Written Answers to Questions
Monday 20 April 2009
Olympics
Legacy: Young People
The Olympics sporting venues in East London and elsewhere in the UK will be available for use after the games at all levels from local communities to elite athletes.
The legacy business plans being prepared for the sports venues—including the stadium, the aquatics centre and the velodrome and velopark—have the provision of affordable access for young people at their heart; for example we anticipate over half a million visits a year at the Aquatics Centre, of which over 100,000 will consist of use by schools, swimming lessons and clubs, and many more by young people visiting during community sessions.
The stadium will include, in addition to a 25,000-seat, IAAF-compliant athletics facility with the capacity to host domestic and international events, a range of other educational and sporting uses including a school with a sporting specialism for 300 to 400 14 to 19-year-olds and a National Skills Academy for sport and leisure providing skills training focused on the 19 to 24 years age group.
Construction Programme
Over 30 per cent. of the Olympic Delivery Authority's Programme is now complete. All the major venues are on schedule and the Olympic stadium and Aquatics Centre are ahead of schedule.
Construction of the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre commenced last week and, in the past few weeks, work has begun on the foundations for the Velodrome and on the construction of the sweeping roof of the Aquatics Centre.
Olympic Delivery Authority Contracts
To date, the Olympic Delivery Authority has awarded contracts to 935 businesses. Of these 424 were to businesses registered outside of London, including three in my hon. Friend's own constituency.
London 2012 expects to directly procure £6 billion worth of contracts, generating 75,000 supply chain opportunities.
Early evidence shows businesses across the UK are already benefiting.
Housing
I and my colleague, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, are working together to ensure the Games will provide a housing legacy of up to 35 per cent. affordable homes, as provided for in planning approvals and associated section 106 agreements.
After the Games the Olympic Village will be converted into mixed tenure housing which will be available to rent or buy for a wide range of people, including existing local communities.
The allocation of affordable homes after the Games will be agreed between the relevant London boroughs and the Homes and Community Agency.
Employment: Olympic Park
The figures published by the Olympic Delivery Authority in January 2009 show that at the end of December 2008 there were 3,315 people working on the Olympic Park site. Of these 23 per cent. were residents of the five Olympic host boroughs. 17 per cent. of these declared themselves as unemployed prior to working on the site.
Olympic Games 2012: Tourism
[holding answer 23 March 2009]: Using London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games' (LOCOG) London 2012 Ticket Allocation Model, The Oxford Economics Study ‘The Value of the London 2012 Games and Paralympic Games to UK Tourism', published in September 2007 and commissioned by VisitBritain and Visit London, estimates that there will be approximately 900,000 attendees for events related to the 2012 games. However, this will contribute only a small part of the estimated £2.1 billion tourism gains for the UK as a whole that will result from the games in the period 2007 to 2017. The Oxford Economics study has also identified that there will be in excess of 32 million UK-wide extra nights stayed by visitors as a result of the games.
Scotland
Departmental Buildings
The Scotland Office has not sold any properties in the last five years.
Departmental Computers
The Scotland Office shares an information technology system (SCOTS) with the Scottish Executive, which is responsible for the development, administration and maintenance of the system, including the provision of hardware.
The Office has a pool of eight secure SCOTS laptops at its disposal that are available for Ministers, special advisers and staff to use. A couple have been allocated for the sole use of Ministers and special advisers, but they remain allocated to the Office as a whole. The laptops were provided as part of an ongoing technology refresh to the SCOTS IT system, the direct costs of the hardware came to £6,091.20.
Departmental Coordination
The Scotland Office does not directly employ staff. All staff in the Office are on secondment from other Government Departments, which administer the personnel records of their staff. The Scotland Office has its own separate set of books within Scottish Executive’s financial system and have access to their ICT system. No accommodation or other administrative support services are received from either Department.
Departmental Empty Property
The Scotland Office does not own any buildings.
Departmental Pay
Since 2003, the Government have been committed to publishing an annual list detailing the number and costs of special advisers. Information for 2007-08 was published by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 22 July 2008, Official Report, columns 99-102WS. The salary costs of communications and press officers in the Scotland Office is as follows:
Communications and press officers (£) 2003-04 114,643 2004-05 105,266 2005-06 93,114 2006-07 70,283 2007-08 113,235
Plans for 2010-11 have yet to be finalised.
Departmental Public Expenditure
The Scotland Office (SO) does not share any accommodation with either the Scottish Executive (SE) or the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The SO maintains its own separate set of books within the SE accounting system, at no additional cost. The SO does not directly employ staff—they are all secondees from other Government Departments, which invoice the SO for pay costs but administer personnel records for secondees themselves. The SO paid the SE £115,073 for ICT support for the last 12 months. No other administrative services were received from either the SE or MoJ.
Departmental Training
The Scotland Office has incurred no expenditure on media training for Ministers in the last three years.
Opinion Leader Research
The Scotland Office has not used Opinion Leader Research since November 2007.
House of Commons Commission
Departmental Manpower
As at 31 March 2009 the Department of Resources held 2,344 contracts of employment.
Parliament: Visits
Information is not available in exactly the form requested. The table gives a regional breakdown of the number of tours booked by Members through the Central Tours Office for the year April 2008 to March 2009 inclusive.
Region Number of sponsoring Members Number of tours booked Percentage East Midlands 44 802 6 East of England 57 1,341 11 London 78 2,459 20 North East 29 328 3 North West 74 1,170 9 South East 83 2,058 17 South West 51 1,025 8 West Midlands 58 964 8 Yorkshire and The Humber 54 746 6 Northern Ireland 15 232 2 Scotland 57 739 6 Wales 40 456 4 Incomplete data 2 26 0 Total — 12,346 100
Publications: Internet
Target upload times are the same for intranet and internet versions of parliamentary publications. Target upload times are as follows:
Publication Target upload times Official Report: Daily Part 8 am Public Bill Committees 12.30 pm Chamber and Westminster Hall (Today in the Commons) 3 to 4 hours after delivery of speeches in the Chamber or Westminster Hall, reducing to 2 to 3 hours on the rising of the House Summary Agenda/Order of Business 7.30 am Future Business 7.30 am Votes and Proceedings 8.30 am Early Day Motions Between 7.30 and 8 am Question Books Parts 1 and 2 9.30 am
In the period January to March 2009, the following items have been uploaded late:
Publication Number of occasions of late uploading Official Report: Daily Part 3 Chamber and Westminster Hall (Today in the Commons) 2 Summary Agenda/Order of Business 1 Votes and Proceedings 6 Early Day Motions 3 Question Books Part 2 3
Full information on the reason in each case for late uploading is not recorded. Delays have occurred in part because of the need to amend links or to amend and reload files. Upload times are monitored to ensure timely publication on the intranet and internet and to ensure that publication difficulties are resolved.
In addition to the publications listed, regular updates are made to other parliamentary intranet and internet pages. These include the following:
Announcements of ministerial statements - hourly uploads from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm
Business statement—an hour after the end of the statement
Announcements of Select Committee evidence sessions—usually by 5 pm Thursday
Announcements of General Committees—by 5 pm Wednesday and updated where necessary by 5 pm Thursday
Updates to Today's business on www.parliament.uk are published at midnight. This section also links to the parliamentary calendar, which shows daily business in the Chamber, Westminster Hall and Select and General Committees. Latest news on:
www.parliament.uk
is updated daily and updates can be published hourly from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm and at midnight.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Education
The table shows the number of full level 2 qualifications achieved by adult learners in further education which included GCSE mathematics or GCSE English. Information is provided for 2003/04 to 2007/08. Comparable figures prior to 2003/04 are not available.
Of the total full level 2 achievers Academic year Full level 2 achievers total Achieving GCSE English Achieving GCSE mathematics Of which, achieving both 2003/04 72,800 160 130 30 2004/05 88,500 190 160 60 2005/06 109,100 200 210 60 2006/07 116,000 250 240 90 2007/08 116,700 270 240 80 Notes: 1. Age is based on age as at 31 August (academic age). 2. This information does not include learners achieving a full level 2 qualification in school sixth forms. It also does not include information on learners in higher education institutions, including those that deliver FE provision, unless a provider has submitted an FE individualised learner record return. 3. Learners achieving a full level 2 including both GCSE mathematics and GCSE English are included in both of the columns for these GCSEs and also the column for learners achieving both. Source: FE ILR
Over the last few years the Government have prioritised funding towards longer and fuller programmes such as full level 2 qualifications (equivalent of five A*-C GCSEs or vocational equivalent). This has increased the number of adults achieving the broad platform of skills for entering and progressing into employment.
Aimhigher Programme
(2) how many 16 to 18-year-olds who attended Aimhigher courses subsequently enrolled in a university in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2005-06;
(3) how the effectiveness of the Aimhigher programme in encouraging school students into higher education is measured;
(4) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Aimhigher programme.
Aimhigher is making a significant contribution towards raising the aspirations of young people towards university, and their pre-entry attainment levels. Over 50 per cent. of young people from all social backgrounds now aspire to university.
It is not possible at a national level to identify young people entering university who previously participated in Aimhigher activities.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England has commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to work with partnerships on the collection of consistent and coherent local data so that the impact of the programme can better be assessed. We expect the results from a separate study of early Excellence Challenge participants into higher education to be available later in the spring. This will give us the first information to date on the impact of Aimhigher on entry to university.
Evaluation of Aimhigher's predecessors showed, for example, that after just 18 months of the Excellence Challenge programme:
pupils in schools with Excellence Challenge improved by 2.5 GCSE points compared to those in comparison schools;
there was a significant improvement in the proportion of young people in Excellence Challenge schools attaining levels 4, 5 or 6 in the key stage 3 tests between 2001/02 and 2002/03: it is estimated that Excellence Challenge led to a 4.6 percentage point increase in Maths attainment at key stage 3; and
aspirations to HE were 3.9 percentage points higher in Excellence Challenge schools than in non-Excellence Challenge schools.
This information is not available at a national level. The report ‘Aimhigher summer schools: Analysis of provision and participation in summer schools 2004-2008’ (Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), 2009) says that, during the five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, the Aimhigher summer school programme funded over 1,350 summer schools which helped 41,000 young people. Nine out of 10 school participants in summer schools were from school years 10 and 11, with the remainder mainly drawn from school year 12.
The Department is currently working with HEFCE to develop a new web based database that will record Aimhigher participants and activities, and this will be trialled shortly.
(2) how much was spent on all programmes to encourage and widen participation in higher education in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2005-06;
(3) what the advertising budget was for Aimhigher programmes in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2005-06.
The budget for Aimhigher in the years 2005-06 to 2007-08 was as follows:
Aimhigher1 budget (£ million) 2005-06 102 2006-07 87 2007-08 80 1 Aimhigher is funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Learning and Skills Council and the Department for Health. The budgets include funding for the Aimhigher Associates programme.
The amount spent on all programmes to encourage and widen participation in higher education in the years 2005-06 to 2007-08 was as follows:
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Aimhigher and predecessors1,2 102 87 80 Student support3 1,411 1,634 1,962 Widening participation allocation4 284 345 356 University bursaries and outreach — 116 192 Total 1,797 2,182 2,590 1 The unified Aimhigher programme was introduced in 2004. Predecessor programmes were Excellence Challenge, funded by the then Department for Education and Skills, and Partnerships for Progression, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). Aimhigher is funded jointly by DIUS, HEFCE, the LSC and the Department for Health. 2 The figures include, annually, £47.9 million from the Department, and £29 million from HEFCE. 3 All student support figures are for English domiciled students. 4 These figures also include the allocations for improving the retention of non traditional students, and to widen access and improve provision for disabled students.
There is no specific budget for the advertising of Aimhigher programmes. The majority of the Aimhigher budget is allocated to Aimhigher partnerships of schools, colleges and universities. Partnerships draw up plans setting out their vision and strategic priorities, their strategic objectives for the year, including indicators of success and timescales, and their evaluation plans. Information on advertising is not collected nationally.
Basic Skills
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 26 March 2009, Official Report, column 696W. All those who have registered for a skills account can make use of it in a number of ways. These include finding out how much Government funding an individual may be entitled to support their learning, checking the availability of that learning in the local area, and getting advice and guidance on careers and jobs.
The Government are committed to rolling out skills accounts from autumn 2010. Ultimately, we want accounts to deliver a high level of personal empowerment, giving adults the power to choose the training they need and to commission that training direct from providers.
Building Colleges for the Future Programme
(2) how much has been spent on the Building Colleges for the Future programme in each region in each year since the programme’s inception;
(3) how many Building Colleges for the Future projects which have cleared the application in detail stage (a) have been completed and (b) are under way.
(2) which colleges had received funding from the Learning and Skills Council in advance of an approval in principle for a capital building project at the latest date for which information is available.
Capital funding for further education colleges is administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested pertains to records held by the Council, I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Members with the information requested. A copy of his letters will be placed in the House Libraries.
The Department has and continues to have regular discussions with both HM Treasury and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), on the Building Colleges for the Future programme.
DCSF already contributes to FE modernisation from the 16-19 capital fund to support growth of 16-19 places in college projects with the FE capital programme and plans to continue to do that.
Further education capital projects are funded through the Building Colleges for the Future programme, which is administered by the Learning and Skills Council on behalf of the Department.
The Building Schools for the Future programme, as administered by Partnerships for Schools on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools, and Families, does not include further education colleges and as such there are no capital projects to list which will not be funded in the current spending round.
Departmental Bank Services
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has not made any payments to date to Deutsche bank under their contract as Sales Arranger for the Student Loan Sales Programme.
Departmental Computers
Under the Department's ICT service provision contract, all staff are provided with laptop computers in place of desktop computers. Docking stations are provided on a hot desk basis in official buildings. The laptop is their only computer. The cost to the public purse is the standard charge for the ICT managed service provision.
The Department supports five Ministers, two special advisers, the Chief Scientific Officer and just over 1,000 civil servants. In 2008-09 the standard charge for ICT managed service provision was £1.7 million.
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
Information on sickness absence in the Department can be found the DIUS website:
http://www.dius.gov.uk/news_and_speeches/announcements/dius_staff
Departmental Energy
The Department’s building services are provided through the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), which manage the buildings that DIUS occupies.
The Department and its agencies have taken a number of steps over the last 12 months to improve the thermal efficiency in their buildings. These include:
London, Kingsgate House
Over the last 12 months the building management system has been enhanced with new control systems, upgraded time schedules and automated metering. This provides half-hourly energy readings to suppliers which enable savings to be made through improved customer monitoring. There is also a scheduled quarterly boiler maintenance plan to optimise efficiencies.
Sheffield, Moorfoot
The current building is end of life. DCSF and DIUS are acquiring new accommodation in Sheffield for staff. Therefore, it has not been economically viable to make improvements to energy efficiency in this building. Energy efficiencies will naturally feature in the new building project that the Departments are currently pursuing to ensure maximum efficiency.
National Physical Laboratory Teddington (NPL)
The NPL have installed comprehensive metering to identify where energy is being consumed and are also exploring the possibility of using ground source energy.
National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) Teddington
The NWML have installed a smart meter to measure electricity consumption. This highlights areas where consumption is high giving an indication of poor thermal efficiency. The air conditioning system has been examined to establish areas where it can be switched off for periods of the day or week. Reflective film has been applied to the outside of the windows to reduce heat being radiated into glass and conducted into the metal frames. The heat is then reflected back into the building.
Intellectual Property Office (IPO) Newport and Cwmfelinfach
The IPO have a building energy management system (BEMS) which provides control over the main heating, cooling and ventilation systems. This enables us to adjust the heating needed within specific areas of each building and identify where there may be poor thermal efficiency.
The air conditioning system has been examined to establish areas where it can be switched off for periods of the day or week. Thermal efficiency has been increased by the introduction of ‘tin foil’ between the radiators and exterior walls to reflect the heat inwards in places where there are specific problems. Electric doors have been installed to isolate the loading bay and downward blowers have been put in place at exterior doorways to contain heat within the building. The IPO are also investigating insulating ceilings where this is cost-effective.
The Department’s building services are provided through the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), who manage the buildings that DIUS occupies.
DIUS was established in June of 2007. No baseline data exist for 1999-2000. As 2008-09 will be the first full year of reporting we cannot yet record improvements against a baseline. Therefore the 15 per cent. efficiency savings target is not applicable to DIUS. However DIUS is making improvements:
London
Over the last 12 months the building management system has been enhanced with new control systems, upgraded time schedules and automated metering. This provides half-hourly energy readings to suppliers which enable savings to be made through improved customer monitoring. There is now also a scheduled quarterly boiler maintenance plan to optimise efficiencies.
Sheffield
DCSF and DIUS are in the process of acquiring new accommodation in Sheffield. The existing building will be vacated before any improvements in energy efficiency could be realized. Energy efficiency will be a feature of the new accommodation project that the Departments are currently pursuing.
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was created on 28 June 2007. The total amount of electricity, gas and other fuel used in the Department's and its agencies' buildings are given in the following table. The figures for the Department itself are estimates, obtained by apportioning the energy consumption in each building according to the number of DIUS staff as a proportion of the total.
Fuel type Intellectual Property Office (agency) June 2007 to March 2009 National Weights and Measures Laboratory (agency) June 2007 to February 2009 DIUS London building June 2007 to February 2009 DIUS Sheffield building June 2007 to February 2009 Electricity 5,912,250 995,257 3,184,181 1,795,272 Gas 3,224,020 0 1,587,894 20,173 Other fuel type 0 0 0 1,048,622 (steam)
Departmental Mobile Phones
(2) how many (a) Blackberrys and (b) other mobile telephones have been provided to (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since its establishment.
Blackberry devices and mobile phones are provided to individuals while they are in post, and are recovered when the individual leaves.
The Department currently provides a total of 222 Blackberry devices, split as follows:
Number (i) Ministers 3 (ii) Special Advisers 2 (iii) Civil Servants 217
At the end of 2007/08, the Department was providing 182 Blackberry devices, split as follows:
Number (i) Ministers 4 (ii) Special Advisers 2 (iii) Civil Servants 176
The Department currently provides a total of 256 mobile phones, split as follows:
Number (i) Ministers 3 (ii) Special Advisers 2 (iii) Civil Servants 251
At the end of 2007/08, the Department was providing 56 mobile phones, split as follows:
Number (i) Ministers 4 (ii) Special Advisers 2 (iii) Civil Servants 50
The cost of these devices is as follows:
£ Blackberrys Initial cost 136 Monthly cost 19.50 Mobile phones Monthly cost 2.50
An analysis of the cost of calls split across the categories requested could be achieved only at disproportionate cost. The overall cost of calls for 2008/09 is £256,469 which is the cost of all Blackberry, mobile phone and 3G data card provision, once the regular monthly costs have been subtracted.
Departmental Pay
The Department’s annual non-consolidated performance payment for 2008-09 totalled £535,006 and was met within existing pay controls.
Payments are used to drive high performance and those for the senior civil service are based on recommendations from the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.
Departmental Public Expenditure
The latest capital expenditure figures for Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills are as follows:
(a) £2.2 billion
(b) £2.5 billion
(c) £ 1.8 billion
(d) The Government have not set Departments’ Capital DEL budgets for years beyond 2010-11. Capital DEL budgets for 2011-12 and beyond are a matter for the next spending review. The Government do, however, publish projections for PSNI (Public Sector Net Investment) over the forecast period at Budgets and pre-Budget reports.
Departmental Publicity
National Marketing and Communications for Train to Gain is delivered by the national Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on behalf of the Department. The total Train to Gain spend on advertising for January to December 2008 was £7,716,021 including VAT. This is broken down as follows:
Gross media spend (£) Digital 217,872 Poster 561,558 Radio 723,565 TV 4,528,935 Press 512,476 VAT 1,145,271 Total 7,689,677
£ Digital 2,000 Press 20,398 VAT 3,946 Total 26,344
Departmental Recycling
The Department's waste services in 2007-08 were provided by Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) which manage the buildings that DIUS occupies. Neither of these organisations separates waste produced by DIUS from its waste, so information on the precise amount of waste produced by DIUS is not held.
Departmental Standards
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) does not maintain information specifically identifying the separate costs of measuring compliance with its targets under its Public Service Agreements (PSAs). With the cost of generating this information being disproportionate, any costs of measuring compliance with the Department’s targets under its PSAs, beyond those incurred in the normal course of managing its business and performance, are likely to be small.
Departmental Training
Voice coach training is not part of the core training and development offering available to staff in the Department. However, local managers are able to book external courses based on identified need and value for money. A search of local records would result in disproportionate cost.
Of the four courses referred to in my earlier answer the Cabinet Committee courses and European Union courses incurred no cost to the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills. The other two courses referred to in my earlier answer were foreign language lessons and media training. These cost £1,343 and £1,276 respectively.
Identifying Ministers who undertake training would, or would be likely to, discourage participation in future training sessions, acting as a disincentive for Ministers to undertake formal professional development.
Foreign Students: USA
The Prime Minister said,
“I can give a commitment that British students who need financial support to pay the travel costs of taking up a term of study in the U.S. will receive that support.”
The provisions for eligible students travelling to the USA are as follows:
A grant for travel is available to eligible students in respect of reasonable expenditure which they are obliged to incur in a qualifying quarter of their course, for the purpose of taking up a term of study at an overseas institution including one in the USA. A qualifying quarter is one in which the student is required to attend the overseas institution for at least half the length of the period covered by that quarter.
The grant for travel meets the costs of:
travel within and outside the UK in order to attend the university or college including airfares
medical insurance for treatment provided outside the United Kingdom
visas required to attend the overseas institution
medical costs incurred to meet a mandatory condition of entry into a country (e.g. vaccination costs).
Except for the first £295 of travel costs incurred, eligible students from households with incomes of up to £39,796 may be entitled to have all their reasonable travel related expenditure met by the grant for travel. Income over £39,796 is taken into account and reduces the amount of travel related expenditure that the grant will cover. Income is taken into account at the rate of £1 for each £9.27 over £39,796, subject to a maximum income contribution of £6,210.
DIUS has responsibility for higher education in England only. The devolved Administrations have responsibility for it in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Further Education: Finance
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has already begun discussing options for prioritisation with the further education sector. Once the consultation is complete, the LSC will advise on options. Until that process is complete, it is not possible to say whether capital projects will be required to be redesigned. But the potential impact on college projects including the need for redesign will be considered fully when the LSC comes forward with proposals.
Higher Education: Disadvantaged
We are committed to improving choice and reducing barriers to ensure that there is fair access for all to the learning opportunities available. Further education operates across society, having a real impact on businesses, young people and adults, including those from disadvantaged and minority communities. In 2007-08, over 2.6 million people were participating in learning at a FE college.
This Government are fully committed to ensuring every young person has a fair chance of attending university. And we are making progress with the proportion of young entrants from lower socio-economic groups going to university increasing steadily, reaching almost 30 per cent. in 2007. A New University Challenge, with an investment of up to £200 million, will establish new campuses, particularly in areas with no history of provision, and provide places for 10,000 extra students.
In January 2009, the New Opportunities White Paper announced a wide-ranging package of investment and support from across Government for people to make the most of their potential throughout their lives giving them lifelong chances to succeed.
Innovation: Motor Vehicles
The technology strategy board’s portfolio of collaborative R and D projects comprises DTI funded legacy projects that preceded its establishment as an executive body, and those funded under its low carbon vehicles innovation platform. The projects are typically of three year duration, and the following list includes the name of the lead consortium partner:
Legacy projects
Enhanced Diesel Engine Lubrication Systems for Reduced C02 Emissions—Ford Motor Company.
2/4SIGHT—Downsized 2 Stroke/4 Stroke switching engine for passenger cars—Ricardo.
Energy Efficient Electric Urban Transport—Zytek Electric Vehicles.
LIFECar-Morgan.
Development of the rheo-diecasting process for lightweight automotive components—Innoval.
Low carbon vehicle innovation platform
Axon 60: A structural carbon fibre car with plug-in hybrid option—Axon Automotive Ltd.
Li-ion Batteries for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles—FiFe Batteries Ltd.
Engine optimisation for reduced parasitic losses—Ford Motor Company Ltd.
Commercial vehicle fuel and carbon reduction by the use of ‘aerospace aero’ devices—Hatcher Components Limited.
Flywheel Hybrid System for Premium Vehicles—Jaguar Cars Limited.
Limo-Green—Jaguar Cars Ltd.
Lower Cost, Lightweight Vehicles by Increasing the Use of Post Consumer Aluminium Scrap—Jaguar Land Rover.
Range Extended Electric Vehicle REHEV—Land Rover.
High torque density electric drive for commercial vehicles (HiTED)—Magnomatics Ltd.
2/4CAR 2/4-Stroke Switching Carbon Reduction Vehicle—Ricardo UK Ltd.
Lightweight lead Acid Battery for Low Carbon Vehicles (LAB-LCV)—TWI Ltd.
Adventurous R and D projects such as these have an element of uncertainty and risk by their very nature. Exploitation strategies, which are commercially confidential, setting out how the project consortium plans to exploit the results are a key component of the business case submitted to the technology strategy board and can include the development of new products or processes, the publication of results or the stimulation of further work.
These strategies are re-visited during the course of the work and the technology strategy board have monitoring systems in place to encourage robust self-monitoring and to maximise exploitation during and beyond the project’s life-time and to monitor the impact of projects at least five years after the end of the project.
While the projects funded under the innovation platform are at a formative stage, a majority of the legacy projects such as those led by Zytek and Ford have already resulted in excellent technical outputs, while the Morgan LIFECar have been presented at the Geneva Motor Show and been featured extensively in the UK press and media. The technology strategy board will now work to ensure that where appropriate, technical advances are incorporated into the relevant company development plans.
Learning and Skills Council for England: Finance
We agreed with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on 27 January that Sir Andrew Foster would undertake a review of the LSC further education capital programme to assess:
the main causes of the increased demand for capital funding;
the internal LSC processes and scrutiny of the capital programme and how these could be improved; and
any further steps that can be taken to ensure that for the future the expectation and demand for capital funds are kept in line with budget requirements, bearing in mind the development of the Skills Funding Agency and Young People’s Learning Agency, and the proper role of DIUS and DCSF for capital matters.
Each autumn, in its annual grant letter to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) sets out the funding envelope for further education for the coming financial year. The grant letters published in October 2007 and November 2008 set out the planned investment for 2008-09 and 2009-10 respectively.
The publication of the grant letter starts the allocations process, which is led by the LSC. The LSC enter into a dialogue with colleges and providers, to determine their allocation based on expected delivery of both adult learner responsive and employer responsive provision.
This dialogue continues throughout the year, and during this time, the LSC and DIUS have regular discussions regarding the progress of the allocations process. Final allocations are made in the spring before the academic year to which they refer.
This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.
Nuclear Engineering: Higher Education
Data at the level of detail requested by this question are not collected centrally. The following table sets out the overall numbers of chemical, process and energy engineering students at English higher education institutions over the last five years which would include nuclear engineering students. Data for 2009 are not yet available.
Academic year Masters Doctorates 2003/04 935 605 2004/05 865 645 2005/06 870 630 2006/07 920 665 2007/08 725 865 Notes: 1. Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded to the nearest five. 2 Covers enrolments of all domiciles to both full-time and part-time courses. 3 Excludes the Open university due to inconsistencies in their coding of subject over the time series. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
Postgraduate Education
[holding answer 9 February 2009]: The latest available figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) are shown in the table. Figures for the 2008/09 academic year will be available in January 2010.
Old2 New3 Enrolments 1,169,085 961,715 Of which: Postgraduate 289,290 179,800 Percentage postgraduate 24.7 18.7 1 Covers enrolments of all domiciles to both full-time and part-time courses. 2 Covers pre-1992 universities. 3 Covers post-1992 universities. Note: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded to the nearest five. Percentages are based on unrounded figures. Figures exclude Higher Education Colleges and the University of Buckingham, which is an independent institution. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
Students: Fees and Charges
All students who are eligible to pay the home rate of fee have their tuition fee subsidised by public funds in the form of HEFCE funding payable directly to the Higher Education Institution.
Academic year Students 2003-04 1,306,500 2004-05 1,319,700 2005-06 1,348,300 2006-07 1,354,900 2007-08 1,360,000 1 Covers students on both full-time and part time courses. 2 Includes the Open university. Notes: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population. Source: HESA.
Additionally eligible students may apply for student support:
Students eligible for tuition fee grants
Students who entered higher education before 2006-07 may apply for a means tested tuition fee grant towards the cost of their tuition fees (up to £1,255 in 2008-09). The grant, paid from public funds, is paid direct to HE institutions, with students paying the balance of the tuition fee.
Academic year Full fee support Partial fee support Total2 2005-06 314,900 92,100 407,100 2006-07 190,400 59,000 249,400 2007-08 102,400 30,900 133,300 2008-09 (provisional)3 30,300 8,600 38,800 1 English domiciled students studying in the UK. Data are not readily available for 2004-05. 2 Constituent parts may not add to totals due to rounding, figures are rounded to nearest 100. 3 2008-09 figures are provisional and may increase substantially due to late applications. Source: Student loans company.
Students with tuition fee loans
All students entering higher education since 2006-07 may apply for a non-means tested loan to cover the whole cost of their tuition fees. The loan is repaid after leaving university and when income is above £15,000. A loan is also available to pre-2006-07 entrants if they are required to contribute to their fees.
Academic year Pre-2006-07 entrants Entered from 2006-07 Total2 2006-07 157,900 239,400 397,300 2007-08 99,100 454,500 553,500 2008-09 (provisional)3 31,200 682,500 713,700 1 English domiciled students studying in the UK and EU domiciled students studying in England. 2 Constituent parts may not add to totals due to rounding, figures are rounded to nearest 100. 3 2008-09 figures are provisional and may increase substantially due to late applications. Source: Student loans company.
Students: Finance
In 2007-08 there were 1,143,000 HEFCE-funded student places (in full-time equivalent terms). The mix of students between undergraduate and postgraduate courses is an institutional decision. In 2007-08 around 990,000 of the 1,143,000 places were undergraduate. We do not have information on how many of these were first-time undergraduates.
2007-08 are the latest data we have on HEFCE-funded student numbers. DIUS funded an additional 20,000 places for core students in 2008-09, and a further 10,000 in 2009-10. Further information can be found in the 2009 HEFCE Grant Letter. We will not receive outturn data on the 2008-09 student population until early 2010.
Vocational Guidance: Internet
The number of unique visitors to the website:
http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk
were (a) 6.9 million in 2008; and (b) 5.4 million in 2007. The URL for the website changed from:
http://learndirect-advice.co.uk
to:
http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk
in September, 2008.
Vocational Training
(2) how many learners were on advanced apprenticeships funded by the Learning and Skills Council at the end of each quarter of 2007-08.
Table 1 shows the number of Train to Gain and work-based learning starts by quarter for the 2007/08 academic year.
Quarter Train to Gain starts Work-based learning starts1 August to October 2007 73,100 102,600 November 2007 to January 2008 75,800 48,500 February to April 2008 92,200 59,900 May to July 2008 90,600 69,500 2007/08 total 331,800 280,600 1 Apprenticeship starts have not historically been spread uniformly throughout the academic year. It is usual to see a peak in starts in the first quarter of the year, followed by a lower level of starts in the second quarter and then a gradual increase until the year end.
Table 2 shows the number of advanced apprenticeship starts by quarter for the 2007/08 academic year.
Quarter Starts1 August to October 2007 28,000 November 2007 to January 2008 11,600 February to April 2008 15,800 May to July 2008 17,500 2007/08 Total 73,000 1 Apprenticeship starts have not historically been spread uniformly throughout the academic year. It is usual to see a peak in starts in the first quarter of the year, followed by a lower level of starts in the second quarter and then a gradual increase until the year end. Notes: 1. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest hundred. 2. Figures for advanced apprenticeships include Higher Level Apprenticeships (HLA) to be consistent with information published in statistical first releases. HLA numbers are currently too small to include as a separate category. 3. Work-based learning figures include apprenticeships, Entry to Employment and a small number of NVQ learners. Source: WBL ILR
In “World-Class Apprenticeships”, we announced that we were changing the way we count apprenticeships, moving to counting the number of people starting an apprenticeship in the year (‘starts') and the percentage who complete an apprenticeship (‘completion rate').
The Government are committed to rebuilding apprenticeships. Since 1997 we have witnessed a renaissance in apprenticeships from a low point of 65,000 to a record 225,000 apprenticeship starts in 2007/08. Completion rates are also at a record high with 64 per cent. successfully completing an apprenticeship—up from 37 per cent. in 2004/05.
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has, through the LSC, conducted a number of evaluations examining the effectiveness of skills training courses. These are as follows:
Published reports:
Train to Gain evaluation—waves 1, 2 and 3
Evaluations currently in progress:
Train to Gain wave 4
Employability Skills Programme
Apprenticeship for Adults and
Skills for Jobs
These reports are due to be published during summer 2009.
Regarding outcomes; this information is not readily available for particular programmes or course, although one-off studies of leavers from FE have in the past looked at their destinations. This type of information will in future be collected using the Framework for Excellence learner destination survey with the first results for all FE colleges and work based learning providers available in spring 2009.
These destination data are not measured for Train to Gain participants.
Young People: Unemployment
The tables show estimates of people aged1 16 to 18 and 19 to 24 not in employment, education or training (NEET) in England. These estimates are from the Quarter 4 Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Between 2000 and 2008, the percentage of NEETS has remained largely stable.
We are unable to provide NEET estimates back to 1997 from the LFS as all the data necessary to produce them is not available on datasets prior to Quarter 2 2000.
1 Age used is the respondent’s academic age, which is defined as their age at the preceding 31 August.
Male Female NEET Percentage1 NEET Percentage 2000 84,000 9.5 67,000 7.9 2001 85,000 9.1 86,000 9.9 2002 95,000 10.0 82,000 9.1 2003 95,000 9.9 81,000 8.9 2004 105,000 10.6 83,000 8.8 2005 132,000 13.2 85,000 9.0 2006 114,000 11.2 84,000 8.8 2007 111,000 11.0 81,000 8.6 2008 108,000 10.8 98,000 10.1 1 Percentages are given as a proportion of NEETS within each gender. Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 4
Male Female NEET Percentage NEET Percentage 2000 156,000 9.3 322,000 18.8 2001 187,000 10.9 305,000 17.5 2002 175,000 10.0 307,000 17.3 2003 178,000 9.8 312,000 17.3 2004 207,000 11.1 349,000 18.9 2005 244,000 12.8 376,000 20.0 2006 247,000 12.6 364,000 18.8 2007 226,000 11.2 364,000 18.4 2008 256,000 12.5 395,000 19.7 Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 4 Base: 19 to 24-year-olds, England
Prime Minister
Departmental Training
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 for the financial year 2008-09 will be published in the usual manner.
Fred Goodwin
Since June 2007, Sir Fred Goodwin attended a meeting of representatives of financial institutions on 15 April 2008. Details of this event are available on the No. 10 website:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page15275
A copy of this web page has been placed in the Library of the House.
G20
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 for the financial year 2008-09 will be published in the usual manner.
Hospitals
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 16 October 2007, Official Report, column 959W.
Iraq: Inquiries
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) during my Statement on Iraq on 18 December 2008, Official Report, column 1239.
Ministers: Members Interests
The Government’s position remains as set out in “Investigating the conduct of Ministers: Government Response to the Committee’s Seventh Report of Session 2007-08” (HC 1056). Copies are available in the Libraries of the House.
Ministers: Pay
Details of all Ministers since 1997 are contained in editions of the “List of Ministerial Responsibilities”, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House, and in the press notices of ministerial appointments issued by my Office.
National Security
The Forum members bring a breadth of experience and varied perspectives to the Government’s thinking about national security. Where appropriate, Forum members will also be encouraged to call on selected experts outside Government for advice, support and specialist research.
Oral Questions: Government Responses
The information requested is a matter of public record and can be found in the Official Report.
President Obama: Discussions
(2) what discussions he has held with President Obama on co-operation with the United States of America on the current global economic situation.
I discussed a wide range of issues with President Obama during our recent meetings. I refer the hon. Member to the joint press conferences I held with President Obama on 5 March 2009 and 1 April 2009. Transcripts of these are available on the No. 10 website:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18514
and
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18896
Copies have also been placed in the Library of the House.
Russia
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 12 February 2009, Official Report, column 2137W.
For security reasons, my future engagements are announced as and when appropriate.
USA
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 for the financial year 2008-09 will be published in the usual manner.
USA: Ballistic Missile Defence
I discussed a wide range of issues with President Obama during our recent meetings. I refer my hon. Friend to the joint press conferences I held with President Obama on 5 March 2009 and 1 April 2009. Transcripts of these are available on the No. 10 website:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18514
and
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18896
Copies have also been placed in the Library of the House.
Culture, Media and Sport
Regional Community Sport
England has streamlined its funding process, so funding will no longer be allocated regionally. These changes will help to realise savings of approximately £20 million over the next four years, which will allow reinvestment in community sport projects.
The vast majority of Sport England's funding—nearly half a billion pounds over the next four years—will be allocated to national governing bodies. This represents a significant change towards investment in grassroots sport, and NGBs will be funded on the basis of their potential to deliver against the strategic outcomes of grow, sustain and excel. Investment will in turn be directed by NGBs into areas where they believe it will best achieve their, and our, strategic outcomes. NGBs are currently taking decisions on where best to invest their money, and we are unable to provide a regional breakdown of this investment for 2009-10.
This complements the huge amount of funding—£780 million nationally over the next three years—that is being invested in school sport. This will largely be channelled through local School Sport and County Sport Partnerships, and will deliver a real difference in the amount and quality of sport for children and young people across the country.
Tourism
In 2008-09 my Department gave VisitBritain £47.9 million, of which, £8.46 million went on England marketing.
However this does not fully reflect the funding for all England activities because of ‘shared services’ like IT, HR and the fact that expenditure for improving the quality of our tourist accommodation and facilities counts as an industry service and not England marketing. In this exceptional year of restructuring it is not possible to give a detailed split between Britain and England spending for 2008-09.
In 2008-09 the combined VisitBritain/VisitEngland corporate services budget was £6.25 million.
We have held a number of discussions with ministerial colleagues, including a recent meeting with my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Employment Relations at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, to discuss business support measures for the tourism industry, and with my hon. Friend the Minister for Borders and Immigration at the Home Office to review the effect of visa processes on inbound tourism.
We will also be convening a joint meeting of ministerial colleagues shortly to discuss cross-cutting issues relevant to promoting the visitor economy.
Market research carried out by VisitBritain indicates that heritage is one of the key motivators for those considering a visit to Britain. In the 2008 National Brand Index survey Britain is ranked as the 4th best nation (behind Egypt, Italy, and France) for built heritage which is therefore a real strength in our tourism offer.
Sport: North East England
Sport England has streamlined its funding process, so funding will no longer be allocated regionally. These changes will help to realise savings of approximately £20 million over the next four years, which will allow reinvestment in community sport projects.
The vast majority of Sport England’s funding—nearly half a billion pounds over the next four years—will be allocated to national governing bodies. This represents a significant change towards investment in grass roots sport, and NGBs will be funded on the basis of their potential to deliver against the strategic outcomes of grow, sustain and excel. Investment will in turn be directed by NGBs into areas where they believe it will best achieve their, and our, strategic outcomes. NGBs are currently taking decisions on where best to invest their money, and we are unable to provide a regional breakdown of this investment for 2009-10.
This complements the huge amount of funding—£780 million nationally over the next three years—that is being invested in school sport. This will largely be channelled through local school sport and county sport partnerships, and will deliver a real difference in the amount and quality of sport for children and young people across the country.
Local News Media
I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Congleton (Ann Winterton).
Apprenticeships
High quality provision of apprenticeships is an important part of the national skills strategy for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector. My Department has received detailed recommendations from the industry, through People 1st, on how to achieve this.
I chair the Monitoring and Implementation Group for this strategy, and a senior official from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is represented on that group.
In addition, I will shortly be convening a meeting of ministerial colleagues to discuss issues relevant to the tourism industry, and a DIUS Minister is being invited.
Newspaper Advertising
The Minister for Women and Equality convened a meeting with the Newspaper Society on 1 November 2007 to talk about how to combat sex trafficking. The Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism attended that meeting.
Subsequently, the Newspaper Society updated and strengthened the legal advice and guidance it provides to publishers on accepting personal ads. Among other things, this warns publishers to be wary of ads, such as for massage parlours, which may disguise sexual services.
Regional Theatres
Arts Council England plan to invest £318 million in theatre across England between 2008-09 and 2010-11.
The recently launched A Night Less Ordinary scheme will provide 618 000 free theatre tickets to under-26-year-olds over the next two years.
My Department is supporting this initiative, which will help theatres fill their seats while building the audience of the future.
London Olympics
Sport and culture play a significant role in plans for the Olympic and Paralympic games and Olympic Legacy.
As part of wider Government plans for getting two million people more active for 2012, we will get one million more people playing sport. 80 local authorities have signed up to having National Indicator 8 on Sport and Active Recreation, and nearly 300 are participating in the Government's Free Swimming Programme. In addition, Sport England will be having several themed (e.g. the first round recently targeted at rural communities) rounds of funding over the next four years, up to £30 million per year, which will be open to local authorities to bid for.
Local authorities have also already played a role in the delivery of the Cultural Olympiad, which aims to provide opportunities for a variety of organisations involved in culture to be part of the cultural celebrations linked to the games, and we expect they will continue to do so.
Following the success of ‘Open Weekend' last year to celebrate the launch of the Cultural Olympiad, July 24 to 26 2009 will see the ‘London 2012 Open Weekend' taking place across the country, and I encourage local authorities to get involved with local cultural, sporting and sustainability-related events over the weekend to celebrate London 2012 in the heart of our communities.
Alcoholic Drinks: Licensing
Statistical bulletins on licences to sell alcohol include the number of premises licences and club premises certificates revoked, but do not indicate the reason why. Licences and certificates may be revoked on review for one or more reasons relating to the four licensing objectives, including sales of alcohol to children.
The first DCMS Statistical Bulletin on Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshment, under the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 reported that there were 675 completed reviews between April 2006 and March 20071. Following which, 91 licences or certificates were suspended, 92 licences were revoked or club premises certificates withdrawn, and 52 Designated Premises Supervisors were removed (Premises Licences only). It is not known which of these suspensions, revocations, withdrawals or removals related to underage sales.
The second statistical bulletin, covering the period between April 2007 and March 2008, reported that there were 1,008 completed reviews for England and Wales2. 396 of these completed reviews were carried out for reasons relating to the protection of children from harm (based on 91 per cent. of returns), but it is unknown if they relate to a one-off case of selling alcohol to children or the persistent selling of alcohol to children. The number of suspensions, revocations, withdrawals or removals following these completed reviews is unknown. However, following all completed reviews 167 licences or certificates were suspended, 155 licences were revoked or club premises certificates withdrawn and 102 designated premises supervisors were removed3.
Since 6 April 2007, in addition to actions following reviews, 18 premises licences were suspended by a court under Section 147B(1) of the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) for the sale or supply of alcohol, following an offence of persistently selling to underage children.
Prior to the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003, data on the number of alcohol licences revoked in England and Wales were collected by petty sessional division (magistrates court areas), on a triennial basis. Between July 2003 to June 2004, there were a total of 354 revocations of on and off-licences. Again, it is not known how many revocations related to underage sales.
1 Based on returns from 85 per cent. of licensing authorities in England and Wales.
2 Based on 97 per cent. of returns.
3 Based on around 94 per cent. of returns.
Bookmakers: Licensing
[holding answer 1 April 2009]: The operators of betting exchanges located in Great Britain are regulated by, and require a licence from, the Gambling Commission, and are required to contribute to the Horserace Betting Levy. Any person providing facilities for gambling in Great Britain who uses betting exchanges in the course of business requires a remote operating licence from the commission, and any bookmaker who carries on a business which includes horse race betting transactions is required to contribute to the Horserace Betting Levy.
I am aware of some concerns around compliance in this area and my officials are exploring these issues with relevant bodies and licensed operators.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
The Department has been following the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management programme for three years.
Departmental Energy
The electricity, gas and other fuel used by the Department and The Royal Parks on its office estate is detailed as follows.
Kwh Electricity Gas Other Fuel 1999-2000 n/a n/a n/a 2000-01 n/a n/a n/a 2001-02 n/a n/a n/a 2002-03 n/a n/a n/a 2003-04 4,368,192 3,275,860 0 2004-05 4,186,267 2,643,861 0 2005-06 4,438,625 2,488,443 0 2006-07 4,320,106 2,631,318 0 2007-08 3,647,784 2,135,379 0 April 2008 to February 2009 2,881,646 1,240,516 0
Kwh Electricity Gas Other Fuel 1999-2000 n/a n/a n/a 2000-01 n/a n/a n/a 2001-02 n/a n/a n/a 2002-03 n/a n/a n/a 2003-04 n/a n/a n/a 2004-05 4,141,338 1,275,682 0 2005-06 3,346,056 1,402,580 0 2006-07 3,220,032 1,505,334 0 2007-08 2,995,048 1,490,492 0 2008-09 n/a n/a n/a
Data are not available prior to April 2004 and since April 2008 The Royal Parks have not recorded data on kwh consumed.
Departmental Public Expenditure
The latest estimate of the capital spending by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport excluding the Olympics can be seen in the table.
£000 2008-09 235,353 2009-10 182,400 2010-11 181,400
Spending plans for 2011-12 are not yet available.
Departmental Training
The cost of the course was £500.
Identifying Ministers who undertake training would, or would be likely to, discourage participation in future training sessions, acting as a disincentive for Ministers to undertake formal professional development.
DCMS is committed to developing our staff and also ensuring that they have the right skills and expertise to enable them to work effectively.
Training courses Cost (£) (a) Staff 2006-07 126 737,782.94 2007-08 183 841,383.13 2008-09 358 578,037.84 (b) Ministers 2006-07 2 1,260 2007-08 2 450 2008-09 6 3,191.84
Gambling
The advertising provisions of the Gambling Act 2005, including the arrangements for whitelisting under section 331, only came into effect in September 2007. Much of the assessment work was carried out by DCMS officials with input from legal advisers, the Gambling Commission, HM Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. As a result it is not possible to give a full and detailed assessment of costs.
Local Press
I have recently had discussions with the Society of Editors and the Newspaper Society; and the National Union of Journalists Parliamentary Group.
I shall be holding a summit shortly to discuss local media provision.
Swimming: Concessions
(2) what recent estimate he has made of the number of over 60 year olds who have been provided with free swimming; and if he will make a statement.
Around 10 million people aged 60 or over in England stand to benefit from the Government’s Free Swimming programme. We will be monitoring closely the impact of the scheme on levels of participation.
Nearly 300 local authorities will be offering free swimming to those aged 60 or over. This means that people in that age group who wish to swim, at any time throughout the year, when they would normally be admitted to the pool for public swimming, and in accordance with local programming, should not be charged for doing so. Beyond that condition of grant funding, we have not been prescriptive on how participating local authorities should deliver their offer locally.
We estimate that approximately (a) 38 swimming pools in Lancashire and (b) over 1,000 swimming pools in England are taking part in the Government’s Free Swimming programme. We will be collecting information from participating local authorities on free swimming in their pools as part of our monitoring and evaluation of the programme.
Television: Licensing
TV Licensing, which administers free television licences for people aged 75 or over as agents for the BBC, advises that it is not able to provide breakdowns by constituency of the number of free licences issued.
Tourism: South West
(2) pursuant to the answer of 20 March 2009, Official Report, columns 1340-1W, on tourism: South West, how much of the £3.5 million funding was allocated to each regional development agency.
[holding answers 18 and 23 March 2009]: Funding for regional development agencies (RDAs) is not ring-fenced for particular economic sectors, such as tourism. However, in each year since 2003-04, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has contributed £3.6 million to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s (DBERR’s) Single Programme budget (the “Single Pot”) in respect of the tourism responsibilities of the eight RDAs outside London.
The Single Pot, which will total approximately £2.2 billion, £2.2 billion and £2.1 billion in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively, is allocated among the RDAs by DBERR. DCMS’s contribution will be £3.5 million, £3.4 million and £3.3 million in these years.
Tourism: Summertime
[holding answer 1 April 2009]: My Department has received representations on the merits of daylight saving from the Tourism Alliance, the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions and other members of the attractions sector. I discussed this issue at a meeting with my right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs (Mr. McFadden) at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and industry representatives on 8 November 2008.
Women and Equality
Age: Discrimination
The consultation paper “A Framework for Fairness: Proposals for a Single Equality Bill for Great Britain” (June 2007), called for evidence of unfair age discrimination in the supply of goods, facilities and services. The majority of the nearly 750 responses on this issue (around 80 per cent.) were in favour of legislation to tackle harmful age discrimination outside the workplace, but only a small number of respondents felt that the marketing of products and holidays to specific age groups was discriminatory and very few felt that such marketing was harmful.
We have been taking forward discussions with relevant representatives of industry and stakeholders with an interest in age discrimination to better understand the benefits and consequences of the ban on age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services we are including in the Equality Bill. These discussions have helped us develop an approach which takes account of the need to ensure that the legislation does not prevent service providers offering age-specific goods and services where this is beneficial or can be justified. We will consult on our detailed proposals for the exceptions from the ban on age discrimination in the summer.
We have always been clear that the legislation banning age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services—to be included in the Equality Bill—will bite on harmful age discrimination and allow justifiable and beneficial age-based practices to continue.
The legislation will not prevent different treatment on grounds of age in the provision of insurance, where this is based on actuarial evidence. Nor will it prevent holidays for particular age groups.
Consideration of how to frame the legislation is continuing, taking account of relevant evidence such as the October 2008 report of the Financial Services Expert Working Group established by Government to provide and analyse evidence of the implications and impacts of outlawing age discrimination, and recent research published by the Association of British Insurers in March 2009. In addition, the Government Equalities Office has recently commissioned additional independent research to explore this area further.
We will consult on our detailed proposals for the exceptions from the ban on age discrimination in the summer.
Departmental Bank Services
The Government Equalities Office has not held any contracts with banks for the provision of financial advice.
Equality and Human Rights Commission: Manpower
The total number of staff employed by each of the legacy commissions in their last full year of existence (2006-07) and who were (a) paid between £50,000 and £100,00 and (b) paid over £100,000 is shown in the following table.
(a) paid between £50,000 and £100,000 (b) paid over £100,000 (i) Disability Rights Commission 11 1 (ii)Equal Opportunities Commission 7 1 (iii) Commission for Racial Equality 13 1
The staff costs for 2008-09 by Directorate within the Equality and Human Rights Commission is shown as follows. This information is the best estimate available.
Total (£000) Corporate Management 6,240 Commissioners Office 1,238 Communications 5,498 Legal 3,612 Strategy and Research 3,993 Scotland 1,303 Transition Team 464 Wales 1,255 Totals 23,603
Equality and Human Rights Commission: Pay
The information asked for under (a) will be part of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Annual Report and Accounts for the transition period of October 2007 to March 2008. The Commission intend that the Annual Report is laid before Parliament before the summer recess.
The cash equivalent transfer value information (b) will also appear in the remuneration report section of the Annual Report and Accounts.
As of 31 March 2009, the number of staff employees of the Equality and Human Rights Commission paid:
(a) between £50,000 and £100,000 was 28; and
(b) over £100,000 was three.
Leader of the House
Departmental Computers
The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons joined the Cabinet Office in 2007. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by the Cabinet Office.
It would not be possible to provide information prior to 2007 without incurring a disproportionate cost.
Departmental Mobile Phones
(2) how many (a) Blackberrys and (b) other mobile telephones have been provided to (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in her Office in each year since 2005.
The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons joined the Cabinet Office in 2007. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by the Cabinet Office.
It would not be possible to provide information prior to 2007 without incurring a disproportionate cost.
Church Commissioners
Departmental Finance
Expenditure for the Commissioners’ administration of national Church functions, governance, restructuring and rent, refurbishment and repairs to Commissioners’ offices were £4.9 million in 2006 and £6.6 million in 2007.
Departmental Land
The Commissioners do not record this information and could not establish it retrospectively without incurring disproportionate cost.
The Commissioners do not record average proceeds per acre but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that total proceeds for agricultural land for each year between 2001 and 2007 were as follows:
£ million 2001 7 2002 5.9 2003 5.3 2004 15.6 2005 6.1 2006 36.2 2007 59.7
In 2000, agricultural sales were not recorded separately so the total proceeds for the year (£11.2 million) represents a mixture of agricultural and residential sales.
Figures for 2008 are not yet fully audited; they will be published in May.
Departmental Manpower
The Church Commissioners are a joint employer of most staff of the National Church Institutions. They also employ staff engaged in local property management.
In 2007, the last year for which fully audited figures are available, the number of staff for which the Commissioners were the managing employer averaged 174, at a salary cost of £4 million (not including employer’s national insurance and pension contributions).
Property Development
The Commissioners’ strategic land portfolio comprises about 40 property development schemes located throughout England. Of the few that are being developed, the Commissioners have agreements in place with developers for them to take forward the schemes at their risk. Most are pre-development, comprising sites which have yet to be allocated for development in a development plan, those allocated without planning permission, and those with planning permission but yet to be developed. In the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, the Commissioners are jointly promoting the Bognor Regis Eco Quarter proposal with other landowners. This is part of Option 1 in the Arun District Council’s current development options consultation exercise.
Defence
Afghanistan
The Ministry of Defence is currently collating and validating the data needed to answer this question. I will write to the hon. Member when this work is complete, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Substantive answer from John Hutton to Gerald Howarth:
I am writing to provide you with the information promised in my holding reply to your Parliamentary Question regarding troops in contact incidents and indirect fire events in Iraq and Afghanistan (Official Record, 4 February 2009, column 1257W).
The Ministry of Defence has recently completed a review of the data required to answer this question, and has revised the manner in which we classify and present data to ensure consistency.
Afghanistan
The numbers of troops in contact events, regardless of the instigator, involving the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and insurgents in Helmand province as part of Task Force Helmand for each complete month from March 2006 to February 2009 for which verified data are available are shown below.
20061 20071 20081 20091 January — 60 70 180 February — 100 70 180 March 10 140 80 — April 0 70 50 — May 0 120 60 — June 10 110 80 — July 120 130 110 — August 100 130 200 — September 100 130 180 — October 40 90 170 — November 40 110 200 — December 50 130 220 — 1 Rounded to the nearest 10
The numbers of indirect fire events, regardless of the instigator, involving the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and insurgents in Helmand province as part of Task Force Helmand for each complete month from March 2006 to February 2009 for which verified data are available are shown below.
20061 20071 20081 20091 January — 40 30 40 February — 50 30 40 March 10 80 50 — April 0 40 30 — May 0 30 30 — June 10 30 40 — July 40 50 50 — August 70 50 60 — September 80 40 50 — October 20 60 20 — November 20 70 40 — December 30 70 60 — 1 Rounded to the nearest 10
ISAF forces operating in Helmand come from a number of different nations, which often operate closely alongside each other and alongside Afghan Army and Police units. The environment in which forces are operating makes it extremely difficult precisely to distinguish between incidents initiated by insurgent forces and those initiated by ISAF.
Iraq
The numbers of troops in contact events, regardless of the instigator, involving Multinational Forces and insurgents in Multi-National Division (South East) (MND (SE)) for each complete month from March 2006 to February 2009 for which verified data are available are shown below.
20061 20071 20081 20091 January — 110 10 0 February — 200 0 0 March 20 140 0 — April 30 80 10 — May 20 120 0 — June 30 140 0 — July 50 130 0 — August 40 60 0 — September 50 10 0 — October 80 10 0 — November 100 0 0 — December 150 10 0 — 1 Rounded to the nearest 10
The numbers of indirect fire events, regardless of the instigator, involving Multinational Forces and insurgents in MND (SE) for each complete month from March 2006 to February 2009 for which verified data are available are shown below.
20061 20071 20081 20091 January — 10 30 0 February — 120 30 0 March 20 90 30 — April 50 120 10 — May 40 180 0 — June 30 200 0 — July 60 230 10 — August 60 120 0 — September 60 10 0 — October 90 20 0 — November 70 10 0 — December 100 20 0 0 1 Rounded to the nearest 10
Multinational Forces operating in MND (SE) come from a number of different nations, which often operate closely alongside each other and alongside the Iraqi Security Forces. The environment in which forces are operating makes it extremely difficult precisely to distinguish between incidents initiated by insurgent forces and those initiated by Multinational Forces.
All data shown above are data based on information derived from a number of sources and can only be an estimate, not least because of the difficulties in ensuring a consistent interpretation of the basis for collating statistics in a complex fast-moving multinational operational environment.
I hope that the above information addresses your concerns on this matter.
I will place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
The Ministry of Defence is currently collating and validating the data needed to answer this question. I will write to the hon. Member when this work is complete, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Substantive answer from John Hutton to Liam Fox:
I am writing to provide you with the information promised in my holding replies to your Parliamentary Questions regarding contacts between British forces and anti-coalition militia in Afghanistan (Official Report, 24 February 2009, column 520W).
The Ministry of Defence has recently completed a review of the data required to answer this question, and has revised the manner in which we classify and present data to ensure consistency.
The numbers of troops in contact events, regardless of the instigator, involving the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and insurgents in Helmand province as part of Task Force Helmand for each complete month from June 2006 to February 2009 for which verified data are available are provided in the table below.
20061 20071 20081 20091 January — 60 70 180 February — 100 70 180 March — 140 80 — April — 70 50 — May — 120 60 — June 10 110 80 — July 120 130 110 — August 100 130 200 — September 100 130 180 — October 40 90 170 — November 40 110 200 — December 50 130 220 — 1 Rounded to the nearest 10
ISAF forces operating in Helmand come from a number of different nations, which often operate closely alongside each other and alongside Afghan Army and Police units. Without undertaking a detailed assessment of each engagement, it is not possible precisely to define in every case whether an attack was aimed at UK forces, at our ISAF partners, or against Afghan units. Data are therefore collected on the number of incidents involving ISAF forces in Helmand without attempting to identify the nationality of the forces actually being attacked. The environment in which forces are operating makes it extremely difficult precisely to distinguish between incidents initiated by insurgent forces and those initiated by ISAF.
These data are based on information derived from a number of sources and can only be an estimate, not least because of the difficulties in ensuring a consistent interpretation of the basis for collating statistics in a complex fast- moving multinational operational environment.
I hope that the above information addresses your concerns on this matter.
I will place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
The Ministry of Defence is currently collating and validating the data needed to answer this question. I will write to the hon. Member with the information requested and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Substantive answer from John Hutton to Michael Ancram:
I am writing to provide you with the information promised in my holding reply to your Parliamentary Question regarding military engagements between UK armed forces and the Taleban (Official Record, 23 March 2009, Column 10W).
The Ministry of Defence has recently completed a review of the data required to answer this question, and has revised the manner in which we classify and present data to ensure consistency.
The number of engagements, regardless of the instigator, involving the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and insurgents in Helmand province as part of Task Force Helmand, for the last two complete months for which verified data is available are provided below.
January 20091—210
February 20091—200
1 Rounded to the nearest 10
ISAF forces operating in Helmand come from a number of different nations, which often operate closely alongside each other and alongside Afghan Army and Police units. Without undertaking a detailed assessment of each engagement, it is not possible precisely to define in every case whether an attack was aimed at UK forces, at our ISAF partners, or against Afghan units. Data are therefore collected on the number of incidents involving ISAF forces in Helmand without attempting to identify the nationality of the forces actually being attacked. The environment in which forces are operating makes it extremely difficult precisely to distinguish between incidents initiated by insurgent forces and those initiated by ISAF.
These data are based on information derived from a number of sources and can only be an estimate, not least because of the difficulties in ensuring a consistent interpretation of the basis for collating statistics in a complex fast-moving multinational operational environment.
I hope that the above information addresses your concerns on this matter.
I will place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.
[holding answer 31 March 2009]: Data on the total number of personnel at each rank deployed on Operation Herrick 4-7 is provided in the following table.
Rank Number deployed on Op Herrick prior to April 2007 Number deployed on Op Herrick 6-7 Total 19,340 27,420 Officers 3,520 4,830 By rank5: Brigadier and above 50 90 Colonel 110 170 Lieutenant Colonel 400 480 Major 1,080 1,430 Captain 1,630 2,180 Lieutenant and below 250 480 Other ranks 15,330 22,590 By rank5: Warrant Officer 790 1,190 Staff Sergeant 1,200 1,600 Sergeant 2,060 2,750 Corporal 3,240 4,330 Lance Corporal 2,070 3,770 Private 5,970 8,950 Unknown ranks5 490 * 1 All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with figures of 5 or below denoted by *, totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sum of their rounded parts. 2 UK armed forces personnel includes UK Regular Forces, Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel and mobilised reservists. 3 Due to data quality issues it is not possible to separate data for roulements 4, 5, 6 and 7 of Op Herrick. 4 All data are provisional and subject to review. 5 All rank information is based on NATO rank and includes equivalent ranks in the Naval Service and RAF. Rank shown is rank on outflow.
34 UK armed forces personnel attended the UK field hospital during Herrick 4-7 for psychiatric reasons. Due to the small number it is not possible to provide attendances for psychiatric reasons by roulement.
The number of personnel who were referred to a Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) in 2007 following deployment on Operation Herrick 4-7 is provided in the following table. Of the 414 who were assessed as having a psychological disorder, 47 were diagnosed with PTSD.
Herrick roulement Initial assessment Herrick 4-5 Herrick 62 Psychological disorder 180 234 Of which: PTSD 25 22 1 These figures show the number of new attendees who have been identified as deployed to Herrick prior to their first referral at a DCMH. 2 Includes 156 people who had also deployed to Herrick 4-5, of which 10 had PTSD.
Five armed forces personnel who have returned to the UK for treatment from Op Herrick 4-7 have been medically discharged for mental and behavioural disorders.
2,141 armed forces personnel attended the UK Field Hospital during Herrick 4-7 for physical injuries. The following table provides the breakdown by roulement.
Roulement Physical injuries All 2,141 Herrick 4 369 Herrick 5 487 Herrick 6 691 Herrick 7 594 1 Data source: Operational Emergency Department Attendance Register (OpEDAR)
A proportion of those with physical injuries were returned to the UK for treatment. Since October 2007 these patients have been tracked through their care. For those deployed on Herrick 7 178 personnel were returned to the UK for treatment of their injury.
Of the 178 personnel who were returned to the UK for treatment, eight have since been medically discharged for injury related-conditions.
It should be noted, that the medical discharge may not be as a result of their injury in Afghanistan and Medical Boards do not make decisions on attributability to service.
[holding answer 1 April 2009]: Data on the number of deployed personnel at each rank broken down individually for each of Operations HERRICK 4, 5, 6 and 7 and who have left the armed forces are not available and as such could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
[holding answer 1 April 2009]: Officials are collating and validating the data needed and this is taking longer than anticipated. I will write to the hon. Member when this work is complete.
British armed forces personnel in Afghanistan are not forewarned of alleged US Predator unmanned aerial vehicle attacks into Pakistan or whether Predator unmanned aerial vehicle flights over Afghanistan originate within Pakistan.
Since the Rifles formed on 1 February 2007, up to 28 March 2009, there have been two very seriously injured (VSI) and one seriously injured (SI) casualty from 1 Rifles in Afghanistan. We do not publish data on less severe injuries, so this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
All personnel deploying to theatre, including infantry, undertake either collective or individual reinforcement training, which includes counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) training. During pre-deployment training, they are given training in current tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) to deal with IEDs. These TTPs are constantly being improved in theatre, and the training conducted prior to deployment reflects the latest developments. A number of individuals are then given more in depth training on the use of specialist equipment for detection of other explosive devices. Training for patrolling skills includes detailed improvised explosive device awareness and avoidance techniques in both the mounted and dismounted roles.
Since the start of operations in Afghanistan in 2001 and up to the 15 March 2009, the latest date for which statistics are available, 82 UK service personnel have suffered very serious injuries (VSI) and 103 have suffered serious injuries (SI). These figures include all injured personnel, regardless of the mechanism or circumstances of their injury.
I am withholding further information on the numbers of personnel injured by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) compile statistics on the number of operational casualties in the UK armed forces, the latest reports are available at the following websites:
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/Operations Factsheets/OperationsInAfghanistanBritishCasualties.htm
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactSheets/Operations Factsheets/OperationsInIraqBritishCasualties.htm
DASA update the casualty tables fortnightly, a fortnight in arrears on the MOD website.
The main tasks undertaken in Afghanistan by private contractors listed as working for the Ministry of Defence are: troop welfare, leisure and retail services, logistics, provision of catering supplies, and works and maintenance services.
UK troops, as part of International Security Assistance Force, support Afghan security forces to target narcotic traffickers and facilities that are supporting the insurgency. UK forces have also provided support to both the Poppy Eradication Force and the Governor-led eradication plan within Helmand province. The number of UK troops engaged in such activities varies both on a day-to-day basis and also by season.
Armed Forces
Armed forces policy states that service personnel are not encouraged, at any time, to buy any items of personal protection. No service person is authorised or would be allowed, to deploy to any theatre with any item of protection which has not been issued by MOD.
MOD seeks to provide all necessary items of equipment, but while there is no need to do so, we are aware that some personnel personalise, and occasionally supplement some of their issued kit. This is purely due to personal preference, and supporting guidance to ensure the safety and welfare of all personnel is issued by the chain of command in each theatre.
Armed Forces Pay Review Body
The MOD’s planning assumption included a 2.5 per cent. pay bill increase in 2009-10; 2 per cent. for the core pay settlement and 0.5 per cent. for targeted measures. The Armed Forces Pay Review Body’s recommendations, which were accepted in full, provide for a 2.8 per cent. core pay settlement and 0.5 per cent. for targeted measures, bringing the total award to 3.3 per cent. Provision for the additional 0.8 per cent. above the planning assumption, which equates to some £65 million, has been generated from within the Defence programme as a whole during the current planning round.
The armed forces Pay Review Body’s recommendations, which were accepted by the MOD in full, provide for a 2.8 per cent. core pay settlement and 0.5 per cent. for targeted measures, bringing the total award to 3.3 per cent. Provision for the additional 0.8 per cent. above the planning assumption, which equates to some £65 million, has been generated from within the Defence programme as a whole during the current planning round.
Armed Forces: Career Development
There are many opportunities for non-commissioned personnel to become commissioned officers in the armed forces and I have provided this information for each service as follows:
Naval Services
The Royal Navy runs several schemes to provide opportunities for the promotion of RN and RM Other Ranks to commissioned ranks. These personnel compete along side non-service candidates and must pass selection by the Admiralty Interview Board. The schemes are: Upper Yardmen and Royal Marine Corps Commissions to provide opportunities for promotion to commissioned ranks open to those aged under 26; and RN Senior Upper Yardman and RM Senior Corps Commission open to those over the age of 26.
Army
Soldier Commissions
The Army commissions soldiers from the ranks, selecting those judged to have sufficient leadership potential, to attend the standard commissioning course. Both direct entry (DE) and soldier commission candidates are assessed and then selected at the Army Officer Selection Board, Westbury thereby assuring a level method of selection and quality.
Late Entry Commissions
For those who are not selected for a direct entry commission from the ranks, then after nine years service (from age 21), and having attained the rank of sergeant, all soldiers are eligible to apply for a late entry (LE) commission up to 44 years of age (waivers can be applied for older applicants).
Direct Entry/Late Entry Balance
Over the last decade, the Army has adjusted its balance from 25 per cent. LE/75 per cent. DE to 33 per cent. LE/67 per cent. DE as greater demand for LE officers has emerged. LE officers do have differing terms of service from DE officers, principally to accelerate their promotion given their average commissioning age of 40. They are widely employed and compete up to the rank of Lt Col with DE officers for appointments.
RAF
Internal Commissioning Scheme (ICS)
Serving personnel in the rank of senior aircraftsman1 and above are eligible to apply for the ICS. Leading aircraftsmen and below who wish to be considered for commissioning must meet the appropriate eligibility criteria for direct entrants including the required qualifications (for example, non-commissioned aircrew must have completed a three-year tour of duty at the time of entry into the initial officer training centre).
Commissioned Warrant Officer (CWO)
Warrant officers and master air crew commissioned under the CWO Scheme do not attend full officer training and are appointed in the rank of flight lieutenant with no additional seniority. All other serving personnel are appointed in the rank of flying officer with additional seniority determined by the substantive rank held, including normal paid acting rank, on commissioning.
1 This rank includes women.
Armed Forces: Deployment
There are no British military personnel deployed in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the republic of Kyrgyz or Turkmenistan.
We are working in partnership with the Pakistani Frontier Corps and Americans under the Security Development Plan to help Pakistan address the security challenges of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. I am withholding further information for security reasons.
However, I can confirm that there are currently 24 UK military personnel based in Pakistan undertaking a variety of roles, including training, liaison and diplomatic duties.
The number of military personnel based in Pakistan varies from time to time. This can be for a variety of reasons, including revised tasking and changes to previous roles.
Armed Forces: Housing
Mr. Kevan Jones: Modern Housing Solutions (MHS) as at 31 March 2009 were responsible for the repair and maintenance of service family accommodation (SFA) properties in the following locations.
MHS Region Area Number of SFA East Brampton 763 Chicksands 852 Colchester 1,024 Coltishall 42 Cottesmore 1,488 Marham 898 Thetford 512 Wattisham 798 East total 6,377 Central Abingdon 1,494 Brize Norton 1,067 Bushey 1,055 High Wycombe 1,301 Kingston 1,374 Uxbridge 806 Woolwich 338 Central total 7,435 North Boulmer 213 Catterick 2,212 Waddington 1,649 York 1,307 North total 5,381 South East Aldershot 3,773 Arborfield 1,390 Brompton 689 Folkestone 733 Gosport 1,827 Portsmouth 1,210 South East total 9,622 South West Bovington 1,105 Colerne 370 Helston 571 Larkhill 4,212 Lympstone 629 Lyneham 1,241 Plymouth 1,175 Warminster 989 South West total 10,292 West Chester 403 Haverfordwest 194 Hereford 646 St. Athan 708 Telford 1,561 Weeton 349 West total 3,861
The following was spent upgrading service family accommodation in Great Britain in each financial year since 2001-02.
Financial year £ million 2001-02 25.3 2002-03 25.5 2003-04 33.5 2004-05 18.1 2005-06 32.4 2006-07 16.4 2007-08 16.9
Although the final expenditure for 2008-09 is yet to be confirmed, it is planned to be some £35 million.
Armed Forces: Mass Media
We want our people, military and civilian, to talk and write about what they do so that the roles and achievements of the armed forces and MOD can be better understood. However, in order to ensure that national and operational security is upheld, and that standards of political impartiality and public accountability are met, serving members of the armed forces must seek prior authorisation before talking to the media.
The guidance is set out in a Defence Instruction and Notice (DIN) which is available on the MOD internet site. It is also reflected in the relevant Queen’s regulations.
Armed Forces: Mentally Ill
Since July 2007 the Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) organisation has reported on the psychiatric morbidity of the UK armed forces. The annual summary report for 2007 has recently been published, and this includes the breakdown of new attendances in 2007 including both in and out-patient mental health facilities by age group. This information is provided in the table.
Age Total armed forces strength Number of patients assessed with a mental disorder Percentage of total strength Number of patients assessed with a mental disorder Percentage of total strength <20 16,000 6 0.04 384 2.39 20-24 45,500 77 0.17 1,102 2.42 25-29 41,700 65 0.16 807 1.94 30-34 29,500 34 0.12 520 1.76 35-39 34,300 38 0.11 554 1.61 40-44 18,100 15 0.08 242 1.34 45-49 9,500 6 0.06 107 1.13 50+ 5,300 7 0.13 49 0.92
The figures record all new attendances (i.e. people who have not attended previously) at MOD Departments of Community Mental Health (DCMHs) and in-patient facilities and therefore does not include those whose course of treatment at that facility started prior to January 2007.
Data for 2008 are currently being validated.
Armed Forces: Training
Wastage rates of cohorts including phase 1 and phase 2 training for each year since 1997 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The following table shows outflow from the untrained UK Regular Forces split by service and rank for each financial year from 1997-98 to 2007-08.
1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 All Services 5,960 8,450 8,560 7,350 6,770 7,250 6,950 5,830 5,130 36,290 36,670 Officers 240 390 330 380 320 350 310 340 220 3370 3480 Other Ranks 5,720 8,060 8,230 6,970 6,450 6,900 6,640 5,490 4,910 35,920 36,190 Naval Service 1,200 1,470 1,680 1,510 1,760 1,740 1,340 1,050 1,190 31,120 31,230 Officers 120 80 70 80 80 120 90 90 90 3100 3120 Other Ranks 1,080 1,390 1,610 1,430 1,680 1,620 1,250 960 1,100 31,020 31,110 Army 4,260 6,290 6,200 5,160 4,390 4,880 5,020 4,330 3,690 34,840 34,860 Officers 80 260 220 260 190 180 170 200 90 3220 3330 Other Ranks 4,180 6,030 5,980 4,900 4,200 4,700 4,850 4,130 3,600 34,620 34,530 Royal Air Force 490 690 680 680 620 630 570 460 250 330 3590 Officers 40 50 40 40 50 50 40 60 30 50 330 Other Ranks 450 640 640 640 570 580 530 400 220 280 3560 1 Outflow from UK Regular Forces includes death and outflow to civil life including recalled reservists on release and outflow to the Home Service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment, which was disbanded on 31 March 2008. 2 UK Regular Forces includes all trained and untrained personnel. Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve personnel, and mobilised reservists are excluded. 3 Provisional. Due to ongoing validation of data from the Joint Personnel Administration System, all Naval Service and Army flow statistics for financial year 2006-07 and 2007-08 and all RAF flow statistics for financial year 2007-08 are provisional and subject to review.
The targets and total number of gains to trained strength for officers and other ranks in each service since financial year 1997-98 are shown in the following table.
1997-983 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Naval Service Target 6— 6— 6— 6— 3,330 3,320 3,430 3,140 3,090 3,370 3,320 Achieved 6— 2,820 3,720 3,090 2,870 3,390 3,210 2,650 2,650 42,660 43,480 Officers Target 6— 6— 6— 6— 440 430 430 470 420 410 400 Achieved 6— 270 450 420 400 480 470 420 360 4410 4300 Other Ranks Target 6— 6— 6— 6— 2,890 2,890 3,000 2,670 2,680 2,960 2,920 Achieved 6— 2,540 3,270 2,670 2,470 2,920 2,740 2,240 2,290 42,250 43,180 Army Target 6— 6— 6— 6— 6— 6— 10,010 9,320 9,870 9,700 9,850 Achieved 6— 8,970 10,040 9,670 9,400 10,740 10,990 9,590 8,400 48,750 48,300 Officer Target 6— 6— 6— 6— 6— 6— 610 620 640 650 650 Achieved 6— 620 560 530 540 590 600 640 630 4620 4610 Other Ranks Target 6— 6— 6— 10,623 9,440 9,840 9,400 8,700 9,230 9,050 9,200 Achieved 6— 8,350 9,490 9,140 8,870 10,150 10,390 8,950 7,770 48,130 47,690 Royal Air Force Target 3,170 3,590 3,350 3,470 3,670 4,010 4,290 3,550 2,170 1,700 1,660 Achieved 6— 3,450 3,440 3,110 3,210 3,360 3,640 3,310 2,190 51,500 51,580 Officer Target 510 660 620 600 640 720 730 570 370 500 330 Achieved 6— 520 510 520 570 560 570 550 380 5450 5440 Other Ranks Target 2,660 2,940 2,720 2,870 3,030 3,290 3,560 2,980 1,800 1,200 1,330 Achieved 6— 2,930 2,920 2,590 2,630 2,800 3,070 2,760 1,800 51,050 51,140 1 Figures relate to personnel completing training and joining the trained strength. Direct entries to the trained strength, such as trained re-entrants, professionally qualified officers (PQO) are excluded. 2 UK Regular Forces includes Nursing services and excludes Full Time Reserve Service personnel, Gurkhas, the Home Service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment and mobilised reservists. 3 Prior to 1998-99 the achieved number of gains to trained strength could not be derived directly from centrally held records. Due to ongoing validation of data from the Joint Personnel Administration System, all Naval Service flow statistics from the 12 month period ending 31 October 2006, all Army flow statistics from period ending 31 March 2007 and all RAF flow statistics from the 12 month period ending 30 April 2007 are provisional and subject to review. 4 Provisional 5 Provisional estimate 6 Data unavailable
The establishment and strength of the Reserve Forces, as at 28 February 2009, is provided in the following table.
RMR RNR TA1 (Group A only) RAuxAF Establishment 970 2,286 38,500 2,002 Strength 868 2,020 28,920 1,418 1 TA Establishment figure excludes all 3,500 UOTC. TA Strength figure excludes TA Group B, UOTC, FTRS, Sponsored Reserves and NRPS.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
There has been no joint UK/EU development funding available to military armoured vehicle manufactures and there are no current plans for such funding.
Army: Deployment
The average tour interval for the infantry as a whole is 26 months. The current tour intervals for individual infantry battalions are provided in the following table:
Unit deployed Last operational deployment (as a unit) Start date Previous operational deployment (as a unit) End date Last unit tour interval (months) 1 Grenadier Guards Afghanistan May 2007 Iraq September 2006 8 1 Coldstream Guards Afghanistan October 2007 Iraq October 2005 23 1 Scots Guards Iraq December 2007 Iraq April 2005 31 1 Irish Guards Iraq June 2007 Northern Ireland March 2004 38 1 Welsh Guards Afghanistan April 2009 Balkans April 2007 24 1 Scots1 Iraq December 2007 Iraq May 2006 17 2 Scots Afghanistan April 2008 Iraq December 2005 28 3 Scots Afghanistan April 2009 Iraq January 2005 51 4 Scots Iraq June 2008 Iraq May 2006 25 5 Scots Afghanistan April 2008 Balkans October 2005 29 1 PWRR Iraq December 2008 Iraq December 2006 24 2 PWRR Iraq January 2005 Northern Ireland December 2003 12 1 RRF Iraq June 2008 Iraq May 2006 25 2 RRF Afghanistan April 2009 Northern Ireland November 2003 64 1 R Anglian Afghanistan May 2007 Iraq October 2005 18 2 R Anglian Iraq June 2008 Iraq October 2006 20 1 Lancs2 Iraq December 2007 n/a — — 2 Lancs2 Iraq November 2006 n/a — — 1 Yorks Iraq December 2008 Iraq May 2007 18 2 Yorks Afghanistan October 2007 Balkans September 2006 13 3 Yorks Iraq November 2004 Balkans June 2001 40 1 R Welsh Cyprus May 2007 Northern Ireland January 2006 15 2 R Welsh Iraq June 2007 Iraq October 2005 19 1 Mercian Iraq December 2007 Iraq October 2004 37 2 Mercian Afghanistan April 2009 Afghanistan November 2007 16 3 Mercian Iraq November 2006 Iraq October 2005 12 1 Rifles3 Afghanistan October 2008 Iraq November 2006 23 2 Rifles Afghanistan April 2009 Iraq May 2007 23 3 Rifles Iraq September 2006 Northern Ireland March 2005 17 4 Rifles Iraq June 2007 Balkans October 2001 67 5 Rifles Iraq December 2008 Iraq December 2006 24 1 Royal Irish Afghanistan April 2008 Iraq December 2005 28 2 Para Afghanistan April 2008 Iraq April 2006 24 3 Para Afghanistan April 2008 Afghanistan October 2006 18 1 RGR Afghanistan October 2007 Balkans March 2006 18 2 RGR Afghanistan October 2008 Afghanistan October 2005 37 Notes: 1 1 RS and 1 KOSB amalgamated in August 2006 to form 1 Scots. 2 1 KORBR, 1 Kings and QLR amalgamated in July 2006 to form 1 Lancs and 2 Lancs. Because of the nature of this amalgamation it is not representative to carry forward the unit deployments of 1 KORBR, 1 Kings and QLR to 1 Lancs and 2 Lancs. 3 1 RGBW and 1 DDLI amalgamated in March 2007 to form 1 Rifles.
AWE Management
There are no plans to put in place public-private partnership or private finance initiative arrangements under the Ministry of Defence's contract for the management and operation of the Atomic Weapons Establishment.
D-Day Landings: Anniversaries
It has been the policy of successive Governments that special commemorations are only initiated by the Ministry of Defence for key anniversaries and centennials of events of the greatest national significance. Other anniversaries do not receive MOD sponsorship at public expense.
I understand that the French Government are arranging an international commemoration in France to mark the D-Day anniversary. Ministers and Service Chiefs are keen to become involved in these events and await official invitations.
In the region of 1,000 members of the armed forces will be in Normandy in June, as many are each year and current members of units which fought on D-Day will stand alongside veterans at wreath laying ceremonies in France.
The Big Lottery Fund have recently agreed to pay travel costs for veterans wishing to attend the commemorations this year and those who have already arranged their own travel will also be reimbursed.
Finally, in the UK the Normandy Veterans Association (NVA) are holding their own wreath laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in London on Sunday 21 June, accompanied by the band of the Welsh Guards, and to follow that we are working with the NVA on the possibility of a church service.
Defence: International Co-operation
The Royal Navy regularly identifies opportunities at the tactical and operational level to increase interoperability with foreign navies.
The European Carrier Group Interoperability Initiative (ECGII) draws together European nations with operational aircraft carriers or with naval vessels capable of supporting carrier operations. This initiative seeks to improve interoperability between European navies for national, NATO or EU-led operations. The inaugural Steering Group for ECGII met in Paris on 18 March 2009.
The UK Carrier Strike Group Commander and his staff regularly liaise and train with the US Navy at both a tactical and operational level. The UK also has a Long Lead Skills programme with the US Navy, which is developing essential personnel skill-sets in advance of the arrival of Carrier Vehicular (Future).
It is routine procedure for warships of close allies to integrate into each others Carrier Strike Group deployments, as demonstrated last year with the integration of the US, French and Spanish warships into the RN’s Orion 08 deployment led by HMS Illustrious, and HMS Manchester's integration into the US Carrier Strike Group.
Departmental Buildings
[holding answer 26 March 2009]: I will place in the Library of the House a current list of the Department’s listed buildings and details of those that have been disposed of, and thus removed from the list, or added in 2007 and 2008. The list is broken down by grade and devolved Administrations as listed building grades differ between each Administration.
Departmental Computers
Information relating to the number, cost and distribution of all laptop computers purchased by the MOD since 2005 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Copyright
The Defence Intellectual Property Rights (DIPR) Directorate employs 35 staff.
The expenditure and income figures for the DIPR budget are as follows:
Expenditure Total income Adjusted income 2004-05 3,090,048 1,796,596 486,373 2005-06 3,472,449 1,903,525 403,504 2006-07 3,336,586 1,845,554 456,204 2007-08 3,580,491 1,754,358 298,077 2008-09 3,491,816 1,703,865 460,747
The expenditure covers DIPR staff costs, in meeting MOD Intellectual Property (IP) project support work (national and international), and includes the costs of staff seconded from DIPR to the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). The expenditure also includes costs to fund IPR activities such as IPR protection (patents, trade marks, registered designs) and for meeting the legislative requirements including managing and monitoring of Classified Patent Applications.
Total income is the total payments directly into the DIPR budget, including payments from Dstl to cover the seconded staff and DIPR outgoing costs paid on behalf of Dstl. This income excludes IP income such as levies and royalties which are credited to other MOD budgets. Adjusted income is the total payments into the DIPR budget, excluding payments from Dstl.
The costs of administering Defence Crown Copyright during the last five years were as follows:
£ 2004-05 725,000 2005-06 736,000 2006-07 780,000 2007-08 809,000 2008-09 872,000
The external income received from licensing Defence Crown Copyright during the last five years were as follows:
£ 2004-05 609,000 2005-06 899,000 2006-07 1,022,000 2007-08 1,665,000 2008-09 1,882,000
Departmental Energy
In addition to complying with all applicable building regulations, Ministry of Defence construction projects are mandated, through the Office of Government Commerce Common Minimum Standards and the Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate Mandates, to undertake building research establishment environmental assessment method (BREEAM) or defence related environmental assessment methodology (DREAM) environmental performance assessments. DREAM assessments in particular encourage performance over and above that of building regulations in the area of energy efficiency.
Of those assessments completed since DREAM was launched in March 2006, 75 per cent. have achieved a greater than 10 per cent. improvement against the building regulations and six per cent. have achieved a greater than 20 per cent. improvement.
In addition there is a Departmental commitment that from 2008 all new service families accommodation in the UK will meet level 3 of the code for sustainable homes.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) did not report energy per square metre before 2004.
In 2006-07 following improvements in data quality, the MOD recalculated the building floor area used to measure performance against the Sustainable Development in the Government target of 15 per cent.
The latest assessment of Government’s performance against these targets was published by the Sustainable Development Commission on 12 December 2008:
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/sdig2008/
These show the MOD reduced energy consumption by per square meter by 10 per cent. since 2006-07.
Departmental Health Insurance
The vast majority of health care for service personnel is provided by the Defence Medical Services or the national health service. However, there will be times when it is necessary to employ private medical contractors, such as when a particular specialism is not readily available, or when it would be impractical to provide the service overseas using internal resources (for example, aspects of health care for personnel posted overseas to Germany and other smaller bases and detachments).
In practice, such private sector health provision is funded by a number of individual budgets across the MOD, including at local unit level within the single Services, and disproportionate effort would be required to provide the total Departmental spend.
However, we have been able to obtain a breakdown of costs from the MOD Central Budget and British Forces Germany which indicates the sums involved and services contracted. This information is provided in the following tables.
Financial year £ 2004-05 4,702,662 2005-06 5,802,167 2006-07 4,892,840 2007-08 6,561,094 2008-09 4,731,393
These figures include contract costs for the provision of in-patient mental health provision, specialist prosthetic services, and civilian locums for operational deployments.
Financial year £ 2004-05 45,755,000 2005-06 43,790,000 2006-07 43,720,000 2007-08 45,450,000 2008-09 51,283,000
These figures include secondary health care contracts with German hospitals; non-contracted extra-contractual costs for specialist care; primary care contract costs with SSAFA Forces Help and Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (i.e. not all private contractor provided); non-contracted primary care costs; and costs related to Isolated Detachments in European Theatre.
Departmental Mobile Phones
The amount expended by the MOD on Blackberrys and mobile telephones, in each financial year since 2005, is shown in the following table.
Financial year Spend (£ million) 2005-06 5.1 2006-07 5.4 2007-08 7.2 2008-09 7.6
It represents the combined spend on devices (Blackberrys and mobile telephones), accessories, rental charges and usage charges for all MOD users including Ministers, special advisers, civil servants and members of the armed forces. It has not been possible to identify separately the costs for Blackberrys and mobile telephones, or to show separately the costs for each group due to the complexity of the management data and the form in which it is held. This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Standards
The Department does not distinguish between the costs of monitoring performance against targets under public service agreements and the costs of compliance. Compliance includes activities such as systems audit by Defence Internal Audit and supporting the work of the National Audit Office and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Training
Training is provided to Ministers as necessary in order to carry out their duties effectively under the Ministerial Code.
Erasmus
The European Initiative on the Exchange of Young Officers Inspired by Erasmus, sometimes known as military Erasmus, is focussed on European exchanges at the initial officer level.
The UK’s initial training for officers is conducted at separate single service institutions. These three different courses all last approximately one academic year. The training has a strong focus on UK specific elements such as legal issues and specialist equipment training, with the aim to prepare officers for the next stage in their training on more specialist military courses. It would therefore not be practical to train officers at other nations’ institutions.
The importance of education in international issues is recognised and is included in initial training for junior officers, but is covered in more depth later as officers’ careers begin to include more staff appointments and as they begin to attend staff officer training such as the Intermediate Command and Staff Course, typically undertaken between the ages of 29 and 32. Similarly the higher proportion of, and the opportunity for, exchange training for UK officers comes later in officers’ careers.
While the UK acknowledges the Erasmus initiative as a method of improving the understanding and awareness of other nations’ services and cultures, we do not wish to participate in current circumstances for the practical reasons outlined above.
European Defence Agency
The UK participates in a wide range of activities across the agency. None of the activities we have taken part in has yet generated proposals for collaborative procurement.
The amount paid by the Ministry of Defence to the European Defence Agency (EDA) in each of the financial years since it was established in 2004 is provided in the following table.
Financial year £ million 2004-05 1.56 2005-06 2.36 2006-07 2.09 2007-08 1.95 2008-09 3.11 2009-10 14.22 1 Estimated
Funds for the agency are allocated annually against a work programme, approved by Defence Ministers at the EDA Steering Board. The accounts of the EDA are audited annually by a College of Auditors whose members are currently drawn from three participating member states.
Ex-servicemen: Compensation
Complaints about the outcomes of claims under the War Pension Scheme (WPS) are known as appeals. It is not possible to provide information on appeals against outcomes of claims for war disablement pensions for 2000 as electronic records are only held back to 2001. For the period 2001-08, 21,895 appeals were registered under the WPS. A breakdown of appeals registered by calendar year is provided in the following table.
Appeals1, 2 Total 21,895 2001 3,870 2002 3,360 2003 2,845 2004 2,590 2005 2,355 2006 2,675 2007 2,225 2008 1,980 1 Appeals include disablement pensioner entitlement appeals and assessment appeals. 2 Figures have been rounded to the nearest five, totals may not add due to rounding.
Complaints about the outcomes of claims under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) are known as reconsiderations and appeals. Between the start of the scheme, 6 April 2005 and 31 December 2008, there have been 855 reconsiderations and 370 appeals made at the First Tier Tribunal under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). A breakdown of reconsiderations and appeals by calendar year is provided in the following table.
Reconsiderations1, 2 Appeals2 Total 855 370 6 April 2005 to 31 December 2005 0 0 2006 80 25 2007 200 80 2008 575 265 1 Includes reconsiderations and reconsiderations carried out as part of the appeal process; if an appeal is requested before a reconsideration has taken place, then a reconsideration will automatically be registered on behalf of the claimant. 2 Figures have been rounded to the nearest five, totals may not add due to rounding.
Between 2006-08 there were 2,210 unsuccessful war disablement pension claims under the War Pension Scheme (WPS). The percentage of unsuccessful claimants who have subsequently registered a new claim under the WPS by calendar year is provided in the table. It is not possible to identify whether claimants that have made a subsequent claim have claimed for the same condition.
Between 2006-08 there were 2,210 unsuccessful war disablement pension claims under the War Pension Scheme (WPS). The percentage of unsuccessful claimants who have subsequently registered a new claim under the WPS by calendar year is provided in the table. It is not possible to identify whether claimants that have made a subsequent claim have claimed for the same condition.
Year1,2 Percentage 2006 1.0 2007 0.5 2008 0.6 1 Year in which unsuccessful war disablement claim was determined. Subsequent claims may have occurred in a following calendar year; data only available up to 31 December 2008. 2 Claims include current invaliding and first claims.
Between 2006-08 there were 2,935 unsuccessful claims for compensation under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). The percentage of unsuccessful claimants who have subsequently registered a new claim under the AFCS by calendar year is provided in the table.
Year1,2 Percentage 2006 5.0 2007 8.4 2008 9.0 1 Year in which unsuccessful claim for compensation was determined. Subsequent claims may have occurred in a following calendar year; data only available up to 31 December 2008. 2 Claims include injury claims and additional claims.
The average length of time taken to deal with cases relating to war disablement pensions and compensation for injuries or illness incurred during service in the armed forces is provided in the table. The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme began in April 2005 and no performance measurement was made for the first year.
War disablement pension Armed Forces Compensation Scheme1 2000-01 92 n/a 2001-02 73 n/a 2002-03 63 n/a 2003-04 61 n/a 2004-05 57 n/a 2005-06 52 2n/a 2006-07 49 43 2007-08 50 64 1 Figures for 2008-09 are not yet available. 2 No AFCS performance measurement was made in the first year.
The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency (SPVA) via their Veterans Welfare Service (VWS) will offer advice to veterans on possible eligibility to a range of other benefits some from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). VWS monitor the outcome of their advice with DWP.
The number of cases referred to by the VWS to the DWP is provided in the table.
Number of cases January-December 2007 744 January-December 2008 573 January-February 2009 68 Note: Figures for March 2009 are not yet available.
However, SPVA have no formal process whereby they receive cases from the DWP, and therefore no data can be provided on this issue.
Ex-servicemen: Military Decorations
This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Ex-servicemen: Tribunals
None. The information is not kept in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Future Large Aircraft
There have been a number of discussions with the French Defence Minister and with others of our partners, and this dialogue is continuing.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 5 February 2009, Official Report, column 1406W, to the hon. Member for Congleton (Ann Winterton).
Kenya: Military Aid
The UK has provided training to Support Company of 20 Parachute Battalion of the Kenyan army in a programme that commenced in 2007.
Members: Correspondence
I met with the hon. Member and representatives of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association on Monday 20 April 2009. My hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson) was unable to attend.
Military Aircraft
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 March 2009, Official Report, column 424W. The UK currently supplements the NATO ISAF Contracted Air Transport with a national contract through SkyLink Aviation.
The figure of 15,680 flying hours related to the period 1 April 2008 to 31 January 2009 and was achieved by a total of 23 Hercules C-130J aircraft.
The Department has had limited discussions with Lockheed Martin Aerospace, without commitment, in relation to possible scope for lease or purchase of additional C-130J aircraft. The discussions are part of wider continuing work to assess all possible options for the temporary mitigation of the capability gap caused by the delay to A400M.
The Department undertakes regular analysis of its key suppliers. These analyses are generally done to ensure financial adequacy at a group level rather than for specific projects or contracts, and do not cover precise sources of funding. They are Departmental interpretations of publicly held financial information (e.g. a company’s published accounts).
Military Aircraft: Helicopters
Information on spares availability is not held in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Military Exercises
No training exercises have been conducted to date under the European Carrier Group Interoperability Initiative.
Pakistan: Al Qaeda
The Ministry of Defence was not given notice by the Pakistani government or the US Administration of the reported air strike on Ali Khel on or before 22 November 2008.
RAF Brize Norton
A record of all flights originating from RAF Brize Norton since 2005 that were cancelled due to technical faults is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
For part of the requested period, statistics have been collated for flights undertaking airbridge tasks in support of Operation Herrick, Operation Telic and the Falkland Islands Permanent Joint Operating Base. In the period from January 2008 to date, no airbridge flights were cancelled due to technical faults, although some flights did incur delays or airframes were changed due to technical faults on the originally allocated airframe.
Reserve Forces
No posts in public service are incompatible with service in the Reserve Forces.
Somalia: Piracy
HMS Northumberland participated in Operation Atalanta from the start of the operation in December 2008 until the end of February 2009. Throughout the mandate of the operation (which expires on 13 December 2009) we have and will continue to provide the operational commander and associated headquarters. No decision has yet been taken on any continuance of the operation beyond its existing mandate.
Trident
The main part of the programme, covering the successor to the Vanguard Class submarines, has yet to reach the Initial Gate approval stage. In accordance with normal MOD procurement processes, a revised cost estimate that is due in September 2009 will inform this decision and this will include an assessment of the exchange rate risk.
Warships: Construction
The approximate tonnage of each class of warship currently under construction, and their combined total, is provided in the table:
Class of vessel Displacement per vessel (tonnes) Planned number of vessels per class Total tonnage of class Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers (CVF) 65,000 (full displacement) 2 130,000 Type 45 Daring Class destroyers 18,100 (mid-mission, mid-life full displacement) 6 48,600 Astute Class attack submarines 7,800 (full displacement when dived) 27 54,600 Total tonnage 233,200 1 The Type 45 tonnage will change throughout the ship's life due largely to the adoption of an incremental capability approach. Mid-life, mid-mission tonnage has been chosen as a representative figure. 2 Our current plans are for a total class of seven boats.
The Future Surface Combatant and successor programmes also form part of the warship construction programme but are at an early phase in the design process, and decisions on final design have yet to be taken.
I specified in my statement that it related to peacetime construction. I made this statement on the basis of real terms expenditure.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture
Since 2003-04 statistics on farm diversification have been collected through the Farm Business Survey. Prior to this, diversification figures were collected through the June Survey of Agriculture. The two surveys are not directly comparable.
Indications from the Farm Business Survey are that, since 2003-04, the percentage of farms that have diversified their business into activities outside food production has remained stable at around 50 per cent. Detailed figures can be found on the DEFRA website.
Agriculture: Waste Disposal
[holding answer 17 March 2009]: DEFRA does not hold the information requested as figures for the number of farm-based anaerobic digestion plants are not collected centrally.
Animal Feed: Imports
Table 1 shows the volume of animal feed ingredients imported into the UK from 2004 to 2008, split by type and exporting country, as recorded in the Official Trade Statistics. Table 1 excludes whole cereal grains, which are shown in Table 2.
Table 2 shows estimates for the volume imported into the UK from 2003-04 to 2007-08 of whole cereal grain used in animal feedingstuffs. The Official Trade Statistics do not specifically distinguish whole cereal grain for animal feed from that for human consumption. However an estimate of imported cereal grain used for animal feed is derived and published as part of the UK Supply and Demand estimates on a crop year basis (July to June).
This estimate is derived from total import figures from the Official Trade Statistics and survey data on use of cereal grain by various cereal processors. It is not possible to provide a country of origin/despatch breakdown.
Tonnes Description EU/Non EU Country 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Cereal straw and husks EU Netherlands 124,980 76,852 71,717 5,563 386 Irish Republic 18,953 18,068 17,833 15,187 12,189 Other EU 2 9 100 80 22 Non EU USA 5 5 3,701 22,125 38,303 Other Non-EU 4 4 2,949 8,076 9,178 Total 143,943 94,937 96,300 51,030 60,078 Lucerne meal and pellets EU Italy — — 2,684 21,519 19,744 Netherlands 2,429 2,708 5,705 221 0 France 2,092 2,457 2,065 2,226 2,206 Irish Republic — 354 460 5,918 2,376 Other EU 1 56 26 1,728 2 Non EU Canada 1,786 1,587 2,000 2,767 4,591 Other Non-EU 87 81 95 129 152 Total 6,394 7,242 13,033 34,507 29,071 Swedes, mangolds, vetches, fodder roots, forage kale and other forage crops EU France 8,329 8,080 7,801 10,187 4,366 Belgium 3,153 3,090 1,331 390 859 Germany 486 3,212 1,616 163 1,331 Netherlands 207 202 2,673 1,822 1,094 Irish Republic 80 1,013 814 2,016 477 Spain 51 — 2,920 162 — Other EU 45 5 97 511 535 Non EU USA 1,956 2,280 2,677 1,790 2,835 Canada 385 307 95 1,239 608 Other Non-EU 1,247 299 149 89 242 Total 15,940 18,488 20,173 18,369 12,345 Vegetables residues and by-products—grape marc, acorns, pomace etc. EU Netherlands 48,105 60,575 36,201 55,160 34,591 Spain 30,169 13,629 25,499 8,530 8,089 Other EU 13,713 21,303 12,342 20,205 19,304 Non EU Brazil 147,004 204,978 105,391 162,646 86,323 Argentina 16,734 24,683 45,225 109,235 293,770 USA 163,574 67,432 48,541 36,347 122,355 Other Non-EU 132 289 191 583 1,868 Total 419,431 392,889 273,389 392,705 566,300 Brans, sharps and other residues—of Leguminous vegetables EU Irish Republic 207 241 194 146 186 Belgium 94 69 97 99 175 Portugal 167 71 — — — Germany 35 23 24 3 — Other EU 19 0 20 0 5 Non EU China — — — — 52 Other Non-EU — — — 1 9 Total 522 404 336 249 428 Brans, sharps and other residues—of Maize EU Irish Republic 8,667 8,599 12,333 8,317 2,806 Netherlands — 3,285 0 — — Other EU 62 110 90 54 16 Non EU USA — 0 — 1 130 Other Non-EU — — — 2 15 Total 8,729 11,993 12,423 8,375 2,967 Brans, sharps and other residues—of Rice EU Germany 16 11 28 — — Belgium 8 3 14 — — France 1 24 0 — — Other EU — 6 3 — — Non EU Egypt 22 22 — — — China 4 3 18 — — USA 6 6 4 — — Other Non-EU 0 1 — — Total 57 75 69 — — Brans, sharps and other residues—of Wheat EU Netherlands 48,003 47,891 55,614 54,323 63,470 Irish Republic 11,557 14,332 13,299 19,442 12,687 Germany 2 1,072 177 5,658 1,986 France 5,236 2 884 208 73 Other EU 9,628 1,466 2,071 1,081 5,234 Non EU Australia — — — — 23 Other Non-EU 10 15 0 5 4 Total 74,436 64,778 72,045 80,718 83,477 Brans, sharps and other residues—of Other cereals EU Irish Republic 3,110 2,764 3,941 2,667 3,079 Denmark — 2,247 — 1,197 — Netherlands 1,172 0 — 1 21 Other EU 228 16 143 71 46 Non EU USA — 0 — 7 20 Other Non-EU 2 — — 1 4 Total 4,512 5,028 4,084 3,945 3,169 Oil cake and meal—of Soya beans EU Netherlands 437,119 376,502 268,486 226,572 220,699 Other EU 54,603 49,860 37,613 60,855 109,884 Non EU Brazil 978,315 950,867 708,242 731,122 741,371 Argentina 254,746 165,268 783,249 999,107 1,030,704 USA 121 60,448 34 48,687 77,563 Other Non-EU 50,842 56,653 36,426 23,546 34,809 Total 1,775,745 1,659,598 1,834,051 2,089,888 2,215,029 Oil cake and meal—of Groundnuts EU Netherlands — — — 23 — Other EU — — — 6 2 Non EU Senegal 4,995 — — — — Gambia 2,354 — — — — Total 7,349 — — 29 2 Oil cake and meal—of Cotton seeds EU Irish Republic 873 883 634 6 — Netherlands — — — 165 — Non EU Brazil 12,504 — — — — Benin 9,384 — — — — Nigeria — 3,652 987 — — Other Non-EU 1,346 — 5 — — Total 24,107 4,535 1,626 171 — Oil cake and meal—of Linseed EU Belgium 265 1,484 — 131 744 Irish Republic — — 139 411 343 Germany 76 20 — — — Other EU — 0 — — 56 Non EU Argentina — 1,085 — — — Faroe Islands — 652 — — — China — — 190 228 100 Canada 1 — — — — Total 341 3,242 329 770 1,243 Oil cake and meal—of Sunflower seeds EU Netherlands 117,650 78,118 76,599 51,245 43,041 Portugal 43,661 27,515 18,404 12,866 24,724 Latvia 6,146 5,242 18,137 40,070 39,170 Lithuania — 15,141 — 32,018 5,529 Greece — — 5,869 8,882 20,154 France 9,848 328 — 3,008 17,835 Spain — — 5,586 3,031 10,748 Other EU 14,812 9,557 4,057 16,196 7,857 Non EU Argentina 127,988 137,531 171,985 95,673 158,535 Russia 4,850 5,516 42,057 72,469 115,899 Ukraine 18,182 24,836 49,760 63,444 12,638 Uruguay — 20,500 — — — Other Non-EU 15,620 — — 2,715 15,375 Total 358,758 324,283 392,453 401,616 471,504 Oil cake and meal—of Rape or Colza seeds EU Poland 23,627 67,478 47,005 67,772 79,200 Belgium 21,157 27,401 28,698 56,813 56,890 Netherlands 7,620 424 20,414 58,621 77,203 Germany 23,213 36,993 18,994 18,788 24,709 France 2,702 1,816 4,910 6,245 18,214 Other EU 1,185 7,292 11,463 4,351 13,112 Non EU South Africa — 20 — — — Other Non-EU — 1 — — 0 Total 79,505 141,425 131,484 212,590 269,327 Oil cake and meal—of Coconut or Copra EU Belgium — 0 0 — — Non EU Malaysia 5,021 — — — — Jamaica — — — — 0 Total 5,021 0 0 — 0 Oil cake and meal—of Palm nut or kernels EU Netherlands 34,397 41,872 19,928 10,679 2,222 Other EU 3,266 5,899 13,447 3,823 1,181 Non EU Malaysia 512,940 672,873 594,038 321,932 31,626 Indonesia 191,395 143,151 264,293 260,404 413,875 Other Non-EU 28,011 19,282 18,165 69,375 23,789 Total 770,010 883,077 909,872 666,214 472,693 Oil cake and meal—of other oil seeds and oleaginous plants—olives, sesame seed etc. EU Spain 96,578 135,535 11,230 132,160 144,461 Denmark 1,093 20,805 12,045 31,377 13,724 Greece — 14,873 16,544 23,342 3,704 Sweden — 4,547 5,301 — 3,301 Estonia — 5,321 7,685 — — Belgium 21 9,398 466 410 10,441 Non EU Tunisia 3,470 11,387 7,931 26,315 45,111 USA 1,199 1,145 1,125 1,181 19,940 Other Non-EU 5,735 7 19,669 23 8 Total 108,096 203,017 81,996 214,808 240,690 Flours, meals and pellets of meat or meat offal (including tankage); greaves—unfit for human consumption EU Netherlands 27,599 4,210 3,293 2,139 1,292 Germany 889 2,685 3,982 2,618 2,666 Belgium 1,735 4,703 4,854 1,237 — Lithuania 93 10,585 0 — — Spain 272 1,538 1,272 469 41 Other EU 183 1,240 514 646 1,943 Non EU New Zealand 1,125 941 607 598 302 Australia 458 292 — 236 1,659 Other Non-EU 50 151 13 78 54 Total 32,404 26,344 14,534 8,022 7,956 Flours, meals and pellets of fish, crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates—unfit for human consumption EU Denmark 24,701 16,093 25,168 12,884 21,983 Germany 8,206 25,420 30,783 13,488 8,349 Irish Republic 15,060 11,723 6,065 11,635 9,152 Other EU 3,260 5,362 779 2,860 1,543 Non EU Peru 19,434 23,201 37,623 21,156 24,610 Iceland 42,513 33,346 13,608 3,778 10,337 Faroe Islands 11,508 10,893 2,297 3,378 7,901 Chile 6,514 12,639 10,923 5,072 199 Norway 9,537 3,699 7,894 9,878 3,805 Other Non-EU 1,743 4,343 4,288 3,540 3,137 Total 142,476 146,720 139,426 87,670 91,017 Residues of starch manufacture EU Irish Republic 27,687 24,080 33,700 18,637 9,373 France 18,578 7,848 21,648 22,777 39,189 Netherlands 36,175 2,796 6,858 4,796 4,606 Spain 1,343 4,664 31,693 — — Other EU 5,156 877 2,578 2,776 12,880 Non EU USA 20,503 37,376 67,457 10,456 9,019 Other Non-EU 2 166 678 846 219 Total 109,445 77,806 164,611 60,287 75,286 Residues of sugar manufacture—beet pulp, bagasse EU Netherlands 4,425 10,849 20,719 13,293 3,208 Germany 1,797 5,672 11,908 12,299 12,599 Irish Republic 5,196 6,050 5,583 8,438 8,483 Spain 9,225 5,600 2,391 — — France 0 — 8,023 4,130 — Belgium 1 — 6,227 2,290 — Italy 6,656 — — — — Denmark — — 4,034 1,818 — Other EU 188 48 2,408 1,979 2,551 Non EU USA 20,725 — — 17,509 35,109 Russia — — 2,350 — 6,548 Canada — — — — 5,623 Other Non-EU — — 91 264 2,905 Total 48,213 28,220 63,735 62,021 77,027 Residues of brewing and distilling—dregs and waste EU Irish Republic 11,551 12,974 13,269 15,308 15,187 Netherlands 11,638 3,195 — 4,102 19,058 France — — — 6,215 14,738 Other EU 3,970 3,498 7,441 11,352 14,870 Non EU USA 258,762 247,467 239,132 119,321 33,587 Other Non-EU 14 19 11 2,901 14,242 Total 285,935 267,154 259,853 159,199 111,682 Wine lees or Argol EU France — — 0 — 26 Germany — — 0 1 3 Non EU New Zealand — — — 0 — Japan — — — 0 — Singapore — — — 0 — Total — — 0 1 29 Preparations of a kind used for animal food(excluding dog and cat food), not elsewhere stated EU Irish Republic 27,201 39,462 57,311 80,226 44,950 Netherlands 27,578 16,632 83,868 77,312 38,884 Germany 9,006 15,326 67,794 10,317 22,720 Belgium 15,838 13,619 12,909 14,954 14,279 Hungary 15,974 8,596 9,115 11,687 12,359 Other EU 14,321 16,176 19,448 22,021 22,429 Non EU USA 625,841 583,576 435,653 156,129 29,311 Other Non-EU 7,094 9,487 8,731 5,041 5,145 Total 742,854 702,875 694,828 377,687 190,075 Notes: 1. Data prepared by Trade Statistics, Economics and Statistics Programme, DEFRA. 2. 2008 data are subject to amendments. 3. Figures showing as zero are less than 0.5 tonnes. 4. These figures exclude preparations for pet animals such as dog and cat food. 5. Exports from outside the EU which are shown in table 1 are based on the country of origin. This is the country where the goods were originally produced. Exports from the EU shown are based on the country of despatch. This is the country where the last commercial transaction of the goods took place and may be different from the country of origin. This distinction is an artefact of the different administrative recording systems by which the data are collected. Source: H M Revenue and Customs
Tonnes Crop year Cereal type 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Wheat 177,000 13,000 85,000 114,000 90,000 Barley 60,000 73,000 55,000 106,000 92,000 Maize 413,000 404,000 405,000 437,000 717,000 Source: DEFRA, HNIRC
Animal Welfare: Finance
DEFRA's annual report gives estimated figures for its total spending in 2009-10 on animal health issues through Animal Health area offices and activities and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, and on research and development directed towards improving agricultural production and productivity, but expenditure under these headings is not regionalised and so no separate figure for the south-west of England can be given.
Improving the competitiveness of the agriculture and forestry sectors is one of the objectives of Axis 1 of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). In the south-west, Axes 1 and 3 of the RDPE are delivered by the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA). DEFRA has made an indicative allocation of £30.27 million to SWRDA for Axis 1 and 3 in 2009-10.
Animals: Circuses
DEFRA has received no representations specifically on that issue.
The UK is a signatory party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) which aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of non-domesticated animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The management authority of any state may waive the normal requirements which apply to the movement of a specimen where that specimen forms part of a travelling circus and provided certain conditions are fulfilled. These conditions include the requirement that the management authority is satisfied that any living specimen will be so transported and cared for as to minimise the risk of injury, damage to health or cruel treatment.
Beijing
From information held centrally DEFRA staff made 30 visits to Beijing in the financial year 2007-08. All visits by staff were undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Code and the Civil Service Management Code.
Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
The Department is unable to breakdown spend by region. The financial system that we use only allows us to record spend on a country basis and until 2008-09 on a GB basis. Therefore, we have provided as follows a breakdown of the total amount spent on tackling bovine tuberculosis in each of the last three years1 and only 2008-09 are England figures.
We have made no specific estimates of the amount of private sector expenditure in each region on tackling bovine tuberculosis.
1 Data sourced from DEFRA Oracle Financial system.
2006-07 Actual spend 2007-08 Actual spend 2008-09 Forecast spend Cattle Testing1 37.8 32.6 32.6 Compensation2 24.5 29.7 25.7 Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) 1.6 0.03 0 Surveillance activity by the VLA3 6.4 7.9 6 Other Research 7.8 8.5 8.1 HQ/Overheads4 1.7 1.2 1.8 Total 79.7 79.9 74.2 1 Cattle testing: the cost of carrying out the testing of cattle for TB by arranging, assessing and monitoring tests, conducting investigations of incident herds and diagnostic testing by local veterinary inspectors on behalf of DEFRA. NB: This expenditure is funded by DEFRA for GB. 2 Compensation: includes payments for ‘reactors’ and ‘contact animals’ which are compulsorily slaughtered. This includes ‘salvage’ money received by the Government for those carcasses which are permitted to go into the food chain. Payments up until 2007-08 include those carcasses which are eligible for the Over Thirty Month Scheme. NB: For 2006-07 and 2007-08, these costs include Scotland and Wales and are funded by their respective Governments. From 2008-09 onwards, these costs are England only. 3 Surveillance activity by the VLA: includes all DEFRA funded work carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency relating to TB in cattle and badgers including the supply of tuberculin. NB: This expenditure is funded by DEFRA for GB. 4 HQ/overheads: includes staff costs for veterinary advice and administration of TB policy in England only.
In 2008, 27,455 cattle were slaughtered in England (26,038 as test reactors, 487 as inconclusive reactors and 930 as direct contacts). The 2008 spend on compensation for England was £27.5 million.
Compost
Since 1 December I have answered five written parliamentary questions and supplied a reply to one email inquiry.
Departmental Buildings
I can confirm that information relating to DEFRA’s performance against the energy efficiency per metre square Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) target is available on the Sustainable Development Commission website.
DEFRA has an ongoing programme of work to improve the energy efficiency of its estate. A key element of this programme is to reduce the size of the DEFRA Estate and make more efficient use of the existing portfolio. To date this strategy has resulted in an overall reduction in energy consumption across the estate, but has had a negative effect on the energy efficiency per metre squared.
Also, over the past four years, DEFRA has increased its capability to investigate and respond to animal and plant disease outbreaks. This work is carried out in energy intensive high containment laboratories which are regulated by strict legislation. It is accepted by energy efficiency expert bodies such as the Building Research Establishment (BRE) and the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) that energy efficiency of laboratory buildings cannot be calculated solely on a floor space basis. 75 per cent. of the DEFRA Estate’s total energy consumption is used for laboratory activities.
It should be noted that the DEFRA office estate is performing well, and if SOGE target for energy efficiency related solely to the office estate, DEFRA would currently be within 4 per cent. of achieving the target.
Allowing for the fluctuation in the number of vacant public buildings within the departmental portfolio during 2008-09 financial year due to new vacancies and property disposals, it is estimated that the change in empty property rates relief has resulted in an additional annual rates liability amounting to approximately £670,000 for the period.
Departmental Energy
The annual energy consumption of buildings on the DEFRA and Executive Agency estate is shown in the following tables.
2007-08 Electricity Gas Oil WDHS CHP heat CHP electricity Solar Total DEFRA 11,909,719 8,560,772 406,936 242,000 132,110 88,630 0 21,340,167 AH (formerly SVS) 2,257,144 2,657,816 235,347 0 0 0 0 5,150,307 MFA (formed 1 October 2005) 172,057 164,176 28,173 0 0 0 0 364,406 RPA 8.044,716 5,495.993 367,759 0 0 0 0 13,908,468 CEFAS 5,592,769 4,341,667 0 0 0 0 0 9,934,436 CSL 19,366,330 25,820,972 9,630 0 0 0 0 45,196,932 VLA 17,767,232 17,760,110 3,558,555 0 660,000 2,223,000 0 41,968,897 Total 65,109,967 64,801,506 4,606,400 242,000 792,110 2,311,630 0 137,863,613
2006-07 Electricity Gas Oil WDHS CHP heat CHP electricity Solar Total DEFRA 12,876,317 10,140.841 1,148,301 0 0 0 0 24,165,459 AH (formerly SVS) 2,233,637 2,131,606 236,273 0 0 0 0 4,601,516 MFA (formed 1 October 2005) 145,643 153,681 49,400 0 0 0 0 348,724 RPA 8,299,745 4,589,502 210,108 0 0 0 0 13,099,355 CEFAS 5,398,601 3,884,647 0 0 0 0 0 9,283,248 CSL 21,310,786 23,771,253 17,880 0 0 0 0 45,099,918 VLA 15,576,608 24,039,096 2,290,760 0 7,497,000 8,004,000 0 57,407,464 Total 65,841,337 66,710,626 n 3,952,721 0 7,497,000 8,004,000 0 154,005,683
2005-06 Electricity Gas Oil WDHS CHP heat CHP electricity Solar Total DEFRA 15,647,140 13,485,901 1,453,514 314,466 0 0 0 30,901,021 MFA (formed 1 October 2005) 164,083 126,609 0 0 0 0 0 290,692 SVS (formed 1 April 2005) 3,358,863 4,174,618 374,353 0 0 0 11,066 7,918,899 RPA 8,556,851 5,865,659 310,182 0 0 0 0 14,732,692 CEFAS 5,148,877 4,610,481 0 0 0 0 0 9,759,358 CSL 13,701,553 20.049,704 28,927 0 0 0 0 33,780,184 VLA 12,786,601 52,079,013 450,804 0 0 8,117,584 0 73,434,002 Total 59,363,968 100,391,986 2,617,779 314,466 0 8,117,584 11,066 170,816,849
2004-05 Electricity Gas Oil WDHS CHP heat CHP electricity Solar Total DEFRA 17,273,446 15,291,837 1,210,893 1,088,370 0 0 44,188 34,908,734 RPA 7,637,183 5,551,080 86.217 0 0 0 0 13,274,480 CEFAS 5,152,393 4,339,638 0 0 0 0 0 9,492,031 CSL 13,210,227 15,941,104 18,672 0 0 0 0 29,170,003 VLA 10,162,812 25,276.043 750,009 0 3.780,804 7,770,416 0 47,740,084 Total 53,436,061 66,399,702 2,065,791 1,088,370 3,780,804 7,770,416 44,188 134,585,332
2003-04 Electricity Gas Oil WDHS CHP heat CHP electricity Solar Total DEFRA 16,678,712 15,317.652. 1,505,047 1,327,300 0 0 60,884 34,889,595 RPA 6,758,159 5,198,578 246,822 0 0 0 0 12,203,559 CEFAS 5,080,351 5,090,179 0 0 0 0 0 10,170,530 CSL 11,932,201 21,653,673 39,194 0 0 0 0 33,625,068 VLA 10,905,900 27,377,755 560,548 0 3,815,345 7,872,958 0 50,532,506 Total 51,355,323 74,637,837 2,351,611 1,327,300 3,815,345 7,872,958 60,884 141,421,258
2002-03 Electricity Gas Oil WDHS CHP heat CHP electricity Solar Total DEFRA 15,958,300 15,787,328 2,464,225 1,449,680 0 0 0 35,659,533 BCMS 1,132,322 36,490 0 0 0 0 0 1,168,812 RPA 7,427,798 5,982,422 359,324 0 0 0 0 13,769,544 CEFAS 5,063,448 4,739,064 0 0 0 0 0 9,802,512 CSL 12,205,053 21,393.760 0 0 0 0 0 33,598,813 VLA 9,884,741 27,457,564 1,483,896 0 3.620.771 7.510,440 0 49,957,412 Total 51,671,662 75,396,628 4,307,445 1,449,680 3,620,771 7,510,440 0 143,956,626 WDHS: Whitehall District Heating System CHP: Combined Heat and Power. Notes: 2005-06 1. CHP heat data for 2005-06 are missing. 2. Solar technology installed in 2003-04, system taken out of operation in 2006-07. 3. MFA data in 2005-06 are for the whole year, we are unable to split the data before and after the agency was formed.
Departmental ICT
(2) when he plans to answer question 251380, tabled on 22 January 2009, on ICT projects; and if he will make a statement.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) does not hold a current comprehensive list of ICT projects at the level of detail requested. This could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.
However, DEFRA has provided some related information to previous questions. The hon. Member is referred to the following answers:
(a) The hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne) on 9 February 2005, Official Report, column 1500W;
(b) The hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 2 December 2005, Official Report, column 869W;
(c) The hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 6 February 2008, Official Report, column 1276W; and
(d) The hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 12 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1226-27W.
(2) when he plans to answer question 251392, tabled on 22 January 2009, on ICT projects; and if he will make a statement.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) does not hold a current comprehensive list of ICT projects at the level of detail requested. This could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.
However, the hon. Member is referred to the response my Department provided to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) on 17 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1516-17W. No further ICT projects and programmes have been cancelled since that response.
Departmental Redundancy
As a result of structural changes to the Department and to meet cross-Government targets to reduce headcount within Departments DEFRA has managed the exit of a number of staff over recent years. The initial investment in reducing the headcount will lead to significantly reduced future pay costs on staff.
These included both voluntary and involuntary leavers to whom payments were made. As is common to other Government Departments, the structures of these payments were based on the rules contained within the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
For staff leaving on compulsory or flexible early severance terms, or in receipt of a statutory redundancy payment, the size of the package represents the lump sum compensation payment made.
For staff leaving on compulsory, flexible or approved early retirement terms, the size of the package includes:
any lump sum compensation payment made on departure (compulsory terms only);
the capitalised cost of paying a pension or annual compensation payment (ACP) before pension age;
the cost of any pension enhancement (compulsory and flexible terms only) and the cost of bringing forward the payment of the pension lump sum (for those in classic).
These figures are therefore the initial provision for the early departure liabilities caused by the staff’s departures and include any cash payments made during the period.
Packages also include any payments made on an ex gratia basis.
Breakdown of figures
The split of the 245 voluntary leavers and two involuntary leavers who had severance packages of over £100,000 in the last three financial years is:
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Grand total Pay range S ER S ER S ER S ER £100,000-£125,000 1 4 5 4 14 33 20 41 £125,001-£150,000 — 4 3 8 4 21 7 33 £150,001-£200,000 — 9 4 12 14 38 18 59 £200,001-£250,000 — 7 2 5 5 14 7 26 £250,001-£500,000 1 2 4 3 6 16 11 21 £500,001-£1,000,000 — 1 — — — 1 — 2 Voluntary total 2 27 18 32 43 123 63 182
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Grand total Pay range S ER S ER S ER S ER £100,000-£125,000 — — — — 1 — 1 — £150,001-£200,000 — — — — — 1 — 1 Involuntary total — — — — 1 1 1 1
Environment Agency: Administration
The total expenditure by the Environment Agency on administration costs in each of the three years to 31 March 2009 is as follows:
2006-07 2007-08 2008-091 Administration costs (£ million) 98 98 102 Total expenditure (percentage) 9.7 9.1 8.6 1 Estimate based on management accounts as at 28 February 2009.
The administration costs for 2008-09 are split between National Corporate costs of £36 million and Regional Operational Support costs of £66 million.
During this period, the Environment Agency has restructured both the Finance and Human Resources Directorates, which will generate significant cost savings in future years.
Farmers: Income
[holding answer 2 April 2009]: The average farm business income on a cropping farm in England in 2008-09 has been provisionally estimated to be around £50,200 for cereal farms and £53,600 for general cropping farms1. This represents a fall of around a third compared to the previous year, as cereal prices have fallen and input costs have increased.
Farm Business Income is the headline measure of the profitability of farm businesses. It represents the financial return to all unpaid labour (farmers and spouses, non-principal partners and directors and their spouses and family workers) and on all their capital invested in the farm business, including land and buildings.
1 The estimates for 2008-09 are based on information available in early January 2009 for prices, animal populations, marketings, crop areas and yields and are subject to a margin of error, particularly because farm income tends to be the relatively small difference between output and input.
[holding answer 2 April 2009]: The average farm business income1, the preferred measure of farm profitability, is only available from 2003-04. The alternative measure of net farm income2 is available for the years up to 2007-08.
1 Farm business income represents the financial return to all unpaid labour (farmers and spouses, non-principal partners and directors and their spouses and family workers) and on all their capital invested in the farm business, including land and buildings.
2 Net farm income is defined as the return to the principal farmer and spouse alone for their manual and managerial labour and on the tenant type capital of the business. An imputed rent is deducted for owner-occupied farms as is a charge for other unpaid labour.
£/farm March/February years Cereals General cropping 2003-04 49,800 65,900 2004-05 29,200 42,400 2005-06 29,000 36,900 2006-07 45,900 62,200 2007-08 73,400 81,000 2008/09 (provisional) 50,200 53,600 Source: Farm Business Survey
£/farm March/February years Cereals General cropping 1998-99 8,400 35,800 1999-2000 15,300 7,400 2000-01 7,500 18,600 2001-02 5,900 17,500 2002-03 13,200 15,600 2003-04 36,400 56,800 2004-05 15,600 32,200 2005-06 14,100 26,700 2006-07 31,300 54,000 2007-08 57,100 64,700 Source: Farm Business Survey
Flood Control
The Environment Agency commissioned a report for the first time in 2007 to map and improve its understanding of flood vulnerability of infrastructure at a national scale. The resulting Receptors Vulnerable to Flooding database, which draws heavily on information in the public domain and held by other parties, provides a summary of the vulnerability to flooding of various types of public utility infrastructure.
The Environment Agency is currently working on updating this information for publication in spring 2009. The following table sets out a summary of the Receptors Vulnerable to Flooding database 2007.
Number of sites in flood zone (flood risk probability) Asset Significant (1 in 75) 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 (km) 139 104 132 382 A roads (km) 884 553 809 2,278 Railway lines (km) 1,470 750 948 3,213 1 Information extracted from the Environment Agency Receptors Vulnerable to Flooding Database 2007.
This information was originally provided to the Pitt Review team but has since been updated because of changes in the methodology used to collate the data. The Cabinet Office (through the newly recruited Natural Hazards team) will take forward this work with the Environment Agency and other organisations as part of the Government’s action plan in response to Sir Michael Pitt’s recommendations.
We expect to publish the draft Bill in late spring 2009 for pre-legislative scrutiny and public consultation. The final Bill will then be available for introduction in a later parliamentary Session.
The Environment Agency's Floodline Warnings Direct is a free service that provides flood warnings direct to customers by telephone, mobile, email, SMS text message and fax.
The Environment Agency has signed up a further estimated 100,000 customers since July 2007, increasing the number of registered customers from 328,767 to the current 433,314.
Flood Control: Expenditure
The Environment Agency completed 57 nationally managed projects on fluvial and coastal flooding between 1 April 2008 and 28 February 2009 of which 34 were funded or part-funded by DEFRA. The tables are based on information provided by the Environment Agency’s capital works database. These show that the average costs spent on the appraisal of projects by the Environment Agency’s National Capital Programme Management Service (NCPMS) on feasibility and approvals was 18 per cent. The remaining 82 per cent. was spent on the construction and post construction activities of the project.
The Environment Agency does not hold records centrally on the cost of design and management for most of its schemes below £250,000, nor for pre-feasibility costs for most schemes and for local authority coastal erosion projects.
£000 Funding Type of project Appraisal Delivery Grand total Flood Defence Grant in Aid (FDGIA) Coastal 11,374.6 22,314.7 33,689.3 Fluvial 6,732.4 34,510 41,242.4 Other 1,878.1 10,283 12,161.1 Tidal 5,623.6 33,722.7 39,346.3 FDGIA total 25,608.7 100,830.4 126,439.1 FDGIA/Income Coastal 228.7 12,153.9 12,382.6 Fluvial 3,506.1 20,361 23,867.1 Other 1,053.3 208.1 1,261.4 Tidal 643.5 3,008.7 3,652.2 FDGIA/Income total 5,431.6 35,731.7 41,163.3 Grand total 31,040.3 136,562.1 167,602.4
£000 Funding Type of project Project title Appraisal Delivery Grand total FDGIA Coastal East Suttons to Denge Interim Beach Man’ment 07/08 88.1 666.8 754.9 High Knocke to Dymchurch Redoubt Sea Defences 10,973 20,365.9 31,338.9 Stanah Sea Defences 313.5 1,282 1,595.5 Coastal total 11,374.6 22,314.7 33,689.3 Fluvial Chatsworth Gauging Station 59.2 90.9 150.1 Chelt Gap Culvert 25.9 279 304.9 Chelt Glynbridge Bank Slips 24.8 176 200.8 Cockshaw Burn @ Hexham 1,808.5 10,481.8 12,290.3 Currymoor/Haymoor Project (FC) 295.2 477.4 772.6 Exwick Flood Scheme Improvements 69 224.7 293.7 Flexbury FDS 342.5 3,200.6 3,543.1 Middle Level Barrier Banks Urgent Works 123.2 1,561.5 1,684.7 Newbridge Sluice 137.5 322.2 459.7 River Eden/Petteril Flood Defences, Carlisle 1,420 11,875.9 13,295.9 Silk Stream FAS 2,363.5 5,765 8,128.5 Wakefield, West Riding Quarry Spillway E. Works 63.1 55 118.1 Fluvial total 6,732.4 34,510 41,242.4 Other Cut Off Channel Bridges 1,647.8 8,916.6 10,564.4 Stainforth Emergency Works 51.6 739.6 791.2 Upper Parrett Bridge Package 178.7 626.8 805.5 Other total 1,878.1 10,283 12,161.1 Tidal Associated Gates Corrosion Protection Systems 283.5 495.1 778.6 Denver Little Eyes Refurbishment, Stage 1 117.9 986.7 1,104.6 Lower Lancaster FAS Phases 1 and 2 984.5 9896 10,880.5 Lymington River Flood Alleviation Scheme 1,103.7 3,190 4,293.7 Medway Lock Inspections 07/08 12.6 — 12.6 Parrett Banks—Thatchers Arms 130.6 387.8 518.4 Rainham Main Sluice Frontage, E022_02 & 03 321.9 396.3 718.2 Selby Defences inc. Barlby 2,188.6 15,943.2 18,131.8 Thames Barrier Corrosion Protection System 480.3 2,427.6 2,907.9 Tidal total 5,623.6 33,722.7 39,346.3 FDGIA total 25,608.7 100,830.4 126,439.1 FDGIA/Income Coastal Southern Felixstowe Coastal Defences 228.7 12153.9 12382.6 Coastal total 228.7 12,153.9 12,382.6 Fluvial Boscastle—Valency Flood Defence System 917 5,618.8 6,535.6 Hereford FAS 1,011.4 6,370.1 7,381.5 St. Ives—Stennack Stream 1,577.7 8,372.3 9,950 Fluvial total 3,506.1 2,0361 23,867.1 Other Frampton Habitat Creation Works 1,053.3 208.1 1,261.4 Other total 1,053.3 208.1 1,261.4 Tidal Ipswich Flood Defence Management Scheme: Wet Dock Gates Replacement 262.4 1,598.4 1,860.8 Queenhithe Wharf Frontage N230, Repair & Strength 381.1 1,410.3 1,791.4 Tidal total 643.5 3,008.7 3,652.2 FDGSA/income total 5,431.6 35,731.7 41,163.3 Grand total 31,040.3 136,562.1 167,602.4
Flooding Lessons Learned Review
The Government’s response to the Pitt Review set out what had been implemented before December 2008 and the further steps required to implement its recommendations in the future. The Government will report further on implementation every six months, beginning in June 2009.
Floods
[holding answer 2 April 2009]: The Environment Agency completed actions in response to the urgent recommendation from Sir Michael Pitt’s interim report in August 2008 which stated
‘The Review recommends that the Environment Agency, supported by local authorities and water companies, should urgently identify areas at highest risk from surface water flooding where known, inform Local Resilience Forums and take steps to identify remaining high risk areas over the coming months’.
The Environment Agency sent map data to Local Resilience Forums to help them plan their response to surface water flooding emergencies.
The information on the maps is still under development and is for emergency planning purposes. The maps give an indication of the broad areas likely to be susceptible to surface water flooding based upon an extreme summer rainfall event with no drainage systems working. The information is not sufficiently accurate to use for individual properties. For example, it excludes the impact of buildings and kerb heights on surface water flows which at the local level can be significant. There will be properties at risk from surface water flooding that will not be included in the outline areas on the maps. The Environment Agency has not published the maps because of these uncertainties.
The Environment Agency is committed to providing the public and businesses with accurate and meaningful information about surface water flood risk in conjunction with local authorities and water companies in the future. Work is ongoing to validate the model results against historic surface water flood events. The information will be published once there is confidence in the results.
I have balanced the need to share surface water flood risk data with the public against the risks of publishing nationally un-validated data based on extreme scenarios for some types of surface water flooding. The public interest is best served by the current situation where Local Resilience Forums have information that will help them plan for emergencies and it is better to wait until more reliable data are available before publishing the Environment Agency’s maps. In the meantime, members of the public can purchase maps on surface water flooding on the internet from at least one commercial company.
Floods: Essex
(2) which river maintenance schemes in the Essex catchment area have received funding from his Department in the last 12 months; and how much was spent on each such scheme;
(3) which flood protection schemes in the Essex catchment area have received funding from his Department in the last 12 months; and how much was spent on each such scheme in that period.
[holding answer 31 March 2009]: During the financial year 2008-09, the Environment Agency has spent the following on constructing new, and refurbishing existing flood defences in Essex:
£9.32 million—Jaywick;
£0.65 million—Canvey Island;
£0.27 million—Tilbury;
£0.16 million—developing schemes for Brightlingsea and Great Wakering;
£2.62 million—on over 30 smaller tidal and river defence schemes.
£4.67 million has been spent during 2008-09 on the general maintenance of river and tidal defences in Essex by the Anglian Eastern Area of the Environment Agency. Work has been carried out across the county at many locations, covering routine maintenance and one-off repairs to defences and structures, and is not broken down into specific schemes.
The following Capital Flood Defence schemes in the Essex Catchment have received funding during 2008-09 and will continue into the next five years. Based on our current plans, funding will be allocated to the following projects over the period 2009 to 2014 in the amounts indicated:
£2.8 million—Brightlingsea;
£11.2 million—Great Wakering;
£0.7 million—Holland Sluice;
£0.3 million—Thames Tidal Defences;
£0.8 million—Tilbury Barrier;
£0.02 million—Jaywick.
In addition to the above, £4.27 million has been allocated to schemes for maintenance of river and tidal defences in 2009-10. Future years’ maintenance is likely to be funded to a similar figure.
Source:
The Environment Agency's Capital Works database
Floods: South East
The Government provided £132 million to the Thames and Southern Regions of the Environment Agency in 2008-09 in order to reduce the incidence and severity of flooding in the south east of England. The funding for these regions is to increase to £151 million for 2009-10.
The funding enables the Environment Agency to maintain and improve the flood defences and the Thames Barrier protecting London, and many other projects both inland and protecting the coastline around the south-east of England.
Over the current CSR period of 2008-09 to 2010-11, over 36 major projects will be completed in Thames Region alone, at a cost of £87 million. These will deliver further benefits and reduce flood risk to over 67,000 homes.
Within Romford itself, the Environment Agency will continue to carry out routine watercourse maintenance on Main Rivers in the River Rom catchment to reduce the risk of flooding. This includes vegetation control, blockage removal and incident response.
Several improvement measures are planned for the Cross Road Flood Storage Area at Collier Row, Romford, during 2010 and 2011 at an estimated cost of £620,000. This is to ensure that the current standard of flood alleviation to properties in west Romford is maintained.
Fly-tipping
Action and enforcement against fly-tipping is taken by local authorities and the Environment Agency.
Through the former BREW (Business Resource Efficiency and Waste) programme, DEFRA has given the Environment Agency £1.5 million each year for the last four years. This has been spent on a wide range of environmental crime-related work which includes anti fly-tipping measures. The Environment Agency also receives grant in aid from DEFRA for a range of environmental work and enforcement activities.
In 2008-09 DEFRA gave Encams (“Keep Britain Tidy”) £95,000, in addition to its grant, to fund a range of activities to support local authorities in tackling fly-tipping. In recent years, DEFRA has also funded a range of research projects which have to varying degrees addressed the issue of fly-tipping.
(2) what recent guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on (a) prevention and (b) clean-up of fly-tipping.
The Government are taking steps on a number of fronts to help local authorities and the Environment Agency tackle fly-tipping, an antisocial activity which can blight both urban and rural areas.
DEFRA's illegal waste activity action plan, as set out in the England Waste Strategy 2007, aims to reduce fly-tipping through better prevention, detection and risk-based enforcement. The main measures are:
new powers for local authorities and the Environment Agency to instantly seize vehicles that are involved in waste crime, implementing a power established by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. These powers are scheduled to be introduced later this year and should act as an effective deterrent, as well as helping regulators to build more effective prosecutions;
improving the waste carrier registration system and promoting—through more user friendly guidance—the waste duty of care so that the law around carrying waste is better understood by businesses and easier for authorities to enforce;
funding of the Environment Agency's Waste Crime Innovation Programme which is developing and testing new techniques for tackling waste crime.
There are various sources of support, advice and guidance on fly-tipping available to local authorities:
DEFRA is funding Encams (“Keep Britain Tidy”) to offer bespoke advice to local authorities requiring assistance with their anti-fly-tipping strategies. Forty authorities received this assistance in 2008-09 and further funding is now in place to assist additional authorities in the coming year. This will be supported by a CD-Rom, being distributed to local authorities during April 2009, which offers authorities a single source of information on legal, detection and enforcement issues around fly-tipping, as well as best practice case studies.
DEFRA also funded the Environment Agency to develop the Flycapture Enforcement training programme which aims to help local authorities to take appropriate enforcement action in response to fly-tipping incidents. Training courses, delivered by Encams and the Chartered Institute of Waste Management (CIWM), are available around the country.
The fly-tipping protocol sets out the circumstances in which either a local authority or the Environment Agency deals with a particular incident and is supported by various other guidance documents linked to the Flycapture database.
Food: EU External Trade
[holding answer 23 March 2009]: There are over 2,000 agricultural tariff lines in the European Union tariff schedule, each of which has a tariff that may differ (according to various concessionary arrangements) for approximately 200 countries. To list a country by tariff line breakdown of the tariff-free concessions would involve disproportionate cost.
Food: Waste Disposal
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) undertook research in 2007 to quantify the amounts and types of food waste being produced in the UK.
According to The Food We Waste report, UK households throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food every year.
Combining these data with estimates of quantities of food purchases from the Expenditure and Food Survey in 2007 suggests that 31 per cent. of the 21.7 million tonnes of food we purchase—roughly a third—is thrown away. Of this, 4.1 million tonnes, or 18 per cent. of the food we purchase, could have been eaten. Food thrown away that we could have eaten excludes items such as vegetable peelings, meat carcasses and teabags.
Litter: Smoking
Each year, DEFRA funds ENCAMS to carry out the Local Environment Quality Survey of England. The results for the seventh survey were published in March 2009 and are available on ENCAMS website at:
www.encams.org
Smokers’ materials remain by far the most prevalent item, being present on 78 per cent. of all sites visited. The survey records only the incidence—that is to say the percentage of sites—where each type of litter occurs. It does not attempt to record the volume.
It is not possible to infer what effect the smoking ban in public places has had using this figure alone, but it is worth stating that it is the minority of people who choose to drop litter on the ground—not the smoking ban itself—which is responsible for creating litter.
Powers and duties for dealing with litter are provided by part 4 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 1990), as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 (CNEA 2005). Dropping any smoking-related litter is a littering offence under section 87 of the EPA 1990. A person found guilty of the litter offence may be fined up to level 4 on the standard scale (currently £2,500) in a magistrates court and section 88 of the EPA 1990 allows an authorised officer of a litter authority to issue fixed penalty notices as an alternative to prosecution in the range of £50 to £80 (set locally).
Livestock: Disease Control
[holding answer 2 April 2009]: The data required to provide the number of cattle slaughtered specifically because of irregularities with their passports in each of the last 10 years are not held in a form that is easily accessible. As the extraction and collation of these data would require a considerable amount of work and incur an unacceptable cost an answer cannot be provided. The data recorded monitor cattle slaughtered owing to the broader category of identification irregularities.
Livestock: Waste Disposal
The National Fallen Stock Company which runs the National Fallen Stock Scheme does not hold the information by species in the format requested. With regard to the amount of payments, the latest information for the totals spent is as follows:
By farmers By Government November 2004 to March 2005 2.29 0.86 April 2005 to March 2006 7.92 5.95 April 2006 to March 2007 10.29 6.87 April 2007 to March 2008 13.76 2.99 April 2008 to November 2008 8.10 1.29
Members: Correspondence
[holding answer 20 March 2009]: I wrote to the hon. Member for West Worcestershire on 2 April 2009.
Moscow
From information held centrally DEFRA staff made one visit to Moscow in the financial year 2007-08. This visit was undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Code and the Civil Service Management Code.
Phytophthora Ramorum
The Government recently announced the allocation of £25 million to support a five-year programme of work in England and Wales to manage and contain the risks of Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae from spreading further.
In addition to further research and development and an education and awareness programme, we will be looking to reduce the level of disease by removing infected and susceptible plants in woodlands and the wider environment, as well as identifying and controlling any new outbreaks. Experience has shown that the eradication of Rhododendron ponticum (the main host for the diseases) is the most effective control measure to reduce disease spread in the wider environment. At a selected number of woodland sites, the clearance of all rhododendrons, whether infected or not, has proved effective and appears to have prevented further infection of trees on those sites.
In addition to DEFRA’s general plant health programme which covers action against a wide range of plant pests and diseases (c. £10 million per annum), an additional £0.75 million was spent in 2008-09 for work to eradicate and control Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae in England and Wales. In this same period, The Forestry Commission spent approximately £0.05 million in combating these diseases in England and Wales.
The Government recently announced the allocation of £25 million to support a five-year programme of work in England and Wales to manage and contain the risks of Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae, from spreading further.
A policy and science review on Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae, including a public consultation, was carried out in 2008 to examine the historic and current situation and propose options for management of the diseases in the future. The consultation in England and Wales on “Future management of risks from Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae” closed on 10 October 2008. A total of 41 responses were received from a range of trade organisations and associations, individual businesses, local councils, owners and managers of historic gardens and government agencies. The review concluded that an increase in the current level of activity was required to reduce the risk of significant tree death and significant impact on heathlands within England and Wales, a view supported by the majority of respondents to the consultation.
The Government recently announced the allocation of £25 million to support a five-year programme of work in England and Wales to manage and contain the risks of Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae, from spreading further.
Pigs: Animal Diseases
Post-weaning mortality rate data for pigs are not collected by DEFRA. Production data such as post-weaning mortality rate are collected by the British Pig Executive (BPEX) and can be obtained directly from them.
The occurrence of endemic diseases in the GB pig population is monitored through diagnostic submissions made to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (England and Wales) and the Veterinary Surveillance Centres of the Scottish Agricultural College (Scotland). These results are reported in the Veterinary Investigation Surveillance Report and the quarterly Disease Surveillance reports produced by Veterinary Laboratories Agency for DEFRA. The data captured only represent results for samples/carcasses submitted to Veterinary Laboratories Agency or the Veterinary Surveillance Centres of the Scottish Agricultural College and do not represent the actual number of cases/outbreaks occurring in GB.
Post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) was first diagnosed in GB in mid-1999. The number of incidents of PMWS recorded by Veterinary Laboratories Agency and Veterinary Surveillance Centres of the Scottish Agricultural College (combined) between 2000-07 are as follows. An incident is defined as the first diagnosis in an outbreak.
Number of incidents 2000 11 2001 164 2002 286 2003 259 2004 164 2005 104 2006 66 2007 63 Source: Veterinary Investigation Surveillance Report 2007.
Power Stations: EU Law
I am arranging for the information requested to be placed in the Library of the House.
Soil: Pollution
The Environment Agency plans to publish toxicological and soil guideline value reports for cyanide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which will include benzo(a)pyrene, by 30 June 2009.
South East Water
Water companies have recently published their statements of response to the representations received on their draft Water Resources Management Plans. The Secretary of State will consider the need for inquiries or hearings in connection with the draft plans and whether these would assist him by eliciting information necessary in his consideration of whether to direct changes to the plans before they are finalised. Each plan will be considered on its merits and individual decisions on whether to hold an inquiry or hearing will be made once the Secretary of State has considered the statements of response.
Warm Front Scheme: Bexley
I have been asked to reply.
The Warm Front scheme offers an aftercare provision with cover for parts and labour under all installed gas central heating systems for two years. The latest period for which figures are available is 1 September 2007 to 2 April 2009. The following data show system repairs (including, although not exclusively pertaining to, boiler repairs) in Bexleyheath and Crayford and England respectively:
Number 1 Visit 262 2 Visits 65 3 Visits 32 >4 Visits 9 Total properties covered 1,323 Total Properties Visited 368
Number 1 Visit 66,890 2 Visits 20,617 3 Visits 6,353 >4 Visits 3,027 Total properties covered 377,256 Total Properties Visited 96,887
Water Companies
Water companies have recently published their statements of response to the representations received on their draft Water Resources Management Plans. The Secretary of State is considering the draft plans and the statements of response in order to reach a decision on the need for hearings or inquiries. Any hearing or inquiry will be conducted by an independent Inspector who will provide advice to the Secretary of State. There is no mechanism to appeal against that advice. Any decisions by the Secretary of State as a result of his review of the plans and statements of response, or as a result of the hearings or inquiries, may be challenged through the Judicial Review Process.
Work and Pensions
Advisory Services: Debts
[holding answer 12 March 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide my hon. Friend with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what guidance his Department has provided to staff working for Jobcentre Plus on the referral of clients to receive debt advice. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Referring customers to appropriate agencies for advice and support on debt and financial management has long been part of the service provided by Jobcentre Plus. To help our Personal Advisers with this, we have a comprehensive programme of learning designed to equip them with the range of knowledge and skills required to support all customers. This learning provides the adviser with the key skills needed to undertake effective work-focussed interviews, identify things that may be making it harder to find work and, where appropriate, signpost people to relevant sources of help.
More specifically, the “Introduction to Customer Groups” learning and development module provides guidance on how to help customers with debt problems. Currently being updated to strengthen and reinforce the help that is available to customers from Third Sector Organisations, this module is included in a range of learning routeways to ensure personal advisers and other staff are able to signpost customers to appropriate sources of help.
It is also worth mentioning that as part of a national partnership agreement, customers with debt problems are often referred to their local branch of the Citizens Advice Bureaux, which is well equipped to offer advice and guidance.
Children: Maintenance
I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Cardiff, Central (Jenny Willott) on 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 21W.
Christmas
No, it is not.
Christmas Bonus
The standard £10 Christmas bonus was paid as normal before Christmas to all those who qualified. Information on when the additional Christmas bonus was paid is in the table.
Volume payments made/expected to be made Percentage of forecasted total December 2008 Nil Nil January 2009 12,216,750 79.63 February 2009 1,433,420 9.34 March 2009 1,692,590 11.03 April 2009 Nil1 Nil Notes: 1. Exceptionally there may be some clerical payments. 2. All payments figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 3. The total volume of payments to be made is 15,342,751. Source: Special Payment Programme Weekly Review document 4 March 2009
Departmental Pay
The answer is in the following table:
2009 Volume payments to be made Percentage of forecasted total 1 to 15 January 12,175,120 81.94 16 to 31 January 41,630 00.28 1 to 15 February 49,390 00.33 16 to 28 February 1,302,100 08.76 1 to 15 March 1,289,700 08.69 16 to 31 March 10 0 1 Exceptionally some payments may be issued clerically after 15 March 2009. Notes: 1. All payment figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. As of 9 February 2009 DWP have issued 12,231,904 payments. 3. The total volume of payments forecast to be made is 14,857,929. Source:Special Payment Programme weekly review document 11 February 2009.
[holding answer 26 February 2009]: The answer is in the following table.
Volume payments to be made Percentage of forecasted total 1 January 2009 to 31 January 2009 12,216,750 79.63 1 February 2009 to 28 February 2009 1,433,420 9.34 1 March 2009 to 31 March 2009 11,692,590 11.03 1 Some additional payments may be issued clerically during March 2009. Notes: 1. All payment figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. The total volume of payments to be made is 15,342,751. Source: Special Payment Programme Weekly Review document 4 March 2009.
Council Tax Benefits
The following table shows estimates of the cost and number of council tax benefit (CTB) beneficiaries of (a) awarding full CTB where no individual is paying income tax, and regardless of any capital held and (b) awarding full CTB where no individual is paying income tax and capital held is within the current capital limits.
Full CTB where no one pays income tax, depending on capital Number of beneficiaries Cost in annually managed expenditure (£ million per year) No capital limit Working age 450,000 200 Pensioners 510,000 270 Total 950,000 470 Capital under £16,000 Working age 350,000 80 Pensioners 460,000 200 Total 800,000 290 Notes: 1. All figures are for Great Britain. 2. Beneficiaries are rounded to the nearest 10,000 and costs are rounded to the nearest £10 million. These estimates include customers who gain and those who become entitlement to the benefit. 3. Each beneficiary represents a benefit unit, which can be a single claimant or a couple. 4. The impact is estimated using the Department’s Policy Simulation Model for 2008-09, using data from the 2006-07 Family Resources Survey up-rated to 2008-09 prices, benefit rates and earnings levels, and is calibrated to latest published forecasts and policies. 5. Results are subject to sampling and reporting errors and estimation assumptions, and are therefore indicative only. No behavioural changes are assumed.
The information is in the following table:
Increase in upper capital limit Number of beneficiaries Cost in annually managed expenditure (£ million per year) £50,000 130,000 70 No limit 150,000 80 Notes: 1. All figures are for Great Britain. 2. Beneficiaries are rounded to the nearest 10,000 and costs are rounded to the nearest £10 million. These estimates include customers who gain and those who become entitled to the benefit. 3. Each beneficiary represents a benefit unit, which can be a single claimant or a couple. 4. The impact is estimated using the Department's Policy Simulation Model for 2008-09, using data from the 2006-07 Family Resources Survey up-rated to 2008-09 prices, benefit rates and earnings levels, and is calibrated to latest published forecasts and policies. 5. Results are subject to sampling and reporting errors and estimation assumptions, and are therefore indicative only. No behavioural changes are assumed.
Crisis Loans
[holding answer 31 March 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to respond to your question asking the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that crisis loans customers can obtain a face-to-face assessment at their local Jobcentre with crisis loans officers. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Our preferred method of accessing Crisis Loans is by the telephone and this process works well for the majority of our customers as the service is more accessible without the need to visit a Jobcentre.
However, vulnerable customers who cannot use the telephone to access Crisis Loans do have the option of making an appointment for a face to face interview at their local Jobcentre. Processes are in place for the Jobcentre to immediately forward the application to a Crisis Loan Decision Maker to make the decision on the application and call the customer back with the outcome.
[holding answer 31 March 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to respond to your question on how many crisis loans officers there are operating the telephone helpline service for customers. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
When the service was set up initially Jobcentre Plus had 800 Crisis Loan Decision Makers answering telephones and making decisions in the 20 Crisis Loan Benefit Delivery Centres. Due to an unprecedented rise in Crisis Loan applications which has more than doubled since October 2006, taking us to an average of 220,000 applications per month, plans were put in place to deploy an extra 700 staff from our Contact Centre Directorate to take Crisis Loan calls. The conversion of these 700 Contact Centre staff to offer the full telephone application and decision making process for Crisis Loans is due for completion by April 2009.
This year we have seen further increases in applications to 275,000 for January and 272,000 for February 2009. Therefore, a decision has been made to increase our staff over the next year by an extra 300. This will take us to 1,800 Decision Makers overall.
[holding answer 31 March 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to answer your question on what estimate he has made of (a) the number of calls made by customers for crisis loans which went through to a recorded message, (b) the average number of calls a customer made before being connected to speak directly to a crisis loans officer and (c) the number of complaints made by crisis loans customers on the inability to be connected to talk to a crisis loans officer via the telephone system in the latest period for which information is available. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
We do not have the information requested in this format.
However, latest information available for February 2009 shows we made 272,000 Crisis Loan decisions and the majority of these would have been made over the telephone where all customers would have gone through the Interactive Voice Response messaging service before the call was answered. Due to high demand, it is unfortunately taking longer than usual to get through to our Crisis Loans agents but I have no evidence that all customers wanting a Crisis Loan do not eventually get through to make their application.
I have received 49 complaints to me as Chief Executive about Crisis Loans in general from March 2008 to February 2009 compared to 2,774,032 Crisis Loan applications for the same period.
Departmental Buildings
Department for Work and Pensions Display Energy Certificates are in place in 375 buildings across England and Wales and in 45 buildings across Scotland. As disproportionate costs would be incurred to provide individual copies of the certificate and the accompanying advisory report, my officials are arranging for electronic copies of these documents to be prepared and placed in the Library.
Departmental Data Protection
The Department's Information Security Committee (a sub-committee of the Department's Executive Team) is responsible for information security issues across the Department. Operational responsibility for security is assigned to respective chief executives and heads of businesses within the Department. Other senior staff in the Department's agencies have specific responsibilities for promoting data and IT system security and report to their respective chief executives.
Following the publication of the Cabinet Office's Review of Data Handling Procedures in Government, specific senior civil servants across the Department have been designated as Information Asset Owners who provide assurance to the Department's Senior Information Risk Owner that data assets are properly protected.
The Department also deploys a range of internal and external professional security resources and suppliers to both deliver and assure its IT Infrastructure and systems.
The Department is compliant with the security policies contained in the Government Security Policy Framework including those for information security, assurance and the encryption of data. Its arrangements to ensure compliance with these measures comprise a system of self-assessment, accreditation, assurance reporting, audit and review.
The Department does not publish details of the resources used to provide assurance over IT system security, staff or otherwise, as this could potentially threaten the security of information.
Departmental Internet
The tables outline the page impressions for each of the websites maintained by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Department for Work and Pensions Jobcentre Plus The Pension Service Child Support Agency March 2008 4,438,340 250,206,608 2,885,226 653,089 April 2008 4,890,895 279,358,470 n/a 693,879 May 2008 4,632,534 250,206,608 n/a 623,741 June 2008 5,467,135 290,661,873 n/a 710,818 July 2008 5,481,316 302,481,658 2,792,047 703,331 August 2008 4,823,111 271,781,484 2,545,342 669,090 September 2008 5,255,207 308,875,532 2,815,695 753,074 October 2008 5,840,085 302,104,417 2,954,131 770,977 November 2008 5,675,631 266,874,017 3,155,462 721,481 December 2008 4,578,694 179,521,943 2,159,900 550,725 January 2009 7,693,486 350,647,463 3,820,139 901,912 February 2009 6,311,548 298,532,534 3,137,296 741,673
Directgov Carers Directgov Disability Directgov over 50s Directgov Jobs and Skills Search March 2008 307,581 1,300,776 438,118 15,812,733 April 2008 327,393 1,434,791 434,884 23,791,855 May 2008 279,429 1,164,606 294,965 19,269,288 June 2008 315,728 1,243,904 321,516 22,951,946 July 2008 321,083 1,291,101 336,221 25,937,505 August 2008 298,200 1,206,271 349,620 21,188,100 September 2008 331,579 1,321,886 389,937 23,803,716 October 2008 357,209 1,390,235 400,452 24,721,075 November 2008 357,971 1,300,776 416,613 22,366,816 December 2008 265,159 1,434,791 304,269 n/a January 2009 472,298 1,300,776 678,359 21,320,809 February 2009 — 1,434,791 565,034 60,402,038
Age Positive Office for Disability Issues European Social Fund Health and Safety Executive March 2008 53,692 46,370 57,495 10,152,266 April 2008 64,450 52,021 35,240 8,676,657 May 2008 77,281 57,474 58,541 7,727,433 June 2008 85,586 53,154 63,781 8,040,120 July 2008 67,995 58,098 48,604 7,447,961! August 2008 49,610 48,873 51,520 6,349,379 September 2008 47,653 n/a 57,699 8,300,273 October 2008 35,517 51,951 54,395 9,440,699 November 2008 33,739 49,760 62,070 8,543,091 December 2008 28,350 57,367 44,399 6,165,509 January 2009 35,569 57,772 53,056 8,199,968 February 2009 35,529 — 50,377 8,174,915
Now Let’s Talk Money March 2008 8,942 April 2008 54,134 May 2008 57,875 June 2008 70,747 July 2008 72,566 August 2008 74,288 September 2008 50,868 October 2008 53,651 November 2008 47,490 December 2008 42,658 January 2009 39,042 February 2009 37,122 n/a = Not available
Independent Case Examiner Industrial injuries Advisory Council Social Security Advisory Council March 2008 22,636 18,915 17,399 April 2008 24,112 18,911 18,403 May 2008 24,328 19,293 20,187 June 2008 24,046 18,202 18,561 July 2008 25,047 18,395 18,166 August 2008 26,334 18,488 18,631 September 2008 20,945 16,534 17,356 October 2008 20,229 16,764 17,036 November 2008 23,312 18,587 45,590 December 2008 29,862 17,903 18,453 January 2009 29,862 19,055 19,755 February 2009 23,345 17,811 17,807
[holding answer 13 March 2009]: The information is as follows.
(a) Full-time London based DWP employees have a 36 hour working week whereas the London Living Wage is calculated on the basis of a 38.5 hour working week. DWP employees based in London are paid on the relevant DWP inner or outer London payscale according to their grade and location. All of our directly employed London based employees are paid at a level above that of the London Living Wage when calculated on the basis of either a 36 or a 38.5 hour working week.
(b) DWP does not contractually require its suppliers to pay their employees at levels above the London Living Wage. It may be that within individual supply chains some employees are paid below the London Living Wage. However, it would be at a disproportionate cost to collect and collate the information requested.
Departmental Recruitment
The overall pay bill cost for permanent and temporary staff employed by the Department in each year from 2005-06 to 2007-08 is published in the departmental report 2008. We are unable to identify the costs of newly recruited staff or agency staff without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Training
The Department’s policy on away days, management conferences and seminars is that they should take place in venues which provide value for money taking account of the nature of the event.
Where the hire of rooms or the use of hotel facilities is considered appropriate, this should be judged against the availability of reasonable alternatives, the location of the facilities in relation to the home location of the majority of attendees, and the associated travel costs.
Any expenditure is incurred in accordance with the principles of managing public money and the Treasury Handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Disability Living Allowance
Applications for disability living allowance from people aged over 65 years are not returned to the customer but are treated as a claim for attendance allowance.
Drugs: Rehabilitation
[holding answer 18 March 2009]: We do not collect information on the medical conditions of jobseeker's allowance claimants.
Economic and Monetary Union
There are six staff on the Department's Euro Steering Committee, which commissions work elsewhere within the Department as necessary to maintain the Department's state of readiness, in accordance with Government policy. All members of the Steering Committee undertake this work alongside their other duties. In the last six months there have been two internal meetings of officials, and one meeting with HM Treasury, on this subject
The current focus of euro preparations work across the Department is on the governance arrangements for new IT developments, to ensure that any new systems incorporate an appropriate level of euro compatibility. Due to the nature of this work, we are not able to identify the number of people engaged in the euro-related aspect of these arrangements.
Employment and Support Allowance
(2) how many and what proportion of (a) new and (b) existing employment and support allowance claimants will be covered by (i) progression to work pathfinders, (ii) invest to save pathfinders and (iii) personalised employment programme pilots;
(3) how many and what proportion of existing incapacity benefits claimants will be covered by the invest to save pathfinders.
One of the core recommendations from the Gregg review of conditionality was the creation of a new ‘Progression to Work’ group. Gregg recommends that this new approach should be for those people who may not be ready to work immediately, but who with the right mix of support and encouragement could get back into employment. This model would apply to employment and support allowance claimants (other than those in the employment and support allowance support group) and lone parents, and partners of benefit recipients, with children aged one to six. The Progression to Work pathfinders have been created as a result of this recommendation.
The claimants involved in the Progression to Work group will be required to actively engage with their adviser on an ongoing basis to consider, discuss and agree an action plan comprising activities they think will improve their prospects of moving back into work. They must then undertake these agreed activities as part of their own journey towards employment following directions from advisers where these are strictly necessary. This will be underpinned with recourse to sanctions for those failing to engage with support without good cause. However, although still in the Progression to Work group, lone parents and partners of benefit recipients, with children aged one and two will be encouraged, rather than required, to undertake work related activity and will not be sanctioned for refusing to undertake work related activity.
This pathfinder will cover approximately 10 to 15 per cent. of the new employment and support allowance claimants and parents with a youngest child aged between one and less than seven nationally. Based on current inflows, this equates to roughly 65,000 employment and support allowance claimants, 60,000 lone parents and 10,000 partners of benefit recipients each year. These pathfinders are anticipated to begin in late 2010 and last for two years. They are likely to be across six districts and delivery will be a mixture of provider led and Jobcentre Plus led.
The Progression to Work pathfinders will not cover any existing employment and support allowance claimants.
The Invest to Save pathfinders will not cover any new employment and support allowance claimants; it is planned that the pathfinders will cover existing incapacity benefits customers only, following migration to employment and support allowance. Based on published caseload projections, we estimate that approximately 17 per cent. of existing customers will be covered by these pathfinders. Estimates will be refined as part of the tendering process for the pathfinders and will be published at the Pre-Qualification-Questionnaire stage.
The Invest to Save pathfinders will not cover any existing employment and support allowance claimants; the pathfinders will cover existing incapacity benefits customers only.
We anticipate the Personalised Employment Programme pilots will, subject to the passage of legislation, cover approximately 6 per cent. of new employment and support allowance claimants. This equates to roughly 35,000 new employment and support allowance claimants annually, based on current inflows.
We anticipate that Personalised Employment Programme pilots will not cover any existing employment and support allowance claimants.
European Social Fund
Regional lists of projects which will receive funding from the 2007-13 European Social Fund programme for England are available on the European Social Fund website at
www.esf.gov.uk/esf_in_action/esf_projects.asp.
The lists show the amount of funding each project will receive.
Housing Benefit
In the Welfare Reform White Paper, ‘Raising expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future’ (Cm 7506) published in December 2008, we announced our intention to launch a public consultation on housing benefit reform early in 2009. The timing of this consultation has not been finalised.
Incapacity Benefit: Voluntary Work
The information is not collated centrally.
Incentives
The recruitment subsidy is part of the £0.5 billion package of jobs measures announced at the 12 January jobs summit. The package will be over two years from April 2009, subject to available funding.
Income Support
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the right hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has asked me to reply to your question asking how many and what proportion of claims for Income Support took (a) fewer than five days, (b) between five and 10 days, (c) between 10 and 20 days, (d) between 20 and 30 days, (e) between 30 and 50 days, (f) between 50 and 100 days and (g) over 100 days to process in each of the last (i) 12 months and (ii) five years for which information is available. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
In terms of volumes and percentages our benefit processing system records the number of Income Support claims processed within 1-5 days, 6-13 days and 13+ days. The data provided below regarding the volumes is displayed cumulatively for the first two time band sets—up to 5 days and then up to 13 days. The 13+ day column then shows the remaining total of claims processed beyond this time period. The percentage figures are not cumulative and are subject to rounding.
This data has been available since 2006. I have provided you with the yearly total for 2006/07 and 2007/08. I have also provided you with the in-month data for the last 12 months. The available information is in the attached annex.
Month Income support processed in 5 days Income support processed in 6-13 days Income support processed in 13+ days Percentage 1-5 days Percentage 6-13 days Percentage 13 days + 2008 March 33,239 54,079 10,129 51.8 32.5 15.8 April 38,051 65,258 13,011 48.6 34.8 16.6 May 36,986 61,197 12,533 50.2 32.8 17.0 June 38,332 64,702 11,902 50.0 34.4 15.5 July 42,586 71,927 13,455 49.9 34.4 15.8 August 40,102 67,602 12,688 49.9 34.3 15.8 September 39,899 68,768 13,952 48.2 34.9 16.9 October 42,244 73,510 15,908 47.2 35.0 17.8 November 33,205 54,565 14,815 47.9 30.8 21.4 December 23,973 36,914 9,044 52.2 28.2 19.7 2009 January 29,110 41,372 6,373 61.0 25.7 13.3 February 26,054 37,796 5,491 60.2 27.1 12.7 2006-07 344,758 650,823 224,478 39.4 35.0 25.6 2007-08 404,079 704,716 173,928 46.0 34.2 19.8
Jobcentre Plus
[holding answer 16 March 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking, pursuant to his contribution of 10 March 2009, Official Report, column 176 on Woolworths how many people made redundant from Woolworths as a result of its closure have found work through Jobcentre Plus. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
We do not have comprehensive information on the numbers of people made redundant from Woolworths who have found work through Jobcentre Plus as we do not record job outcomes achieved for former employees of particular employers: to do so would be prohibitively expensive. We do however know that large numbers of people who worked in Woolworths have found new work with Jobcentre Plus' help. In the retail sector, the skills, experience and knowledge of former Woolworths’ employees have proven attractive to new employers.
Our support for Woolworths’ staff began with deployment of our Rapid Response Service, which meant for example that staff in almost all of Woolworths' stores were offered support before they closed. We issued over 8,000 packs to enable people to make claims for benefit, and in many instances provided on-site advice on benefits. Our advice and support on jobsearch has also been available to Woolworths' employees, both in the run up to store closure and afterwards.
The information requested is not available. Jobcentres are not categorised as constituting part of an urban conurbation or being sited within a rural location.
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. and learned Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking if he will consider the merits of reopening Jobcentre Plus branches in market towns more than 15 miles from the nearest branch. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus Customer Service Directors constantly review their service delivery plans to ensure optimum provision of service for all customers, for every Jobcentre Plus District. This is especially important in the context of the current economic conditions and welfare reform changes planned for the next two to three years.
In addition to our network of modernised Jobcentres we make our services accessible to customers by providing a range of support through outreach, often delivering advisory and other support on partners’ premises. That is important in locations where maintaining a Jobcentre could not be justified. Typically such services can be delivered in partnership with Children’s Centres or on Local Authority premises or in conjunction with one of our Welfare to Work Providers.
The great majority of our services (in common with most large, modern organisations) are now also delivered through the telephone and internet. For example, to give customers more convenient access, we have around half a million vacancies on-line at any time (our website receives close to one million job searches every working day), and new claims to benefit are predominantly taken by telephone with some taken on-line.
For these reasons, we have no plans to reopen Jobcentre Plus offices in the way you suggest, but will continue to explore realistic ways of delivering services that meet the needs of our customers.
Jobcentre Plus: Closures
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many Jobcentre Plus offices (a) have closed in the last 12 months and (b) are scheduled for closure; what the reason for closure is in each case. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
54 Jobcentre Plus offices were closed during 2008 that were previously open to the public. During the summer of 2008 every Jobcentre Plus district was asked to begin a review of their service delivery plans, taking account of current economic conditions and future changes. That initial review led to a decision, announced before Christmas, to suspend the planned closure of 25 Jobcentres. A further three small sites in London were closed during March 2009. These had been announced last summer prior to the decision to suspend future closures. No further Jobcentre closures are planned at the present time.
The great majority of our services (in common with most large, modern organisations) are now delivered through the telephone and internet. For example, to give customers more convenient access, we have around half a million vacancies on-line at any time (our website receives close to one million job searches every working day), and new claims to benefit are predominantly taken by telephone with some taken on-line. This has brought our customer facing services together in a more coherent and integrated network and I believe Jobcentre Plus is well-placed to respond to the full range of economic conditions.
I have asked the Customer Service Directors in our Regions to keep their plans under review so that we continue to respond effectively to customer demand.
Jobcentre Plus: Compensation
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves to Justine Greening
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many compensation payments, and of what total value, were paid to Jobcentre Plus customers in the form of (a) payments to restore customers to their original financial position and (b) consolatory payments (i) in each year from 2002 to 2009 and (ii) in each of the last 24 months, broken down by (A) region and (B) Jobcentre Plus district. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Payments to restore customers to their original financial position are shown in the first table below. This information is not available before 2003. Details of consolatory payments made by Jobcentre Plus are shown in the second table. These payments are known as Special Payments. In both cases, the information requested is not available broken down by month, region or Jobcentre Plus district and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Number of payments authorised Net amount authorised (£) 2003-04 1,126 258,937.03 2004-05 2,193 220,033.04 2005-06 1,801 206,512.10 2006-07 1,679 235,189.33 2007-08 1,007 145,177.60 2008-09 (to February 2009) 1,339 173,197.32
Number of payments authorised Net amount authorised (£) 2002-03 932 90,315.67 2003-04 998 96,360.43 2004-05 1,298 125,654.88 2005-06 1,265 108,520.49 2006-07 1,389 113,316.75 2007-08 2,247 155,222.73 2008-09 (to February 2009) 932 90,315.67 Source: Returns from Regional Jobcentre Plus special payments teams.
Jobcentre Plus: Cumbria
The information is not available.
Jobcentre Plus: Hertfordshire
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking what estimate he has made of the level of sickness absence attributable to work-related stress among staff in jobcentres in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire in the latest period for which figures are available; and what assessment he has made of the effect of such levels of absence on the delivery of jobcentre services. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Plus do not collect absence data specific to work related stress, as the causes of stress are complex and difficult to attribute to a single cause. We do, however, collect detailed data on the causes of sickness absence, including absences attributed to mental health problems, and through close monitoring are able to identify problem areas.
Jobcentre Plus is very aware of the negative impact of sickness absence on customer service and is committed to improving performance in this area. Indeed, our strategies are delivering considerable success, with the latest data confirming the improving trend we have seen over the last 12 months. We remain committed to securing further improvements.
Stress management and prevention are fundamental aspects of this approach, and we have a number of tools to support managers and staff achieve these objectives. These include risk assessment policies, developed by our psychologists, in consultation with the Health and Safety Executive, to identify working practices that might create pressure and to address stress experienced by individual employees regardless of the cause. These are supplemented by comprehensive lifestyle guidance for all staff on how to reduce personal stress levels.
Stress prevention is integral to wellbeing products available to all staff. For example, our people have 24-hour access to professional stress counsellors and to debt/legal advice free of charge. We also help managers to support their staff by providing them with access to medical advice provided by occupational health doctors and nurses.
In addition, we are embarking upon a major health and wellbeing programme across all of our sites. The programme provides staff with a wealth of information and guidance to support healthier lifestyles, gives them access to a confidential on-line health and wellbeing assessment and delivers targeted solutions to support the individual. The programme also provides managers at our Jobcentres with comprehensive information about the potential health risks to their staff, ensuring specific preventative action is taken to address the issues.
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many Personal Advisers were employed in Jobcentres in Hemel Hempstead and Hertfordshire in each of the last five years. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The information is in the following table.
Years Hemel Hempstead Jobcentre All Jobcentres in Hertfordshire including Hemel Hempstead 2004-05 5.50 29.72 2005-06 9.51 88.27 2006-07 12.23 82.16 2007-08 11.68 82.65 2008-09 17.07 102.67 Source: Jobcentre Plus Activity Based Management System
At the beginning of 2005-06 Jobcentre Plus implemented a more robust system that is designed to enable more accurate adviser activity reporting. At that time, as part of our Welfare to Work strategy, Jobcentre Plus expanded the Personal Adviser role to include specialist advisers for specific client groups, for example lone parents and customers aged over 50. This change was to improve the help it provides to customers who face additional barriers in returning to employment.
Jobcentre Plus: Manpower
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many personal advisers working in Jobcentre Plus are graded at (a) executive officer and (b) higher executive officer; and what the pay scales for those grades are. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Personal Advisers in Jobcentre Plus are all graded at Band C which is equivalent to Executive Officer level. There are currently over 9,700 Personal Adviser full time equivalents in Jobcentre Plus. Personal Advisers are managed by Advisory Services Managers who are graded at Band D, which is equivalent to Higher Executive Officer level and there are currently over 900 full time equivalent people in this role.
The pay scales for Personal Advisers are those for EO/Band C and are as follows:
£ National Inner London Outer London Specified locations Minimum 19,650 23,240 21,910 21,620 Maximum 23,990 27,850 26,680 26,210
The pay scales for Advisory services managers are those for HEO/Band D and are as follows:
£ National Inner London Outer London Specified locations Minimum 24,410 27,970 26,800 26,280 Maximum 29,500 33,190 32,020 31,550 Note: Specified locations pay zones are those where recruitment difficulties historically have led to an increase in local salary scales. Generally these apply across much of the South East, outside the London pay zones.
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many personal advisers were employed in jobcentres in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency in each of the last 5 years. This is something that falls within my responsibilities as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The information is in the following table:
Year ending: Copeland Cumbria March 2005 (see note 2) 15 87 March 2006 11 79 March 2007 12 74 March 2008 15 77 March 2009 13 72 Notes: 1. The Copeland area includes Jobcentres in Cleator Moor and Whitehaven. 2. Process changes between 2004-05 and the following years mean that this data is not comparable with later years. Source: Jobcentre Plus
We are closely managing our capacity to respond to the rising business volumes we are experiencing. The number of Personal Advisers in Cumbria will therefore be increasing in the coming months. Our planning for this increase is yet to be finalised and I know that Steve Johnson, District Manager for Jobcentre Plus in Cumbria and Lancashire, would be happy to discuss this with you at the meeting you have scheduled with him on 5 June.
Jobcentre Plus: Pay
The available information has been placed in the Library.
Jobcentre Plus: Sick Leave
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking what assessment has been made of levels of sickness absence attributable to work-related stress in jobcentres in Cumbria and Copeland constituencies, and what assessment he has made of the effect of such levels of absence on the delivery of jobcentre services. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobcentre Pus do not collect absence data specific to work related stress, as the causes of stress are complex and difficult to attribute to a single cause. We do, however, collect detailed data on the causes of sickness absence, including absences attributed to mental health problems, and through close monitoring are able to identify problem areas.
Jobcentre Plus is very aware of the negative impact of sickness absence on customer service and is committed to improving performance in this area. Indeed, our strategies are delivering considerable success, with the latest data confirming the improving trend we have seen over the last 12 months. We remain committed to securing further improvements.
Stress management and prevention are fundamental aspects of this approach, and we have a number of tools to support managers and staff achieve these objectives. These include risk assessment policies, developed by our psychologists, in consultation with the Health and Safety Executive, to identify working practices that might create pressure and to address stress experienced by individual employees regardless of the cause. These are supplemented by comprehensive lifestyle guidance for all staff on how to reduce personal stress levels.
Stress prevention is integral to wellbeing products available to all staff. For example, our people have 24-hour access to professional stress counsellors and to debt/legal advice free of charge. We also help managers to support their staff by providing them with access to medical advice provided by occupational health doctors and nurses.
In addition, we are embarking upon a major health and wellbeing programme across all of our sites. The programme provides staff with a wealth of information and guidance to support healthier lifestyles, gives them access to a confidential on-line health and wellbeing assessment and delivers targeted solutions to support the individual. The programme also provides managers at our Jobcentres with comprehensive information about the potential health risks to their staff, ensuring specific preventative action is taken to address the issues.
Jobcentre Plus: Standards
(2) what the latest satisfaction levels were for social fund customers who have received crisis loans, budgeting loans or community care grants; how those levels were measured; and if he will make a statement.
[holding answer 12 March 2009]: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions asking what the latest customer satisfaction levels are for Jobcentre Plus customers; how those levels were measured; and what the latest satisfaction levels were for social fund customers who have received crisis loans budgeting loans or community care grants; and how those levels were measured. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The most recent Jobcentre Plus Customer Satisfaction Survey took place in 2007 and found that 80 per cent. of customers were satisfied with the standard of service provided by Jobcentre Plus. Customers on Income Support were the most satisfied (84 per cent.), followed by Incapacity Benefit customers (80 per cent.) and Jobseeker's Allowance customers (74 per cent.).
The Survey was conducted by telephone between June and August 2007 with over 4,000 Jobseeker's Allowance, Income Support and Incapacity Benefit customers, although alternative completion methods were available to customers. The Survey was carried out independently by the Policy Research Institute of Leeds Metropolitan University. The next Jobcentre Plus Customer Satisfaction Survey is planned to be conducted in Summer 2009.
To measure customer satisfaction, customers were asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they were with all of the services provided by Jobcentre Plus. Satisfaction was measured as the percentage of customers who said they were either fairly or very satisfied with the services provided.
Jobcentre Plus does not measure customer satisfaction levels separately for Social Fund customers who have received Crisis Loans, Budgeting Loans or Community Care Grants. Customers who claim Social Fund may have been interviewed as part of the 2007 Jobcentre Plus Customer Satisfaction Survey, but their responses cannot be disaggregated.
Jobcentre Plus has a Customer Service Target which measures how well the business delivers its services to customers against a set of standards. Although the Customer Service Target does not measure customer satisfaction, it does reflect the three main ways in which Jobcentre Plus customers access Jobcentre Plus services—in person, by telephone and electronically. The overall national target is to achieve an overall 86 per cent. rating for standards of:
timeliness;
professionalism; and
information accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Performance on the Customer Service Target for the current year to date is 85.8 per cent.
Jobseeker's Allowance
The information requested is not available.
(2) how many and what percentage of claimants of jobseeker's allowance have been excused from meeting jobseeker's allowance rules in each month of the last two years for which information is available;
(3) how many and what percentage of claimants of jobseeker's allowance have been excused from meeting jobseeker's allowance rules in each year since 1997 for which information is available.
The information requested is not available. There is no policy in place which allows jobseekers to be excused from meeting jobseeker's allowance rules although different rules can apply in different circumstances.
Figures are available broken down by quarter. The available information is in the table.
Unknown duration 0 to3 months 3 to 6 months Over 6 months November 2005 4,800 95,800 119,800 142,600 February 2006 4,800 113,900 117,300 125,700 May 2006 5,300 94,800 108,500 109,000 August 2006 4,700 123,400 107,600 118,000 November 2006 6,700 104,600 126,800 120,300 February 2007 13,600 124,100 120,300 92,300 May 2007 19,000 101,500 103,900 71,000 August 2007 27,100 120,100 74,100 70,200 November 2007 n/a n/a n/a n/a February 2008 87,400 114,800 113,100 26,000 May 2008 167,500 111,300 50,400 n/a August 2008 285,700 19,100 n/a n/a n/a = Not available Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 2. Figures for November 2007 are not available due to jobseeker’s allowance data for that quarter not being received by IFD. 3. Figures for August 2008 will be revised when the new quarter’s data are released. 4. Data shown are quarterly due to the frequency of the 5 per cent. data. 5. Caution should exercised when looking at the August 2008 quarter as this maybe deficient due to a proportion of claims being received late. The best statistics on benefits are now derived from 100 per cent. data sources. However, the 5 per cent. sample data still provide some detail not yet available from the 100 per cent. data sources. Figures are subject to a high degree of sampling error and should only be used as a guide. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate (IFD), 5 per cent. sample.
The information requested is not available.
While we do not predict future levels of unemployment, we are planning for the impact of higher levels of jobseeker’s allowance claims in the coming months.
We do not collect information on the medical conditions of jobseeker’s allowance claimants.
As at February 2009, there are 216,690 people claiming jobseeker’s allowance in Great Britain aged 50 and over.
Notes:
1. Number of claimants rounded to nearest five.
2. Data is published at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk
3. Figures exclude clerical cases.
Source:
100 per cent. count of claimants of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer systems (computer held cases only).
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what the average time between submission of a claim for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) being submitted and the claimant receiving the first Jobseeker’s Allowance payment was in the last period for which figures are available. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The measurement of performance we use for JSA is known as the Actual Average Clearance Time (AACT). This is a calculation derived from an average of all the cases processed on our benefit processing system against the time each of those cases has taken to be processed. For JSA the two dates used to calculate this average are from the initial date of contact by the customer (i.e. their call to one of our Contact Centres) to the date a decision is made on their claim and a letter of eligibility is issued to them.
We cannot measure when the customer actually receives their first payment. The payment will be issued, if the customer is eligible, on the date a letter is issued. Monies will become available to the customer once they have passed through the banking clearance system for the relevant bank/building society or the Post Office Card Account, or when the postal system delivers a cheque payment for the customer to cash.
The AACT for JSA currently stands at 10.5 days (in month at February 2009) and 10.2 days (year to date). This is within the target of 11.5 days.
Jobseeker's Allowance: Cumbria
The information requested is shown in the following table.
Copeland Cumbria Number Median Number Median March 2004 - February 2005 (inclusive) 3,525 10.1 18,500 8.8 March 2005 - February 2006 (inclusive) 2,990 10.7 16,795 9.0 March 2006 - February 2007 (inclusive) 3,010 12.2 17,205 10.1 March 2007 - February 2008 (inclusive) 3,180 10.5 17,470 9.3 March 2008 - February 2009 (inclusive) 3,155 9.6 17,545 7.9 Notes: 1. Data are published at www.nomisweb.co.uk 2. Completed claims are rounded to the nearest five 3. Median is measured in number of weeks 4. Median is a better measure of “average” than arithmetic mean for skewed distributions such as duration of claim. Source: DWP WPLS 100 percent data
Jobseeker's Allowance: Hertfordshire
The available information is in the table.
Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire Number Median Number Median March 2004 to February 2005 3,355 9.1 29,460 8.3 March 2005 to February 2006 3,305 9.6 28,255 9.1 March 2006 to February 2007 3,540 10.4 30,190 10.0 March 2007 to February 2008 3,910 10.0 31,145 9.4 March 2008 to February 2009 3,735 7.5 32,105 7.1 Notes: 1. Data are published at www.nomisweb.co.uk. 2. Completed claims are rounded to the nearest five. 3. Median is measured in number of weeks. 4. Median is a better measure of “average” than arithmetic mean for skewed distributions such as duration of claim. Source: DWP WPLS 100 per cent. data
Members: Correspondence
The Independent Case Examiner’s office last wrote to the hon. Member on 9 December 2008 asking for further details of Mr. Siegel and his complaint, to enable them to provide an answer to the issues raised. They have no record of having received a reply. The Independent Case Examiner’s office contacted the Member’s constituency secretary on 31 March 2009 to request details of his letter of 16 February 2009. The Independent Case Examiner’s office will write to the hon. Member separately to progress matters.
National Insurance Contributions
[holding answer 30 March 2009]: The Department for Work and Pensions does not issue temporary national insurance numbers.
New Deal Schemes: Finance
[holding answer 2 April 2009]: The indicative budget for phase 1 of the flexible new deal was included in the invitation to tender at an average of £236.6 million per annum, and the bids are subject to ongoing evaluation and commercial negotiation. Phase 2 indicative budgets will be announced as part of the procurement process later this year.
The Department does not forecast levels of long-term unemployment or the future number of claimants of jobseeker’s allowance. However, for planning purposes the Department does make use of the HM Treasury unemployment assumption, which is based on an average of a number of independent unemployment forecasts. These figures are planning assumptions only and do not reflect an official view of numbers of unemployed people or the duration of unemployment. An update to this assumption will be published in the Budget.
Pathways to Work
[holding answer 31 March 2009]: The financial viability of providers is assessed before we award a contract, and throughout the contract life. Where any financial viability risks are identified the Department’s financial specialists seek robust and appropriate mitigation and ensure that management plans are put in place.
The Department, working in consultation with providers, has been looking at approaches to improve performance of Pathways to Work contracts. Among the actions agreed, we have been prepared to consider re-profiling the payment of the service fee element, to reflect more closely the expenditure and income generation of providers. This re-profiling does not, overall, change the contractual terms, the value or the total amount payable for outcomes against the service fee or the overall performance expectations. Each contract is being looked at on an individual basis and of the 11 providers involved, we have agreed to re-profile in nine cases.
Pensioners: East Sussex
By 15 March 2009, 15.3 million scheduled additional Christmas bonus payments of £60 had been paid to pensioners and other eligible recipients. It is possible that a small number of customers may not have received their payment. Therefore exceptionally, some payments may need to be made clerically.
An exercise to identify the very small number of qualifying customers who have not yet received their payment is being undertaken.
Pensioners: Ex-servicemen
[holding answer 26 March 2009]: The director general of the Royal British Legion wrote to the Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform drawing attention to the Return to Rationing Campaign and the needs of ex-service and other pensioners. The then Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Mr. Plaskitt) replied on 24 September 2008 and a copy of the reply has been placed in the Library.
We have since received a number of further representations in support of the Royal British Legion campaign and have replied in similar terms.
Pensioners: National Insurance Contributions
The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Self-Employed
(2) if he will adjust the criteria for claiming contribution-based jobseeker's allowance to enable formerly self-employed persons without work to claim the allowance.
The Government are doing everything they can to help those who become unemployed back into work as quickly as possible. We are investing an extra £1.3 billion to ensure that through Jobcentre Plus we can continue to provide personal help and advice to everyone who needs it.
Income-based jobseeker's allowance is available to self-employed people who meet the eligibility criteria. The Department administers a wide range of benefits and allowances that are available to people on low incomes. Self-employed people who meet the qualifying criteria may be entitled to housing benefit, council tax benefit and help with NHS charges. Those working and on a low income may be entitled to working tax credit whilst those with children may be entitled to child tax credit.
Class 2 national insurance contributions provide self-employed people with protection against ill-health, bereavement and old age by providing entitlement to employment and support allowance, bereavement benefits and basic state pension and the rate of contributions they pay reflects this. There are no plans to extend this entitlement to contributory jobseeker's allowance.
Social Security Benefits: Crosby
The information requested is not held centrally.
Social Security Benefits: Fraud
(2) what assessment of the efficacy of the use of voice risk analysis technology by benefit authorities his Department has (a) undertaken and (b) commissioned from (i) independent bodies and (ii) service providing contractors; and what the (A) methodology and (B) conclusions of those assessments is;
(3) what disability impact assessment of the use of voice risk analysis technology in each pilot benefit authority his Department has (a) undertaken and (b) commissioned from (i) independent bodies and (ii) service providing contractors; and what the (A) methodology and (B) conclusions of those assessments are;
(4) what assessments of the use of voice risk analysis technology by benefit authorities have been published by his Department.
There is a body of published scientific research on voice risk analysis, but there is no published research on the efficacy of the technology when applied to benefit claims. The Department is therefore conducting its own research into the efficacy of voice risk analysis based on trials by local authorities and Jobcentre Plus. The Department’s evaluation is being conducted by departmental statisticians who are bound by a National Code of Practice. The Department has not commissioned any independent bodies or service providing contractors to conduct an evaluation.
The Department’s assessment of its voice risk analysis trials during 2007-08 in Jobcentre Plus and local authorities, and details of its evaluation methodology, have been published. I refer the hon. Member to the Official Report, column 19WS of the 11 March. Each local authority conducting trials of voice risk analysis technology is responsible for completing a disability impact assessment. This is a prerequisite to participation in the Department’s trial.
In accordance with departmental policy on carrying out equality impact assessments Jobcentre Plus conducted an initial screening on their voice risk analysis pilot. The pilot was restricted to assessing whether the technology could successfully identify the difference between high and low risk readings. As the pilot processes were specifically designed to test the voice risk analysis technology only and not its use as a new process or policy for implementation across Jobcentre Plus, it was concluded a full impact assessment was not required.
The Department has not commissioned any independent bodies or service providing contractors to conduct a disability impact assessment.
Social Security Benefits: Tamworth
This information is not held centrally.
State Retirement Pensions: Uprating
The gross additional basic state pension spend due to increasing the basic state pension by earnings from 2010 and the 2007 Pensions Act reforms are given in the following table:
£ billion 2010-11 0.1 2011-12 0.5 2012-13 0.5 2013-14 1.6 2014-15 2.6 2015-16 3.6 2020-21 9.2 2030-31 24.9 2040-41 48.7 2050-51 70.0 Notes: 1. Baseline published projections of expenditure on pensioner benefits assume that the basic state pension is increased by earnings from 2012. 2. Estimates given show the gross additional basic state pension spend due to increasing the basic state pension by earnings from 2010 and implementing the 2007 Pensions Act reforms from April 2010. During the next Parliament, we will re-link the uprating of the basic state pension to average earnings. Our objective, subject to affordability and the fiscal position, is to do this in 2012, but in any event by the end of the next Parliament at the latest. We will make a statement on the precise date at the beginning of the next Parliament. 3. Estimates do not reflect the estimated savings from reduced income related benefit payments (pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit). 4. In the financial years up to and including 2013-14 Treasury Economic assumptions consistent with PBR 2008 have been used to model earnings uprating. After this point a long term earnings growth assumption of 4.93 per cent. has been applied. 5. Estimates are in 2008-09 prices, have been rounded to the nearest £100 million and include UK and overseas claimants. Source: DWP modelling.
Training: HIV Infection
Jobcentre Plus is committed to supporting people with a disability or health condition, including those with HIV and other long-term conditions to find suitable, sustainable employment. It does this through its personal advisers, including disability employment advisers, and a variety of programmes and services aimed at supporting customers with disabilities and health conditions.
Jobcentre Plus works with a range of providers from the private, public and voluntary sectors to provide specialist disability programmes to help people with a disability or health condition, including HIV, to overcome the labour market barriers they may face. These programmes include Work Preparation, Workstep (a programme of supported employment), New Deal for Disabled People and residential training. Disability employment advisers also have access to work psychologists to assist them in supporting customers if appropriate.
For customers claiming benefits due to illness or disability the Pathways to Work programme helps move them into or nearer to work. Pathways to Work offers, among other things, a series of interviews with a personal adviser and training programmes to increase skills, confidence or help to manage a health condition.
People who are in work or due to start work and need support can claim help from Access to Work. Access to Work can provide practical advice and support to the disabled person and their employer to help them overcome work related obstacles resulting from disability. All Access to Work support is tailored to the individual’s needs.
From Autumn 2010 the new specialist disability programme will replace the existing Workstep and work preparation programmes and will be designed as a single streamlined and flexible programme based on effective needs assessment and creation of tailored packages of appropriate support.
There is a comprehensive programme of learning designed to equip Jobcentre Plus advisers with the full range of knowledge and skills required to support all customers. This learning routeway provides the adviser with the key knowledge and skills to interview customers and enable them to work effectively with customers with disabilities or health conditions. Part of the training is a “Disability Confident” course which explains various disabilities and health conditions, including HIV and other long term conditions, and what would be considered reasonable adjustment by employers.
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The UK Government propose to enter an interpretative declaration and a reservation in respect of article 24 of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. The interpretative declaration will make clear that the UK general education system includes both mainstream and special schools, thereby clarifying how the UK Government interpret the convention. This will make it clear that special schools are considered part of the UK's general education system and that parents have the right to express a preference for a special school. A reservation will allow for circumstances where disabled children's needs may be best met through specialist provision, which may be some way from their home—so they will need to be educated outside their local community. This also maintains parental choice for schools outside the local community.
I met representatives from the Northern Ireland Assembly on 11 December 2008, and of the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament on 14 December 2008. The Government's proposals for ratifying the convention, including the declaration and reservation in respect of article 24 were discussed at these meetings.
Unemployed: Voluntary Work
There are already a number of flexibilities within jobseeker's allowance for claimants who are volunteers at any point during their claim. Jobseekers who do voluntary work do not have to attend a job interview or take up a job straight away. They are allowed 48 hours to attend a job interview and one week to take up a job offer. In addition any money they receive to cover expenses incurred while volunteering (for food, travel, etc.) does not affect their benefit entitlement.
Our view is that the benefit rules strike a proper balance between allowing benefit recipients to pursue voluntary activity while at the same time encouraging them to retain a clear focus on moving off welfare into paid work. Our recent White Paper, “Raising Expectations and Increasing Support” (Cm 7506, 10 December) set out our vision and route map for a welfare state where everyone is given the help they need to get back to work.
Unemployment
The available information is in the following table.
Percentage 2008 September 66.2 October 65.8 November 65.3 December 65.4 2009 January 64.8 February 65.2 Notes: 1. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. 2. Claimant count data are published at https://www.nomisweb.co.uk. 3. Figures exclude clerical cases. Source: 100 per cent. count of claimants of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus Computer Systems (computer held cases only).
Unemployment Benefits
(2) for what reasons the information requested is not available.
Any such estimates could be collated only at disproportionate cost. This is because the Department holds records of people who have signed on but does not, and cannot, hold records of people who have not signed on, whatever their reason for not signing on may be.
[holding answer 2 April 2009]: Participants in Work for Your Benefit will be undertaking work-experience as part of an employment programme designed to get them back into work. Individuals taking part in work placements on government programmes do so on the basis that such participation gives them work experience or training which adds value and which improves their employability.
Existing Government policy for people participating in employment programmes is that a person who continues to receive financial support from the Government is not entitled to receive the national minimum wage while on a work placement. As such the national minimum wage will not apply in Work for Your Benefit.
Discussions have taken place between BERR and DWP to ensure the Work for Your Benefit programme will be consistent with national minimum wage legislation.
Vacancies: Cumbria
I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated March 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many job vacancies there were in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency. (263799)
The Office for National Statistics estimates the number of vacancies from the Vacancy Survey, however estimates below UK are not available from this source.
An alternative source of information on job vacancies is administrative data from Jobcentre Plus. This data only includes job vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and consequently is inconsistent with the UK estimates from the Vacancy Survey, however geographical breakdowns of this data are available.
Table 1 attached, shows the number of live unfilled job vacancies held by Jobcentre Plus for Cumbria and Copeland constituency, in February 2009, the most recent period for which figures are available. Figures from Jobcentre Plus for Great Britain, along with three month averages for the UK from the Vacancy Survey have also been included for comparison.
Not seasonally adjusted Copeland Cumbria GB February 2009 124 1,290 239,000 Source: Jobcentre Plus Administrative Data.
UK December to February 2009 482,000 1 Job vacancies for Copeland parliamentary constituency and Cumbria are live unfilled vacancies from the Jobcentre Plus administrative data. These are inconsistent with the UK figures from the ONS Vacancy Survey. Source: Vacancy Survey, ONS.
Vacancies: Marketing
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking how many complaints regarding the advertising of certain vacancies from within the adult entertainment industry have been received from (a) pressure groups; (b) jobseekers who have seen the vacancies advertised; (c) jobseekers who have applied for such vacancies; and (d) members of staff in each year since 2003 for which information is available. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
I am only able to provide you with the level of information you require from 2006 onwards. Prior to that the information is limited. The available information is in the table below.
Number Category 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total Pressure groups n/a n/a n/a 1 1 12 14 Jobseekers—seen the vacancies n/a n/a n/a 7 7 9 23 Jobseekers—applied for the vacancies 1 1 1 0 2 0 5 Members of staff n/a n/a n/a 0 1 2 3 Total 1 1 1 8 11 23 45 n/a = Not available. Source: Jobcentre Plus.
Vocational Training
Lone parents are supported by a wide package of pre-employment and in-work support measures to help them move into paid work; make work pay, and help sustainability and progression in work.
From November 2008 customers who claim benefit solely on the grounds of being a lone parent and have a youngest child aged 12 or over, and who are capable of work, will claim jobseeker's allowance. This will be followed by lone parents with a youngest child aged 10 or over from October 2009, and aged seven or over from October 2010.
On 28 January 2009 we published the discussion document “Realising Potential: Developing Personalised Conditionality and Support”. This set out our proposals for how we plan to run Pathfinders in income support which will require parents with a youngest child aged three to six to work closely with their personal adviser and design their own routeway back to work through work-related activity, including training, if appropriate.
We work with jobseekers from day one to help them identify and get the skills they need to enter work and remain there. We continue to focus particular help where people have basic skills needs and enable them to train from the beginning of their claim. Jobcentre Plus personal advisers are also able to agree early access to the job-search and training support offered by the New Deal for people whose circumstances may make it particularly hard to find work. The introduction of the Flexible New Deal will establish a new, individually-tailored approach for all job seekers, whatever their age, skills or barriers to work.
In autumn 2008 the Government announced that additional funding of £158 million has been made available through the European Social Fund for the Learning and Skills Council's Train to Gain programme. This will enable the newly unemployed or those facing redundancy to undertake training linked to opportunities in the local labour market for up to two weeks full time or eight weeks part time. This includes funding of up to £29 million to enable the “nextstep” service to increase its support to people who are facing redundancy, are newly redundant or who are further disadvantaged as a result of the current economic downturn.
On 6 April we launched a significant package of help for jobseekers, including those with lower level skills, who find themselves out of work for six months or more. Most people are still leaving benefit quickly—75 per cent. of people move off jobseeker's allowance within six months. For those who do not, an enhanced offer is now available which includes:
Personalised support from a Jobcentre Plus adviser who will work with customers to identify the steps appropriate to enable a swift return to work;
A recruitment subsidy, or “golden hello”, for employers worth £2,500—which is made up of a £1,000 subsidy plus access to up to £1,500 worth of in-work training, dependent on location.
Support for those who want to become self-employed with advice on creating a business plan and employment credit of £50 per week for up to 16 weeks so that they have financial support during the early days and months of trading;
Access to 75,000 new work-focussed training opportunities to help customers significantly increase their skills in order to enter work. The training, delivered on a part-time or full-time basis, will allow people to progress to a full qualification whether they are in or out of work;
Work-focused volunteering placements—to help JSA claimants develop or maintain skills while looking for a job. Third sector partners in England, Scotland and Wales will broker work-focused volunteering opportunities for JSA claimants interested in volunteering.
The Government has pledged £0.5 billion over two years from April 2009 to fund this programme. We estimate that the package will fund around 500,000 opportunities within the new options over the two years.
In addition, Government continue to support jobseekers with lower level skills through a range of measures, including the Employability Skills Programme (ESP) in England and Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs).
ESP enables people to train full time from day one of a jobseeker's allowance (JSA) claim and offers learners basic skills qualifications at Entry Level, Level 1 and Level 2 alongside an employability award at Entry Level 3 and Level 1.
LEPs ensure that disadvantaged customers get the preparation and training that enables them to meet employers' needs and expectations. LEPs involve every sector from manufacturing to retail and services. They provide support to get people ready to fill a role and help employers give people a fair chance at a job.
Welfare to Work
[holding answer 31 March 2009]: The information is not collated centrally.
Winter Fuel Payments
The information requested is not available.
Winter fuel payments are made to customers aged 60 and over and are based on their personal circumstances in the qualifying week. Any overpayment of winter fuel payment is recoverable if it arose in consequence of a misrepresentation of, or failure to disclose a material fact.
There are variations in the levels of winter fuel overpayments which have been recorded over the last five years. Of £886,855 winter fuel overpayments in 2007-08 a total of £403,568 related to overpayments from October 2005 to March 2007. This is because the recoveries for this period were recorded on an interim Overpayment Recovery System which were then migrated and brought to account on the Debt Manager System in December 2007 and appear in the figure for 2007-08. Calculation and recovery action was pursued on all cases in accordance with the Overpayments Recovery Guide.
Information is not available to enable an assessment of the reasons for any variations in levels of winter fuel payments for the period beyond the last five years.
Workstep
Neither Ministers nor officials have held any meetings with the Royal London Society for the Blind concerning the Workstep programme in London.
Voluntary Work
We believe that volunteering alongside looking for work can help to develop useful skills for work and keep jobseekers in touch with the labour market. Provided jobseekers are available for and actively seeking work, they can take part in unlimited volunteering work.
Jobcentre Plus has over 2,400 partnerships with local third sector organisations across the country. These complement the service Jobcentre Plus offers, providing customers access to additional advice and support. Personal advisers in Oxfordshire have five main websites that they use and share with customers who would benefit from doing voluntary work. They are: Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA), Oxford Radcliffe Hospital Volunteers, Smart, Do-it and the Oxfordshire county council website.
In addition to these existing partnerships, new measures to encourage volunteering as a means of developing skills for work are being introduced as part of the jobseeker's support at six months package from April 2009. Through this package, those who have been unemployed and claiming jobseeker's allowance for six months or more will have access to a range of support including recruitment subsidies, work-focused training, help to start a new business and access to work-focused volunteering placements delivered through third sector partners.
Jobseekers who have been claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for six months and would like to volunteer to maintain or develop their skills for work can discuss with their Jobcentre Plus personal adviser how they can make use of the extra support on offer from April 2009.