Written Answers to Questions
Monday 18 May 2009
Energy and Climate Change
Carbon Sequestration: Finance
£60 million is transferred from the Department of Transport and £30 million from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Departmental Billing
Departmental Contracts
Departmental Correspondence
Complaints to DECC, received by whatever means, i.e. by (a) e-mail, (b) by post, (c) by telephone or (d) via the Department's website, should be dealt with within 15 working days of receipt.
Where possible, complaints should be resolved at the point of receipt. Where this is not possible, the complaint is passed to the unit within the department responsible for the area of work complained about, to be dealt with there. If a complainant is not satisfied with the outcome, the complainant is given the option to escalate the complaint to DECC's impartial Service Standards Adjudicator if it's about standards of service; or to DECC's Secretary of State or a DECC Minister via a Member of Parliament for complaints about DECC policy or legal issues.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Since its creation on 3 October 2008 the Department has spent (a) £64,800 on conference services and (b) nothing on banqueting services.
Departmental Stationery
DECC does not separately account for purchases of office supplies made from recycled products.
Mineral Resources: International Cooperation
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has not had any discussions with his right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on the Government's strategy for preservation of global mineral resources.
Natural Gas: Waste Disposal
Currently no gas in the mains system is provided by anaerobic digester plants.
Culture, Media and Sport
Copyright: Internet
(2) what recent discussions he has had with internet service providers on measures to reduce levels of copyright theft and infringement;
(3) what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on proposals to vest in Ofcom a statutory power to create a code of practice on terms for transfer of shares of revenues generated by the use of copyrighted material;
(4) what steps he is taking to investigate the effects of copyright piracy on the economic viability of the digital content business sector;
(5) what discussions he has had with (a) Ministerial colleagues and (b) the UK Film Council on the Council’s proposal for a legislative structure to support a graduated response approach to online copyright theft and infringement;
(6) what steps he plans to take to maintain the economic viability of the UK’s digital content business sector;
(7) what discussions he has had with (a) the Digital Rights Agency and (b) other digital rights representatives on amendments to the present regulatory regime on infringements of copyright in respect of digital rights;
(8) if he will assess the merits of a deterrence scheme to ensure that higher broadband speeds do not lead to an increase in illegal file sharing and copyright theft.
The Government recognise the damaging economic impact of copyright theft and infringement, and unlawful peer-to-peer file-sharing in particular, on the creative sector. Although the music industry is currently affected most by this, other industries—such as film, computer games and publishing—will be increasingly affected as higher broadband speeds are introduced. Last year we set up a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Government, internet service providers (ISPs) and rights holders, as a first step to finding agreement on a way forward. Outcomes from the MOU informed the proposals set out in the Digital Britain Interim Report (DBIR) in January. The DBIR proposed a requirement for ISPs to notify their customers when rights holders identified them as engaging in unlawful file sharing. Information on the most serious infringers would then be made available to rights holders (based on the collection of data on the notification requests from rights holders, and subject to a court order) to help them prioritise legal action against those infringers. This would provide a form of graduated response up to prosecution for the most serious infringers. Other forms of graduated response have been suggested to us in response to consultations on this issue, and we are considering the merits of these. We have also consulted on the idea of creating a rights agency, the establishment of a code of practice and Ofcom’s possible involvement in this. We have discussed these issues and ideas at ministerial and official level both between Departments and with many interested parties, including ISPs, the UK Film Council and other rights holders’ representatives. We will issue a further consultation on the legislative proposals shortly.
More generally, the DBIR acknowledged the structural and cyclical pressures on the UK’s media industry and the threats to continued investment in UK-originated content in the digital world. We recognise the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to digital, and the DBIR made a commitment to investigate ways to address these issues further. Our conclusions will be published in the final Digital Britain report.
Digital Broadcasting: Scotland
Digital UK and the Switchover Help Scheme are the organisations responsible for implementing the digital switchover and providing assistance to those who may need it.
The Scottish information campaign began in October 2007. Since then leaflets have been sent to every Scottish home and TV, radio and press campaigns have been running at intervals to inform viewers about their options for switchover. Over the past two years, Digital UK’s Scotland team has carried out a number of public and stakeholder meetings and events to ensure that residents and key stakeholders in Scotland are prepared for the switchover.
The Switchover Help Scheme will begin operating in each transmitter group area up to eight months prior to switchover to offer practical help to those who are eligible. Additionally, national, regional and local charities will begin a programme of community outreach across Scotland to support individuals through the switchover process. Project management, materials and grants are funded through Digital UK. Digital UK also runs a website providing information on switchover at:
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/
Future Jobs Fund
The Future Jobs Fund is held by the Department for Work and Pensions. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and I announced in May, plans to create 5-10,000 jobs in the cultural and creative sector. Sports organisations have already pledged to bid for at least 5,000 jobs.
Tourism Advisory Council
[holding answer 12 May 2009]: There is currently no representation from local authorities on the Tourism Advisory Council (TAC). The first meeting of the council took place on 30 April 2009 and was established to draw together senior practitioners primarily from the tourism industry to engage with the Government Departments whose policies impact on tourism.
However, after consultation with Visit England’s chair, we are currently reviewing the local authority representation on the TAC.
Olympics
Olympic Games 2012: Caravans
There are no plans for spaces for recreational caravans in the Olympic Park. However, we recognise that motor home and caravan users may wish to attend the 2012 games and we expect that, closer to the time, the Olympic Delivery Authority will wish to follow up initial discussions it has had with the Caravan Club to explore the potential for games-time integration of public transport provision and licensed caravan sites.
Olympic Games 2012: Southend on Sea
Although the Government Olympic Executive has had no direct discussions with Southend borough council about the legacy of London 2012 in Southend, I meet regularly with the chair of the Local Government Association (LGA) and my officials work closely with their LGA counterparts.
We are fully committed to ensuring that everyone in the UK can be part of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. The Legacy Action Plan which I published in June last year sets out more details on how we propose to deliver this vision. I am especially keen for regions to identify what is important to them. At a regional level this work is being taken forward by the Nations and Regions Group (NRG) who are working hard to optimise local benefits of the games.
In December 2008 I addressed the LGA conference which had an Olympic focus. I regularly attend meetings with the London councils and meet the five London host borough representatives. I also undertake a programme of regional visits where I meet with local representatives and businesses to highlight the potential benefits and opportunities of London 2012.
We are already seeing great progress in a lot of these areas, for example 23 of the Olympic Delivery Authority's suppliers are businesses registered in Essex. 66 facilities from the region, including Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre in Essex are included in the official London 2012 Pre-Games Training Camp Guide. Additionally, I am delighted that Southend Unitary Authority is offering free swimming to the over 60s and under 16s.
House of Commons Commission
Catering
The House of Commons catering service does not record the number of meals purchased in its cafeterias but instead records the number of sales transactions. A transaction is defined as a customer sale and may be for one meal, several meals, or merely a drink or snack. The number of cafeteria transactions is set out below for the 12 months from April 2008 to March 2009, although the hon. Member should note that the figures are recorded on the basis of 12 financial periods, not calendar months.
Cafeterias Café/snack venues Total cafeterias, café/snack bars Period 1 81,914 15,568 97,482 Period 2 96,733 17,164 113,897 Period 3 116,888 20,828 137,716 Period 4 101,617 18,950 120,567 Period 5 51,991 16,607 68,598 Period 6 66,055 21,851 87,906 Period 7 93,054 17,301 110,355 Period 8 107,559 19,498 127,057 Period 9 109,845 19,418 129,263 Period 10 68,936 11,367 80,303 Period 11 98,048 17,540 115,588 Period 12 144,846 25,507 170,353 Totals 2008-09 1,137,486 221,599 1,359,085
Drinking Water
A month-by-month breakdown of the number of plastic water bottles sold in the House of Commons cafeterias and other catering venues in the 12 months from April 2008-March 2009 is set out as follows. The hon. Member should note that the figures are recorded on the basis of 12 financial periods, not calendar months.
Cafeteria Other venues Total Period 1 7,253 773 8,026 Period 2 9,309 1,205 10,514 Period 3 10,302 1,462 11,764 Period 4 8,774 1,366 10,140 Period 5 4,569 1,295 5,864 Period 6 4,837 1,279 6,116 Period 7 6,607 895 7,502 Period 8 7,046 785 7,831 Period 9 7,019 637 7,656 Period 10 4,477 389 4,866 Period 11 6,372 670 7,042 Period 12 10,334 1,214 11,548 Totals 2008-09 86,899 1,970 98,869
Energy
(2) what his most recent estimate is of the level of electricity consumption of each building on the parliamentary estate.
The energy consumption of each building on the parliamentary estate, broken down by gas and electricity usage, for each of the last three years is as follows:
MWh 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Building Gas Electricity Total Gas Electricity Total Gas Electricity Total Palace of Westminster 17,851 15,138 32,989 18,593 14,662 33,255 20,634 15,278 35,912 Portcullis House 3,126 3,910 7,036 3,339 3,790 7,129 3,676 3,728 7,404 Norman Shaw N and S 2,430 2,070 4,500 3,011 2,108 5,119 3,214 2,130 5344 1 Canon Row — 832 832 — 830 830 — 818 818 1 Parliament Street 1,986 2,310 4296 2,117 2,260 4,377 2,135 2,303 4,438 Parliamentary Bookshop — 34 34 — 25 25 — 23 23 7 Millbank 1,651 3823 5,474 1,737 3,938 5,675 2,107 4,087 6,194 2 The Abbey Garden 91 55 146 72 53 125 101 52 153 Underground Car Park — 251 251 — 314 314 — 354 354 22 John Islip Street 51 32 83 83 29 112 73 24 97 Total 27,186 28,455 55,641 28,952 28,009 56,961 31,940 28,797 60,737
Food: Waste Disposal
No record is kept of the amount of food waste by weight but a record is kept of the value of food waste. The cost of food wastage is set out as follows for the House of Commons cafeterias for each of the 12 months from April 2008-March 2009. The hon. Member should note that the figures are recorded on the basis of 12 financial periods, not calendar months.
£ Period 1 6,394 Period 2 5,845 Period 3 11,382 Period 4 9,501 Period 5 6,928 Period 6 4,762 Period 7 7,510 Period 8 7,761 Period 9 7,347 Period 10 4,694 Period 11 5,386 Period 12 7,414 Total 2008-09 84,924
Food waste is currently mixed with the general waste stream and sent to disposal facilities in the London area obtaining energy from waste. A review of alternative schemes, such as the commercial collection of food waste for transportation to an anaerobic digestion facility, has been scheduled for 2009-10.
Furniture
Figures for the monetary value of office furniture purchased in each of the last three years are: £380,557 (2006), £1,079,461 (2007) and £392,387 (2008). The monetary value of office furniture disposed of in the same period is recorded only back to 2008; the figure in that year was £2,614.91. The weight of items is not recorded and so cannot be quantified per annum.
Members: Allowances
Matters which relate to the Members Estimate are considered by the Members Estimate Committee rather than the House of Commons Commission. I will contact the hon. Member.
Palace of Westminster: Repairs and Maintenance
The amount spent by the House of Commons on improving and renovating the Palace of Westminster has been:
£000 2004-05 6,183 2005-06 7,524 2006-07 10,057 2007-08 9,743 2008-09 2,559
This excludes general maintenance costs, some of which are incurred across the whole Estate, and expenditure on security related projects. The Palace is shared with the House of Lords who account for their share of the costs incurred separately.
Pay
The basic salary payable to Members is £63,291 per annum as at 31 March 2009. As at that date, 89 employees were paid a gross annual salary above this figure; of these 82 were Officers of the House and seven were staff of the House.
The provision of a list of these posts would allow individual staff to be identified which is contrary to House policy on data protection. A list of the posts in the House of Commons senior structure and at pay band Al, which have pay band maxima higher than Members’ current salary was placed in the Library in April 2009 in response to the question from the right hon. and learned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg), on 22 April 2009, Official Report, column 739W.
Details of the staff pay bands and staff pay arrangements are available on the parliamentary intranet. The salaries of Members of the Management Board are disclosed in the House of Commons: Administration annual accounts.
Procurement
Receipts are issued at catering and retail outlets in the House of Commons but there is no business need to keep records of numbers. During the summer opening of the Palace of Westminster to the public, receipts are issued to visitors purchasing tickets by credit card but the numbers are not readily available. The Parliamentary Bookshop issued the following number of paper receipts based on till transactions:
2008-09: 20,734
2007-08: 19,991.
Information about the bookshop in 2006-07 is not available in the form requested, but is believed to be similar to the later years.
Vending Machines
There are a total of 13 vending machines in operation on the House of Commons estate.
No information is available about the energy rating of each machine.
However, the machines are scheduled for replacement later this year and energy efficiency, including the use of timers and sensors, will be taken into account when selecting replacement models.
Transport
A64
(2) how many (a) road traffic and (b) other accidents or incidents there have been on the A64 York to Scarborough road caused by or involving vehicles hitting overhead lines in the last three months;
(3) what risk assessment was carried out prior to the installation of overhead cable warning signs on the A64 York to Scarborough road;
(4) how many individual overhead cable warning signs have been erected on the A64 since 1 January 2009.
424 overhead cable warning signs have been erected on the A64 since 1 January 2009 at a cost of approximately £50,000.
There have been no road traffic accidents or other incidents on the A64 York to Scarborough road caused by or involving vehicles hitting overhead lines in the last three months.
A project specific risk assessment was undertaken to identify a safe method of erection and maintenance of these signs. Prior to any maintenance activity on the A64 a scheme specific risk assessment is undertaken to identify hazards, including overhead power cables, and to ensure risks to road workers are mitigated. The marker posts also enable the emergency services to more easily identify overhead power lines as part of their risk assessment when attending an incident.
British Transport Police: ICT
It is not in the interests of the UK’s national security for Departments to confirm information on the number of malicious attacks against their IT systems and those of the bodies for which they are responsible.
The British Transport police have a policy on managing risks posed by all forms of malicious software (‘malware’).
Bus Services: Concessions
The Department for Transport has recently published a consultation paper on possible changes to the administration of concessionary travel. Option 3 within this consultation paper is for the administration of the statutory minimum bus concession to be moved to central Government and for bus operators to be reimbursed through national negotiation with the Department.
If this option was chosen following the consultation, the Department would need to undertake further detailed assessment of the administrative and financial consequences of such a model.
The draft impact assessment that was published alongside the consultation sets out the Department's initial assessment of such a move. A move to central administration and reimbursement would bring with it a number of complexities, including the potential for duplication of reimbursement negotiations if enhanced concessions continue to be offered at a local level. In addition to any transitional start-up costs, the Department currently estimates a move to central administration would have an average annual cost of £8 million, offset by average annual savings to local authorities of £10.6 million.
Departmental Pay
The amount of end-of-year non-consolidated performance payments paid to all staff and senior civil service staff in the Department for Transport is shown in the table.
All staff SCS Overall number of staff 19,493 187 Number receiving end year non-consolidated performance payments 13,332 139 End year non-consolidated performance payments amount (£) 9,813,937 1,344,831
Total pay bill was £643,685,777, of which 1.73 per cent., was used for non-consolidated performance payments to staff. The mean payment made was £736 for all staff and £9,675 for senior civil service.
Driving: Licensing
This information is not held in the form requested.
Driving: Standards
[holding answer 13 May 2009]: The following assessments were conducted under the Driver Quality Monitoring Scheme in 2008-09.
Greater London Greater Manchester Assessments 7,237 908 Unacceptable drives 1,591 387 Percentage 21 42
The Driving Standards Agency’s last Driver Quality Monitoring contract in Strathclyde terminated in January 2007.
The data from the assessment is collated and reported back to the client on the next day, for potential remedial action. For those assessments recording dangerous faults the bus company is notified on the day of the assessment. In all cases the client is responsible for any further action.
Ferries
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 2 April 2009, Official Report, columns 1420-421W.
In addition:
Passenger loading limits
The Department for Transport places no absolute limit on the number of passengers that may be carried on any class of passenger ships (with the exception of classes VI and VIA, which have very restricted operations and are limited to a maximum of 250 and 50 passengers respectively). In general the vessel operator may design and equip the vessel to carry the number of passengers they believe there is market demand for.
Regulations then require that appropriate standards of safety are provided to meet the risks posed by the vessel's service and the number of passengers carried. These address areas such as intact stability, freeboard, damage survivability, fire protection, provision of lifesaving appliances, manning levels, safety management, pollution prevention—in each case, the greater the number of passengers and the longer the voyage, the more comprehensive the technical requirements so as to ensure a level of safety appropriate to the risk. Other regulations also apply, but are independent of the number of passengers on board, e.g. for safety of navigation or provision of radios.
Instructions to surveyors and other departmental guidance lay down requirements for passenger accommodation and seating, provision of sanitary facilities, and provisions for persons of reduced mobility. While this guidance does not have the force of law, surveyors will not recommend issue of a passenger certificate unless the vessel meets the required standards.
On completion of surveys which take account of the above factors, the end result is the issue of a Passenger Certificate, which stipulates the maximum number of passengers and the total number of persons on board (including crew) that can be safely carried, and the minimum freeboard corresponding to the maximum draught (loading limit) which is marked on the side of the ship.
Passenger counting
The Master is prohibited by The Merchant Shipping (Survey and Certification) Regulations 1995 from having on board a greater number of passengers than that stated on the ship's Passenger Certificate. He is assisted in meeting this obligation by the Merchant Shipping (Counting and Registration of Persons on Board Passenger Ships) Regulations 1999 (SI 1999 No. 1869), supported by Merchant Shipping Notice 1794, which describes practical methods for counting and registering passengers.
For voyages of less than 20 miles, the regulations require a count of passengers and crew and for this information to be held ashore for the duration of the voyage.
This information is used to check compliance with safety regulations, and for search and rescue authorities, in the event of an incident.
First Great Western: Finance
Officials meet First Great Western at least every four weeks to review progress of the franchise. The franchise agreement sets out a standard agenda for these meetings, which includes financial performance and performance of the franchisee in meeting its contractual commitments. The Department for Transport is satisfied that First Great Western is meeting its financial commitments.
First Great Western: Standards
In the 12 months to 30 March 2009, 7,024 First Great Western trains were cancelled. Of this total, 3,055 cancellations were attributable to First Great Western itself, the others being caused by Network Rail or by other train operators. These figures include partial cancellations (where a train departs but does not complete its planned journey).
Officials meet First Great Western at least every four weeks to review overall progress of the franchise. Officials also meet First Great Western at the milestone reporting sessions contractualised in the remedial agreement to review progress in reducing train cancellations against the provisions of that agreement. First Great Western is currently compliant with the cancellations reduction trajectory contained in the remedial agreement.
Government Car and Despatch Agency: Fines
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 24 March 2009, Official Report, column 204W, given to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps).
Lighting
It is for each local authority to decide how to manage its street lighting systems and the Department for Transport does not regularly collect information on street lighting column age. In order to inform the local transport plan capital allocations, in 2006 the Department asked English local authorities outside London to report the number of columns they had aged 40 years or more. At that time, authorities reported 771,900 columns; but this figure has not been independently verified, and may include some columns no longer in use.
The Department encourages local authorities to adopt an asset management approach to maintaining their highways assets, including basing decisions on accurate inventory and condition data rather than notional design lives.
Parking: Disabled
Provision of disabled parking spaces is covered by Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) legislation. The Department for Transport has published the ‘Inclusive Mobility’ guidance document to help service providers (such as local authorities and car park operators) to meet their requirements under the DDA. Powers exist for disabled people to challenge service providers who they believe do not meet their DDA requirements.
We are working with the British Parking Association and British Council of Shopping Centres to look at the adequacy of existing provision of off-street disabled parking spaces.
Railways: EU Countries
The Department for Transport has not made an estimate for benchmarking purposes of the proportion of travel undertaken by rail compared to continental European countries. The Eurostat publication, “Key figures on Europe 2009 edition” contains a selection of key transport statistics including estimates of rail travel by country. It can be found on the Eurostat website at
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-EI-08-001/EN/KS-EI-08-001-EN.PDF
Railways: Fares
It is not our intention to establish a nationally available frequent user railcard. Any new railcard offering discounts, would need to be revenue generative for the industry as otherwise, under the current system, it would require Government subsidy. There is no current evidence that such a railcard would generate revenue.
Some season tickets already offer loyalty style discounts, such as the “gold card” for annual season tickets in the south-east—offering one third off off-peak travel in the south-east.
Railways: Franchises
The Department for Transport has regular discussions with all train operators who have franchise contracts with the Government as part of our ongoing monitoring system.
The following table shows the number of cancellations.
Franchisee Reporting period Full cancellations GNER 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 661 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 559 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006 546 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 805 1 April 2007 to 8 December 2007 763 NXEC 9 December 2007 to 31 March 2008 234 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 625
In the last five years of its existence, GNER cancelled an average of 55 trains per month. Since taking over the East Coast franchise, National Express East Coast (NXEC) have cancelled an average of 51 trains per month. This is against a backdrop of an increased number of services. Having established themselves in the franchise, NXEC have significantly improved performance.
Since the start of the NXEC franchise, the PPM Moving Annual Average (MAA) has risen from 81.2 per cent. to 86.9 per cent. In the last four weeks, period ending 31 March 2009, NXEC cancelled 37 trains and achieved a record PPM of 91.9 per cent.
Roads: Accidents
The information requested is not held centrally.
Virgin Trains
In the last six months, Department for Transport officials met Virgin West Coast every four weeks to review the financial, operational and contractual performance of the franchise. In addition, Ministers and senior officials from the Department held separate meetings with Virgin West Coast to discuss implementation of the December 2008 timetable and subsequent performance issues.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture
The annual report to Parliament on smallholdings in England provides details of the numbers of statutory smallholdings held by local authorities analysed according to size of holding. This information is set out in the following table. DEFRA does not hold information regarding the number of smallholdings that are vacant or the duration of vacancies, and it would be for individual local authorities to provide these details.
The latest published annual report is the 57th Report for the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007, which is available in the Library of the House and can also be seen on the DEFRA website.
Number of holdings County/unitary authority 0 to 20 ha 20 to 40 ha Over 40 ha Total Bedfordshire 83 30 25 138 Berkshire West — 2 1 3 Bournemouth 5 1 1 7 Brighton and Hove 24 4 23 51 Buckinghamshire 35 17 14 66 Cambridgeshire 137 67 140 344 Cheshire 58 51 28 137 City of York 2 — 2 4 Cornwall 10 51 51 112 Cumbria 6 8 — 14 Devon 6 32 53 91 Dorset 6 28 32 66 Durham 1 2 12 15 East Riding of Yorkshire 65 54 17 136 East Sussex — 1 1 2 Essex 8 3 — 11 Gloucestershire 56 49 31 136 Hampshire 40 8 18 66 Hartlepool — 1 1 2 Herefordshire 4 48 9 61 Hertfordshire 23 18 21 62 Lancashire 2 — — 2 Leicestershire 10 52 20 82 Lincolnshire 120 84 76 280 Medway 2 — 1 3 Milton Keynes 5 2 5 12 Norfolk 116 54 70 240 Northamptonshire 8 5 2 15 North Lincolnshire 17 1 — 18 North Somerset 5 1 5 11 Northumberland 1 — 6 7 North Yorkshire 16 44 18 78 Nottinghamshire 12 6 1 19 Oxfordshire 34 5 2 41 Peterborough 12 1 15 28 Shropshire 25 17 1 43 Slough 1 — — 1 Somerset 17 41 31 89 South Gloucestershire 8 6 4 18 Staffordshire 48 68 19 135 Suffolk 15 20 67 102 Surrey 41 13 6 60 Swindon 4 9 6 19 Thurrock 6 3 2 11 Torbay 2 — — 2 Warrington 3 2 — 5 Warwickshire 36 19 20 75 West Sussex 14 2 5 21 Wiltshire 22 27 22 71 Worcestershire 96 20 10 126 Total 1,267 977 894 3,138 Note: Extract from the 57th annual report to Parliament on smallholdings in England.
Agriculture: Land
I have been asked to reply.
Information is not held centrally on the area of farmland of best and most valued status that has changed to developed use. The Department's Land Use Change Statistics (LUCS) can provide estimates for changes to developed use from all agriculture, in hectares.
Estimates up to 2006 are available in LUCS Live Table 261
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/xls/1133773.xls
Animal Welfare Act 2006
The following provisions of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 have yet to be brought into force:
Section 8(3) to (6) on recordings of animal fights;
Schedule 3 in so far as it relates to the repeal of Section 2 of the Pet Animals Act 1951 (which makes it an offence to sell a pet in the street);
Schedule 4 in so far as it relates to the repeal of Section 2 of the Pet Animals Act 1951 and the repeal of Sections 37 to 39 (which provides that Ministers may make orders relating to the transport and export of animals) and paragraph 8 of Schedule 5 (Consequential Amendments) of the Animal Health Act 1981.
There is no timetable in place for the commencement of these provisions.
Animals: Clones
All cloning of animals for research, medical or agricultural purposes in the UK must be approved by the Home Office under the strict controls of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
This information is not collated by DEFRA.
Badgers
The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 includes provision for licences to be issued for specific listed purposes. Licences are issued only where it is demonstrated that three conditions are met:
a licence is required (i.e. badgers or their setts are causing or likely to cause a serious problem or are preventing legitimate operations);
there is no alternative to issuing a licence (i.e. other methods have been shown to be ineffective or impractical and not just difficult to implement); and
the activity to be licensed is likely to resolve or contribute to resolving the matter for which it has been issued.
Badgers do not hibernate as such but the licensing approach is attuned to sensitive periods such as the breeding season. Natural England, as the licensing authority, does not however record the time elapsed between the end of the badger breeding season and the commencement of licensed action.
Bluetongue Disease: Vaccination
DEFRA announced on 7 May that remaining bluetongue vaccine stocks will be discounted by 50 per cent.
Reduced uptake during 2009 may leave the national herd and flock vulnerable to further incursions of BTV-8. The Government hold unused stocks which are reaching their expiry dates, leaving the tax payer with a potential liability of £3.3 million if unsold.
The decision to cut the price of Government-owned vaccine has not been taken lightly. The situation is now very different to early 2008, when Government-owned vaccine was the only product available to protect livestock from BTV-8. Government-owned surplus is now competing against vaccines available on the open market, and the pricing is extremely competitive. There is also a need to remove Government-owned stock from the supply chain to allow the market place to operate as normally as possible.
A number of options were investigated and after careful consideration with industry and veterinary stakeholders on the Bluetongue Core Group, we decided that dropping the price of the vaccine was the best approach in order to mitigate financial losses to the taxpayer and reduce vaccine wastage.
Bovine Tuberculosis
DEFRA has not commissioned any research into the spread of bovine TB from wildlife to pigs and other domestic animals. However, DEFRA has been funding passive surveillance in domestic and zoo animal species for several years. This consists of a free post-mortem and culture service for suspect cases of TB provided by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.
The principal species affected by bovine TB in Great Britain are cattle and badgers. While small numbers of companion animal species and many wild animal species have been shown to be infected with bovine TB, most are spillover hosts. There is some indirect evidence of transmission from spillover hosts though it is uncertain how often this is occurring.
TB is not normally considered to be particularly contagious amongst pigs or to spread easily from pigs to other animals. In most cases, the disease is self-limiting and no extensive TB control measures are required. We are, however, likely to continue to observe sporadic incidents of porcine TB due to M. bovis on farms where pigs and cattle are co-located and in outdoor breeding-fattening units in the south-west of England and west midlands.
Even in areas where TB in cattle and badgers is quite common, not all badgers or family groups will be infected. Even in areas of high TB incidence in cattle and badgers, TB in domestic animals is rare.
Cattle: Mastitis
Mastitis is not a notifiable disease hence reporting of mastitis diagnoses is voluntary. The levels of endemic diseases, such as mastitis in the cattle population of Great Britain (GB) are monitored through the DEFRA-funded Veterinary Laboratories Agency's (VLA) Endemic Disease Surveillance Programme. This is performed by analysis of test results from clinical diagnostic samples (usually milk samples in the case of mastitis cases) submitted by veterinary surgeons to the VLA regional laboratories and to the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) disease surveillance centres for investigation.
The VLA surveillance provides information on the causes of mastitis and their trends. The relative proportions of GB mastitis diagnoses attributed to a specific pathogen are monitored—results for 2008 are shown in the following table. The proportions of infection were similar for recent years.
Percentage Staphylococcus aureus 15 Streptococcus uberis 23 Streptococcus dysgalactiae 6 Streptococcus agalactiae 1 Escherichia coli 18 Other organism(s) 20 No microbial growth 5 Sample contamination 12 Source: GB Surveillance Cattle Diseases Quarterly Report October to December 2008.
The data available shows the mastitis pathogens isolated as a result of veterinarians submitting samples to these government laboratories and therefore do not provide an unbiased or comprehensive estimate of the occurrence of the condition in GB. The VLA is not contracted to determine the cost of mastitis to the dairy industry and cost cannot be determined from this data.
The control of endemic diseases such as mastitis, that mainly affect the health and productivity of individual cattle herds, are primarily the responsibility of the owner and his veterinary surgeon. Industry milk recording organisations provide recording through monitoring of somatic cell counts in milk samples, which gives an indication of the presence of mastitis when somatic cell counts are elevated. DairyCo is the relevant levy-funded industry body with responsibility for promotion of the dairy industry and they keep national data on milk recording results.
Departmental ICT
I refer the hon. Member to my earlier reply given to the hon. Member for Cardiff Central (Jenny Willott) on 11 May 2009, Official Report, column 506W.
Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal
The European Commission’s Green Paper explores a wide range of options in relation to the management of bio-waste in the EU, but contains no firm proposals. Therefore the Government have made no assessment.
The Commission will undertake a formal impact analysis of possible policy or legislative proposals later this year. The Government do not expect any firm proposals before 2010.
A table showing waste collected for recycling and reuse from kerbsides as a percentage of total household waste collected as part of the ordinary waste collection service has been placed in the house Library. The table provides figures for each English local authority for the financial year 2007-08.
Floods: Property Development
The Environment Agency is a consultee in the planning process. The data the Environment Agency receives about proposed development from local planning authorities includes its location and nature and assessments of flood risk. This should demonstrate that the type of development is appropriate for that location and will be safe from flooding over its lifetime, while not increasing flood risk to others.
Fly Tipping
The CD-ROM has not yet been distributed to local authorities, as some additions are currently being made to the content. A copy will be placed in the Library as soon as it is published, which will be shortly.
(2) how many enforcement actions relating to fly-tipping have been taken in each local authority area in London in each of the last five years for which figures are available;
(3) how many prosecutions for fly-tipping offences in each local authority area in London have been brought in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
I am placing information in the Library of the House on the number of incidents of fly-tipping, the number of prosecutions taken against fly-tippers and the number of other enforcement actions relating to the prevention of fly-tipping reported as being taken in each local authority in London in each of the last four years. Data on fly-tipping in 2008-09 will be published later this year.
Other enforcement actions that can be taken against suspected fly-tippers and to prevent incidents are investigations, warning letters, statutory notices, fixed penalty notices, duty of care inspections, stop and searches, formal cautions and injunctions. From 2009-10, data will also be collected on the number of vehicles seized from those suspected of involvement in fly-tipping.
Food: VAT
We have not received any recent representations on the introduction of value added tax on non-fresh food products and have made no assessment of the effect of introducing such a tax on food or the retail price index.
Food: Waste Disposal
WRAP will commission a new survey that will aim to capture the amount of the UK’s food waste currently going through in-vessel composting and anaerobic digestion facilities. The six-month survey will start at the end of 2009 and is currently planned to end in early 2010.
Recycling
Neither DEFRA nor the Waste and Resources Action Programme plans to commission any research into the effectiveness of local authorities' recycling schemes.
Sheep: Lameness
DEFRA recognises the severe effect on farmers of lameness in sheep and has produced an advisory booklet on its control. Over the past three years DEFRA has provided funding for two research projects on this subject with a total expenditure of:
2006-07: £196,879
2007-08: £69,891
2008-09: £17,477.
One of the two projects was carried out jointly with the Scottish Executive and industry, and the level of expenditure referred to above represents the DEFRA contribution only.
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council has also funded work on this topic.
Waste and Resources Action Programme
The only payment the Waste and Resources Action Programme has made to the Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management is a membership fee of £1,125.
Water Supply
Ofwat sets the water companies targets to reduce their leakage to the Economic Level of Leakage (ELL), the level of leakage at which it would cost more for a water company to further reduce its leakage than to produce water from an alternative source. South East Water has met its leakage targets since 2002 and is currently operating at the ELL. Since 1997, total leakage has been reduced by 30 per cent. in South East Water's area of supply.
The Secretary of State will shortly be making a decision on how preparation of the water resource management plan, which includes proposals for a reservoir near Ringmer, should proceed. Ministers have not met directly with South East Water to discuss its plan, although officials, especially at the Environment Agency, have done so.
Leader of the House
Members: Allowances
It is not possible to provide this information without going through each individual Member's paper records as the information as requested is not held electronically and nomination forms, indicating where a main and second home are located, were only required from 2003 onwards.
The answer could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.
10 hon. Members have redesignated which of their homes is their main and which is their second home since 3 July 2008.
134 Members currently claim costs for homes that are outside London. Of these, 95 have claimed reimbursement of mortgage interest payments.
All repayments will be credited to the House of Commons: Members Estimate.
Northern Ireland
Civil Service Agencies: Employment
There are personnel service agreements between the various agencies and personnel services division which set out the agreed working arrangements on personnel matters. In addition all recommendations for dismissal must be submitted to the establishment officer, DFP, who has responsibility for termination of employment. There have been no cases of (a) unfair dismissal or (b) suspension upheld against the Youth Justice Agency by employment tribunals in any of the last three years.
Departmental Complaints
The Northern Ireland Office’s complaints procedure is fully documented on the website at:
http://www.nio.gov.uk/index/complaints.htm
The procedure covers complaints by telephone or in writing by letter or e-mail.
The facility to make a complaint via the website is not available.
Departmental Pay
Non-consolidated performance payments for Northern Ireland Office senior civil servants (SCS) are distributed in line with Cabinet Office guidance. The size of the consolidated performance pot is based on recommendations of the independent senior salaries review body. In 2008, 42 members of the SCS received end of year performance payment totalling £371,200 which is 8.6 per cent. of the pay bill. In line with current economic conditions the SCS non-consolidated performance payment pot for 2008-09 has been frozen.
Non-consolidated performance payments for staff below the SCS have been awarded to 20 per cent. of staff who are considered to meet the criteria for an award. In 2008, 367 staff received an end year performance payment totalling £292,675 which is 0.54 per cent. of the pay bill. Awards to be made in respect of 2008-09 remain at 0.54 per cent. and are funded within existing pay bill controls, have to be earned each year against pre-determined targets and as such do not add to future pay bill costs. The award of performance payments help drive high performance.
Departmental Training
The following table shows expenditure on IT training for its staff by the Northern Ireland Office, excluding its agencies and Executive NDPBs, in each of the last five years:
IT training (£000) 2004-05 30 2005-06 98 2006-07 113 2007-08 113 2008-09 1— 1 Not yet available
Prime Minister
Departmental Responsibilities
I have been asked to reply.
There are three pillars of sustainable development: environmental; social; and economic.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Watson) has responsibility for the promotion of the environmental elements of sustainable development in departments' procurement activities and the operation of their estates.
I, as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, have responsibility for all other aspects of Central Government procurement policy, including the promotion of the social and economic elements of sustainable development in departments’ procurement activities.
The Secretary of State for the Environment (Hilary Benn) is responsible for policy on sustainable development in Government and sustainable products. He is also responsible for the sustainability policy underpinning Government's sustainable procurement commitments, with input from procurement experts in the Office of Government Commerce and other relevant organisations.
The Chief Sustainability and Operating Officer (William Jordan) is the civil servant responsible for working with Departments to ensure that the Government’s sustainable operations on the Government Estate targets are met and that its sustainable procurement action plan is implemented. He reports to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Cabinet Office on his work.
The Chief Executive of OGC (Nigel Smith) is the civil servant responsible for all other aspects of Central Government procurement (including the promotion of social and economic elements of sustainable development). He reports to the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.
Within central Government Departments, from 2008-09 all Permanent Secretaries’ responsibility for improving sustainability has been highlighted in their personal objectives.
Scotland
Departmental Complaints
Complaints to the Scotland Office, where they cannot be resolved immediately, whether face-to-face or on the telephone or in writing, are allocated to a senior member of staff. Their responsibility is to investigate and provide a full reply in writing within 10 days of receipt of the complaint. Where it proves impossible to provide a full reply within 10 days, an interim reply is sent explaining the need for more time and indicating when the full reply will be sent. Details of the complaints procedure will shortly be posted on the Scotland Office's internet site, which is currently in the process of being updated.
Departmental Drinking Water
The Scotland Office spent the following on bottled water, for water coolers in its premises in London and Edinburgh:
Cost (£) 2003-04 2,382 2004-05 2,418 2005-06 1,879 2006-07 2,451 2007-08 2,880
These figures do not include any bottles of water that may have been supplied for ministerial hospitality events, as they would have been subsumed within suppliers’ overall invoices and not recorded separately.
Departmental Furniture
The combined Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate-General expenditure on furniture for departmental buildings in the last five years is as follows:
Cost (£) 2003-04 4,454 2004-05 25,096 2005-06 16,995 2006-07 0 2007-08 2,384
Departmental Internet
The Scotland Office only came in to existence on 1 July 1999. We do not hold a separate record of the cost of maintaining the Scotland Office website for the period 1999 to 2007.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 19 November 2008, Official Report, column 471W, to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) for the latest period for which figures are available.
Departmental Older Workers
All the staff in the Scotland Office are on secondment from the Scottish Executive or the Ministry of Justice who hold individual staff personnel records, including details such as dates of birth. The Office does not maintain a central record of dates of birth of staff.
Departmental Pay
All staff in the Scotland Office are on secondment from the Scottish Executive or the Ministry of Justice. Staff may be eligible for end of year performance bonuses under their parent Department’s performance management arrangements. The Scotland Office does not itself make the end of year awards and does not hold information centrally on end of year bonus payments made to its secondees.
Departmental Responsibilities
The Government have been leading work to review the working arrangements with the devolved Administrations. We are close to finalising an updated version of the memorandum of understanding which governs the relationship between the UK Government and the three devolved administrations.
Departmental Stationery
The Scotland Office has incurred no costs on branded stationery and gifts for internal or external promotional use in the last five years.
Departmental Training
The Scotland Office does not hold information in the form requested. The staff in the office are on secondment from the Scottish Executive or the Ministry of Justice, both of whom provide free access to training and development opportunities, including a range of IT training specific to the software used.
Industrial Health and Safety
The Scotland Office does not hold information in the form requested. The staff in the Office are on secondment from the Scottish Executive or the Ministry of Justice, both of whom provide free access to training and development opportunities, including a range of health and safety events.
Isle of Lewis
My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, North the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, (Ann McKechin) visited the Isle of Lewis on the 7 and 8 May 2009 and I intend to visit next month.
Olympic Games 2012
My right hon. Friend has not had any recent discussions with the First Minister. Earlier this month I met the Minister for the Olympics on her visit to Glasgow and discussed Scotland’s role in hosting events, during our visit at Scotstoun Leisure Centre and National Badminton Centre, which has been listed as one of the 30 facilities in Scotland as potential pre-Games training camps.
Sheep
I have not visited a sheep farm in Scotland in my official capacity.
Whisky
DEFRA Ministers represent the UK Government in EU discussions on the whisky industry. I and my officials continue to have regular discussions with DEFRA and with the Scotch Whisky Association on issues affecting the Scotch Whisky industry.
As part of my recent trade mission to China, I visited the Edrington Group HQ in Shanghai and made representations to the Chinese Government on the importance of their taking steps to deal with counterfeit Scotch Whisky.
My predecessor, the right hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Des Browne) visited the Isle of Arran distillery in August. I met with Gavin Hewitt of the Scotch Whisky Association in November and my predecessor met with Mr. Hewitt in September. In December I hosted and spoke at a Scotch Whisky Association reception at the Scotland Office. I will be visiting a distillery with the Scotch Whisky Association in June. On a trade mission to China in March I visited Edrington Group, a Scottish international premium spirits company. I am currently in discussions with Diageo and will be visiting one of their distilleries in the near future.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Afghanistan
The Mission of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) South Asia and Afghanistan Directorate is to promote the national interests of the UK in South Asia, to contribute to regional stability and the FCO’s strategic priorities, managing an effective network of posts in the region.
The specific mission of the Afghanistan Group within the wider directorate is to help Afghanistan achieve stability, security, prosperity, to the benefit of the Afghan people, the UK and the world community.
Conflict Prevention
The UK's total available conflict resource for FY 2009-10 (leaving aside the cost of UK military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq) is £627 million, compared with the original planned total allocation of £556 million.
As set out in the written ministerial statement of 25 March 2009, Official Report, column 17WS, £456 million will be set aside for assessed peacekeeping activity, leaving £171 million to fund all conflict prevention, stabilisation and discretionary peacekeeping activity.
Individual country/regional allocations were not set out in the comprehensive spending review. These were agreed after an annual tri-departmental (Department for International Development, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence) review of planned activity across all three funds.
Departmental Air Conditioning
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has not incurred any expenditure to date on carrying out inspections of air conditioning systems within departmental buildings in accordance with the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations (2007/991).
A registered inspector was booked to carry out the inspections on 15 May 2009. The costs will be covered in the FCO’s overarching facilities management contract, at no further cost to the Department.
Departmental Art Works
All of the Government art collection works listed in my previous answer are located in Flat 2, Admiralty House.
Departmental Billing
I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East (James Duddridge) on 22 October 2008, Official Report, column 387W.
Departmental Dismissal
19 members of Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff have been dismissed for inefficiency (which covers failure of sick absence procedures and poor performance) and eight members of FCO Services (FCOS) staff have been dismissed for under-performance.
43 members of FCO staff have been dismissed since 2004 and 24 members of FCOS staff have been dismissed in total over the last 10 years.
Departmental Finance
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) will deliver the government target for comprehensive spending review (CSR) value for money savings (CSR07) and the additional savings allocated for 2010-11 whilst continuing to provide a global network for the Government overseas. We will continue to deliver on FCO priorities including our departmental strategic objectives (DSOs), public service agreements (PSAs) and the long-term international challenges facing the UK as outlined in the FCO's Strategic Framework.
Departmental ICT
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has taken an active role in the Greening Government Information and Communications Technology (ICT) strategy by providing a detailed plan for the FCO. The plan includes the baseline of the FCO's current carbon footprint and a number of initiatives that cover the full life-cycle of our ICT, including how we procure, operate and dispose of equipment. We are also looking at how use of ICT will enable savings outside of ICT itself through videoconferencing and collaboration initiatives that reduce the need for travel. This process is integrated into our ICT strategy.
Departmental Official Cars
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) guidance for the procurement of cars for official use in the UK, in UK Overseas Territories and at diplomatic posts overseas is as follows:
Purchasing flag vehicles
Procurement of vehicles for the FCO is based on achieving value for money and in a manner which conforms to appropriate UK regulations and EU directives. Where they are readily available and represent value for money, we prefer the FCO in the UK and British missions abroad to buy British cars.
Currently the FCO's preferred supplier for flag vehicles is Jaguar for saloon cars, and Land or Range Rover where four wheel drive capability is essential. The FCO maintains central contracts with these companies, negotiated to ensure value for money. In general flag vehicles will be on a par with the vehicles allocated to Government Ministers in London. The particular model allocated to individual posts will reflect local circumstances.
Posts which consider that there are overriding reasons not to purchase flag cars manufactured by our preferred suppliers, have to submit a detailed case for ministerial approval in London.
Purchasing pool vehicles
Posts have delegated authority to purchase pool vehicles within agreed costs for vehicle purchase. Decisions taken under this delegation have to meet value for money criteria and must always include examination of the option to buy suitable vehicles available under the central contracts referred to above.
Departmental Official Hospitality
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) operates through a network of overseas posts and directorates in London who may independently contract conference and banqueting services. The information requested therefore is not held centrally by the FCO and to obtain it for the last five years would incur disproportionate cost.
Departmental Work Experience
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Human Resources Directorate offered the following numbers of work placements:
School Pupils University Students Graduates 2008 10 45 10 2007 10 35 20 2006 10 34 20
These figures do not include ad-hoc placements organised by individual directorates.
To collect this information would incur disproportionate cost.
Our records before 2006 are incomplete and as a result we do not hold information on the educational status of individuals to whom we offered work placements in 2005 and 2004. From 1999 to 2008, FCO Services, a trading fund of the FCO, participated in the Equal Choices Schools Initiative programme. They take 16 children annually from ethnic minority backgrounds, who spend two days gaining an insight into their work.
All individuals undertaking work experience at FCO Services were in full-time education.
France
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has regular in-depth discussions with the French Government on international security issues. Most recently, at the General Affairs and External Relations Council of the European Union on 18 May 2009, he had a wide-ranging discussion with French and other European counterparts.
G20: Greater London
All of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's counterparts who were invited participated in the G20 summit in London on 2 April 2009. These were as follows:
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President, Argentina
Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister, Australia
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President, Brazil
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, Canada
Hu Jintao, President, China
Nicolas Sarkozy, President, France
Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Germany
Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, India
Susilo Bambang, President, Indonesia
Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister, Italy
Taro Aso, Prime Minister, Japan
Lee Myung-Bak, President, Republic of Korea
Felipe Calderón, President, Mexico
Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister, The Netherlands
Dmitry Medvedev, President, Russia
HRH King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, Saudi Arabia
Kgalema Motlanthe, President, South Africa
José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister, Spain
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister, Turkey
Barack Obama, President, United States of America
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of Thailand, Chair of ASEAN
Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek of the Czech Republic, EU Presidency
José Manual Barroso, President, European Commission
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Chair of NEPAD
Mario Draghi, Head of Financial Stability Forum
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director, IMF
Yousseff Boutros-Ghali, Chair of IMFC
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General
Robert B. Zoellick, President, World Bank Group
Pascal Lammy, Director General, World Trade Organisation.
Gifts were only given to heads of delegations and their spouses. These were hampers of British products. The total amount spent for all gifts was £3,566.23.
At present we are unable to provide a final figure for the costs of the catering for the summit, but hope to be able to publish those figures in the coming weeks along with the total costs of the London summit.
Copies of the menus for each official dinner will be placed in the Library of the House.
Germany
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has regular in-depth discussions with the German Government on international security issues. Most recently, at the General Affairs and External Relations Council of the European Union on 18 May 2009, he had a wide-ranging discussion with German and other European counterparts.
Israel: Anniversaries
Our ambassador has received several invitations to attend events relating to the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv. So far he has been able to attend the opening of “The British Season”, a specially created programme of film and music events by the British Council designed to mark the anniversary; a reception in the Sarona gardens organised by Tel Aviv Municipality; and the dedication of a school for children with neurological difficulties built with the assistance of the UK Friends of the Tel Aviv Foundation.
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary accepted an invitation to deliver a speech on 5 May 2009 at an event hosted by the Israeli embassy in London to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel.
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister did not attend any events commemorating the 61st anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. However, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary attended an event hosted by the Israeli embassy in London on 5 May 2009 where he delivered a speech.
Middle East: Armed Conflict
We are aware of reports of Hamas representatives operating out of Shifa hospital during the recent conflict. We condemn any use of hospitals for non-medical purposes that could endanger the patients and staff. The UK continues to regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation and to call for it to renounce all violence, recognise Israel and adhere to previous agreements with the Palestinians.
Middle East: Diplomatic Relations
We believe that the Arab peace initiative (API) provides the best path towards achieving normal economic and diplomatic relations between Arab Governments and the state of Israel. The API offers full normalisation of relations with Israel in exchange for withdrawal from occupied land. We frequently emphasise the importance of the API, including in discussions with Israel and Arab Governments; my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary did so in his UN Security Council intervention on 11 May 2009.
Pakistan: Politics and Government
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary last discussed the situation in Pakistan with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on 12 May 2009. We shared our concerns about the threat violent extremism poses to the Pakistani state. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials also continue to hold frequent discussions about the situation in Pakistan with a wide range of US officials.
Somalia: Piracy
We are aware that the majority of pirates operating off the coast of Somalia organise their activities in the Puntland region. However, we do not have the capabilities within Somalia to monitor the movement of ransom monies around Somalia.
Piracy has been discussed in many meetings with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia. In addition to regular meetings between officials at our high commission in Nairobi and representatives of the TFG, my noble Friends the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN (The Lord Malloch-Brown), the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, (The Lord West of Spithead), and my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. Lewis) all discussed piracy with the Somali Deputy Prime Minister, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, during his visit to the UK on 20 April 2009. Sharif Hassan confirmed the TFG is committed to helping tackle this issue.
[holding answer 11 May 2009]: Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Coast of Somalia is a symptom of the ongoing instability and lack of economic opportunities in the horn of Africa. Although the security situation makes it difficult to access the region to conduct a full assessment, it is likely that poverty in rural communities in Puntland is one of several contributing factors.
The UK is taking a leading role in the international response to piracy by offering the Operation HQ and Commander for the EU’s Counter Piracy operation. We also chair a working group looking to enhance regional co-operation and co-ordination. This working group is also looking to highlight regional capacity-building requirements that will aim to address the longer term causes of piracy.
Somalia: Politics and Government
[holding answer 11 May 2009]: The Transitional Federal Government have stated that its priorities are reconciliation, security and the development of governmental institutions. Given Somalia’s recent history, it faces considerable challenges. However, it is receiving international support and has produced an initial three-month budget, which harnesses port revenue to enable the re-establishment of key Ministries in Mogadishu to take its priorities forward.
Tibet: Human Rights
We have received a number of reports from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) stating that the trials of those connected with the disturbances in Tibet in March 2008 were not compliant with international standards, and that the evidence against the individuals concerned was unsound and the convictions therefore unsafe. We have consistently expressed our concern at the need for proper due process for all those detained, and our belief that any trials should be conducted justly, fairly and transparently. The fact that independent observers were not allowed at these trials means that we have been unable to verify that the human rights of the defendants were respected, and that the trials were free from political interference. This, together with the reports from NGOs, does give us real cause for concern, as does the verdict of the death penalty, to which the UK is opposed in principle. As a consequence, and working closely with our EU counterparts, we are urging the Chinese authorities not to carry out the sentences imposed on those convicted. I made these points in similar terms in my written response to Free Tibet and the Tibet Society at the beginning of May.
Trade Unions
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) provides each recognised trade union representative with their own furnished office, networked computer with e-mail/internet access and a telephone. Trade union representatives have shared access to photocopiers, duplicating and printing services, file storage and fax machines. The FCO meets day-to-day running costs within the rules of public expenditure set out in FCO guidance. Such costs include: rents; building maintenance; stationery; office and IT equipment; telephone charges; official travel; security; corporate overheads; capital charges and depreciation.
Based on full economic cost figures (calculated in line with HM Treasury requirements) for the 2008-09 financial year, the notional annual value of this provision for each recognised trade union is:
£ Public and Commercial Services Union (2 officers) 80,900 The Diplomatic Service Association (DSA) (1 officer) 40,450 Prospect (1 officer) 40,450
In addition to trade union representatives, the FCO provides four full-time support posts in London for Trade Union Secretariat (TUS) work. These posts are held by members of FCO staff who are elected to their respective roles (with the exception of the TUS registry post which is filled using the normal FCO appointment process). Based on FY2008-09 figures, the total notional value of the Trade Union Secretariat posts is £161,800.
These arrangements comply with the facilities agreement between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the trade unions which undertakes to:
“provide such resources as are reasonably necessary to enable Trade Union representatives to carry out their duties efficiently.”
UN World Conference against Racism
The Government are aware that all EU delegations who attended the Durban review conference, and the representative of St. Kitts and Nevis, left the hall when the Iranian President made comments deemed to be offensive. A number of non-governmental organisation delegates also left the hall. Many delegates, including the UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, subsequently condemned the Iranian President’s remarks.
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary issued a ministerial statement on the Durban review conference on 28 April 2009, Official Report, columns 41-42WS.
Zimbabwe: Politics and Government
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary currently has no planned meetings with President elect Zuma to discuss Zimbabwe, although Zimbabwe will certainly be among the issues which Ministers will wish to discuss with the incoming South African Administration over the coming weeks. South Africa remains key to the power-sharing agreement, brokered by the Southern African Development Community.
Home Department
Gurkhas
Following the debate on 29 April, the date for determining outstanding applications was brought forward to the end of May.
Based on this work, and recognising the strong feeling of the House, we will come forward with proposals for the next stage of our reform of the rules before the summer recess.
The settlement rights of Gurkhas are entirely separate from the routes to enter the United Kingdom through the points-based system.
It will therefore have no effect on the implementation of the points-based immigration system.
DNA Database
Our proposals, set out in the public consultation paper “Keeping the Right People on the DNA database” published on 7 May 2009, were drawn up against the background of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the S and Marper case. They aim to implement the judgment in a way which continues to protect the public while safeguarding the rights of the individual.
In 2007-08, 33,034 crimes were detected in which a DNA match was available or played a part in solving the crime. They included 83 homicides and 184 rapes. Figures for the 2008-09 financial year will be available shortly.
Identity Cards
Progress is well on track with identity cards for foreign nationals being introduced from November 2008 and identity cards being rolled out from autumn 2009 to British citizens resident in Manchester and also to airside workers at Manchester and London City airports.
Front-line Policing
We estimate that at the end of March 2008, 64.9 per cent. of police officer time was spent on front-line duties. This information is no longer collected by the Home Office as part of work to reduce bureaucracy.
Having delivered the funding for record numbers in the work force it is important that the police service make the best possible use of their work force’s time. The effective deployment of officers and staff will enable them to be in the right place at the right time to deliver for the public when they most need the police’s help.
Nazi War Crimes
The Home Office does not collate figures on the total numbers in the UK who are suspected of these crimes.
Any allegations received concerning crimes under the Nazi regime are referred to the Metropolitan police for investigation.
Antisocial Behaviour: Swindon
We have given practitioners the tools and powers they need to do their job effectively. When I visited Swindon recently I met the local partnership including police and the local authority to both support and challenge them to do more to make communities across Wiltshire safer.
Human Trafficking
I am pleased to say that the convention entered into force in the UK on 1 April this year. A Home Office-led multi agency task force has been established to monitor its implementation and will report later this year.
Public Confidence: Police
Through the single confidence target, we expect the police, working with partners, to significantly increase public confidence that the issues that matter locally are being addressed. We will regularly monitor the performance of all forces and authorities against this target. HMIC will also consider the steps forces have taken to increase confidence.
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
The information is as follows:
(a) The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), as an independent advisory body sets it own programme of work responding to both to requests for advice from the Home Office and other Government Departments and conducts work of its own choosing. However, the ACMD has indicated to the Home Department that in the coming 12 months they will be conducting work in the areas of ‘legal highs’ (including ‘Spice’), cognitive enhancers, poly-drug use, treatment effectiveness and development of an early warning system to provide timely information to Ministers of emerging/new drugs and associated risks.
(b) The ACMD Technical Committee supports the work of the ACMD. Therefore, the Home Department understand that its primary work will be supporting the working groups to address the areas identified above. The work of the ACMD Technical Committee will also include responses to priority requests for advice from Government Departments and considering issues of their own volition.
Antisocial Behaviour Orders: Wales
The latest available information on the number of ASBOs issued and breached in Wales goes up to 31 December 2006. The available information is shown in the following tables. The first table shows the number of orders issued (by year and by area) and the second the number of orders breached in each year by area. It is important to note, however, that an ASBO can be issued in one Criminal Justice System (CJS) area and breached in another. Therefore the two tables are not directly comparable.
CJS area Total issued April 1999 to May 2000 June to December 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Dyfed Powys 43 — — — — 12 8 Gwent 121 — — 2 2 8 27 North Wales 255 — 1 — 7 15 42 South Wales 201 — 1 4 3 29 46 Total Wales 620 — 2 6 12 64 123
CJS area January to March April to June July to September October to December Total January to March April to June July to September October to December Total Dyfed Powys 1 2 5 7 15 6 1 — 1 8 Gwent 7 14 7 5 33 15 9 10 15 49 North Wales 23 31 29 20 103 25 17 20 25 87 South Wales 15 15 18 16 64 19 16 10 9 54 Total Wales 46 62 59 48 215 65 43 40 50 198 Notes: 1. Previously issued data have been revised. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3. Prepared by OCJR.
CJS area 2000-023 2003 2004 2005 6 2006 Total Dyfed Powys 0 5 5 6 10 26 Gwent 3 2 16 24 17 62 North Wales 3 7 12 50 51 123 South Wales 4 11 12 29 30 86 Total Wales 10 25 45 109 108 297 1 ASBOs may be breached more than once and in more than one year. In this table ASBOs are counted once only within the period when they were first breached. 2 ASBOs may be issued in one area and breached in another. Breaches are counted in this table by area of issue. 3 From 1 June 2000. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: OCJR Court Proceedings Database.
Asylum
We are succeeding in our goal of handling applications faster than ever before.
60 per cent. of new cases were concluded within six months by the end of last year. We are committed to conclude 90 per cent. of new asylum cases within six months by 2011.
Carnage UK
The Home Office has received no formal representations on the activities of Carnage UK.
Community Relations
[holding answer 11 May 2009]: Discussions were held with all Government Departments involved in countering terrorism. The long-term aim of the Contest strategy is to reduce the risk to the UK and its interests overseas from international terrorism, so that people can go about their lives freely and with confidence. All communities continue to play a role in helping to ensure the success of the strategy by rejecting violent extremism and challenging it. Strong and empowered communities are better equipped to effectively reject the ideology of violent extremism, isolate apologists for terrorism and provide support to vulnerable individuals and institutions.
Crime and Disorder Partnerships
Significant reductions in crime since 1997 have been delivered by local agencies working together in Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Community Safety Partnerships. Last week the Home Secretary met local partners from across the country, including the ACPO partnership lead, to discuss the role of effective partnerships in increasing public confidence.
Crime Prevention
The Home Office incurred £328.76 from the programme budget in relation to the Real Help in Hard Times crime prevention summit on 4 February. The summit discussed how the Government and partners from the statutory, voluntary and private sectors can best work together to stay on the front foot to keep burglary down and reassure the public in more challenging economic circumstances. The actions identified at the summit were announced as the Securing Homes: Action Against Burglary initiative on 7 April.
Criminal Records: EU Nationals
There is no agreement between all member states of the European Union to monitor the movements of known criminals within the EU but the UK does contribute to the Europol Information System (EIS), a database where each member state can input details of any known criminal that it wishes to share with other European States. If a person is wanted in any member state, that country can also issue a European arrest warrant which will ensure that if the person comes to the notice of the law enforcement authorities in any member state they can be arrested and returned to the country that issued the European arrest warrant. In addition, SOCA has been appointed to operate the UK Sirene Bureau which will have access to the European wide Schengen Information System. This contains details of all wanted persons throughout the European Union. It is planned that the Sirene Bureau will go live in 2010.
The Interpol Notice system also provides a monitoring facility. Green Notices are used to provide warnings and criminal intelligence about persons who have committed criminal offences, and are likely to repeat those offences in other countries. A Green Notice is often issued by the UK for known travelling sex offenders. The Notice system is not limited to Europe and 187 states have access to it.
The United Kingdom has a Memorandum of Understanding with Ireland to ensure that information is shared between the two countries regarding sex offenders travelling between the two.
Cybercrime
The Government are committed to ratifying the Council of Europe cybercrime convention. We are currently working through the formal UK process of ratification, during which we will lay the required explanatory memorandum before Parliament to obtain approval for ratification. If Parliament agrees to ratification, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will then commence the formal ratification process with the Council of Europe.
The Government hope to complete the parliamentary process by the summer recess and the Council of Europe process within two months of that.
DNA: Databases
On 16 December 2008 the Home Secretary announced that all DNA profiles belonging to children aged under 10 would be removed from the National DNA Database (NDNAD). All such profiles loaded by England and Wales forces have been removed and the profiles of under 10s are no longer retained on the NDNAD.
The following table shows the number of profiles of children aged under 10 removed from the NDNAD since 16 December 2008, broken down by police force area.
Force Total profiles deleted Avon and Somerset 3 British Transport 1 Cambridgeshire 2 Cheshire 1 City of London Police 1 Derbyshire 6 Devon and Cornwall 1 Dyfed-Powys 1 Essex 1 Greater Manchester Police 6 Gwent 4 Hampshire 4 Humberside 2 Kent 7 Lancashire 2 Metropolitan Police 11 North Wales 1 North Yorkshire 1 Northamptonshire 1 Northumbria 4 Nottinghamshire 2 South Wales Constabulary 1 South Yorkshire 11 Staffordshire Police 1 Suffolk 4 Surrey 2 Sussex 5 Warwickshire Police 1 West Mercia 2 West Midlands 1 West Yorkshire 8 Total profiles removed by England and Wales forces since 16 December 2008 98
Gamma Butyrolactone
(2) what the legal status of liquid gamma butyrolactone in the UK is; and if she will make a statement;
(3) what advice she received from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs on the classification of liquid gamma butyrolactone in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008 and (d) 2009; and if she will make a statement.
[holding answer 7 May 2009]: Gamma butyrolactone (GBL) is a precursor chemical. It is not a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) provided advice on the classification of GBL in its 2008 report ‘GBL & 1,4-BD: Assessment of Risk to the Individual and Communities in the UK’. This advice can be found at:
http://drugs.homeoffice.gov.uk/publication-search/acmd/report-on-gbl1?view=Binary
This advice followed the ACMD's earlier 2007 report on ‘Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault’ in which the ACMD undertook to provide further advice on GBL This report can be found at:
http://drugs.homeoffice.gov.uk/publicationsearch/acmd/drugfacilitatedsexualassault/ACMDDFSA.pdf?view=Binary
No advice on GBL was received from the ACMD in either 2006 or in 2009 to date.
The Government will shortly be publishing a three-month public consultation which brings forward options to control GBL and its like precursor chemical, 1,4-butanediol. Consultation will look to elicit a better understanding of the scale and scope of the availability for misuse of GBL and 1,4- butanediol in the UK.
Immigration
[holding answer 27 April 2009]: The UK Border Agency is currently seeking further information in order to be able to decide this case.
Members: Correspondence
(2) when she plans to reply to the letter of 22 December 2008 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, on Folake Surat Odetunde;
(3) when she plans to reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 22 December 2008, regarding Folake Surat Odetunde.
I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 11 May 2009.
I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 6 April 2009.
Passports: Overseas Residence
I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is as follows:
Adult passport: £124
Child passport: £79.
Police: Bureaucracy
(2) whether the target date set for national roll out of the shortened crime recording and stop and account procedures has been met.
The proportionate crime recording pilots are now complete, and the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) expects to complete their evaluation next month. The interim findings have highlighted the potential benefits, with Staffordshire police reporting a reduction of up to 80 per cent. of the time it takes to record 80 per cent. of incidents.
I announced on 22 December 2008 that, following the pilots, all forces in England and Wales should now be working to replicate these significant savings by streamlining their crime recording processes, and we are supporting forces in their efforts to do so.
On 1 January 2009 PACE Code A was amended in respect of recording Stop and Account, to remove the requirement to record data other than on ethnicity.
Police: Complaints
(2) if she will bring forward proposals to monitor the responses of police forces to the findings of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which affect them; what recent discussions she has had with the IPCC on this issue; and if she will make a statement;
(3) if she will bring forward proposals to require the Independent Police Complaints Commission to inform her Department of the number of recommendations made by the Commission which have been (a) rejected and (b) implemented by the police force to which they are addressed; and if she will make a statement;
(4) how long on average police authorities have taken to make a response to recommendations of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in each of the last three years; what recent discussions she has had with (a) the IPCC and (b) police authorities on this issue; and if she will make a statement.
The information sought is not currently collected or held by the Home Office or the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
The Public Accounts Committee’s 15th report on the Independent Police Complaints Commission published on 31 March 2009, recommended that the Home Office should clarify who is responsible for monitoring the implementation of IPCC recommendations. We are working with the IPCC to take the recommendation forward.
Police: Standards
The Home Office no longer sets top down numerical targets for the police (with the exception of a single target to raise public confidence) and local target setting is therefore a matter for local criminal justice boards (LCJBs). The Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), along with other partners, are members of LCJBs which co-ordinate criminal justice planning and activity at the local level. LCJBs are required to agree local targets to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in bringing crime, in particular the most serious acquisitive, sexual and violent offences to justice.
Powers of Entry
The review covers powers of entry provided for by statute and aims to establish a framework of powers to ensure that the right balance is achieved between the statutory investigative and enforcement functions of relevant organisations and safeguards and protections for the public. Existing powers of entry and associated provisions and safeguards can be found at:
http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/powers-pace-codes/powers-of-entry-review/
The review is expected to report in autumn 2009.
Details on the role of bailiffs can be found at:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/DebtsAndArrears/DG_10034289
Racially Aggravated Offences: Young People
(2) how many reports police forces received of racist incidents in schools in each of the last five years.
The information requested is not collected centrally. The Ministry of Justice collect and publish statistics of racist incidents by police force area. However, no information is available on the age of either the victim or the alleged offender or on the location of the incident.
Retail Trade: Crime
[holding answer 12 May 2009]: The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) has been conducted by the Home Office on two occasions—once in 1994 and again in 2002. The Home Office have recently commissioned a study to consider and make recommendations about the coverage and methodology of a further survey of crime against commercial victims. This will report later in the year and inform decisions about the scope of another survey.
Serious Organised Crime Agency: Manpower
As of 30 April 2009, there were 140 staff employed by the Serious Organised Crime Agency based overseas.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
The Ministry of Defence can only answer this question in respect of UK run facilities.
The UK takes its human rights obligations very seriously and has policy and procedures in place regarding the standards within military detention facilities. All our facilities are regularly inspected to ensure that they meet our obligations under international law. The ICRC and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission have access to all the UK’s operational detention facilities in Afghanistan.
When any females or juveniles are detained they are separated from male prisoners and/or adult prisoners, unless they are housed with family members. All persons, especially those under 18 are only detained if absolutely essential and in Afghanistan, detainees are held for a maximum of 96 hours before being released or transferred to the Afghan authorities.
Armed Forces: Aviation
Charter flights to theatres of operation in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003 are:
Type of Aircraft used Flights 2003 AN124,A330, B737, B747, B757, B767, DCIO, DC8, IL76, LI0-11, MD11 518 2004 AN124,A330,B747, B757, DC8 89 2005 AN124, A330, B747, DC8 25 2006 A300, AN124, B747, B767, DC10, IL76 212 2007 A300, A310, A330, AN124, B747, B767, DC10, IL76, B737, MD11 786 2008 A300, DC8, AN124, B747, B767, DC10, IL76 737 20091 A300, A310, AN124, B757, B767, DC8 186 1 1 January to 30 April
Type of Aircraft used Flights 2003 1— 1— 2004 1— 1— 2005 1— 1— 2006 A300, AN124, B737, B757, DC8, IL76 113 2007 B737,A300,A310,A320, AN124, B757, B767, DC10, IL76 329 20082 A300,A319,A321,A330, AN124, B737, B747, B757, B767, DC10,DC8,IL76 516 A300, A321, A330, AN124, B737, B747, B757, B767, DC8, IL76 407 1 No charter recorded for Op Herrick 2 1 January to 30 April
All flights are for the carriage of either passengers or freight or a combination of both.
The spend on charter flights to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003 is:
Theatre of operation 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Iraq 41,350 19,569 17,983 40,186 67,079 53,551 Afghanistan 971 21,555 1,998 29,113 62,594 109,921
Armed Forces: Labour Turnover
Information on the length of service of armed forces personnel from 2006-07 onwards is currently unavailable since the introduction of the joint personnel administration system.
The following table provides the average length of service (in years) of personnel who voluntary outflowed from the trained UK Regular Forces in the financial year 2005-06.
Service Officers Other ranks All Services 15.0 9.4 Navy 16.1 10.1 Army 13.2 7.9 RAF 18.5 12.6
UK Regular Forces excludes Gurkhas, full-time reserve personnel and mobilised reservists.
Information on servicemen and women leaving the armed forces who had combat experience is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces: Manpower
(2) what percentage of force elements have reported no serious or critical weaknesses against the ability to deploy, sustain and recover force elements at the most demanding level of the Defence Planning Assumptions for contingent operations in each of the last four quarters;
(3) what percentage of force elements have reported (a) no serious weaknesses, (b) no critical weaknesses and (c) no serious or critical weaknesses against the ability to move from peacetime readiness to immediate readiness for deployment on operations in each of the last four quarters.
We have previously sought to measure our ability to bring force elements from their peacetime readiness levels up to the level required to deploy on potential contingent operations at the most demanding scale of effort, known as force generation, and to deploy them on such operations, sustain them there and recover them to their home base thereafter. This system has been predicated on the assumption that, for the most part, the armed forces will be operating below the concurrency level envisaged in defence planning assumptions and that they should therefore be working to maintain their capacity to deploy on potential contingent operations. The longer we have been operating above that concurrency level, the more theoretical this has become. By definition we have consistently, over several years, been successfully generating, deploying, sustaining and recovering force elements above the long term concurrency levels assumed in our long term planning. The metrics we have been using to measure and report our hypothetical capability have consequently provided little or no meaningful management information. We are therefore working to develop a more useful way of measuring and reporting performance in this area for the time when the operational tempo has reduced and the forces structure is recuperated to the point where it is appropriate once more to seek to measure our contingent as opposed to our current capability.
Statistical reporting against the graduated readiness profiles is published in the MOD public service agreement reports. The most recent report, setting out the Q3 2008-09 position, was published on the MOD website on 5 May 2009 and can be found at the following link:
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/CorporatePublications/FinancialReports/ModPublicService AgreementQuarterReportsapril2008ToMarch2011.htm
The critical and serious weakness scores, as published, for each of the last four quarters are provided in the following table.
No serious weakness No critical weakness No serious or critical weakness Q4 2007-08 55 92 49 Q1 2008-09 48 92 39 Q2 2008-09 49 92 42 Q3 2008-09 50 93 43
Armed Forces: Mental Health Services
(2) what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the relationship between levels of psychological wounding of service personnel and the number of contacts with the enemy.
The Department fully supports the need for high quality research which examines the psychological health of personnel engaged on operational duties. The King’s Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) and Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health website
www.kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr
contains links to a wide range of individual research papers. The 2006 KCMHR 10-year report provides a particularly useful summary of research during the first 10 years since its foundation in 1996. These studies examine the psychological health of Armed Forces personnel and veterans including intensity of operations, but there is no specific study of psychological health correlated with number of contacts.
A discharge medical assessment is undertaken 90 days prior to discharge. This detailed examination is undertaken by a doctor and the results are recorded on the individual's F-Med-1 form. This form contains a specific assessment of the mental capacity and emotional stability of the individual. A reassessment is carried out seven days prior to discharge to confirm the record or reflect any further changes.
A summary of each individual's medical history while in the armed forces, including the results of the discharge medical, is recorded on an F-Med-133 form which is given to the individual to pass on to their civilian GP. The F-Med-133 also contains information on how the GP can gain access to the individual's complete service medical records if required.
Armed Forces: Pay
The operational allowance is paid at the same rate for all qualifying locations. The allowance amounts to £2,380 for a six month operational tour, equating to £13.08 per day. Operational allowance is paid at a flat rate, recognising that all service personnel serving in the most challenging and dangerous operational circumstances are facing a broadly similar risk. The operational allowance is paid to all service personnel (regular, mobilised reserves and those on full-time reserve service) who are serving in specified operational locations, predominantly Afghanistan, Iraq and Iraqi territorial waters.
Entitlement is also extended to those undertaking flying sorties over or into Iraq and Afghanistan.
Armoured Fighting Vehicles
The Panther Command and Liaison vehicle has been modified under an urgent operational requirement to a theatre entry standard appropriate for deployment to operations in Afghanistan, at a cost of approximately £20 million.
Ascension Island
The Ministry of Defence has some 200 individual property assets on Ascension Island recorded on its asset registers ranging from stores to accommodation blocks. Valuations are carried out on a rolling five-year basis based on the depreciated replacement cost of the assets. The last formal valuation of the assets was carried out in 2005-06 and the next will take place during 2010-11.
The assets on Ascension Island valued at more than £1 million in 2005-06 were disclosed as part of the 2007 National Asset Register which is available on the HM Treasury website, with a total value at that time of £25.7 million.
Clyde Submarine Base
HMS Trenchant, HMS Talent and HMS Triumph will transfer progressively to HM Naval Base Clyde between 2014 and 2017 upon completion of their mid commission major maintenance periods.
Departmental Billing
Information on interest paid to suppliers under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 is published in the Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts. Payments made in the last three years are provided in the following table:
£ 2005-06 14,709 2006-07 8,603 2007-08 9,956
The information contained in the table does not include those interest payments made by the four MOD Trading Funds. This information is summarised as follows.
In 2007-08 Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) made interest payments totalling £15,783. No interest payments have been recorded for 2005-06 or 2006-07.
The UK Hydrographic Office does not separately record details of interest paid to suppliers and this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Meteorological Office and Defence Support Group have no record of any payments being made to suppliers in the last three years in respect of interest arising under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
Departmental Reviews
The Department keeps all of its business under regular review. As a result, a wide range of reviews are in hand at any given time. Information on these is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Vehicles
(2) how many civilian vehicles owned by his Department are based at each of its estates.
The Ministry of Defence does not own any White Fleet contract cars. We do, however, have two lease agreements in place for the provision of the majority of non-operational cars (White Fleet Vehicles). As at 12 May 2009 there were 8,376 cars leased under the UK and British Forces Germany White Fleet contracts.
Under the UK White Fleet contract, the number of vehicles (including vans, trailers, minibuses, motorbikes and coaches) based at each of the estates in England, Scotland and Wales is currently 15,228. The breakdown of this information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
European Fighter Aircraft
This matter is currently the subject of negotiations with our partner nations and industry.
Ex-servicemen
The Ministry of Defence has commissioned a number of studies into veterans' issues and we will continue to do so.
Kenya: Piracy
Operation Atalanta is an EU led operation and the operational detail requested is held by the EU Operation Commander for Atalanta, who reports to EU member states sitting in the Political and Security Committee in Brussels.
The EU-led naval force (EUNAVFOR), Operation Atalanta, where practicable, has handed over seized property such as skiffs (small boats) and other pirate related paraphernalia such as ladders, buoys and weapons. In some cases the skiffs and weaponry have been destroyed by the detaining ship for navigational and safety of life reasons. All of the incidents in which suspected pirates have been detained by EUNAVFOR are currently being prosecuted by the Kenyan authorities and therefore a more specific answer is not possible without jeopardising the court proceedings.
Land Mines
I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
Navy
The main element of the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) will be completed when the formal public consultation has ended and the MOD has published its response to the consultation findings. This is currently scheduled for spring 2010.
In accordance with statutory guidance, however, the SEA will not have a formal completion date, as monitoring of significant environmental effects will be ongoing throughout the life of the Submarine Dismantling Project (SDP).
The SDP is planned to run until circa 2060 when the intermediate level waste from all 27 submarines included in the project has been sent to the proposed National Geological Disposal Facility.
Nimrod Aircraft
We have interpreted ‘fuel defects’ to mean fuel leaks. The number of fuel leaks reported on the RAF Nimrod fleet since 2006 are stated in the following table.
Information on the number of fuel leaks prior to 2006 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Number of fuel leaks 2006 170 2007 1278 2008 146 2009 220 Notes: 1. Includes one fuel leak reported since the figure given in the written answer on 22 July 2008,Official Report, columns 1060-1061W. 2 Up until 31 March, the last full month for which validated data are available. 3 A fuel leak is defined as any leakage of fuel from aircraft couplings, pipes or fuel tanks. 4 These figures do not include fuel leaks which are caused by scheduled maintenance activity, as we disturb the fuel system. In these cases, the leak is both caused and rectified while on the ground.
Pakistan: Military Aid
The MOD provides military advice and assistance to Pakistan as part of normal security co-operation, as it does with many countries worldwide.
Rosyth Dockyard
[holding answer 14 May 2009]: Rosyth dockyard, which is owned and operated by Babcock, currently has a strong order book of MOD work: it is a key location for surface ship upkeep work through the Surface Ship Support Programme and is at the heart of the build programme for the two new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers.
As work on the new aircraft carrier programme at Rosyth increases, it is envisaged that deep maintenance surface ship work will be predominately undertaken at Devonport dockyard (which is also owned by Babcock). This is to ensure best use of industry wide resources.
Somalia: Piracy
There has been much collaboration and co-operation between the UK shipping industry, the military and from across Government.
The UK military is working alongside the shipping industry to provide safe passage of traffic in the Gulf of Aden. International naval forces are expending significant effort on counter-piracy operations, and are playing a role in protecting vulnerable shipping. For instance, the UK-commanded EU naval operation is utilising an internationally recognised transit corridor through the Gulf of Aden. All merchant shipping, including UK-registered vessels, are encouraged to use this route.
Best practice guidelines have been agreed with industry bodies on speed, self-protection, and registration with the Maritime Security Centre (Horn of Africa) website. Those ships registered with the website and following best practice have been considerably more successful in evading pirate attacks.
Moreover, the UK Maritime Trade Office acts as the interface between merchant shipping and the military, and has become the focal point for UK-registered vessels seeking advice and guidance.
We have worked closely with the US in the Gulf region for many years, and continue to do so to tackle piracy. The Combined Maritime Force, which conducts maritime security operations, including counter-piracy and counter-terrorism, is commanded by a US Admiral with a UK Royal Navy deputy.
In response to the recent increase in pirate activity, we have engaged with the US along military and diplomatic channels in order to develop a comprehensive approach, as part of an international response.
We also work closely with the US and other parties through the international Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS). As part of this, the UK chaired a separate working group on 7-8 May 2009 to continue discussions on military co-ordination and capability building in the region. The meeting was attended by other members of the CGPCS as well as industry representatives.
Treasury
Adjudicator's Office
On 27 April 2009 there were 2,029 complaints yet to be settled.
Banks: Finance
Figures for the Treasury’s spending in 2008-09 will be available in the Department’s resource accounts 2008-09 after the conclusion of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s audit.
The cost of establishing the asset protection scheme will be shared between the banks participating in the scheme.
Under the recapitalisation scheme announced on 8 October 2008, the Government have to date invested a total of £37 billion in Lloyds Banking Group (Lloyds) and the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS). There will be further investment alongside their participation in the Asset Protection Scheme.
The Government's shareholdings in RBS and Lloyds are managed on a commercial basis by UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI). UKFI's objective is to protect and create value for the taxpayer as shareholder with due regard to the maintenance of financial stability, and consistent with HM Treasury's stated aim that it should not be a permanent investor in UK financial institutions.
Banks: Iran
In line with paragraph seven of UN Security Council Resolution 1747, adopted on 24 March 2007, the Government make available no new grants, financial assistance or concessional loans to the Government of Iran.
Banks: Regulation
The Government support registration and supervision of credit rating agencies. The European Commission proposed a regulation of credit rating agencies in November 2008. Following negotiation the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament both adopted the text of the regulation in April 2009, as envisaged by the Turner Review. The regulation is expected to enter into force later this calendar year.
As stated in Budget 2009: Building Britain's future, the Government will issue a paper on renewing financial markets for the long term before the summer recess. This will include proposals to strengthen financial services regulation, and build on the work of the Turner Review as well as action taken at an international level.
Coinage
The information requested can be found on the Royal Mint’s website at:
http://www.royalmint.com/Corporate/facts/circulation.aspx
Departmental ICT
Malware was detected, and safely removed from, four of the Treasury’s total of approximately 1,600 computers during 2008.
Departmental Official Hospitality
For information on departmental Christmas parties, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 21 April 2008, Official Report, column 1669W, to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond).
Treasury staff have organised a number of grass roots events in the period concerned. Those are self-funding and details of costs are not available.
Departmental Postal Services
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave him on 23 July 2007, Official Report, columns 662-63W. The table provides the figures for subsequent years.
Number of items sent by Royal Mail Number of items sent by other commercial delivery services 20071 86,391 186 2008 54,371 470 1 From this year, HM Treasury combined its postal services with the Office of Government Commerce, which moved into the Treasury building in September 2007.
Departmental Training
The information requested is not available. HM Treasury only holds records centrally of core training provision, which does not include this type of training. Details of other training provided or funded locally could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
EU Budget
No timetable has yet been set for the commencement of discussions on the next financial perspective.
The arrangements by which member states finance the EC Budget are set out in the European Communities' Own Resources Decision. A new Own Resources Decision was agreed in June 2007 and has since been ratified by all member states in accordance with their own constitutional requirements. In the UK, ratification was by means of a European Communities (Finance) Bill which was taken through both Houses between 7 November 2007 and 18 February 2008 receiving Royal Assent on 19 February 2008.
Non-domestic Rates
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department’s analysis of the distribution of changes in rateable value by (a) property type and (b) region between the (i) 2005 and 2000, (ii) 2000 and 1995 and (iii) 1995 and 1990 non-domestic rating lists;
(3) if he will place in the Library a copy of the Valuation Office Agency’s (VOA) (a) primary description code and (b) special category code analysis by (i) economic region, (ii) billing authority and (iii) VOA group office of the movements in rateable value between the (A) 2000 and 2005, (B) 1995 and 2000 and (C) 1990 and 1995 rating lists.
The analysis and distribution of changes by ratable value by property type for 2005 and 2000 are available on the Valuation Office Agency’s website at:
http://www.voa.gov.uk/business_rates/DraftListStats/index.htm.
The 1995 and 1990 information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Revenue and Customs: Closures
(2) which HM Revenue and Customs offices originally scheduled for closure under the Workforce Change programme are now planned to stay open; and for what reasons in each case.
The aim of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Workforce Change regional review programme was to match its accommodation with its future business needs. The following table provides a list of the HMRC offices announced for closure under the regional review programme. Decisions made to close these offices remain unchanged.
HMRC has however looked again at the timing of the closures of a number of these offices in the light of budgetary constraints, and has decided that the vacation of some offices will not now take place in 2009-10 as originally planned. This does not affect the strategic decision to close these buildings, which HMRC aims to complete in 2010-11.
Where an office housing an inquiry centre closes, the inquiry centre services will be retained at or near the current location so face to face services to HMRC’s customers will not be affected.
Town Building Aberystwyth Crown Buildings Accrington Castle House Alfreton Horsefair House Alnwick Bondgate Hall Altrincham Roberts House Andover London Street Ashford Wellesley Road Ashton-under-Lyne Oakglade House Aylesbury Kingfisher House Ayr Russell House Ballymena Kilpatrick House Banbridge Bridgwater House Banbury Crown Building Bangor Ty Glyn Barrow in Furness Furness House Basildon Kelting House Basildon Regent House Bath Royal Mead Bedford Portman House Belfast Olivetree House Belfast Windsor House Bideford North Bank House Birkenhead Birchen House Bishop Auckland Vinovium House Blackpool Mexford House Boston Chantry House Brecon Government Buildings Bridgend Tremains Road Bridgwater Westgate House Bridlington Crown Building Brierley Hill Capstan House Bristol The Pithay Bristol Woodlands Court Buckie Moray House Burnley Towneley House Burton upon Trent Crown House Bury Minden House Bury St. Edmunds Triton House Cannock Rogers House Cardiff Portcullis House Carmarthen Ty Myrddin Cheadle Boundary House Cheltenham Inland Revenue House Chester Eden House Chester Norroy House Chesterfield Dents Chambers Chichester 6, Southgate Chippenham Kilvert House Chorley Lingmell House Clacton-on-Sea Harlech House Coatbridge Muiryhall Street Colchester Northgate House Coleraine Mill House Cowes Watchhouse Crewe Crewe House Darlington Regent House Derby St. James House Dewsbury Empire House Doncaster St. Peters House Doncaster Weston House Dorchester Vespasian House Dumbarton Meadowbank Street Dumfries Brooms Road Dunfermline Merchiston House Dunoon Auchencraig Durham Wycliffe House East Dereham Revenue Building Edinburgh Argyle House Edinburgh Clarendon House Edinburgh Saughton House Edinburgh Spitfire House Edinburgh York Place Elgin Phoenix House Enniskillen Custom House Evesham Lower Leys Falkirk Grahame House Farnham Woolmead House Frome Edwin Sims House Gainsborough Crown House Galashiels New Reiver House Glasgow Blythswood House Grangemouth Custom House Grantham Crown House Gravesend Stephenson House Grays Crown Building Great Yarmouth Havenbridge House Greenock Custom House Greenock Dalrymple Street Grimsby Heritage House Halifax Dean Clough Mill Halifax Southgate House Hamilton Barrack Street Harlow Beaufort House Harlow Terminus House Hastings Ashdown House Hatfield Gracemead House Haverfordwest Government Buildings Hawick Crown Building Haywards Heath Oaklands Hemel Hempstead Lord Alexander House Hereford Broadway House Hertford Sovereign House Hexham St. Andrews House High Wycombe Thame House Horsham Exchange House Horsham Tower Court Hove Martello House Huddersfield Crown House Huntingdon Chequers Court Inverness Longman House Keighley Worth House Kendal Eskdale House Kendal Kentmere House Kettering Cytringan House Kettering Montagu Court King’s Lynn Custom House Lancaster Charter House Launceston Madford House Leeds Century House Leeds Jefferson House Leeds Pennine House Leek Britannia Chambers Leicester Attenborough House Leicester Enkalon House Leigh Boardman House Lewes Medwyn House Lincoln Ceres House Liverpool Graeme House Liverpool Norwich House Liverpool Regian House Llanelli Crown Building London (Central) Belgrave Road London (Central) Haymarket House London (Central) New Kings Beam House London (Central) Thomas Paine House London (Central) Towergate London (Central) Towergate Garage London (Outer) 3 Brook Street, Kingston upon Thames London (Outer) Church Hill, Walthamstow London (Outer) Collingwood Business Centre, Tufnell Park London (Outer) Gateway House, Finchley London (Outer) Helena House, Sutton London (Outer) Lyndhurst House, Mill Hill London (Outer) Majestic House, Staines London (Outer) Northside House, Bromley London (Outer) Station House, Colindale London (Outer) Valiant House, Wembley Louth Revenue Buildings Ludlow Riddings Road Luton Jansel House Macclesfield Craven House Maidenhead Bell Tower House Maidstone Concorde House Manchester Royal Exchange Building Mansfield Chaucer House Margate Capital House Melton Mowbray Crown House Middlesbrough Fountain Court Morpeth Back Riggs Motherwell Civic Square Newark Millgate Newbury Elizabeth House Newcastle upon Tyne Aidan House Newcastle upon Tyne Cale Cross House Newcastle upon Tyne Eagle Star House Newcastle upon Tyne North Star House Newcastle upon Tyne Warwick House Newport Crown Building Newport IOW 88-91 St. James Street Newport IOW Apex Newry Downshire House Newton Abbot Sherborne House Northampton Beaumont House Northwich Dane House Norwich Roseberry Court Nottingham Bowman House Nottingham Huntingdon Court Nuneaton Powell House Oban Mathieson House Oldham Phoenix House Oswestry Plas Ffynon Oxford Sterling House Paisley Gilmour House Pembroke Custom House Penrith Voreda House Penzance Penlowarth Perth Water Vennel Peterborough Ashurst House Peterborough Hereward House Peterborough Stuart House Peterhead Keith House Plymouth Custom House Plymouth Westpoint Pontefract Micklegate House Pontypool Ty’r Felin Pontypridd Taff Vale House Preston Cop Lane Prestwick Liberator House Reading Eaton Court Reading Eldon Court Redditch Threadneedle House Retford Kings Park House Rhyl Llys Anwyl Ripon Athelstan Court Rochdale Newgate House Rothesay King Street Rugby Bennfield House Salford Anchorage 2 Salisbury Alexandra House Scarborough Albion House Scunthorpe Station House Shipley Crown House Shipley Hockney House Shrewsbury New Mayfield House Skipton Cavendish House Southampton 8 Ogle Road Southampton Portcullis House Southampton Queen’s Keep Southend Dencora Court Southend Portcullis House Southport Dukes House Spalding Government Buildings Spalding Holland House St. Albans Beauver House St. Annes Petros House Stafford Greyfriars House Stirling Spittal Street Stockport Wellesley House Stockton Dunedin House Stratford upon Avon Crown Building Sudbury Newton Road Sunderland Gilbridge House Sunderland Shackleton House Swansea Custom House Swindon Spring Gardens Taunton Riverside Chambers Tonbridge Douglas House Torquay Tor Hill House Truro Pydar House Tunbridge Wells Longford House Tunbridge Wells Union House Wakefield Crown House Washington Cheviot House Washington Weardale House Wellingborough Christchurch House Wells Priory Road Welshpool Dolanog House Weston Super Mare Parkside Whitehaven Blencathra House Wick Government Buildings Widnes Kingsway House Wigan Bridgeman House Winchester Cromwell House Witham Iceni House Worthing Teville Gate House Yeovil Maltravers House York Swinson House
HM Revenue and Customs plans to vacate 58 properties during 2009-10, and of these 47 are offices. It will reduce the size of a further 70 offices by relinquishing space that is no longer needed.
Royal Bank of Scotland: Finance
Following the conversion of the Treasury’s £5 billion preference shares to ordinary shares, announced on 19 January 2009 and completed on 14 April 2009, the Government have now invested £20.3 billion in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (including additional amounts to cover the accrued dividend on the repurchased preference shares, and the underwriting fee on the new ordinary shares).
With RBS’ participation in the asset protection scheme, the Government will make a further investment of £19.5 billion, and will make available a further £6 billion at RBS’s option.
Tax Avoidance
Tax avoidance has the potential to damage the public finances and the provision of public services in the UK. For this reason, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) monitors tax avoidance closely at all times.
Since 1997, the Government have been taking steps to tackle avoidance, by reforming the tax system, closing loopholes and introducing the disclosure regime. Anti-avoidance measures brought in as a result of the disclosure rules have closed over £11 billion in avoidance opportunities. The disclosure regime ensures that should further avoidance schemes emerge, the Government can quickly take action to protect tax revenues.
The Government agree that more action is still needed to mitigate the effects of tax avoidance. Budget 2009 sets out measures to close down avoidance schemes, including principles-based legislation on financial product avoidance, the successful introduction of which could facilitate this approach being applied to other areas, and work to further extend and improve the disclosure regime. These measures raise over £1 billion during the period 2009-10 to 2011-12, and protect a further £3 billion per year of tax receipts by 2010-11. The Government keep the need for further measures under review.
The Government consulted extensively on the possibility of a general anti-avoidance rule in 1998. Based on the outcome of that consultation, we made the decision not to introduce such a rule at that time, although the situation would be kept under review. That position is unchanged.
Tax Collection
The information requested is not available, as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) systems do not separately identify those payments received before and after formal demands have been issued.
Much of the operation of the tax system depends on payments being made to HMRC other than in response to a demand for payment. This would include, for example, payments where the taxpayer makes a self-assessment, payments that employers make throughout the year of the amounts due under PAYE, payments on account or in advance of future liabilities and payments in respect of VAT due from traders.
Tax Havens
In keeping with the G20 London summit communiqué, we expect swift implementation of the international standard of exchange of information by all countries. The G20 summit stated its readiness to apply sanctions against countries that fail to implement the international standard. G20 Leaders and Finance Ministers will meet again this year to review progress on commitments.
Taxation
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not disclose the details of individual taxpayers, so I am unable to provide details of refunds paid to each local authority in light of legal rulings on the capping of input tax. No specific estimate of the total liability to the Exchequer for such payments to local authorities is available.
Valuation Office: ICT
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 6 May 2008, Official Report, column 828W.
Valuation Office: Rightmove
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 March 2009, Official Report, columns 723-24W.
The contract between HM Revenue and Customs and Rightmove was extended because it provides good value for money by reducing the need for Valuation Office Agency (VOA) staff to visit properties in order to undertake their functions. It also allows the VOA to source the information it needs at minimal inconvenience to taxpayers. There is no provision in the contract for extension into 2010.
VAT: Bingo
It is estimated that the removal of value added tax on mainstage bingo would forego around £20 million in revenue in 2009-10. This includes the impact of value added tax removal on excise duty revenues from bingo and other gambling sectors.
International Development
Developing Countries: Climate Change
Information on the Department for International Development's (DFID) climate change policy and the steps being taken are available on the DFID website:
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Global-Issues/How-we-fight-Poverty/Climate-and-Environment/Climate-Change/What-DFID-is-doing/
Developing Countries: HIV Infection
In June 2008 the UK Government launched “Achieving Universal Access”—the UK’s strategy for halting and reversing the spread of HIV in the developing world. This is available in the Library of the House and on the DFID web-site:
www.dfid.gov.uk.
Pakistan: Armed Conflict
The UK Government are deeply concerned by the growing humanitarian crisis in the Swat Valley and neighbouring districts. We are in close discussion with the Government of Pakistan, humanitarian agencies and other donors to monitor the situation. The number of registered people displaced by the conflict now stands at over 1 million and this figure is sill growing. The United Nations (UN) is currently revising its appeal to meet the needs of up to 1.5 million people. The Department for International Development (DFID) has so far provided £12 million for humanitarian assistance to help those who have been displaced from their homes. This includes £10 million that was released at the end of April. Our funds are being used to provide shelter, water, sanitation, food and medical services. We will take a decision about the provision of further support once the revised humanitarian appeal is launched next week and funding gaps are clear.
Palestinians: Politics and Government
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr. Sharma) on 13 May 2009, Official Report, column 855W.
Sri Lanka: Armed Conflict
Security screening for civilians escaping the conflict zone initially takes place in an area of the Vanni to which no international humanitarian agencies have access. Secondary screening takes place at Omantai checkpoint where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has only limited access to observe the screening process. There is no established security screening process in the IDP camps and there are reports of people being removed for questioning and detention. This lack of international observation continues to cause concern and the UK Government have repeatedly called for full access for international humanitarian agencies to assist and protect all displaced people on their journey to the camps.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has not had a permanent presence in the Vanni since September 2008 when the Government of Sri Lanka required all UN agencies and NGOs to leave. Until January 2009 there were occasional visits of UNHCR personnel aboard humanitarian convoys into the Vanni. But since January there has been no UNHCR access to the Vanni except restricted access to the IDP security screening centre at Omantai checkpoint. The UK Government have repeatedly called for full UN access to the conflict zone, and for a UN team to be allowed to make a full humanitarian assessment of the needs there. The UN Secretary General's Chief of Staff, Vijay Nambiar, went to Sri Lanka on 15 May to press for full humanitarian access and respect for international humanitarian standards.
Sri Lanka: Internally Displaced Persons
Only a few hundred people have been able to return to their homes in Mannar district—formerly longer term residents of two small camps which pre-date the present exodus of civilians. The UK Government have consistently pressed the Government of Sri Lanka to abide by its commitment to return 80 per cent. of the new displaced population by the end of the year.
The only deliveries of aid to the conflict zone since February have been made by sea, all under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Recently, only very small consignments of 25 tonnes at a time have been possible. The overwhelming constraint is the reluctance of both parties to allow humanitarian access and permit the ICRC ships to enter the zone and unload supplies safely. The UK Government have continually pressed the Government of Sri Lanka to allow full humanitarian access to the conflict zone, including guaranteeing safe passage for a 1,000 tonne vessel which has not been able to return since last unloading on 8 April.
As at 12 May 194,303 people have been registered in more than 40 camps for displaced persons. More than 173,000 of these are in Vavuniya, most of them in three very large camps at Menik Farm. The conditions are far from ideal but starting slowly to improve. There are no reliable data available for deaths in the camps or to what extent those could be attributable to the conditions there. By far the greatest concern is the terrible loss of life in the conflict zone and in hospitals overwhelmed with sick and wounded patients.
In terms of international standards for assistance such as shelter, water and sanitation, food, health and education, the camps started from a very low standard but are gradually improving. Large influxes such as more than 113,000 people in one week made camp conditions very difficult to manage, particularly their sanitation. The UK Government have repeatedly pressed the Government of Sri Lanka to abide by international humanitarian standards and to work with humanitarian agencies to improve both protection and assistance, with a view to meeting their commitment of early return of at least 80 per cent. of the displaced population before the end of the year.
Department for International Development (DFID) assistance is provided directly only to United Nations and independent humanitarian organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, International Organisation for Migration and reputable international and national NGOs. DFID follows rigorous grant management procedures. Its humanitarian staff in Sri Lanka and London monitor and evaluate its programmes. No DFID humanitarian funding is transferred to the Government of Sri Lanka or any other governmental organisation in Sri Lanka.
We have no firm figure. Access to Government of Sri Lanka controlled camps was a serious concern earlier this year, especially with regard to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). United Nations (UN) agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) generally had better access to the camps. The UK Government repeatedly pressed the Government of Sri Lanka for greatly increased access to the camps, especially for NGOs.
Although the situation is far from ideal the 194,303 internally displaced people registered in camps in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Mannar do have access to humanitarian assistance. The situation is improving slowly. However, the population trapped in the conflict zone in Mullaitivu district is almost entirely isolated from any humanitarian assistance. Only the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has any kind of access and is able only to deliver 25 tonnes of food and other emergency items three times a week to a population of at least 50,000—barely three days of food each week. The UK Government repeatedly press at the highest level for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to enable the ICRC to evacuate the sick and wounded and to deliver sufficient humanitarian aid.
Sri Lanka: Politics and Government
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Clwyd, West (Mr. Jones) and the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff) on 13 May 2009, Official Report, column 844.
Zimbabwe: Politics and Government
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer provided to my hon. Friend the Member for Dundee, West (Mr. McGovern) on 13 May 2009, Official Report, column 841W.
Communities and Local Government
Council Housing
New lets are defined as the number of lets to new social housing tenants.
New lets are reported by local authorities annually, through the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA), covering the period 1 April to 31 March. The number of new lets made by local authorities in each year since 1996-97 is provided in Table 1.
Number of new lets (Thousand) 1996-97 260 1997-98 259 1998-99 249 1999-2000 235 2000-01 222 2001-02 198 2002-03 191 2003-04 162 2004-05 149 2005-06 133 2006-07 124 2007-08 111 1 New lets includes both general needs and supported housing Source: Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix
New lets by registered social landlords are available via the Continuous Recording of Lettings system (CORE), covering the period 1 April to 31 March. The number of new lets made by registered social landlords in each year since 1996-97 is provided in Table 2.
Number of new lets (Thousand) 1996-97 118 1997-98 128 1998-99 137 1999-2000 139 2000-01 140 2001-02 146 2002-03 146 2003-04 147 2004-05 141 2005-06 143 2006-07 147 2007-08 146 1 New lets includes both general needs and supported housing. 2 Registered social landlords with less than 250 stock are not required to complete CORE returns. Source: Continuous Recording of Lettings (CORE)
Departmental Billing
The Department and its agencies have made no payments under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 in the last three years.
Departmental Official Hospitality
The Department has spent the following amount on (a) conference services for the last three years:
Conference services (£) 2006-07 1,450,377 2007-08 1,836,863 2008-09 1,338,590
Owing to changes to the coding structure on the Department’s finance system, figures for earlier years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The cost of any working meals cannot be disaggregated without disproportionate cost. I refer the hon. Member the answer I gave to the right hon. and learned Member for Devizes (Mr. Ancram) on 27 October 2008, Official Report, column 717W.
Empty Property: Essex
The information requested is provided in the following table.
The table shows the number of empty homes for each year between 2003 and 2008 for Essex and Castle Point with the number of those in the private sector empty for more than six months.
2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Total Local authority (incl. owned by others) Castle Point 15 13 8 9 11 56 Essex 1,730 1,296 1,205 733 775 5,739 Registered social landlord Castle Point 7 8 4 13 9 41 Essex 305 388 531 550 653 2,427 Other public sector Castle Point 0 0 0 0 0 0 Essex 528 345 335 729 85 2,022 Private sector (non-RSL) Castle Point 767 889 927 1,070 994 4,647 Essex 16,420 16,292 19,248 17,918 19,282 89,160 Total empty Castle Point 789 910 939 1,092 1,014 4,744 Essex 18,983 18,321 21,319 19,930 20,795 99,348 Private sector (non-RSL) + six months Castle Point 304 529 588 693 649 2,763 Essex 8,458 7,451 8,488 8,426 8,932 41,755 Source: The Housing Strategy Statistical Appendices for 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 and can be accessed via the Communities and Local Government website.
Energy Performance Certificates
Communities and Local Government has commissioned AECOM (formerly Faber Maunsell) to undertake the research relating to the implementation of the energy performance of buildings directive.
Fire Services: South West
The full business case for the FiReControl project was published on 6 May. This sets out in detail the forecast costs of project implementation, and contains a South West specific annex. Copies of the business case have been placed in the Libraries of the House and can be found on our website at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/firecontrolfullbusinesscase
Fire Stations: ICT
The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Housing and Planning Delivery Grant
A written ministerial statement on housing and planning delivery grant was made to the House by my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Housing and Planning, on 12 May 2009, Official Report, columns 45-46WS.
£135 million is to be spent on housing and planning delivery grant in 2009-10 and £200 million in 2010-11. No funding has been agreed beyond the current spending review period.
The information is as follows.
Financial year PDG (£million) 2003-04 50 2004-05 130 2005-06 170 2006-07 135 2007-08 120 PDG total during SR02 and SR04 period 605
Financial year HPDG (£million) 2008-09 101 2009-10 (to be allocated) 135 2010-11 (to be allocated) 200 HPDG total during CSR07period 436
Housing: Low Incomes
(2) which regions have filled their MyChoice HomeBuy allocations for 2009-10; and when she expects the scheme to be opened to applicants again.
Mychoice homebuy providers have fully committed their current funds for the scheme. To date the Government have invested £126 million in the scheme this year and are considering the next steps for funding. In managing the Affordable Housing programme, the Government need to strike the right balance between this scheme and other programmes that support the delivery of new homes, including social rented homes, which also support new supply and jobs. Applicants who are eligible for assistance to purchase a home under my choice homebuy are also eligible for our other homebuy products including homebuy direct and new build homebuy.
The rent to homebuy scheme became operational on 16 July 2008.
Housing: Rents
[holding answer 15 May 2009]: Estimates of average rents, for local authority, registered social landlord and private sector tenants, as a percentage of average earnings are given in the following table for each year from 2002 to 2007. Comparable data prior to 2002 are not available.
The estimates are based on average rent data from a number of sources: CLG Housing Subsidy Claim Form; Housing Corporation (now Tenants Services Authority) HAR/10 and RSR; and Survey of English Housing (private rents). For each tenure, the percentage is calculated as the average rent for that tenure divided by the average earnings for England (all tenures).
Percentage Tenure 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Local authority 12 12 12 13 13 13 Registered social landlord 14 14 14 14 14 14 Private renters 29 29 28 28 29 29 Note: All percentages (for all tenures) are based on the mean gross earnings for England. Sources: Local authority rents—CLG Housing Subsidy Claim form Registered social landlord rents—Housing Corporation HAR/10 and RSR (Regulatory and Statistical Return) Private rents—Survey of English Housing (free market rents) Earnings—ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
Inland Waterways: Planning Permission
[holding answer 14 May 2009]: The protection of wharves for river-related use is a matter for the Mayor of London and the relevant local authority, which in this case is the London borough of Newham. The London Plan contains policies to protect a number of safeguarded commercial wharves on the Thames and the Lower Lea and to require referral to the Mayor of any proposals for non river-related uses of these wharves, including housing development. The borough development plans are required to reflect the strategic policies through the inclusion of detailed development control policies. In the case of the Lower Lea, north of Prescotts Lock, there are two safeguarded wharves, Mayer Parry and Priors wharves and these are protected through the saved policies of the Newham Unitary Development Plan of 2001. Change of use of unprotected wharves would be subject to the borough's general policies and, in determining applications for housing development, it would be for the council to judge the suitability of the proposal.
Owner Occupation: Social Mobility
The Department published in February 2007 research on the links between home ownership and social mobility. The final research report is entitled: “Social Mobility and Homeownership: A Risk Assessment—final report” and is available on the Communities and Local Government website at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/newhorizonsresearch
Rented Housing
(2) how many dwellings owned by (a) local authorities and (b) registered social landlords were built prior to 1980.
The following table shows an estimate of the percentage of registered social landlord and local authority residential properties which were built before 1919, 1965, 1981 and 1990, and the number of dwellings owned by local authorities and registered social landlords which were built prior to 1980.
Local authorities Registered social landlords All social landlords Dwelling age (Thousand) Percentage (Thousand) Percentage (Thousand) Percentage Pre-1919 96 5 182 10 278 7 Pre-1965 1,252 60 821 44 2,073 53 Pre-1981 1,955 94 1,288 70 3,243 82 Source: English House Condition Survey, 2006.
The annual turnover rate has been produced by calculating the number of lettings as a percentage of total stock for each year.
A comparison between the figures provided for local authorities (LAs) and registered social landlords (RSLs) is not possible, because RSL figures cover general needs households, while LA figures also include supported needs.
The amount of local authority stock and number of lettings are reported annually by local authorities through the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix. Table 1 gives turnover rates by region for all local authority stock for each year since 1997-98.
Percentage Region 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 North East 14.2 13.8 14.0 15.6 13.1 13.0 11.2 11.5 10.7 9.7 11.1 North West 13.9 14.1 14.5 13.8 12.8 13.6 11.9 11.6 10.4 11.3 10.4 Yorkshire and the Humber 13.1 13.1 13.3 13.4 12.8 14.2 11.4 11.8 9.4 9.6 8.3 East Midlands 13.2 13.4 12.8 12.6 12.1 12.9 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.1 10.0 West Midlands 13.2 12.9 12.8 12.7 11.2 12.1 10.5 10.1 9.9 9.3 8.9 East of England 10.6 10.4 10.4 10.0 10.2 9.8 8.9 9.2 9.5 8.8 9.1 London 9.7 8.4 7.7 7.4 6.9 6.9 6.7 6.7 6.3 5.9 5.5 South East 10.9 10.5 10.2 10.1 9.1 9.6 9.6 9.2 9.1 8.8 8.6 South West 11.3 11.6 11.0 10.6 10.1 9.7 9.9 9.6 9.2 9.6 8.9 England 12.2 11.9 11.8 11.6 10.8 11.1 9.8 9.7 9.0 8.8 8.4 Notes: 1. Lettings are recorded over the period 1 April to 31 March. Stock figures are reported as at 1 April following this period. 2. Stock and lettings include both general needs and supported housing. Source: Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix, Sections A and D
The amount of RSL stock and the number of lettings are reported annually through the Regulatory Statistical Return. Table 2 gives turnover rates by region for stock owned by registered social landlords (RSLs) for each year since 1997-98. This covers general needs households only.
Percentage Region 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 North East 21.9 18.9 18.8 19.1 16.1 13.4 10.9 11.1 10.4 10.7 9.6 North West 17.5 15.9 14.4 14.8 16.2 12.7 12.1 10.4 10.2 9.4 8.9 Yorkshire and the Humber 21.7 20.1 19.5 17.8 18.3 14.1 15.0 10.5 11.3 10.5 10.8 East Midlands 24.9 19.6 17.7 18.4 17.2 15.6 16.4 16.2 14.0 14.3 12.0 West Midlands 15.8 14.1 13.7 13.8 14.1 11.7 11.3 10.5 10.1 9.8 9.7 East of England 16.0 15.5 13.6 13.2 12.4 11.6 10.8 9.7 9.2 9.5 10.1 London 11.0 10.0 8.9 9.2 9.9 8.8 8.9 9.1 7.7 8.9 9.3 South East 13.9 12.5 11.6 10.7 11.9 11.2 11.3 11.1 11.1 9.5 9.1 South West 16.0 10.8 12.0 11.5 13.3 11.9 11.4 11.3 10.8 10.5 10.6 England 15.8 13.9 13.1 12.9 13.6 11.8 11.5 10.7 10.1 9.9 9.7 Notes: 1. Stock figures are reported as at 31 March each year; lettings are recorded over the period 1 April to 31 March. 2. Figures from 2000-01 and earlier relate to self-contained stock only. Source: Regulatory and Statistical Return Part N (1998 to 2001), part 0 (2002 to 2008).
Repossession Orders: South Yorkshire
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mrs. Curtis-Thomas) on 13 May 2009, Official Report, column 818W.
Social Rented Housing
Local authorities who wish to consider transferring their social housing to a registered social landlord (RSL) need to ensure that there are clear benefits from doing so and that the proposal would have the support of tenants. The Department has published guidance to local authorities, the Housing Transfer Manual 2005 and a 2006 supplement, which sets out the process and assessments required.
The Homes and Communities Agency has a responsibility to consider housing transfer applications from local authorities, and the Tenant Services Authority considers from a regulatory perspective the position of the RSL to whom the housing is proposed to be transferred. Housing transfer only takes place where it has the support of tenants, and has the legal consent of the Secretary of State.
Provisional figures for the average age of social housing in England, as at May 2009, are:
(a) Local authority dwellings—53 years;
(b) Housing association dwellings—44 years.
Equivalent statistics for previous years are not available but it should be noted that there is little change in the age profile of the stock from year to year.
I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Regent's Park and Kensington, North (Ms Buck) on 10 March 2009, Official Report, column 322W, and on 24 February 2009, Official Report, columns 554-56W.
Urban Areas: Regeneration
On 14 April we published "Looking after our town centres", which sets out the range of powers, guidance and approaches that can help local authorities and their partners promote the vitality and viability of town centres, and explains additional steps that the Government are taking to enable further positive action to be taken, particularly through the temporary use of empty shops.
We also recently issued, for public consultation, “Planning for Prosperous Economies”, a new Planning Policy Statement streamlining planning policy for economic development. This includes policy on town centres currently in Planning Policy Statement 6. We are also consulting on associated guidance. Together these will strengthen the Government's “town centre first” policy and support regeneration schemes.
We also set out clear principles for working at regional and local levels when we launched the next stage of the Regeneration Framework on 11 May. This explains the Government's vision for regeneration and the steps we are now taking to keep regeneration moving in the current economic conditions. It takes a holistic approach—ensuring physical, social and economic regeneration are planned and delivered together.
Work and Pensions
Cold Weather Payments: Fife
No cold weather payments were triggered for eligible people living in the post code area covering the North-East Fife constituency in the years 2004-05 to 2006-07. Cold weather payments were triggered once for this post code area in 2007-2008 and either once or twice in 2008-09, dependent on the relevant weather station. However, it is not possible to give a figure for the number of people who qualified for a cold weather payment, as this information is not available at constituency level, only by weather station.
Crisis Loans: Essex
The information is not available in the format requested. Information on crisis loan expenditure is not available by Jobcentre Plus office.
Foreign Workers
The available information is in the tables.
The statistics show the total number of national insurance numbers allocated—not the number of migrants living in the UK. We know that many people come to work for a short period and then return—the national insurance number statistics do not measure people leaving the UK. They should not be used to make estimates about the number of foreign nationals living in the UK at a particular time.
Thousand 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 Government office region Non-UK total Non-EU Non-UK total Non-EU Non-UK total Non-EU Total 373.5 258.51 435.35 237.19 663.06 287.97 Scotland 15.96 10.3 23.44 11.02 41.40 13.82 North East 5.88 4.69 7.36 5.08 10.93 5.84 North West 23.67 18.21 31.22 17.32 48.81 18.71 Yorkshire and the Humber 18.92 15.5 19.98 11.91 36.50 14.53 Wales 7.09 4.95 10.04 4.87 16.64 5.91 West Midlands 23.5 18.84 28.01 16.80 42.04 17.62 East Midlands 16.55 12.56 23.56 11.69 38.72 12.78 East of England 26.48 17.85 34.62 15.92 52.78 18.48 South East 43.49 30.4 51.00 26.61 80.24 33.38 London 157.42 107.63 169.71 100.36 235.44 129.09 South West 16.07 10.71 22.57 10.77 34.06 11.83 Northern Ireland 4.58 2.12 5.74 2.23 16.06 3.04 Overseas residents 13.89 4.76 8.11 2.66 9.43 2.95
2006-07 2007-08 Government office region Non-UK total Non-EU Non-UK total Non-EU Total 705.84 285.13 733.09 292.70 Scotland 51.89 16.33 52.41 17.36 North East 13.33 6.49 12.23 6.42 North West 51.12 18.47 51.18 19.42 Yorkshire and the Humber 41.33 15.20 42.16 15.68 Wales 16.72 5.82 16.35 6.21 West Midlands 47.23 17.81 46.63 18.01 East Midlands 40.72 11.89 38.45 11.19 East of England 52.73 17.42 51.79 17.09 South East 79.33 32.96 82.83 33.16 London 240.93 124.31 272.71 132.49 South West 41.23 12.59 38.90 11.83 Northern Ireland 19.68 2.70 17.64 2.35 Overseas residents 9.58 3.15 9.80 1.44 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten and displayed in thousands. Some additional disclosure control has been applied. 2. Registration date is derived from the date at which a national insurance number is maintained on the National Insurance Recording System. 3. Government Office region improvements have been made to the allocation of migrants whose residential address is incomplete. Figures reflect the best estimate of an overseas national's locality at the time of registering for a national insurance number. 4. Financial year of registration date years are financial based (1 April to 31 March). 5. Non-EU registrations are included in the non-UK total figures. 6. Data are published at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/tabtool.asp 7. Non-EU nationals—based on a client's nationality. The mapping for “world areas” is based on the present day. 8. Bulgaria and Romania are listed as EU accession states for the entire Back Series. “European Union” excludes the accession states. 9. The latest year that full year data is available is 2007-08. Source: 100 per cent. extract from National Insurance Recording System.
Housing Benefit
Information is not available for 1 April each year; the available information is in the table.
Number 2003 3,161,300 2004 3,232,600 2005 3,314,900 2006 3,358,000 2007 3,401,600 Notes: 1. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred. 3. Figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated. 4. The figures are for May which relate to the second Thursday of May each year. 5. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. 6. From February 2007, DWP has been collecting more detailed HB/CTB data electronically from local authorities. Over time this will improve the accuracy, timeliness and level of detail available in the published statistics. However, until the new data have been fully quality assured to National Statistics standards, the most recent summary statistics available are for August 2007. Source: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hbctb.asp
Housing Benefit: East of England
The available information is in the following table.
Cambridgeshire East of England 1998 26,300 311,300 1999 24,600 295,500 2000 23,500 275,500 2001 22,500 270,800 2002 22,400 267,900 2003 22,800 271,400 2004 23,900 282,100 2005 24,600 289,200 2006 25,100 297,100 2007 25,600 302,100 Notes: 1. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred. 3. Figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated. 4. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. 5. From February 2007, DWP has been collecting more detailed HB/CTB data electronically from local authorities. Over time this will improve the accuracy, timeliness and level of detail available in the published statistics. However, until the new data has been fully quality assured to National Statistics standards, the most recent summary statistics available are for August 2007. Source: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. taken in August 1997 to August 2001. Information for August 2002 to August 2007 has been taken from: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hbctb.asp
Housing Benefit: Fraud
The information is not available.
Jobcentre Plus
Programme centre provision is delivered via a range of job search modules and soft skill development modules to reflect the needs of employers and the local labour market. Provision is tailored to meet the individual needs of the customer. The following table lists the modules available. However, it is not exhaustive as providers may develop new modules subject to the approval of Jobcentre Plus.
Jobsearch Modules
Induction
Contract Setting
Employment/Unemployment
Overcoming hurdles to finding work
Action Planning
Labour Market Intelligence
Personal Stocktaking - Skills/Strengths/Experience
Individual Advice and Guidance
Setting Job Goals
CV's
Job Leads (Where to find the hidden vacancies)
Analysing Vacancies
Telephone Techniques
Letters of Application
Preparation for Interviews
Mock Interviews
Training Opportunities/Individual Learning Accounts/Life Long Learning
Managing Time
Back to Work Benefits
Starting Your Job
Keeping Your Job
Coping With Setbacks
Assertive Jobseeking
Self-Employment
Soft Skill Development Modules
Attitude - Lifeskills/Learning Culture
Financial awareness, money handling, paying bills
Work Ethic
Grooming/Personal appearance, interpersonal skills
Motivation - Job appropriate/worthwhile
Redressing low aspirations
Recruitment systems/processes
IT awareness (not occupational skills) essentials - keyboard, navigation, email, internet Employer Visits
Occupational expectations (realism)
Telephone skills
Customer care
Life skills - turning up, time keeping, getting to work/travel support mechanisms, lunch, concentration, stamina, routine
Working with colleagues
National Insurance
The available information on national insurance number (NINo) registrations in London Government office region is in the table.
Thousands Financial year EU nationals Non-EU nationals 2003-04 49.49 107.63 2004-05 69.06 100.36 2005-06 106.12 129.09 2006-07 116.43 124.31 2007-08 140.05 132.49 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten and displayed in thousands. Some additional disclosure control has been applied. 2. Registration date is derived from the date at which a NINo is maintained on the National Insurance Recording System. 3. Government office region improvements have been made to the allocation of migrants whose residential address is incomplete. Figures reflect the best estimate of an overseas national's locality at the time of registering for a NINo. 4. The mapping for “world areas” is based on the present day. Bulgaria and Romania are listed as EU accession states for the entire Back Series. European Union excludes the accession states. 5. Financial year of registration date years are financial based (1 April to 31 March). 6. The latest year that full year data is available is 2007-08. In the first two quarters from April to September 2008, there have been some 69.74 thousand national insurance numbers allocated to EU nationals and 66.4 thousand allocated to non-EU nationals. Source: 100 per cent. extract from National Insurance Recording System.
The statistics show the number of adult overseas nationals (by Government office region) entering the UK and registering for a NINo in order to work or to claim benefits and tax credits. As such they are one measure of in-migration to the UK. However, they do not represent the number of migrants living in the UK at a point in time, nor are they consistent with estimates of Government office region migrant populations. Nor do they represent the distribution of employment of migrants—as they provide information on where the individual lived at the time they registered for a NINo; they may have since moved.
Information on full-time equivalent staff numbers and operating costs is not collated for each individual office and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Natural Gas: Safety
The Services Concession Agreement entered into by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) with Capita Gas Registration and Ancillary Services Ltd. for the operation of the Gas Safe Register is a commercially confidential document. The performance and value for money of the Gas Safe Register will be measured against eight key performance indicators, which are published on the HSE website.
Parliamentary Questions: Government Responses
[holding answer 30 April 2009]: I replied to the hon. Member's question on 13 May 2009, Official Report, columns 866-7W.
Welfare Tax Credits: Lone Parents
[holding answer 22 April 2009]: There are approximately 460,000 lone parents on income support with a youngest child under the age of seven.
Assuming that this remains constant, the annual cost of paying all lone parents with a child aged under seven a work-related activity premium is in the table.
Work-related activity premium Annual cost (£ million) £10 per week 240 £20 per week 480 £30 per week 720 Notes: 1. Costs are rounded to the nearest £5 million. 2. Costs depend upon case loads. The average number of lone parents on income support over the last year was 460,000, but higher numbers would mean higher costs, and vice versa.
As this is not Government policy these costs assume all lone parents with a youngest child under the age of seven receive a work-related activity premium.
They reflect only the additional cost of paying the premium, and not any additional costs associated with ensuring additional provision is made available through, for example, the new deal for lone parents programme.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Business: Advisory Services
In its response to the Anderson Review the Government undertook to develop an approach to this recommendation by spring 2009. We will shortly be making an announcement on our piloting strategy.
Departmental Billing
The Department has made the following payments covering interest for late payment of invoices under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998:
Financial year Amount (£) 2006-07 1,116 2007-08 0 2008-09 0
Prior to the creation of BERR in June 2007, the payments covering interest for late payment of invoices relate to payments made by the Department of Trade and Industry.
I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service and Companies House and they will respond to the hon. Member directly.
Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 18 May 2009:
I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 8 May 2009, UIN 275210, to the Minister of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Companies House has not paid any interest to suppliers under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 in the last three years.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 18 May 2009:
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has asked me to reply to your question how much (a) his Department and its predecessor and (b) its agencies paid in interest to suppliers under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 in the last three years for which figures are available.
The Insolvency Service Executive Agency of The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform made no payments of interest to suppliers for late payment of invoices in the last three years.
Departmental Furniture
This Department’s published “Annual Report and Accounts” contains information on its tangible fixed assets, which includes an additions category entitled “furniture, fixtures and fittings”.
These accounts can be found on the BERR website at the following address:
www.berr.gov.uk.
Information for 2008-09 is still subject to audit and will be published in the 2008-09 Annual Report and Accounts on 17 July 2009.
I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service and Companies House and they will respond to the hon. Member directly.
Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 18 May 2009:
I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 5 May 2009, UIN 273745, to the Minister of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Companies House has spent the following amounts on furniture in the last five years:
Financial Year Amount (£) 2004-05 548,761 2005-06 83,999 2006-07 37,406 2007-08 41,554 2008-09 12,825
The high costs in 2004-05 and 2005-06 were as a result of establishing a new office in Nantgarw, north of Cardiff.
Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 18 May 2009:
I refer to your question to ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, how much (a) his Department spent on furniture in 2008-09 and (b) his Department’s agencies spent on furniture in each of the last five years.
The Insolvency Service expenditure on furniture for the last five years is shown in the table below:
Year Expenditure (£) 2008-09 869,363 2007-08 683,666 2006-07 678,952 2005-06 526,985 2004-05 149,160
Departmental Mobile Phones
In 2008, one BlackBerry was lost by a Minister and one by a special adviser. The numbers lost by civil servants are shown in the following table.
Mobile Phones Blackberry's 2005 11 3 2006 14 3 2007 2 12 2008 2 13 20091 0 5 1 30 April
Departmental Public Expenditure
[holding answer 23 April 2009]: Information on expenditure on summits was provided in my right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs (Mr. McFadden) answer to the hon. Member on 11 May 2009, Official Report, column 557W.
Information on expenditure on the conferences and seminars referred to in my right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs (Mr. McFadden) answer to the hon. Member on 17 March 2009, Official Report, column 1128W, is as follows:
Total Venue Catering Conferences Small Business Forum 777.25 490.00 287.25 Prompt Payment Forum 174.60 137.50 37.10 S.O.S Panel on Monitoring the Economy (four occasions) 1,506.25 392.50 1,114.00 1,197.40 343.75 854.00 783.75 343.75 440.00 747.50 305.00 443.00 S.O.S Meeting with Automotive Industry 784.00 287.00 497.00 Lord Davies (no meeting title) 131.00 110.00 21.60 Economic Integration Conference 1,767.50 1,125.00 642.50 RDA Chairs Ministers Meeting (two occasions) 332.90 275.00 57.90 519.30 410.00 109.30 Round Table Meeting 441.45 303.40 138.00 Ministerial Advisory Group on Manufacturing (two occasions) 384.80 328.00 56.80 368.85 328.00 40.85 Seminars Economic Impact of Migrant Workers 368.25 328.00 40.25 Knowledge Sharing 820.00 820.00 — Senior Economist Meeting (four occasions) 109.05 82.50 26.55 159.65 137.50 22.15 168.20 137.50 30.70 168.20 137.50 30.70 Senior Whitehall Stakeholder Group for Business (two occasions) 600.50 410.00 190.50 474.00 410.00 64.00
The events listed pertained to a broad range of different issues within Ministers’ briefs—from small business to consumer protection and the automotive industry. It also includes interdepartmental meetings between Whitehall economic experts.
Departmental Telephone Services
This Department is unable to confirm the cost of calling the 084 numbers in use, as rates will vary dependent upon the tariffs applied by each caller's telephone service supplier. The Department does not deploy any 03 numbers.
The information available on call duration to the Department's 084 numbers is limited to the three numbers supplied by the main telephone supplier, Global Crossing. For the first quarter of 2009 the average call duration for these 084 numbers was two minutes and nine seconds. The Department does not use 03 numbers.
Departmental Training
The Department’s budgets for training are devolved to individual directorates. IT training, whether it relates to routine or project-related activities, is not separately itemised on the Department’s accounting system and the amount that was spent on it within overall training budgets could be ascertained only at disproportionate cost.
Employment Tribunals Service
(2) how many employers had equal pay claims upheld against them in 2007-08.
I have been asked to reply.
The Employment Tribunal does not keep the information which the hon. Member has requested in a readily available format. This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Food
Over the last 12 months up to the end of April 2009, it is estimated that 16,350 kgs of waste food was disposed of by BERR's catering service provider from its restaurant facility at 1 Victoria street.
It is not possible to estimate the monetary value of this waste as information is not held centrally and collating this information would incur disproportionate costs.
Gambling Commission
Under the Hampton implementation review framework, regulators are reviewed under one of two models, depending on their size, scope and impact, to ensure that reviews are proportionate to the organisation in question.
The Gambling Commission was assessed under the 'Model 1' framework whereby a review team of experienced individuals from the Better Regulation Executive, National Audit Office, the Security Industry Authority and the EEF assessed the work of the Commission over a one-week period. The review team conducted a combination of interviews with senior staff, with representatives of the gambling sector, and with individual regulated businesses, as well as shadowing the work of Commission inspectors.
The review framework and both the Model 1 and Model 2 methodologies are set out on the BERR website at
http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/bre/inspection-enforcement/implementing-principles/reviewing-regulators/page44054.html.
The review team met with a wide range of Commission staff, including both Commission members and Executive staff ranging from the Chief Executive to their compliance and advisory staff over the course of 6 October to 10 October.
Home Information Packs
The rules on misleading omissions in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) will apply to Property information questionnaires (PIQs) where they constitute a marketing communication between a trader (as part of his business) and a consumer. The rules prohibit the provision of unclear material information or the hiding or omission of material information which the consumer needs in the circumstances.
We believe that an estate agent acting for a consumer seller would not normally breach the rules on misleading omissions in the CPRs where the PIQ had been completed by the seller.
Housing: Sales
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has produced general guidance, available on the BERR website at:
www.berr.gov.uk
about the Cancellation of Contracts Made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc. Regulations 2008. The Office of Fair Trading has published joint OFT/BERR branded general guidance, available on the OFT website at:
www.oft.gov.uk
about the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. The guidance details the steps that any business, that is subject to the regulations, must take to comply with the regulations.
Motor Vehicles: EU Law
On the basis of detailed discussion with EU member states, the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation will be extended or otherwise by the European Commission as this falls within their competence under Article 81 (3) of the European Treaty. We have expressed concerns about access to information, particularly technical information, and parts for the independent aftermarket, and have made several representations to the European Commission on the subject. Most other EU member states have expressed similar concerns. I would expect these concerns to be addressed in any formal proposals by the European Commission.
Officials from BERR and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have been in discussion with representative groups from the motor vehicle industry including the ‘Right to Repair’ campaign throughout the review of the Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation and these helpful contacts will continue.
Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries
As indicated during the debate in the House on 30 April, BERR is in contact with Visteon UK. I understand that the unions and the Visteon corporation have agreed a much improved redundancy package and that staff at the three Visteon UK plants voted overwhelmingly to accept it. I hope that the necessary payments can be made as soon as is possible. We will continue to monitor the situation.
Post Offices: Bank Services
[holding answer 20 April 2009]: My right hon. Friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs attended the Post Bank Coalition's launch event on 17 March and regularly meets representatives of a range of post office network stakeholders and other interested parties.
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008
Part 3 of the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 allows a Minister, by order, to give local authorities and other regulators access to four new civil sanctions:
Fixed monetary penalties
Discretionary requirements
which will enable a regulator to impose, by notice, one or more of the following:
a variable monetary penalty determined by the regulator;
a requirement to take specified steps within a stated period to secure that an offence does not continue or happen again; and
a requirement to take specified steps within a stated period to secure that the position is restored, so far as possible, to what it would have been if no offence had been committed.
Stop notices
which will prevent a business from carrying on an activity described in the notice until it has taken steps to come back into compliance.
Enforcement undertakings
which will enable a business, which a regulator reasonably suspects of having committed an offence, to give an undertaking to a regulator to take one or more corrective actions set out in the undertaking.
To date, no orders have been made under part 3 and so local authorities cannot yet access the new powers.
Part 2 of the Act, which commenced on 6 April 2009, established the primary authority scheme. The scheme allows businesses, charities or other organisations that operate across more than one site, to enter into a partnership with a local authority for it to become a primary authority. As well as promoting consistency, the scheme is intended to help local authorities decide what action will be necessary and proportionate in a given circumstance to bring about a successful outcome with the minimum burden to an organisation.
Where the Local Better Regulation Office has registered a primary authority, any other local authority that proposes to take enforcement action against an organisation must contact the primary authority first. The primary authority can then block the proposed enforcement action if it believes that it is inconsistent with advice or guidance that it has previously given. In situations where action is urgently required to prevent harm, the Act allows local authorities to proceed immediately and inform the primary authority as soon as possible after taking the action. Under the scheme, a local authority may reclaim costs incurred while acting as a primary authority on a cost recovery basis.
Retirement: Age
The UK does not have a national mandatory retirement age. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 introduced a default retirement age of 65, which allows employers to use retirement at 65 as a tool for workforce planning. However, employers do not have to retire employees once they reach 65. They are free to continue to employ them for as long as they like, and employees are entitled to request to continue working beyond 65.
As the Government clearly stated when the regulations were introduced, we are committed to undertaking an evidence based review of the default retirement age five years after its introduction. This provides sufficient time for the regulations to bed in and helps business to plan with certainty. We will be gathering the evidence needed to enable us to undertake this review in 2011. If the conclusion of the review is that the evidence demonstrates a default retirement age is no longer necessary, we will take the necessary steps to remove it.
WPP
[holding answer 20 April 2009]: I understand general business issues were discussed.
Justice
Council Tax: Non-payment
Statistics on the number of orders issued, as opposed to the number of applications made, are not available. The following table shows the number of applications for council tax and business rate liability orders made to magistrates courts during the financial years 2005-06 to 2008-09 inclusive. These liability orders attract the same fee charge, and are therefore recorded on the internet fees accounting system (IFAS) in the same way. It is not possible to distinguish between applications for liability orders made in relation to council tax and business rates.
Number of applications made 2005-06 2,438,305 2006-07 2,632,923 2007-08 2,867,390 2008-09 3,124,406
Centrally-held figures are not available for earlier years because HM Courts Service only assumed direct responsibility for the magistrates courts with effect from April 2005.
Damages
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 28 April 2009, Official Report, column 1253W, to his earlier question on this subject.
The consultation on the law on damages closed on 27 July 2007. The consultation paper considered proposals put forward in a series of Law Commission reports and consequently covered a number of distinct and complex issues. There were 103 responses, many very detailed, that required careful consideration. This work has taken longer than planned, partly because of the scale or the response and the inherent complexity, and partly because of by the need to divert resources to deal with other pressing issues. The Government do, however, intend to publish a response paper outlining the way forward as soon as possible.
Departmental Reviews
The Ministry of Justice does not hold this information centrally. To collate this level of information would require a detailed trawl across the Department which would entail disproportionate cost.
However, information on major reports and reviews undertaken by the Department on a wide range of issues can be accessed at the following link from the MOJ website:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/policy-reports.htm
It also contains Green Papers, White Papers and Government responses to parliamentary committee reports on major policy reviews.
Publications and follow-up reports on the Department’s regular research programme, as well as any special projects that MOJ initiates can also be found at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/research.htm
Information on MOJ consultations, both open and closed, can be found at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/consultations.htm
Land Registry: Fraud
The figures requested are shown in the following table. The increase in the level of payments in 2005-06 was principally caused by one fraudulent transfer which resulted in payments of more than £8.1 million. The raised level of payments in subsequent years is attributable to a range of factors—including increasing numbers of registered transactions, greater availability of credit providing more opportunities for fraudsters, increases in property values resulting in the losses from each fraud being higher, and more professional as opposed to domestic frauds. The number of frauds must be seen against the overall numbers of transactions processed in each year. For example, in 2007-08, Land Registry processed 5,638,226 applications to alter the register and there were 60 successful indemnity claims based on fraud.
Indemnity payments relating to fraud (£) Number of fraud related indemnity claims 1998-99 231,540 17 1999-2000 89,226 15 2000-01 245,457 9 2001-02 99,320 7 2002-03 254,930 4 2003-04 151,626 12 2004-05 293,599 15 2005-06 8.6 million 31 2006-07 2.1 million 24 2007-08 3.9 million 60 2008-091 5.07 million 62 Total 21.04 million 256 1 The figures for 2008-09 are based on information currently available to be finalised when Land Registry’s audited accounts are published later this year. This figure can change. The Audit Committee are due to sign off the accounts in June.
It is not possible to provide these figures as no such estimates have been made. Land Registry tracks the level of fraudulent alterations to the register by reference to claims received for indemnity based on fraud rather than against estimates of the number of fraudulent alterations which would necessarily be speculative.
No such estimates have been made.
Offenders: Mental Health Services
I have been asked to reply.
Ex-service personnel, including those within the criminal justice system, have access to national health service treatment and services. Prison mental health care transferred fully to primary care trusts in 2006, and all prison mental health services are now mainstreamed within the NHS. On entering custody, the reception screening tool assesses all prisoners’ health concerns, including mental illness, and can refer them to mental health in-reach teams within the criminal justice system. A person whose mental illness is too severe to justify their remaining in prison can be transferred to NHS secure services.
In its response to Lord Bradley’s report on people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the criminal justice system, the Government make it clear that veterans involved in the criminal justice system is an important group, and whose needs will also be taken into account as the delivery plan to address Lord Bradley’s recommendations is developed.
Orchard Lodge Secure Unit
The Youth Justice Board will be commissioning 191 beds in Secure Children’s Homes in England and Wales from 1 July 2009. This figure was determined by examining the average level of demand for secure training centre and secure children’s home beds over a three-year period and determining the optimum number of secure children's home beds to be commissioned in the current contracting round.
The Youth Justice Board’s decision not to offer Orchard Lodge a new contract was taken following a comprehensive evaluation of a tender exercise. The evaluation panel assessed the quality of all tenders received based on the quality of the responses to the specifications issued, and a financial evaluation on submitted bed prices. Any decision about the future of Orchard Lodge will be taken by the private operator, Glen Care.
Prisoners: Foreigners
The following table provides the numbers of prisoners held in all prison establishments in England and Wales as at 30 June in each year from 2004 to 2008, showing the percentage of foreign national prisoners:
All prisoners (number) Foreign nationals (number) Foreign nationals (percentage) 2004 74,488 8,941 12 2005 76,190 9,651 13 2006 77,982 10,879 14 2007 79,734 11,093 14 2009 83,194 11,498 14
These figures include foreign national prisoners serving their sentence, those on remand pending prosecution and those being held under immigration powers pending deportation action.
These figures are available on the Ministry of Justice website:
For the period 2004 to 2007:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/prisonandprobation.htm
For 2008:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/populationincustody-2008.htm
Data on foreign national prisoners are published quarterly in the population in custody bulletin, again on the Ministry of Justice website:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/populationincustody .htm
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Prisons: Discipline
The information is not held in the form required and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. There are a variety of types of incident where Tornado teams may be deployed, predominantly concerted indiscipline, hostage taking and incidents at height. As Tornado teams will not have been deployed to all of these incidents, the information could be obtained only by examining each incident in detail. Similarly police presence at incidents is not centrally recorded.
There have been just four major incidents of disorder since 1996, and the incident at Ashwell in April was the first since the disturbance at Lincoln in October 2002. Between 1990 and 1995 there were 11 major incidents of disorder, including Manchester, which lasted 25 days, and Pucklechurch, where the entire prison was destroyed (both in 1990).
Probation Boards: Pay
(2) what average percentage of probation board and trust expenditure was on probation board members’ (a) salaries and (b) associated expenses in (i) England and (ii) Wales in the last 12 months.
This information is not held centrally and is not available in the format requested in the 42 probation areas where it is held. To obtain this information would therefore incur a disproportionate cost.
Repossession Orders: Mortgages
(2) how many court orders were issued in respect of mortgage arrears in each region in the latest period for which figures are available;
(3) how many repossession orders have been issued by courts in England and Wales in respect of mortgage arrears in each of the last five years;
(4) how many repossession orders have been issued by the courts in each of the English regions in respect of mortgage arrears in each of the last five years.
The number of mortgage possession orders made in each year from 1990 and in each quarter from 2004 are available via the Ministry of Justice website at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/stats-mortgage-land-q1-2009.pdf
The following table shows the number of mortgage possession orders made in England and Wales and each Government office region in the last five years and in the first quarter of 2009.
This breakdown is based on the location of the court which heard the case, rather than the exact location of the property which was the subject of the case.
The Ministry of Justice does not hold information centrally on the breakdown of mortgage possession orders according to the nature of dispute. This is because one of the main administrative computer systems used in the county courts for possession cases (CaseMan) does not identify the specific nature of dispute for these orders. Changing the administrative system to create the necessary field to capture this information would incur disproportionate cost.
The number of mortgage possession orders made in each county court of England and Wales in each year from 1987 to 2008 can be viewed using the following web link:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/mortgateland lordpossession.htm
The civil procedure rules state that all claims for the repossession of land must be commenced in the district in which the land is situated. However, geographical boundaries of county courts may not necessarily be consistent with other administrative or constituency boundaries.
These figures do not indicate how many homes have actually been repossessed. Repossessions can occur without a court order being made while not all court orders result in repossession.
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008* 2009 Qtr 14 East 4,647 7,058 8,421 8,212 10,334 1,604 East Midlands 3,619 5,511 7,179 7,807 9,690 1,401 London 7,788 13,110 15,214 14,120 15,318 2,274 North East 2,145 3,290 5,211 5,698 7,059 1,184 North West 6,492 9,115 13,222 14,968 19,150 2,903 South East 6,682 10,024 11,629 11,548 13,018 2,274 South West 3,254 4,956 5,776 5,763 7,736 1,065 West Midlands 5,318 7,606 10,223 11,290 14,342 1,789 Yorkshire and the Humber 4,091 6,349 8,511 9,459 12,112 1,821 England 44,036 67,019 85,386 88,865 108,759 16,315 Wales 2,647 3,945 5,440 6,048 8,113 1,272 England and Wales 46,683 70,964 90,826 94,913 116,872 17,587 1 Includes all types of mortgage lenders. 2 The court, follow hg a judicial hearing, may grant an order for possession immediately. This entitles the claimant to apply for a warrant to have the defendant evicted. However, even where a warrant for possession is issued, the parties can still negotiate a compromise to prevent eviction. 3 Includes outright and suspended orders, the latter being where the court grants the claimant possession but suspends the operation of the order. Provided the defendant complies with the terms of suspension, which usually require the defendant to pay the current mortgage or rent instalments plus some of the accrued arrears, the possession order cannot be enforced. 4 Figures for the latest quarter are provisional. Note: The Mortgage Pre Action Protocol for possession claims relating to mortgage or home purchase arrears was introduced on 19 November 2008. Its introduction has coincided with a substantial fall in the number of new mortgage possession claims in 2008 quarter 4 and subsequently in the number of mortgage possession orders in 2009 quarter 1. Source: Ministry of Justice
Terrorism: Compensation
The working group brings together officials from across Government and includes representatives from the following Departments:
Humanitarian Assistance Unit
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Office for Criminal Justice Reform
Ministry of Justice
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
Ministry of Defence
Northern Ireland Office
Scotland Office
HM Treasury.
There will be a separate ministerial group which will include the Minister with responsibility for humanitarian assistance, a Foreign Office Minister, the Home Secretary, the Attorney-General and the Justice Secretary.
The working group of officials will look at all available options and put together detailed proposals for consideration by the ministerial group.
The working group will meet regularly and is expected to report to Ministers in the summer.
Health
Abortion
(2) if he will place in the Library a copy of each document in his Department's file CPO 2/6 Lord Robertson of Oakridge, Abortion Amendment Bill Briefing for Legislation Committee and Second Reading Debate; and if he will make a statement;
(3) if he will place in the Library a copy of each document in his Department's file CPO 2/4 10 Minute Rule Bill (Jo Richardson) NHS Act 1977 (Amendment) Bill; and if he will make a statement.
A copy of the files has been placed in the Library.
Care Homes
We are informed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that the numbers of services operating in Leicester city council area and in England are as shown in the following table.
Ownership type Leicester city council England Charity 3 843 Local authority 11 1,055 National health service — 193 Other — 102 Private 90 14,052 Voluntary 9 2,168 Total 113 18,413 Note: Services include care and nursing homes inspected against the national minimum standards for care homes for older people (aged 65 or over) and care homes for younger adults (aged 18-64). Source: CQC registration and inspection database. Data as at 8 April 2009.
Information on the total numbers of residents, those aged over 60 and those whose care is privately funded in care homes is not collected centrally.
Information about the number of people aged 65 and over in residential care, funded fully or in part by councils with adult social services responsibilities, is collected by the NHS information centre for health and social care. This information is shown in the following table.
Area Residential care homes Independent nursing homes Council Independent England 18,000 106,600 57,700 Leicester city council 300 700 200 Note: Figures exclude unstaffed homes and adult placements. Source: NHS Information Centre.
Dementia
The Department published the first National Dementia Strategy on 3 February 2009, which will improve services for people with dementia and their carers. The strategy to be implemented over five years will focus on three key areas in relation to dementia services: improved awareness, earlier diagnosis and intervention, and a higher quality of care.
The Carers’ Strategy, “Carers at the heart of 21st century families and communities”, published in June 2008, recognises the increasingly important role that carers play in our society and acknowledges that all carers, including carers of those diagnosed with dementia, need more help and support than has been available in the past. The strategy contains a number of commitments including information and advice, new break provision and a recognition that family carers should be involved in decisions about treatment and support.
Copies of both publications have already been placed in the Library.
Departmental ICT
There were no instances of malware being detected on the Department’s computers in 2008.
Health Professions: Registration
The following organisations have applied for their professionals to be registered by the Health Professions Council (HPC).
2 April 2003. The Association of Operating Department Practitioners. Operating Department Practitioners. Recommended to the Secretary of State, on the HPC register since 2004;
4 June 2003: The British Psychological Society. Applied Psychologists. Recommended to the Secretary of State, on the HPC register from 1 July 2009;
17 September 2003. The Society of Clinical Perfusion Scientists of Great Britain. Clinical Perfusion Scientists. Recommended to the Secretary of State;
8 October 2003. The Registration Council for Clinical Physiologists. Clinical Physiologists. Recommended to the Secretary of State;
2 March 2004. The Association of Dance Movement Therapy. Dance Movement Therapists. Recommended to the Secretary of State;
13 May 2004. The Voluntary Register of Clinical Technologists. Clinical Technologists. Recommended to the Secretary of State;
14 September 2004. The Institute of Medical Illustrators. Medical Illustrators. Recommended to the Secretary of State;
13 September 2005. The Institute of Maxillofacial Prosthetists and Technologists. Maxillofacial Prosthetists and Technologists. Recommended to the Secretary of State subject to clarifying the education routes to registration and also the nature of the profession’s continuing professional development and that they engage in discussions with one of the professions already regulated by the HPC with a view to being regulated under their umbrella;
1 March 2006 and 11 May 2006. The Society of Sports Therapists. Sports Therapists. Recommended to the Secretary of State;
3 July 2008. Society and College of Radiographers. Sonographers. Outstanding, awaiting publication of extending professional regulation working group report; and
11 September 2008. The HPC considered the report of the Department of Health working group on acupuncture, herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and other traditional medicine systems practised in the United Kingdom as if it were a new professions application. Recommended to the Secretary of State.
Hertfordshire Community Health Services
Hertfordshire Community Health Services is the provider arm of the West and East and North Hertfordshire primary care trusts (PCTs). Therefore the PCTs retain all the statutory functions of those organisations.
All national health service providers of health care, including primary care trusts (PCTs), have been registered with the Care Quality Commission since 1 April 2009 against a single registration requirement relating to the prevention and control of health care acquired infections. From April 2010, NHS providers of regulated activities will be required to register with the Care Quality Commission against a full set of registration requirements. The Care Quality Commission will also assess PCT provider services as part of its organisational assessment of PCTs.
Allocations are made to primary care trusts (PCTs) and it is their responsibility to ensure that those allocations are used to commission services to meet the needs of the communities that they serve while at the same time giving value for money. The East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) reports that the cost implications for renaming West Hertfordshire PCT and East and North Hertfordshire PCT will be very limited and restricted largely to the production of new name badges for staff. There are no immediate plans to replace any premises signage. The SHA also reports that there will be little or no cost to making the name change in other areas such as email signatures, websites and stationery reprints, the latter only taking place as stationery stocks diminish.
The Care Quality Commission will continue to assess the provider services of primary care trusts (PCTs) as part of their assessment of PCTs. The Healthcare Commission’s annual health check ratings for West Hertfordshire PCT and East and North Hertfordshire PCT is shown in the following table.
West Hertfordshire PCT East and North Hertfordshire PCT 2006-07 Quality of service Weak Weak Use of resources Weak Weak 2007-08 Quality of service Fair Fair Use of resources Fair Fair
Hospitals: ICT
[holding answer 14 May 2009]: In London, four acute trusts, Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals, Queen Mary’s Sidcup, Barts and the London, and the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trusts are already live with the Cerner Millennium system supplied by the local service provider, BT.
BT is not responsible for the implementation of systems in Birmingham.
While the scale of the challenge in implementing new IT systems into acute trusts must not be underestimated, and initial experience with the new systems in London was not without difficulties, significant progress has since been made.
Information about the local financial and resource impact on national health service organisations resulting from implementation of, or failure to implement, computer systems is not held centrally, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Under the national programme for information technology central contracts, suppliers are only paid when systems have been successfully deployed and are working satisfactorily. The cost of failure is therefore met by the supplier rather than the taxpayer.
Mental Health Services: Prisons
This information is not collected by the Department.
On 30 April 2009, Lord Bradley published his review of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the criminal justice system. The “Bradley report” found that too many people pass through the criminal justice system without their mental health needs or learning disabilities being recognised. This means that their specific needs are not met and too often this leads to a cycle of re-offending.
The prevalence among suspects and offenders, of mental disorders, learning disabilities, and drug and alcohol problems is very high. About 20 per cent. will either currently be in contact with, or have a history of psychiatric treatment.
The Government published their response to the recommendations alongside Lord Bradley’s report. The report has been welcomed by Ministers across Government who recognise the need for reform in this area and the necessity for more joined up services to strengthen capacity and take forward this work.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust
The primary care trust (PCT) monitors performance and scrutinises complaints through the Commissioning Quality Review Committee meetings. The complaints report is presented at the PCTs Quality Scrutiny Committee, which looks at the response rates, key themes and any trends. This is then reported through the Governance Group meetings at the PCT. The PCT reports complaints at its monthly trust board as part of the performance report. As a result of the situation in Mid Staffordshire, the PCT offered to advocate on behalf of patients and will continue to offer this service.
More generally, the Department has reformed and strengthened the national health service complaints system from 1 April this year. This sets the expectation that hospitals need to do better at resolving complaints at the local level and, importantly, take appropriate action in the light of the outcome of a complaint.
Information on complaints is already available from the Care Quality Commission, the ombudsman and the Information Centre, but we will now require hospitals to publish annually the number of complaints they receive, and how many were successfully resolved locally. We will also discuss with the health ombudsman publishing the number of complaints from each trust referred to and upheld by her. All this information will also be placed on the NHS Choices website allowing easier comparisons between hospitals.
A written ministerial statement was issued on 30 April 2009 setting out the Government response to the reports on care at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust submitted by Professor Sir George Alberti and Dr. David Colin-Thome.
In line with the recommendations in Dr. David Colin-Thome’s report, officials will undertake an assessment of the new complaints system in due course.
The statutory powers of an NHS Foundation Trust’s board of governors are set out in the National Health Service Act 2006 (c41) Schedule 7 —“Constitution of public benefit corporations”.
In general, the governors of a foundation trust are expected to represent the interests of the membership, and to act as a bridge between the Board of Directors and the membership. Governors must act in the best interest of the trust, and hold the board of directors to account for the performance of the trust. This includes reviewing the annual report and accounts. The governors have a legal duty to appoint the non-executive directors and chair of the trust, and are responsible for appointing the external auditors.
It is for the governors of an NHS Foundation Trust, acting on behalf of the trust’s membership, to consider whether and when to act in accordance with their legal powers. The Secretary of State does not have a power of direction. NHS Foundation Trusts were established to increase the level of local accountability and the Department has not issued any guidance to Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust on the exercise of the statutory powers of the trust’s governors.
A written ministerial statement on Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust was issued on 30 April 2009 in response to the reports of the independent reviews undertaken by Professor Sir George Alberti and Dr. David Colin-Thome.
NHS Foundation Trusts: Pay
The independent regulator (Monitor) requires foundation trusts to produce annual reports including annual accounts. These include details of salaries and remuneration packages of chief executives and senior managers. Copies of these documents are placed in the House of Commons Library. As a public benefit corporation, NHS Foundation Trusts have a duty to make this published data available to any person who requests it.
NHS: Disclosure of Information
We have already introduced legislation to protect whistleblowers. The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) gives the full protection of the law to national health service staff who blow the whistle. The Department has made it clear that every NHS trust must have in place local policies and procedures that comply with the Act. The Government expect a climate of openness and dialogue in the NHS that encourages staff to feel able to raise concerns about health care matters sensibly and responsibly without fear of victimisation. The NHS constitution published on 21 January 2009, also sets out how staff should have “protection from detriment in employment and the right not to be unfairly dismissed for ‘whistleblowing’ or reporting wrongdoing in the workplace.”
We have taken out a contract with the charity “Public Concern at Work” to provide a helpline that is manned by lawyers with expertise on whistleblowing law who can provide confidential advice and support to NHS staff.
NHS: Information and Communications Technology
The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Tranquillisers
Information is not held centrally for the number of prescription items issued, only for prescription items dispensed. Similarly, information on the number of in-patient prescriptions is not held in the format requested.
The following table provides prescriptions for Benzodiazepine items, dispensed in the community, in England, and written in the United Kingdom, for 2007 and 2008, by quarters (Q1-Q4), in thousands.
Thousand Q1 Q2 Q3 04 Full year 2007 Alprazolam — — — <0.1 <0.1 Chlordiazepoxide Hydrochloride 69.9 68.4 68.0 66.3 272.6 Clobazam 35.3 36.4 37.4 38.9 147.9 Clonazepam 113.6 116.5 119.0 125.0 474.1 Diazepam 1,160.4 1,169.8 1,192.2 1,200.1 4,722.5 Flurazepam Hydrochloride — — — — — Loprazolam Mesilate 27.9 26.8 26.5 26.9 108.1 Lorazepam 215.0 218.0 221.9 226.9 881.8 Lormetazepam 32.6 30.4 28.3 27.8 119.1 Midazolam — — 0.2 1.6 1.9 Midazolam Hydrochloride 11.1 12.1 12.5 13.5 49.2 Midazolam Maleate 0.7 1.0 1.8 0.8 4.3 Nitrazepam 318.6 311.8 308.0 311.5 1,249.9 Oxazepam 47.6 47.2 46.9 47.1 188.8 Temazepam 829.5 803.9 802.8 818.6 3,254.8 2008 Alprazolam <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 Chlordiazepoxide Hydrochloride 64.8 64.6 65.9 63.9 259.2 Clobazam 37.9 39.3 40.6 42.3 160.1 Clonazepam 123.8 126.4 132.5 138.1 520.8 Diazepam 1,178.1 1,201.5 1,236.8 1,246.8 4,863.1 Flurazepam Hydrochloride <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 Loprazolam Mesilate 26.4 26.0 25.8 26.0 104.2 Lorazepam 219.2 221.6 225.8 232.0 898.6 Lormetazepam 25.1 23.4 22.3 21.2 92.0 Midazolam 1.0 0.8 0.5 0.2 2.6 Midazolam Hydrochloride 13.2 14.3 15.0 16.3 58.9 Midazolam Maleate 0.7 0.7 1.5 2.3 5.2 Nitrazepam 296.3 292.4 290.2 293.9 1,172.8 Oxazepam 44.9 45.0 44.9 45.3 180.0 Temazepam 792.2 770.7 772.2 787.1 3,122.2 Notes: 1. Where there were fewer than 50 prescriptions dispensed this is indicated by “<0.1”. 2. “—” indicates that there were no prescriptions dispensed in the time period. 3. Aggregated figures may not match full-year volumes due to rounding. Source Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system
The following table provides prescriptions for “Z” tranquilliser items, dispensed in the community, in England, and written in the UK, for 2007 and 2008, by quarters (Q1-Q4), in thousands.
Thousand Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Full year 2007 Zaleplon 8.5 7.7 7.8 7.8 31.9 Zolpidem Tartrate 172.5 168.2 170.5 175.5 686.6 Zopiclone 1,097.1 1,073.1 1,094.3 1,150.4 4,414.9 2008 Zaleplon 7.5 7.0 7.1 7.4 29.0 Zolpidem Tartrate 173.3 169.9 173.0 179.5 695.8 Zopiclone 1,151.2 1,136.0 1,172.4 1,232.1 4,691.7 Note: Aggregated figures may not match full-year volumes due to rounding. Source: Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system
The provision of treatments/services that reflect local needs and priorities is a matter for local decision.
The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) provides its advice to the Secretary of State as a collective body and not through individual experts.
Membership of the CHM and the expert advisory groups is available on the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency website at:
www.mhra.gov.uk/Committees/Medicinesadvisorybodies/CommissiononHumanMedicines/Members/index.htm
Neither the Department's National Institute for Health Research nor the Medical Research Council has funded research into the permanent effects on health of long-term tranquilliser use. Both organisations welcome applications for support for research into any aspect of human health. Applications are judged in open competition with other demands on funding, with awards being made on the basis of the scientific quality of the proposals made.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Building Colleges for the Future Programme
(2) how many projects will receive funds from the £300 million allocated to Building Colleges for the Future in the 2009 Budget.
Budget 2009 announced that an additional £300 million of capital funding will be made available in the current spending round and will allow a limited number of projects to start within this spending review period. Capital investment between 2007-08 and 2010-11 will total £2.6 billion on top of the £2 billion invested between 1997-98 and 2007-08. It is not possible to say the exact number of, or the names of the specific projects, that will be funded as the selection of projects will be based on objective criteria that the LSC is developing in consultation with the sector. The LSC plan to confirm which projects will be taken forward during this spending review period at the beginning of the summer.
The minutes of this meeting were published on the Learning and Skills Council’s website on 30 April, at:
http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/National/nat-Minutes_capital_reference_group_29_april_2009.pdf
I will ensure copies of the minutes are placed in the House Libraries.
Energy Performance Certificates
The National Measurement Office has no responsibilities for the enforcement of the provisions of the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007. The Regulations themselves are the responsibility of the Department for Communities and Local Government and enforcement is a matter for local authorities with trading standards functions.
Like any other part of government the Office is responsible for complying with the regulations in respect of its own building.
Further Education: Finance
Capital funding for further education colleges is administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested is with regard to an operational matter for the Council, I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the further information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.
Budget 2009 announced that an additional £300 million of capital funding will be made available in the current spending round and will allow a limited number of projects to start within this spending review period. Capital investment between 2007-08 and 2010-11 will total £2.6 billion on top of the £2 billion invested between 1997-98 and 2007-08. It is not possible to say the exact number of, or the names of the specific projects, that will be funded as the selection of projects will be based on objective criteria that the LSC is developing in consultation with the sector. The LSC plan to confirm which projects will be taken forward during this spending review period at the beginning of the summer.
To be clear, the Department has not withdrawn any capital funding. In actual fact, in addition to the already record level of capital funding that we are investing in this spending review period, Budget 2009 announced that an additional £300 million of capital funding will be made available in the current spending round.
Capital funding for further education colleges is administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested is with regard to an operational matter for the council, I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the further information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.
Capital funding for further education colleges is administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested is with regard to an operational matter for the council, I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the further information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.
[holding answer 18 May 2009]: Capital funding for further education colleges is administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested is with regard to an operational matter for the council, I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the further information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.
[holding answer 7 May 2009]: Capital funding for further education colleges is administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested is with regard to an operational matter for the council, I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the further information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.
[holding answer 7 May 2009]: Capital funding for further education colleges is administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As the information requested is with regard to an operational matter for the council, I have asked Geoffrey Russell, the acting LSC chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the further information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Libraries.
Learning and Skills Council
The Higher Education Funding Council for England employs 263 full-time equivalent staff; 259 in Bristol and four in London.
The management of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) estate is a matter for the LSC. As at March 2009 the LSC had 3,046.41 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in post. A breakdown of the number of staff based in each office of the LSC is provided as follows. The total occupancy varies slightly from the FTE figure as the FTE figure incorporates data on part time workers as a proportion of one FTE depending on individual working patterns.
LSC office Occupancy National Office Coventry—Cheylesmore House 593 Manchester 240 Liverpool 43 Lancashire—Preston 27 Cheshire and Warrington 14 Cumbria 16 Birmingham 228 Stoke on Trent 30 Shropshire 0 Black Country Castlegate 29 Black Country Oldbury 0 Hereford/Worcester 40 Coventry and Warwickshire 27 London—Central 195 London—West 32 London—East 54 London—North 26 London—South 29 Gateshead 165 Billingham—Tees Valley 40 Durham 0 Bradford 165 Sheffield 107 Hull 27 York 27 Cambridge 20 Bedfordshire 55 Suffolk—Ipswich 82 Hertfordshire 32 Essex 27 Norfolk—Norwich 23 Leicester 147 Derbyshire 29 Lincoln 18 Northampton 16 Nottingham 32 Bristol 76 Bournemouth 17 Plymouth Devon and Cornwall 81 Truro—Devon and Cornwall 11 Exeter—Devon and Cornwall 9 Gloucester 14 Taunton—Somerset 18 Swindon 24 Reading 97 East and West Sussex—Brighton 70 Fareham 56 Woking—Surrey 33 Milton Keynes 14 Kent/Medway—West Malling 53 Total 3,208
Space Technology
In recent years a number of changes have been made to improve operation of the space licensing regime. Such changes include:
Extension of the Outer Space Act to Bermuda (2006)
Introduction of improved assessments of collision risk in-orbit and for the satellite’s transfer from the launch vehicle to its final working orbit (2006)
Improved guidance and planning information for applicants on BNSC website (2007)
Agreement of the Isle of Man to share contingent liability (2007)
Agreement of Bermuda to share contingency liability (2008)
Measures to enable the introduction of temporary licences for operating spacecraft belonging to others (for maintenance or emergency intervention) (2008)
Students: Low Incomes
The information is as follows:
(a) This Government are fully committed to ensuring every young person has a fair chance of attending university. 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. This year we are investing £89 million in the Aimhigher programme which raises the aspirations of young people to progress further and enter HE, and launched Aimhigher Associates across England with 5,500 undergraduates from state schools mentoring 21,000 learners to promote progression to HE from state schools.
As part of the New Opportunities White Paper, we also announced further measures to ensure every young person from a low income background, who could benefit from going to university, is given the opportunity to do so. This includes a group of 11 research intensive universities working together to look at ways to reach out to talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
(b) Around two-thirds of new students are expected to benefit from a non-repayable maintenance grant of up to £2,906 (2009/10 figure).
Students are also able to take out a loan for their living costs. Student loans have a more favourable interest rate compared to commercial loans, and borrowers are not required to make repayments until they are earning over £15,000 a year once they have left university.
Bursaries are an extra source of non-repayable support that universities are required to provide to all students entitled to the full maintenance grant.
Other help is available for students with disabilities, and for students with children or adult dependants. The access to learning fund (available through universities and colleges) provides help for students in hardship who may need extra financial support for their course and to stay in higher education.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
We do not hold this information centrally.
Officials from the Department have regular contact with academies and this often includes attendance at governing body meetings.
Apprentices
Apprenticeship frameworks typically take between one and three years to complete depending on the level and type of framework, the prior attainment and needs of the apprentice. These factors and an individual’s speed of learning mean that length of time as an apprentice can vary enormously. Our primary measure of quality is the completion rate which last year was 64 per cent.; up from 37 per cent. in 2004/05.
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.
Building Schools for the Future Programme
The Department does not routinely collect information on the numbers and types of renewable energy systems, rainwater harvesting installations or grey water recovery systems that are included within school projects delivered though the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF).
Since December 2007 we have required that newly constructed schools within BSF meet challenging targets for reducing carbon emissions. The Department has provided additional funding for more than 200 schools to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy measures on school sites to enable this requirement to be met.
We will be monitoring carbon emissions for new and refurbished schools as part of post occupancy evaluations to be carried for all BSF schools. Typically these evaluations take place one full calendar year after the school has opened, and so they are only now beginning to take place for schools that have been delivered within BSF.
We have now completed our assessment of revised or modified primary strategies for change from all of those local authorities required to resubmit following initial assessment last November. All but four have now been confirmed as fully approved. The remainder have been approved subject to further modification. The relevant local authorities have been notified of the outcome.
Children: Literacy
(2) what assessment he has made of the outcome of the Partnership for Literacy pilot scheme;
(3) what plans are in place to implement the Partnership for Literacy scheme;
(4) what estimate has been made of the cost of implementing the Partnership for Literacy scheme on a national basis.
The cost of implementing the Partnership for Literacy scheme nationwide has not been estimated. However, Sir Jim Rose is taking into account the evaluation report of the programme’s first two-years, which was published in February, as part of developing recommendations on the identification and teaching of children with dyslexia. We are looking forward to Sir Jim Rose publishing his recommendations in June.
Children: Mental Health Services
I have been asked to reply.
The following table gives figures for the number of bed days for children on child and adolescent mental health wards and for children aged under 16 and 16-17 on adult mental health wards.
Quarter Bed days - under 16s on adult ward Bed days -16/17s on adult ward Bed days - under 18s on CAMHS ward 2005-06 1 589 10,269 38,761 2 349 5,958 26,351 3 880 8,818 40,460 4 353 4,261 36,039 2006-07 1 75 4,697 34,609 2 25 4,780 28,171 3 38 4,679 34,430 4 53 4,511 39,049 2007-08 1 81 3,954 38,359 2 112 3,893 37,956 3 49 4,255 39,630 4 133 5,028 40,651 2008-09 1 16 3,316 35,431 2 14 4,024 35,482 3 0 2,918 40,734 1 Five bed days were initially reported but one (Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) was a data error. Notes: Data on this issue was first collected in 2005-06 but data up until Quarter 3 of 2005-06 is not comparable with the data for Quarter 4 2005-06 onwards as information was collected on a different basis.
Class Sizes: Tamworth
The requested information is shown in the table.
Primary schools Secondary schools 2004 25.4 20.9 2005 25.7 21.0 2006 25.5 20.3 2007 25.4 20.5 2008 25.4 19.3 1 Includes middle-schools as deemed. 2 Includes CTCs and academies. 3 One teacher classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the census in January. Source: School Census
Departmental Assets
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) Property Asset Management Plan was revised in October 2008.
The Department’s Business Plan includes challenging efficiency targets to reduce the size and cost of its estate while improving the quality of our working environments. Both of these objectives are addressed in DCSF’s Property Asset Management Plan.
DCSF has already made significant progress in efficiency and effectiveness as shown in “Improving the Efficiency of Central Government’s use of office property” released by the NAO recently.
Departmental Billing
I can confirm that the Department for Children, Schools and Families and its predecessor did not make any interest payments to suppliers under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 in the last three financial years from 2006-07 to 2008-09.
Departmental Contracts
Since April 2004, the Department for Children, Schools and Families and its predecessor has not outsourced any services. All services currently outsourced went through the process prior to this date.
Departmental Furniture
Expenditure by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and its predecessors on furniture in each of the last five years is shown as follows:
Total cost (£) 2004/05 524,490 2005/06 315,124 2006/07 123,703 2007/08 1,297,092 2008-09 1,228,197
Departmental Official Hospitality
Details of expenditure on conferences incurred by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in the last five years are as follows:
£ 2008-09 978,338 2007-08 692,232 2006-07 1,284,335 2005-06 945,416 2004-05 1,082,099
DCSF is unable to separately identify the costs for conference services and banqueting services as such expenditure is recorded under the general heading of ‘Conference Costs’ on the Department's financial system.
DCSF was established under Machinery of Government changes on 28 June 2007. The expenditure recorded also relates to that of its predecessor Department, the Department for Education and Skills.
Departmental Press Releases
The Department’s press releases are sent to all organisations representing national and regional TV, radio and newspapers, and a range of other media companies. All press releases are also posted on the Department’s website. A list of all of the organisations will be placed in the House Libraries.
Departmental Public Expenditure
The Department's grants and programmes aggregated as within other miscellaneous programmes for 2010-11 are provided in Table 1:
Schools: £ million Music and Dance 37 Redundancy Costs 12 TDA 593 NCSL 84 Partnership for Schools 1 Teachers TV 9 National Strategies 473 Total 1,209
The Department's grants and programmes aggregated as within Other standards funds for (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2010-11 are provided in Table 2:
£ million Other Standards Fund 2007-08 2010-11 Schools Development Grant 1,898 2,133 Local Area Agreement Grant 166 — Total 2,064 2,133
The Department's grants and programmes aggregated as within area based grants for 2010-11 are provided in Table 3:
DCSF grants to local authorities £ million Connexions 467 Extended Schools - Start Up 71 School Development Grant (LA retained element) 168 Children's Fund 132 Positive Activities for Young People 95 Care Matters 55 Secondary National Strategy: Central Co-ordination 30 Primary National Strategy: Central Co-ordination 30 Teenage Pregnancy 28 School Improvement Partners 24 Extended Rights for Free Travel 29 Children's Social Care Workforce 18 School Intervention 15 Flexible 14 to 19 Partnerships Funding 15 Secondary Behaviour and Attendance: Central Co-ordination 14 Education Health Partnerships 13 Child Death Review Processes 8 Youth Substance Misuse 7 School Travel Advisers 7 Choice Advisers 6 Youth Taskforce 4 General Duty on Sustainable Travel To School 4 Designated Teacher Funding 3 Child Trust Fund 1 Total area based grants 1,242
The total in this table contains figures that have been updated since the publication of the 2008 Departmental Report.
Departmental Publications
Since 1 May 2008, the Department has placed two items in Community Care magazine, at a cost of £6,228, and two in Children and Young People Now magazine, costing £27,861.
Head Teachers: Retirement
As we said in the Children’s Plan, over 60 per cent. of head teachers are now over 50, which means that within the next decade a whole generation of head teachers will be retiring. Of the number of head teachers in post in 2009 we estimate that by 2010, 6 per cent. will have retired, by 2015 this will have risen to 38 per cent. and by 2020 it will have reached 55 per cent.1 Dealing with the loss of their skills and experience will be a challenge but also an opportunity for innovation and reform. We have invested £30 million in the National College for School Leadership’s succession planning strategy which is working with schools, local authorities and faith bodies around the country to develop local solutions to find, develop and keep great head teachers.
1 The estimates assume that the head teachers in post in 2009 will choose to retire at the current average age of 58 years. This estimate is therefore a predictive trend of retirement as we cannot forecast with certainty the future retirement behaviours of individuals.
History: Primary Education
We asked Sir Jim Rose to review the primary curriculum in order to reduce prescription and give schools more time to teach essential knowledge and skills in greater depth. In the revised primary curriculum, it is proposed that, from 2011, schools will be required to teach children the broad chronology of major events in the UK, from ancient civilisations to present day. At least two key periods of history that were significant to the locality and the UK must be studied in depth. A consultation on these proposals will run until 24 July.
More specifically on support for teachers, the Training and Development Agency (TDA) has supported History initial teacher training (ITT) by providing access to specialist subject knowledge for ITT tutors and mentors. This is delivered via the History subject resource network, led by the Historical Association. In 2008 TDA also funded the Historical Association to develop subject specific online CPD opportunities. The e-CPD modules offer a package of support and a programme of professional development activity for history tutors and teachers undertaking subject development or improvement projects in their own schools.
International Baccalaureate
The information is provided in the following table. Data were not collected prior to 2005/06 and so the information is available only for the past three years.
2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 Maintained schools 607 755 726 Comprehensive 365 510 452 Independent 922 1,152 1,313 Sixth form college 55 112 176 Other FE college 206 242 270 Total 1,790 2,261 2,485 Notes: 1. Figures relate to 16 to 18-year-olds (age at start of academic year, i.e. 31 August). 2. ‘Maintained schools’ include comprehensive, selective, modern, PRUs and hospital schools. Source: School and College Achievement and Attainment Tables data.
Primary Education
Local authorities are responsible for planning the creation of new school places and are under a duty to ensure sufficient school places are available to meet local needs. The Department allocates basic need funding to enable local authorities to provide the additional places needed in response to a growth in pupil numbers. For funding the additional school places the Department relies on authorities' own estimates of future primary and secondary pupil numbers, which they provide to the Department annually through the Surplus Places Survey. At January 2008 there were 3.823 million pupils in primary schools in England and local authorities estimated the primary school population would increase by around 2.5 per cent. over the following four academic years as follows:
LA estimated number of primary pupils (million) Annual increase (percentage) 2008-09 3.833 +0.26 2009-10 3.847 +0.37 2010-11 3.875 +0.73 2011-12 3.919 +1.14 Source: Surplus Places Survey 2008
The Department does not hold estimates of the amount of temporary accommodation that may be required by schools.
Local authorities are responsible for planning the creation of new school places and are under a duty to ensure sufficient school places are available to meet local needs. Through good asset management processes, they are encouraged to plan for future accommodation requirements.
Temporary accommodation is appropriate where there is too little time to construct permanent accommodation, or where the need is likely to be short term. In such circumstances, modern, high-quality temporary buildings provide a good environment for teaching and learning. Where they are new or relocated, they are required to meet building environmental standards similar to those which apply to permanent buildings.
Pupils: Obesity
In the year since the £372 million “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: a Cross Government Strategy for England” was published there has been substantial progress. The “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: One Year On” annual report was published last month, which sets out in detail our progress to date and also the areas we need to focus on over the next year. A copy of the report is available on the DCSF and Department of Health websites.
The two main sources of data on childhood obesity are the Health Survey for England (HSE) and National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). In 2008, the HSE data showed that the estimated prevalence of overweight among 2 to 15-year-olds was 14.0 per cent. and the prevalence of obesity was 16.5 per cent. The 2007/8 NCMP results showed that in reception year 13.0 per cent. of children were overweight and 9.6 per cent. were obese and that in Year 6 14.3 per cent. of children were overweight and 18.3 per cent. were obese.
The Government's strategy for addressing overweight and obesity is set out in “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross-Government Strategy for England” and in the recent progress report “Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: One Year On”. The latter report sets out how we can continue our drive to combat obesity by helping people to make healthier choices, creating an environment that promotes healthy weight, providing quality services that identify, advise, refer and treat those at risk, and strengthening the delivery system. The initial focus of the strategy is on children.
The most recent data from the National Child Measurement Programme for 2007/08 and from the Health Survey for England for 2007 suggests that the trend in obesity prevalence may have begun to flatten out over the last two to three years. The Cross-Government Obesity Unit provides primary care trusts and schools with annual guidance on the National Child Measurement Programme which includes information on sending the results from the programme back to parents.
There is no evidence that there are large numbers of children who need special arrangements for their education on the grounds that they are obese, and the Department has not issued guidance on the specific topic of education of obese children. If school nurses or other health professionals are concerned about a child's health because of his or her apparent weight status they should take action according to standard local care pathways. However, children with health problems related to obesity may need support at school in managing these conditions, and for these pupils schools should have policies in place on the management of pupils' medicines and on supporting pupils with medical needs. The Department for Children, Schools and Families and Department of Health have published joint guidance, “Managing Medicines in Schools and Early Years Settings”, to help schools and their employers develop such policies.
There may be a small number of children whose weight gives rise to mobility problems and who might also meet the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 definition of a disabled person. Guidance has been issued to schools and local authorities on their responsibilities under the Act: this and can be found at
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/disability/disabilityandthedda/
Schools
[holding answer 23 February 2009]: To provide all of the requested information for England and each national challenge school in each seaside town would incur disproportionate cost.
Information on special needs, free school meal eligibility and expenditure per pupil for each national challenge school in each seaside town has been placed in the House Libraries.
The latest available published information on average class sizes, which includes information for local authorities, is published as SFR 09/2008 “Pupil Characteristics and Class Sizes in Maintained Schools in England: January 2008” which can be accessed at:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000786/index.shtml
The latest available published information on pupils with special educational needs, which includes information for local authorities, is published as SFR 15/2008 “Special Educational Needs in England: January 2008” which can be accessed at:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000794/index.shtml
The latest available published information on the number and percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals, which includes information for local authorities, is published as SFR 09/2008 “Pupil Characteristics and Class Sizes in Maintained Schools in England: January 2008” which can be accessed at:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000786/index.shtml
The latest available published information about permanent and fixed period exclusions, which includes information for local authorities, is published as SFR 14/2008 “Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England 2006/07” which can be accessed at:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000793/index.shtml
Information is collected on unauthorised absence. Unauthorised absence is absence without leave from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences, such as lateness, holidays during term time not authorised by the school, absence where reason is not yet established and truancy. Information collected by the Department on absence is a more comprehensive measure of children’s missed schooling.
The Department’s focus is on reducing all forms of absence, not just a small subset. The issue is not whether the pupil had permission to be absent; it is how much absence the pupil has.
The absence SFR provides information on absence, which includes authorised and unauthorised absence, and highlights the numbers of pupils who are persistent absentees missing 20 per cent. or more of their schooling, whether with permission or not.
The latest available published information on absence, which includes information for local authorities, is published as SFR 03/2009 “Pupil Absence in Schools in England, including Pupil Characteristics: 2007/08” at:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000832/index.shtml
Schools: Playing Fields
When we consulted on the effects of the disposal of school playing fields, local authorities and schools expressed concerns about the financial implications of maintaining school playing fields that were genuinely surplus to requirements. The Department does, however, encourage schools and local authorities to consider arrangements whereby such playing fields could be maintained by other local organisations and managed to benefit their local communities. When considering any application to dispose of school playing fields, the views of any authorised community users of the land are fully taken into account.
Schools: Training
Decisions about the appropriate amount of time allocated for training individual members of school staff, including training in new technologies and initiatives, are made at school level. For teachers these decisions will be taken in the context of the revised performance management arrangements we introduced in September 2007. In many schools similar arrangements have been introduced for all school staff.
The Department works to support the professional development of school staff and recently, for example, made provision during the 2007/08 academic year for schools to reduce their school sessions from 190 to 189 days to provide additional opportunities for staff training on the secondary curriculum changes. On 30 April, we announced that similar provision would be made for primary schools in 2010 to provide training to staff in advance of a new primary curriculum being introduced from 2011. A comprehensive package of guidance and support for schools to aid introduction of a new primary curriculum will be available from January 2010.
In addition, the Department is working with the QCA and BECTA to consider what additional support teachers will need to meet the raised expectations of children’s ICT capabilities, and the use of technology to enrich learning across the curriculum, as set out in the final report of Jim Rose’s review of the primary curriculum.
Science: General Certificate of Secondary Education
The number of pupils at the end of KS4 who attempted the following science subjects in 2008 by free school meals eligibility.
FSM Non-FSM Physics 2,100 50,600 Chemistry 2,100 51,000 Biological sciences 2,700 55,700 Core science 56,100 409,600 Core and additional science 31,800 299,100
Special Educational Needs: Disadvantaged
[holding answer 20 March 2009]: Pupil level data has only been collected since 2002.
The earliest and latest available data has been placed in the House Libraries.
Data for further years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Teachers: Training
Between 2001 and 2009 the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) has supported a significant number of initiatives to increase both the number and quality of school based mentors in initial teacher training (ITT) and in continuing professional development. Since 2001 the number of trainee teachers has risen from 27,000 to over 36,000 this year. In order to ensure that all trainees have a well trained mentor in their placement schools the TDA has invested in significant programmes:
2002 to 2006—the National Partnership Project (over £20 million over the lifetime of the project)—a wide-ranging programme of support for mentor training, including sharing of best practice; direct funding for higher education institution mentor training with schools and support for the building of regional sharing of mentors and training between ITT providers.
2006 to 2009—Partnership development schools (over £6 million)—worked with over 600 schools on national priority areas focusing on mentoring on a local level.
From 2009—Beyond Partnership—the TDA is opening out a consultation process with the ITT sector to explore best use of the investment made and how further support can be developed and delivered.
Evidence of Ofsted inspections and feedback from ITT providers, schools and regional field-forces indicates that this investment has had a significant impact ensuring that all trainees receive high quality training during their school experience, including the support of a well-trained mentor.
In response to the recommendations made in Lord Sainsbury’s report “The Race to the Top”, the TDA has put into place an Early Career Mentoring project for science and mathematics teachers. This project is a two-year evaluative pilot, being delivered by the Learning and Skills Network that will provide face-to-face, telephone and e-mentoring for 600 (rising to 800 in the second year) science and mathematics trainee teachers, newly qualified teachers and teachers in their second year of teaching. The programme will start in September 2009.
The Professional Standards for Teachers also make clear that being a coach and mentor are key aspects of teacher professional development, and this is referenced more strongly as the individual progresses up the career ladder. The Government are committed to the introduction of the Masters in Teaching and Learning programme from 2009/10, an initiative that will establish teaching as a masters-level profession. A key element of that will include the identification and training of in-school coaches.
Trade Unions
The Department provides a small office, with furniture, for the exclusive use of the trade unions on each of our four sites. This can be used for confidential phone calls and meetings with individual union members. Other facilities, such as IT and photocopying facilities, are provided on a shared basis, similar to that provided to our other staff.
The notional cost apportioned to the office space provided is as follows:
Site Cost per annum (£) Sheffield 11,030 London 23,800 Runcorn 3,170 Darlington 2,770 Total 40,770
Truancy
The requested information is shown in the table.
Number of schools Percentage of persistent absentees5 Overall Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 More than 5% 3,348 1,825 2,453 2,881 More than 10% 788 635 1,011 1,612 More than 15% 332 319 459 730 More than 20% 182 191 251 392 More than 25% 127 131 175 231 More than 30% 95 106 143 181 More than 35% 71 80 112 140 More than 40% 43 49 88 114 More than 45% 27 39 73 105 More than 50% 19 24 45 75 1 Includes maintained secondary, city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies). 2 Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. 3 Includes schools with at least one enrolment aged between five and 15. 4 Persistent absentees are defined as having more than 63 sessions of absence (authorised and unauthorised) during the year, typically over 20 per cent. overall absence rate. 5 Number of persistent absentees as a percentage of total enrolments. Source: School Census
The information is a variation of table 4.4 in SFR03/2009, which was reissued with revised row delimiters on 21 April 2009. However, the above information is taken from a dataset which contains a minor amendment and is now being used for all pupil absence analysis.
The Department's strategy on school attendance aims to reduce all forms of absence, not merely absence which schools do not authorise (which includes truancy). Our particular focus is on individual pupils who are persistent absentees, who miss 20 per cent. or more of their schooling, whether with permission or not.
This year the Department is working closely through the National Strategies with 42 local authorities with high levels of persistent absence. The National Strategies are providing intensive support and challenge to minimise absence, particularly in 360 secondary schools in those authorities with high persistent absence. A further 102 local authorities with lower rates of persistent absence are receiving support to reduce persistent absence in 795 secondary schools with high levels of persistent absence.
Our work on reducing absence, and persistent absence, has been successful. Overall absence rates in 2007-08 were 6.29 per cent., down from 7.41 per cent. in 1996-97, equivalent to some 70,000 more pupils in school every day.
The total number of persistent absentees in 2007-08 was 233,000, down from 273,000 in 2006-07, a reduction of 14.5 per cent.
Truancy: Tamworth
Information is not available in the form requested. The available information on the number of days of unauthorised absence in Staffordshire local authority for the last five years is shown in the table. To provide pupil absence data at constituency level would incur disproportionate cost.
Absence data is normally reported in terms of sessions. There are two sessions per day.
Primary1 Secondary1,2 2007/08 16,880 69,690 2006/07 17,900 64,380 2005/06 317,300 57,780 2004/05 315,050 352,260 2003/04 315,900 353,740 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Includes city technology colleges and academies. 3 Figures in italics have been sourced from the Absence in Schools Survey. Other figures are derived from School Census returns. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Absence in School Survey and School Census3
Duchy of Lancaster
10 Downing Street: Security
I refer the hon. Member to the answer the Prime Minister gave to the hon. Member for Hammersmith and Fulham (Mr. Hands) on 6 May 2009, Official Report, column 182W.
12 Downing Street
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to his question on 11 November 2008, Official Report, column 1131W.
Business: Government Assistance
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) on 20 April 2009, Official Report, column 355W.
Childbirth: Migration
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated May 2009:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question, pursuant to the answer of 30 March 2009 (Official Report, columns 956-7W) on child birth, regarding what forecast the Office for National Statistics has made of the number of births there would be if (a) net migration were six per cent lower than the principal projection (b) migration equalled emigration and (c) if net migration was 60,000 in each of the years to 2031 [276294].
Migration assumptions for national population projections are conventionally expressed in terms of net migration (immigration less emigration). The 2006-based principal (or central) projection assumed a long-term annual net inflow to the UK of +190,000 persons a year. The attached table shows the projected number of births in the UK for each year from mid-2008 to mid-2031 according to this 2006-based principal national population projection which is included for the sake of completeness.
The 2006-based ‘zero migration’ variant projection makes the same assumptions about future fertility and mortality as the principal projection, but assumes that immigration will equal emigration, and thus net migration will be zero, at all ages from mid-2006 to the end of the projection period. The projected numbers of births in the UK for each year from mid-2008 to mid-2031 according to this variant projection are also shown in the table.
To fully answer your question, further population projections have been produced by reducing the nominal immigration totals applied in the 2006-based principal projection, but leaving the fertility, mortality and emigration assumptions unchanged. It should be noted that, in practice, this may not be a realistic scenario: if immigration fell permanently to levels well below those experienced in recent years, it is likely that this would, in time, lead to a reduction in the level of emigration as well.
2006-based population projections (thousands) Published projections Special variant projections1 Year to Principal Zero migration variant Net migration6 per cent. lower than principal Net migration 60,000 a year Mid-2008 769 756 769 766 Mid-2009 781 757 780 772 Mid-2010 790 756 789 776 Mid-2011 797 753 795 777 Mid-2012 799 745 798 774 Mid-2013 799 735 797 770 Mid-2014 798 726 796 765 Mid-2015 799 717 796 761 Mid-2016 801 711 798 760 Mid-2017 804 706 800 759 Mid-2018 805 700 801 757 Mid-2019 806 695 802 755 Mid-2020 806 689 801 752 Mid-2021 804 682 799 748 Mid-2022 802 676 797 744 Mid-2023 799 670 793 739 Mid-2024 796 665 791 735 Mid-2025 794 660 788 732 Mid-2026 792 657 786 729 Mid-2027 790 653 784 726 Mid-2028 788 650 783 724 Mid-2029 788 647 782 722 Mid-2030 788 645 781 721 Mid-2031 788 643 782 720 1 Additional population projections produced using reduced immigration assumptions compared to the principal projection.
Using this method, two further projections have been produced; one assumes annual net migration inflows to the UK six per cent lower than those assumed for the principal projection, whilst the other assumes annual net migration inflows of +60,000 persons a year. The table therefore also shows the projected number of births in the UK for these two additional projections.
Civil Servants: Codes of Practice
(2) what recent discussions he has had with the Prime Minister on changes to the code of conduct for civil servants and political advisers; and if he will make a statement.
Information relating to internal discussion and advice is not normally disclosed.
Damian McBride
Special advisers are employed under terms and conditions set out in the Model Contract for Special Advisers.
Mr. McBride received no severance package on leaving office.
(2) on what date each Minister in the Cabinet Office was informed of the emails sent by Damian McBride to Derek Draper.
[holding answer 12 May 2009]: Mr McBride resigned with immediate effect.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, on 7 May 2009, Official Report, column 379W.
Departmental Furniture
(2) how much was spent by (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) its agency on furniture in each of the last five years.
The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of Cabinet Office. The cost for the Cabinet Office for the financial year 2007-08 was £139,887.
For information for previous years I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 29 March 2006, Official Report, column 1031W, and on 23 October 2007, Official Report, columns 295-96W.
Figures for the financial year 2008-09 will be available once the Cabinet Office accounts have been audited.
Departmental Manpower
(2) what the organisational structure of the posts in 10 Downing Street is.
Jeremy Heywood is the most senior civil servant in the Prime Minister’s Office reporting to the Cabinet Secretary. Further information on the Prime Minister’s Office is available in Dodd’s publications, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.
The total number of staff on the No. 10 payroll as at 1 April 2009 is 200. The staffing and associated costs for the Political Office are met by the Labour party. As has been the case under successive Administrations, marginal costs associated with the Political Office are met from within the overall budget for 10 Downing Street.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
Special advisers are employed under the terms and conditions set out in the “Model Contract for Special Advisers”. Since 2003, the Government have published, on an annual basis, a list of special advisers by Department. The next list will be published before the summer recess. Personal information about individual special advisers is not normally disclosed.
Departmental Publications
A copy has now been placed in the Library of the House.
Departmental Security
The Director-General of the International Bodyguard Association was invited, on just one occasion in 2008, to act as an independent reviewer on part of one small ad hoc review being undertaken by the Cabinet Office.
The Department has no on-going business relationship with The Director-General of the International Bodyguard Association.
Departmental Stationery
The Cabinet Office purchases the majority of its office supplies through two contracts for paper and other stationery items which include a wide range of recycled products. Between May 2008 when the current contracts started and March 2009, 84 per cent. of paper and 20 per cent. of other items purchased via these contracts were recycled products.
Honours: Arts
[holding answer 6 May 2009]: The independent chairs of the eight honours committees are appointed by the Cabinet Secretary after a process of open advertising, written application and interview.
Members: Correspondence
The Cabinet Office guidance ‘Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament, Members of the House of Lords, MEPs and Members of Devolved Assemblies’ makes clear that replies to letters from hon. Members should be sent to the originating office of the correspondence unless indicated otherwise by the hon. Member concerned. Copies of the guidance are available in the Libraries of the House.
Non-profit Making Associations: Olympic Games 2012
The Office of the Third Sector (OTS) works closely with Social Enterprise London (SEL), as a strategic partner, whose remit is to promote the work of social enterprises to the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG), the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), and their 2012 supply chain. Under the project ‘Winning with social enterprise’, SEL promotes commercial opportunities to social enterprises across the country, encouraging them to bid for the contracts and signposting to relevant sources of business support when necessary.
Funding from the project enables SEL to engage with London 2012 to promote social enterprise as a potential contractor. SEL also delivers regional workshops about 2012 commercial opportunities to social enterprises across England. The workshops provide detailed information about how social enterprises can register on the CompeteFor system, and where they can obtain further support and guidance.
Redundancy
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many (a) men and (b) women in each age group were made redundant in each local authority in England and Wales in each of the last five years. (275266)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles labour market statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and its predecessor the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. However, this source does not support analysis of redundancies at these geographic levels and no alternative source is available.
Unemployment
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, May 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking in which parliamentary constituencies the (a) number and (b) proportion of people out of work was greater in the latest month for which figures are available than in the equivalent month of 1997.(275446)
The Office for National Statistics compiles unemployment statistics in line with International Labour Market Organisation definitions, for local areas from the Annual Population Survey and its predecessor the Annual Labour Force Survey.
Unfortunately, due to small sample sizes at this level of geography it is not practicable to produce the requested analyses.
As an alternative, Table 1 shows the Parliamentary Constituencies where the number of persons claiming Jobseeker's Allowance (Claimant Count), the main unemployment related benefit, was higher in April 2009 compared to April 1997-Table 2 shows the Parliamentary Constituencies where the proportion of persons claiming Jobseeker's Allowance was higher in April 2009 compared to April 1997.
A copy of the tables has been placed in the Library of the House.
The definition of the claimant count has not changed since 1997, following the introduction of Jobseeker's Allowance in 1996.
Although not a change to the definition of the claimant count, the introduction of the system of joint claims for Jobseeker's Allowance from 2001 has meant that both members of certain couples are now required to claim JSA jointly and both are required to look for work. This change has led to certain claims being counted as two separate claims when they would previously have appeared as one claim. Without this change, the current level of the unemployment claimant count would be about 9,000 lower than it currently is.