 to 2009-10 Total Cash Percentage Real Percentage RPA Operations -21.4 -9.6 20.8 -9.3 RPA OCDS Costs1 — — — — Marine and Fisheries Agency — — — — Animal Health -1.9 -1.5 -1.9 -1.5 Govt Decontamination Service — — — — 1 OCDS (Older Cattle Disposal scheme) ends February 2009
Prawns
(2) if he will increase the rigorousness and regularity of the testing of shellfish imported from South East Asia; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what steps he is taking to reduce the risk of toxic imported shellfish being put on sale to the public in the UK.
Prawns are not farmed in the UK. Some other shellfish are farmed in the UK, but are subject to controls required by EU legislation aimed at raising the standards of aquaculture health throughout the EU.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has responsibility for food safety matters, including controls on imported food such as shellfish from non-EU countries. These imports are subject to robust checks at UK seaports and airports of entry by local authorities in accordance with EU food safety and hygiene legislation.
All imports of food products from non-EU countries must meet food safety and food hygiene requirements equivalent to those in the UK. Products of animal origin, including shellfish, may be imported from non-EU countries which ensure that establishments meet EU standards and, have enforcement officials who monitor and are required to certify compliance with EU food safety criteria.
Such products must enter the EU through designated Border Inspection Posts under the control of official inspectors, where they undergo documentary and identity checks and a prescribed proportion are subject to physical compliance checks, which can include testing for toxins.
DEFRA’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) carries out surveillance for unacceptable residues of veterinary medicinal products in imported foodstuffs every year. This is based on recommendations from the independent Veterinary Residues Committee (VRC), which advises the VMD and FSA on residues issues. The programme focuses on looking for substances prohibited from use in the EU, and which therefore should not be present in food imported into the EU.
Warm water crustaceans have been included in the programme for several years. Several non-compliant results for metabolites of nitrofurans (antibiotics prohibited from use in the EU owing to health concerns) were reported in 2005 and 2006, with fewer non-compliant results in 2007 and 2008 to date. These are predominantly from South-East Asia. The UK authorities wrote to the Commission on this issue in January 2007.
Number of samples Number of non-compliant 2005 301 19 2006 393 23 2007 302 2 2008 to date 184 3
Further details of the results can be obtained from the VRC’s website at
www.secretariat@vet-residues-committee.gov.uk.
Non-compliant consignments are rejected and can be destroyed. The EU Commission is notified through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of such consignments and all EU (and EEA) border posts are advised to reinforce controls.
If a consignment fails these checks then the next 10 consignments from the relevant establishment are checked, for example, for the presence of veterinary residues. EU emergency safeguard conditions are taken when there is an outbreak of disease or other circumstances likely to present a risk to public health.
Inland local authorities also carry out checks of food on sale, regardless of country of origin. It is for food businesses to ensure that food on sale in the UK meets food safety requirements. Robust import conditions and targeted enforcement action is used to check food throughout the food chain to minimise potential risks to public health.
Primates: Pets
Since 2000, the UK CITES Management Authority has issued one import permit to allow the importation of one wild primate for the purpose of keeping as a pet. The animal had been hand reared after it had been rejected by its mother and could not be returned to the wild. The Government’s scientific authorities advised that in this particular case there would be no detriment to the conservation status of the species in the wild. A permit was issued with the condition that the animal must be kept in adequate housing and could only be relinquished to a zoo or specialised keeper after ensuring that the intended recipient had been adequately informed of the accommodation, practices and equipment required to ensure the animal would be properly cared for.
There have been no permits issued in the same period to allow captive bred primates to be imported as pets.
Any seizures of primates due to noise or other nuisance would be undertaken by local authorities. Central records of such seizures are not held.
Warm Front Scheme
I have been asked to reply.
The following table illustrates the labour costs associated with the installation of central heating and the number of installations this represents. Figures split by scheme years.
Number of central heating installations delivered Heating costs—labour (£) 2005-06 22,188 35,956,029.12 2006-07 81,357 131,348,046.91 2007-08 103,044 162,284,909.55 Total 206,589 329,588,985.58
I have been asked to reply.
In the last three years, Warm Front has delivered (a) 533 insulation measures and (b) 691 heating measures to households in Bassetlaw.
I have been asked to reply.
Those residing in park homes are not disqualified from receiving assistance through the scheme and are subject to the same entry criteria as all applicants. However, many park homes can prove ‘hard to treat’ and may not be suitable for some of the measures currently available under Warm Front.
However, Warm Front has developed mechanisms for assessing new technologies that could be brought onto the scheme and is currently reviewing alternative heating and insulation measures which could provide potential future solutions for park home properties.
Warm Front Scheme: Contracts
I have been asked to reply.
The five largest contractors, in terms of the number of installations delivered through Warm Front, in Bassetlaw are:
Eaga Energy Solutions Ltd.
East Coast Gas Services Ltd.
Fenhams Contracts.
Heating Efficiency Systems Ltd.
Iguana Services Ltd.
Energy and Climate Change
Climate Change
The third Ministerial G8 Gleneagles Dialogue meeting in Berlin in 2007 concentrated on developing an integrated view on energy and climate policy with a focus on technology and investment in sustainable energy systems. The Berlin ministerial recognised the urgent need for clear and predictable policy frameworks on the national and international levels in order to spur more climate-friendly sustainable development pathways and underscored the need for agreement on a strong process to develop a post-2012 framework.
To this end, the International Energy Agency and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership, the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st century, national experts from Dialogue countries and interested stakeholders were invited to explore in more detail the technology potentials in key sectors in Dialogue countries. Analysis focused on how to ensure economic growth with a lower carbon footprint, including identifying specific innovative mechanisms for technology co-operation. The results were reported at the Japanese G8 presidency in July 2008.
International Financial Institutions were invited, in co-operation with national experts from Dialogue countries and the private sector, to analyse in depth the international co-operation toolbox, including expanding and scaling up mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism, sectoral approaches, and blended public and private financing.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) undertook three years of detailed work under the Gleneagles Plan of Action funded by G8 members. The Agency’s report of the main conclusions can be found on its website. On energy efficiency, the IEA has completed an exhaustive analysis of the global potential for improvements in energy efficiency and the action that needs to be taken to realise that potential. This analysis culminated in 25 recommendations made by the IEA to the leaders of the G8 for improving global energy efficiency covering action on buildings, appliances, lighting, transport, industry, energy utilities and cross-cutting policies and which, by 2030, could reduce global demand for oil by 15 per cent., and energy-related CO2 emissions by almost 20 per cent., G8 leaders at the Hokkaido summit in Japan in July accepted the IEA’s conclusions, which also included:
The leaders of the G8, China, India and South Korea agreeing to establish an International Partnership on Energy Efficiency.
A commitment to strongly support the launching of 20 large-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) demonstration projects globally by 2010 with a view to beginning broad deployment of CCS by 2020.
A commitment to develop road maps for innovative clean technologies and to co-operate through existing and new partnerships.
A commitment to promote the continued development and commercialisation of renewable energy, including through the launch of a Global Bioenergy Partnership.
In terms of work on encouraging investment in clean technologies in emerging economies, the World Bank and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) have been invited to increase dialogue with borrowers on energy issues and put forward specific proposals at their annual meetings to:
(a) make the best use of existing resources and financing instruments and develop a framework for energy investment to accelerate the adoption of technologies which enable cleaner, more efficient energy production and use.
(b) explore opportunities within their existing and new lending portfolios to increase the volume of investments made on renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies consistent with the MDBs’ core mission of poverty reduction.
(c) work with interested borrower countries with significant energy requirements to identify less greenhouse gas intensive growth options which meet their priorities; and ensure that such options are integrated into Country Assistance Strategies.
(d) develop local commercial capacity to develop and finance cost-effective projects that promote energy efficiency and low-carbon energy sources.
Public service agreement 27 on climate change covers three major challenges—to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by working for a global deal, to reduce UK emissions to put us in the forefront of the move to a low carbon economy; and to ensure the country is adapting to the consequences of climate change which are already unavoidable. Progress has been made on all three fronts but much more still needs to be done.
The Climate Change Bill, Energy Bill and Planning Bill will support the infrastructure changes required in the UK, establish binding carbon budgets, and set up the Committee on Climate Change. The Committee’s first report is due in December.
The Government are supporting proposals for strengthening the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, which places a cap on emissions from energy intensive sectors and puts a price on carbon, as the basis for a global carbon trading market.
The Government are consulting on a Renewable Energy Strategy as part of meeting the EU target to source 20 per cent. of the EU’s energy from renewable sources by 2020. It is also taking steps to enable nuclear new build and is developing an approach to carbon capture and storage.
The Government are also working with other countries to secure a good outcome from negotiations on the EU’s emissions target for 2020 and to prepare for the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2009.
Insulation: Housing
We are working closely with energy suppliers and the insulation industry to maximise insulation activity under the carbon emissions reduction target (CERT) this winter. There are now some 4,000 people able to carry out insulation work, plus support staff—an increase of almost 500 staff since April 2008.
3.9 million (reported April 2006) local authority and registered social landlord households are eligible to benefit from energy supplier action under CERT; a significant number have already been treated through this and the Decent Homes programme. It is up to landlords to proactively work with energy suppliers to find cost-effective energy saving opportunities which can benefit their tenants.
Interdepartmental Analysts Group
The Interdepartmental Analysts Group is revising its guidance to ensure that the policies needed to achieve cuts in emissions are evaluated and appraised in a consistent manner. The Group is undertaking evaluation and appraisal of emissions reduction policies beyond those contained in the 2007 Energy White Paper, that will be needed to achieve further cuts in emissions.
Justice
Driving Offences: Leeds
Available information on speed limit offences within the West Yorkshire police force area from 1997 to 2006 (latest available) is provided in the following table. 2007 data should be available later this year.
Data are available at police force area level only.
Number of offences Court imposed fines1, 2 Fixed penalty notices issued3 1997 3,738 24,103 1998 4,245 29,635 1999 5,553 24,791 2000 5,619 24,595 2001 4,442 20,937 2002 2,295 32,126 2003 3,349 70,011 2004 4,263 68,827 2005 5,204 66,031 2006 5,955 49,528 1 May include cases where fixed penalty was issued and not paid and consequently taken to court. 2 Magistrates courts data only. Fines given at the Crown court total nationally (England and Wales) less than 10 each year. 3 Covers tickets paid where there is no further action. 4 Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 ss. 16, 81, 84, 86, 88 and 89; Motor Vehicles (Speed Limit on Motorways) Regs. 1973; Parks Regulation (Amendment) Act 1926, byelaws made thereunder. Notes: 1. It is known that for some police force areas, the reporting of court proceedings in particular those relating to summary motoring offences, may be less than complete. Written warning may also be under reported. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
Lancaster Farms Young Offender Institute
My hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice (Maria Eagle) formally replied to the report on 17 September 2007. This letter contained detailed responses to all of the concerns raised. The Board recently submitted its Annual Report for 2007 and I will be writing to the Chair shortly, addressing the issues that it has highlighted.
No representations have been made to me by the Governor of Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institute, Lancaster Farms, about the late arrival of young prisoners from court. Data provided by the escort contractor indicate that of 863 young prisoners escorted to HMYOI Lancaster Farms from courts between 1 April 2008 and 30 September 2008, 88 per cent. arrived before 1900 hours and only six arrived after 2000 hours.
Law Centres
As public bodies the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and any local authority partners are required to act in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 when awarding relevant contracts for public services such as a Community Legal Advice Network. These regulations incorporate European Union (EU) procurement law into UK practice, to ensure a consistent regime for the award of public contracts throughout the EU.
Moreover, the tendering process allows the LSC to secure excellent access, high quality and the best possible value for money.
My Noble friend, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the former Legal Aid Minister, met representatives of Citizens Advice on a number of occasions to discuss a range of issues relating to the Legal Aid Reform programme. The most recent meeting took place in June 2008.
The Legal Services Commission also engage with Citizens Advice on a regular basis to discuss the reform programme. For example, there are regular meetings’ between the chief executives of the LSC and Citizens Advice, and a bi-monthly meeting is held between the LSC and Not-for-Profit agencies (including Citizens Advice) on contracting issues.
Legal Advice and Assistance
Community Legal Advice (CLA) services (centres and networks) offer integrated help on housing, debt, employment, welfare benefits, and community care because these problems, in particular, are often interlinked.
They also bring together advice services funded by local bodies, such as local authorities, with legal aid funded by the Legal Services Commission (LSC). Centres and networks aim to provide services that meet the needs of people in the local area and are commissioned through an open tender process.
The LSC currently funds, with the respective local authority, four Community Legal Advice centres in Gateshead, Leicester, Derby and Portsmouth. In addition, the Hull Community Legal Advice centre, which is jointly funded with Hull City Council, will open on 20 October. Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABx) were part of the winning bid in Gateshead, Derby and Portsmouth.
Hull Citizens Advice Bureau was unsuccessful in its bid for the Hull Community Legal Advice centre and the LSC are in discussions with it about its future. Though not part of the Leicester Community Legal Advice centre, the Leicester CABx did not lose any funding as a result of the centre opening earlier this year.
CABx play an important role in advising and supporting local communities.
In addition to those involved in Community Legal Advice centres, the LSC continues to fund around 250 CABx to deliver advice through legal aid.
Legal Aid
The following table provides information on legally aided cases in the criminal courts in 1997-98, 2002-03 and 2007-08.
The number of magistrates courts claims provides a reasonable proxy of the number of cases legally aided although in some cases there may be more than one claim if two or more people are represented. The majority of representation orders granted in the Crown court and above will have also received representation in the magistrates' court but a minority will not. In the Crown court, on average, there are 1.2 representation orders per case (again, where more than one defendant is involved in a case).
I am unable to provide an answer in respect of the civil courts, as this information is not held centrally. In particular, many legally aided cases are completed without ever needing to come to court.
Magistrates courts claims Representation orders—Crown court and above 1997-98 494 124 2002-03 575 124 2007-08 474 124
Prisoners: Employment
The final date for implementation of the standard core day was 29 June 2008. A number of prisons are introducing the change after this date for the reasons given in the following table.
Establishment Core Day Implemented Date implemented Acklington Yes 29 June 2008 Albany No Prison being clustered with other prisons on the IOW will introduce once cluster complete Ashwell Yes 29 June 2008 Askham Grange No Open Prison Aylesbury Yes 29 June 2008 Bedford Yes 29 June 2008 Belmarsh Yes 1 January 2008 Birmingham Yes 29 June 2008 Blakenhurst Yes 13 July 2008 Blantyre House No Due to accommodation design unable to implement Blundeston Yes 6 July 2008 Brinsford Yes 29 June 2008 Bristol Yes 29 June 2008 Brixton Yes 29 September 2008 Brockhill Yes 13 July 2008 Buckley Hall Yes 29 June 2008 Bullingdon Yes 29 June 2008 Bullwood Hall Yes 29 June 2008 Camp Hill No Prison being clustered with other prisons on the IOW will introduce once cluster complete Canterbury Yes 29 June 2008 Cardiff Yes 29 June 2008 Castington Yes 29 June 2008 Channings Wood Yes 29 June 2008 Chelmsford Yes 29 June 2008 Coldingley No New accommodation being completed will introduce Core day when work has finished Cookham Wood No Juvenile Dartmoor Yes 4 July 2008 Deerbolt Yes 20 June 2008 Dorchester Yes 29 June 2008 Dover No Immigration removal centre Downview Yes 29 June 2008 Drake Hall Yes 29 June 2008 Durham Yes 29 June 2008 East Sutton No Open Prison Eastwood Park Yes 29 June 2008 Edmunds Hill Yes 29 June 2008 Elmley Yes 29 June 2008 Erlestoke Yes 6 April 2008 Everthorpe Yes 29 June 2008 Exeter Yes 29 June 2008 Featherstone Yes 29 June 2008 Feltham Yes 29 June 2008 Ford No Open Prison Foston Hall Yes 29 June 2008 Frankland Yes 29 June 2008 Full Sutton Yes 29 June 2008 Garth Yes 29 June 2008 Gartree Yes 29 June 2008 Glen Parva Yes 29 June 2008 Gloucester Yes 29 June 2008 Grendon Yes 29 June 2008 Guys Marsh Yes 29 June 2008 Haslar Yes 29 June 2008 Haverigg Yes 29 June 2008 Hewell Grange Yes 13 July 2008 High Down Yes 29 June 2008 Highpoint Yes 29 June 2008 Hindley Yes 29 June 2008 Hollesley Bay No Juvenile Holloway No Due to operational reasons unable to introduce, will introduce before end of 2008 Holme House Yes 29 June 2008 Hull Yes 27 April 2008 Huntercombe No Juvenile Kennet Yes 29 June 2008 Kingston Yes 29 June 2008 Kirkham No Open Prison Kirklevington No Due to accommodation design and prisoner regime unable to introduce Lancaster Castle Yes 29 June 2008 Lancaster Farms Yes 29 June 2008 Latchmere House No Juvenile Leeds Yes 29 June 2008 Leicester Yes 29 June 2008 Lewes Yes 29 June 2008 Leyhill No Open Prison Lincoln Yes 29 June 2008 Lindholme Yes 4 July 2008 Littlehey Yes 29 June 2008 Liverpool Yes 29 June 2008 Long Lartin Yes 29 June 2008 Low Newton Yes 29 June 2008 Maidstone Yes 29 June 2008 Manchester Yes 29 June 2008 Moorland Closed Yes 29 June 2008 Morton Hall Yes 29 June 2008 Moorland Open No Open Prison New Hall Yes 25 March 2008 North Sea Camp No Juvenile Northallerton Yes 25 January 2008 Norwich Yes 29 June 2008 Nottingham Yes 29 June 2008 Onley Yes 29 June 2008 Parkhurst No Prison being clustered with other prisons on the IOW will introduce once cluster complete Pentonville Yes 4 July 2008 Portland Yes 6 April 2008 Prescoed Yes 29 June 2008 Preston Yes 29 June 2008 Ranby Yes 29 June 2008 Reading Yes 29 June 2008 Risley Yes 29 June 2008 Rochester Yes 29 June 2008 Send Yes 29 June 2008 Shepton Mallet Yes 29 June 2008 Shrewsbury Yes 29 June 2008 Springhill No Open Prison Stafford Yes 29 June 2008 Standford No Open Prison Stocken Yes 29 June 2008 Stoke Heath Yes 29 June 2008 Styal Yes 29 June 2008 Sudbury No Open Prison Swaleside Yes 29 June 2008 Swansea Yes 29 June 2008 Swinfen Hall Yes 29 June 2008 The Mount Yes 29 June 2008 The Verne No Due to accommodation design and prisoner regime unable to introduce Thorn Cross No Juvenile Usk Cluster with Prescoed Yes 29 June 2008 Wakefield Yes 29 June 2008 Wandsworth Yes 29 June 2008 Warren Hill Yes May 2008 Wayland Yes 29 June 2008 Wealstun Yes 29 June 2008 Wetherby No Juvenile Wellingborough Yes 29 June 2008 Werrington No Juvenile Whatton Yes 29 June 2008 Whitemoor Yes 29 June 2008 Winchester Yes 29 June 2008 Woodhill Yes 29 June 2008 Wormwood Scrubs Yes 29 June 2008 Wymott Yes 29 June 2008
Prisoners: Foreigners
At the end of June 2008, the last date for which this information is available, there were 11,498 foreign national prisoners detained in all prisons in England and Wales, and 946 for whom the nationality information is not yet recorded on central data systems. The total includes prisoners held on remand or serving custodial sentences, as well as those held under the Immigration Act 1971 (including those in the immigration removal centres of Dover, Haslar and Lindholme).
In June’s data some 75 per cent. of prisoners for whom nationality is unrecorded are remand prisoners. Unrecorded nationalities account for 1 per cent. of the overall population.
NOMS continues to work with the Border and Immigration Agency to speed up the system for removing those foreign national prisoners who meet the deportation criteria. Where the information is not already available, this will include establishing the nationality of individuals, and the relevant country of origin (or transit) to deport them to if appropriate.
This information is published at the following website, and is updated quarterly;
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/population incustody.htm
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Prisoners: Mentally Ill
We are aware that there are a number of people in custody in England and Wales who experience mental health problems. The 1997 Office for National Statistics’ survey, for example, indicated that as many as 58 per cent. of male and 75 per cent. of female remand prisoners, and 39 per cent. of male and 62 per cent. of female sentenced prisoners met criteria for a diagnosis of anxiety and/or depression. Rates of very severe mental illness were between 7 and 9 per cent. of sentenced men and 14 per cent. of women having a psychotic illness.
Accurate identification of people needing mental health treatment and care is important at all stages in the care and offender pathway. This is why all prisoners are screened at reception for risks of mental ill health and previous history of psychiatric treatment. The Offender Assessment System (OASys) helps to ensure that any person judged to be at risk and/or of needing mental health treatment and care can be identified and referred, where appropriate, to the Mental Health In-Reach Team.
By 2005-06 nearly £20 million was being invested recurrently in mental health in-reach. There are now 102 mental health in-reach teams and all prisons now have access to them: a total of 360 extra staff altogether. There are also new systems to monitor and support those at risk of harming themselves.
Probation: Finance
The following table shows the year-end budget revenue allocations for the 42 probation boards in each of the last five years, plus the revenue budget allocated to-date in the present financial year for the probation boards and six probation trusts. It also shows the agreed overspends that boards were allowed to carry forward in 2006-07 and 2007-08, plus the latest information from boards on forecast overspends in the present financial year. Information on overspends before 2006-07 is not held centrally and could be obtained by approaching 42 probation areas, which would only be at disproportionate cost.
The budget and forecast overspend figures for 2008-09 are likely to be subject to further revision.
£000 2008-091 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05 2003-04 Board Revenue Overspends Revenue Overspends Revenue Overspends Revenue Revenue Revenue Avon and Somerset 20,815 — 20,661 — 19,771 — 18,273 16,851 15,612 Bedfordshire 9,375 — 8,863 — 8,499 150 8,180 7,182 6,517 Cambridgeshire 10,246 — 9,727 — 9,273 136 8,895 7,375 6,835 Cheshire 14,885 — 14,715 — 15,688 — 15,393 13,427 11,692 Cumbria 8,656 50 8,217 119 7,897 271 7,466 6,241 6,279 Derbyshire 14,619 — 13,490 — 12,891 — 12,166 11,088 10,335 Devon and Cornwall 21,209 — 20,225 — 19,638 — 18,184 15,646 15,667 Dorset 8,855 117 8,522 324 8,277 194 7,989 7,338 7,307 Durham 10,773 — 10,720 — 10,245 — 9,513 8,697 7,820 Essex 19,454 — 19,977 — 18,922 — 17,839 16,220 14,849 Gloucestershire 7,757 — 7,379 — 6,959 47 6,524 5,975 5,874 Hampshire 24,787 — 24,338 — 23,057 — 21,872 20,026 18,427 Hertfordshire 11,527 — 11,265 — 10,569 — 9,618 8,691 8,409 Humberside 18,249 — 17,187 — 16,130 — 14,964 13,010 12,422 Kent 21,913 — 20,993 364 20,340 — 19,052 16,760 16,322 Lancashire 23,957 — 22,979 — 21,394 — 20,251 18,837 18,600 Leicestershire 15,404 — 14,402 — 13,805 — 13,071 11,778 11,086 Lincolnshire 9,786 — 9,292 — 9,038 7 8,446 7,469 7,134 Norfolk 11,622 50 11,168 — 10,608 — 10,205 8,477 7,927 Northamptonshire 9,621 — 9,116 — 8,816 — 8,149 7,158 6,920 North Yorkshire 10,655 150 10,236 41 9,478 — 8,998 7,937 7,486 Nottinghamshire 19,644 — 19,057 — 18,117 489 17,190 14,861 14,232 Staffordshire 17,308 — 16,393 — 15,913 48 14,361 12,319 11,769 Suffolk 9,987 — 9,643 — 9,445 — 8,771 7,583 7,361 Surrey 10,632 — 10,396 36 10,081 — 9,421 7,779 7,784 Sussex 18,005 — 17,373 — 16,991 — 15,677 14,033 12,789 Teesside 13,415 150 13,606 — 13,052 — 12,178 10,954 10,613 Thames Valley 26,148 — 25,405 — 24,373 — 23,421 20,795 19,787 Warwickshire 7,303 — 6,937 — 6,743 217 6,492 5,698 5,452 West Mercia 15,344 — 15,445 — 13,642 — 13,197 11,774 11,188 Wiltshire 8,050 39 7,874 — 7,720 109 7,224 5,964 5,510 Greater Manchester 51,467 — 48,309 — 47,532 — 45,645 40,985 38,521 Merseyside 30,858 — 29,283 — 28,820 — 28,643 25,798 24,621 Northumbria 29,180 — 27,646 — 26,964 — 26,005 22,999 22,113 South Yorkshire 25,488 — 24,282 4 24,058 54 23,041 20,858 20,381 West Midlands 58,769 — 55,055 — 53,377 — 50,140 44,076 41,932 West Yorkshire 42,269 — 40,036 — 38,193 — 36,226 33,366 30,986 London 152,404 — 143,404 — 137,416 786 132,637 107,888 110,390 Dyfed-Powys 8,580 — 8,295 — 8,058 24 7,541 6,478 5,784 Gwent 11,232 — 11,252 — 10,930 — 10,018 8,938 8,029 North Wales 12,348 — 11,786 411 11,696 20 11,027 10,067 9,044 South Wales 25,246 — 25,226 1,531 24,402 — 23,098 20,917 19,328 Total 897,841 556 860,172 2,830 828,817 2,552 786,995 690,312 661,130 1 As at 1 October 2008.
Repossession Orders
The following tables show the number of mortgage and landlord possession claims issued, suspended orders and outright orders made in the county courts of England and Wales, broken down by Her Majesty Court Service region, since 2005.
The data are not currently available by constituency.
Court level statistics on mortgage and landlord repossession actions from 1987 to 2007 are available on the Ministry of Justice website at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/mortgateland lordpossession.htm
These figures do not indicate how many houses have been repossessed through the courts, since not all the orders will have resulted in the issue and execution of warrants of possession.
The civil procedure rules state that all claims for the repossession of land must be commenced in the district in which the land is situated. As county courts’ jurisdictions are not coterminous with the borough boundaries, any single Court's repossession actions are likely to relate to homes in a number of different boroughs.
London Midlands North East North West South East South West Wales January 2005 1,325 1,391 1,016 1,045 1,564 786 436 February 2005 1,697 1,632 1,014 1,131 1,975 778 506 March 2005 1,717 1,661 1,324 1,132 2,144 856 579 April 2005 1,688 1,731 1,318 1,280 2,044 990 559 May 2005 1,532 1,410 1,066 1,065 1,815 806 461 June 2005 2,002 1,943 1,372 1,366 2,218 1,037 610 July 2005 2,002 1,821 1,470 1,376 2,266 1,073 512 August 2005 1,865 1,890 1,515 1,334 2,171 901 566 September 2005 1,633 1,598 1,291 1,250 1,924 894 519 October 2005 1,864 1,977 1,462 1,434 2,193 963 549 November 2005 2,077 2,106 1,604 1,702 2,366 1,107 674 December 2005 1,683 1,630 1,171 1,146 1,872 793 498 January 2006 1,717 1,821 1,416 1,475 2,098 964 624 February 2006 1,670 2,005 1,485 1,429 2,057 991 653 March 2006 2,100 2,563 1,763 1,826 2,601 1,174 814 April 2006 1,761 1,768 1,330 1,436 1,938 916 580 May 2006 1,783 1,925 1,579 1,421 1,953 916 627 June 2006 1,982 2,545 1,917 1,893 2,684 1,216 819 July 2006 2,135 2,089 1,737 1,782 2,344 1,049 766 August 2006 2,011 2,267 1,674 1,631 2,215 1,195 799 September 2006 1,618 2,072 1,618 1,731 2,044 992 690 October 2006 2,014 2,249 1,682 1,804 2,332 1,045 701 November 2006 1,734 2,111 1,624 1,722 2,027 1,016 676 December 2006 1,339 1,506 1,216 1,055 1,546 668 458 January 2007 1,801 2,297 1,771 1,708 2,261 1,052 743 February 2007 1,761 2,096 1,658 1,672 2,037 974 658 March 2007 1,908 2,312 1,948 1,951 2,251 1,085 841 April 2007 1,454 1,880 1,592 1,486 1,848 876 651 May 2007 1,810 2,164 1,902 1,902 2,294 1,031 757 June 2007 1,700 2,248 1,801 1,740 2,211 1,046 777 July 2007 1,919 2,540 2,078 2,039 2,392 1,170 823 August 2007 1,634 2,480 1,872 1,986 2,169 1,033 858 September 2007 1,280 1,944 1,682 1,659 1,899 877 621 October 2007 1,663 2,440 1,937 1,921 2,193 1,083 873 November 2007 1,841 2,531 2,025 2,010 2,309 1,155 896 December 2007 1,327 1,971 1,543 1,578 1,814 882 689 Source: Ministry of Justice
London Midlands North East North West South East South West Wales January 2005 2,656 2,097 1,652 1,810 2,038 1,074 611 February 2005 3,920 2,501 1,842 2,074 2,683 1,271 750 March 2005 3,966 2,316 1,860 1,959 2,429 1,177 647 April 2005 3,483 2,282 1,936 1,928 2,295 1,216 563 May 2005 3,068 2,021 1,583 1,705 1,916 1,264 640 June 2005 3,860 2,501 1,720 2,056 2,595 1,438 786 July 2005 3,633 2,435 1,748 1,860 2,217 1,209 794 August 2005 3,573 2,537 1,973 1,814 2,381 1,193 808 September 2005 3,681 2,272 1,772 2,063 2,350 1,327 827 October 2005 3,686 2,303 1,859 1,952 2,327 1,226 674 November 2005 3,827 2,297 1,685 2,214 2,397 1,342 806 December 2005 3,430 2,150 1,828 1,365 2,061 1,103 526 January 2006 3,349 2,258 1,895 1,861 2,519 1,208 757 February 2006 3,778 2,289 1,959 2,046 2,591 1,340 750 March 2006 4,029 2,307 2,035 1,939 2,667 1,274 903 April 2006 3,120 1,789 1,485 1,507 1,885 910 443 May 2006 3,289 2,024 1,623 1,851 2,222 1,136 658 June 2006 3,603 2,381 2,031 1,837 2,478 1,151 843 July 2006 3,484 2,156 1,820 . 2,017 2,388 1,023 663 August 2006 4,074 2,268 1,887 1,898 2,399 1,395 776 September 2006 3,114 2,150 1,892 1,790 2,187 1,124 727 October 2006 3,491 1,842 1,879 1,749 2,217 1,099 652 November 2006 3,005 1,696 1,701 1,715 2,046 1,089 545 December 2006 2,558 1,514 1,355 ' 1,301 1,943 910 500 January 2007 2,964 1,951 1,806 1,581 2,268 1,186 667 February 2007 2,984 2,011 1,662 1,666 2,180 1,000 587 March 2007 3,176 2,224 1,767 1,710 2,135 1,060 706 April 2007 2,651 1,580 1,319 1,337 1,802 905 458 May 2007 3,250 1,937 1,621 1,725 2,181 1,003 615 June 2007 3,654 1,958 1,654 1,511 2,285 1,103 694 July 2007 3,431 2,026 1,937 1,826 2,194 1,043 649 August 2007 3,410 2,248 1,638 1,729 2,411 1,153 630 September 2007 2,899 1,944 1,522 1,617 2,050 1,003 564 October 2007 3,652 2,159 1,805 1,867 2,447 1,163 657 November 2007 3,401 2,032 1,584 1,755 2,344 1,098 663 December 2007 2,429 1,609 1,320 1,270 1,759 806 512 Source: Ministry of Justice
London Midlands North East North West Outright Orders3 SuspendedOrders4 Outright Orders3 SuspendedOrders4 Outright Orders3 SuspendedOrders4 Outright Orders3 SuspendedOrders4 January 2005 355 424 397 497 275 384 228 318 February 2005 463 538 351 477 222 302 247 355 March 2005 429 434 412 491 265 375 253 370 April 2005 561 519 478 624 355 474 321 429 May 2005 517 512 418 609 370 483 338 420 June 2005 635 664 599 630 356 486 373 461 July 2005 481 436 412 573 367 432 352 394 August 2005 607 590 628 732 363 481 399 493 September 2005 745 663 599 702 428 516 445 510 October 2005 644 579 532 609 417 472 380 420 November 2005 619 649 589 630 468 498 431 504 December 2005 565 481 528 600 393 457 305 369 January 2006 606 575 777 687 519 632 471 563 February 2006 730 649 626 659 408 418 452 453 March 2006 719 642 692 681 530 565 510 596 April 2006 525 469 606 630 470 477 353 541 May 2006 737 616 774 697 554 630 540 498 June 2006 760 613 802 892 517 580 642 675 July 2006 736 589 726 756 618 660 471 512 August 2006 733 615 782 705 588 585 608 580 September 2006 696 552 873 819 627 710 619 596 October 2006 815 571 715 670 589 597 612 595 November 2006 707 552 780 741 617 619 661 596 December 2006 534 471 663 648 606 494 560 509 January 2007 904 691 952 820 710 651 634 598 February 2007 650 535 714 678 565 541 645 593 March 2007 646 510 749 732 725 689 612 566 April 2007 610 477 677 655 573 546 572 534 May 2007 746 550 756 719 637 615 661 593 June 2007 705 524 794 738 766 562 699 625 July 2007 635 463 868 744 713 619 695 602 August 2007 598 505 851 753 640 460 677 596 September 2007 673 487 1,076 872 713 601 669 540 October 2007 648 450 1,007 809 800 628 794 710 November 2007 592 498 863 826 643 611 710 694 December 2007 537 438 762 622 560 486 522 527
Outright Orders3 SuspendedOrders4 Outright Orders3 SuspendedOrders4 Outright Orders3 SuspendedOrders4 January 2005 434 578 211 286 99 132 February 2005 355 507 198 274 89 121 March 2005 464 653 199 312 116 185 April 2005 636 751 201 295 152 217 May 2005 597 693 278 305 153 174 June 2005 650 682 285 290 177 197 July 2005 684 709 281 315 140 182 August 2005 614 745 342 418 172 203 September 2005 730 784 290 362 188 200 October 2005 665 741 281 361 159 212 November 2005 663 712 246 288 192 200 December 2005 554 619 256 244 152 133 January 2006 797 799 319 382 188 213 February 2006 684 709 310 303 160 216 March 2006 759 819 318 400 216 211 April 2006 688 655 286 280 184 210 May 2006 729 701 317 353 239 207 June 2006 756 756 358 387 246 209 July 2006 742 690 320 354 229 227 August 2006 833 790 379 368 246 233 September 2006 821 785 391 352 282 261 October 2006 719 613 348 324 263 256 November 2006 936 799 356 331 269 257 December 2006 582 531 299 280 214 200 January 2007 1052 788 399 337 291 305 February 2007 705 595 286 273 181 168 March 2007 747 743 417 380 286 256 April 2007 746 651 334 267 214 227 May 2007 789 600 315 328 244 254 June 2007 861 669 409 336 253 236 July 2007 869 657 366 309 300 264 August 2007 831 624 369 299 241 200 September 2007 841 638 448 329 302 218 October 2007 956 793 361 297 363 318 November 2007 796 704 399 320 298 294 December 2007 630 537 317 282 235 251 1 Mortgage possession data include all types of lenders whether local authority or private. 2 The rollout of the Possession Claim On-Line (PCOL) system in late 2006 has affected the availability of court-level data on mortgage possession orders. As a result figures for 2007 are estimated at HMCS regions. 3 The court grants the claimant possession but suspends the operation of the order. Provided the defendant complies with the terms of suspension, which usually requires the defendant to pay the current mortgage instalments plus some of the accrued arrears, the possession order cannot be enforced. 4 The court, following a judicial hearing, may grant an order for possession immediately. This entitles the claimant to apply for a warrant to have the defendant evicted. However, even where a warrant for possession is issued, the parties can still negotiate a compromise to prevent eviction. Source: Ministry of Justice
London Midlands North East North West Outright Orders3 Suspended Orders4 Outright Orders3 Suspended Orders4 Outright Orders3 Suspended Orders4 Outright Orders3 Suspended Orders4 January 2005 1377 871 633 942 586 979 572 953 February 2005 1131 788 586 996 549 710 435 715 March 2005 1142 697 635 960 552 845 465 842 April 2005 1386 858 690 1066 642 889 624 947 May 2005 1217 739 705 926 549 739 501 727 June 2005 1436 780 764 1049 586 844 564 823 July 2005 1367 733 697 865 540 693 534 679 August 2005 1375 831 689 1094 582 788 538 741 September 2005 1274 732 766 1043 546 663 582 858 October 2005 1406 813 756 995 665 818 564 803 November 2005 1465 743 709 992 618 807 527 895 December 2005 1235 623 571 840 529 683 443 601 January 2006 1402 733 805 1076 589 858 577 852 February 2006 1342 850 657 829 514 649 522 700 March 2006 1335 734 762 1047 591 811 561 790 April 2006 1222 645 563 710 539 672 424 566 May 2006 1380 728 702 881 605 909 552 656 June 2006 1458 640 807 893 645 646 588 719 July 2006 1476 595 668 750 621 659 513 633 August 2006 1669 731 744 810 659 702 610 650 September 2006 1390 586 892 936 651 654 608 564 October 2006 1373 481 738 788 719 676 622 673 November 2006 1474 501 816 834 662 657 684 603 December 2006 1140 391 518 599 635 578 545 595 January 2007 1742 651 787 728 709 881 676 632 February 2007 1208 391 735 646 542 545 544 552 March 2007 1466 404 749 720 785 734 695 532 April 2007 1291 458 727 702 618 638 578 514 May 2007 1420 459 680 630 628 543 606 482 June 2007 1716 450 766 761 739 554 662 565 July 2007 1609 410 745 721 739 505 732 576 August 2007 1773 567 916 758 721 570 721 539 September 2007 1368 486 865 804 640 654 633 517 October 2007 1713 610 914 896 759 741 729 657 November 2007 1765 549 902 894 715 622 717 674 December 2007 1260 463 636 616 557 465 532 473
Outright Orders3 Suspended Orders4 Outright Orders3 Suspended Orders4 Outright Orders3 Suspended Orders4 January 2005 794 859 419 482 254 249 February 2005 686 714 379 414 208 264 March 2005 753 956 404 451 234 256 April 2005 836 999 394 428 239 299 May 2005 748 814 368 397 185 222 June 2005 779 722 441 431 254 286 July 2005 806 865 430 422 210 241 August 2005 778 754 445 511 228 352 September 2005 773 831 416 453 312 412 October 2005 816 847 462 466 221 303 November 2005 768 832 403 424 231 341 December 2005 685 742 347 414 179 208 January 2006 806 828 385 453 210 323 February 2006 705 762 345 427 205 267 March 2006 879 888 453 528 221 286 April 2006 722 647 342 320 189 224 May 2006 783 733 356 349 189 289 June 2006 820 726 402 330 216 222 July 2006 831 633 391 309 245 290 August 2006 885 732 419 311 258 334 September 2006 813 591 390 338 273 274 October 2006 836 687 470 301 286 273 November 2006 857 733 435 354 246 278 December 2006 637 559 327 275 239 204 January 2007 1094 934 514 399 302 227 February 2007 812 530 367 313 196 141 March 2007 959 635 421 396 316 231 April 2007 841 547 372 290 236 163 May 2007 913 471 403 271 255 221 June 2007 948 586 474 319 260 176 July 2007 990 560 499 306 270 215 August 2007 1006 565 469 268 253 196 September 2007 978 643 414 324 344 236 October 2007 1068 724 472 319 285 243 November 2007 1096 675 509 356 313 230 December 2007 800 608 334 252 248 194 1 Landlord possession data include all types of landlord whether local authority, housing associations or private. 2 The rollout of the Possession Claim On-Line (PCOL) system in late 2006 has affected the availability of court-level data on landlord possession orders. As a result figures for 2007 are estimated at HMCS regions. 3 The court grants the claimant possession but suspends the operation of the order. Provided the defendant complies with the terms of suspension, which usually requires the defendant to pay the current rent plus some of the accrued arrears, the possession order cannot be enforced. 4 The court, following a judicial hearing, may grant an order for possession immediately. This entitles the claimant to apply for a warrant to have the defendant evicted. However, even where a warrant for possession is issued, the parties can still negotiate a compromise to prevent eviction. Source: Ministry of Justice
Young Offenders
The policy of the Youth Justice Board is that those young people serving a Detention and Training Order aged 18 and over in a Prison Service unit should remain in the young persons' estate to complete the custodial part of their sentence unless there are exceptional personal or population management circumstances which require them to be moved to the young adult estate.
For those sentenced to longer sentences, arrangements are in place to ensure that within a month of their 18th birthday they are relocated to the young adult estate.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
The MOD, in conjunction with Royal Mail Group, provides a free mail service for letters and packets, up to 2 kg in weight, from families and friends to named MOD personnel deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq throughout the year. The latest posting date to guarantee Christmas delivery is 5 December 2008.
Armed Forces: Deployment
The following table shows the number of UK service personnel deployed on operations by location at 5 October 2008. The number of personnel in theatre will naturally fluctuate on a daily basis for a variety of reasons, including leave (rest and recuperation), temporary absence for training, evacuation for medical reasons, the roulement of forces and other factors.
Location Number Total 14,950 of which: Afghanistan2,3 8,800 Iraq2 3,900 At sea 820 Qatar 410 Cyprus 260 Oman 260 Kuwait 230 Kosovo 160 Bahrain 80 Bosnia 10 Other 20 1 Countries with 10 or more personnel are shown separately. Other countries with fewer than 10 personnel per country include Georgia, Nepal, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. 2 Figures for Iraq and Afghanistan have been rounded to the nearest 100 for operational security reasons. Other figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Due to rounding methods used, the total may not equal the sum of the individual locations. 3 Figures for Afghanistan are artificially high due to a current Operation Herrick Relief In Place (RIP) operation.
Armed Forces: Housing
The number of complaints received by Modern Housing Solutions (MHS) in each month since January 2008 is as follows:
Number of complaints received January 2008 658 February 2008 612 March 2008 562 April 2008 731 May 2008 622 June 2008 626 July 2008 656 August 2008 625 September 2008 727
MHS are responsible for the maintenance and repair of approximately 45,000 SFA properties in England and Wales and carry-out over 200,000 response repair jobs each year.
Armed Forces: Mental Health Services
The Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) system operates as a proactive, peer group mentoring and support system which aims to identify signs and symptoms and to manage the risk of any mental distress that may be suffered by individuals following a traumatic incident. It is not in itself a treatment programme. The initiative train teams of non-medical personnel from within units to recognise the signs and symptoms of mental distress and give advice to individuals on coping strategies and how to manage them or, where required, refer them for specialist help. The system has already been endorsed by both the Royal Navy and Army Chains of Command.
The allocated budget in Financial Year 2008-09 for all stress management training within the armed forces, which includes costs for TRiM training, is in the region of £1 million. Currently the administration for TRiM training is the responsibility of the individual single services.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles: Procurement
The breakdown of Mastiff, Vector, Jackal and Ridgeback ordered and delivered to date is as follows;
Number ordered Number delivered Mastiff 282 108 Vector 185 178 Jackal 202 130 Ridgback 157 0
Christmas
The Department’s instructions on financial management make it clear that it is not permissible to spend public money on Christmas functions. Any Christmas functions that take place are funded from non-public funds or by staff themselves.
Departmental Furniture
Within MOD, each top level budget is individually responsible for assessing furniture requirements and for authorising procurement of furniture, including chairs, desks and other office furnishings. Information on expenditure by individual MOD building is not held centrally. For details of overall departmental expenditure on these items for the last five years I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor on 29 September 2008, Official Report, column 2438W, to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban).
Departmental Procurement
The Department operates a system of settling invoices within 30 days of their receipt by allowing 19 days for confirmation that the service or supply has been satisfactorily performed and 11 days for the Financial Management Shared Service Centre (FMSSC) to make the payment. Statistics for the 30 day cycle could be provided only at disproportionate cost. For this reason the payment performance of the FMSSC has been used to demonstrate the Department’s commitment to prompt payment.
In 2007-08, the FMSSC paid 99.96 per cent., of all valid UK bills within 11 calendar days of receipt as part of the Department’s contribution to improving the payment culture in the UK. The FMSSC also introduced daily payment runs to enhance its flexibility in providing a prompt and efficient service to industry and the smaller supplier.
Departmental Recruitment
The level of expenditure on recruitment consultants and external recruitment advertising to recruit staff in each of the last five financial years is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
External recruitment advertising is used only if internal recruitment has failed or is unlikely to deliver a suitable applicant. Such recruitment is conducted in line with the civil service recruitment code.
Departmental Written Questions
Up to 8 October 2008, 575 written for named day questions were tabled to the Ministry of Defence of which 275 (48 per cent.) were answered on the due date.
Ex-servicemen
(2) how many ex-service personnel were defined as living in relative poverty in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since 1997.
The Government do not collect statistics on the number of ex-service personnel living in relative poverty. Veterans facing difficulties in their civilian lives have access to the free veterans helpline and the Veterans Welfare Service which provide advice and support, as well as to the UK benefits provided for those in need.
Ex-servicemen: Military Decorations
[holding answer 9 September 2008]: We have not made any estimate of the number of people eligible for veterans badges resident in the Scottish borders.
The information requested is not held in the format that identifies how many veterans badges have been issued in the Scottish borders area and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Hercules Aircraft
74 per cent. of the Hercules C-130 fleet has been fitted with explosion suppressant foam (ESF). Those aircraft that have not been fitted with ESF will shortly begin to be retired from service.
All Hercules C-130 aircraft that are routinely deployed on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are now fitted with ESF.
Nuclear Weapons: Compensation
Legal costs to the Department relating to compensation claims brought by nuclear test veterans up to 24 July 2008 amount to £968,050.00. The estimated subsequent costs are £543,300.00.
Powers of Entry
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State for the Home Department on 7 October 2008, Official Report, column 577W.
Warships
The number of times that items or components of ships’ fitted equipment have been transferred between vessels in front line service each complete month this year is as follows:
2008 Destroyers Frigates Submarines MCMVs Patrol Vessels Amphibious Assault Vessels RFA Vessels January 5 6 18 0 1 1 1 February 7 2 11 0 0 1 2 March 3 3 23 0 0 0 3 April 2 5 20 0 4 0 1 May 5 4 20 2 0 0 0 June 3 4 14 0 1 0 0 July 9 6 30 0 0 1 1 August 6 2 20 5 0 1 0 September 13 4 32 5 0 1 1 Totals 53 36 188 12 6 5 9
The accuracy of all figures is subject to the availability of relevant data and may be subject to revision.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Export Credits Guarantee Dept
The information is as follows.
£ million 2002-03 30.3 2003-04 30.5 2004-05 31.4 2005-06 28.5 2006-07 25.7
Operating costs are funded from premium income rather than public funds. Figures for 2007-08 will be available later in October as part of ECGD’s annual report.
Exports: Sanctions
[holding answer 14 October 2008]: The FCO publish on their website, on a country by country basis, details of sanctions regimes, arms embargoes and restrictions on the export of strategic goods currently implemented by the UK
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/business-trade/export-controls-sanctions/country-listing/.
As the terms of embargoes vary from country to country details of the items that are subject to embargo are given separately for each country.
Exports: Weapons
While there is no internationally agreed definition of a “thermobaric” weapon, weapons of this nature would be controlled under UK Military List (entry ML4) and exports from the UK would require an export licence. All export licence applications are carefully considered on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.
Manufacturing Industries: Trade Competitiveness
[holding answer 8 October 2008]: UK manufacturing is already very successful in global terms. The UK remains the world’s sixth largest manufacturer. The Government launched its new strategy “Manufacturing: New Challenges, New Opportunities” last month. It brings together almost £150 million of support for UK manufacturing. Its overarching aim is to ensure that UK manufacturing continues to have the right long-term framework of support to ensure it emerges from the global slowdown stronger and fitter than ever, and better placed to exploit the new opportunities of an increasingly interconnected economy.
The new package of support accompanying this strategy will help UK companies exploit the considerable opportunities in high growth new emerging markets. For example, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) will provide new support for 600 companies of all sizes to identify manufacturing opportunities in India and China and will also promote UK manufacturing excellence internationally through UKTI led marketing campaigns.
SPIRE System
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: The average time taken to process all Standard Individual Export Licence applications in the last 12 months was 20 working days. The longest time taken to process a case since the SPIRE system’s inception is 198 days, in a case which required careful assessment of reported links between the end user and WMD programmes.
There is no published list of countries of proliferation concern. However, the Export Control Organisation publishes quarterly figures on refusal percentages and processing times by destination for Standard Individual Export Licences on its website at:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/europeandtrade/strategic-export-control/statistics/process-times/index.html
House of Commons Commission
Palace of Westminster: Utilities
Much of the mechanical and electrical system within the Palace of Westminster has now exceeded its economic service life and major modernisation work is urgently required. It is becoming increasingly difficult to manage the existing services and to replace, repair or extend them as required in an efficient and effective manner and there is a growing risk that breakdown in these essential services could not be quickly repaired. The complete project will take many years and involve considerable cost.
The Commission is concerned to ensure that the mechanical and electrical modernisation is carried out in the most economical way consistent with enabling the House to operate properly. Normal practice is that major works are only undertaken in the Palace of Westminster during the summer recess but the extensive scale of the work planned requires that the full range of options should be carefully considered. The Commission (working with the responsible bodies in the Lords) is therefore ordering a detailed feasibility study to examine whether substantial savings in cost, time and risk could be made by moving some operations of both Houses out of the Palace for a period to enable modernisation to be carried out continuously until its completion. All contingencies need to be looked at carefully. The feasibility study is expected to report in the middle of 2009. No decisions will be taken until all these options have been assessed.
Transport
A555: Repairs and Maintenance
The south east Manchester relief road scheme raises substantial funding and affordability issues. The Department for Transport continues to work on the options with relevant stakeholders on this scheme promoted by Stockport metropolitan borough council.
Aviation
We are not in a position to estimate the number of small claims actions issued seeking compensation for non-compliance with EU Regulation 261/2004.
Small claims actions by their nature are dealt with in the civil courts of England and Wales. The required information may be present in court records but is not collected centrally.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is however aware of eight cases of court action, seven of which were successful in obtaining compensation. In the remaining case, the CAA intervened and successfully persuaded the airline concerned to pay, on a “without prejudice” basis. From its monitoring of the media and discussions with complainants, the CAA is aware anecdotally of other cases where passengers have successfully taken court action.
Buses: Vandalism
The Department for Transport does not hold data centrally on the cost of vandalism to buses. This is partly due to the difficulties in collecting national statistics across the varied reporting systems of the numerous bus companies currently in operation.
However, the Department has commissioned research into the costs of crime committed on public transport in England, the results of which are due to be published next year.
Crossrail Line: Finance
Over the next five years, the Department for Transport and Transport for London (as joint sponsors of the Crossrail Project) will make total funding contributions of £5.7 billion for Crossrail. Further detail is provided in the following table.
Year commencing 1 April DfT committed funding TfL committed funding 2008 — 500 2009 172 522 2010 220 832 2011 622 788 2012 1,250 799 Total 2,264 3,441
Departmental Consultants
The Department for Transport has spent £895.6 million on consultancy fees since it was established in May 2002. I would refer the hon. Member to the Official Report dated 29 September 2008, column 2425W which gave details on a year by year basis. Figures for 2008-09 are not yet available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
The information is not held in the form requested.
Driving Under Influence
We explained in the report of the second review of the Road Safety Strategy (February 2007) that we intend to keep the case for a reduction in the drink drive legal limit under review. We also made clear that the limit cannot be considered in isolation, and that our first priority is to improve enforcement, building on the recent achievements of the police. The Government are committed to public consultation on further measures to reduce alcohol-related road casualties and will publish a consultation document as soon as possible.
Railways: Airports
The Department for Transport does not specify rolling stock types or interior layouts and design. It is for the train operator to ensure rolling stock deployed is appropriate for the market it serves. The timing of phases one, two and three of the plan is not fixed as it is dependent on the progress of the commercial negotiations between the Department and the train operating companies.
Railways: Exhaust Emissions
(2) how much her Department spent on analysing the carbon dioxide emissions from high-speed and lower-speed rail in the latest period for which figures are available; and how many staff worked on that analysis;
(3) what estimate she has made of the volume of carbon dioxide emitted per mile travelled by (a) a high speed train, (b) a lower speed train and (c) an average aeroplane.
The 2007 Rail White Paper estimated that carbon emissions per passenger for a journey between London and Edinburgh would be approximately 7 kg for conventional speed rail, 14 kg for high speed rail and 26 kg for aviation.
This analysis was informed by Professor Roger Kemp's work on the environmental impact of high speed rail and his report for the Rail Safety and Standards Board on traction energy metrics. Further information on the assumptions underpinning these estimates can be found on the Department for Transport's website at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/strategy/whitepapers/whitepapercm7176/
Professor Kemp's energy metrics report can be found at:
http://www.rssb.co.uk/pdf/reports/research/T618_traction-energy-metrics_final.pdf.
Departmental staff have analysed the carbon impacts of high speed rail but within the context of their wider environmental and rail responsibilities. Consequently, the Department is unable to provide the information on staff and resources as requested.
In March this year, the Secretary of State invited Network Rail to examine options for supporting further growth in the longer term, which might include new conventional and high speed lines. As part of this work, further consideration will be given to the relative carbon performance of higher and lower speed rail options.
Roads: Tolls
On 15 September 2008 the Government confirmed the names of the companies who will run the Demonstrations Project on road pricing technology. Eight bids were received in response to the invitation to tender for the Road User Service Provider's Framework, of which four were successful. They were Intelligent Mechatronic Systems (UK), Sanef Tolling Limited, T-Systems Ltd. and Trafficmaster Plc.
As we announced in 2007 and then updated Parliament in July this year, these trials will explore how time-distance-place charging can work accurately, reliably and affordably while safeguarding privacy. Designing an effective mechanism to achieve these aims presents a significant challenge. We believe that this project will help local authorities in the longer-term development of their plans for combining a local congestion charging scheme investment with major investment in public transport.
Written Questions: Government Responses
I replied to the hon. Member on 13 October 2008, Official Report, column 892W.
Women and Equality
Equality
There is no legal requirement on any particular organisation or person to monitor compliance with discrimination legislation generally and the Government intend to maintain this arrangement in the new Equality Bill. However, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has a statutory duty to monitor the effectiveness of discrimination legislation; powers to undertake inquiries and investigations and the power to enforce compliance with public sector duties. So, it will be up to the Commission to consider the allocation of resources to tasks which arise from the provisions of the new Equality Bill.
Work and Pensions
Child Support
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:
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 maintenance calculations were made by the Child Support Agency in (a) Jarrow constituency (b) South Tyneside (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each year since 1997. [223987]
The Agency is able to collate the requested information on current scheme maintenance calculations on cases maintained on the CS2 computer system only. The information available is further restricted to the initial assessment only, although many cases can be reassessed as circumstances change throughout their lifetime.
The information available is provided in the attached table.
I hope you find this answer helpful.
Great Britain North East South Tyneside Jarrow 2003-04 68,500 2,900 200 100 2004-05 94,200 4,700 300 200 2005-06 126,000 6,900 500 200 2006-07 134,700 7,500 500 200 2007-08 141,500 8,700 600 300 Notes: 1. Figures include all current scheme cases with an initial maintenance calculation. 2. As the current scheme came into existence in 2003, figures only go back to this date. 3. Cases have been allocated to the North East region, Jarrow parliamentary constituency and South Tyneside local authority by matching the postcode of the parent with care against the Office for National Statistics postcode directory. 4. Many cases can be re-assessed during their lifetime. Management information for current scheme cases only captures the number of initial assessments. Management information also exists on the date of the latest assessment for current scheme cases. However, as many cases could have been re-assessed many times between the initial assessment and latest assessment, a large proportion of re-assessments are excluded from the data. For this reason, only initial assessments have been included in the information provided. 5. CSCS calculations are not included in these figures. When a CSCS case is closed it is removed from the management information. A large proportion of CSCS cases will have closed and therefore the initial calculation date cannot be extracted from them. 6. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
Employment Vacancies: Chelmsford
[holding answer 6 October 2008]: The available information is in the table.
Number March 1,029 April 930 May 1,052 June 1,195 July 1,339 August 1,246 Notes: 1. Jobcentre Plus handles only a proportion of vacancies notified by employers. Consequently the figures do not represent the total number of job vacancies available. 2. Interpretation of the Jobcentre vacancy data should take account of changes in recent years to Jobcentre Plus procedures for taking and handling vacancies. The figures are not fully comparable over time and may not indicate changes in labour demand. 3. The Jobcentre Plus vacancies series do not provide comprehensive measures relating to all vacancies in the economy. The proportion of vacancies which are notified by employers to Jobcentre Plus varies over time, according to the occupation and industry of the vacancies and also by geographical area. 4. Comprehensive estimates of all job vacancies (not just those notified to Jobcentre Plus) are available from the monthly ONS Vacancy Survey since April 2001, based on a sample of some 6,000 enterprises. However, the ONS survey is currently designed to provide national estimates only. Source: Jobcentre Plus Labour Market System.
Income Support: Mortgages
On 2 September we announced that we will reform Support for Mortgage Interest to simplify the system and make it easier for people who are eligible to claim.
The changes include shortening the waiting period before support for mortgage interest is paid from 39 or 26 weeks to 13 weeks for new working age claims from April 2009; increasing the capital limit for new working age claims from £100,000 to £175,000 from April 2009 to take into account the value of people’s homes today; and introducing a two year time limit on support for mortgage interest for new jobseeker’s allowance claims only.
The system of support for home owners will be reviewed once housing market conditions improve.
Jobcentre Plus: Correspondence
The time taken by Mail Opening Units to receive, open, sort and deliver post is currently not recorded, however, the contracted time for this process equates to 12 hours. Management information gathered supports that this requirement is met.
Jobseeker’s Allowance
(2) how much was paid in jobseeker's allowance in each financial year from 2001 to 2005;
(3) how much was paid in jobseeker's allowance in each financial year from 1997 to 2001.
The information is in the following table.
£ million, nominal JSA 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Contribution based 475 474 459 447 470 519 507 445 486 478 420 Income based 3,418 3,083 2,796 2,435 2,136 2,105 2,052 1,759 1,823 1,962 1,789 Total 3,893 3,557 3,255 2,882 2,606 2,624 2,559 2,204 2,309 2,440 2,209 Source: DWP accounting data
Pensioners: Poverty
Tackling pensioner poverty continues to be one of this Government's key priorities.
The Government have introduced a number of measures to reduce the number of older people in poverty. In 1997, the poorest pensioners lived on around £69 a week, today pension credit ensures that no-one needs to live on less than £124.05 a week (£189.35 for a couple). We have successively raised the standard minimum guarantee in pension credit at least in line with earnings in every year since its introduction, and the value of the safety-net we provide for the poorest pensioners has increased by over a third in real terms since 1997.
Our commitments in the Pensions Act 2007 to continue to uprate the pension credit standard minimum guarantee in line with earnings over the long term, and to reintroduce the earnings link to basic state pension from 2012, or by the end of the next Parliament, will help secure these gains into the future.
We will continue to strive to ensure that older people are aware of, and take up their entitlements through initiatives such as; using sophisticated data matching to identify eligible non-recipients, home visits for vulnerable customers, local and national advertising and media campaigns, a simple and straight-forward claim process and ever closer working with partner organisations. In addition to pension credit we have increased winter fuel payments to £200 for households with someone aged 60-79, and £300 for those with someone aged 80 or over. And we will be making an additional payment for winter 2008-09 of £50 for households with someone aged 60-79 and £100 for those with someone aged 80 or over. Since 1997, we have also introduced free eye-tests, free bus passes for pensioners and free television licences for over 75s.
Post Office Card Account
The procurement process is still under way.
An announcement will be made as soon as possible.
The procurement process is still under way.
An announcement of the outcome will be made as soon as possible.
Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations
Each doctor is required to have full unconditional General Medical Council registration, and at least three years post full registration experience. The doctors carrying out Personal Capability Assessments must also be approved to carry out assessments by the Chief Medical Adviser to the Department on behalf of the Secretary of State. This condition can only be waived, in exceptional cases, at the discretion of the Chief Medical Advisor. In addition, every doctor must complete a course in disability assessment medicine, and undergo training specific to the benefits with which they are dealing.
Approval by the Chief Medical Advisor is dependent upon ongoing demonstration that the work being carried out meets a satisfactory standard. This is done through regular monitoring, prior to approval, for new entrants, and continuing random audits for all doctors to ensure that standards remain high. Approval to carry out assessments will be removed if their work does not continue at the required standard. This monitoring is carried out by the company who are contracted to provide medical services, ATOS Healthcare. The Department also carries out a range of quality checks independently.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Bolivia: Politics and Government
The Government was pleased with the outcome of the Union of South American Nations’ (UNASUR) summit meeting on 15 September. Following the summit, the EU, with strong UK backing, issued a statement on 19 September that: supported the steps taken by UNASUR; endorsed the terms of the Palacio de la Moneda Declaration; welcomed that the UNASUR meeting facilitated the signature on 16 September of an agreement to open a national dialogue; and stated the EU's readiness to respond favourably to an invitation to support that dialogue alongside other national and international actors.
The EU Troika is acting as an international facilitator in the national dialogue, in close cooperation with the UNASUR delegation. Our ambassador to Bolivia is participating as a member of the Troika.
Departmental ICT
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not cancelled any significant information technology projects during the past five years. To provide more detailed information, on small individual projects—including from across our network of posts—would incur disproportionate cost.
Departmental Written Questions
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office responded to 62 per cent. (484 of 785) of written named day parliamentary questions on the due date in the current parliamentary session to date.
Georgia: South Ossetia
We have no information to suggest that the US Administration was informed in advance of Georgian actions. The US Administration has stated in hearings before the US Congress that they had warned the Georgians not to fall victim to provocations, and whatever their fears, a military response would be a mistake. Prior to 7 August, the US and others, including the UK, had encouraged all parties to avoid actions that would escalate tensions.
Malta: Foreign Relations
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary regularly meets with his Maltese counterpart at the General Affairs and External Relations Councils, which occur monthly. The last visit by a Foreign Secretary to Malta was by my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) in November 2005.
The UK is Malta’s second largest trading partner after Italy (2008 first quarter provisional figures). British business therefore thrives in Malta. Thousands of British tourists visit Malta each year, contributing to Malta’s tourism industry.
British culture features regularly in Malta, spanning a wide spectrum from the Globe Theatre group to Duran Duran. The most recent event was a poetry reading by Douglas Dunn earlier last month.
The UK continues to be the country of choice for Maltese post graduates and since Malta’s entry into the EU the number of Maltese students choosing to do undergraduate degree courses in the UK has been increasing steadily.
We co-operate closely in other fields such as defence, with regular ships visits and training for the armed forces of Malta. A member of the armed forces of Malta is currently receiving training at Dartmouth and another will go to Sandhurst in September.
We regularly assess our relations with Malta. The relationship between Malta and the UK continues to be strong, based on our shared history and our membership of the EU and the Commonwealth. We have regular engagement with the Maltese through bilateral contacts and international institutions, especially the EU.
Somalia: Piracy
Prior to French intervention in 2007, World Food programme aid shipments had come under pirate attack. Since the autumn of 2007, the French, Danes and Dutch have all undertaken escort duties which have been successful in deterring further attacks. Canada has agreed to escort World Food programme vessels from mid August. The Government have regularly discussed how best to secure a sustainable, long term solution for protection of food aid shipments from the threat of piracy with both European Union and other international partners.
Sri Lanka: EU External Trade
I have been asked to reply.
Decisions on Sri Lanka's General System of Preference Plus (GSP+) status take place at an EU level, and we will participate fully in EU discussions about the future of Sri Lanka's GSP+ status.
We will encourage the Government of Sri Lanka to engage with the Commission to demonstrate its compliance with the human rights and other conventions underpinning the GSP+ scheme.
Tamils
I have been asked to reply.
We estimate that the number of Sri Lankans displaced in the latest surge in conflict between the Sri Lankan armed forces and separatist extremists has risen from approximately 75,000 in July to between 200,000 and 250,000. Most of these people are Tamils. We estimate that about two thirds of them are likely to be women and children, but it is not possible to calculate numbers exactly because there is no humanitarian access. They are trapped between opposing forces in a pocket of north-east Sri Lanka without the assistance they need. There are plans by the United Nations and the Sri Lankan authorities to mount relief convoys but so far very little is getting through. As I said in the House on 14 October 2008, Official Report, columns 240-48WH, we deplore this situation, have called on all parties to the conflict to facilitate access and humanitarian aid and have committed a further £2.5 million in humanitarian relief through the international agencies.
We estimate that the total number of internally displaced people in Sri Lanka is now at least 500,000.
Prime Minister
Departmental Visits Abroad
Since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. Copies of these lists are available in the Library of the House. Information on the number of officials accompanying Ministers on overseas visits is included in the list.
All Ministers’ travel arrangements are in accordance with the arrangements for official travel set out in chapter 10 of the Ministerial Code.
For information from 2007-08 I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement I made on 22 July 2008, Official Report, column 103WS. Information for 2008-09 will be published in the normal way.
Leader of the House
Departmental Pay
A total of eight non-pensionable bonuses were awarded to members of staff in 2007 at a total cost of £11,477.
Northern Ireland
Fine Defaulters
On any given day around 2 per cent. of prisoners are in prison for fine default. In the past year, 28 per cent. of all prison receptions were for fine default.
In July my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (Mr. Hanson) and I published a set of wide-ranging proposals to improve the enforcement of fines.
Fuel Smuggling
Law enforcement agencies in Northern Ireland and the Republic are actively engaged in a range of operations against fuel fraudsters. In recent weeks there have been a number of significant arrests with almost 30,000 litres of illegal fuel seized together with cash, lorries, cars and other equipment.
Policing and Justice
The Northern Ireland Office's budget for policing is £1.1 billion for each of the next three years and £0.3 billion for justice for the same period.
The justice budget does not cover the NI Court Service which is the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor.
This level of funding reflects our commitment to sustained investment in policing and justice.
Security
I meet with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister regularly to discuss a range of issues, including security.
Drug-related Crime
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave earlier to the hon. Member for South-West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous)
Paramilitary Activity
The principal security threat today comes from Dissident republican factions which remain active and dangerous.
The latest IMC Report has confirmed that PIRA has completely relinquished the leadership and other structures appropriate to a time of armed conflict and that the Army Council is effectively redundant.
Loyalist groups have made progress but have yet to decommission their arms.
Prison Population
The Northern Ireland Prison Service population is currently 1,551. Estimates for the size of the prisoner population over the next three years are 1,632 in 2009-10, 1,697 in 2010-11 and 1,765 in 2011-12. This is based on a 5 per cent. increase up to 2009-10 and 4 per cent. thereafter.
Omagh Bombing
The Prime Minister has invited Sir Peter Gibson to undertake a review of the intercepted intelligence material available to the security and intelligence agencies in relation to the bombing and how it was shared. The Prime Minister has said he will report the outcome of the review to the House as soon as possible after he has received Sir Peter’s report.
On-the-run Prisoners
From 2003 to date, five prisoners remain unlawfully at large. All five were on pre-release home leave; four of the five within two months of release. The fifth, who was within five months of release, was on a town visit, prior to entering the Foyleview regime at Magilligan prison, where he would have availed of alternate weekend home leave.
2008 Olympic/Paralympic Games
Although I have had no recent discussions with Northern Ireland Ministers on this matter, I understand that the hon. Member for East Londonderry, the Northern Ireland Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure has warmly congratulated all the athletes from Northern Ireland who participated in the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic games in Beijing, and held a reception for all the athletes on 6 October in Parliament buildings.
Antisocial Behaviour
Injunctions against antisocial behaviour fall under the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 and as such are a devolved matter under the responsibility of the Department for Social Development.
However, the NI housing executive have advised that they have secured three such injunctions against antisocial behaviour since April 2007.
Winter Fuel Payments
My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 12 March 2008 the Government's intention to increase winter fuel payments; these were discussed within Government in the normal way.
Social security is of course a devolved matter in Northern Ireland.
Duchy of Lancaster
Departmental Buildings
The Cabinet Office is responsible for leases relating to one floor of Stockley House, Victoria, London which expire in 2011. Disposal of this space is currently being pursued and there is no intention to renew the lease on expiry.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
The information requested by the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East has been placed in the Library.
Departmental Computers
I refer the hon. Member to the Data Handling Report published on 25 June 2008, Official Report, columns 25-6WS, as well as the cross government mandatory minimum requirements in relation to personal data security.
The Data Handling Review states that where data has to be put onto removable media, departments should minimise the information transferred, use encryption and limit user access. References to this guidance can be found in paragraph 13 of the cross government mandatory minimum measures on the following Cabinet Office website; a copy of which has been placed in the libraries of the House.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/~/media/assets/www.cabinet office.gov.uk/csia/dhr/cross_gov080625%20pdf.ashx
Departmental Video Recordings
A range of films are produced for internal audiences and are available on the departmental intranet, for example: Cabinet Secretary's address at the All Staff Event 2 July 2008; Cabinet Office Board Meeting 5 June 2008; and About the Women's Network.
Powers of Entry
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker) on 7 October 2008, Official Report, column 577W.
Home Department
Criminal Investigation: Data Protection
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: The safeguards set out in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and related statutory codes of practice govern the access to communications data irrespective of the technical means of collection. Unauthorised access to, or disclosure of, data is also an offence under the Data Protection Act 1998.
Extradition: Crimes Against Humanity
(2) how many extradition requests were received under Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003 for individuals alleged to have committed (a) war crimes, (b) crimes against humanity and (c) genocide in each year since the Act came into force, broken down by (i) requesting state and (ii) the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed.
It is not the normal policy or practice, to confirm or deny the existence of any extradition request ahead of a person's arrest. With that caveat in mind, the following table shows the number of persons arrested in the UK on such charges pursuant to extradition requests received since 2000. In all cases, the alleged conduct was carried out in the requesting state. There have been no European Arrest Warrants issued to the UK for persons accused of conduct falling within the scope of this question. The EAW has been in operation in the UK since 1 January 2004.
Year received1 Number of requests Conduct Requesting state 2000 — — — 2001 — — — 2002 1 War Crimes Croatia 2003 — — — 2004 — — — 2005 — — — 2006 1 War Crimes Croatia 4 Genocide Rwanda 1 One extradition request from Spain for offences allegedly committed in Chile was received before 2000, but was refused by the then Home Secretary in March 2000.
Investigatory Powers Tribunal
[holding answer 9 October 2008]: No figures are available on how many times the tribunal has met in each of the years requested. However, the following table shows the number of applications it has received and investigations concluded for each of those years.
Period Applications received Investigations concluded 2 October-31 December 2001 102 71 1 January-31 December 2002 130 95 1 January-31 December 2003 109 100 1 January-31 December 2004 90 115 1 January-31 December 2005 80 93 1 January-31 December 2006 86 81 1 January-31 December 2007 66 83
The right hon. Lord Justice Mummery is President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal and my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has not met him.
The Tribunal currently consists of six members. They are: Lord Justice Mummery (President); Mr. Justice Burton (Vice-President); Sir Richard Gaskeil; sheriff principal John McInnes QC; Mr. Peter Scott QC; and Mr. Robert Seabrook QC.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal was established in October 2000 with minimal start up costs as it replaced existing bodies: the Interception of Communications Tribunal, the Security Service Tribunal, the Intelligence Services Tribunal and the complaints committee that dealt with Part III of the Police Act 1997. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal and the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office have a common Secretariat and the combined running costs of both for 2008-09 is £980,000.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal’s statutory responsibilities are set out in Part IV of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. There is no domestic right of appeal against Tribunal decisions.
Members: Correspondence
I wrote to the right hon. Member on 29 July 2008.
Police Arbitration Tribunal
My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will consider any recommendation of the Police Arbitration Tribunal very carefully. In doing so she will take account of the tribunal's findings and reasoning, and relevant factors including affordability and Government policy on public sector pay, including the maintenance of low inflation.
Police Custody: Death
This information is not held centrally.
Under the Police Reform Act 2002, deaths in custody constitute a mandatory referral to the IPCC. The IPCC assesses each referral in line with its obligations, including under article 2 of the Human Rights Act, considers the circumstances of the case referred and decides the appropriate mode of investigation.
An IPCC Commissioner has oversight of the investigation and agrees its recommendation.
Police: Disciplinary Proceedings
As at the end of March 2008, six officers below the rank of superintendent were suspended. There were no officers of superintendent and above suspended.
Police: Pay
My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will consider any recommendation of the Police Arbitration Tribunal very carefully. In doing so she will take account of the tribunal's findings and reasoning, and relevant factors including affordability and Government policy on public sector pay, including the maintenance of low inflation.
Police: Procurement
The “Efficiency and Productivity Strategy for the Police Service 2008-11” makes clear that savings can be made by the police service through increased collaborative procurement, including the use of national and regional contracts for, or open to the police service. The recent Green Paper “From The Neighbourhood to the National: Policing our Communities Together” makes clear that increasingly the Government expect police authorities and chief constables to consider whether procurement decisions should be made locally (collaborating with local partners), regionally or nationally, depending on the nature of the market.
We welcome the work that police forces are doing to implement the procurement strategy for the years to 2011 agreed earlier this year by the Association of Chief Police Officers. That strategy recognises that delivering more efficient procurement depends upon forces, along with local and national partners, aligning plans and reducing duplication.
Police: Resignations
The age of those leaving the service due to medical retirements is not collected centrally.
The number of police officer medical retirements have been published each year by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary (HMIC) in their annual report. HMIC have advised that these data will no longer be published in their annual report and that the data for 2004-05 would be the last series of data to be published.
The available data are given in the following table.
Full-time equivalent3 Police force 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Avon and Somerset 42 42 34 10 16 Bedfordshire 18 8 7 1 3 Cambridgeshire 11 10 8 4 1 Cheshire 22 22 25 15 11 City of London 9 8 4 8 4 Cleveland 9 21 11 11 11 Cumbria 24 7 7 4 3 Derbyshire 12 9 12 2 9 Devon and Cornwall 15 19 9 6 9 Dorset 12 10 3 9 4 Durham 8 15 11 6 7 Dyfed-Powys 14 13 11 7 9 Essex 34 32 21 16 13 Gloucestershire 7 10 13 5 2 Greater Manchester 110 57 33 10 14 Gwent 16 24 22 8 13 Hampshire 17 19 11 11 8 Hertfordshire 13 8 7 3 1 Humberside 20 11 10 2 10 Kent 29 38 21 9 6 Lancashire 30 39 22 13 11 Leicestershire 28 7 9 6 8 Lincolnshire 4 3 10 3 7 Merseyside 47 58 51 25 25 Metropolitan Police 225 219 150 60 64 Norfolk 10 16 13 6 10 Northamptonshire 8 6 3 3 3 Northumbria 28 33 21 9 4 North Wales 31 20 14 6 7 North Yorkshire 37 16 9 8 8 Nottinghamshire 16 14 16 12 15 South Wales 76 50 33 14 8 South Yorkshire 30 30 17 12 3 Staffordshire 9 24 22 14 13 Suffolk 14 13 12 8 3 Surrey 18 24 12 10 6 Sussex 16 16 9 4 12 Thames Valley 20 17 29 17 8 Warwickshire 15 7 8 4 3 West Mercia 28 28 20 11 10 West Midlands 29 30 21 13 12 West Yorkshire 44 61 23 11 5 Wiltshire 5 3 15 2 6 Total 1,209 1,114 819 418 405 1 Data collated on behalf of and published by HMIC. HMIC have advised that these data will no longer be published in their annual report and that the data for 2004-05 would be the last series of data to be published. 2 Financial year runs 1 April to 31 March inclusive. 3 This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items.
Police: Rules of Engagement
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: There have been no such discussions. Operational tactics when using firearms are a matter for the police. The use of firearms by the police is closely governed by Guidelines produced by the Association of Chief Police Officers (available at):
www.westmercia.police.uk.
Chief Officers must decide in any given circumstances whether armed officers should be authorised to use their firearms. Once authorised to use firearms, it is for the individual officer to ensure they act within the law. The Criminal Law Act 1967 provides that the police may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances to effect an arrest or to prevent crime.
Robbery: Detection Rates
Detection rates at police force area level have been published for robbery since 1990 and are given in the following tables.
It should be noted that non-sanction detections which contribute to the overall detection rates have fallen in recent years reflecting a significant shift by many police forces away from recording detections where no further action is taken. For this reason overall detection rates over time are not fully comparable.
Police force area 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998-991 1999-20002 2000-01 2001-02 Avon and Somerset 37 27 20 19 28 25 23 25 23 15 14 10 Bedfordshire 22 18 20 17 20 16 26 32 29 20 23 17 British Transport Police n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Cambridgeshire 44 40 36 40 39 28 53 35 21 25 25 22 Cheshire 60 52 50 41 55 54 60 58 40 36 39 32 Cleveland 29 42 40 33 32 31 25 25 19 19 17 18 Cumbria 54 68 48 48 50 51 51 60 61 51 38 43 Derbyshire 41 33 40 34 29 27 29 29 31 30 24 24 Devon and Cornwall 45 40 31 33 34 30 38 41 37 42 40 34 Dorset 45 45 35 45 42 39 26 37 29 28 19 19 Durham 40 47 52 46 47 54 50 52 38 43 42 36 Dyfed-Powys 67 50 90 65 68 96 81 91 93 68 91 77 Essex 37 32 36 30 33 27 24 38 33 28 26 25 Gloucestershire 42 46 32 33 34 32 25 29 36 29 34 26 Greater Manchester 32 29 27 24 29 22 19 20 19 15 14 14 Gwent 68 58 53 56 51 63 63 68 53 52 51 58 Hampshire 51 39 34 35 33 32 41 36 38 36 32 30 Hertfordshire 37 37 27 49 34 39 39 40 38 28 34 31 Humberside 40 41 21 24 22 23 26 26 27 17 20 17 Kent 39 42 37 34 37 34 45 40 44 42 26 27 Lancashire 56 55 44 43 40 38 38 28 31 30 25 24 Leicestershire 44 34 37 30 32 37 30 36 32 29 27 21 Lincolnshire 44 53 38 42 45 40 44 58 41 43 38 32 London, City of 34 28 37 20 48 28 21 35 24 14 42 17 Merseyside 21 21 19 21 17 20 24 25 23 18 21 19 Metropolitan Police 15 13 13 14 14 18 22 24 16 12 12 11 Norfolk 50 47 44 32 46 34 31 40 35 28 26 24 Northamptonshire 37 28 36 41 33 33 41 38 45 40 33 32 Northumbria 37 27 28 25 23 26 29 35 32 32 29 32 North Wales 51 54 39 53 52 51 42 52 44 47 39 34 North Yorkshire 46 50 45 38 40 39 40 49 41 34 33 29 Nottinghamshire 36 33 28 32 30 32 33 27 21 21 18 16 South Wales 56 43 42 47 38 42 49 61 46 46 45 42 South Yorkshire 41 36 32 26 31 27 29 33 35 27 28 24 Staffordshire 50 46 34 30 44 34 38 40 32 25 24 20 Suffolk 53 50 47 44 44 47 42 55 43 53 45 40 Surrey 31 33 32 34 34 35 47 35 48 32 36 32 Sussex 36 28 30 29 27 31 35 35 27 22 23 27 Thames Valley 41 29 29 30 27 31 35 35 30 23 25 26 Warwickshire 43 35 38 31 35 28 32 38 29 30 28 30 West Mercia 59 53 49 42 45 36 41 45 39 36 34 28 West Midlands 41 31 24 22 19 18 20 22 23 18 21 21 West Yorkshire 37 31 27 28 28 25 39 39 27 28 23 20 Wiltshire 48 40 28 41 34 46 44 49 40 29 29 32 n/a = Not available. 1 The number of crimes detected in that financial year using the expanded coverage and revised counting rules which came into effect on 1 April 1998. 2 New instructions which clarified the rules for detecting crime were introduced on 1 April 1999.
Police force area 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Avon and Somerset 13 15 15 17 19 20 Bedfordshire 19 15 23 19 12 16 British Transport Police 24 28 29 30 36 39 Cambridgeshire 20 19 24 25 18 20 Cheshire 25 27 24 22 26 23 Cleveland 19 17 19 20 23 26 Cumbria 38 31 29 45 34 44 Derbyshire 24 19 26 25 22 26 Devon and Cornwall 23 27 25 27 22 28 Dorset 17 19 25 31 27 28 Durham 29 33 25 30 30 40 Dyfed-Powys 75 50 37 70 43 57 Essex 21 21 23 24 24 21 Gloucestershire 41 27 34 31 30 36 Greater Manchester 15 17 18 19 19 19 Gwent 41 38 39 35 22 18 Hampshire 31 26 33 18 27 28 Hertfordshire 31 34 36 24 25 27 Humberside 14 17 20 18 19 25 Kent 24 23 15 18 18 20 Lancashire 30 32 34 32 39 36 Leicestershire 23 18 18 21 25 25 Lincolnshire 28 23 23 20 26 21 London, City of 24 14 29 23 20 20 Merseyside 23 26 27 15 20 24 Metropolitan Police 13 12 15 14 14 16 Norfolk 23 23 16 26 16 20 Northamptonshire 24 19 22 20 19 26 Northumbria 28 26 22 25 31 31 North Wales 25 36 40 36 34 38 North Yorkshire 21 32 31 31 26 29 Nottinghamshire 19 18 21 18 14 18 South Wales 31 36 43 29 27 33 South Yorkshire 23 31 32 33 30 36 Staffordshire 24 23 27 28 25 18 Suffolk 34 31 29 25 27 27 Surrey 26 28 31 34 32 26 Sussex 20 21 23 20 21 22 Thames Valley 29 25 24 23 20 19 Warwickshire 27 28 24 16 18 24 West Mercia 25 31 40 34 31 22 West Midlands 23 23 21 20 20 21 West Yorkshire 26 28 32 28 28 27 Wiltshire 25 28 31 27 16 34 1 The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in April 2002. Figures before and after that date are not directly comparable. 2 It should be noted that non-sanction detections that contribute to the overall detection rate have fallen in recent years reflecting a significant shift by many police forces away from recording detections of crime where no further action is taken. For this reason overall detection rates over time are not fully comparable. From 1 April 2007 the rules governing recording of non-sanction detections were revised to reduce the scope within which they can be claimed to a very limited set of circumstances.
Serious and Organised Crime Agency: Resignations
Since 1 April 2006, 231 sworn constables have left SOCA. This number includes 58 retirements and 35 who remained as secondees on transfer to SOCA and who have since returned to their home force on conclusion of their secondment. In addition, some former police officers who resigned from SOCA at the end of their 30 years' service have rejoined the organisation, including in the most recent recruitment process.
The following tables detail these data on a monthly basis against (a) those holding powers of a constable, and (b) all staff in SOCA.
Month left Numbers of former police officers directly employed at 1 April 2006 leaving each month (including retirements) Number leaving as a percentage of former police officers directly employed at start Number leaving as a percentage of total direct employees at start 2006 August 2 0.18 0.05 September 4 0.36 0.10 October 3 0.27 0.07 November 4 0.36 0.10 December 4 0.36 0.10 2007 January 7 0.63 0.17 February 4 0.36 0.10 March 9 0.82 0.22 April 7 0.63 0.17 May 8 0.72 0.20 June 7 0.63 0.17 July 6 0.54 0.15 August 10 0.91 0.24 September 17 1.54 0.42 October 4 0.36 0.10 November 7 0.63 0.17 December 12 1.09 0.29 2008 January 12 1.09 0.29 February 13 1.18 0.32 March 10 0.91 0.24 April 27 2.45 0.66 May 11 1.00 0.27 June 8 0.72 0.20 Total who left 196 17.75 4.80
Numbers of former police officers directly employed or transferred on secondment at 1 April 2006, leaving each month Number leaving as a percentage of former police officers at start Number leaving as a percentage of total direct employees at start 2006 July 2 0.18 0.05 August 2 0.18 0.05 September 5 0.44 0.12 October 3 0.26 0.07 November 4 0.35 0.10 December 4 0.35 0.10 2007 January 9 0.79 0.22 February 6 0.53 0.15 March 9 0.79 0.22 April 9 0.79 0.22 May 10 0.88 0.25 June 8 0.70 0.20 July 6 0.53 0.15 August 17 1.54 0.42 September 23 2.08 0.57 October 4 0.36 0.10 November 9 0.82 0.22 December 13 1.18 0.32 2008 January 13 1.18 0.32 February 14 1.27 0.34 March 11 1.00 0.27 April 29 2.63 0.71 May 12 1.07 0.29 June 9 0.80 0.22 Total who left 231 20.66 5.68
Reason Number Medically retired 2 Normal retirement 56 Resignation 138 Total 196
Surveillance
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply given by the then Minister of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, East (Mr. McNulty), to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 22 July 2008, Official Report, column 1374W. It is not the Investigatory Powers Tribunal's practice to publish detailed breakdowns by type or body of complaint, in order to preserve the confidence of people using it that their complaint will be handled confidentially. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal is independent of Government and subject to statutory rules which prevent it from disclosing information to an extent, or in a manner, that is contrary to the public interest. Only law enforcement and intelligences agencies and certain detention authorities can conduct intrusive surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Act 2000, but any valid complaint would be investigated by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: Under section 65 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal is the responsible body for any complaint about public authority conduct under the Act. If it determines that there has been a contravention of the Act, it is required to notify the complainant and in certain circumstances make a report to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. It may, if appropriate, quash any warrant or authorisation, order the destruction of relevant material and award compensation or make any other order as they think fit.
Surveillance: Local Authorities
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (‘RIPA’) requires that the use of any covert investigatory techniques must be necessary and proportionate to what the relevant public authority seeks to achieve. It is a matter for each authority to determine what is proportionate in the circumstances. All authorisations must on request be made available for scrutiny to the independent Commissioners established under RIPA. In the case of local authorities’ use of directed surveillance, oversight is undertaken by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners.
The Office of Surveillance Commissioners was established by statute to provide independent oversight of public authorities using covert investigatory powers. It is not appropriate for Ministers to issue instructions to the Office of Surveillance Commissioners. Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 local authorities may use directed surveillance for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime or disorder providing it is necessary and proportionate for them to do so.
Surveillance: Telecommunications
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: The information is not held centrally.
Children, Schools and Families
Child Minding
(2) how many and what proportion of childminders were deemed inadequate by Ofsted in the (a) 10 per cent. most deprived and (b) 10 per cent. least deprived local authority areas in each year since such inspections began;
(3) how many and what proportion of childminders were deemed inadequate by Ofsted in each region in each year since such inspections began;
(4) how many registered childminders there were in the (a) 10 per cent. most deprived and (b) 10 per cent. least deprived local authority areas in each quarter of the last three years.
Beverley Hughes: These are matters for Ofsted. The Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, will write to the hon. Member and copies of her replies will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 23 September 2008:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for a response.
Our source for identifying the 5% and 10% most and least deprived local authorities is the Government’s “Indices of Deprivation 2007” (an index published once every three years), as taken from the website of the Department for Communities and Local Government (www.communities.gov.uk)
I should alert you to some potential confusion with the figures. In order to capture all inadequate ratings following an Ofsted inspection, the data provided give the number and proportion of providers that were inadequate at any time during that period. Since a provider may receive a re-inspection and no longer be inadequate by the end of the year, these figures do not reflect our other publications which only capture the most recent inspection of a provider. This information is presented in Table A.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Inspections between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 LA deprivation level Total day care at 1 April 2006 Total inspected 2005/06 Total inspected 2005/06 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2005/06 (%) 10 per cent. least deprived 4,740 1,109 86 7.8 10 per cent. most deprived 2,522 611 60 9.8
LA deprivation level Total day care at 1 April 2007 Total inspected 2006/07 Total inspected 2006/07 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2006/07 (%) 10 per cent. least deprived 4,682 1,679 101 6.0 10 per cent. most deprived 2,552 803 65 8.1
LA deprivation level Total day care at 1 April 2008 Total inspected 2007/08 Total inspected 2007/08 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2007/08 (%) 10 per cent. least deprived 4,712 1,786 109 6.1 10 per cent. most deprived 2,547 908 77 8.5
LA deprivation level Total day care at 1 April 2004/06 Total inspected 2005/06 Total inspected 2005/06 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2005/06 (%) 5 per cent. least deprived 1,636 380 25 6.6 5 per cent. most deprived 1,078 242 22 9.1
LA deprivation level Total day care at 1 April 2007 Total inspected 2006/07 Total inspected 2006/07 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2006/07 (%) 5 per cent. least deprived 1,593 593 35 5.9 5 per cent. most deprived 1,096 318 21 6.6
LA deprivation level Total day care at 1 April 2008 Total inspected 2007/08 Total inspected 2007/08 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2007/08 (%) 5 per cent. least deprived 1,608 570 27 4.7 5 per cent. most deprived 1,109 381 38 10.0 Notes: 1. All inspection data taken from the Regulatory Support Application (RSA) database as it was at 1 April 2008. Active provider data taken from the RSA database as it was at 6 April 2006, 30 March 2007 and 1 April 2008 respectively. LA deprivation level based on Indices of Deprivation 2007 on the government communities website (www.communities.gov.uk).The majority of the data underpinning the Indices of Deprivation 2007 represents 2005 although some data covers a number of years, for example an average of 2003-05. 2. In order to capture all inadequate ratings following an Ofsted inspection, the data provided give the number and proportion of providers that were inadequate at any time during the time period. Since a provider may receive a re-inspection and no longer be inadequate by the end of the year, these figures do not reflect our other publications which only capture the most recent inspection of a provider.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 23 September 2008:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for a response.
Our source for identifying both the 10% most and least deprived local authorities is the Government's “Indices of Deprivation 2007” (an index published once every three years), as taken from the website of the Department for Communities and Local Government (www.communities.gov.uk).
Ofsted has been responsible for the inspection of childminders since September 2001. However during the first 18 months we carried out transition inspections where we made an assessment of whether registration should continue and did not give quality grades. We started to judge quality and grade this from April 2003. There are, however, issues relating to the structure of the database used to store inspection outcomes during the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2005. These issues make it difficult to present accurate and comprehensive data relating to this period. Furthermore, the inspection framework changed in April 2005 with the result that it is difficult to make meaningful comparisons with the period 2003-05. The inspection data in this response, therefore, relate to the current inspection framework and covers the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2008.
I should alert you to some potential confusion with the figures. In order to capture all inadequate ratings following an Ofsted inspection, the data provided give the number and proportion of providers that were inadequate at any time during that period. Since a provider may receive a re-inspection and no longer be inadequate by the end of the year, these figures do not reflect our other publications which only capture the most recent inspection of a provider. This information is presented in Table A.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Inspections between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 LA deprivation level Total childminders at 1 April 2004/06 Total inspected 2005/06 Total inspected 2005/06 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2005/06 (%) 10 per cent. least deprived 11,550 2,880 74 2.6 10 per cent. most deprived 4,363 1,209 31 2.6
LA deprivation level Total childminders at 1 April 07 Total inspected 2006/07 Total inspected 2006/07 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2006/07 (%) 10 per cent. least deprived 11,215 2,844 91 3.2 10 per cent. most deprived 4,464 819 46 5.6
LA deprivation level Total childminders at 1 April 2008 Total inspected 2007/08 Total inspected 2007/08 inadequate Proportion inadequate 07/08 (%) 10 per cent. least deprived 10,418 3,330 217 6.5 10 per cent. most deprived 4,114 1,216 123 10.1 Notes: 1. All inspection data taken from the Regulatory Support Application (RSA) database as it was at 1 April 2008. Active provider data taken from the RSA database as it was at 6 April 2006, 30 March 2007 and 1 April 2008 respectively. LA deprivation level based on Indices of Deprivation 2007 on the government communities website (www.communities.gov.uk).The majority of the data underpinning the Indices of Deprivation 2007 represents 2005 although some data covers a number of years, for example an average of 2003-05. 2. In order to capture all inadequate ratings following an Ofsted inspection, the data provided give the number and proportion of providers that were inadequate at any time during the time period. Since a provider may receive a re-inspection and no longer be inadequate by the end of the year, these figures do not reflect our other publications which only capture the most recent inspection of a provider.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 23 September 2008:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for a response.
Ofsted has been responsible for the inspection of childminders since September 2001. However, during the first 18 months we carried out transition inspections where we made an assessment of whether registration should continue and did not give quality grades. We started to judge quality and grade this from April 2003. There are, however, issues relating to the structure of the database used to store inspection outcomes during the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2005. These issues make it difficult to present accurate and comprehensive data relating to this period. Furthermore, the inspection framework changed in April 2005 with the result that it is difficult to make meaningful comparisons with the period 2003-05. The inspection data in this response, therefore, relate to the current inspection framework and covers the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2008.
I should alert you to some potential confusion with the figures. In order to capture all inadequate ratings following an Ofsted inspection, the data provided give the number and proportion of providers that were inadequate at any time during that period. Since a provider may receive a re-inspection and no longer be inadequate by the end of the year, these figures do not reflect our other publications which only capture the most recent inspection of a provider. This information is presented in Table A.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Inspections between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 Government office region Total childminders at 1 April 2006 Total inspected 2005/06 Total inspected 2005/06 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2005/06 North East 3,565 772 42 5.4 South West England 6,673 1,852 52 2.8 West Midlands 6,222 2,090 55 2.6 Outer London 8,179 1,855 80 4.3 East of England 8,543 2,435 77 3.2 East Midlands 5,901 1,538 53 3.4 North West England 8,320 2,103 76 3.6 South East England 13,758 3,448 74 2.1 Inner London 3,648 687 43 6.3 Yorkshire and the Humber 6,813 1,752 55 3.1
Government office region Total childminders at 1 April 2007 Total inspected 2006/07 Total inspected 2006/07 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2006/07 North East 3,474 755 48 6.4 South West England 6,387 1,786 59 3.3 West Midlands 6,154 1,698 75 4.4 Outer London 8,008 1,268 72 5.7 East of England 8,522 2,652 95 3.6 East Midlands 5,863 1,608 72 4.5 North West England 8,072 1,894 91 4.8 South East England 13,218 3,265 91 2.8 Inner London 3,693 518 41 7.9 Yorkshire and the Humber 6,534 1,599 93 5.8
Government office region Total childminders at 1 April 2008 Total inspected 2007/08 Total inspected 2007/08 inadequate Proportion inadequate 2007/08 North East 3,128 1,211 97 8.0 South West England 6,021 1,799 99 5.5 West Midlands 5,574 1,394 109 7.8 Outer London 7,440 2,562 219 8.5 East of England 7,728 2,101 167 7.9 East Midlands 5,449 1,693 150 8.9 North West England 7,350 2,624 203 7.7 South East England 12,452 3,780 183 4.8 Inner London 3,536 1,153 109 9.5 Yorkshire and the Humber 5,970 2,142 189 8.8 Notes: 1. All inspection data taken from the Regulatory Support Application (RSA) database as it was at 1 April 2008. Active provider data taken from the RSA database as it was at 6 April 2006, 30 March 2007 and 1 April 2008 respectively. 2. In order to capture all inadequate ratings following an Ofsted inspection, the data provided give the number and proportion of providers that were inadequate at any time during the time period. Since a provider may receive a re-inspection and no longer be inadequate by the end of the year, these figures do not reflect our other publications which only capture the most recent inspection of a provider.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 23 September 2008:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for a response.
The information you require is presented in Tables A and B attached.
Our source for identifying the 10% most and least deprived local authorities is the Government’s “Indices of Deprivation 2007” (an index published once every three years), as taken from the website of the Department for Communities and Local Government (www.communities.oov.uk).
A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
2005 2006 2007 2008 LA code LA name Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar 330 Birmingham 983 996 1004 999 1000 1033 1074 1073 1049 1024 1006 942 918 890 Blackpool 154 162 162 164 165 161 153 152 147 133 124 126 118 204 Hackney 224 227 232 240 249 247 252 264 270 265 271 273 268 206 Islington 254 251 250 257 265 269 279 284 280 273 270 269 262 810 Kingston upon Hull 208 226 234 236 242 246 249 243 235 231 211 202 191 340 Knowsley 113 125 129 128 127 130 135 134 129 126 134 129 126 341 Liverpool 232 237 237 237 234 234 228 230 236 237 232 228 230 352 Manchester 400 405 409 418 429 426 429 442 438 424 412 415 424 806 Middlesbrough 154 154 157 163 160 155 151 152 154 153 148 140 138 316 Newham 351 361 363 368 378 377 382 391 380 372 374 365 363 892 Nottingham City 272 281 281 286 283 281 293 298 292 294 301 300 286 355 Salford 253 266 267 275 272 280 284 295 296 292 299 304 297 333 Sandwell 205 206 208 209 210 216 217 221 218 211 205 197 186 861 Stoke on Trent 249 244 240 239 232 230 228 230 224 215 213 208 197 211 Tower Hamlets 119 118 121 121 117 119 124 121 116 117 119 115 110 Total 4171 4259 4294 4340 4363 4404 4478 4530 4464 4367 4319 4213 4114
2005 2006 2007 2008 LA code LA name Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar 800 Bath & NE Somerset 259 260 261 262 262 257 243 240 220 210 201 199 195 867 Bracknell Forest 272 271 272 276 284 290 292 301 299 307 302 296 292 825 Buckinghamshire 969 972 981 991 987 970 957 985 951 914 929 887 865 873 Cambridgeshire 930 947 967 962 952 967 957 960 954 938 893 864 836 850 Hampshire 2517 2558 2549 2559 2569 2595 2553 2575 2519 2448 2418 2360 2337 855 Leicestershire 1013 1006 1011 1004 993 988 982 999 991 973 980 958 938 931 Oxfordshire 991 1004 999 996 991 982 966 1000 965 948 952 935 899 318 Richmond upon Thames 353 346 351 355 348 354 352 344 324 320 322 307 294 857 Rutland 62 62 60 64 60 52 50 52 57 55 56 52 53 803 South Gloucestershire 390 398 390 380 372 370 363 363 343 337 328 321 311 936 Surrey 1855 1897 1883 1918 1950 1959 1935 1940 1866 1840 1854 1833 1785 869 West Berkshire (Newbury) 302 305 298 296 303 290 283 282 269 270 270 273 271 865 Wiltshire 805 811 810 808 803 802 826 844 819 786 790 778 759 868 Windsor & Maidenhead 302 303 307 306 299 290 283 286 259 252 242 237 226 872 Wokingham 353 367 375 380 377 376 378 378 379 377 379 371 357 Total 11373 11507 11514 11557 11550 11542 11420 11549 11215 10975 10916 10671 10418
Children
It is our current policy to consider the needs of our audience for each communication, including with children and young people, and look for the most effective, best value way to reach them on each occasion.
Children: Research
The Department ensures that all the research it funds goes through an appropriate process of methodological and ethical scrutiny to ensure that children’s safety and well-being are protected and that the research results are robust. In addition, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) vets all applications made by academics and others to conduct research involving local authority children’s services departments, whether funded by the Department or not.
Culture: Curriculum
The citizenship curriculum does not prescribe the detailed content of what should be taught, but does encourage young people to explore cultural issues, identity, diversity and values in relation to their own lives alongside important concepts like democracy, justice, right and responsibility. It also encourages students to understand and learn about connections between the diverse cultures and communities in the UK and the wider world. The curriculum encourages a flexible approach to allow teachers to plan lessons which reflect their local context and meet their learners' needs, capabilities and aspirations.
Departmental Marketing
All campaigns have an evaluation mechanism such as response targets (calls to a campaign telephone number or hits on a website). In addition, where the advertising spend is more substantial, campaigns are additionally evaluated through independent customer research which tracks the campaign impact against its objectives, measuring levels of customer awareness and exploring shifts in attitude and behaviour among the target audience.
All departmental advertising is bought on our behalf by the Central Office of Information (COI), which is able to use its purchasing power to negotiate significant discounts, ensuring that our advertising budgets are cost effective in the amount of media they purchase.
Departmental Pay
In the Department annual non-pensionable bonuses were awarded on 1 April 2008 for the 12 month performance reporting period ending on 31 March 2008. The number of bonuses paid was 1,403 and the amount was £1.9 million.
Departmental Recruitment
My Department was established on 28 June 2007. The costs paid to recruitment consultants and for external recruitment advertising for senior civil service (SCS) recruitment from 28 June 2007 to the end of the financial year was £213,343. The recruitment consultants employed for these purposes were all drawn from the Cabinet Office Framework agreement.
The costs for vacancies below SCS level are not recorded in the form requested and figures could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
The Department has no agencies.
Departmental Written Questions
The Department has received 773 named day questions so far this session. 396 (50 per cent.) questions have been answered on time.
Food Technology
The new secondary curriculum introduced in September 2008 focuses food technology on practical cooking skills and knowledge. In January 2008, the Government announced that as part of their obesity strategy, food technology will be compulsory for 11 to 14-year-olds from September 2011. Cooking is already compulsory in primary schools.
The Licence to Cook programme delivers a training programme for teachers and supports collaboration between schools that offer food technology and those that currently do not so that more 11 to 16-year-olds have the opportunity to learn how to cook. We have also announced £150,000,000 ring fenced capital investment to build food technology teaching areas in secondary schools currently without facilities and £750,000 for new facilities fro teacher training providers to enable us to reach our target of providing around 800 training places for food technology teachers in the next three years.
Higher Education: Admissions
I have been asked to reply.
Information is not currently available as requested on the number of pupils participating in Aimhigher activities. Information is gathered from Aimhigher partnerships via annual monitoring reports. Due to the diversity of activities delivered by partnerships and differences in recording those activities it has not been possible to collate these in a coherent and reliable format. We are currently working with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) on the design of a new monitoring report which will enable us to gather data in a more consistent way.
Aimhigher is an important part of the Government's policies to widen participation in higher education amongst people from under-represented groups. Evidence from predecessor programmes shows that the type of activities supported by Aimhigher are successful in raising the aspirations of young people towards higher education, and their attainment whilst at school or college.
The Department, together with HEFCE, is working hard to improve the impact of Aimhigher further. Last year, HEFCE published guidance to help aimhigher partnerships target their interventions more effectively on young people from lower socio-economic groups and other priority target groups. More recently, guidance was published on how to develop programmes of interventions to build up commitment, rather than delivering one-off interventions.
Higher Education: Disadvantaged
I have been asked to reply.
The annual income bands referred to in the question relate to the 2007/08 thresholds for education maintenance allowance (EMA) entitlement of £30 per week, £20 per week, £10 per week and no entitlement to EMA respectively. Neither the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills nor the Department for Children, Schools and Families holds information on the destinations of young people after they have been in receipt of an education maintenance allowance. The Learning and Skills Council are planning a future piece of work to analyse UCAS data on young people progressing into higher education, and to match that with those who have previously been in receipt of an EMA. A copy of that study, when available, will be placed in the House Library.
Learning Disability
There are currently over 14,200 schools providing access to the core offer of extended services which includes opportunities to participate in study support activities as part of a varied menu activities from 8 am to 6 pm. By 2010 all schools will be extended schools.
£265.5 million in additional funding over the next couple of years will help ensure that extended schools activities are accessible to all children, including those with special educational needs. A pathfinder is under way, involving schools in 18 local authorities, with the aim of developing best practice and case studies for the full roll-out in 2010.
In addition, the Council for Disabled Children (CDC) has recently produced guidance on access to extended schools and children's centres for disabled children. It identifies practice that promotes access to, and participation in, extended services by disabled children so that they can enjoy the same opportunities as others.
Schools: Admissions
(2) what representations he has received from independent schools linked to maintained secondary schools on the question of remaining as named feeder schools;
(3) whether, under his proposed revised admissions guidance in circumstances where an independent Catholic school is one of 19 named Catholic feeder schools for admission to a Catholic maintained school, such an arrangement would be deemed to unfairly disadvantage children from deprived areas.
Guidance on school admissions is provided in the School Admissions Code. The code does not limit the number of feeder primary schools which maintained secondary schools can include in their admission arrangements. However, giving priority to children attending an independent school, whether faith-based or not, gives those children an unfair advantage over children living nearer the school and attending maintained schools.
In the recent consultation that ended on 2 October there were four representations from individual independent schools or their representative bodies relating directly to the feeder school proposal.
Schools: Catering
The Department for Children, Schools and Families does not collect this information. However, the School Food Trust’s annual survey which can be found at
www.schoolfoodtrust.org.uk/documents/annualsurvey3
includes information on catering facilities at national and regional but not local authority level. In response to the trust’s latest survey LAs reported that, across England, 20 per cent. of primary and special schools had no kitchen facilities (data from 107 LAs). Virtually all secondary schools have kitchens (data from 100 LAs).
Schools: Health
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families has regular meetings and discussions with ministerial colleagues on issues of mutual interest.
Special Educational Needs
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Culture, Media and Sport
Advertising Standards Agency: Public Appointments
The Chair of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is appointed by the Advertising Standards Board of Finance and the Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance. Members of the ASA Council are appointed by the Chair and serve a three year term.
The ASA Council operates independently of the Government and the advertising industry, it consists of 15 members appointed by an independent Chairman, currently the right hon. Lord Smith of Finsbury, and criteria for appointment are therefore primarily a matter for the ASA. Council members are chosen for their breadth of experience and do not represent any sector or business. The membership covers both the non-broadcast and the broadcast remit.
Archery: Finance
Sport England and UK Sport have advised that no awards from lottery or Exchequer funds have been made to competitive archery centres in 2008.
Art Works: Exports
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: I refer the hon. Member to the published annual reports of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, copies of which are available from the House Library. The information for (a) can be found in part I under 'items acquired'. The information for (b) is not available as it is neither the Committee's—nor DCMS's—responsibility to record an object's movements in the event of an export licence being granted.
Big Lottery Fund: Recruitment
The Big Lottery Fund has provided the following information about their advertising costs for recruitment in each of the last five years. These figures include all executive posts, but not public appointments.
Financial year Description £ 2004-05 — 178,272.57 2005-06 Includes jobs relocated from London to Newcastle as part of restructuring 352,515.92 2006-07 Includes jobs relocated from London to Birmingham, as part of restructuring. 450,198.62 2007-08 Includes chief executive recruitment as well as final phase of large recruitment campaign in Birmingham. 510,889.76
Financial Year Description £ 2004-05 — 2,958.87 2005-06 New committee recruitment for initial merger of Community Fund and New Opportunities Fund 48,617.22 2006-07 — 2,617.14 2007-08 New committee recruitment following legal merger, including country committees. 43,367.52
British Grand Prix
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on of 6 October 2008, Official Report, column 34W.
Cycling: Facilities
Sport England has advised that as far as they are aware, there are no permanent indoor BMX tracks of the type suitable for competition racing available for public use in the UK.
Departmental Conferences
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport held its 2008 staff conference on 5 February. The total cost of the event was £21,345 (excluding VAT), two Ministers attended the conference and 437 staff booked a place at the event.
Departmental Equality
In May 2008 Human and Business Resources did a monitoring exercise on behalf of the Department to encourage staff to declare across all the equality strands. This was supported by the departmental diversity champion in a message that went out to all staff. In addition all new staff coming into the Department must complete an equal opportunities monitoring form.
Departmental Land
The asset known as “the Land to the North of the British Library” was sold for £85.018 million. The department will retain £39.8 million with the balance being surrendered to the Treasury.
Departmental NDPBs
In each of the last 10 years my Department has received the following rental income from its NDPBs.
£ £ 1998-99 — British Museum 1,625,000 — English Heritage 863,000 — British Library 590,000 1999-2000 — British Museum 375,000 — English Heritage 863,000 — British Library 645,000 2000-01 — British Museum 176,000 — English Heritage 863,000 — British Library 42,000 2001-02 — English Heritage 863,000 2002-03 — English Heritage 863,000 2003-04 — English Heritage 863,000 2004-05 — English Heritage 863,000 2005-06 — English Heritage 872,000 2006-07 0 2007-08 UK Film Council 174,213 0
Departmental Public Expenditure
The Department completed a major refurbishment project in excess of £0.5 million in 2006-07.
Departmental Recruitment
The costs incurred on advertising ministerial public appointments to the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and to VisitBritain were:
£ total (excluding VAT) (a) Museums, Libraries and Archives Council 2004-05 Nil 2005-06 15,167 2006-07 Nil 2007-08 18,534 2008-09 (to date) Nil (b) VisitBritain 2004-05 13,970 2005-06 10,019 2006-07 Nil 2007-08 Nil 2008-09 (to date) Nil
These costs were all incurred by the Department and not by the NDPB.
Departmental Rents
The following organisations rent property from the Department:
Hunting Plc
Avanta London Ltd
UK Film Council
The Department received the following amounts in rental income in each of the last 10 years.
Retained by DCMS Surrendered to the consolidated fund 1998-99 — 3,078,000 1999-2000 — 1,883,000 2000-01 — 1,081,000 2001-02 — 863,000 2002-03 — 863,000 2003-04 1,917,334 863,000 2004-05 1,906,930 863,000 2005-06 1,771,132 872,000 2006-07 602,000 0 2007-08 656,213 0
Departmental Security
The amount spent on security since December 2005 is detailed as follows. Information prior to December 2005 is not available.
Security guarding Equipment, hardware and maintenance December 2005 to March 2006 197,880 4,609 April 2006 to March 2007 642,945 31,427 April 2007 to March 2008 528,170 109,887
In 2007-08 the Department upgraded its CCTV and security systems.
Departmental Surveys
DCMS staff opinion surveys take place biennially and the last one was in 2007. ORC did the survey on behalf of the Department and the cost of the survey was £21,540.
Departmental Telephone Services
Neither the Department nor its Agency (The Royal Parks) have telephone numbers that charge more than the national call rate.
English Heritage
The information requested, as provided by English Heritage, is set out in the table.
Events Visitor Nos. Events Visitor Nos. Events Visitor Nos. Events Nos. Events Visitor Nos. Events Visitor Nos. to date Visitor Nos. expected in 2008 London 91 9,039 163 15,003 63 20,356 86 24,636 39 18,832 58 17,759 19,100 East Midlands 85 35,573 76 24,150 43 29,176 28 29,137 22 29,934 18 23,480 24,358 East of England 44 79,485 78 82,038 36 21,220 43 36,500 36 62,287 32 55,865 77,290 South East 94 57,182 180 65,267 51 73,096 62 160,134 55 91,425 47 105,676 134,311 South West 96 44,524 172 52,883 56 62,710 72 105,943 55 61,298 51 59,681 68,949 West Midlands 49 41,693 90 33,186 52 51,067 55 52,493 58 47,730 48 35,561 51,150 Yorkshire 85 30,439 152 65,875 36 85,134 66 80,468 80 110,686 87 84,872 101,090 North West 18 10,931 54 9,531 30 19,487 25 16,044 16 21,278 18 14,165 19,450 North East 138 75,888 109 29,783 49 53,729 42 42,426 39 46,656 49 48,980 49,450 Festival of History 1 7,864 1 14,100 1 17,000 1 17,156 1 17,500 1 17,784 17,784 Total 701 392,618 1,075 391,816 417 432,975 480 564,937 401 507,626 409 463,823 562,932
English Heritage: Finance
English Heritage grant in aid funding.
Grant in Aid funding in 2007-08 prices Outturn: 2000-01 143.5 2001-02 130.0 2002-03 132.9 2003-04 132.5 2004-05 138.1 2005-06 136.5 2006-07 145.4 2007-08 136.6 Plans: 2008-09 125.1
Outturn figures are sourced from audited departmental resource accounts and converted to 2007-08 prices using HM Treasury deflator tables.
Football Foundation: Grants
The Football Foundation advise that their non-charitable arm, the Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF), has awarded 1,043 grants worth £95,708,715 since 2000.
Football: Finance
The Football Association has advised that the following professional or semi-professional clubs have entered administration since 1 October 2005.
Crawley Town Football and Social Club: entered administration 5 June 2006;
Farnborough Town Football and Social Club Ltd.: entered administration 26 July 2006;
Halifax Town Association Football Club Ltd.: entered administration 14 March 2008;
Leeds United Association Football Club Ltd.: entered administration 4 May 2007;
Luton Town Football Club Ltd.: entered administration 22 November 2007;
Rotherham United FC Ltd.: entered administration 18 March 2008; and
Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic Community Football Club Ltd.: entered administration 7 February 2008.
National Lottery
We have been informed by the national lottery operator, Camelot, that information regarding retailers’ sales is commercially sensitive and cannot be released.
We have been informed that the national lottery operator, Camelot does not routinely collect ticket sales information on a constituency or postcode basis.
However, an analysis of sales data by postcode area is available in the Libraries of both Houses and provides information up to 2004.
The Department receives income from the funds to recover grant-in-aid paid to the National Lottery Commission for the regulation of the Lottery and to recover costs incurred by DCMS in managing the funds;
(a) Income received by DCMS in each year from the National Lottery Distribution Fund is shown in the following table:
Recovery of National Lottery Commission Grant-in-Aid Recovery of DCMS costs 1997-98 1,991 203 1998-99 1,815 589 1999-2000 2,740 161 2000-01 4,396 238 2001-02 2,809 228 2002-03 2,342 223 2003-04 3,765 243 2004-05 4,401 236 2005-06 7,921 245 2006-07 8,047 267 2007-081 9,315 215 1 The final allocation of costs between the NLDF and OLDF for 2007-08 is subject to completion of the audit of the fund accounts, which are expected to be published later in the year.
(b) Income received by DCMS in each year from the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund since it came into existence in 2005 is shown in the following table:
Recovery of National Lottery Commission Grant-in-Aid Recovery of DCMS costs 2005-06 — 39 2006-07 700 58 2007-081 1,026 79 1 The final allocation of costs between the NLDF and OLDF for 2007-08 is subject to completion of the audit of the fund accounts, which are expected to be published later in the year.
National Lottery: Religion
I have issued policy directions to all UK and England Lottery distributors, copies of which have been placed in the House Libraries. They direct each distributor on the persons to whom, the purposes for which and the conditions subject to which it distributes any money. They include no specific direction on the handling of funding bids from faith-based organisations.
Olympic Games 2012: Football
[holding answer 2008]: Any decision on whether a Great Britain football team participates at the London 2012 Olympic games is a matter for FIFA, the four Home Nations' Football Associations, and the British Olympic Association. Discussions between the various parties continue.
While we are proud of our individual traditions, the Government believe that a GB Olympic football team at the 2012 London Olympics could be very exciting for football fans and the general public.
The Government also believe this should not affect the rights of the four Home Nations to compete separately in international football tournaments—an important part of our footballing tradition.
Olympic Games: China
An Olympic reception was hosted by the Prime Minister at Lancaster House on 3 October to recognise the achievements of the Olympic athletes at Beijing 2008 and there is to be a similar reception for Paralympic athletes at the British Museum.
Children’s Play: Finance
In each of the last three years my Department spent £500,000 on three contracts with national play organisations. These contracts ended in March of this year and following a tendering exercise we have awarded three new contracts relating to children's play, again totalling £500,000 in each of the next three years until March 2011.
Religious Buildings: Finance
English Heritage has advised that it holds regular discussions with all faith groups and meets the main denominations, including the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church, more formally through its Places of Worship Forum which sits four times a year. During the last nine months English Heritage’s Head of Places of Worship Policy has had individual meetings with representatives of all three denominations. During these meetings funding was discussed in relation to English Heritage’s Inspired! campaign. Denominations were also asked to encourage congregations to apply for Repair Grants for Places of Worship.
Sport England: Boxing
Sport England have advised that the following boxing clubs have received awards to date in 2008.
Lottery Funding:
The McCrory Foundation (Glenn McCrory International School of Boxing): £59,810.
Exchequer Funding (Community Club Development Programme):
The National Smelting Company Amateur Boxing Club: £68,000.
Sports: Disabled People
Funding in support of sports for disabled people, and for disabled athletes is provided by Sport England and UK Sport. Sport England and UK Sport have advised that detailed breakdowns of funding for individual athletes could be provided only at disproportionate cost, but they have provided figures for overall grants in each year since 1997 as follows:
Sport England
Financial year Sport Total (£) 1997-98 Disability sports 2,529,705 1998-99 Disability sports 1,356,236 1999-2000 Disability sports 6,570,802 2000-01 Disability sports 1,821,324 2001-02 Disability sports 7,096,401 2002-03 Disability sports 726,763 2003-04 Disability sports 5,405,069 2004-05 Disability sports 1,735,983 2005-06 Disability sports 343,254 2006-07 Disability sports 70,409 2007-08 Disability sports 636,903 2008-09 Disability sports—Playground to Podium 4,516,781 Grand total 32,809,630
Exchequer funding for disability sports since 1997 is as follows:
Financial year Organisation Total (£) 1997-98 English Federation of Disability Sport 1— 1998-99 English Federation of Disability Sport 1— 1999-2000 English Federation of Disability Sport 1— 2000-01 English Federation of Disability Sport 1— 2001-02 English Federation of Disability Sport 1— 2002-03 English Federation of Disability Sport 1,050,000 Panathlon Foundation 243,000 2003-04 English Federation of Disability Sport 1,050,000 Panathlon Foundation 12,000 2004-05 English Federation of Disability Sport 1,050,000 Panathlon Foundation 10,000 National Council for School Sport 10,000 London Sports Forum for Disabled People 2,000 2005-06 English Federation of Disability Sport 1,010,333 2006-07 English Federation of Disability Sport 951,066 English Federation of Disability Sport 476,033 2007-08 English Federation of Disability Sport 1,100,000 Grand total 6,964,432 1 No records
UK Sport
Lottery Exchequer National governing body Athletes personal award National governing body Total (£) 1997-98 222,000 487,000 0 709,000 1998-99 839,000 1,500,000 0 2,339,000 1999-2000 1,592,000 1,870,000 0 3,462,000 2000-01 1,689,000 1,862,000 0 3,551,000 2001-02 2,094,000 1,532,000 26,000 3,652,000 2002-03 2,182,000 1,566,000 50,000 3,798,000 2003-04 2,278,000 1,562,000 40,000 3,880,000 2004-05 2,356,000 1,681,000 40,000 4,077,000 2005-06 3,041,000 1,239,000 329,000 4,609,000 2006-07 3,612,000 1,793,000 1,226,000 6,631,000 2007-08 2,610,000 2,319,000 3,075,000 8,004,000 Total 22,515,000 17,411,000 4,786,000 44,712,000
Sports: Finance
The Department has no unallocated sports grant in aid.
The Physical Education, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) strategy has now evolved into the Physical Education and Sport Strategy for Young People (PESSYP).
The following table shows DCMS investment to support PESSCL/PESSYP over 2003-08:
Financial year £ million 2003-04 27 2004-05 38 2005-06 45 2006-07 44.75 2007-08 44.75
Sports: Leeds
Sport England has advised that it has made the following relevant Lottery awards in Leeds:
Total (£) 2003-2004 7,138,166 2004-2005 2,833,963 2005-2006 3,028,476 2006-2007 7,393,195 2007-2008 2,799,863 Grand total 23,193,663
In addition, some grants made by the Big Lottery Fund may have benefited groups related to sport in Leeds.
Sports: Private Sector
Fast Track Sales were appointed as the Department's official adviser in July this year. Fast Track are working with DCMS and UK Sport on the detail of the ‘Medal Hopes’ funding scheme which I hope will attract sponsorship from national, regional and local businesses to help realise the potential of those athletes on UK Sport's World Class Performance Programme. Further details of the scheme will be announced in due course.
State Visits: Expenditure
The costs recorded as being directly attributable to state visits in each financial year were as follows:
Costs (£) 2003-04 343,000 2004-05 495,000 2005-06 360,000 2006-07 112,000 2007-08 172,000
Information is not held in the Department's accounting system on the costs of individual visits.
Taking Part Survey
[holding answer 9 October 2008]: The Taking Part survey contract was renewed in May 2008 to extend the survey until 2010-11. Fieldwork under the new contract began in July.
The estimated cost across the three-year period (2008-09 to 2010-11) is £5.5 million. In addition to supporting core running costs of the survey, this total includes other costs such as additional analysis, piloting and questionnaire reviews.
The participating non-departmental public bodies make the following proportionate contributions to the total cost:
Percentage Arts Council England 16 English Heritage 4 Museums, Libraries and Archives Council 4 Sport England 33
Wembley Stadium: Construction
DCMS engaged Sport England to monitor the contract for the demolition and rebuilding of Wembley Stadium and provide confirmation that work relating to milestones had been satisfactorily completed and payment could be made by the Department. The cost of this monitoring in the last three years is as follows:
£000 2005-06 75 2006-07 50 2007-08 75
As the monitoring only related to confirming that work had been satisfactorily completed there is no breakdown of costs into categories.
Treasury
Banks: Republic of Ireland
A number of EU member states have recently increased the compensation limits of their deposit-guarantee schemes. Member states have now agreed to coordinate their actions and to take account of the cross-border effects of national decisions. The European Commission is bringing forward a proposal to promote convergence of deposit-guarantee schemes.
The competitiveness of UK banks should not be adversely affected by these moves As set out in the Chancellor's statement on financial markets to the House of Commons of 13 October, the Government are bringing forward specific and comprehensive measures to ensure the stability of the financial system and to protect ordinary savers, depositors, businesses and borrowers.
Child Trust Fund
Eligibility to the Child Trust Fund is not subject to a claim. Where parents do not use the Government voucher to open an account themselves, HMRC opens an account for the child instead. All UK resident children in a Child Benefit award, who are born on or after 1 September 2002 and who are not subject to immigration control, will have a Child Trust Fund.
Credit Unions
The Government recognise the role that credit unions together with other mutual societies play in encouraging a savings culture among its members as well as the contribution they make in providing for greater choice and diversity in the financial services sector.
Government are currently consulting on proposals to amend credit union legislation The proposed changes, which include reform of the membership criteria and the ability to pay interest on members' savings, will serve to increase public awareness of the services provided by credit unions and to encourage their use.
Departmental Research
Details of the Treasury’s administration budgets and spending on research and development are shown in the annual resource accounts.
Departmental Written Questions
Treasury Ministers endeavour to answer written parliamentary questions promptly wherever possible. Of the 948 named day questions tabled to the Treasury in the current parliamentary session, 613 (64.7 per cent.) were answered on the day nominated by questioners.
Drugs: Smuggling
In the financial year 2007-08 HMRC seized controlled drugs to the monetary value of approximately £292 million.
Economic Situation: Families
(2) what recent steps his Department has taken to assist families in reducing their household bills.
On 11 September the Government announced a £1 billion package of energy efficiency measures, including at least 50 per cent. off a range of energy saving measures for all households, with 11 million of the most vulnerable households qualifying for these free of charge.
In addition, extra help for the vulnerable this winter will be provided by an increase in cold weather payments, which will triple from £8.50 to £25 for this winter.
On 2 September the Government announced reforms to the support for mortgage interest (SMI) system—which is paid to people on income support, pension credit and income-based jobseeker's allowance to help meet the interest payments on their mortgage—to more accurately reflect the value of people's property and reduce the waiting time before help from SMI is available. The Government will keep this system of support under review.
I also refer the hon. Member to the answer given to his question on 14 July 2008 by the Exchequer Secretary, Official Report, column 140W, and to the answer my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave to the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland (Dr. Kumar) on 17 July 2008, Official Report, column 631W.
Taxation: Aviation
(2) what estimate his Department has made of (a) the carbon dioxide emissions output during the landing and take off cycle and (b) the maximum take off weight of all fleet models of aircraft (i) using and (ii) predicted to use UK airports as part of its formulation of aviation duty policy;
(3) what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Transport on the use of (a) carbon dioxide emissions output during the landing and take off cycle and (b) the maximum take off weight as a basis for a per aeroplane aviation duty.
A formal consultation on aviation duty was published on 31 January 2008 and dosed on 24 April 2008. This consultation considered all aspects of the operation of the duty including the basis, for which Maximum Take-Off Weight was the lead option. Two alternatives were also discussed and these were the CO2 emissions and NOx emissions in the landing and take-off cycle (LTO).
170 consultation responses were received and these have been considered in the policy development process. Further analysis of the suitability of CO2 emissions or NOx emissions in the LTO and of Maximum Take-Off Weight as the basis of the tax has been ongoing. DFT along with other Government Departments has been involved in the development of the duty. The details of the duty have not yet been set. The Chancellor plans to make an announcement in the autumn.
(2) what consideration he has given to exercise the discretion provided under the Energy Products Directive to observe differentiation in the application of hydrocarbon oil duty to reflect the quality and environmental impact of different waste derived fuel oils;
(3) if the Government will delay the introduction of hydrocarbon oil duty until the Waste Protocols Project is complete;
(4) if the Government will review its decision not to exercise the discretion provided under the Energy Products Directive to observe differentiation in the application of hydrocarbon oil duty to reflect the quality and environmental impact of different waste derived fuel oils once the Waste Protocols Project is complete;
(5) what consideration the Government has given to applying the 15 euro per kilogramme minimum required under the Energy Products Directive to duty on Waste Derived Fuel Oils.
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Morley and Rothwell (Colin Challen) on 14 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1059-60W.
Firearms: Smuggling
This information is published in annex F, page 110 of the HM Revenue and Customs Departmental Report 2008 which is available from the House of Commons Library and at the following web address:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/dept-report-2008.pdf.
Gift Aid Scheme
The Chancellor announced at Budget 2008 that the Gift Aid transitional rate will be applied to qualifying donations from individual taxpayers made in the tax years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.
HMRC
Most of the offices of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) house staff from a number of different business units. Individual business units are organised on national lines and are allocated budgets to meet their total costs and overheads for all their staff. It would be possible only at disproportionate cost to break down the costs of each business unit to individual office level.
HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC's) offices in St. Helens and Blackburn are occupied under the terms of an estates Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract. Under this contract HMRC's estates partner, Mapeley, is required to ensure that all HMRC accommodation meets the required contractual standards.
Managers: Fees and Charges
The taxable value of fees and subscriptions paid by employers on behalf of their employees is shown in table 4.1 “Recipients, taxable amount and income tax and NICs liability, by each main category of benefit” on the HM Revenue and Customs website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/taxable_benefits/menu.htm
Member: Correspondence
I have replied to the hon. Member.
Taxation
A broad estimate of the eventual steady state impact of index linking capital gains and taxing them as income, taking account of the likely taxpayer response to such a change, is additional receipts in the order of £2 billion a year by comparison with the capital gains tax regime contained in the Finance Act 2008. However, a reform of this kind would result in a large behavioural response and as such estimates are susceptible to a wide margin of error.
Working Tax Credit
The information requested is available only at a disproportionate cost.
However, estimates of the average number of families benefiting from the child care element of working tax credit, by constituency and local authority, in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 are provided in the HMRC publications “Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. Geographical Analyses”, for each relevant year. These publications are available on the HMRC website at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
Communities and Local Government
Council Tax: Fire Services
A consultation paper on inter-regional cost apportionment was issued on 7 August 2008 as Fire and Rescue Service Circular 41/2008. We have invited responses to this consultation by 31 October 2008 and all of these will be considered before making a decision.
Council Tax: Valuation
The observations referred to were made on the basis of ongoing feedback from staff who had been undertaking work, up to that time, on the revaluation.
Departmental Recruitment
The Department for Communities and Local Government can provide information on the total amount it has spent on recruitment including the use of consultants and external advertising for the last five financial years.
Financial year Recruitment spend (£) 2003-04 397,827.12 2004-05 440,671.26 2005-06 349,630.64 2006-07 267,469.08 2007-08 516,468.48
The figures provided include the recruitment of staff into the senior civil service in the agencies of the Department.
We do not hold more detailed information on the amount spent by (a) the Department and (b) the Executive agencies on the use of (i) consultants and (ii) external advertising for the last five financial years.
The Department used the following recruitment consultants in the last five financial years:
2003-04
Succession Planning Associates Ltd.
Penna plc.
Capita Business Services Ltd.
Saxton Bampflyde Hever
KMC International
KPMG
2004-05
Succession Planning Associates Ltd.
Whitehead Mann Ltd.
Capita Business Services Ltd.
Hays Personnel Services
Centre Point Group Ltd.
2005-06
Penna plc.
Capita Business Services Ltd.
Centre Point Group Ltd.
Taylor-Stewart Ltd.
Northern Recruitment Group plc.
2006-07
Whitehead Mann Ltd.
KPMG
Penna plc.
Advanced Human Resources
TMP (UK) Ltd.
Personnel Assessment Ltd.
2007-08
Penna plc.
Whitehead Mann Ltd.
Advanced Human Resources
Allen Lane
Odgers Ray and Berndston
Capita Business Services Ltd.
Departmental Voluntary Work
This information is not held centrally and so there would be a disproportionate cost involved in collating information from individual line managers to provide an answer at this time.
In addition to our provisions for special leave to undertake certain types of voluntary roles, the main Department has recently launched a new volunteering scheme to promote a variety of development opportunities for all staff to enable them to play an active part in their community. As part of this scheme we have improved our information management system so that staff can record their volunteering activities, and we will therefore be able to provide related information in the future.
Domestic Visits: Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber
[holding answer 14 October 2008]: The Minister for Yorkshire and Humber has visited or attended meetings in the following constituencies since October 2007, some on more than one occasion.
Constituency Number of times visited Bradford West 1 City of York 1 Don Valley 2 Doncaster Central 2 Doncaster North 1 Hull West and Hessle 1 Leeds Central 2 Scarborough and Whitby 1 Wakefield 1
Constituency Number of times visited Barnsley Central 1 Barnsley West and Penistone 2 Batley and Spen 1 Bradford North 1 Bradford South 2 Bradford West 2 City of York 8 Cleethorpes 1 Doncaster Central 3 Elmet 1 Great Grimsby 1 Harrogate and Knaresborough 2 Hemsworth 1 Leeds Central 27 Leeds North East 2 Morley and Rothwell 1 Pudsey 1 Richmond 1 Rotherham 1 Sheffield Central 3 Skipton and Ripon 2 Wakefield 6 Wentworth 1
Eco-Towns
We want eco-towns to be exemplars in tackling the challenges of housing growth and climate change, and they will make an important contribution to the development of new technologies and practices, as well as promoting excellent new design. As such they will help inform the development of towns, cities, suburbs and urban extensions. More details about the standards that eco-towns must meet will be set out in the draft eco-towns Planning Policy Statement, which we will be publishing shortly for consultation.
Some of the schemes we are considering are close to urban areas, but an eco-town needs to have the critical mass to develop its own identity, standards and scope for innovation.
Fire Services
I have placed copies of the summary notes for the three meetings held of the Business Case Assumptions Review Group in the House library. We published the Business Case Part 1: “The Regional Case” on the 8 July and a copy has been placed in the House Library. The Business Case Part 2: “The National Case” will be published later in the year and a copy placed in the Library.
Fire Services: Consultants
Total paid to PA Consulting for work relating to the FiReControl project from 1 April 2005 is £21.7 million broken down by quarter as follows:
2005 2006 2007 2008 Q1 1,907,761.54 1,453,129.09 765,534.36 1,663,500.46 Q2 1,959,540.14 1,375,895.98 806,915.69 1,968,397.55 Q3 2,362,422.82 1,511,144.05 2,236,355.59 — Q4 1,816,378.06 1,035,375.34 804,426.91 — Total 8,046,102.56 5,375,544.46 4,613,232.55 3,631,898.01
Fire Services: Data Protection
The FiReControl project will ensure that all data transfers between Fire and Rescue Services and the FiReControl central database will be fully protected and encrypted, commensurate with the type of data being transferred, in alignment with HMG standards and good practice guidance written by CESG, the information assurance arm of GCHQ. In line with CESG guidance, technical measures are complemented with physical, personnel and procedural measures. These will be fully tested and assured, and subject to ongoing review to ensure a comprehensive approach to safeguard all information.
Fire Services: Expenditure
The information requested is not held centrally.
Homelessness
Information about English local housing authorities’ actions under the homelessness legislation (Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected quarterly at local authority level. Data collected include the number of households accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty (to secure that suitable accommodation is available). These households are known as ‘accepted’ households.
Data on accepted households are provided in our quarterly Statistical Release on Statutory Homelessness, which is published on our website and placed in the Library each quarter. This includes acceptances by local authority, and acceptances by age band of applicant.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/homelessnessstatistics/publicationshomelessness/
Acceptances by local authority are published in each quarter's Statistical Release, in the Supplementary Tables. In addition, a table showing these data for the last eight quarters has been placed in the Library.
Data on the age band of accepted applicants, for the last eight quarters, can be found in Table 10b of the most recent quarterly Statistical Release on Statutory Homelessness, available in the Library. For ease, this table can be found as follows:
Total number of households accepted during period 16-24 % of total 25-44 % of total 45-59 % of total 60-64 % of total 65-74 % of total 75 and over % of total 2006 Quarter 3 19,390 7,940 41 9,130 47 1,700 9 230 1 280 1 110 1 Quarter 4 17,310 7,010 40 8,240 48 1,530 9 200 1 230 1 100 1 2007 Quarter 1 17,230 7,090 41 8,100 47 1,440 9 200 1 240 1 100 1 Quarter 2 15,960 6,520 41 7,510 47 1,450 9 180 1 220 1 90 1 Quarter 3 16,540 6,670 40 7,780 47 1,520 9 220 1 230 1 120 1 Quarter 4 15,240 5,930 39 7,410 49 1,440 9 190 1 180 1 100 1 2008 Quarter 1 15,430 6,130 40 7,400 48 1,470 10 170 1 200 1 70 0 Quarter 2 15,680 6,200 40 7,630 49 1,430 9 170 1 180 1 80 1
Housing: Construction
The Government do not publish forecasts for private house building.
Housing: Heating
There are different technologies associated with domestic heating pumps. The Department is engaging with a number of industry associations over the role of these technologies in buildings, especially as part of the 2010 review of Part L (energy efficiency) of the Building Regulations and the Code for Sustainable Homes, which set standards in terms of energy efficiency.
Housing: Low Incomes
(2) how many families were on the socially provided housing waiting list in (a) Leeds and (b) Yorkshire in each of the last 10 years.
Information for average length of time on a housing waiting list is not collected centrally.
Information about social housing waiting lists is collected in respect of households rather than families. Where local authorities and registered social landlords operate a common register, households registered with the RSL will be included in the data. However, registered social landlords are independent bodies and can keep their own waiting lists. Information on the number of households on local authorities’ waiting lists broken down by Government office region and local authority for 1997 to 2007 is published on the Communities and Local Government website in Table 600 at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/144458.xls
Copies of this table have been deposited in the Library of the House.
The number of households on local authorities’ waiting lists for Yorkshire and the Humber, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Leeds from 1997 to 2007 is given in the following table.
Number of households on the waiting list (excludes households looking for transfers) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Yorkshire and the Humber 173,750 175,610 172,220 164,360 150,390 162,370 195,740 197,650 227,430 247,500 270,070 North Yorkshire 9,370 8,430 8,580 6,910 7,130 7,660 9,180 11,010 12,300 12,980 13,510 South Yorkshire 81,450 89,490 83,720 89,720 73,510 81,850 93,290 86,200 104,010 119,720 123,560 West Yorkshire 54,790 50,650 49,100 43,280 44,790 49,190 65,800 73,210 83,720 90,770 102,000 Leeds 19,640 18,850 27,010 22,770 25,320 26,640 31,110 30,960 30,700 23,850 24,780 Note: As reported by local authorities. Excludes households looking for transfers. Rounded to the nearest 10. (Leeds forms part of West Yorkshire) Source: Communities and Local Government Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix return (HSSA)
Local authorities in England report the number of households on their housing waiting list as at 1 April in their annual housing strategy statistical appendix returns. The size of the waiting list is not an indicator of absolute need; it is only useful as a broad indicator of housing demand in an area. Not everyone on the waiting list is necessarily in urgent housing need. The waiting list includes those who consider social housing as their preferred or one of a number of housing options, and those who decide to get onto the waiting list ladder before they need or want to move house.
Housing: Sustainable Development
There is approximately a six month time lag between registration and the design stage assessment, with a further time lag between the time the design is assessed and graded and when the home is built and the post-construction assessment carried out.
382 homes have been assessed against the Code for Sustainable Homes since 7 April 2008 (which is the date that we received data). Of these 337 received design stage certificates at code level 3 and none at code levels 4 and 6.
There are now 11 homes with post construction certificates; nine at code level 3 and two at code level 4. We do not currently hold data on whether the property is freehold or the status of the tenancy.
As of 13 September 2008 there were 884 licensed code assessors; in addition there are 981 people that have either completed the training or will have by the end of the year but have yet to become licensed assessors. We currently do not hold data on the numbers of assessors in each region.
Housing: Valuation
The Valuation Officer has a statutory duty to maintain a correct rating list. When he/she becomes aware that an internal physical refurbishment of a property has increased its rateable value, under the statutory definition, he/she is obliged to alter the current rating list accordingly. The rateable value must have regard to the market conditions at the antecedent valuation date (1 April 2003 for the current rating lists), and will take effect from the completion of the works.
A refurbishment which addresses disrepair may not warrant an increase in the rateable value since the statutory definition already assumes a reasonable state of repair.
Housing: Yorkshire and the Humber
Communities and Local Government do not hold the information requested.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders does publish data on number of mortgages to first-time buyers for the UK but not at more local geographies. The UK data can be found at:
http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/filegrab/lML2.xls?ref=4624
Non-Domestic Rates: Ports
The Department has received no request for a meeting from businesses operating at ports. The Department has received 14 letters from businesses, local authorities and MPs on behalf of their constituents setting out the concerns of businesses within the ports. The Government are aware of the concerns and are looking at the situation.
The Department does not collect such information.
Parking: Income
I have placed in the Library of the House a table showing the requested information on the gross and net income on parking services by each local authority in England between 1998-99 and 2001 -02.
Figures for 1997-98 have been presented separately owing to complexities arising from the extensive local government reorganisation which took place around that time.
For 1996-97, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 6 October, Official Report, column 354W.
For 2002-03 and 2003-04, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Regent's Park and Kensington, North (Ms Buck) on 18 June 2008, Official Report, column 941W.
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.
Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities.
Regional Ministers
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Secretary of State to the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) on 22 May 2008, Official Report, column 448W. There have been some slight amendments to the figures collected in May as follows:
Government office Grade and FTE West Midlands FTE increased from 1.7 to 1.9 Added: 0.2 Administrative Officer South East FTE increased from 2.0 to 2.55 Now: 0.2 Grade 6, 0.75 Grade 7, 0.4 Higher Executive Officer, 1.0 Executive Officer, 0.2 Administrative Officer South West FTE increased from 1.0 to 1.9 Now: 0.2 Grade 6, 0.4 Grade 7, 0.5 Higher Executive Officer, 0.8 Executive Officer
Regional Ministers do not receive a salary for carrying out their duties over and above that given to them as Departmental Ministers.
This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
CLG incurred costs of £4,324.78 for driver services for Regional Ministers’ travel in the region. As all other travel expenses were covered by their home Departments, this information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Rented Housing: Private Sector
We believe it is good practice where possible for the lender to let the tenancy run and use the rental payments to cover the mortgage repayments until the end of the tenancy or where the tenancy has become a periodic tenancy to give the statutory two month notice period as a minimum.
We have commissioned an independent review of the private rented sector, from Julie Rugg and David Rhodes, Centre for Housing Policy, University of York. It will report on 23 October and we will consider any recommendations the report makes in relation to landlord insolvency.
Taxis
Total amounts claimed in taxi expenses by officials in this Department and its direct predecessors are as follows:
Core department Government offices 2002-03 115,226 — 2003-04 146,071 10,606 2004-05 158,506 43,318 2005-06 149,382 47,140 2006-07 121,564 41,427 2007-08 109,444 40,657
Figures for the Government offices in 2002-03 are not available and for 2003-04 are for part of the year only. Figures for taxi expenditure incurred by the Department’s Executive agencies are not available centrally.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Education: Standards
We are committed to continuing to increase Government investment in adult skills. Alongside this investment from Government there needs to be a shared responsibility for investment in skills and training by learners and employers, especially where they realise the greatest private returns.
Increasing income through fees, including activity not funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is a key part of ensuring there is a full range of provision available to adult learners.
The LSC have developed a consistent national framework designed to help colleges understand the scope they have for increasing fee income. While some colleges have responded very proactively and innovatively to this agenda, increasing both income and choice for learners, other colleges have not seen it as a priority.
We have therefore been working with the LSC, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service and the Association of Colleges to create a package of support consisting of good practice guides, a fees toolkit and workshops. This support is designed to help all colleges understand how they can adopt fee strategies which have seen other colleges expand fee income and increase learner choice.
Alongside this the LSC have introduced fee income targets to ensure that the profile and importance of this agenda is clear to all colleges. This will also ensure that we are able to recognise the overall volume of education and training delivered by FE colleges outside of LSC funding.
Apprentices: Newcastle-under-Lyme
(2) what apprenticeships were (a) made available and (b) taken up in (i) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (ii) North Staffordshire in 2007-08.
The latest fully audited data that we have is for the 2006/07 academic year. Figures are not directly available for North Staffordshire. Figures have been provided for Staffordshire local authority.
Apprenticeships are demand-led and employer responsive; therefore the number of apprenticeship places available is determined by the number of places employers are able to offer and subject to learner demand. That is why, in terms of monitoring performance, we focus on the number of people who actually start on an apprenticeship programme.
“World-class Apprenticeships” confirmed our commitment to stimulate a greater supply of apprenticeship places with employers. This is a key element of the remit of the new National Apprenticeship Service and its National Vacancy Matching Service which will help employers advertise apprenticeship vacancies and enable prospective apprentices to apply for them online.
Table 1 shows apprenticeship starts for 2006/07 for Staffordshire and Newcastle-Under-Lyme, and nationally.
Table 2 lists the apprenticeship starts in Staffordshire in 2006/07 by Sector Framework of Learning.
Table 3 lists the apprenticeship starts in Newcastle-under-Lyme by Sector Framework of Learning.
Area Starts Nationally 184,000 Staffordshire1 3,590 Newcastle-under-Lyme2 450 1 Staffordshire local authority based on learner’s home postcode. 2 Newcastle-under-Lyme parliamentary constituency based on learner’s home postcode. Note: Figures include apprenticeships, advanced apprenticeships and a very small number of higher level apprenticeships. Source: ILR work-based learning data.
Sector Framework of Learning Starts Accountancy 110 Active Leisure and Learning 60 Agricultural Crops and Livestock 10 Amenity Horticulture 30 Animal Care 1— Automotive Industry 10 Aviation 1— Barbering 1— Building Services Engineering Technicians 1— Business Administration 340 Children’s Care Learning and Development 230 Communications Technologies (Telecoms) 10 Construction 400 Contact Centres 110 Customer Service 330 Dental Nursing 20 Driving Goods Vehicles 10 Electrical and Electronic Servicing 1— Electricity Industry 1— Electrotechnical 110 Emergency Fire Service Operations 1— Engineering 180 Engineering Construction 1— Equine Industry 20 Farriery 1— Fencing 1— Floristry 1— Food and Drink Manufacturing Operations 1— Furniture Industry 1— Gas Industry 20 Glass Industry 1— Hairdressing 270 Health and Social Care 140 Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration 10 Hospitality and Catering 360 Industrial Applications 40 IT Services and Development 20 IT User 60 Land-based Service Engineering 10 Mail Services 1— Management 60 Meat and Poultry Processing 10 Optical Advisor 1— Pharmacy Technicians 1— Plumbing 100 Polymer Processing and Signmaking 1— Printing 10 Property Services 1— Retail 160 Security Industry 1— Sporting Excellence 10 Storage and Warehousing 40 Teaching Assistants 1— Textiles 1— Transport Engineering and Maintenance 1— Travel and Tourism Services Leisure and Business 30 Trees and Timber 1— Vehicle Body and Paint Operations 20 Vehicle Fitting 10 Vehicle Maintenance and Repair 160 Vehicle Parts Operations 10 Vehicle Sales 1— Veterinary Nursing 20 Wholesale, Distribution, Warehousing and Storage 40 Total 3,590 1 Represents a number less than 10. Notes: 1. Staffordshire local authority based on learner’s home postcode 2. Figures include apprenticeships, advanced apprenticeships, and a very small number of higher level apprenticeships. 3. Figures may not sum to the total due to rounding. Source: ILR work-based learning data.
Sector Framework of Learning Starts Accountancy 20 Active Leisure and Learning 1— Agricultural Crops and Livestock 1— Amenity Horticulture 1— Animal Care 1— Automotive Industry 1— Building Services Engineering Technicians 1— Business Administration 40 Children’s Care Learning and Development 30 Construction 40 Contact Centres 50 Customer Service 50 Dental Nursing 1— Electrotechnical 10 Engineering 20 Equine Industry 1— Furniture Industry 1— Gas Industry 1— Hairdressing 30 Health and Social Care 10 Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration 1— Hospitality and Catering 30 Industrial Applications 10 IT Services and Development 1— IT User 20 Management 10 Plumbing 10 Retail 20 Storage and Warehousing 1— Textiles 1— Travel and Tourism Services Leisure and Business 1— Vehicle Body and Paint Operations 1— Vehicle Fitting 1— Vehicle Maintenance and Repair 20 Vehicle Parts Operations 1— Wholesale, Distribution, Warehousing and Storage 1— Total 450 1 Represents a number less than 10. Notes: 1. Newcastle-under-Lyme parliamentary constituency based on learner’s home postcode 2. Figures include apprenticeships, advanced apprenticeships, and a very small number of higher level apprenticeships. 3. Figures may not sum to the total due to rounding. Source: ILR work-based learning data.
(2) how many apprenticeships were offered in each sector in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) North Staffordshire in 2007-08.
The latest fully audited data that we have is for the 2006/07 academic year. Figures are not directly available for North Staffordshire. Figures have been provided for Staffordshire local authority.
Apprenticeships are demand-led and employer responsive; therefore the number of apprenticeship places available is determined by the number of places employers are able to offer and subject to learner demand. That is why, in terms of monitoring performance, we focus on the number of people who actually start an apprenticeship programme.
"World-class Apprenticeships" confirmed our commitment to stimulate a greater supply of apprenticeship places with employers. This is a key element of the remit of the new National Apprenticeship Service and its National Vacancy Matching Service which will help employers advertise apprenticeships vacancies and enable prospective apprentices to apply for them online.
Table 1 lists the apprenticeship starts in Staffordshire in 2006-07 by Sector Framework of Learning.
Table 2 lists the apprenticeship starts in Newcastle-Under-Lyme by Sector Framework of Learning.
Sector Framework of Learning Starts Accountancy 110 Active Leisure and Learning 60 Agricultural Crops and Livestock 10 Amenity Horticulture 30 Animal Care 1— Automotive Industry 10 Aviation 1— Barbering 1— Building Services Engineering Technicians 1— Business Administration 340 Children's Care Learning and Development 230 Communications Technologies (Telecoms) 10 Construction 400 Contact Centres 110 Customer Service 330 Dental Nursing 20 Driving Goods Vehicles 10 Electrical and Electronic Servicing 1— Electricity Industry 1— Electrotechnical 110 Emergency Fire Service Operations 1— Engineering 180 Engineering Construction 1— Equine Industry 20 Farriery 1— Fencing 1— Floristry 1— Food and Drink Manufacturing Operations 1— Furniture Industry 1— Gas Industry 20 Glass Industry 1— Hairdressing 270 Health and Social Care 140 Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration 10 Hospitality and Catering 360 Industrial Applications 40 IT Services and Development 20 IT User 60 Land-based Service Engineering 10 Mail Services 1— Management 60 Meat and Poultry Processing 10 Optical Advisor 1— Pharmacy Technicians 1— Plumbing 100 Polymer Processing and Signmaking 1— Printing 10 Property Services 1— Retail 160 Security Industry 1— Sporting Excellence 10 Storage and Warehousing 40 Teaching Assistants 1— Textiles 1— Transport Engineering and Maintenance 1— Travel and Tourism Services Leisure and Business 30 Trees and Timber 1— Vehicle Body and Paint Operations 20 Vehicle Fitting 10 Vehicle Maintenance and Repair 160 Vehicle Parts Operations 10 Vehicle Sales 1— Veterinary Nursing 20 Wholesale, Distribution, Warehousing and Storage 40 Total 3,590 1 Represents a number less than 10. Notes: 1. Staffordshire local authority based on learner's home postcode 2. Figures include apprenticeships, advanced apprenticeships, and a very small number of higher level apprenticeships. 3. Figures may not sum to the total due to rounding. Source: ILR Work-Based Learning Data.
Sector Framework of Learning Starts Accountancy 20 Active Leisure and Learning 1— Agricultural Crops and Livestock 1— Amenity Horticulture 1— Animal Care 1— Automotive Industry 1— Building Services Engineering Technicians 1— Business Administration 40 Children's Care Learning and Development 30 Construction 40 Contact Centres 50 Customer Service 50 Dental Nursing 1— Electrotechnical 10 Engineering 20 Equine Industry 1— Furniture Industry 1— Gas Industry 1— Hairdressing 30 Health and Social Care 10 Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration 1— Hospitality and Catering 30 Industrial Applications 10 IT Services and Development 1— IT User 20 Management 10 Plumbing 10 Retail 20 Storage and Warehousing 1— Textiles 1— Travel and Tourism Services Leisure and Business 1— Vehicle Body and Paint Operations 1— Vehicle Fitting 1— Vehicle Maintenance and Repair 20 Vehicle Parts Operations 1— Wholesale, Distribution, Warehousing and Storage 1— Total 450 1 Represents a number less than 10. Notes: 1. Newcastle-Under-Lyme Parliamentary Constituency based on learner's home postcode. 2. Figures include apprenticeships, advanced apprenticeships, and a very small number of higher level apprenticeships. 3. Figures may not sum to the total due to rounding. Source: ILR Work-Based Learning Data.
Arts: Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
The formation of the Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network, Creative Industries Technology Innovation Network (CITIN), was announced by the Technology Strategy Board in May this year, and the KTN began work in August. It will be managed by the University of the Arts London, Imperial College London, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Tiga, the trade association for games developers.
Departmental Pay
In the Department annual non-pensionable bonuses are awarded on the 1 April 2008 for the 12 month performance reporting period ending on 31 March 2008. The number of non-pensionable bonuses paid to members of the senior civil service was 41 at a total cost of £312,000.
The pay award for staff below the SCS has not been agreed and therefore no awards have been made yet.
Disabled People
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich East (Mr. Watson) on 8 October 2008, Official Report, column 651W.
Graduates: Debts
(2) what the average wage was of graduates of (a) Leeds University and (b) Leeds Metropolitan University of (i) 2005-06, (ii) 2006-07 and (iii) 2007-08.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects information on graduates’ salaries through the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey. The DLHE Survey captures the first destinations of graduates, six months after leaving university. The most recent information available is for those who graduated in 2006/07 who were surveyed in early 2008.
In 2006/07, 51 per cent. of UK domiciled leavers who obtained first degree qualifications and entered full-time paid employment in the UK disclosed their salary. 36 per cent. from the University of Leeds and 66 per cent. from Leeds Metropolitan University disclosed their salary. HESA therefore advises caution in analysis of leavers by salary. Respondents are asked to report their salary to the nearest £1,000.
The latest available information on salaries of graduates, six months after graduation, is shown in the following tables. Comparable figures for the 2007/08 academic year will be available in July 2009.
Higher education institution Destination 2005/06 2006/07 University of Leeds1 Total with known salary2 765 870 Of which: Number earning under £15,000 200 195 Leeds Metropolitan University3 Total with known salary2 955 1070 Of which: Number earning under £15,000 245 265 All UK HEIs Total with known salary2 53,640 54,140 Of which: Number earning under £15,000 13,315 11,095 1 In 2006/07 36 per cent. of graduates from the University of Leeds, who responded to the DLHE survey, disclosed their salary. 2 Who are in full-time paid employment in the UK. 3 In 2006/07 66 per cent. of graduates from Leeds Metropolitan University, who responded to the DLHE survey, disclosed their salary. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey.
£ Higher education institution 2005/06 2006/07 University of Leeds1 18,000 18,000 Leeds Metropolitan University2 17,000 18,000 All UK HEIs 18,000 19,000 1 In 2006/07 36 per cent. of graduates from the University of Leeds, who responded to the DLHE survey, disclosed their salary. 2 In 2006/07 66 per cent. of graduates from Leeds Metropolitan University, who responded to the DLHE survey, disclosed their salary. Source: Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey.
Around 80 per cent. of eligible students choose to take out maintenance loans. Therefore not all leavers have student loans.
Repayments of income-contingent student loans are linked to a borrower’s income and not the amount owed. Repayment is at 9 per cent. of annual income over a threshold of £15,000, collected through the tax system, usually by employers each pay date for borrowers on PAYE, in the same way as income tax and national insurance contributions. This allows a greater degree of career flexibility—for example, if someone takes a career break, becomes unemployed or takes lower paid employment. In addition borrowers can voluntarily make repayments direct to the Student Loans Company, even if their income is below the repayment threshold.
Recent graduates will typically have lower salaries when entering the labour market than they will receive later in their careers. For students graduating in 2002/03 the first degree median salaries increased from £16,000 at the Early Survey (six months after graduation) to £22,000 at the Longitudinal Survey (three and a half years after graduation), an increase of 37.5 per cent. This compares with an increase in average earnings across the whole economy of around 11.5 per cent. over the same period.
Higher Education
A good deal of higher education policy is devolved. It is for different Administrations to decide their policies and they will not always agree on the right way forward. For example, we believe it is fair to ask undergraduates to make a contribution to the cost of their higher education, and that the revenue provided by their fees is important if universities are to deliver world-class teaching. The Scottish Executive has different policies.
Where there is a continuing UK-wide arrangement, notably in the Research Councils’ funding, officials and ministers work closely with their counterparts in the devolved Administrations. Where matters are devolved, there are appropriate levels of contact between DIUS and the devolved Administrations to discuss developments and share information, which reflects the importance the Government place on the relationship between the Administrations.
My predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Bill Rammell), appeared before the Welsh Affairs Select Committee on 15 July 2008. In a letter sent to the chair of that Committee following the Committee meeting, he stated that he was willing to take part in meetings with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations. I agree with this approach.
Higher Education: Sustainable Development
Yes. Ministers have already held a number of such discussions and we expect to hold more in future.
During the past year we have asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to ensure that by the end of this spending review period all universities in receipt of capital funding should have plans to reduce carbon emissions. In future, performance against these plans should be a factor in future capital allocations.
We have also agreed with HEFCE a key performance target for the Council's strategic plan as follows:
to finalise during 2008-09 in consultation with stakeholders a revised strategy for sustainable development in HE, which features a realistic target for carbon reductions which are sufficient to ensure satisfactory progress towards the Government targets of reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent. against 1990 levels by 2050 and at least 26 per cent by 2020.
Reducing emissions from universities is important in its own right, but we believe it is particularly valuable because universities can provide examples of best practice to inspire businesses, other public services and community groups. We recognise that universities are autonomous institutions, and we want to work in partnership with them to address the sustainability agenda.
The University of Gloucestershire is one of the universities with which we have discussed these issues. It is an institution that reflects strong commitment to the sustainability agenda through its management, teaching and research activities.
Physics: Research
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), funded through the Science and Innovation Budgets, support a portfolio of research grants in these areas.
Number of grants Value (£) (a) Quantum crypto-graphics 74 57,605,310 (b) Electro optics 28 14,077,542
In addition, EPSRC is currently funding 69 grants totalling £53,093,462 in the area of optoelectronics which is a separate but related branch of technology to electro-optics. Information on individual grants funded by EPSRC is available from ‘EPSRC Grants on the Web’ at
http://gov.epsrc.ac.uk/.
From 2004 to 2008, the Technology Strategy Board contributed £3,903,712 to projects that explicitly mention electro optics or optoelectronics in their title or abstract under the Key Technology Area of Electronics, Photonics and Electrical Systems.
The Technology Strategy Board has not identified any projects containing the words ‘quantum crypto-graphics’ in the title or abstract.
Sector Skills Councils
The Department holds records for Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) in connection with their licensed status, and for Industry Training Boards in relation to their levy arrangements and non-departmental public body status. The Department does not keep systematic records for non-registered sector skill bodies. The records that are kept on such bodies relate to correspondence and meetings arising from specific approaches from organisations.
All sector skill bodies will have an opportunity to provide evidence and commentary on the relicensing of individual SSCs. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills has a website that includes a link for employers and stakeholders to post views on how SSCs are performing. The relicensing process will include a rigorous assessment of each SSC by independent third party assessors. The relicensing process is for existing Sector Skills Councils only. The performance of other sector bodies is not part of the assessment process.
Vocational Education
(2) how many people are expected to start courses under train to gain in 2010-11, broken down by (a) region and (b) local authority;
Since it was rolled out nationally in 2006 over 101,000 employers have been engaged, over 570,000 learners have started a learning programme and over 290,000 qualifications have been achieved. Recent independent evaluations of the service show that both employer and employee satisfaction with their experience of train to gain is high.
A breakdown of the number of people starting courses through train to gain in 2006-07 since the programme began in April 2006 is set out in Table 1 by region and local authority (2006-07 is the latest year we have fully audited data for). We do not have this information for 2010-11. In the demand-led skills system that the Government have created, the geographical distribution of train to gain learners is driven by employer demand. In addition the Learning and Skills Councils annual statement of priorities, which will be published soon, will set out their spending plans and targets to 2010-11. In 2010-11 we plan to invest over £1 billion of public funding through the service, to help employers invest in their businesses by investing in the skills of their employees.
Region/Local authority Train to gain starts East Midlands Derby 1,100 Derbyshire 4,100 Leicester 2,700 Leicestershire 3,100 Lincolnshire 3,100 Northamptonshire 3,400 Nottingham 1,700 Nottinghamshire 3,500 100 East Midlands Total 22,800 East of England Bedfordshire 1,300 Cambridgeshire 2,700 Essex 5,500 Hertfordshire 3,400 Luton 900 Norfolk 2,700 Peterborough 1,000 Southend on Sea 800 Suffolk 1,900 Thurrock 700 East of England Total 20,900 Greater London Barking and Dagenham 900 Barnet 900 Bexley 900 Brent 1,400 Bromley 700 Camden 300 City of London 0 Croydon 1,200 Ealing 1,200 Enfield 800 Greenwich 1,300 Hackney 1,000 Hammersmith and Fulham 400 Haringey 900 Harrow 600 Havering 900 Hillingdon 900 Hounslow 900 Islington 500 Kensington and Chelsea 200 Kingston upon Thames 200 Lambeth 900 Lewisham 1,300 Merton 500 Newham 1,700 Redbridge 900 Richmond upon Thames 200 Southwark 1,200 Sutton 500 Tower Hamlets 800 Waltham Forest 1,200 Wandsworth 600 Westminster 400 Greater London Total 26,500 North East Darlington 600 Durham 4,300 Gateshead 1,500 Hartlepool 600 Middlesbrough 1,100 Newcastle upon Tyne 1,500 North Tyneside 1,300 Northumberland 1,800 Redcar and Cleveland 1,200 South Tyneside 1,300 Stockton-on-Tees 1,200 Sunderland 2,200 North East Total 18,600 North West Blackburn with Darwen 1,100 Blackpool 1,200 Bolton 1,500 Bury 1,000 Cheshire 2,500 Cumbria 2,500 Halton 700 Knowsley 900 Lancashire 7,200 Liverpool 2,400 Manchester 3,200 Oldham 1,800 Rochdale 1,500 Salford 1,700 Sefton 1,200 St Helens 1,000 Stockport 1,200 Tameside 1,400 Trafford 800 Warrington 900 Wigan 2,200 Wirral 1,700 North West Total 39,700 South East Bracknell Forest 300 Brighton and Hove 600 Buckinghamshire 900 East Sussex 1,400 Hampshire 3,200 Isle of Wight 800 Kent 6,000 Medway 1,500 Milton Keynes 700 Oxfordshire 1,600 Portsmouth 600 Reading 600 Slough 500 Southampton 800 Surrey 1,700 West Berkshire 600 West Sussex 1,900 Windsor and Maidenhead 200 Wokingham 300 South East Total 24,200 South West Bath and North East Somerset 400 Bournemouth 700 Bristol 1,200 Cornwall 2,100 Devon 3,100 Dorset 1,100 Gloucestershire 1,700 Isles of Scilly 0 North Somerset 500 Plymouth 1,300 Poole 400 Somerset 2,000 South Gloucestershire 600 Swindon 1,000 Torbay 800 Wiltshire 2,000 South West Total 18,800 West Midlands Birmingham 6,000 Coventry 1,700 Dudley 2,000 Herefordshire 900 Sandwell 2,800 Shropshire 1,600 Solihull 900 Staffordshire 4,400 Stoke-on-Trent 2,000 Telford and Wrekin 1,500 Walsall 2,000 Warwickshire 2,100 Wolverhampton 2,300 Worcestershire 2,600 West Midlands Total 32,800 Yorkshire and the Humber Barnsley 1,700 Bradford 2,100 Calderdale 1,000 Doncaster 2,600 East Riding of Yorkshire 1,800 Kingston upon Hull 1,200 Kirklees 1,900 Leeds 3,200 North East Lincolnshire 600 North Lincolnshire 1,200 North Yorkshire 1,800 Rotherham 1,900 Sheffield 2,800 Wakefield 2,600 York 300 Yorkshire and the Humber Total 26,700 Not defined 7,900 Grand total 238,700 Notes: 1. Figures presented here are for the 16 month period April 2006 to July 2007. 2. Region and local authority is based on learner's postcode. 3. Figures may not sum to total due to rounding. 4. ‘-‘ indicates a figure of less than 10. Source: WBL ILR and ETP database
International Development
Departmental Consultants
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) on 13 December 2007, Official Report, column 838W. Consultancy spend for the year 2007-08 is £246 million.
Departmental Fraud
The Department for International Development (DFID) collates details of recorded fraud and passes the results to HM Treasury for inclusion in their annual fraud report, which may be found on HM Treasury’s website at:
http://62.164.176.164/fraud_public_spending_and_ reporting.htm
Departmental Internet
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: The total cost of designing the ‘Race Against Global Poverty’ section of DFID’s website was £83,221.17. Maintenance costs are £10,109.70 per annum for database hosting, usage statistics and bandwidth.
This section of the DFID website is designed to assist pupils in the subjects of ICT, geography and citizenship, as part of the secondary school teaching curriculum. Since it was launched on 30 June 2008 there have been 54,962 user sessions on this section of the website.
Departmental Press
The Department’s media monitoring is supplied by Energy Data Service Ltd. (EDS) and the Media Monitoring Unit (MMU). Available figures for the annual costs of each contract are as follows:
£ EDS 2006/07 134,337 2007/08 156,033 2008/09 135,743 MMU 2007-08 37,245 2008-09 13,995 1 To date
DFID does not have any agencies nor NDPBs.
Haiti: Hurricanes and Tornadoes
The Department for International Development (DFID) committed up to £7 million for humanitarian relief and early recovery to the Caribbean after the recent hurricanes, some £6 million of which is for Haiti to help restore water, sanitation and other essential services and supplies. DFID also sent a humanitarian assessment team to Haiti and is supporting UN relief co-ordination there with two seconded experts.
In addition, the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) is committing €700,000 for humanitarian relief, 15.8 per cent. of which is charged to DFID’s budget.
Although DFID has no long-term bilateral development programme or representation in Haiti, DFID will continue to support Haiti through engagement with and funding of multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, United Nations, European Union, regional CARICOM institutions, the Caribbean Development Bank and international NGOs. We judge these actors to be best placed to assist Haiti’s development because of their long-term presence.
The United Nations (UN) issued an international appeal for post-hurricane humanitarian relief funding for Haiti totalling $107 million. So far we understand donors have committed $23,540,000, 22 per cent. of the appeal. The Department for International Development (DFID) is channelling £4 million of its £6 million humanitarian aid for Haiti through the UN.
In the very difficult circumstances prevailing in Haiti all agencies are finding it difficult to manage relief. There are challenges of staffing, co-ordination and logistics. We have targeted our support to be as helpful as possible to the UN agencies in overcoming these constraints.
Overseas Aid
Much of the Department for International Development's (DFID) work is in high risk environments. Staff must be safeguarded, financial control maintained and our development activities must reduce poverty. DFID's systems are designed to provide a high and consistent level of management everywhere, including in difficult environments. DFID tackles three types of risks:
Risks to DFID staff and resources;
Risks to the delivery of international development
Risks faced by poor people throughout the world
The high level event (HLE) on the MDGs involved the broadest ever alliance assembled to fight for poverty reduction. Participants in the event, and the nearly 60 partnership events during the week, represented over 140 countries and leaders of NGOs, business, faith groups, philanthropic organisations and cities.
At the UN HLE the UK Government committed to spend an estimated £450 million over the next three years to support national health plans for eight international health partnership countries. Prime Minister Gordon Brown also announced the foundation of a multistakeholder Taskforce on Innovative Financing for Health Systems to help meet the financial gap on the health MDGs. With the aim that this Taskforce will report to the Italian G8 summit in 2009.
On education the UK Government committed £50 million for the education fast-track initiative (FTI) as part of a multi stakeholder approach launching the new “Class of 2015” partnership which looks to address the funding gap in order to help make it possible to get 24 million children into school by 2010. It is part of delivering on our commitment, announced in April 2006, to provide £8.5 billion in support of education over 10 years. There was also an announcement of a £5 million commitment for a partnership with Comic Relief totalling £10 million (£5 million each) through which school children in the UK will raise money for schools in Africa. As with the FTI funding it's part of our delivering on our £8.5 billion commitment.
The UK announced £40 million to support the affordable medicines facility for malaria, which the UK encourages the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) to host. This is in support of the global malaria action plan that was developed by Roll Back Malaria, with contributions from 250 partner organisations, and launched with Malaria No More, Roll Back Malaria, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UN on the 25 September. The action plan points the way towards universal coverage of bed nets and spraying by 2010, and achieving near zero malaria deaths by 2015.
On food security the UK Government committed £42 million to the Horn of Africa as part of the Government's emergency assistance. This was part of the $1.75 billion announced by stakeholders at the UN HLE in emergency food aid to stop starvation in the Horn of Africa, and for the rapid distribution of support, including seeds and fertilizers, to 30 priority countries.
I will be answering questions relating to the UN HLE at the Africa All Parliamentary Group (APPG) on 28 October and at the International Development Committee on the UN high level event on 30 October.
Somalia: Asylum
Figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) show that as at January 2008, there were 79,000 Somali refugees in Yemen. This figure is projected to rise to 82,720 by the end of 2008.
The Department for International Development (DFID) is not currently providing assistance to UNHCR for the purpose of supporting Somali refugees in Yemen. However, through DFID’s bilateral programme in Yemen, we will be providing £7 million between 2008 and 2013 to support efforts to increase access to justice and policing for all those living in Yemen.
DFID is also working in Somalia, to improve governance, security, health, education, livelihoods and provide emergency humanitarian relief. Our support is aimed at building more stable conditions so that fewer Somalis feel forced to seek a better life elsewhere.
Sri Lanka: Overseas Aid
The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for International Development raised the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka in a bilateral meeting with President Rajapakse on 26 September in New York at the United Nations General Assembly. They stressed the need for a political solution to the Conflict as well as the need to secure humanitarian space and to provide humanitarian relief to an estimated 220,000 Internally Displaced Persons trapped in the conflict zone in the north of Sri Lanka.
In addition to diplomatic engagement, the UK Government are providing funding for humanitarian aid. The Department for International Development (DFID) contributed £1.25 million in 2007-08 through the UN and the International Red Cross. Following the latest DFID humanitarian assessment mission to Sri Lanka 15-24 September, which visited the north, DFID has agreed a further £2.5 million humanitarian aid. We are in urgent discussion with the UN and the Red Cross about how to channel this aid as quickly as possible to assist the 200,000-250,000 internally displaced people caught up in the latest upsurge in the conflict.
(2) how many people were on his Department’s assessment team on the humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka;
(3) how many days his Department’s assessment team spent observing the humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka on its recent visit;
(4) what areas were visited by his Department’s assessment team on the humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka;
(5) whether his Department’s assessment team reported being subject to significant travel restrictions during its visit to Sri Lanka; and if he will make a statement;
(6) what further steps the Government plans to take in response to the humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka.
The Department for International Development’s (DFID) assessment of the humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka is that it is severe and in need of urgent relief action. As I reported to the House on 14 October 2008, Official Report, columns 240-48WH, we estimate that the number of Sri Lankans displaced in the latest surge in the conflict between the Sri Lankan armed forces and separatist extremists has risen from approximately 75,000 in July to between 200,000 and 250,000. Because many of these people have suffered multiple previous displacements they are particularly vulnerable. They are trapped between opposing forces in a pocket of north-east Sri Lanka without the assistance they need, lacking food, water, shelter, healthcare or sanitation. It is impossible to gauge exact numbers or their full plight because there is no humanitarian access to them. There are plans by the United Nations and the Sri Lankan authorities to mount relief convoys but so far very little is getting through.
As I said in the House on 14 October 2008, Official Report, columns 240-48 WH, we deplore this situation, have called on all parties to the conflict to facilitate access and humanitarian aid and I am pleased to have committed a further £2.5 million for humanitarian relief through the international agencies.
The DFID assessment team comprised one UK-based humanitarian specialist who has previously worked in Sri Lanka and has visited Sri Lanka many times and a representative of the British high commission in Colombo.
The assessment team visited Sri Lanka from 16 to 24 September, including Vavunia and Jaffna District, where they were able to travel without difficulties or restrictions. They were unable to visit the Wanni area because security there could not be assured.
The Department for International Development's (DFID) assessment of the humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka is that it is severe and in need of urgent relief action. As I reported to the House on 14 October 2008, Official Report, column 240-48WH, we estimate that the number of Sri Lankans displaced in the latest surge in the conflict between the Sri Lankan armed forces and separatist extremists has risen from approximately 75,000 in July to between 200,000 and 250,000. Because many of these people have suffered multiple previous displacements they are particularly vulnerable. They are trapped between opposing forces in a pocket of north-east Sri Lanka without the assistance they need, lacking food, water, shelter, health care or sanitation. It is impossible to gauge exact numbers or their full plight because there is as yet no proper humanitarian access to them. The United Nations and the Sri Lankan authorities are attempting relief convoys but so far relatively little is getting through.
As I said in the House on 14 October, we deplore this situation, have called on all parties to the conflict to facilitate access and humanitarian aid and I am pleased to have committed a further £2.5 million for humanitarian relief through the international agencies.
In addition to diplomatic representations, the Department for International Development (DFID) supports the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has a permanent international and national staff presence in Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu. As I said in the House on 14 October 2008, Official Report, column 240-48WH, we are pressing for full humanitarian access to those areas.
We are also pressing for Sri Lankan and United Nations relief convoys to deliver aid in safety and will support UN and other aid agency partners to increase their aid operations as soon as possible, assisted by the further £2.5 million from DFID that I was pleased to announce on 14 October.
Health
Babies: Medical Examinations
Screening for developmental dysplasia of the hips (DDH) is part of the routine physical examinations that every baby has, first within 72 hours of birth and then at 6-8 weeks old, as part of the Child Health Promotion Programme (CHPP), which covers pregnancy and the first five years of life. The examinations are usually performed by doctors, but can also be carried out by midwives and specialist nurses.
All the screening programmes in the CHPP have met the criteria set out by the National Screening Committee. Screening programmes require local implementation of an agreed pathway, including clear guidelines on referral to assessment and differential diagnostic services.
Bowel Cancer
Raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer is a key element of the “Cancer Reform Strategy” (copies of which have already been placed in the Library). Through the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative, we will be taking forward work to improve awareness of the signs and symptoms of all cancers, including bowel cancer, among men and women. As part of this work, we will be working to support local interventions to increase cancer symptom awareness and encourage early presentation. We are currently investing in the Improvement Foundation’s pilot work to develop and test methods of raising awareness of bowel, breast and lung cancers in 20 of the most deprived areas in the country.
Through section 64, we are currently funding a Men’s Health Forum project which aims to increase bowel cancer screening awareness and uptake by men.
The Department has worked with health professionals, patient groups and the voluntary sector to develop standardised messages for bowel cancer. Work to update the messages will be commencing shortly.
In addition, from 2010, the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme will be extended to men and women aged 70 to 75. We are currently piloting the extension in five pilot sites, and an evaluation of this will inform the national roll-out of the extension.
Cancer: Health Services
The National Cancer Director’s first annual report on the Cancer Reform Strategy will be published by the end of the year.
Performance against the current national health service cancer waiting times standards is monitored by NHS trust and is published on a quarterly basis by the Department of Health at:
http://www.performance.doh.gov.uk/cancerwaits/index.htm
We will continue to publish performance data by NHS trust on a quarterly basis as the extended waiting time standards set out the Cancer Reform Strategy are introduced from the end of December 2008. Local progress is monitored by commissioners of the service.
Cardiovascular System: Health Services
(2) how many free vascular risk assessments have been provided under the Government's Putting Prevention First programme in each primary care trust.
From 2009-10, the national health service is being asked to implement a vascular risk assessment and management programme or ‘vascular checks’ for people in England aged between 40 and 74, the proposals for which were set out in “Putting Prevention First” published on 1 April 2008, copies have already been placed in the Library. This programme will help ensure greater focus on the prevention of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease and will help people remain well for longer.
There is already a considerable amount of prevention and risk management activity taking place in primary care trusts in relation to individual conditions such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. There are no central records of exact numbers. The aim of the vascular checks initiative is to build on this valuable work so that the advantages of risk assessment and management are available to all who are able to benefit. The Department is currently working with stakeholders including commissioners, general practice and the pharmacy sector, on how best to do this.
Cervical Cancer: Screening
As set out in the Cancer Reform Strategy, the National Health Service Cancer Screening Programme is commissioning an Improvement Foundation project to look at addressing the falling participation of younger women in the NHS cervical screening programme. The evidence and outcomes from the Improvement Foundation’s local work will inform the development of the NHS Cancer Screening Programme’s information materials and public relations strategy in this matter. The Improvement Foundation are expected to deliver the outcomes from their work to the NHS Cancer Screening Programme by the end of 2009.
The NHS Cancer Screening Programmes have already produced posters specifically targeting women in the age range of 25-35.
Chemotherapy Advisory Group
(2) what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the National Chemotherapy Advisory Group.
It is anticipated that the first draft of the National Chemotherapy Advisory Group report will be issued to key stakeholders for informal consultation by the end of the year. The National Cancer Director will then make recommendations to the NHS following consideration of comments received. The National Cancer action team will provide support for cancer networks and primary care trusts to implement recommendations.
Cot Deaths: Research
The information available is shown in the following table.
£ million Departmental and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) programmes National health service R and D transitional support funding Sudden infant death syndrome 0.2 n/a Mental health 118.2 47.4 Neurology 116.4 39.1 Ophthalmology 2.5 n/a Audiology 0.4 n/a HIV/AIDS 2.2 n/a n/a = Not available 1 Includes NIHR clinical research network expenditure. Details of individual projects supported by the UK Clinical Research Network are available at: http://public.ukcrn.org.uk/search.
Over the last 10 years, the main part of the Department’s total expenditure on health research has been devolved to and managed by NHS organisations. These organisations account for their use of the allocations they receive from the Department in annual research and development reports. The reports identify total, aggregated expenditure on certain priority areas including mental health, chronic neurological conditions and degenerative neurological disorders. They do not provide details of spend on the other conditions listed in the table.
The Medical Research Council (MRC), like the NIHR, is one of the main agencies through which the Government support biomedical research. The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Relevant MRC expenditure is not included in the figures above.
Death: Football
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: The Department is not planning to commission the research suggested. However, the Department has supported a recent initiative led by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the national football organisations and Cardiac Risk in the Young to promote awareness of familial heart conditions and the risks they pose to footballers.
Discussions are also currently taking place between the two Departments and the other UK health departments on whether further research into the effectiveness of testing young athletes for these conditions ought to be carried out.
Dementia: Drugs
The Department originally anticipated that the results of the review into the use of anti-psychotic drugs for people with dementia would be available before the National Dementia Strategy is published. Given the work involved on developing the strategy, this will not now be possible. The strategy is now likely to be published in mid-November, and we anticipate that the results of the anti-psychotics review will be published early in 2009.
Dementia: Research
[holding answer 13 October 2008]: The dementia research summit has been delayed because of the pressure of work on developing the National Dementia Strategy and Implementation Plan. We now anticipate that the summit will take place in December 2008.
Dental Services
Dental technicians continue to make an essential contribution to high quality dental treatment through the manufacture of dental appliances to the standards set in the Medical Devices Directive. Increasing numbers of clinical dental technicians are building upon this contribution by both manufacturing and fitting dental appliances to edentulous patients having met the registration requirements set by the General Dental Council.
Dental Services: Bassetlaw
(2) how many registered NHS dental patients there are in Bassetlaw constituency; and how many there were in (a) 2007 and (b) January 2008.
Under the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006, patients do not have to be registered with a national health service dentist to receive NHS care. The closest equivalent measure to ‘registration’ is the number of patients receiving NHS dental services (‘patients seen’) over a 24-month period. However, this is not directly comparable to the registration data for earlier years.
Information on the number of patients seen by an NHS dentist in England, over the previous 24-month period, is available in table C1 of annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: Quarter 3: 31 December 2007” report. Information is available for the 24-month periods ending 31 March 2006, 31 March 2007, 30 June 2007, 30 September 2007, and 31 December 2007. Information is provided by strategic health authority and primary care trust (PCT). Information by constituency is not available under the new contractual arrangements.
This report, published on 5 June 2008 by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care, has already been placed in the Library and is available at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalstats0708q3
The Dental Services Division (DSD) of the NHS Business Services Authority has recently issued ‘patients seen’ information at PCT level. However, this was for management information purposes. PCTs have recently raised some issues which suggest that the way in which patients are allocated to PCTs across the various quarters needs to be reviewed. This means that sub-national information on patients seen was not included in the “Dental Statistics for England: 2007/08” report. This report, published on 21 August 2008 by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care, has already been placed in the Library. The DSD has confirmed that this issue could only have a minimal impact on the national figures. They were therefore labelled as provisional pending the review. An update will be provided in the “Dental Statistics for England: 2008/09 Q1” report in November 2008.
Increasing the number of patients seen within the NHS dental service is now a priority in the Operating Framework for the NHS in England 2008-09. We have supported this with an 11 per cent. uplift in overall dental allocations to PCTs from 1 April 2008. Copies of the Operating Framework have already been placed in the Library.
This information is not available in the format requested.
Prior to April 2006, most primary dental services were provided under former General Dental Service arrangements. These were demand-led services, funded from a single national budget, where the pattern of dental expenditure was largely determined by where dentists chose to practice and how much national health service work they chose to undertake. Expenditure was accounted for by the former Dental Practice Board on a national basis only.
However, certain information on primary dental care expenditure in individual primary care trusts (PCTs), health authorities or constituency areas is available for earlier years. The Information Centre for health and social care published the following report on 26 March 2008:
“NHS Expenditure for General Dental Services and Personal Dental Services: England 1997/98-2005/06”. This report has already been placed in the Library and is available at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalexpend1997to2006
The report includes information on primary dental care expenditure by constituency for 1997-98 to 2005-06 in tables A3 and B3 of annex 3. Table A3 relates to ‘gross’ expenditure and table B3 relates to ‘net’ expenditure. ‘Gross’ expenditure refers to the full cost of the payments recorded; ‘net’ expenditure reflects the cost of these payments to the NHS after the deduction of income from NHS dental charges paid by patients. Information by PCT and strategic health authority (SHA) is also available in tables A1 and B1.
This information is based on the old contractual arrangements which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006 and is not directly comparable with subsequent expenditure data reflecting the new framework and scope of local commissioning arrangements for primary dental care services introduced from April 2006. Further notes to aid interpretation of the information are shown in the ‘Contents and Notes’ page of annex 3.
PCTs assumed responsibility for the local commissioning of primary dental care on 1 April 2006. Under the new service framework, the Department awards each PCT an annual primary dental service allocation to maintain and develop dental care services. Allocations are net of any income from NHS dental charges paid by patients, which PCTs retain as additional funding for dentistry. PCTs may direct further local NHS resources to dentistry if they consider it appropriate in the light of local needs and priorities. PCTs therefore determine their own local operational budgets taking into account the total resource they intend to commit to dentistry including any expected income from NHS dental charges. The Department’s primary dental service allocations to Bassetlaw PCT since April 2006 is shown in the following table.
Financial year Net allocation (£000) 2006-07 2,644 2007-08 2,839 2008-09 3,142 Note: Any PCT which hosts an approved training post for a dental vocational trainee will receive a supplementary net funding allocation from its SHA to cover the relevant costs.
Data on actual expenditure on primary dental services can be derived from PCT accounts. Expenditure totals for Bassetlaw PCT are set out in the following table. However, accounts data do not separately identify expenditure by constituency area or any other sub-division of a PCT area.
£000 Financial year 2006-07 2007-08 Gross expenditure 4,059 4,403 Dental charges paid by patients 1,079 1,180 Net expenditure 2,980 3,223 Note: PCTs also commission secondary dental services such as specialist hospital dental departments, which they fund from their general NHS budgets, but expenditure on these services is not separately identified in PCT accounts. Source: 2006-07 data from audited summarisation schedules of Bassetlaw PCT. 2007-08 data from audited financial monitoring and accounts forms for Bassetlaw PCT.
Dentistry: Technicians
The General Dental Council is responsible for approving training courses, which lead to the registration of dental care professionals. We believe that a training course for clinical dental technicians needs to be established in England. We were therefore very encouraged to learn that the Postgraduate Dental Dean for south east coast is collaborating the university of Kent to devise a course which should give credit for relevant experience and competencies which some dental technicians have already acquired. We understand the programme will be submitted to the General Dental Council's Education Committee in December and, if it is approved, places will be advertised in the new year.
Diabetes
This information is not centrally collected. Responsibility for implementing the diabetes national service framework rests with the national health service, and it is for primary care trusts to commission services that meet the needs of their local population.
The national health service (NHS) next stage review, ‘High Quality Care for All’, published on 30 June 2008, announced the introduction of the Reduce Your Risk campaign, which will raise awareness of the vascular checks programme and vascular conditions generally, including diabetes. Copies of this publication have already been placed in the Library.
In addition to this, The Change4Life campaign is a forthcoming £75 million social marketing programme that is part of “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross Government Strategy for England” (copies of which have already been placed in the Library). The campaign will support and encourage people to live healthily by helping them to make significant and sustained choices to behaviours around diet and physical activity. This will also help prevent obesity and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases.
Through the Section 64 general grant scheme (now known as Third Sector Investment programme), we have given a total of £305,976 in support of three projects that include raising awareness of type 2 diabetes since 2005.
The Department, in collaboration with Diabetes UK, has established a joint working group to identify what needs to be done to enable the national health service and local care services to meet the psychological and emotional needs of all people with diabetes to support them to self-care. This will include examining the competencies required to deliver an appropriate service. The group is part of a wider workstream looking at ways that local services can develop support for people with diabetes to self-manage, including care planning, structured education and self-monitoring.
(2) how many people have been admitted to hospital in diabetes-related emergencies in the last 12 months.
Information on the estimated percentage of hospital beds occupied by patients with diabetes in each primary care trust is not available in the format requested. The recent report ‘Improving Emergency and Inpatient Care for People with Diabetes’ estimates that around 10 per cent. of all hospital beds in the United Kingdom are occupied by people with diabetes.
The following table shows the number of people admitted to hospital in diabetes-related emergencies in 2006-07, the latest year for which figures are available:
Total emergency admissions 2006-07 143,822 1 Finished admissions episodes (FAE): a FAE is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year.
(2) how many diabetes patients (a) are receiving, (b) have received and (c) have not received structured education for diabetes through DAFNE programmes in each primary care trust.
This information is not available in the format requested. The DAFNE centre reports, to date, that 8,698 people in England have become DAFNE graduates. The following table breaks this down by centre.
Centre Number of patients graduated Addenbrooke’s 656 Arrowe Park 84 Barking and Dagenham 24 Basildon 5 Bedford 128 Birmingham East and North 41 Blackburn 126 Bolton 46 Bridlington 99 Burnley 53 Central Middlesex 261 Chelsea and Westminster 61 Croydon 24 Dartford 61 Derby 311 Durham 63 Exeter 105 Harrogate 48 Heart of Birmingham 125 Hinchingbrooke 60 Hull 260 Ipswich 60 Kings 703 Leicester 625 Lewisham 52 Maidstone 37 Medway 98 North Lincolnshire and Goole 164 Northampton 474 Northumbria 614 Norwich 114 Nottingham 452 Pembury 64 Pennine 96 Queen Elizabeth, London 33 Queen Mary, Kent 44 Redbridge 12 Rotherham 46 Royal Surrey County Hospital 6 Salford 116 Salisbury 80 Scarborough 190 South East Kent 54 Selly Oak 88 Sheffield 713 South of Tees 112 Southend 60 St. George’s, Hornchurch 73 St. George’s, Tooting 146 St. Thomas 157 Tameside 46 Taunton and Somerset 86 UCLH 94 Wakefield 16 West Cumberland 106 West Essex 112 Wythenshawe 109 Bournemouth 5
The DESMOND central office reports that the programme has been delivered to over 20,000 people in the United Kingdom and Ireland. A figure for England is not available.
Health Professions: Manpower
(2) how many doctors there are in (a) Chesterfield, (b) Derbyshire and (c) England;
(3) how many NHS nurses were employed in (a) Chesterfield, (b) Derbyshire and (c) England in each year since 1997;
(4) how many NHS doctors were employed in (a) Chesterfield, (b) Derbyshire and (c) England in each year since 1997.
The information requested is shown in the following tables.
numbers (headcount) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 England total 28,046 28,251 28,467 28,593 28,802 29,202 30,358 31,523 32,738 33,091 33,364 Total specified organisations 503 513 508 512 518 545 573 595 607 611 622 QCH North Derbyshire Health Authority (HA) 191 195 199 193 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a QCJ South Derbyshire HA 312 318 309 319 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 5N7 Derby City PCT n/a n/a n/a n/a 142 143 149 154 155 159 161 5N6 Derbyshire County PCT1 n/a n/a n/a n/a 376 402 424 441 452 452 461
numbers (headcount) 19972 19982 19992 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 England total n/a n/a n/a 19,200 19,846 20,983 21,667 22,144 22,904 23,797 22,860 Total specified organisations n/a n/a n/a 351 351 385 377 433 422 456 486 QCH North Derbyshire HA n/a n/a n/a 128 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a QCJ South Derbyshire HA n/a n/a n/a 223 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 5N7 Derby City PCT n/a n/a n/a n/a 112 122 123 132 129 132 135 5N6 Derbyshire County PCT1 n/a n/a n/a n/a 239 263 254 301 293 324 351 n/a = Not applicable. 1 In 2006 Amber Valley PCT, Chesterfield PCT, Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire PCT, Erewash PCT, High Peak and Dales PCT and North Eastern Derbyshire PCT merged to form Derbyshire County PCT. Figures prior to 2006 are an aggregate of these six predecessor organisations. 2 Practice nurse headcount figures are not available on the annual census prior to 2000. Notes: 1. Data for Chesterfield are not available. Data are available for Trusts and PCTs that provide or provided services within the Chesterfield constituency. 2. Data is not available for the specific geographical area of Derbyshire. The data used here is for both PCTs within Derbyshire for comparability as they were formed from the two former health authorities in Derbyshire. 3. Data as at 1 October 1997-99, 30 September 2000-07 Data Quality: Work force statistics are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data. Processing methods and procedures are continually being updated to improve data quality. Where this happens any impact on figures already published will be assessed but unless this is significant at national level they will not be changed. Where there is impact only at detailed or local level this will be footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care General and Personal Medical Services Statistics
numbers (headcount) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 England 60,230 62,140 63,994 66,067 68,464 72,168 76,400 82,951 37,043 90,243 91,790 RFS Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 191 202 209 205 229 233 247 260 265 281 306 5N6 Derbyshire County PCT2 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 50 51 53 53 55 44
numbers (headcount) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 England 300,467 304,563 310,142 316,752 330,535 346,537 364,692 375,371 361,257 374,538 376,737 RFS Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 789 818 823 757 887 907 898 938 1,032 964 975 5N6 Derbyshire County PCT2 n/a n/a n/a n/a 763 1,276 1,282 1,331 1,394 1,271 1,280 n/a = Not applicable. 1 Figure excludes medical hospital practitioners and medical clinical assistants, most of whom are GPs working part time in hospitals. 2 In 2006 Amber Valley PCT, Chesterfield PCT, Derbyshire Dales and South Derbyshire PCT, Erewash PCT, High Peak and Dales PCT and North-Eastern Derbyshire PCT merged to form Derbyshire County PCT. Figures prior to 2006 are an aggregate of these six predecessor organisations. Notes: 1. Data for Chesterfield are not available. Data are available for Trusts and PCTs that provide or provided services within the Chesterfield constituency. 2. Data as at 1 October 1997-99, 30 September 2000-07. Data Quality: Work force statistics are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data. Processing methods and procedures are continually being updated to improve data quality. Where this happens any impact on figures already published will be assessed but unless this is significant at national level they will not be changed. Where there is impact only at detailed or local level this will be footnoted in relevant analyses. Sources: 1. The Information Centre for health and social care Medical and Dental Workforce Census 2. The Information Centre for health and social care Non-Medical Workforce. Census
Health Services: Interpreters
We have advocated in the maternity standard of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services that all national health service maternity care providers and primary care trusts make provision for translation, interpretation and advocacy services based on an assessment of the needs of their local population. Copies of the framework have already been placed in the Library.
National health service and social care bodies are not required to report their arrangements for interpretation and translation services to the Department. When planning such services, they should take due account of their legal duties, the composition of the communities they serve, and the needs and circumstances of their patients, service users and local populations.
Heath and social care bodies usually commission such services from private organisations that provide access to qualified and trained interpreters. NHS bodies can also access telephone interpretation through NHS Direct, which operates from 21 call centres in England and have access to interpretation for over 100 available 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Health Services: Ministers of Religion
(2) what funding allocations have been made from the central allocation for hospital and healthcare chaplaincy for 2008-09; and what (a) bids and (b) requirements were made by the relevant representations of the nine world faith communities at which the allocation is directed.
Funding for the provision of health care chaplaincy services is built into the financial allocations to primary care trusts, who commission services on behalf of patients.
The Department also holds a central fund of £185,000 to provide grants for the provision of support to chaplains across the nine leading world faith communities. Following an independent review of central funding of hospital chaplaincy in 2005, it was agreed that the nine leading faith groups in England would receive a share of the NHS hospital chaplaincy grant. For 2008-09, the United Synagogue Visitation Committee, The Muslim Council of Britain and the Free Churches Group at Churches Together in England each received £35,000, with the remaining funds distributed among the other six faith groups that bid. This financial year the Department's Equality and Human Rights Group managed the allocation, and more support was given to minority faith groups from the remaining budget to ensure a more equitable distribution of funds to help them provide for the religious and spiritual needs of patients while in hospital.
Chaplaincy grants for the next financial year have yet to be determined. We will be holding a stakeholder event in January 2009 with the main leading faith groups in England to consult on central funding allocations for 2009-10.
Health Services: Pay
We are seeking to make progress on the recommendations in the report entitled “Ensuring PbR supports the delivery of effective cancer services” as soon as practicable. Copies of this report have been placed in the Library. Some recommendations have already been implemented, such as the establishment of an Expert Reference Panel for cancer. Other issues require further work and discussion before changes can be implemented, such as coding for chemotherapy and radiotherapy, currently being considered by National Cancer Action Team working groups. This work programme is in line with the commitment to further develop payment by results for cancer services made in the “Cancer Reform Strategy” (copies of which have already been placed in the Library).
Healthcare for London
Healthcare for London is a programme funded by and run on behalf of London’s primary care trusts, to deliver improvements to the capital’s healthcare over the next 10 years. Representatives of the Healthcare for London team have met with Ministers or officials to keep them informed of implementation of the programme on the following occasions between September 2007 and August 2008.
Lord Darzi, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, had meetings with representatives of Healthcare for London on the following dates: 20 November 2007, 23 and 28 April 2008 and 11 June 2008.
Department officials have had meetings with Healthcare for London representatives on the following dates: 7 and 13 February 2008, 4, 9, 14, 16 and 23 April 2008, 3, 9, 11, 17 and 24 June 2008, 7, 9, 17, 22, 23 and 25 July 2008, and 5, 6, 7, 11 and 27 August 2008.
Liver Diseases: Health Services
We recognise that there is strong support for developing a national plan for liver disease. We are considering what the national health service needs to do over the next few years in order to address these pressures, and how this should be monitored.
We shall announce next steps in due course.
Lung Diseases
Whilst we do not collect figures on the number of people requiring treatment for mesothelioma, we do collect information relating to the number of finished episodes where the primary diagnosis was mesothelioma. This information is provided in the following table, but it should be noted that the figures relate only to admitted patients and do not include any patients who are treated for mesothelioma in accident and emergency but not admitted, patients treated in an outpatient setting, or patients treated in the community.
It should also be noted that Northumberland, Tyne and Wear strategic health authority and County Durham and Tees strategic health authority combined to form the North East strategic health authority in 2006-07.
Count of finished consultant episodes where the primary diagnosis was mesothelioma1 for selected organisations, NHS Hospitals in England, and activity performed in the independent sector in England commissioned by the English NHS (1997-98 to 2006-07)Finished consultant episodesEnglandSouth Tyneside PCT (5KG) as PCT of residenceNorth East strategic health authority2006-07697356,677Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA (Q09) as SHA of residenceCounty Durham and Tees Valley SHA (Q10) as SHA of residence2005-06403163036,4362004-05283482425,6712003-04564432305,6972002-03532671734,6852001-02593211294,6632000-01573151224,4421999-2000584011214,1551998-9939373983,7731997-9811186693,075 1 The ICD-10 codes used in this analysis were as follows:C45 MesotheliomaD19 Benign neoplasm of mesothelial tissueNotes:Finished consultant episode (FCE)An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.Ungrossed dataFigures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).Diagnosis (primary diagnosis)The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.Assessing growth through timeHES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. During the years that these records have been collected the NHS there have been ongoing improvements in quality and coverage. These improvements in information submitted by the NHS have been particularly marked in the earlier years and need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. Changes in NHS practice also need to be borne in mind when analysing time series. For example a number of procedures may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and may no longer be accounted in the HES data. This may account for any reductions in activity overtime.Primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA) data qualityPCT and SHA data was added to historic data-years in the HES database using 2002-03 boundaries, as a one-off exercise in 2004. The quality of the data on PCT of Treatment and SHA of Treatment is poor in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99, with over a third of all finished episodes having missing values in these years. Data quality of PCT of GP practice and SHA of GP practice in 1997-98 and 1998-99 is also poor, with a high proportion missing values where practices changed or ceased to exist. There is less change in completeness of the residence-based fields over time, where the majority of unknown values are due to missing postcodes on birth episodes. Users of time series analysis including these years need to be aware of these issues in their interpretation of the data.Source:Hospital episode statistics (HES), The Information Centre for Health and Social Care
Malnutrition
This information is not collected centrally.
Mental Health
My hon. Friend, the Member for Gedling, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office (Mr. Coaker), in his letter of 18 March 2008 to the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale, West (Mr. Brady) pledged that new or additional advice on the links between cannabis and the onset of mental health problems presented by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) report—Cannabis: Classification and Public Health (2008)—would be fully and accurately reflected in the information and advice provided through Frank and elsewhere from Government. The ACMD report was published in April 2008.
The Government responded to the ACMD report on 13 October 2008 stating that the Frank campaign, which has been extremely effective in highlighting to young people the harms associated with cannabis, will be updating the information it provides following the ACMD’s report. An enhanced campaign of activity reflecting these new messages will be undertaken in the near future.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on 1 September 2008, Official Report, column 1749W.
These are matters for the independent National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE should be contacted direct for this information.
NHS: Drugs
Unless it has been amended or waived for a specific treatment, a statutory funding direction requires national health service organisations to make funding available for treatments recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) within three months of publication of final guidance. The Government would not expect a primary care trust to refuse funding for a treatment prescribed by the patient’s clinician that has been recommended by NICE and is covered by the funding direction.
Patients: Death
This information is not collected centrally.
Spinal Injuries: Health Services
(2) what assessment he has made of whether the number of beds and other resources available in spinal cord injury centres are sufficient to meet the specialist needs of all spinal cord injury patients promptly and appropriately; and how many beds there were in the designated specialist spinal cord injury centres in the latest period for which figures are available;
(3) what mechanisms are in place for the collection of national data on spinal cord injury patients, their management and the outcomes of their care; and what steps he is taking to improve such mechanisms.
No estimate has been made of the number of spinal injury cord patients who are being managed by health professionals without specialist skills relating to this condition.
No assessment has been made on whether the number of beds and other resources in spinal injury centres is sufficient to meet the needs of those with spinal injuries. It is the responsibility of the individual centres, and regional commissioners, to ensure that they are able to meet the anticipated needs of the regional population they serve. Information on the number of beds provided at such centres is not collected centrally.
There are no existing mechanisms, or plans, to collect national data specifically on spinal cord injury patients.
(2) what mechanisms are in place to monitor those foundation trusts that host the specialist spinal cord injury centres to ensure that those centres provide an appropriate level of service to patients with spinal cord injury.
Spinal cord injury services are a specialised service, as defined within the National Specialised Services Definition Set. It is for specialised commissioning groups on behalf of their constituent primary care trusts to assess local needs and to contract directly with each NHS trust or NHS foundation trust for these services. Contracts should cover appropriate standards of care and include mechanisms for monitoring standards and ensuring patients that are treated appropriately.
(2) whether multidisciplinary teams of medical and paramedical specialists trained in the appropriate care of spinal cord injury are present within the NHS other than in the specialist spinal cord injury centres established by his Department; where specialist centres are located; and whether his Department has issued guidance on the commissioning of spinal cord injury services outside these specialist spinal cord injury centres;
(3) what procedures are in place to ensure early referral of all spinal cord injury persons to the relevant expert Spinal Cord Injury Centre service; and what recent assessment he has made of possible improvements to those procedures.
Spinal cord injury services are a specialised service, as defined within the National Specialised Services Definition Set. It is for specialised commissioning groups (SCGs) on behalf of their constituent primary care trusts to assess local needs and to contract directly with each national health service trust or foundation trust for these services. Contracts should cover appropriate standards of care and mechanisms for ensuring patients are treated appropriately. SCGs are currently working together on a development project to produce an agreed national tariff for spinal cord injury services.
Primary care trusts (PCTs) have the responsibility for ensuring they have appropriate teams of medical and paramedical staff able to deliver the services required to meet the needs of their local population. This may include staff trained in the care of those with spinal cord injuries where PCTs provide these services. Information on the provision of such local services is not collected nationally.
The National Service Framework for Long-term Conditions provides detailed guidance on the provision, and commissioning, of health and social care for those with long-term neurological conditions, including spinal injuries. Copies of this publication have already been placed in the Library.
It is the responsibility of health professionals to make an individual assessment of each patient with spinal cord injuries to determine their health and social care needs, and if required, the most appropriate time for referral to a specialist spinal injury centre.
We have made no recent assessment of possible improvements to this procedure.
Stem Cells
Cells of the connective tissue, blood, muscle and neurons have been generated from umbilical cord stem cells. Clinical and animal studies of umbilical cord stem cells, especially for diseases like leukaemia, show potential.
The United Kingdom Government are and always have been supportive of the use of stem cells from all sources, including embryos, foetuses, adult tissue and umbilical cord.