Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 9 June 2009
House of Commons Commission
Members: Allowances
A number of allowances have been available to Members since 1983-84. Information about these allowances, including the levels Members could claim, is published in regular House of Commons Library Research papers. These are available in the Library.
Allowances have included the additional costs allowance (now personal additional accommodation expenditure), office costs allowance (renamed the incidental expenses provision and then administrative and office expenditure), travel allowances and the communications allowance (now communications expenditure). Each allowance has been put in place to assist Members in carrying out their parliamentary duties and was approved by Resolution of the House.
The conditions relating to each of the allowances have been published in the Green Book, the first edition of which was published in 1987. These are available in the Library. Prior to 1987, Members were able to ask for advice from the then Fees Office. No records exist of the conditions imposed at this time.
Communities and Local Government
Flood Control
I have been asked to reply.
We have not specifically sought to estimate the number of vacancies with local authorities relating to flood risk. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in association with the Local Government Association, conducted a survey of all local authorities in autumn 2008 to make an initial assessment of existing local authority capacity and expertise. The survey revealed some encouraging evidence of existing levels of capacity that could be built upon and also identified that this was not a consistent picture across all authorities. The survey also confirmed that additional capacity would be required to take on proposed new duties from the Pitt Review and that recruitment difficulties and the availability particularly of technical skills would need to be addressed.
The survey asked local authorities how easy it was for them to recruit the technical staff they needed. 59 per cent. said this did not apply or they did not know, which could be interpreted as meaning that they were not recruiting or had not tried recently. 27 per cent. reported having some difficultly. The main reasons given for recruitment difficulties were a lack of suitably qualified applicants (77.8 per cent. of authorities had experienced difficulties), applicants lacking relevant experience (68.1 per cent.), and inadequate pay (63.9 per cent.). Other commonly cited reasons were competition from private sector employers (47.2 per cent.), competition from other local authorities (44.4 per cent.) and competition from other public sector employers (31.9 per cent.).
The findings of the survey together with three workshops with local authorities have informed work on developing capacity for local authorities on flood risk management. DEFRA is currently undertaking a scoping study on broad local authority capacity building options and this will report in July 2009. We are also working closely with the Environment Agency, Local Government Association and relevant sector skills councils to develop skills availability in the wider market place and links to education.
Housing: Insulation
At the end of each financial year local authorities complete statistical returns on the number of dwellings that have received insulation measures but these figures are not broken down by type.
Number of local authority dwellings receiving insulation works by year 2005-06 89,817 2006-07 81,563 2007-08 64,984 Source: Data from the Business Plan Statistical Appendix.
The Department does not collect data on insulation works by registered social landlords.
Transport
Blue Badge Scheme
In order to qualify for a Blue Badge a person needs to meet one of the eligibility criteria prescribed in the regulations that govern the Blue Badge Scheme.
One of the key criteria to qualify for a badge under these regulations is that a person has a permanent and substantial disability that causes inability to walk or very considerable difficulty in walking. People diagnosed with myasthenia gravis will therefore only be eligible for a badge if their walking ability is affected to the required extent, or if they meet one of the automatic eligibility criteria, such as being in receipt of the Higher Rate of the Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance.
Crossrail Line: Finance
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: Crossrail is due to commence operations in 2017, and the Department for Transport’s committed funding contribution to Crossrail will be fully drawn down in 2016.
Driving Tests: Essex
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: The information is as follows:
(a) The average waiting time in weeks for a driving test in the West Chelmsford constituency in each of the last five years was:
Bike Car Voc1 Chelmsford 2004-05 4.3 13.4 5.7 2005-06 3.9 9.4 3.5 2006-07 4.1 7.7 1.7 2007-08 4.3 6.6 1.8 2008-09 6.0 6.7 1.4
(b) The average waiting time for a driving test at each test centre in Essex in each of the last five years was:
Bike Car Voc1 Essex 2004-05 4.1 10.9 5.7 2005-06 3.2 8.3 2.5 2006-07 3.4 6.6 1.7 2007-08 3.2 5.9 1.8 2008-09 4.6 7.2 1.4 1 Voc = Lorry/Bus.
Roads: Repairs and Maintenance
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: I refer the hon. Member to the statement given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashfield (Mr. Hoon), on 15 January 2009, Official Report, column 355, and to the Department for Transport’s publication “British Transport Infrastructure Motorway and Major Trunk Roads” copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of the House. It is also available on the Department’s website at:
www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/network/policy/motorways
The publication sets out a programme of investment on national major road schemes of up to £6 billion for the period up to 2015 and which will be carried out by the Highways Agency. The schemes are listed in the publication.
The funding is in addition to the £3 billion allocated to strategic regional roads before 2015-16 through the Regional Funding Allocation process. Regions have recently provided an updated programme of priorities and spend on these and we are currently considering their advice. Decisions are expected in the summer.
For 2009-10 the Highways Agency has an indicative budget of £0.9 billion for capital expenditure on national and regional major road schemes. Budgets for future years will be settled annually and will depend on decisions and progress made on individual schemes.
Work and Pensions
Departmental Finance
The following table shows the relevant planned expenditure for the financial years 2008-09 to 2010-11 inclusive. Figures for 2008-09 represent estimated outturn—actual expenditure will be published in the Departmental Report later this year. Estimates have not been made beyond the current Spending Review period, so no figures are available for years from 2011 to 2015. Information per head and per job is not available.
Estimated outturn Budgets Programme 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 Support for long-term unemployed 553 845 1,214 Additional support at six months — 145 216 Young persons guarantee and future jobs fund — 250 838 Lone parents and families 30 34 63 Support for disabled people 512 533 567 Other employment programmes 207 184 202 Total 1,302 1,991 3,099 Notes: 1. Other Employment programmes covers categories of provision with local or skills drivers. 2. 2008-09 estimated outturn is subject to audit.
Jobcentre Plus: Manpower
The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the acting chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Mel Groves. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Mel Groves:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question on how many of the 6,000 extra staff to be recruited by Jobcentre Plus will be working as personal advisers; and how many of these will be recruited on (a) part-time and (b) temporary contracts. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Acting Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
In line with the recent Budget announcements, Jobcentre Plus will be able to recruit up to 10,000 more staff. This is on top of the 6,000 new staff already announced in pre-Budget report. From October 2008 until the end of April 2009 Jobcentre Plus has recruited over 6,000 new staff.
All of these new people will be employed on customer-facing services. More than half of these will be personal advisers with the rest in customer intervention and support roles within our customer service operations.
It is not possible to estimate at this stage how many recruits will be part-time but it is envisaged that most of them will be recruited into fixed term appointments.
In addition to external recruits, we aim to absorb some surplus people from other Government Departments on a permanent basis.
Social Security Benefits: Fraud
The latest DWP estimates of fraud are contained in the DWP publication “Fraud and Error in the Benefit System October 2007 to September 2008”, copies of which are available in the House of Commons Library.
Social Security Benefits: Myasthenia Gravis
Myasthenia gravis does not, in its own right, confer or deny entitlement to any benefit. People diagnosed with myasthenia gravis are entitled to the full range of benefits as long as they fulfil that particular benefit’s entitlement conditions.
Unemployed: Social Security Benefits
The pre-Budget report made available to DWP an additional £1.3 billion of funding which will ensure that over the next two years, through Jobcentre Plus and our private and voluntary providers, we not only maintain, but increase, the support we offer.
The proposals announced on 12 January 2009 pledged £0.5 billion over two years from April 2009 to guarantee more support to people unemployed for six months or more by providing incentives for firms to hire, access to help in setting up a business, extra funding for training and opportunities for work-focused volunteering.
The costs attributable to the elements sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions are estimated at around £400 million over the next two years, with the costs attributable to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills estimated at around £83 million. Of the £400 million, HM Treasury released an additional £295 million and the Department will fund the remainder from efficiencies and the Department’s VAT windfall.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
1 Carlton Gardens
We expect negotiations to be completed by December 2009.
Departmental Data Protection
Information is a key asset to Government and its correct handling is vital to the delivery of public services and to the integrity of the Government. The Security Policy Framework and the Data Handling Report produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handle and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
In line with Cabinet Office guidance details are not provided to avoid revealing the identity of individuals and on the grounds of confidentiality.
G8
My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister discussed the agenda for the 2009 G8 summit with Prime Minister Berlusconi during his visit to Rome on 19 February 2009.
The G8 presidency is responsible for hosting and organising preparatory meetings in the lead up to the summit and also the circulation of summit-related papers. In advance of the summit, the Italian presidency has hosted several preparatory meetings, details of which are available at:
www.g8italia2009.it
We are not expecting the summit agenda and summit statements to be finalised until nearer the time of the G8 summit.
Middle East: Politics and Government
In 2008-09, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) provided £7,050 for a project implemented by the Itach Maaki, a women's legal rights centre in the Negev.
Between 2005 and 2007, the FCO also spent £329,600 (from the Global Opportunities Fund) on a project run by the Civic Forum Institute to train newly elected women in Palestinian local councils.
Somali: Piracy
The UK seeks to deter, disrupt and suppress pirate activity on the high seas through participation in two international counter piracy operations, Operation ATALANTA and Combined Task Force 151. We are also working with international partners through the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia on military coordination, with the shipping industry, Somali information strategies, and regional capability development.
It is clear, however, that the solution to Somali piracy lies on land. The UK is engaging with partners to tackle the root causes of piracy, particularly instability and insecurity in Somalia, through the provision of humanitarian, security and development assistance. We will continue to work with regional partners and the wider international community on building regional capabilities to combat effectively all aspects of piracy.
Sri Lanka: Armed Conflict
We are aware of the reports of the detention of these three doctors and are following their case closely. I discussed this with Foreign Minister Bollegama on 5 June 2009 and our high commissioner to Colombo has made representations to the Sri Lankan Government on their behalf.
Justice
Cabinet: Glasgow
I attended the regional Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009. £132—for my return travel by train from Oxenholme Station to Glasgow Central station. There was no further departmental expenditure by the Ministry of Justice in relation to the meeting.
Commonhold
Land Registry’s records show that, as of 3 June 2009, there were
(a) 12 commonhold residential developments comprising 97 units, of which 79 units have been registered in the name of individual unit holders in England; and
(b) one commonhold residential development, comprising 30 units, of which 18 units have been registered in the name of individual unit holders in Wales.
Crimes of Violence: Sentencing
The information requested is shown in the following table:
2008 2007 Offenders Percentage of offenders Offenders Percentage of offenders Violence against the person Custodial sentences: Immediate custody 12,354 29.5 12,535 29.8 Suspended sentence 5,569 13.3 7,167 17.0 Non-custodial sentences 23,982 57.2 22,377 53.2 Total number sentenced 41,906 100 42,079 100 Sexual offences Custodial sentences: Immediate custody 2,808 569 2.810 55.6 Suspended sentence 296 60 439 8.7 Non-custodial sentences 1,828 37.1 1,805 35.7 Total number sentenced 4,932 100 5,054 100 Notes: 1. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. 2. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice
These figures can all be found in table 1.2 of Sentencing Statistics 2007 available at the following link:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/sentencingannual.htm
These data are based on the principal offence. Where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence it is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed, where the same sentence has been imposed for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe.
Departmental Data Protection
In the year ending 30 April 2009 the Ministry of Justice formally reported two personal data related incidents to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
In each instance the ICO was notified of the circumstances of the incident, the number of people affected, the nature of the data involved and the investigations being undertaken.
The number of individuals potentially affected by the two incidents were 89 and 1,500.
Departmental Responsibilities
Under the terms of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA), policy development grants are intended to assist registered political parties (i.e. those who have at least two Members of the House of Commons who have made and subscribed the parliamentary oath) with the development of policies for inclusion in any election manifesto for relevant elections. The administration of the policy development grant scheme is a matter for the Electoral Commission, not the Government. The Commission has a duty to keep under review the terms of the scheme and make recommendations to the Secretary of State for change as it considers appropriate.
Elections: Proof of Identity
The Government continue to consider how this measure could most effectively be implemented, including timing issues. We will need to ensure that any approach to this issue is aligned with other reforms to the registration and electoral processes.
Firearms: Sentencing
The available information is shown as follows. The table shows the number of persons, aged over 18 at the point of sentencing, sentenced for firearms offences for which the mandatory minimum is applicable. The number of offenders sentenced has been supplied in lieu of the number convicted. Lags in time between conviction and sentencing mean that the numbers convicted and sentenced in a year will not always match. Offenders aged under 18 at the time of the offence are not eligible for the five-year mandatory minimum, while the table shows offenders aged over 18 at the point of sentence they may have been under 18 when the offence was committed in which case the five-year minimum would not have been applicable.
Number of persons sentenced for whom mandatory minimum may apply2 20043 687 2005 353 2006 266 2007 248 1 Offences under Firearms Act 1968 of possessing or distributing prohibited weapons or ammunition, or possessing or distributing firearms disguised as other object. 2 Only offenders aged over 18 at the point of sentencing have been included. Five years is the mandatory minimum for persons aged over 18 at time of offence and for offences taking place after 26 January 2004. 3 The mandatory minimum is only applicable for offences that occurred on or after 26 January 2004. Many of the persons dealt with in 2004 will have committed their offences prior to the mandatory minimum sentences being introduced. Notes: 1. The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offences elected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: OMS Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice.
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 prescribed mandatory minimum custodial sentences for the offences of: possessing or distributing prohibited firearms or ammunition and possessing or distributing firearms disguised as other objects where the offences were committed on or after 26 January 2004.
The minimum sentence it set was three years where the offender was aged between 16 and 18 at the time of the offence and five years for offenders aged over 18 at the time of the offence.
Data held by the Ministry of Justice cannot determine the date the offence took place or the age of the offender at the time of the offence rather it is the date the sentence was passed and the age of the offender at the time of sentencing that is held. It is not possible to separately identify those cases that occurred prior to 26 January 2004.
Judiciary: Sick Leave
There is one member of the judiciary that has been suspended on full pay and four on sick pay for over 12 months.
Land Registry: Complaints
Further to my answer on 24 April 2009, Official Report, columns 969-70W, the Government do not believe there is a need to extend the remit of the Office of the Independent Complaints Reviewer (ICR).
The ICR’s current remit is wide ranging and includes the ability to investigate complaints about any error made by the Land Registry, whether procedural or substantive. As set out in my previous answer, the exception to this is where a complainant refers to a decision on land registration not related to maladministration, such as delay or loss, where the decision can only be considered judicially. For example, where an error created a substantive right for a third party, such as an incorrect name being entered as a registered proprietor of a property leading to the individual named becoming the legal owner of the property, this would require alteration of the register by either the Court or the Registrar, exercising the powers conferred on them by schedule 4 of the Land Registration Act 2002.
30 complaints relating to land registration decisions were received by Land Registry head office in the year from April 2008 to March 2009, and 163 were received by local Land Registry offices in the same period. The data available do not differentiate between land registration decisions and the way in which decisions were reached.
Land Registry’s customer complaints categorisation changed in April 2008. In previous years complaints relating to Land Registry decisions and the way they were reached would have been logged under two separate categories, which were “errors on registration made by HMLR”, and “contentious business”. Therefore the figures for 2006-07 and 2007-08 given as follows include other complaints.
(a) Head office (b) Local Contentious Business 2006-07 3 136 2007-08 8 114 Errors on Registration by HMLR 2006-07 0 245 2007-08 0 258
According to Land Registry records, there was one judicial review case following complaints relating to errors made by Land Registry offices in the period from April 2008 to March 2009. This case has not yet been concluded.
Magistrates
No steps are being undertaken to increase the number of magistrates. Recruitment is being undertaken only to maintain levels to those forecast and to manage the workload.
Requirements for numbers on the bench are determined locally taking into account projected retirements, possible resignations, average sitting days, bench make-up, local workload data, resources and the use of District Judges (magistrates courts).
Parkhurst Prison
As with all HM chief inspector of prisons reports an action plan responding to each of the recommendations in the report will be submitted to Ministers and the chief inspector.
Steps are being taken to address the prison's poor industrial relations and deliver an agenda for change, focusing on the improved treatment of offenders. Work is under way to make Parkhurst a safer and more decent environment, with a new safer custody group overseeing initiatives covering suicide prevention, violence reduction and diversity, including the treatment of disabled prisoners.
Parole
In 2007-08 the Parole Board considered a total of 31,172 cases. 8 per cent. were considered by oral hearing, which equates to 2,072 cases. Of those a total of 16 per cent. of offenders were recommended for release.
Prisons
The figures requested are set out in the following table:
Hours per prisoner per day 2007 April 10.20 May 10.16 June 10.19 July 10.27 August 10.08 September 10.21 October 10.21 November 10.19 December 10.08 2008 January 10.15 February 10.20 March 10.13 April 9.79 May 9.65 June 9.73 July 9.58 August 9.46 September 9.57 October 9.59 November 9.56 December 9.32 2009 January 9.57 February 9.50 March 9.52 Note: The methodology for recording time unlocked for week days was revised for the financial year 2008-09, resulting in a marginal reduction in the reported figures from April 2008 onwards.
Prisons: Greater London
I have visited a number of prisons, probation areas and courts during my time as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. Since June 2007, I have visited four of the nine establishments in Greater London: HMP Belmarsh on 11 July 2007; HMP Wandsworth on 31 January 2008; HMP Brixton on 25 February 2008; and HMP Highdown on 19 March 2008. I am planning to visit HMP Bronzefield in the near future.
Probation
The following table shows the total number of multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) eligible offenders living in the community in England and Wales. The table also shows the number of eligible offenders who were managed at the higher MAPPA levels and who were considered by multi-agency public protection panels. Cases are referred to level 2 where the involvement of several agencies will be required to implement or monitor the risk management plan and to level 3 where more senior oversight is additionally required. Cases can be referred by any agency but the identity of the referring agency is not recorded. These data are taken from the MAPPA Annual reports which are required of the MAPPA Responsible Authority (police, prison and probation services acting jointly) in each of the 42 areas of England and Wales.
England and Wales 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Total MAPPA eligible offenders 39,492 44,592 47,588 48,469 50,212 Level 2 1— 11,288 12,421 14,042 11,734 Level 3 2,152 1,478 1,267 1,249 1,072 1Not collected.
Information on the number of probation offices closed in each of the last five years is not held or recorded centrally. To obtain this information could be achieved only at disproportionate cost because it would entail gathering information from archived files and checking with individual probation areas.
Probation: Wales
The Director of Offender Management in Wales (DOM) is responsible for ensuring that South Wales Probation Trust delivers the required services with the available resources. This is managed through an agreed contract between both parties.
The management of the Probation Trust’s resources to deliver services rests with its management team and its board members. There is a close working relationship between the DOM and the Probation Trust to achieve this, which ensures that financial planning assumptions are fully taken into account in the Probation Trust’s development and delivery of services. This would involve the best value use and re-investment of resources toward front line services to ensure quality of delivery is maintained.
Restorative Justice
There have been no appeals against community or suspended sentence orders on the grounds that offenders are required to undertake their community payback sentences on high visibility work projects.
Suicide
Between 14 January 2009, when the Coroners and Justice Bill was introduced, and 4 June 2009, we received 177 letters, directly or through their Members of Parliament, from people who support decriminalising the offence of assisting suicide in certain circumstances and had one meeting with the chief executive of the Dignity in Dying organisation. We also received 76 letters from people who oppose such a change in the law.
Torture: Inspections
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons inspects the Military Corrective Training Centre in Colchester at the invitation of the Ministry of Defence. I have asked officials from my Department to work with the Ministry of Defence to look at ways of ensuring that inspection of all other service custody within the UK is compliant with the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), and that all service custody facilities in the UK are subject to inspection by the UK National Preventive Mechanism (NPM). With regard to inspection of any places of detention overseas, the Government’s position is that the UN Convention Against Torture and the OPCAT do not apply extra-territorially.
OPCAT requires that the NPM should be functionally independent of Government. The addition of inspection bodies to the NPM will be a matter for discussion between Government and the NPM. If it is necessary to add new inspection bodies to the NPM, or if bodies within the NPM are restructured or renamed, the Government will notify Parliament accordingly.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Angling: Licensing
The following table indicates the amount collected for full, senior, disabled and junior rod licences issued by the Environment Agency (EA) since 1999. Prior to this, the EA used different systems to store rod licence information. Such information is, therefore, not available in the categories required.
£ Full Senior Disabled Junior 1999 11,036,112.00 781,906.50 495,892.50 770,596.50 2000 10,986,815.00 767,393.50 507,717.00 753,625.50 2001 12,338,110.00 951,398.50 604,887.50 588,351.50 2002 12,279,447.00 1,024,867.50 638,590.50 589,655.00 2003 14,031,602.00 1,085,222.00 719,087.50 638,841.50 2004 15,204,477.00 1,225,156.50 708,287.50 652,565.00 2005 16,111,736.00 1,349,604.75 484,109.25 602,544.25 2006 16,674,391.00 1,462,821.50 414,470.00 612,835.00 2007 16,527,745.50 1,521,353.75 469,633.50 631,788.25 2008 20,644,100.00 2,982,324.50 902,291.00 647,505.00 Source: The Environment Agency's rod licence database.
Civil Service Agencies: Boats
The Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) does not own any vessels, but it does have an agreement with the Royal Navy for the provision of ships and personnel for fishery protection duties.
Class of ship Total number of operational days at sea Number of vessels available for use Cost (£000) 2006-07 River 620 3 Hunt 225 4 Total days 845 — 6,199 2007-08 River 609 3 Hunt 187 3 Total days 796 — 6,056 2008-09 River 700 3 Hunt 0 — Total days 700 — 5,916
Additionally the MFA hire inshore vessels for specific fisheries enforcement work, but information on number of operational days at sea is not readily available.
£ 2006-07 942.50 2007-08 2,985.00 2008-09 2,971.00
The Environment Agency (EA) currently owns 41 marine vessels to fulfil its statutory duties primarily for marine environmental monitoring and fisheries enforcement. Four of these vessels are 16 m coastal survey vessels focussing on environmental monitoring. The other vessels are smaller, ranging in size from 5-12 m, with duties differing across fisheries enforcement, flood defence inspections and harbour duties as well as environmental monitoring. The EA also hired eight vessels for data collection activities for flood and coastal risk management and marine monitoring in 2008-09 some of which is expected to continue in 2009-10. The marine vessel fleet has been subject to a detailed review over the last two years. The outcome of the review will lead to a rationalisation of this fleet from 41 to 25 vessels over the next three years to improve efficiency and increase utilisation of the remaining assets.
The number of vessels, operational days and expenditure from 2006-09 is set out in the table:
Number of operational days Expenditure (£000) Number of vessels owned Number of vessels hired 2006-07 2,423 1,205 44 3 2007-08 2,571 1,371 45 5 2008-09 2,426 1,622 44 8 Source: EA’s Marine Monitoring and Vessel Review Project 2009
Natural England uses vessels for a range of activities including: site monitoring; Environmental Impact Assessment (e.g. as a result of the Napoli incident); intertidal and sub-tidal surveys (e.g. sediment and invertebrate surveys in The Wash); compliance with Health and Safety legislation and policy (e.g. diving operations); cetacean surveys (Lyme Bay); the Lundy no-take zone monitoring program (including patrols and enforcement); servicing our National Nature Reserves (NNRs); and a range of formal visits (politicians, journalists and Natural England officials) to specific sites.
Natural England owns a number of small vessels (no ships) including:
Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) that services Lundy Island Marine Nature Reserve;
One mud pump, one riverboat, workboats, one traditional reed lighter, trailboats, one floating pontoon and inflatable boats which are all used to service a number of NNRs and related work on the Broads.
In addition, the organisation owns a small number of dinghies which are used on some of their NNRs.
The following table shows the number of vessel days from vessels either owned, leased and hired by, or on behalf of, Natural England for the years 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09, together with estimations of cost.
Owned (days) Leased Hired by or on behalf of (days) Total (days) Cost (£) 2006-07 26 n/a 33 59 24,200 2007-08 24 n/a 119 143 212,900 2008-09 24 n/a 67 91 31,730 Total 74 0 219 293 268,830
Not all the data and information requested are available. In some cases, the number of days at sea and the cost of vessel trips is often included in the set cost of the contract, so there is no specific record other than an overall cost. In addition, Natural England does not hold data on the number of individual boats that are hired over time.
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) has neither owned nor leased any ships or boats in the last three financial years. Details of ships and boats hired by, or on behalf of, the JNCC in the last three financial years are listed in the table which includes:
1. Vessels hired directly by JNCC;
2. Vessels hired on JNCC’s behalf by DEFRA;
3. Vessels hired by JNCC but costs recovered from DEFRA through a memorandum of understanding between both parties.
Financial year Ships hired by or on behalf of the JNCC Number of operational days spent at sea Expenditure incurred by hiring such vessels (£) 2006-07 3 41 1333,600 2007-08 2 30 1310,280 2008-09 1 10 1111,862 1 As a consequence of the different hiring models noted above, there may be an overlap of up to £250,000 between JNCC’s supplied costs and those supplied by CEFAS.
Sea Fisheries Committees (SFCs) are local authority committees, and DEFRA’s role in relation to the operation of SFCs is restricted generally to the appointment of some of the members of each Committee and to the confirmation of SFC byelaws. Information supplied by the Association of Sea Fisheries Committees on behalf of the SFCs is set out as follows. Further information about the SFCs is available in their annual reports or in papers prepared for the Committees’ meetings and available under the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985.
Sea Fisheries Committee 06-07 07-08 08-09 06-07 07-08 08-09 06-07 07-08 08-09 06-07 07-08 08-09 06-07 07-08 08-09 Cornwall 2 3 3 — — — 171 158 214 — 21,000 — — — — Cumbria 3 3 3 1 1 1 145 139 163 — — — 11,075 11,075 11,075 Devon 4 4 4 — — — 2185 2162 2156 — — — — — — Eastern 3 3 3 — — — 123 112 380 — — — — — — Kent and Essex 2 2 2 — — — 159 144 156 — — — — — — Northumberland 3 3 3 — — — 120 101 118 — — — — — — North Eastern 3 3 3 — — — 2140 2,484 2,5117 — 51.5m — — — — North Western and North Wales 6 6 6 — — — 2134 268 2124 7,000 — 17,400 — — — South Wales 2 2 2 — — — 88 125 108 — 35,700 36,000 — — — Southern 5 5 4 — — — 129 97 106 — — — — — — Sussex 2 2 2 1 1 1 121 97 106 — — — 116,000 116,000 116,000 Isles of Scilly6 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1 This is a secondary lease on “Solway Protector”. 2 Patrol numbers which may include periods of more than one day at sea. 3 One boat is laid up following theft of engine. 4 “North Eastern Guardian II” was sold out of service mid year. 5 “North Eastern Guardian III” was commissioned in July 2008. 6 Isles of Scilly has no dedicated vessels. This Committee utilises the Islands’ harbour master launches or the patrol services of the Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee. Notes: 1. No ships or boats have been hired in the period for which information was requested. 2. Enforcement at sea takes place on an intelligence led basis and in any case is subject to weather conditions. There are days when it is neither necessary nor prudent as judged against the capabilities of the ships or boats available to the Sea Fisheries Committees, to take them to sea. Theoretical availability is also lost to planned and to short notice maintenance needs as well as restricted by crew availability. Crew members may, for example, be required in court to give prosecution evidence or to do other higher priority work.
The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) owns and operates one 73 m sea-going research vessel the “Cefas Endeavour”. The “Cefas Endeavour” is also made available to other DEFRA partners such as JNCC and Natural England to enable them to deliver their work programmes. CEFAS also hires other vessels on a charter basis. The figures provided include charters of vessels under the Fisheries Science Partnership.
The number of vessels, operational days and expenditure is set out in the table:
Number Op. days Number Op. days Expenditure (£ million) 2006-07 1 258 42 411 7.0 2007-08 1 275 60 678 8.9 2008-09 1 273 55 684 9.2
Departmental Furniture
From information held centrally, the core Department’s financial system records the following expenditure on furniture and all related services (fitting, movement, etc.) by (a) the Department and (b) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years:
DEFRA Natural England 2004-05 2,712,776 0 2005-06 1,596,639 0 2006-07 635,811 440 2007-08 1,687,043 645,611 2008-09 594,067 111,395
Further information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Employment Tribunals Service
The number of employment actions brought against the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in each of the last three years are as follows:
2006-07: 24
2007-08: 19
2008-09: 11
They were brought under the followings categories:
2006-07
Unfair/wrongful dismissal: 21
Disability discrimination: two
Racial discrimination: one
2007-08
Unfair/wrongful dismissal: 17
Age discrimination: one
Sex discrimination: one
2008-09
Unfair/wrongful dismissal: three
Disability discrimination: three
Age discrimination: two
Sex discrimination: one
Redundancy: one
Terms of employment: one
The number contested by his Department at an Employment Tribunal is:
2006-07: of 24 cases in total 16 were contested at an ET
2007-08: of 19 cases in total five were contested at an ET
2008-09: of 11 cases in total one was contested at an ET
Fisheries
I have recently appointed Alan Riddell as the chair of the new Sustainable Access to Inshore Fisheries (SAIF) Advisory Group. Alan has a long history of leading regional development and community sustainability. These are issues which are inextricably linked to what we are trying to achieve through SAIF; a thriving and sustainable fishing industry in the future.
Alan has no prior connections to the fishing industry and this enables him to chair the group with complete independence. This provides scope for fresh thinking and new and innovative solutions to problems which have affected the inshore fleet for a number of years. He will have access to fishing expertise both within the advisory group, which incorporates a number of fishermen and industry experts, and from outside the group in terms of access to our wide network of stakeholders.
I look forward to working closely with him over the coming months.
Fisheries: Finance
In the following table is a summary of the annual spend for fisheries management and the proportion spent on research, enforcement and associated administration.
Fisheries management, enforcement and associated administration is the responsibility of the Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA), which was created on 1 October 2005. The figures for 2004-05 are a broad estimate from the comparative figures in the annual report and accounts.
Research expenditure on sustainable marine fisheries and conservation of salmon and freshwater fish stocks is incurred within the DEFRA Marine Programme. In 2008-09 a further £11 million was allocated to operational science, which covered:
stock assessment surveys;
biological sampling;
discard monitoring;
fisheries science partnership; and
management advice.
Total spend (£ million) Research Enforcement Administration 2008-09 19.9 20 61 19 2007-08 19.8 21 62 17 2006-07 19.7 21 62 17 2005-06 18.5 20 66 14 2004-05 20.0 28 61 11
The administration figures include the totality of corporate and finance support for the MFA. It is not possible to meaningfully apportion this between the various activities of the agency.
Information for prior years is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Flood and Water Management Bill (Draft)
We published the draft Bill on 21 April. The public consultation period closes on 24 July and we hope that the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee will be able to report on its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill before the summer recess. The Government would then intend to respond to both exercises when the House returns in the autumn.
Flood Control
(2) what the (a) pre-construction budget and (b) outturn cost of each major flood defence project has been since 1997; and if he will make a statement.
The Environment Agency’s National Capital Programme Management Service has been in operation since April 2000. In the earlier years of this operation flood defence capital programmes were administered by regions which have since been superseded. Information is not therefore available for years prior to 2004-05.
A table has been placed in the Library of the House showing the required information from 2004-05 to 2008-09.
The Government encourage work to facilitate the sharing of information between responders through Local Resilience Forums and looks to Category 1 and 2 responders to ensure that they fulfil their duties in this respect under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA) and its regulations.
The Government are reviewing how to improve the effectiveness of the duties under the CCA, including whether the existing information sharing duty is sufficient or should be strengthened.
The Natural Hazards Team, established in the Cabinet Office in May 2009, is working with Lead Government Departments and economic regulators to encourage resilience building by critical infrastructure owners. Guidance for regulators is expected to be published in summer 2009.
Floods: Hospitals
A national assessment of the number of hospitals located in areas at risk from flooding has been completed as part of the Environment Agency’s recent National Flood Risk Assessment.
As part of the Department of Health’s commitment to UK resilience, the Department has completed an assessment of NHS assets to establish their vulnerability to a wide range of disruptive challenges—including flooding. This work is an on-going process as part of the civil resilience agenda under the CONTEST strategy.
Inland Waterways
We will publish the update to “Waterways for Tomorrow” when it is ready following consultation later this year. We expect this to be in early 2010, which would be appropriate as it falls 10 years after “Waterways for Tomorrow” was published in 2000.
In keeping with the spirit and effect of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the minutes of the Inter-Departmental Group on Waterways have been published on the DEFRA website:
www.defra.gov.uk
together with any related information that is key to its wider context.
Sewers: Private Sector
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 15 December 2008 that privately owned sewers and lateral drains in England will be transferred to water and sewerage companies from 2011. The precise timetable for the transfer will be set out in the regulations that we anticipate will be consulted on later in 2009, prior to their being presented to Parliament for approval. Once Parliament has approved these regulations, the transfer will be a statutory duty for water and sewerage companies.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Crime
[holding answer 15 May 2009]: Available information on the number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for the sale of alcohol to a drunk person, under section 141 of the Licensing Act 2003, by police force area, for 2006 and 2007 (latest available) is given in table 1.
The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. For example, when a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
A Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) of £80 may also be issued by the police for certain alcohol related offences such as the sale of alcohol to a person who is drunk. The numbers of persons issued with a PND for this offence, which was added to the scheme in April 2005, by police force area, from 2005 to 2007 are shown in table 2.
Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Proceeded against Found guilty Police force area 2006 2007 2006 2007 Cheshire — 1 — — Cleveland — 1 — — Devon and Cornwall — 2 — — Durham — 1 — 1 Lancashire 1 — — — South Yorkshire — 2 — — Thames Valley 1 — 1 — Total 2 7 1 1 1 Under the Licensing Act 2003—section 141. 2 Only those areas for which data have been recorded are included in the table. 3 Figures given are on the principal offence basis. 4 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: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit.
Police force area 2005 2006 2007 Avon and Somerset — — 1 Bedfordshire — — — Cambridgeshire — 1 2 Cheshire — — — City of London — — — Cleveland 1 — 4 Cumbria — 6 1 Derbyshire — 1 1 Devon and Cornwall 1 1 2 Dorset — 1 — Durham — — — Essex — — 1 Gloucestershire — — — Greater Manchester — 3 7 Hampshire 1 1 3 Hertfordshire — — — Humberside — — 1 Kent 2 1 4 Lancashire 4 4 6 Leicestershire 8 2 4 Lincolnshire 1 — — Merseyside — — 8 Metropolitan Police 3 7 18 Norfolk — — 1 Northamptonshire — — — Northumbria — — 2 North Yorkshire — 1 — Nottinghamshire — 1 1 South Yorkshire 1 — — Staffordshire — 4 2 Suffolk — — 2 Surrey — 1 — Sussex 7 1 2 Thames Valley — — 2 Warwickshire — — — West Mercia 2 — 3 West Midlands — 1 — West Yorkshire 1 1 1 Wiltshire — 3 — Dyfed Powys — — — Gwent — — — North Wales — 5 1 South Wales — — 1 British Transport Police — 1 — Total 32 47 81 1 Sale of alcohol to a drunk person was added to the PND scheme with effect from 4 April 2005. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit.
Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
[holding answer 15 May 2009]: The number of persons aged 10 to 17 years cautioned for alcohol related behaviour offences in England and Wales, by police force area, in 2006 and 2007 (latest available) are given in the table. The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence.
Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Police force area 2006 2007 Avon and Somerset 11 28 Bedfordshire 1 — Cambridgeshire — — Cheshire 14 26 City of London 2 1 Cleveland 20 18 Cumbria 52 63 Derbyshire 16 21 Devon and Cornwall 105 132 Dorset 14 18 Durham 82 86 Essex 2 — Gloucestershire 1 2 Greater Manchester 14 24 Hampshire 39 29 Hertfordshire 4 6 Humberside 11 6 Kent 52 52 Lancashire 84 103 Leicestershire 5 3 Lincolnshire 5 2 Merseyside 19 48 Metropolitan Police 7 — Norfolk 1 2 North Yorkshire 41 29 Northamptonshire 1 — Northumbria 314 366 Nottinghamshire — — South Yorkshire 54 61 Staffordshire 21 12 Suffolk 19 12 Surrey 21 6 Sussex 45 62 Thames Valley 22 14 Warwickshire — — West Mercia 40 38 West Midlands 45 49 West Yorkshire 160 198 Wiltshire 5 3 Dyfed-Powys 27 29 Gwent 76 75 North Wales 44 24 South Wales 39 16 Total 1,535 1,664 1 Includes offences under the: Licensing Act 1872 s.12; Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985 ss.1(2)(3)(4) and 1A(2)(3)(4), 2(1)(2), 5B(2)(3), 5C(3)(4), 5D(2)(3), 6(2); Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997 s. 1; Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 ss.12,17,25(3)(a)(b), 25(4)(5), 32; Criminal Justice Act 1967 s.91; Licensing Act 1964 ss. 5C(5). 6, 6. 19, 28(3), 34, 36, 39(1)(2)(3)(4), 45, 48, 51(4), 53, 59(1)(a)(b), 71(4), 72, 84. 85(2), 89, 155(1)(a), 157(1)(a)(b), 157(1)(b), 159,160,(1)(a)(b), 161(1)(2), 162,163,164(1)(2), 165, 166(1)(a)(b), 167, 168A. 168(1)(2), 169A, 169B, 169C(1)(2)(3), 169E(1), 169F, 169G, 170, 171A(1), 172, 172A, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177. 178. 179A(6), 179B(5)(6), 179E(8), 179H(2), 181A(1)(2)(3), 183(1)(2)(3), 184.185,186,187(3)(4), 188.193(7) Sch.8 Appendix C s. 6, Appendix D; Licensing (Young Persons) Act 2000 s.1; Licensing Act 2003 ss. 33,40,41, 46, 49, 56, 57, 59, 82, 83, 93, 94, 96, 108, 109,123,127,128, 132,134. 135. 136.137,138,140,141,142,143,144,145,146, 147,147A, 148, 149(1 )(3)(4)(7(a)(b), 150(1)(2), 151,152,153,156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 165, 168,179.197, Sch.8 paras 1 and 22; Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 ss. 11, 27; Late Night Refreshment Houses Act 1969 ss. 7(2), 8,9(1)(4), 10; Town Police Clauses Act 1847 ss. 35, 61; London Hackney Carriage Act 1843 s.28; Merchant Shipping Act 1995 s.101(1)(a)(b), (4) and (5); Licensing Act 1902 ss.2, 6(2)(a)(b); Similar provisions in Local Acts; Criminal Justice Act 1996 s. 6; Licensing (Occasional Permissions) Act 1983 s.3 (Sch. Para. 2, 3(a)(b), 4(1)(2)(3), 5,6.7, 8(2). 9(2)); Licensing Act 1988 s. 17,18; Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994, s. 19; Children and Young Persons Act 1933 s. 5. 2 The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. 3 From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings. These figures have been included in the totals. 4 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: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit
Antisocial Behaviour Orders: East of England
Information held by the Ministry of Justice showing the number of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued and the number proven in court to have been breached at least once at all courts in the East of England from 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2006 (latest available) is shown in the table.
Police force area 2000-023 2003 2004 2005 2006 Total Bedfordshire Issued 8 16 18 40 31 113 Breached 6 6 7 15 9 43 Cambridgeshire Issued 5 15 26 50 31 127 Breached 4 6 12 12 15 49 Essex Issued 2 23 79 88 32 224 Breached — 2 28 58 35 123 Hertfordshire Issued 16 17 40 73 35 181 Breached 3 5 20 24 30 82 Norfolk Issued 21 7 43 46 27 144 Breached 8 4 10 23 22 67 Suffolk Issued 9 25 78 53 35 200 Breached 1 7 21 33 23 85 East of England Issued 61 103 284 350 191 989 Breached 22 30 98 165 134 449 1 ASBOs breached are counted based on the year the first breach was proven in court. Many ASBOs which are breached in a particular year will have been issued in a previous year. ASBOs can be issued in one police force area and breached in another. In this table breaches are counted on area of issue. 2 The East of England Government office region is comprised of the following police force areas: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. 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. Sources: Issued: as reported to the Home Office by the Court Service. Breached: OCJR Court Proceedings Database.
Crime: Firearms
[holding answer 13 May 2009]: I am afraid that the information requested is not held centrally.
Departmental Manpower
(2) how many staff based at the Abu Dhabi visa hub are allocated to reviewing visa applications from Pakistan.
There are 33 entry clearance officers and nine entry clearance managers working in the hub in Abu Dhabi. They are processing work from Pakistan, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. Staff are transferable between all three work streams in the hub and are allocated duties according to workloads.
There are no visa sections in Karachi or Lahore. The visa section in Karachi was closed in September 2007 and work was transferred to the visa section in Islamabad at that time. At the time of closure, the visa section in Karachi employed one entry clearance manager, eight (and a half) entry clearance officers and one risk assessment officer. The visa section in Lahore closed over five years ago (shortly after 9/11).
(2) how many staff are employed in the visa hub in Abu Dhabi.
On 12 May 2009 there are 101 staff working in the Abu Dhabi hub.
Entry Clearances: Pakistan
During the financial year 2008-09, the UK Visa Application Centres in Karachi and Lahore received 26,364 and 53,189 visa applications, respectively.
There are no entry clearance officers posted to Karachi or Lahore. All applications submitted in Pakistan are dealt with in Islamabad, Abu Dhabi or London. Fraud checks are carried out in Islamabad on 100 per cent. of applications submitted in Pakistan.
All applications lodged in Pakistan are seen by an entry clearance officer based in Islamabad so that a travel document forgery check can be carried out irrespective of where the decision is being made. Between the Abu Dhabi hub coming into service on 27 October 2008 and 1 March 2009 19,995 applications have been sent to Islamabad for a decision and a total of 19,497 applications have been sent to the hub in Abu Dhabi for a decision.
European Arrest Warrants
[holding answer 24 March 2009]: The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) (for Scotland) are the designated authorities for the receipt and transmission of European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) in the UK. In the UK, EAWs can only be issued by appropriately designated judicial authorities.
SOCA’s involvement in EAW cases ceases at the point of surrender to the UK and does not include recording the outcome of criminal cases in the UK.
To retrieve this information would entail liaising with all the UK’s prosecuting authorities and courts and would incur disproportionate cost.
[holding answer 24 March 2009]: SOCA and COPFS (for Scotland) are the designated authorities for the receipt and transmission for European arrest warrants (EAWs) in the UK. The number of EAWs issued to the UK (excluding Scotland) since 1 January 2006 is:
EAWs issued to UK EAW surrenders 2006 13,298 1151 2007 12,480 2320 2008 13,230 2515 January-April 2009 11,329 2165 1 Several member states will issue EAWs to more than one member state if the person’s exact whereabouts are not known. A large number of EAWs received by SOCA therefore turn out to have no connection with the UK. 2 There may be occasions where logistics dictate that the surrender of a person arrested in Scotland takes place in England and is effected by SOCA.
It is not possible from current systems to provide data broken down by nationality, category of offence or member state of destination. This would require a manual examination of all files and incur disproportionate cost.
[holding answer 24 March 2009]: In 2008 SOCA transmitted 218 European arrest warrants (EAWs) to other member states and between January and April 2009, SOCA transmitted 86 EAWs.
The Home Office does not issue EAWs. They are issued by designated judicial authorities such as the Crown Prosecution Service and COPFS for Scotland. These are then transmitted by SOCA or COPFS to the relevant member state for execution.
In 2008, 96 individuals for whom SOCA had transmitted an EAW, either during 2008 or earlier were returned to the UK. Between January and April 2009 27 individuals were returned under the EAW procedure.
It is not possible from current systems to provide data broken down by nationality, category of offence or member state to which the warrant was sent. This would require a manual examination of all files and hence disproportionate cost.
[holding answer 24 March 2009]: EAWs are issued by the appropriately designated judicial authority and transmitted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
To retrieve this information would entail liaising with all the UK’s prosecuting authorities and courts and would incur disproportionate cost.
Members: Correspondence
My right hon. Friend the former Home Secretary (Jacqui Smith), wrote to my right hon. Friend on 20 April 2009.
Organised Crime: International Cooperation
The information is as follows:
Spent on work undertaken (£) (a) Europol Subscriptions paid in 2008-09 7,812,285 SOCA Liaison Office at Europol 595,415 Total 8,407,700 (b) Interpol Subscriptions paid in 2008-09 2,487,314 SOCA staff at Interpol 212,576 Total 2,699,890
These figures are subject to final audit. SOCA is the UK gateway for both Europol and Interpol and the subscription costs are for UK law enforcement as a whole.
Many SOCA operations and projects involve collaboration with Europol, Interpol and other partners, but this work is not costed separately.
Police: Surveillance
Guidance on the Lawful and Effective Use of Covert Techniques programme, which includes an overarching guidance manual and a more recent guidance manual aimed at officers investigating local volume crime and disorder, contains details of covert techniques and as such is classified as restricted. It therefore cannot be placed in the Library.
Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
[holding answer 20 May 2009]: The Home Office has not received recently any direct representations on this matter from the organisations the hon. Member mentions, but is aware of the issues both have raised with the Joint Committee on Human Rights.
Sexual Offences: Essex
Data on MAPPA management and on the number of registered sexual offenders in England and Wales are available in the annual published MAPPA reports
http://www.probation.justice.gov.uk/output/page30.asp
Data on MAPPA management are not broken down below area level. However, for Essex, the number of registered sexual offenders managed via MAPPA meetings between 1 April and 31 March is as follows:
Number of registered sexual offenders 2005-06 21 2006-07 28 2007-08 72
The increase in the 2007-08 figure was due to a review of the MAPPA level of cases being managed rather than an increase in the number of sexual offenders in Essex. This is fully explained in the 2007-08 Essex MAPPA report which is available on
http://www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk/files/pdf/Essex%2 0MAPPA%202008%20Report.pdf
The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for selected offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in Essex from 2004 to 2007 (latest available) are given in the table.
Data are given in the table for Essex police force area. It is not possible to further break down data to constituency level (i.e. Castle Point) as this level of detail is not held centrally.
Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
Essex police force area Number 2004 34 2005 49 2006 47 2007 20 1 Includes the following statutes: sections 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8(1)(2)(3), 9(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(2)(3), 10(1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(2)(3), 11(1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii), 12(1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii), 13, 14, 15, 16(1)(a)(b)(c)(e)(i)(ii)(2)(3)(4)(5),17(1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(i)(ii)(2)(3)(4)(5), 18(1)(a)(b) (c)(d)(e)(f)(i)(ii)(2)(3)(4)(5), 19(1 )(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(i)(ii)(2)(3)(4)(5), 25(1)(a)(b)(c)(d) (e)(i)(ii)(4)(a)(b)(5)(6), 26(1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(i)(ii)(4)(a)(b)(5)(6), 47(1)(a)(b)(c)(i)(ii) (3)(4)(a)(b)(5)(6), 48(1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(2), 49(1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(2), 50(1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(2), 52, 53, 57, 58, 59; 2 The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004. 3 The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. For example, when a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 4 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: Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Evidence and Analysis Unit
Surveillance: Disclosure of Information
The existing statutory Code of Practice on Covert Human Intelligence Sources, which came into force in 2002, is a published document and copies are available in the House Library. A revised draft version of the code is included in the consultation document “Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000: Consolidating Orders and Codes of Practice” which was published on 17 April 2009. Copies were placed in the House Library and are also available through the Home Office website.
Theft: Bicycles
The available information relates to offences of theft of a pedal cycle recorded by the police and is given in the following tables:
Police force area Number Avon and Somerset 5,279 Bedfordshire 1,327 Cambridgeshire 6,195 Cheshire 2,191 Cleveland 1,955 Cumbria 996 Derbyshire 2,287 Devon and Cornwall 2,176 Dorset 2,068 Durham 1,262 Dyfed-Powys 304 Essex 3,251 Gloucestershire 2,126 Greater Manchester 6,895 Gwent 840 Hampshire 6,207 Hertfordshire 1,460 Humberside 6,963 Kent 3,106 Lancashire 3,839 Leicestershire 3,424 Lincolnshire 2,142 London, City of 157 Merseyside 2,961 Metropolitan police 17,276 Norfolk 2,503 Northamptonshire 1,453 Northumbria 3,675 North Wales 1,083 North Yorkshire 2,951 Nottinghamshire 4,247 South Wales 2,464 South Yorkshire 2,811 Staffordshire 2,145 Suffolk 1,551 Surrey 1,154 Sussex 4,211 Thames Valley 6,730 Warwickshire 1,422 West Mercia 2,849 West Midlands 5,757 West Yorkshire 3,947 Wiltshire 1,452 England and Wales 139,092
Number Police force area 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 Avon and Somerset 4,730 4,289 3,698 3,555 Bedfordshire 1,241 1,206 952 870 Cambridgeshire 5,606 5,513 4,373 4,171 Cheshire 1,940 2,202 1,865 1,666 Cleveland 1,624 1,702 1,420 1,460 Cumbria 1,001 988 716 691 Derbyshire 1,900 1,755 1,529 1,505 Devon and Cornwall 2,084 2,087 1,667 1,563 Dorset 281 246 265 268 Durham 2,126 2,012 1,634 1,522 Dyfed-Powys 990 1,107 916 867 Essex 2,955 3,207 2,635 2,299 Gloucestershire 1,899 2,204 1,796 1,691 Greater Manchester 5,948 6,203 5,190 5,007 Gwent 824 803 676 557 Hampshire 5,878 5,807 4,730 4,455 Hertfordshire 1,380 1,416 1,373 1,339 Humberside 5,967 5,730 4,775 4,330 Kent 2,450 2,383 2,175 1,821 Lancashire 3,255 3,042 2,793 2,702 Leicestershire 3,050 2,762 2,323 2,132 Lincolnshire 2,174 2,318 1,879 1,750 London, City of 258 250 203 334 Merseyside 2,440 2,634 2,064 1,678 Metropolitan police 17,092 18,659 14,470 14,340 Norfolk 2,349 2,400 2,102 1,926 Northamptonshire 1,657 1,530 1,229 1,146 Northumbria 2,758 3,187 2,947 2,468 North Wales 1,100 1,130 950 896 North Yorkshire 2,948 2,600 2,175 2,442 Nottinghamshire 4,344 4,296 3,749 3,555 South Wales 2,278 2,313 1,829 1,951 South Yorkshire 2,520 2,668 2,219 1,891 Staffordshire 1,814 2,061 1,724 1,667 Suffolk 1,940 2,023 1,709 1,728 Surrey 1,193 1,189 1,388 1,301 Sussex 3,895 3,686 3,062 2,959 Thames Valley 6,787 7,992 6,000 5,346 Warwickshire 1,490 1,284 1,100 1,060 West Mercia 2,735 2,518 2,071 1,903 West Midlands 5,012 5,044 4,198 4,004 West Yorkshire 3,107 3,377 2,773 2,673 Wiltshire 1,537 1,417 1,167 1,224 England and Wales 128,557 131,240 108,509 102,713 1 The coverage was extended and counting rules revised from 1998-99. Figures from that date are not directly comparable with those for 1997. 2 The data in this table are prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.
Number Police force area 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Avon and Somerset 3,090 3,043 3,713 4,131 4,311 3,818 Bedfordshire 719 898 881 1,073 965 1,000 British Transport police 2,737 2,947 3,384 4,127 4,734 4,408 Cambridgeshire 3,975 4,374 4,528 4,442 4,121 3,802 Cheshire 1,551 1,746 1,565 1,731 1,795 1,558 Cleveland 1,028 1,116 1,237 1,255 1,132 1,217 Cumbria 606 802 850 862 780 802 Derbyshire 1,301 1,358 1,131 1,156 1,065 1,135 Devon and Cornwall 1,443 1,712 1,825 1,792 1,871 1,775 Dorset 1,624 1,843 1,602 1,555 1,806 1,731 Durham 726 827 815 802 815 702 Dyfed-Powys 230 330 388 308 257 295 Essex 2,100 2,462 2,775 2,875 2,676 2,625 Gloucestershire 1,588 1,653 1,322 1,577 1,516 1,345 Greater Manchester 4,598 4,220 4,198 4,731 4,597 4,679 Gwent 632 624 570 600 564 520 Hampshire 4,253 4,545 4,869 5,843 5,839 4,988 Hertfordshire 1,397 1,484 1,656 1,767 1,826 1,641 Humberside 3,736 3,777 3,195 3,281 2,978 2,894 Kent 1,609 1,829 2,020 1,884 1,888 2,125 Lancashire 2,505 2,525 2,594 2,694 2,784 2,460 Leicestershire 1,754 1,869 1,879 1,893 1,932 1,989 Lincolnshire 1,810 1,623 1,766 1,736 1,604 1,662 London, City of 427 355 319 336 314 289 Merseyside 1,445 1,569 1,673 1,726 1,854 1,744 Metropolitan police 15,812 19,261 19,317 21,238 18,648 17,183 Norfolk 1,888 2,108 1,972 2,019 1,877 1,780 Northamptonshire 1,053 1,157 1,318 1,152 1,202 1,107 Northumbria 2,387 2,644 2,405 2,362 2,338 2,129 North Wales 850 783 773 617 681 662 North Yorkshire 2,331 2,563 1,991 2,041 2,020 1,796 Nottinghamshire 2,608 2,744 2,601 2,876 3,026 2,775 South Wales 1,717 1,822 1,978 1,762 1,810 1,866 South Yorkshire 1,787 1,346 1,421 1,725 1,690 1,619 Staffordshire 1,235 1,285 1,232 1,270 1,319 1,276 Suffolk 1,439 1,457 1,653 1,828 1,759 1,653 Surrey 1,085 1,297 1,331 1,463 1,679 1,539 Sussex 2,329 2,683 2,811 3,165 3,097 2,792 Thames Valley 5,264 5,547 5,879 5,994 5,688 5,239 Warwickshire 1,001 1,076 878 1,005 1,028 845 West Mercia 1,484 1,559 1,596 1,592 1,577 1,639 West Midlands 3,301 3,229 2,793 3,132 3,233 3,092 West Yorkshire 2,250 2,374 2,175 2,521 2,495 2,357 Wiltshire 1,050 1,001 1,074 1,253 1,335 1,446 England and Wales 97,755 105,467 105,953 113,192 110,526 103,999 1 The data in this table take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years. 2 Includes British Transport police from 2002-03 onwards.
Travelling People
The Association of Chief Police Officers published new guidance on unauthorised encampments in January of this year. A copy of this guidance has been placed in the Library.
Culture, Media and Sport
Cabinet: Glasgow
(2) how much expenditure was incurred by his Department in respect of the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009;
(3) what expenditure on (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) food (i) he and (ii) officials in his Department incurred in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) attended Cabinet on 16 April 2009 as the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Total expenditure incurred by my Department was £607.42. This was incurred for travel costs only. Three car journeys were undertaken.
For information relating to the Cabinet and public engagement event held in Glasgow on 16 April 2009 I refer the hon. Member to the answer by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
Departmental Data Protection
My Department has not made any such notifications to the Information Commissioner.
There have been no officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport or the Royal Parks (i) disciplined or (ii) dismissed for (A) breaches of data protection requirements and (B) inappropriate use of personal or sensitive data in the last 12 months.
Departmental Stationery
The information is as follows:
(a) The Department spent the following amounts on recycled office supplies in the last three years. Information prior to 2006 is not available.
£ 2008 7,048.46 2007 4,020.10 2006 3,919.23
(b) The Department has not bought any printer ink cartridges in the last three years. Information prior to 2006 is not available.
In 2008 the Department spent £35,452.77 on office supplies, of which £7,048.46 was for the purchase of recycled products. This equates to 20 per cent.
Departmental Surveys
The annual cost of staff surveys for the named organisations (as provided by those organisations) in each of the last five years is set out in the table. All figures include VAT. The figures include the costs of main staff surveys and do not include ad hoc requests for information.
£ 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Arts Council England 0 128,000 0 223,400 218,300 Sport England 321,761 0 0 0 0 UK Sport 0 0 0 0 43,450 English Heritage 0 0 0 539,550 0 The Royal Parks 0 0 0 65,399.12 79,533.52 712,638.70 — 1 The Leadership Factor. 2 Ipsos Mori (A). 3 GfK NOP. 4 Fargus Consulting Partnership. 5 TalentPulse. 6 ORC International. 7 Atkins Management Note: The 2007-08 and 2008-09 costs were part of one survey carried out over two financial years.
Employment Tribunals Service
I am not able to provide the information requested.
It is standard statistical practice in DCMS not to release statistical information pertaining to individual members of staff when the numbers of staff involved are less then five. This is done to protect individuals’ identities.
Equality: Broadcasting
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: Officials from my Department and from the Government Equalities Office have had detailed discussions about any effect that the Equality Bill may have on the commissioning, content and broadcast of television and radio programmes. The Government policy is that the new equality duty should not apply to the commissioning, content and broadcast of programmes.
Gambling: Internet
[holding answer 1 June 2009]: There have been no formal discussions with French Ministers on the effect on UK companies of proposed changes to internet gambling legislation in France.
However, I met with my French counterpart on 3 June 2009 to informally discuss a number of sport and gambling related issues.
Licensing Laws: Fees and Charges
We hope to be in a position to announce our response shortly. As you will appreciate, our response must be agreed across Government and this has taken longer than we had anticipated. We will accompany any proposals to change the fee structure with plans to review them after an appropriate period, and consult on them before they are implemented.
Olympic Games 2012: Facilities
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: Since the publication of the Government’s Legacy Action Plan in June 2008, there has been significant progress on delivering our aims for a lasting community sport legacy from the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
In December 2008 Sport England announced £480 million of funding over the next four years to national governing bodies of sport to help deliver their outcome of 1 million more people playing sport regularly, as part of our legacy aim to get 2 million people more active.
Sport England have also announced several new streams of lottery funding, including a £10 million themed round aimed at boosting sport participation in rural communities, and a £5 million Innovation Fund seeking new ways of getting people playing more sport—as part of a further investment of up to £220 million over the next four years.
The Government are investing at least £780 million over 2008 to 2011 to develop sport opportunities for all young people through our PE and Sport Strategy for Young People. 90 per cent. of pupils now do two hours of high quality PE and school sport, and with delivery partners the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, we are mapping provision of the five-hour offer in every School Sport Partnership area. Over the past year, we have rolled out a number of new programmes to get more young people doing sport: Sport Unlimited is a £36 million initiative which, by 2010-11, aims to give 900,000 more 11 to 19-year-olds opportunities to take part in sports that interest them most outside of school; we now have a new network of school sport coaches; a network of 226 competition managers are increasing competition between schools; and we have delivered 250 new multi-sport clubs for young disabled people.
As set out in the Legacy Action Plan, a ministerial sports legacy board has been set up and met earlier this year. It brings together, for the first time, all those who have a role to play in delivering the sports legacy across the UK—the UK Government, the Devolved Administrations, Sport England, UK Sport, the Youth Sport Trust, London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and others. The group will enable all of us to work together to maximise the opportunity which the Olympics and Paralympics provides to deliver a world leading sporting nation and get more children, young people and adults participating regularly in sport.
Public Houses
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: The Government have now published their response to the community pubs inquiry report. Hard copies are available in the Vote and Printed Paper Office, and it is also available on the DCMS website at:
http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/6137.aspx
Sports: Young People
£783 million was allocated to the PE and Sport Strategy for Young People for the current spending round 2008-11, channelled through the Department for Children, Schools and Families and Sport England.
For the financial year 2008-09, the Department for Children, Schools and Families have advised that they have spent £151,300,000 and Sport England have advised that they have spent £22,655,000. Both figures are subject to audit and verification.
Television
Competition matters are the responsibility of, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-East the Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr. McFadden). However, my officials have discussed the timetable of this investigation with Ofcom and I understand that they expect to make a statement on their progress and current findings by the end of June.
Leader of the House
Members: Allowances
The interpretation of the rules governing Members' allowances is a matter for the House authorities. The Standards and Privileges Committee considered the rules relating to the designation of main homes in its Fifteenth Report of 2007-08 (HC 1127). It is the responsibility of individual Members to ensure that the designation of their main home complies with the rules of the House.
The Office of the Leader of the House has taken no external legal or accountancy advice on this subject and has no plans to do so.
The interpretation of the rules governing Members' allowances is a matter for the House authorities. It is the responsibility of individual Members to ensure that their claims comply with the rules of the House.
The Office of the Leader of the House has taken no external legal or accountancy advice on this subject and has no plans to do so.
Private Members’ Bills: Parliamentary Procedure
My right hon. Friend has no plans to do so.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
The deployment of the Headquarters of 6 (UK) Division will be managed within the approved UK force levels in Afghanistan as announced by the Prime Minister in his statement to the House on 29 April 2009, Official Report, column 871.
Armed Forces: Deployment
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: Information on the proportion of military equipment that was formerly deployed to Iraq but which may be redeployed to Afghanistan is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
With respect to items previously gifted to the Government of Iraq, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor on 12 May 2009, Official Report, column 748W, to the right hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell).
Armed Forces: Fuels
This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces: Pensions
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: In the last 10 years there have been three incidents of armed forces pension overpayments caused by systemic errors. The majority of these errors stem from the complexity of the scheme legislation and required extensive programmes of investigation to identify individuals affected and take corrective action.
The first was in 2001 when the National Audit Office identified 2,300 cases where the national insurance abatement had not been applied. All the affected pensions were corrected by 11 April 2005 and recovery of the overpayments made was not sought.
In 2006, an error in the transfer of information between the former Veterans Agency and the former Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency resulted in 98 AFPS overpayments. All errors were corrected by 31 March 2008 and recovery of the overpayments was not sought.
In December 2008, the guaranteed minimum pension (GMP) error identified 4,716 AFPS pensions that required correcting. The majority have now been corrected and the recovery of the overpayments was not sought.
Overpayments made on an individual basis are only held for the last three years and are provided in the following table.
Reason for overpayment Number Late notification of death 10,124 National fraud initiative 147 Transfer to full-time Reserve Service 53 Pension sharing on divorce 43 Others1 109 Total 10,476 1 Combination of revised pension awards, payments to incorrect bank accounts non-entitlement to pension after remarriage, overpayment child pensions and others.
Army: Lost Property
The following table shows the number of Army guns (pistols, rifles, machine guns, shotguns and cadet rifles) reported stolen or lost since 1997. No weapons other than those defined above were reported stolen or lost in this period. These figures exclude information from incidents on operations, which are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Gun thefts Gun losses 1997 6 2 1998 6 3 1999 9 2 2000 28 2 2001 8 2 2002 12 4 2003 3 2 2004 13 1 2005 0 0 2006 0 0 2007 0 0 2008 0 2 20091 4 2 1 Up to 5 June 2009.
Cabinet: Glasgow
My predecessor was accompanied by one private secretary.
For information relating to the Cabinet and public engagement event held in Glasgow on 16 April I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
My predecessor made three journeys by car during the visit. These were from the airport to visit a defence contractor at Govan shipyard, from Govan to the Cabinet at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), and from the SECC to the airport.
For information relating to the Cabinet and public engagement event held in Glasgow on 16 April I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
(2) what expenditure on (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) food (i) he and (ii) officials in his Department incurred in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009.
The only direct expenditure by the Ministry of Defence was the purchase of two return London-Glasgow plane tickets for my predecessor and an accompanying official, totalling £767.
For information relating to the Cabinet and public engagement event held in Glasgow on 16 April I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
Departmental Buildings
Records of transactions prior to 2000 are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. I will write to the hon. Member with the information on land and buildings sold since 2000 as soon as these data have been verified and collated.
Kenya: Piracy
The eight suspects were detained on board Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Knight for five days while transiting to a Kenyan port, before being transferred to Kenyan authorities for prosecution under the provisions of a memorandum of understanding. Prior to this they had been detained for three days on board the pirated dhow under Royal Navy escort.
Special Forces: Defence Equipment
We do have a shot detection capability, the details of which I am withholding for reasons of operational security.
Special Forces: Finance
It is the long-standing policy of this and previous Governments not to comment on matters relating to UK special forces, as their disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
War Pensions
(2) if he will make it his policy to publish the outcomes of his review of the future of war pensions committees.
A review of the War Pensions Committees is currently under way. The review is being conducted in consultation with the Committees and other stakeholders and an initial symposium was held on 25 March 2009. It is our intention to consult widely as the review develops, in line with normal practice. Any hon. Member who has shown an interest in this review will be invited to respond to any consultation before final decisions are made.
As with other policy developments and consultations, the outcome of the review, and a summary of responses to consultation, will be published.
Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland: Manpower
That is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. I have asked him to reply directly to the hon. Lady, and a copy of his letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Police Service of Northern Ireland: Museums and Galleries
That is an operational matter for the Chief Constable. I have asked him to reply directly to the hon. Lady, and a copy of his letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Prison Service: Misconduct
It is not possible to list every type of behaviour that might constitute gross misconduct. However, the Northern Ireland Prison Service Code of Conduct and Discipline gives examples of the type of conduct that will normally be regarded as gross misconduct and which will normally result in dismissal for a first offence. These are:
serious unprofessional conduct, for example trafficking or any act of violence involving a prisoner or other member of staff, or damage of property;
instances of theft, fraud or any other act involving dishonesty at work;
abuse of official position;
serious acts of negligence causing appreciable loss, damage to Prison Service property or injury;
insubordination liable to lead to serious disorder or loss of control in an establishment; and
serious or persistent acts of harassment including sexual harassment.
The following table shows the number of prison officers who have been (a) suspended and (b) dismissed on grounds of gross misconduct in the last three years for the reasons stated.
Action Misconduct 2006 4 suspensions 1 harassment 2 PSNI criminal investigations 1 fraudulent activity involving expenses 3 dismissals 1 failure to provide relevant information on security form 2 subject to criminal proceedings 2007 2 suspensions 1 interfered with prisoner’s confidential correspondence 1 fraudulent activity involving a prisoner 2 dismissals 1 harassment 1 fraudulent activity involving a prisoner 2008 17 suspensions 16 neglect of duty 1 inappropriate relationship with a prisoner 2 dismissals 1 interfered with prisoner's confidential correspondence 1 inappropriate relationship with a prisoner
Olympics
Departmental Official Hospitality
Part of Government Olympic Executive's (GOE) role is to develop legacy plans and ensure full economic and social benefits to the United Kingdom.
Since its creation the GOE, and the Minister for the Olympics' Office, have spent £225,893 on hosting five conferences—one in Leeds, two in east London and two in central London. Two conferences focused on the UK-wide business benefits of London 2012, one on disability, one on volunteering, and one on the International Inspiration Programme, which is aimed at transforming the lives of 12 million children and young people across 20 developing countries worldwide.
The GOE has also spent £4,686 on five dinners hosted by the Minister for the Olympics designed to consult a range of industry, charity and public sector leaders and inform our preparations for 2012. These events have covered a broad range of issues including how to engage young people in our plans for 2012; the means by which we can secure a positive legacy from the games; our plans for using volunteers on the 2012 programme; how we maximise access to and legacy from the games for disabled people; how we overcome challenges in relation to construction of the Olympic Park; as well as the use of new media and technology and legacy of the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre. All resulted in proposals for further actions which are being developed.
Olympic Delivery Authority: Manpower
At 30 April 2009 ODA employed 246 staff, permanent, secondments and fixed term, the latter including a number of graduates recruited for a 10-month placement as part of the ODA graduate placement scheme.
The ODA's staff costs for the 12 months to 30 April 2009 were £21.5 million, including salary, national insurance and pension contributions. The staff costs reflect, in part, the need to employ high quality external expertise to meet the unique challenge that the Olympics represents—delivering a large and complex programme to a fixed deadline. This is a successful operation: we are on time and within budget. The overall management costs of the Olympic programme are well within industry benchmarks for a project of this size.
Of the ODA's staff 136 are working on project management. This includes work on legacy planning. Every project in the programme is considered with legacy in mind, ensuring that legacy requirements are incorporated in design briefs, specifications and business planning. This approach is designed to ensure that the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games will be the catalyst for the regeneration, but it also means that staff are not attributed specifically to legacy planning.
The ODA's Finance and Business Planning team employs 19 staff on financial oversight and who work closely with the Delivery Partner. This excludes internal Cabinet Office audit services which are provided by Ernst and Young.
Olympic Games 2012
(2) what her most recent estimate is of the cost of hosting the London 2012 Olympics white water canoe event at River Lee Country Park;
(3) what her most recent estimate is of the cost of hosting London 2012 Olympics events at Earl's Court.
[holding answer 8 June 2009]: The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has responsibility for staging the Olympic and Paralympic games at existing venues. The direct costs associated with staging the events at existing venues come from LOCOG's revenues which are primarily derived from commercial sponsorship, broadcast rights, ticket sales and merchandising/licensing—not from the public purse.
There will be attributable costs to the public purse, for example in respect of the security and transport functions associated with the venue. However these costs have not yet been identified separately for individual venues, but they will form part of the overall security and transport budgets.
In respect of the white water canoe course and Eton Manor, which are being constructed by the Olympic Delivery Authority, the project budgets cannot be disclosed at the current time owing to reasons of commercial sensitivity.
Health
Breast Cancer: Screening
Waiting times in the NHS Breast Screening Programme are measured by the proportion of eligible women who are recalled for screening within 36 months of their previous screen. This is known as round length. Round length is not measured by primary care trust, but round length by local breast screening unit ranked in descending order for quarter 4 2008-09 (January to March 2009) is shown in the following table.
Breast screening unit 36 month round length (percentage) Doncaster 100 Aylesbury 100 Wycombe 100 Crewe 99 Macclesfield 99 Wirral 99 Sheffield 99 Rotherham 99 Epping 99 West Devon 99 Northampton 99 South Derbyshire 99 Kettering 99 Windsor 99 Portsmouth 99 North Yorkshire 98 Leeds Wakefield 98 Barnsley 98 West of London 98 Barking and Havering 98 Shropshire 98 South Staffordshire 98 Avon 98 Dorset 98 Somerset 98 Milton Keynes 98 Reading 98 Southampton and Salisbury 98 Isle of Wight 98 North Tees 97 Gateshead 97 Pennine 97 East Suffolk 97 North Staffordshire 97 Cornwall 97 North Nottinghamshire 97 Lincolnshire 97 Canterbury 97 Bolton 96 North Cumbria 96 North Yorkshire 96 South East London (Greenwich) 96 Cambridge and Huntingdon 96 Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry 96 South Devon 96 Wiltshire 96 Maidstone 96 Medway 96 Chester 95 South West London 95 King’s Lynn 95 South Essex 95 Liverpool 94 Newcastle 94 James Paget (Great Yarmouth) 94 Oxford 94 East Lancashire 93 South East London (Kings) 92 Chelmsford and Colchester 91 Humberside 90 West Suffolk 90 North Derbyshire 89 Leicester 88 Warrington 87 Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 87 West Sussex 87 Norfolk and Norwich 86 Wigan 85 Jarvis Centre (Guildford) 85 Greater Manchester 84 Hereford and Worcester 84 South Birmingham 84 Gloucestershire 79 Nottingham 78 City and East London 76 East Devon 75 City Hospital (Birmingham) 69 Peterborough 62 Dudley and Wolverhampton 58 North Lancashire 48 North and Mid-Hampshire 43 North London 22 Brighton 8 Source: NHS Cancer Screening Programmes
Health Bill
The letter relating to the tobacco provisions of the Health Bill sent from Baroness Thornton to the National Federation of Retailers and Newsagents dated 6 May 2009 has been placed in the Library. The letter contains information on the potential costs of removing tobacco displays, including cost estimates provided to the Department from a Canadian company with experience of providing solutions to remove tobacco displays in Canada. Further detail of the analysis of estimate costs of removing tobacco displays, and other measures contained in the Health Bill, can be found in the impact assessment produced by the Department, copies of which are available from the Vote Office in the House of Commons or from the Department’s website.
The Department is committed to working with retail organisations such as the Association of Convenience Stores, the British Retail Consortium and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, along with the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services, to develop and distribute guidance to business with regard to regulations on tobacco displays.
The timetable for preparing and publishing draft regulations which support, where relevant, implementation of the provisions in the Bill will vary and depends on a range of different factors concerning each provision. We aim to publish draft regulations on the tobacco provisions as soon as possible, subject to the passage of the Health Bill through Parliament. This would give businesses adequate lead-in time before regulations commence.
We intend to work closely with a wide range of interested stakeholders, as appropriate, on the detailed implementation of the provisions in Part 3 of the Health Bill.
We are already working with various organisations to develop draft regulations concerning the tobacco provisions. The consultation on the draft regulations will be open to all interested stakeholders and members of the public.
The organisations we will consult include, but are not limited to: the Association of Convenience Stores, the British Retail Consortium, the National Federation of Retail Newsagents, the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services, the National Association of Cigarette Machine Operators, the UK Travel Retail Forum, the Association of Independent Tobacco Specialists, the Imported Tobacco Products Advisory Council, the Local Government Association, the Airport Operators Association as well as a number of individual businesses.
The published impact assessments supporting the Bill include, where relevant, our assessment of the likely impact on smaller retailers.
Copies of the impact assessments supporting the Bill can be obtained from the Vote Office in the House of Commons, and are also available in the Library and on the Department’s website at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsLegislation/DH_093278
All relevant provisions in Part 3 of the Health Bill were cleared through the usual processes across Government, including with the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The Department continues to work closely with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on the Bill’s provisions, in particular to ensure regulations are developed that will enable cost-effective solutions to be used to remove tobacco displays. Relevant provisions are supported by full impact assessments.
Health Services
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Sir Nicholas Winterton) on 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 507W.
The Department has assessed the impact on equality relating to policies on cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and diabetes. The assessments identify and analyse the available data and evidence on inequalities in relation to these conditions and set out ways in which to reduce the inequalities. The assessments have informed policy development in these areas and are expected to lead to improvements in outcomes and a reduction in inequalities.
The Department expects to monitor progress in reducing inequalities for conditions including diabetes, kidney disease and stroke. This will include activity to identify gaps in evidence and ways of addressing these, increasing awareness of health and social care services of high risk groups and improving the availability and quality of data to ensure people with these conditions are identified and receive good quality care. Improvements in access to services, a better experience and better outcomes for groups at risk will demonstrate the effectiveness of the impact assessments in identifying inequalities and suggesting ways of reducing them.
Hospitals: Infectious Diseases
A key component is surveillance of surgical site infections (SSIs). Since 2004, when surveillance of orthopaedic surgical site infections became mandatory, rates of SSI have decreased.
Data on co-infections are not collected centrally.
NHS: Complaints
The scope and remit of the parliamentary and health service ombudsman to consider complaints has not been changed by the abolition of the Healthcare Commission.
Putney Hospital
The information requested is not held centrally. The future of the site of the former Putney hospital is a matter for Wandsworth Primary Care Trust.
Social Services: Correspondence
The responsibility for regulating adult social care services rests with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). CQC has a range of enforcement powers and will take action where it considers that the welfare of service users may be at risk.
Where concerns are raised about social services, there is no requirement for local authorities, or CQC, to respond urgently to any particular individuals or groups. However, the Department would expect them to respond in an appropriate and timely manner, taking account of the circumstances of the case.
Local authorities are autonomous, elected bodies. They are responsible for ensuring that the services they commission or provide meet the needs of service users and they must discharge their statutory duties and act legally. If a service user, or someone acting on their behalf, has concerns about the conduct or performance of their social services department, they are entitled to pursue the matter through the statutory social services complaints procedure, which all local authorities are required to have, or they may ask the local government ombudsman to investigate.
The responsibility for children’s social care services rests with the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Treasury
Tax Avoidance
The Chancellor and Treasury Ministers have a range of discussions with industry on Budget representations.
In addition, HM Revenue and Customs is in regular contact with banks and major accounting firms on a range of issues including tax avoidance, the introduction of a code of practice on taxation for banks, and other matters of mutual interest.
Tax Reporting Requirements
Research commissioned by HMRC in 2005 found the administrative burden imposed on business by the UK tax system is approximately £5.1 billion a year.
Reducing administrative burdens for business is a priority for this Government, and so is one of HMRC’s priorities. At Budget 2009, HMRC have reported significant progress and have implemented or committed to measures that will deliver administrative savings to business of around £540 million per annum.
Public Sector Debt
The UK entered the global economic crisis with low public debt, which has given the flexibility to allow debt to rise in the short term to support the economy. Reflecting the Government’s commitment to ensuring sustainable public finances over the medium term, the temporary fiscal operating rule requires debt to be falling as a proportion of GDP once the global shocks have worked their way though the economy in full. The Budget set out plans that are consistent with debt falling as a share of GDP by 2015-16.
Financial Services Authority
Ministers and officials meet the FSA on a regular basis to discuss a wide range of issues. The FSA reports annually to the Treasury on its performance against objectives. The Treasury then lays the report before Parliament.
Departmental Expenditure Limits
In the 10 years from 1997, total public spending increased by 43 per cent. in real terms, compared to 14 per cent. in the previous decade. Such high levels of investment, coupled with reforms, have enabled the Government to achieve major improvements across frontline public services. The Government are committed to increasing investment in important public service priorities over the coming years, alongside delivering more efficient and effective public services and cutting down on waste. Departmental allocations plans for 2010-11 were set out in Budget 2009.
Departmental allocations plans beyond 2010-11 will be decided at the next spending review. Over 2011-12 to 2013-14, public sector current expenditure is set to grow at an average of 0.7 per cent. in real terms, and public sector net investment will move to 1.25 per cent. of GDP in 2013-14.
In the 10 years from 1997, total public spending increased by 43 per cent. in real terms, compared to 14 per cent. in the previous decade. Such high levels of investment, coupled with reforms, have enabled the Government to achieve major improvements across frontline public services. The Government are committed to increasing investment in important public service priorities over the coming years, alongside delivering more efficient and effective public services and cutting down on waste.
Departmental allocations plans for 2010-11 were set out in Budget 2009. Departmental allocations plans beyond 2010-11 will be decided at the next spending review. Over 2011-12 to 2013-14, public sector current expenditure is set to grow at an average of 0.7 per cent. in real terms, and public sector net investment will move to 1.25 per cent. of GDP in 2013-14.
Employment
Action the Government have taken in the pre-Budget report 2008, since then and at Budget 2009 is of critical importance in supporting employment. For example, targeted cash-flow support for businesses through HMRC’s Business Payment Support Service has already helped 100,000 businesses employing 600,000 people since PBR. Precise quantification of the impact of each measure in the 2009 Budget will be undertaken where possible and when the relevant data become available.
Small Businesses
The Government are taking action to ensure competitively priced loans continue to be available. On 19 January, the Government announced measures to reinforce the stability of the financial system, increase confidence and capacity to lend, and support the recovery of the economy. These measures build on those announced on 8 October 2008.
The Government have agreed lending commitments with Lloyds and RBS that will see Lloyds lend an additional £11 billion to businesses, and RBS an additional £16 billion to businesses—on commercial terms and subject to market demand—over the 12 months from March 2009.
The Government will report annually to Parliament on the delivery of these agreements.
Automotive Assistance Programme
Treasury Ministers and officials regularly have discussions with Ministers and officials in the former Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on all the Government’s initiatives to provide real help to business, including the Automotive Assistance Programme.
The AAP received state aid clearance on 27 February 2009 with an “Open for Business” promotional seminar hosted by BERR on 11 March. Since then, there have been more than 70 further requests for information on the scheme. The Government are working with companies, resulting in around 15 approaches being taken forward in more detail.
Financial Services: Consumer Interests
The overarching objectives for the UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI) are to protect and create value for the taxpayer as shareholder with due regard to the maintenance of financial stability and to act in a way that promotes competition. This objective includes promoting competition in a way that is consistent with a UK financial services industry that operates to the benefit of consumers.
It is not the role of the UK Financial Investments Limited (UKFI) and the Treasury to intervene in the day-to-day management decisions of invested banks and banks which are in temporary public ownership.
Pensioner Poverty
The Government have made significant progress in tackling pensioner poverty over the last decade lifting 900,000 pensioners out of relative poverty since 1998. The Government remain committed to tackling pensioner poverty and in April the guarantee element of pension credit increased by the largest amount since its introduction and above indexation. Budget 2009 took further action to help pensioner incomes. It announced an additional payment alongside this year’s winter fuel payment and a package of measures to support pensioners who receive an income from savings.
Bank Lending
As set out in the Budget, in response to the current financial market stress and instability, the Government have taken decisive and immediate steps to limit the negative effects on the economy.
On 19 January 2009, the Government announced a package of measures package designed to reinforce the stability of the financial system, to increase confidence and capacity to lend, and in turn to support the recovery of the economy. These measures build on those announced on 8 October last year.
At the 2008 pre-Budget report, the Government announced the creation of a new Lending Panel (made up of lenders, trade and consumer bodies, Government, regulators and the Bank of England) to monitor lending. As part of this new monitoring approach, the Bank of England is publishing new monthly report—“Trends in Lending”—which presents the bank’s assessment of latest developments in lending to UK economy. This report is available at:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/other/monetary/trendsinlending.htm
Landfill Tax
(2) which individuals and organisations have been invited to respond to his Department's consultation on proposed changes to landfill tax.
This consultation, launched on 22 April 2009, is being conducted in accordance with the Government’s Consultation Code of Practice. An assessment of the responses will be undertaken following the end of the consultation and a summary of responses will be published thereafter including any decisions taken in the light of the exercise.
Hard copies of the consultation document have been sent to all landfill site operators registered for the tax by HMRC. An electronic copy of the consultation was sent to various stakeholder groups including Government bodies, waste management companies, environmental organisations, trade associations and industry bodies. Comments are welcome from anyone with an interest. The document is available from both the HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs websites. Printed copies are also available from these Departments.
Revenue and Customs: Debt Collection
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not commission bailiffs to recover tax arrears or other debts and has no plans to do so.
The Department is currently carrying out a small-scale six-month trial to test the use of private debt collection agencies. The agencies involved have been chosen from a government framework contract and have successfully pursued debts on behalf of other Government Departments for some years. The pilot does not involve face to face contact or visits to home or business premises.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and those acting on its behalf have a strict statutory duty of confidentiality and information is only passed to third parties by HMRC for the purposes permitted by law. The Department is currently carrying out a small-scale six-month trial to test the use of private debt collection agencies (DCAs). HMRC will supply to such agencies only sufficient information to enable identification and collection of any debt and authentication of the identity of the debtor.
The DCAs’ processes have already been accredited by other Government Departments. HMRC have carried out additional checks to ensure the statutory duty of confidentiality will be maintained. These will be supplemented by robust audit and assurance as the pilot proceeds.
Unemployment
The Government are committed to giving everyone the support they need to find employment as quickly as possible, whatever their age.
On 6 April 2009, as part of the Government’s response to the economic downturn, Government put in place a package of support available to anyone unemployed for more than six months, including a recruitment subsidy of £1,000 for employers that recruit those in receipt of JSA for six months or more. Government also launched extra support for newly unemployed customers including one-to-one advice and coaching, and a quadrupling of funding for the Rapid Response Service.
Funding was provided in the Budget for a guaranteed offer of a job, work-focused training, or work experience for at least six months for all 18 to 24-year-olds who have been claiming JSA for 12 months. This offer will consist of:
New jobs created through the Future Jobs Fund, which will be worth around £1 billion and will create up to 100,000 new jobs for young people, as well as a further 50,000 specifically targeted in areas of high unemployment. Local authorities, partnerships and others will be able to bid to create jobs through the Fund;
Support to move into a job in a key employment sector, including a subsidy to support 50,000 social care jobs through Care First:
Work-focused training; or
A place on a Community Task Force, delivering real help within their local community.
The guarantee will come into effect from January 2010, with some jobs available as early as October 2009.
Children, Schools and Families
Children: Protection
The Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children, Sir Roger Singleton, will be permitted to read individual full serious case reviews if, in his view, it is necessary for him to do so in order to fulfil his remit as set out in his letter from the Secretary of State of 12 March.
Local Government: Correspondence
If a local authority fails to respond to an hon. Member within a reasonable period of time, it is open to that Member to complain to the Commission for Local Administration in England (the Local Government Ombudsman).
Pre-school Education: Qualifications
The Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey collects information on staff working with children and young people. The number and proportion of early years child care staff without a level 3 and with at least a level 3 are detailed as follows:
Total childcare staff(excluding childminders) Total early years staff Childminders Total Percentage Number1 Percentage Number1 Percentage Number1 Percentage Number1 At least level 3 65 204,100 79 68,000 41 24,300 64 294,400 Do not have at least a level 3 qualification 35 109,900 21 18,100 59 35,600 36 165,600 Total numbers2 100 314,100 100 86,000 100 59,800 100 459,900 1 Numbers provided are subject to rounding error as they have been calculated based on the known total number of staff (final row of table) within each category and the proportions of staff with at least a level 3 qualification. 2 Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Business, Innovation and Skills
Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service: Disciplinary Proceedings
[holding answer 3 June 2009]: ACAS takes its responsibility as the originator of the Discipline and Grievance Code very seriously and is aware that it must act in accordance with its own Code. Its managers always attempt to resolve issues informally first. ACAS currently employs 892 people and the following are the numbers of internal disciplinary procedures that it has opened against staff in each of the last five years.
Number of internal disciplinary procedures 2008 4 2007 5 2006 5 2005 1 2004 0
Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service: Dismissal
[holding answer 3 June 2009]: ACAS currently employs 892 people and takes its responsibilities as an advocate of good employment practices seriously. This means that if an individual has an expected end date to a contract, it will be an unusual occurrence for the contract to be terminated before that date. The following are the occasions where this has happened. Permanent staff are not included in these figures.
Number of staff 2008 2 2007 0 2006 0 2005 0 2004 1
Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service: Industrial Health and Safety
[holding answer 3 June 2009]: ACAS currently employs 892 people. The number of staff who have taken time off for stress in the last five years is as follows:
Number of staff 2004 45 2005 95 2006 67 2007 94 2008 76 2009 20 Notes: 1. The year is a calendar year. Some staff may have incurred more than one period of absence relating to stress within a year, however they have only been counted once for the purpose of this PQ. 2. Stress related absence—the information is based on the number of people who have their absence recorded as stress. ‘Stress’ comprises all types of stress, not just work related. Where people state the absence reason is stress and the cause for this is e.g. bereavement then bereavement is taken as the reason.
Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service: Industrial Relations
[holding answer 3 June 2009]: ACAS currently employees 892 people. It takes its responsibilities as an advocate of good employment practices very seriously and thoroughly investigates any complaints it receives about its staff. The number of staff complaints against managers received by ACAS in each of the last five years are as follows:
Number of staff complaints 2008 4 2007 1 2006 3 2005 1 2004 1
Cabinet: Glasgow
(1) how much expenditure was incurred by his Department in respect of the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009.
(2) what expenditure on (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) food was incurred by (i) the Secretary of State and (ii) officials in his Department in connection with the Cabinet meeting in Glasgow on 16 April 2009.
For information relating to the Cabinet and public engagement event held in Glasgow on 16 April I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 487W.
Departmental Air Conditioning
BIS’s main headquarters building at 1 Victoria street is the only building on its HQ estate that is equipped with an air conditioning system with greater than 250 kW of output. An inspection of the system in accordance with the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections)(England and Wales) Regulations 2007 is currently under way and is due for completion by 31 May.
The inspection results will be placed in both Libraries of the House.
Departmental Public Consultation
Of the 36 consultations reported in the answer of 19 March 2009, Official Report, column 1278W:
(a) one consultation received no responses;
(b) nine received between one and 20 responses;
(c) 12 received between 21 and 50 responses;
(d) nine received between 51 and 100 responses; and
(e) five received over 100 responses.
The number of responses received for individual consultations is recorded in the Government responses—these are published on the departmental website alongside the consultations themselves at:
www.berr.gov.uk/consultations/
The one consultation which received no responses was 01-07-08 Consultation on a technical amendment to the Cosmetic Products (Safety) Regulations 2008.
Employment Tribunals Service
Since 2006 28 cases were lodged against the Department. We are unable to state the number in each category for reasons of confidentiality.
However in general terms the categories of claim were:
Age discrimination
Breach of contract
Disability Discrimination
Equal treatment of agency
Gender grounds
Race discrimination
Unfair dismissal
Unfair selection for redundancy
Public interest disclosure (whistle blowing)
Some individuals lodged claims under more than one category.
12 cases have proceeded to full hearing and were contested by the Department at employment tribunal. Four further cases remain pending.
Non-domestic Rates
No assessment has been made by this Department of the effects on business solvency and closures of the level of commercial rents.
While rent levels are a matter for the market, the Government are concerned to promote a fair and efficient commercial property leasing market, and to this end prompted the property industry to introduce a voluntary code of practice. They are monitoring the impact of the current version of the code, introduced in March 2007, and are looking to it to ensure that business tenants are better informed about leasing options.
The code for leasing business premises is available at the following web address:
http://www.leasingbusinesspremises.co.uk/
Parental Leave: Lone Parents and Low Incomes
The Government welcome the EHRC’s contribution to the debate in this important area, and recognise the importance of ensuring mothers and fathers are both able to spend the time they need with their families, while also being able to balance work and family life. That is why we have progressively introduced a substantial package of measures to help working parents while recognising the needs of employers.
From April 2007 all employed mothers have been eligible to take up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave, of which 39 weeks are paid. We have also more than doubled the standard rate payable to those mothers from £55.70 in 1997 to £123.06 now. Longer and better paid maternity leave gives all mothers more choice about how much time to take off and 88 per cent. of mothers now take their full entitlement to paid leave1.
We have also introduced statutory paternity pay at the same standard rate as SMP. More than nine-tenths of fathers take time off around the time of their child’s birth2 of which seven tenths take two weeks or more.
Government financial support including statutory maternity pay and statutory paternity pay is now worth at least £9,000 for many families during a child’s first year, up from only £2,600 in 1997.
1 Maternity rights and mothers employment decisions, 2008.
2 Maternity rights and mothers employment decisions, 2008.
Public Houses: Manpower
This Department is aware that recent research within the sector indicates that employment in the beer and pub trade has been declining since 2006. We are working to ensure we can help all business in every way we can, so that they are well placed to benefit as soon as there is an improvement in economic circumstances. With effect from 1 March 2009, tied public houses became eligible to apply for Enterprise Finance Guarantee funding.
This Department has not made any estimate of changes in the number of jobs in the brewing and public house sector in the last 12 months. The Department is aware that recent research undertaken within the brewing and public house sector indicates that employment in the beer and pub trade has been declining since 2006. We are working to restore greater confidence in our economy as a whole which should in itself help sectors such as this. With effect from 1 March 2009, tied public houses became eligible to apply for Enterprise Finance Guarantee funding.
Regeneration: Finance
The community-led physical regeneration projects shown in the following tables are national schemes comprising hundreds of individual grant awards. The cost of collecting data on each grant would incur disproportionate cost. Therefore, the projects have been grouped under broad titles such as “Single Regeneration Budget” or “Market Town Initiative” alongside their annual expenditure1.
1 A number of schemes (e.g. SRB) ran for a finite period, and had expenditure profiles that matched the commitments entered into at the outset of the programme. These will vary from region to region, depending on the priorities and different approaches taken by the stakeholders.
Total scheme funding (£000) Community Regeneration Scheme 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) — — 25,007 21,146 16,487 12,733 11,686 25,783 4,851 Market Town Initiative (MTI) — — — 596 723 1,013 1,162 823 1,327 Other — — 21 603 1,570 1,548 2,876 417 1,262 Total — — 25,028 22,345 18,780 15,294 15,724 27,023 7,440
Total scheme funding (£000) Community Regeneration Scheme 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) — 40,792 8,864 13,296 5,410 3,521 1,160 367 3 Market Town Initiative (MTI) — 430 452 1,634 550 505 — — — Investing In Communities (IIC) — 65 115 1,940 3,178 3,731 2,037 8 — Economic Participation (EP) — 1,307 798 139 1,579 1,601 6,756 9,643 11,598 Rural Renaissance — 430 452 1,634 550 505 — — — Building Communities Fund (BCF) — — — — — — — — 450 Total — 43,024 10,681 18,643 11,267 9,863 9,953 10,018 12,051
Total scheme funding (£000) Community Regeneration Scheme 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) — — — 31,682 27,759 17,870 11,285 6,148 2,641 Market Town Initiative (MTI) — — 93 321 213 — — — — Urban Action Plan — — — 909 1,503 524 3,467 3,599 4,944 Enterprising Communities — 147 778 4,131 1,738 3,983 2,048 3,488 1,353 Total — 147 871 37,043 31,213 22,376 16,800 13,235 8,939
Total scheme funding (£000) Community Regeneration Scheme 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) — 97,144 119,967 104,498 76,011 43,603 40,633 21,032 5,029 Total — 97,144 119,967 104,498 76,011 43,603 40,633 21,032 5,029
Total scheme funding (£000) Community Regeneration Scheme 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) — 127,016 139,073 131,111 99,079 60,297 61,417 33,293 13,312 Market Town Initiative (MTI) — — — — 6 1,203 3,442 4,454 6,808 Economic Regeneration Schemes — — — 1,684 10,352 18,091 31,968 38,962 46,576 Social Enterprise Schemes — — — 342 759 529 815 1,507 497 Rural Renaissance — — — 289 5,877 10,431 11,929 15,887 17,872 Total — 127,016 139,073 133,426 116,073 90,551 109,571 94,103 85,065
Total scheme funding (£000) Community Regeneration Scheme 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) 78,235 78,422 84,771 82,719 59,225 35,907 22,352 5,816 1,469 Community Investment Fund — — 57 — 36 — — — — Total 78,235 78,422 84,828 82,719 59,261 35,907 22,352 5,816 1,469
Total scheme funding (£000) Community Regeneration Scheme 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) — — — 18,434 24,713 13,074 10,574 3,482 160 Market Town Initiative (MTI) — — — 40 325 867 1,275 1,244 1,745 Hastings — — 95 5,459 8,242 18,895 12,864 10,633 10,735 Area Investment Framework — — — 2,893 3,406 8,909 12,073 14,078 13,689 Total — — 95 26,826 36,686 41,745 36,786 29,437 26,319
Total scheme funding (£000) Community Regeneration Scheme 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) — — — 15,104 23,321 22,107 9,185 5,618 1,245 Market Town Initiative (MTI) — — — 497 932 1,365 2,002 1,425 2,488 Rural Renaissance — — — 296 45 638 2,568 5,127 7,105 Total — — — 15,897 24,928 24,110 13,755 12,170 10,838
Total scheme funding (£000) Community Regeneration Scheme 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) — — 118,933 112,160 92,044 63,121 36,304 27,982 11,606 Market Town Initiative (MTI) — — 123 1,044 1,664 1,366 443 2,219 1,098 Economic Participation (EP) — — 2,035 16,862 22,647 33,514 16,552 22,930 28,454 Rural Renaissance — — 2,349 2,960 2,549 5,221 3,471 5,774 6,258 Skills Programme — — — 1,845 9,300 18,392 17,413 18,041 21,460 Total — — 123,440 134,871 128,204 121,614 74,183 76,946 68,876
International Development
Departmental Computers
The total cost of the 2,400 laptops purchased under the Department for International Development (DFID) laptop refresh project was £1.8 million. Redundant laptops are given to Computeraid who distribute equipment to various projects across developing countries. All donated laptops have the data erased prior to donation and DFID receives confirmation that the equipment will eventually be disposed of in line with the waste of electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) guidelines. Approximately 90 per cent. of the redundant laptops were past the four year end of life recommendation.
The new laptops were required as we were experiencing a high rate of failures with the previous models. We also had a requirement to standardise on a single model of laptop across the organisation.
The laptops that were purchased under this project were Dell D630s and the specification was an 80gb hard drive, dual core processor 2.2 Ghz and 2GB of memory.
The Terms of Reference for the Project Manager, the Project Initiation Document (PID) and the Project Approach Document will be placed in the Library.
Developing Countries: Infant Mortality
In June 2008 the UK Government announced a commitment to spend £6 billion on improving health systems and services over seven years to 2015. The UK Government are working to accelerate progress on the reproductive and maternal health MDGs. The Prime Minister is co-chairing the High-Level Task Force on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, which will raise additional funds for health systems and make a significant contribution to improving maternal health.
The Department for International Development (DFID) is working to achieve consensus with international partners on priority action to improve maternal and newborn health. This will provide a framework for action at global, national and sub-national levels. It also recognises the need to align the current international momentum in politics, advocacy and finance behind a commonly agreed set of policies and priority interventions to accelerate progress on maternal health at country level. Further information on DFID's work on maternal mortality is available on the DFID website at:
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Global-Issues/How-we-fight-Poverty/Health/Maternal-Health/
Iraq: Economic Growth
The UK Government have worked to increase Iraq's capacity to attract inward investment, which will further stimulate growth, prompt further reforms and facilitate skills transfer. Since April 2008 the UK Government have:
Facilitated over 30 visits by potential international investors, leading to proposals for investment in Iraq worth over $10 billion.
Helped establish the Basra Investment Commission, which is now leading on investment promotion for southern Iraq. We have also provided technical assistance to the National Investment Commission, with which the UK has arranged four large investment conferences: including in London in April 2008 and April 2009, Kuwait in June 2008 and Istanbul in December 2008.
Going forward, the UK Government have:
Agreed funding to help ensure that 1,000 small enterprises in southern Iraq can access the credit they need to expand their businesses.
Initiated a pilot youth vocational training and employment programme for 500 youths with the Ministry of Labour in Basra. This innovative programme should provide an employment model more widely in Iraq.
The Department for International Development's (DFID) existing programme with the World Bank is improving public financial management in the centre of government. The UK and the World Bank have also established a major new programme to help the Government of Iraq tackle the constraints to private sector development.
Capacity building support by the UK Government has enabled the Basra Provincial Council to:
Increase its budget from $23.5 million in 2006 to over $300 million in 2008; improve budget execution from 10 per cent. in 2006 to 50 per cent. in 2008; and manage over 800 development projects worth $650 million since 2006.
Produced the first report of its type in Iraq, on Provincial Reconstruction and Development Activities for 2007—demonstrating their focus on transparency and accountability.
Nepal
The Department for International Development (DFID) has not carried out analysis of the impact on remittances and resettlement if all former Gurkha soldiers and their dependants were granted equality with their UK equivalents.
The British Government have committed over £172 million in development assistance for Nepal over the next three financial years 2009-10 to 2011-12. This will be spent on supporting the peace process, improving governance, services, growth and jobs and in the fight against climate change.
Palestinians: Overseas Aid
Since the start of the current conflict the UK Government have pledged nearly £47 million to help the people of Gaza, of which we have committed over £20 million. A summary of projects supported by this funding is available on the DFID website at:
www.dfid.gov.uk
Many of the projects funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) cover both the West Bank and Gaza and so it is not possible to give figures for Gaza alone. In recent years DFID bilateral funding to the Occupied Palestinian Territories has increased from an average of £15.7 million for financial years 2000-01 to 2006-07 to over £60 million in financial years 2007-08 and 2008-09. Detailed figures of DFID expenditure are included in the DFID annual report and the Statistics on International Development document. These are available in the Library of the House and on the DFID website.
Since its launch last year, the Facility for New Market Development (FNMD) has awarded grants to 19 individual businesses in Gaza, from a wide range of sectors. A further three grants have been awarded to clusters of businesses. A full list of the businesses that have received grants will be placed in the Library.
FNMD is a demand-led programme, and its expansion is therefore dependent on requests from businesses. Demand from Gaza is expected to rise significantly as soon as restrictions on movement and access are lifted, and the facility stands ready to respond.
River Nile: Film
A copy of the Nile Basin Documentary Film will be placed in the Library of the House.
St. Helena: Shipping
We have been advised that it would not be economic to maintain operations of the RMS St. Helena beyond around 2015 or 2016. The following table shows operating costs between 2001-02 and 2007-08.
Total operating cost (including DFID operating subsidy) Maintenance/repair cost DFID operating subsidy 2001-02 5,404,060 463,000 1,931,066 2002-03 5,810,900 512,000 1,405,443 2003-04 4,846,200 939,000 1,469,127 2004-05 6,295,280 556,000 2,511,597 2005-06 6,439,830 540,000 2,337,879 2006-07 6,986,200 1925,000 3,056,000 2007-08 6,744,000 707,000 2,728,137 1 Includes dry dock.
We would expect this trend in operating costs and subsidy to continue, with an increase to cover an annual dry dock required to maintain safety certification, and with additional expenditure of about £2.5 million to refurbish the engines and replace essential steelwork.