Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Leader of the House
Written Questions: Government Responses
These five parliamentary questions were transferred to the Cabinet Office as I informed the Member in my letter of 14 January 2010.
International Development
Somalia: Overseas Aid
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), current arrangements for distributing food aid to internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Afgooye corridor are inadequate. Between October and December 2009, IDPs in the Afgooye corridor received only half of the allocated food rations. Since the suspension of the United Nations World Food programme's (WFP) work in Afgooye in January, no food rations have been distributed.
On 10 March, the Secretary of State for International Development announced an additional £7.5 million to be channelled through UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and United Nations Humanitarian Response Fund (UN HRF) to help deliver emergency food for hundreds of thousands of malnourished children and provide lifesaving water supplies. UNICEF is already working in the Afgooye corridor, providing emergency nutrition to starving children and their mothers, and is considering expanding its remit. UN HRF and ICRC are exploring possibilities of providing food aid to the Afgooye Corridor.
Justice
Care Proceedings
The following table shows the average number of weeks from the date of application to order made for care and supervision cases in England and Wales (where completed cases are counted by child for family proceedings courts and by orders made for County courts). Data are provided by court area, as a local authority area breakdown is unavailable. Data are presented by court type, from 2006-07; the earliest year for which data are available.
Court area County court Family proceedings court 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, and Gloucestershire 58 62 57 43 45 44 Bedfordshire, Essex and Hertfordshire 52 53 62 45 40 51 Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire 62 67 69 47 52 50 Black Country, Staffordshire and West Mercia 48 52 56 45 48 47 Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk 45 49 49 39 39 39 Cheshire and Merseyside 55 58 57 43 46 55 Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria 48 57 59 45 47 46 Cumbria and Lancashire 51 53 61 42 41 44 Dorset, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, and Wiltshire 50 58 54 45 42 44 Greater Manchester 55 57 59 43 42 40 Humber and South Yorkshire 41 45 46 38 36 39 Kent 53 61 67 45 45 50 Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire 51 54 55 42 41 42 London (Civil and Family) 56 66 65 51 53 49 Mid and West Wales 52 53 47 42 52 46 North and West Yorkshire 49 48 53 38 37 39 North Wales 62 51 58 45 31 38 Nottingham and Derbyshire 44 42 45 43 45 45 South East Wales 51 60 59 42 47 51 Surrey and Sussex 50 55 54 50 47 45 Thames Valley 47 51 55 41 39 44 England and Wales: Average number of weeks 52 56 57 44 45 46 England and Wales: Total number of care and supervision orders made1 4,161 3,923 3,636 3,730 3,746 3,596 1 The figures for County courts count the number of care and supervision orders disposed in each year. Family proceedings courts figures count the number of children disposed. Notes: 1. The data are taken from the HMCS FamilyMan System and from the Case Tracker system. 2. The figures only cover cases where a care order or a supervision order was made. The figures do not include other care and supervision disposals (e.g. order refused, order of no order) and do not include other order types (e.g. emergency protection, secure accommodation). 3. The figures reflect the mean number of weeks from application to order. This means that the numbers of weeks taken for each order have been added up, and the total has then been divided by the number of orders.
Children in Care: Child Trust Fund
15.12 per cent. of Child Trust Funds (969) managed by the Official Solicitor have been reallocated to a different provider following concerns about investment performance. At the time of the review of providers, the Official Solicitor acted as the registered contact for 6,076 children's Funds. To date, the Official Solicitor manages 6,406 Funds.
Scotland
Departmental Surveys
The 2009 People Survey results are now available in the Library. Information about the survey will also be put on the Scotland Office website in due course.
Defence
Afghanistan and Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
Since operations began in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) up to 10 March 2010 (latest date for which data is available), a total of 17 UK armed forces personnel who were categorised as very seriously or seriously injured on operations have subsequently died following repatriation as a result of the injury sustained, as shown in the following table:
Iraq Afghanistan Total All 8 9 17 2001 0 0 0 2002 0 0 0 2003 2 0 2 2004 0 0 0 2005 0 0 0 2006 1 1 2 2007 5 1 6 2008 0 0 0 2009 0 7 7 2010 0 0 0
These figures include all regular and reservist personnel, and include personnel repatriated to countries outside of the UK.
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
The Ministry of Defence has not received reports of Bowman radio equipment belonging to UK armed forces being recovered from the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Air Force: Military Aircraft
The information requested is shown in the following table. The figures shown are the average for January 2010 and have been rounded to the nearest aircraft.
“In service” has been taken to mean the effective fleet, which includes all aircraft barring those which are redundant, declared as surplus or awaiting disposal. The Forward Fleet comprises aircraft which are serviceable and those which are short-term unserviceable. Short-term unserviceable aircraft are undergoing minor works, forward maintenance or any other unforeseen rectification work that can arise on a day-to-day basis. Serviceable aircraft available to the front-line commands for operational and training purposes on a given date are termed available. The number of aircraft available in individual fleets varies according to normal fleet management activities including requirements for mandated maintenance and upgrade programmes and the larger variations are explained in the table.
Aircraft type In service fleet Forward fleet Available Notes BAe 146 2 1 1 BAe 125 6 6 4 C-17 6 5 4 Dominie 9 7 5 Harrier 74 50 48 The Harrier fleet continues to progress with the GR9 upgrade programme. Hawk T1 129 85 68 A number of Hawk T1 aircraft are being held in long-term storage for future use by the RAF Aerobatic Team (Red Arrows) and others require depth servicing. Hawk T2 17 6 3 Hawk T2 aircraft being held are in storage pending the introduction of a new flying training course. Hercules C130K 14 7 5 A number of aircraft in the K fleet were in depth maintenance. Hercules C130J 24 18 12 For the J Fleet, aircraft were in depth maintenance, on trials or undergoing unscheduled maintenance or rectification after returning from operational theatres. Nimrod MR2 6 5 2 The number of aircraft in the service fleet is being reduced as the out of service date approaches. Other issues include work generated through safety inspections and to maintain serviceability. Nimrod R1 2 1 1 One Nimrod R1 has been retired and is awaiting disposal. Sentinel 5 3 1 The Sentinel fleet was affected by a technical issue, which is now being resolved. Sentry 5 4 2 The Sentry fleet had an unanticipated requirement for fleet engine changes in December which was still being implemented during January. Tornado F3 22 12 12 Tornado F3 numbers are being reduced as the aircraft is progressively withdrawn from service. Tornado GR4 137 102 98 Tristar 9 5 3 Tucano 93 47 32 A number of Tucano aircraft are being held in long term storage as they are not required for training purposes. Typhoon 64 42 40 Tranche 2 aircraft deliveries continue and some of the in-service fleet are currently undergoing a process of upgrade. VC10 15 13 6 As a result of the severe weather conditions during January there were occasions when aircraft movements around the airfield were reduced. As a consequence aircraft repairs and maintenance tasks took longer than normal thereby reducing availability. Vigilant 65 64 64 Viking 82 81 81
Armed Forces: Bomb Disposal
The Ministry of Defence's accountancy systems do not support calculations of aggregate expenditure on all explosive ordnance disposal equipment and training over the last five years. A complete answer to the question could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Armed Forces: Cadets
The information is not held centrally.
Funding for any particular area comes from a wide variety of sources including the single services, the use of subsidised facilities, and local donations and fundraising efforts. To determine how much funding has been allocated to a specific unit would require a manual search of records and would therefore incur disproportionate cost.
The Government remain committed to the Cadet Organisation whose origins date back 150 years. It is one of the oldest and most successful voluntary youth organisations in the world. Today it numbers 131,000 young people, led by 25,000 adult volunteers, in well over 3,000 sites across the country.
Armed Forces: Discharges
[holding answer 5 March 2010]: The term administrative discharge is applied to those service personnel who are to be dismissed from the armed forces for which there is no specific exit category. Service personnel may be administratively discharged as a result of a range of factors including: civil conviction, failing to maintain a level of physical fitness to pass a fitness test despite undertaking remedial training, financial mismanagement, persistent poor conduct and failing a random drug test. The following tables provide information on the total administrative outflow since 2001:
Naval service Administrative discharge Proportion of all discharged (percentage) 2001-02 1,500 28.4 2002-03 1,420 29.6 2003-04 1,320 28.3 2004-05 1,350 29.6 2005-06 1,130 25.9 2006-07 1,000 23.1 2007-08 1,090 24.6 2008-09 660 23.0
Army Administrative discharge Proportion of all discharged (percentage) 2001-02 6,460 45.5 2002-03 6,950 48.5 2003-04 7,230 50.7 2004-05 6,940 47.1 2005-06 6,070 43.1 2006-071 6,750 47.7 2007-08 2— 2— 2008-09 2— 2— 1 Data are for an 11 month period from legacy systems prior to JPA. 2 Not held centrally.
Royal Air Force Administrative discharge Proportion of all discharged (percentage) 2001-02 750 16.5 2002-03 990 23.3 2003-04 1,210 29.9 2004-05 940 25.3 2005-06 730 15.9 2006-071 1,660 32.7 2007-08 1,950 38.7 2008-09 1,360 31.6 1 Introduction of new administrative discharge procedures under Queen’s Regulations Note: Data have been rounded to the nearest 10.
All data have been gathered from legacy systems and JPA. The Army are continuing data cleansing and improvement exercises. As a result figures are not held centrally, at this time, in respect of those Army personnel administratively discharged after 2006.
Armed Forces: Rescue Services
The C-130 Hercules has not been chosen as a replacement aircraft for the Nimrod MR2 for UK-based long-range search and rescue missions. The Nimrod MR2 will be replaced by the substantially more capable Nimrod MRA4.
Until the MRA4 enters service we intend to use other assets to undertake the long-range search and rescue role.
Defence: Procurement
[holding answer 12 March 2010]: In response to observations by the House of Commons Defence Committee (pages 41 to 42 of the HCDC Fifth Report of the 2007-08 session on the Ministry of Defence’s Annual Report and accounts 2006-07, published in January 2008 (HC 61), the Department has carried out a two year programme of work to develop a robust measure of defence inflation.
The results of this work will be published on Defence Analytical Services and Advice’s website on 30 March 2010 at 9.30 am as an Official Statistic at:
www.dasa.mod.uk
Departmental Theft
The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) has actively promoted a number of crime reduction initiatives throughout the Ministry of Defence (MOD). One such initiative is the “office watch” scheme, which encourages the safeguarding of MOD offices and MOD property by raising awareness of staff, in relation to their own and others’ personal property, as well as property of the MOD. The MDP also have 63 community based Beat Officers, who are trained crime reduction officers working in MOD establishments across the country. These officers provide an effective deterrent to potential criminals, by raising the awareness of staff, service personnel, service families and contractors. At sites where there are no trained MDP crime reduction personnel present, all staff, and also contractors and visitors, are encouraged to work together to make their places of employment and homes safer and more secure.
Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations
Post operational tour reports are not intended for external publication and unclassified versions are not produced. This information could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Nimrod Aircraft
The first Nimrod MRA4 production aircraft was accepted by the Ministry of Defence on 10 March 2010. The aircraft will initially be used for pilot and rear crew training and is then expected to enter service with the RAF in mid 2010.
Transport
Cycling
Most if not all local highway authorities offer some level of cycle training to both adults and children.
In addition the Department for Transport supports and funds National Standard cycle training which is predominately delivered in England as ‘Bikeability’ training. The Department provides a maximum grant of £40 per child to be trained to Level 2 on the National Standard and we recently announced funding of over £12 million for local authorities and School Sports partnerships for 2010-11.
The Department does not hold information about the proportion of members of the public and schools being offered cycle training. However a table has been placed in the Libraries of the House providing the information which the Department holds on the proportion of Year 6 pupils being offered training to the National Standard by those authorities delivering that training through Department for Transport grants awarded in 2009-10 and their own funding. The Department does not fund cycle training in London boroughs as the responsibility for cycle training in London rests with Transport for London.
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
The Department for Transport comprises a central Department and seven agencies. The following table provides details of how many disciplinary and capability procedures have been initiated and completed in the Department over the past five years. It should be noted that the figures on capability dismissals include trainee driving examiners who undertake the entrance course but do not go on to qualify as driving examiners and are not included in the capability cases specified in category (b) of the table.
2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 (a) Discipline 101 143 139 54 8 (b) Capability 18 17 5 4 1 Dismissal discipline 9 6 11 12 5 Dismissal capability 10 14 9 12 1
The Department does not routinely record the time taken to complete each type of procedure in each year nor how many and what proportion of staff were subject to each type of procedures in each year. This information can be provided only at disproportionate cost. The total number of staff in February 2010 in the Department and its agencies is just over 19,000.
Two of our agencies, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency and the Government Car and Despatch Agency, do not record this information centrally and could collate the information only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Energy
The Department for Transport will participate in the Earth Hour event.
The event occurs outside of normal departmental working hours and as such we expect the majority of our sites to already be in a state of near darkness. However, to emphasise the importance of this event any maintenance works or activity during Earth Hour will be curtailed where it is practical to do so.
This event has also been promoted to staff across the Department and its agencies.
Electric Motors
Passenger cars are by some distance the biggest source of emissions from road transport, forming almost 60 per cent. of total UK domestic CO2 transport emissions compared to less than 1 per cent. by powered two wheelers. As such, the focus of the Plug-In Car Grant is on cars where it will have the biggest impact on greenhouse gas emissions from road transport. We recognise that electric motorcycles offer environmental benefits compared to conventional motorcycles and they are already zero rated for vehicle excise duty purposes and exempt from fuel duty. Electric motorcycles and scooters should be able to access the majority of recharging infrastructure installed as part of the £30 million Plugged-In Places framework.
Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties
The following table provides the number of licensed vehicles that were exempt from vehicle excise duty on the 31 December in each of the last five years as a result of having been manufactured prior to January 1973. These figures are for Great Britain.
Number of vehicles 2004 322,842 2005 318,300 2006 307,406 2007 303,943 2008 302,891
Data for 2009 will be published at the end of April 2010.
Railways: Coventry
(2) what assessment he has made of the effects of the timing of submission of business plans in connection with the NUCKLE project on the (a) timetable for delivery and (b) costs of the project.
The Department for Transport has had recent discussions with Coventry city council about producing a business plan in connection with the NUCKLE project. From this, I understand that they are proposing to submit a major scheme business case shortly. As a result, the Department has not made an assessment of the effects of the timing of submission of business plans.
Railways: Tickets
The Department for Transport has made no specific analysis of this effect on the London borough of Bexley. Before the launch of Oyster Pay As You Go, some high level analysis was carried out on the likely effects of Pay As You Go fares changes across London as a whole. Within that analysis there were both positive and negative effects, but overwhelmingly those who had been disadvantaged can switch to Pay As You Go and get the best value fares available for their time of travel.
Railways: York
Typically over 75 per cent. of long distance rail journeys are made using discounted tickets. The cheapest York London Advance fare today is £10 single. In 1996 it was £34 in simple cash terms. Around under 20 per cent. of longer journeys are made with Anytime Returns. In 1996 the Standard Class Anytime fare was £102, it is now £223.
The regulated Off Peak Return in 1996 was £57. This now costs £83.70, and is cheaper in real terms, having increased by less than the change in RPI since 1996. An operator specific Off Peak Return costing £61 is also available.
Roads: Greater London
Responsibility for this matter was transferred to the Department for Transport from the Government Office for London in 2007. The Secretary of State expects to be in a position to approve the form of the fixed penalty notice later this year.
Rolling Stock
[holding answer 10 March 2010]: Only certain train operators are required to report the number of trains short-formed, and do so as part of a contractual monitoring regime. The Department does not hold information for operators whose franchise agreement does not require this.
For those that are required to report short-formed services, the numbers for the six most recent four-weekly reporting periods are shown in the following table:
Train operator Aug-Sept Sept-Oct Oct-Nov Nov-Dec Dec-Jan Jan-Feb First Capital Connect 147 134 196 71 92 309 National Express East Anglia 39 25 20 63 33 79 Southeastern 81 110 98 176 395 287 Crosscountry Trains 117 63 70 78 121 107 London Midland 843 120 476 701 375 207 East Midland Trains 95 32 51 100 98 59 Southern 1— 50 40 51 91 70 Northern 243 226 149 186 270 332 1 A new franchise agreement commenced on 20 September 2009 and equivalent data was not previously reported
For the operators shown above, the total number of services operated from which short-formed trains are reported, is shown in the following table. In some cases, operators are not required to monitor and report all services operated.
Train operator Aug-Sept Sept-Oct Oct-Nov Nov-Dec Dec-Jan Jan-Feb First Capital Connect 20,582 20,767 20,203 18,421 16,661 20,644 National Express East Anglia 45,778 46,610 45,974 45,383 38,867 45,642 Southeastern 44,373 44,540 44,580 44,526 36,349 49,715 Crosscountry Trains 7,442 7,530 7,429 7,654 5,790 7,749 London Midland 31,391 32,601 31,298 31,722 28,162 32,607 East Midland Trains 11,761 11,732 11,727 11,657 10,642 11,955 Southern 1— 6,680 6,676 6,675 3,483 5,966 Northern 4,663 4,675 4,636 4,613 4,039 4,413 1 A new franchise agreement commenced on 20 September 2009 and equivalent data was not previously reported
Wales
Unemployment
The Government's extra investment in jobs, education and training is making a real difference in Wales. Latest labour market statistics show the employment level in Wales rising by 7,000 from the previous quarter.
Despite the worst global economic recession in the last 60 years, this Government's action has ensured that long-term unemployment in Neath is over 60 per cent. lower than it was in 1997, with long-term youth unemployment over 40 per cent. lower.
Industrial Action
Figures for 2009 are currently not available. However, in 2008, the number of working days lost to industrial action in Wales was 55,000. This was just over 7 per cent. of the total working days lost in the United Kingdom (759,000) in 2008.
Departmental Internet
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Monmouth (David T. C. Davies) on 14 December 2009, Official Report, column 643W.
The Wales Office does not have an internal website or intranet. Staff have access to the Ministry of Justice intranet site.
Incinerators: Merthyr Tydfil
I have regular discussions with UK and Welsh Assembly Government Ministers on a range of issues including sustainability.
Both UK and Welsh Assembly Governments recognise that recovering energy from waste can play an important part in helping to meet Government commitments to tackle climate change, improve our energy security and create new business and job opportunities. Both Governments also recognise the need to take into account a range of factors when taking decisions on such proposals.
I understand the planning application for the proposed construction of an energy-from-waste incinerator at Merthyr Tydfil is being considered by the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), who consider all applications in England and Wales where a plant has electrical capacity greater than 50MW. It would therefore be inappropriate for me to comment on this development further while it is in planning stages, except to say that the generation of energy from waste is highly desirable compared with depositing waste in landfill which is completely unsustainable
Notice of the application and details of the scoping exercise for the proposed project can be viewed at:
http://infrastructure.independent.gov.uk/?page_id=202
Cabinet Office
Civil Contingencies Emergency College
I have not yet visited the Emergency Planning College. The college is currently engaged in a major project within the Government's Operational Efficiency Programme to develop a commercial partnership with Serco in order to allow it to deliver maximum benefit to the resilience of the UK while achieving greater efficiency. In view of the exceptional demands on the college's management team during the transition stage, I do not think the time is right for a ministerial visit at this particular stage.
Departmental Internet
The design referred to in the answer of 25 February 2010, Official Report, column 698W, was provided by in-house resource at no cost.
The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of Cabinet Office.
The (a) internal website and (b) intranet are classed as the same website for the purpose of this response.
The Department has commissioned one redesign of its intranet home page since 2005. In March 2009 the Cabinet Office replaced its PDF staff newsletter, ‘Inside’, with an online news service. This work was carried out by an external agency at a cost of £10,245 plus VAT. This spend only relates to the Department's intranet.
No designs have been commissioned for the intranet for No. 10 Downing street since 2005.
Unemployment
The information falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck ,dated March 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many and what proportion of people in (a) Glasgow East constituency and (b) the UK are unemployed. (321879)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles unemployment statistics in line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS). However, due to the small sample size, no reasonable estimate is available for Glasgow East.
As an alternative, in table 1, we have provided the number and proportion of persons, of working age, claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), in January 2010, for (a) Glasgow East constituency and (b) the United Kingdom, from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system.
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment and unemployment are available from the NOMIS website at
http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
Not seasonally adjusted Glasgow East1 United Kingdom2 Number Percentage Number Percentage January 2010 4,022 7.2 1,654,025 4.3 1. Proportions for constituencies in Scotland, from 2007 onwards, are calculated using the mid-2006 resident working age population. 2. Proportions for regions and countries from 2009 onwards are calculated using the mid-2008 resident working age population. This is different from the headline claimant count figures which are seasonally adjusted and use a denominator based on workforce jobs and claimant count to calculate the claimant count rate. Source: Jobcentre Plus Administrative System
Work and Pensions
Carbon Monoxide: Poisoning
The primary focus of Government work to reduce the incidence of carbon monoxide poisoning is to ensure that consumers use competent engineers to undertake work on their appliances. The Gas Safe Register, established by HSE in 2009, provides consumers with a clear route to find competent engineers and works to promote better public awareness of gas safety risks and the dangers arising from carbon monoxide. Since 1 April 2009 the Gas Safe Register have been undertaking a significant gas safety and carbon monoxide awareness raising campaign aimed at consumers, including national TV and online advertising, coverage on consumer programmes and national and regional radio and newspaper reporting.
There are other complementary Government work streams relating to carbon monoxide, including the Department for Communities and Local Government’s recent consultation on amendments to the Building Regulations which proposed the compulsory installation of carbon monoxide alarms when a new or replacement solid fuel appliances are installed, a Health Protection Agency’s study to assess the effectiveness of campaigns in increasing the knowledge of CO and Department of Health research into the long term effects of exposure to carbon monoxide.
Additionally, the Cross Government Group on gas safety and CO awareness, which covers all combustion fuels, aims to share knowledge and information and develop effective strategies to improve gas safety and tackle carbon monoxide risks from all fuels.
Departmental Temporary Employment
[holding answer 22 February 2010]: The DWP has a contract with Brook Street for the provision of temporary staff since September 2007; prior to this the service was contracted through Reed Employment plc (full UK coverage) and Hays Specialist Services (London only).
The expenditure and numbers of temporary staff were as follows:
Expenditure (£ million) Headcount (average) Expenditure (£ million) Headcount (average) Expenditure (£ million) Headcount (average) Total 6.48 unknown 10.2 1270 4.6 1215 Brook Street 0.076 — 3.5 — 4.6 — Reed 0.432 — 0.312 — 0 — Hays 4.5 — 3.5 — 0 — Other 1.48 — 2.9 — 0 — 1 Headcount figures are averaged across the period noted.
The headcount for temporary staff for 2007-08 is not available centrally as DWP did not capture management information as standard across the various suppliers for the periods in question.
Departmental Theft
The Department takes extensive measures to protect our assets and to deter theft.
The physical security of all our premises complies with central Government security standards. The measures we use to prevent unauthorised access and to protect our assets include entry controls, pass systems, security guarding, CCTV and intruder detection systems.
All employees are required, as part of their conditions of employment, to safeguard the Department's assets, and to take care to ensure that no loss or damage occurs. Suspected thefts will, where appropriate, be referred to the police, and the Department will strongly support any ensuing police action.
All employees have been required to undertake security awareness training in the past year, which covers the protection of the Department's assets. We have issued reminders to employees to protect valuable assets and the information on them, when off the Department's premises.
We require all portable IT equipment, such as laptops and memory sticks, to be encrypted. The same applies to BlackBerry phones. This means that these items will not work if stolen.
Departmental Travel
The DWP has a detailed travel policy which seeks to promote consistent and best value use of transport options by its staff. It is made available to all staff through its intranet site.
This policy is currently under review, however the full text of existing policy has been placed in the Library along with details relating to the Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
The following non-departmental public bodies follow the Department for Work and Pensions travel guidance:
Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board
Equality 2025
Industrial Injuries Advisory Council
Pensions Ombudsman
Pensions Protection Fund Ombudsman
Social Security Advisory Committee.
Disability Living Allowance: Tribunals
I have been asked to reply.
The number of tribunal appeals relating to disability living allowance for each of the last five years is shown in the following table.
Financial year Cases disposed of at a hearing April 2005 to March 2006 71,125 April 2006 to March 2007 65,088 April 2007 to March 2008 57,824 April 2008 to March 2009 53,880 April 2009 to February 2010 48,077 Total 295,994
Employment: Disabled
The information requested is not available.
The information requested is not available.
Government Car and Despatch Agency
The Department’s expenditure with the Government Car and Despatch Agency is detailed in the following table.
£ 2004-05 n/a 2005-06 390,700 2006-07 407,800 2007-08 415,900 2008-09 779,865 2009-10 (nine months to December) 479,497
The Department does not hold this information for 2004-05. The data for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 relate to the use of ministerial cars and the car for the permanent secretary only. The expenditure for 2008-09 and for the first nine months of 2009-10 includes all departmental expenditure with the Government Car and Despatch Agency. The proportional split of expenditure the Government Car Service could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Housing Benefit
The available information is in the table.
In cash terms (£ million) 2004-05 199 2005-06 332 2006-07 379 2007-08 422 2008-09 1,863 Source: Local authority subsidy claims.
In 2004-05 nine Pathfinder local authorities piloted the local housing allowance. In 2005 the pilot was extended to 18 local authorities.
From April 2008 the local housing allowance was used by all 408 local authorities for new claims from renters in the deregulated private sector, replacing the Local Reference Rent scheme.
The Department also provided around £9 million of funding to the Pathfinder local authorities, and £59 million to fund the administrative costs of national implementation.
Housing Benefit: Scotland
The available information is in the table.
Number Scotland 52,590 Fife local authority 3,470 Notes: 1. Recipients are as at second Thursday of the month. 2. Local housing allowance tenants may include a small number of non-LHA cases making a new claim since 7 April 2008. This will include recipients in caravan accommodation. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 4. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 5. SHBE is a monthly electronic scan of claimant level data direct from local authority computer systems. It replaces quarterly aggregate clerical returns. The data are available monthly from November 2008 and November 2009 and are the most recent available. 6. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. An extended payment is a payment that may be received for a further four weeks when they start working full-time, work more hours or earn more money. 7. Data from SHBE incorporate the local authority changes from 1 April 2009. Source: Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE)
Housing Benefit: Young People
The information requested is not available. Figures on the total number of young people under the age of 19 years who are not in employment, education and training and living in supported housing schemes are not collected centrally.
The Government are committed to ensuring that there are suitable employment and training opportunities for all and that the system of working age benefits provides effective support for people to return to work. Young people are a specific priority. In December 2009 we published ‘Investing in Potential’, our cross-Government strategy for increasing the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds in education, employment or training.
Housing benefit is an income-related benefit designed to help people who rent their home and have difficulty in meeting reasonable housing costs. There is no age restriction and it can be paid to people whether or not they are working or training. Full-time students in non-advanced and further education who are aged less than 21 may also get housing benefit. We have recently launched the Working Benefits campaign to help advisers explain to their clients the in-work support that this benefit can offer and make it clear that help with housing costs is still available to people in work or training on a low income.
On 15 December 2009 we launched the consultation document ‘Supporting People into Work: The next stage of Housing Benefit Reform’ which examines how housing benefit might play a part in encouraging people to work. It contained proposals that will improve incentives for people to get a job, building on an on-going programme of IT projects and financial help designed to smooth the transition for our customers as they move into work.
Many single young people aged under 25 will have the amount of their rent which is eligible for help with housing benefit restricted to the amount they would pay on a shared room basis, regardless of the property they rent. This reflects the fact that this group commonly have earnings prospects well below those of older people and addresses any possible disincentive to work that may arise from meeting high rent levels a person could not afford while in work.
However the housing benefit rules recognise the additional costs that might arise from the provision of supported housing. For this group no account is taken of a person's age in working out what help is available and help for those living in the social and voluntary sectors is usually based on the contractual rent.
Occupational Pensions: Regulation
The Workplace Pension Reform Regulations Impact Assessment, published January 2010, makes clear we have not calculated the costs to employers of seeking external advice, as the regulations do not require employers to seek such advice on how to implement or comply with the reforms.
The Government are working closely with both the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority and the Pensions Regulator and already have plans in place to provide employers with information and support both before and during the implementation of the reform. The Pension Regulator's communication and education campaign is being designed to help employers and the intermediaries employers rely on for help, to understand what must be done to meet the new employer duties.
Employers who still choose to seek advice from external bodies on top of the information provided by the Department and the Pensions Regulator must anticipate a benefit from this advice that outweighs the cost.
Pension Credit: Glasgow
The information is as follows:
Number/£ Individual beneficiaries 9,340 Households recipients 7,850 Average weekly award of pension credit (£) 60.56 Notes: 1. Case load figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves or on behalf of themselves and a partner. Beneficiaries are the number of claimants in addition to the number of partners for whom they are claiming. 3. Pension credit is claimed on a household basis. The average weekly award of pension credit is in relation to the household. 4. Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory. Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.
Pension Credit: Milton Keynes
The information requested is in the following table.
Date Number/£ People in receipt of basic state pension March 2009 29,200 Individual beneficiaries of pension credit August 2009 8,820 Households in receipt of pension credit August 2009 7,200 Average weekly award of pension credit (£) August 2009 57.98 1 Numbers in receipt of Basic State Pension rounded to nearest 100. 2 Pension credit caseload figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 3 Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves or on behalf of themselves and a partner. Beneficiaries are the number of claimants in addition to the number of partners for whom they are claiming. 4 Pension credit is claimed on a household basis. The average weekly award of pension credit is in relation to the household. 5 Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory. Sources: Basic State Pension Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5 per cent sample. The figures have been adjusted in line with the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent data. Pension Credit DWP Information Directorate Work and Pension Longitudinal study 100 per cent. date
Pension Credit: York
As at March 2009, there were 36,800 recipients of the basic state pension in York local authority.
Notes:
1. Figures are subject a high degree of sampling error and should be used as a guide.
2. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
3. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Source:
Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5 per cent. sample
The information requested on the number of recipients of pension credit in York local authority and the average weekly award of pension credit received is in the following table:
As at August 2009 Number/£ Individual beneficiaries 8,010 Households recipients 6,650 Average weekly award of pension credit (£) 47.51 Notes: 1. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves or on behalf of themselves and a partner. Beneficiaries are the number of claimants in addition to the number of partners for whom they are claiming. 3. Pension credit is claimed on a household basis. The average weekly award of pension credit is in relation to the household. 4. Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory. Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.
Social Security Benefits: Fraud
(2) whether a claimant who has committed benefit fraud is required to repay the sum defrauded before making a further claim for benefit.
The Department seeks to minimise the amount of fraud arising in the system. Proportionally, fraud in the benefit system is now over 60 per cent. less than it was in 2000-01.
When benefit fraud is discovered the resultant overpayment is pursued in all cases and priority is given to fraud cases to ensure that the time delay between discovery and recovery is kept to a minimum. The mechanics of the recovery of the overpayment will vary depending on the value of the debt and the circumstances of the customer, but will include one or more of the following:-
Compulsory recovery from ongoing benefit entitlement;
Recovery by lump sum or instalment for those no longer in receipt of benefit;
Seizure of assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act;
Compensation order awarded by the courts;
Referral to a private sector partner to undertake debt recovery where appropriate; and
Enforcement of the debt through civil court where appropriate.
A customer is not required to repay the sum defrauded before making a further claim to benefit, though we would take deductions from future benefit payments to recover the debt. The maximum rate for recovery of overpayments arising from fraudulent activity is greater than it is for ordinary overpayments.
(2) what sanctions are available to her Department with respect to people found to have committed benefit fraud; and how many and what percentage of people found to have committed benefit fraud received each type of sanction in each of the last five years.
The Department for Work and Pensions has three criminal sanctions available for use in cases of benefit fraud. These are cautions, administrative penalties and criminal prosecutions.
In addition, the ‘Two Strike’ 13 week loss of benefit sanction applies to those who have been convicted twice of benefit fraud within a set period. From 1 April 2010 the Department will also be able to apply a ‘One Strike’ four week loss of benefit sanction to those who have been convicted of benefit fraud for the first time, as well as to those who have accepted an administrative penalty or caution.
If a benefit claim is confirmed as fraudulent following an investigation, one of the above criminal sanctions will be applied in all cases. The figures provided in the following tables represent the number of fraudulent benefit claims detected in each of the last five years.
The available information for both Department for Work and Pensions and local authority administered benefits is provided. Information on local authority prosecutions and convictions is not yet available for 2008-09.
Number of administrative penalties issued Number of cautions issued Number prosecuted for benefit fraud Number of convictions for benefit fraud offences 2004-05 8,510 9,997 10,295 9,219 2005-06 10,870 10,543 10,262 8,740 2006-07 9,810 11,976 8,964 6,861 2007-08 8,566 12,821 10,274 7,745 2008-09 7,160 14,320 8,840 6,700 Sources: 1. Administrative penalty and caution data is taken from the Fraud Information by Sector system (FIBS) and the Fraud Referral and Intervention Management System (FRAIMS). 2. Prosecution and conviction data for England and Wales is taken from DWP/DH Legal Group's computerised information system. 3. Prosecution and conviction data for Scotland is taken from FIBS and FRAIMS.
Number of administrative penalties issued Number of cautions issued Number prosecuted for benefit fraud Number of convictions for benefit fraud offences 2004-05 4,496 6,649 5,544 4,688 2005-06 6,199 9,708 7,717 6,234 2006-07 6,742 10,662 6,023 5,860 2007-08 8,416 12,569 6,611 6,493 2008-09 1— 1— 1— 1— 1 Unavailable. Note: The decision to prosecute is taken by the appropriate local authority. Source: Housing Benefit Operational Database (HOBOD) using local authority administrative returns.
Information relating to how many individuals convicted of benefit fraud received a custodial sentence, community sentence or discharge is only available for Department for Work and Pensions administered benefits. The available information is provided in the following table.
Number of convictions for benefit fraud offences Number of custodial sentences given Number of community sentences given Number of discharges given 2004-05 9,219 601 2,492 2,652 2005-06 8,740 919 2,927 2,441 2006-07 6,861 616 2,415 1,734 2007-08 7,745 522 2,780 2,207 2008-09 6,700 467 2,507 1,516 Sources: 1. Information for England and Wales is taken from DWP/DH Legal Group's computerised information system. 2. Information for Scotland is taken from the Fraud Information by Sector system (FIBS) and the Fraud Referral and Intervention Management System (FRAIMS).
Social Security Benefits: Publicity
There is currently no contractual agreement between the Department for Work and Pensions and the Post Office for the display of leaflets about attendance allowance or any welfare benefits.
While there is no national agreement for the display of leaflets at libraries, doctors surgeries, council offices and citizens advise bureaux there are a number of routes that ensure the availability of leaflets at these locations:
The Pension Service’s local service teams, located throughout England, Scotland and Wales, have local partnerships with external organisations and formally monitor the use and availability of leaflets at ‘Hard Copy Information Points’ on partner premises. They also share local knowledge and experience of which leaflets are the most popular and most useful to our customers.
The 62,000 subscribers to the Central Office of Information’s Publicity Register receive a quarterly magazine called ‘Touchbase’ which provides details of current and forthcoming information campaigns. Subscribers are also able to order leaflets directly from the Department through its on-line catalogue of information products.
The Department has a commercial agreement in place to provide key Pension Service and Disability and Carer Service leaflets in more than half of all doctors waiting rooms and pharmacies across the UK. The cost of this service is met directly by the Department and the information provided by it is available free of charge to the public.
Customers can also access the Department’s leaflets and the latest information about benefits and services online at the Directgov website.
State Retirement Pensions
The conventions on uprating state pensions are concerned with maintaining their price value. Had we applied those rules this year, when inflation as measured by the September retail Price Index was minus 1.4 per cent. pensioners would not have received a rise in their State pension.
However, we are committed to getting help to the 11 million pensioners in Great Britain, many of whom are facing difficulties in the current economic climate. We are determined that the fairest and most effective way was to apply an above inflation increase of 2.5 per cent. to the basic state pension. This will be worth around £1 billion to pensioners and will mean that on average state pension recipients will see an overall increase of 2 per cent. in their state pension. At the same time we have increased the pension credit standard minimum guarantee by £2.60 a week for single pensioners and £3.95 for couples to help the poorest pensioners.
By contrast, increasing additional State pension would have a widely variable effect on the help given to pensioners. For example, very elderly female pensioners receiving on average £5 of additional pension a week would only see an increase of a few pence each week on their state pension. However, others, typically younger male pensioners who had higher earnings, could see increases closer to around £4 a week. Increasing the basic state pension means that help is provided to more pensioners with a more even distribution.
Communities and Local Government
Community Development
[holding answer 17 March 2010]: The Government are carefully considering each of the 199 short-listed proposals submitted by the selector body, the Local Government Association (LGA) under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007. We are now discussing these with the LGA as part of the process of seeking to reach agreement required by the Act.
Departmental ICT
The Department and its agencies have not cancelled any IT projects in the last 12 months.
Departmental Lost Property
The property recorded as (a) lost or (b) stolen from Communities and Local Government in the last 12 months and the estimated cost of the replacement of that property is as follows:
Departmental property reported as stolen
Five BlackBerrys—valued at approximately £1,000 (£200 each)
Six laptop computers—valued at approximately £6,000 (£1,000 each)
One mobile phone—valued at approximately £200
One mobile phone charger—valued at approximately £10
None of the information contained on laptops, or BlackBerrys was classified. However, each laptop was password protected and the BlackBerrys were both encrypted and password protected.
Employee property reported as stolen
One bottle of aftershave—nil replacement cost for the Department.
Employee property reported as lost
One Apple iPhone—nil replacement cost for the Department
Departmental Pay
The following table sets out the details of performance related payments made to senior civil servants in the Department for Communities and Local Government following the 2009 pay award, broken down into £5,000 bands.
Details of performance related payments Number of performance related payments made 102 Proportion this represents (percentage) 76 Highest in the range £10,001 to £15,000 Lowest in the range £0 to £5,000 Mean in the range £5,001 to £10,000 Median in the range £5,001 to £10,000 Mode in the range £0 to £5,000
The Communities and Local Government Board consists of eight senior civil servants (SCS) and currently five non-executive members. CLG only holds records of those who are civil servants within Communities and Local Government.
In 2008 all eight executive board members received a performance related payment. The highest payment made was in the range of between £20,000 and £25,000.
In 2009, the permanent secretary volunteered to forgo a bonus. The seven other executive members received a performance related payment. The highest payment made in the range of between £10,000 and £15,000.
An element of the Communities and Local Government overall pay award is allocated to non-consolidated variable pay related to performance. These payments are used to drive high performance and form part of the pay award for members of staff who demonstrate exceptional performance, for example by exceeding targets set or meeting challenging objectives.
Non-consolidated variable pay awards are funded from within existing pay bill controls, and have to be re-earned each year against pre-determined targets and, as such, do not add to future pay bill costs. The percentage of the pay bill set aside for performance-related awards for the SCS is based on recommendations from the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.
The following table sets out salary details of senior civil servants in the Department for Communities and Local Government following the 2009 pay award broken down into £5,000 bands.
Within the below salary range Highest £175,000 to £180,000 Lowest £55,000 to £60,000 Mean £80,000 to £85,000 Median £70,000 to £75,000 Mode £55,000 to £60,000
Of these senior civil servants eight were board members in 2009, and salary details of these are set out in the following table broken down into £5,000 bands.
Within the below salary range Highest £175,000 to £180,000 Lowest £105,000 to £110,000 Mean £145,000 to £150,000 Median £150,000 to £155,000 Mode n/a n/a = Not applicable.
At the time of the 2009 pay award 134 senior civil servants were included in the annual pay assessment for the main Communities and Local Government Department. Of these, 112 received a fully consolidated increase in salary and one received a non-consolidated pay award but no increase in salary.
The following table sets out the increases in salary of the senior civil servants in the Department for Communities and Local Government following the 2009 pay award, broken down into £5,000 bands.
Within the range Highest £10,000 to £15,000 Lowest £0 to £5,000 Mean £0 to £5,000 Median £0 to £5,000 Mode £0 to £5,000
The Department does not release information about individual employee's contractual arrangements.
Homelessness: Young People
Government have recently provided £30 million capital funding over three years from Communities and Local Government that will provide up to 500 new places in Foyers and specialist supported housing through the National Affordable Housing Programme.
Since September the following allocations have been made:
Client group Grant (£) Units Teenage parents 3,228,924 43 Young people at risk 6,562,003 134 Young people leaving care 90,000 2 Total for supported housing for 16 to 17-year-olds 9,880,927 179
In addition local authorities provide a broad range of assistance and support for all ages which young people will also benefit from.
The Supporting People programme provides revenue funds for local authorities to commission housing related support services for vulnerable people in their area, to enable them to develop independent living skills. Data relating to the supply of and spend on Supporting People housing related support services are collected retrospectively. The following table shows the national spend, per primary client group, for the year 2007-08 for the three ‘young person’ client groups reportable for Supporting People.
2007-08 spend (£) Teenage parents 23,403,241 Young people at risk 124,728,170 Leaving care 11,853,858
Housing: Sustainable Development
I receive regular reports on the performance of the Homes and Communities Agency programmes which promote affordable sustainable homes. For example, in 2008-09, funding was allocated through the National Affordable Housing programme to support over 50,000 homes being built to level 3 or above of the code for sustainable homes. Ninety per cent. of proposals I've approved under this year's Local Authority New Build programme are at code level 4. The Social Housing Energy Saving programme is delivering cavity wall insulation in an estimated 108,000 homes.
The Department had a stand at the Ecobuild conference and exhibition held in March in London, as it has in previous years. I spoke at the conference and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State visited the event. Several CLG officials gave speeches, chaired sessions or were present at the Department's stand to answer questions from visitors to the event.
Non-Domestic Rates
[holding answer 20 January 2010]: I have placed in the Library of the House a table showing the total rateable value for all hereditaments in Local List for England broken down by billing authority on the 2005 and the draft 2010 Rating Lists as at 2 November 2009. These data are consistent with the statistical release titled: “Non-domestic rateable values: 2010 Local Rating Lists—England and Wales”, published on 18 December 2009. A copy of this statistical release is available at the following link:
http://www.voa.gov.uk/publications/statistical_releases/VOA_Statistics_Release_Final.pdf
The rateable values have been rounded to the nearest £1,000.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more by ensuring the share of the national rates bill paid by any one business reflects changes over time in the value of their property relative to others. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government.
Over 1 million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation. The Government intend to put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on the minority with bill increases, which in 2010-11 will ensure no business property sees its rates bill increase by more than 11 per cent. as a result of the revaluation, with maximum increases capped at just 3.5 per cent. for small properties. That is on top of the wider support available to help ease business pressures including discounted rate bills for small businesses and deferring tax payments.
Non-Domestic Rates: Ports
I have been asked to reply.
Valuation officers are required under section 41 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 every five years (starting on 1 April 1990) to compile and then maintain accurate rating lists. New rating lists were therefore required on 1 April 2005 The circumstances leading to the review of the ports were explained in the answer given to him on 2 March 2010, Official Report, column 1153W.
Planning Permission: National Policy Statements
The local authorities guidance will be published in due course.
Preventing Violent Extremism Community Leadership Fund
As my hon. Friend will be aware, this Department has, since April 2008, funded local authorities to undertake Prevent work through Area Based Grant, which in line with Government policy is not ring-fenced. This means that local authorities themselves decide how to support and deliver a diverse set of projects and programmes at local level with the Prevent funding provided by this Department. Funding is provided at a unitary or district level. Northampton borough council is receiving a total of £443,122 from 2008-09 to 2010-11, as follows:
£ 2008-09 105,000 2009-10 143,292 2010-11 194,830
The local authority will be able to provide specific information on which projects and programmes are being funded.
Supported Housing: Young People
Figures on the total number of young people living in supported housing schemes are not collected centrally. There is no universal definition of supported housing, the different data sources CLG collects contain information on different types of supported housing (therefore the two following data sets are not comparable).
Of the 32,813 clients under the age of 19 years who accessed housing related support services funded by the Supporting People programme between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009, 15,155 (46 per cent.) entered supported housing.
The Continuous Recording (CORE) of lettings provides information on the number of supported housing lettings in the social housing sector. Between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009, CORE estimates that 15,200 new supported housing lettings were provided to households headed by a young person under 19. Of all under-19s receiving new social housing lets, 60 per cent. were provided with supported housing.
Those who live in either social or voluntary sector supported housing will have their housing benefit based on their actual rent, which may be limited to a reasonable amount for the property that they occupy where necessary. In the private sector, single young people aged under 25 have their rent restricted to that of shared accommodation, unless they are severely disabled or aged under 22 and have previously been in care.
Trade Unions
The main Department pays the cost of two full-time staff trade union representatives. In 2008-09 the total cost was approximately £95,000. CLG also pays the cost of a number of part time staff. The total amount allocated for trade union activities for 2008-2009 was £192,000, and the number of days staff in the Department spent on all trade union activities was 1,075.50 days.
Basic office facilities are available to these staff e.g. office space, telephones, desks, chairs, cupboards, personal computers and stationery.
Records for CLG agencies and the Audit Commission are not held centrally.
Treasury
Business: Government Assistance
Since its introduction on 24 November 2008 and up until 7 March 2010, HMRC’s Business Payment Support Service (BPSS) has agreed over 303,000 time to pay arrangements with businesses in the UK to spread tax payments of just under £5.2 billion over a period they can afford.
During the same period, BPSS agreed 990 time to pay arrangements worth £20 million with businesses in Wolverhampton.
The value to UK industry of capital allowances arises from the tax relief given against profits from specific capital allowances on investment. As set out in the 2009 pre-Budget report, the latest estimate of the value of the relief is £21,100 million for 2009-10:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pbr09_taxreadyreckoner.pdf
Revenue and Customs: Data Protection
(2) what steps are being taken in respect of HM Revenue and Customs staff found to have misused customer data.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) introduced a strategic objective to reduce incidences of customer data misuse by at least 75 per cent. between 2009 and 2012. The Department's planned actions to achieve this are set out in its annual business plan, with performance against the objective set out in its annual reports, both are available at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/reports.htm
All instances of suspected misuse are thoroughly investigated and are subject to appropriate disciplinary action, with penalties up to and including dismissal and criminal action. All departmental staff must attend mandatory training to reinforce the consequences they face in the event of misusing customer data.
Tax Collection
(2) what the (a) age and (b) likelihood of recovery is of the debt owed to HM Revenue and Customs totalling more than £27 billion at 31 March 2009; and how much such debt has been outstanding (i) less than six months, (ii) between six and 12 months, (iii) between 12 months and two years, (iv) between two and three years and (v) for more than three years since the due and payable date;
(3) what recent assessment he has made of HM Revenue and Customs' performance in the recovery of taxes owed to the Government.
The Public Accounts Committee examined the Department in its 2009-10 report: ‘HM Revenue and Customs: Improving the Processing and Collection of Tax: Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Stamp Duty Land Tax and Tax Credits’ (HC 97) published on 10 December 2009 and available at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmpubacc/97/97.pdf
The Government will publish their responses to the Committee's report in a Treasury minute in due course.
The value and age of unpaid tax debts is shown on page 96 of HM Revenue and Customs' 2008-09 Trust Statement, available at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/hmrc-accs-0809.pdf
Other breakdowns of tax debt by age are available only at disproportionate cost, as HMRC's systems cannot readily produce these.
Taxation: Domicil
[holding answer 9 March 2010]: The term ‘long-term resident’ only occurs in UK tax legislation in the context of defining individuals who are required to pay the £30,000 remittance basis charge introduced in Finance Act 2008 where it refers to those who have been resident in the UK for at least seven out of the last nine years.
An individual’s residence status depends upon a number of different factors and is not simply a question of the number of days spent in the UK. Further guidance on residence and domicile issues is available at:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/hmrc6.pdf
Taxation: Gaming Machines
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold information on the nature of the businesses in which gaming machines are located as this information is not necessary for the administration of Amusement Machine Licence Duty (AMLD).
Treasury Ministers meet with, and receive representations from, a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the usual policymaking process. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such representations.
On 26 February, the Government announced a four-month review of “skills with prizes” machines and the games played on them for the purposes of AMLD. This will be undertaken by HM Treasury and HMRC in consultation with the Gambling Commission and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The review will engage fully with all stakeholders.
Trade Unions
HM Treasury has one member of staff, grade 7, who spends 0.60 (FTE) of time working as a trade union official. As fewer than five staff are employed to work as union officials it is not HM Treasury policy to provide salary information that could be attributed to an individual.
As already released in a Freedom of Information Request of 25 September 2009, staff of HM Revenue and Customs spent 48,902 days on trade union activity during the year 2008-09 at an estimated cost to the Department of £5,918,065.
The total number of days allocated to staff in the Valuation Office Agency for trade union activity in the latest year was 4,861 days. The estimated cost of the Valuation Office Agency trade union activity is £756,193.
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) initiates court action only as a last resort.
The information requested is in the following table.
Number Total Value (£) Average Value (£) 2008-091 April-June 2008 1,090 7,649,000 7017 July-September 2008 2,623 18,032,000 6874 October-December 2008 887 6,465,722 7289 January-March 2009 1,719 10,889,145 6334 2009-102 April-June 2009 792 4,184,128 5282 July-September 2009 408 1,854,732 4545 October-December 2009 249 2,356,757 9464 Notes: 1 Includes England and Wales and Scotland 2 Includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Information for 2006-07 and 2007-08 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, as the data for these periods are not centrally held by HMRC's systems.
No estimate has been made of the cost to the Exchequer of pursuing tax debt through Court Proceedings.
Information of the amount recovered through court action is only available at disproportionate cost, as HMRC systems do not separately record the amount recovered as a result of court proceedings as distinct from the amounts recovered from all stages of the enforcement process.
The recovery of tax credit overpayments is a civil matter. Therefore, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not prosecute but may seek action to recover tax credit debt through the county court system in England and Wales, the Sheriff's court in Scotland and the magistrates court in Northern Ireland. This is only done as a last resort.
For information on the number of actions commenced in 2006-07 and 2007-08 I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Cardiff Central (Jenny Willott) on 26 November 2008, Official Report, column 1926W. Information for years prior to 2006-07 is only available at disproportionate cost, as it is not centrally held by HMRC's systems.
HMRC can and does prosecute for fraud.
Women and Equality
Equality and Human Rights Commission
The EHRC is independent and it manages its own affairs; the following is based on information it has provided.
(a) No properties are owned by the Commission.
(b) 10 properties are currently leased by the Commission. The Commission will release one of these with effect from 1 April 2010 and is actively seeking to release a further three from its portfolio. In addition the Commission rents space in six Government Offices and the Scottish Government in Edinburgh.
The cost of these arrangements was £3.6 million per annum in 2009.
The numbers of people who work at each office location are shown in the table. Figures are taken from the EHRC estates review presented to the EHRC Board in December 2009 and are the latest available.
Headcount1 (total) FTE2 (total) Office 1. London (3 More London) 162 155.01 2. Manchester 209 193.09 3. Birmingham 54 49.59 4. Buckingham Palace Road London 6 5.54 5. Glasgow 43 40.38 6. Cardiff (Callaghan Sq) 39 34.47 7. Bangor 3 3.00 Vacant property 8. Edinburgh (Old Tun) 0 0 9. Cardiff (Ty Nant Court) 0 0 10. London (Fox Court) 0 0 Government Offices Bristol 2 2.00 Cambridge 3 3.00 Guildford 3 3.00 Leeds 3 3.00 Newcastle 3 3.00 Nottingham 4 4.00 Scottish Government Edinburgh 1 1.00 Edinburgh/Glasgow split 6 6.00 Total 541 506.08 1 Headcount equals number of EHRC employees excluding those on maternity leave, secondment out or career breaks. 2 FTE equals full time equivalent. Notes: 1. Six employees work between both Glasgow and Edinburgh sites. 2. The Buckingham Palace Road lease expired in April 2010 and staff are being transferred to the London HQ at 3 More London.
Culture, Media and Sport
Butterfly World Project
Neither Ministers nor officials from this Department have met with Butterfly World Project Ltd., as neither the people involved in running this world class attraction nor the local Member of Parliament have asked for a meeting.
Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not had any capability procedures initiated and completed in each of the past five years. The Royal Parks Agency has had two capability procedures initiated and completed in the past five years, neither of which resulted in the dismissal of staff.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has had three disciplinary cases initiated and completed in the past five years, resulting in two dismissals. The Royal Parks Agency has had two disciplinary cases initiated in the last five years, one of which has been completed, neither resulting in dismissal.
Neither the Department nor Agency keep a record of time spent on such cases.
Departmental Lost Property
During the last 12 months the following items were recorded as lost or stolen.
Item Date Recorded lost or stolen Estimated cost of replacement (£) Blackberry April 2009 Stolen 200 Secure remote access token June 2009 Lost 12.75 Disc drive June 2009 Lost 25 Laptop July 2009 Stolen 800 Blackberry July 2009 Lost 200 Blackberry July 2009 Lost 200 Laptop July 2009 Stolen 800 Blackberry October 2009 Stolen 200 Mobile phone October 2009 Stolen 120 Secure remote access token November 2009 Lost 12.75 Secure remote access token December 2009 Stolen 12.75 Blackberry February 2010 Stolen £200
During the last 12 months the following works of art have been reported missing from the Government Art Collection and are as yet un-located.
Works of Art Date Reported missing Estimated cost of replacement (£) The Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Chichester print by Leonard Knyff March 2009 Reported missing from Department for Children, Schools and Families Sanctuary Buildings, London 250 Bambridge on Trial for Murder by a Committee of the House of Commons print after William Hogarth April 2009 Reported missing from the Royal Courts of Justice, London 200 The Railway Station print after W.P. Frith April 2009 Reported as missing from DEFRA, Ashdown House, London 600 Derby Day print after W.P. Frith April 2009 Reported as missing from DEFRA, Ashdown House, London 600 Leaving painting by David Pugh Evans May 2009 Reported missing from British Deputy High Commission, Lagos, Nigeria 500 House Plant 2/25 1971 print by Boyd & Evans May 09 Reported missing from British Deputy High Commission, Lagos, Nigeria 500 Evening Menu 31/70 1975 print by Patrick Caulfield May 2009 Reported missing from British High Commission, Abuja, Nigeria 1600 Untitled string hanging by Peter Collingwood May 2009 Reported missing from British High Commission, Abuja, Nigeria 3000
Museums and Galleries: Newcastle upon Tyne
(2) how much (a) revenue and (b) capital funding Arts Council England has allocated to the Waygood Gallery project, High Bridge, Newcastle to date.
To date Arts Council England has been unable to agree a business plan with the Waygood Gallery. Arts Council England has formally notified the Waygood Gallery that it is considering withdrawing revenue funding from the organisation. The final decision on Waygood Gallery’s long-term funding will be made by Arts Council England’s north-east regional council on 31 March 2010. The Arts Council and Newcastle city council are committed to working closely together to ensure the successful opening of the studios on High Bridge.
Since 2001, £630,380 was allocated to Waygood Gallery through Arts Council England’s Regularly Funded Organisation programme and a further £49,778 was awarded through Arts Council England’s lottery funded Grants for the Arts scheme.
£130,000 was allocated directly to Waygood Gallery from Arts Council England’s capital budget.
Museums and Galleries: South West
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has supplied the information in the table of Renaissance grants awarded to non-designated museums in the South West in 2008-09.
Designated collection holder Grant (£) Cheltenham Art Gallery 14,608 Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum 14,133 Tank Museum 15,000 Wiltshire Heritage Museum 15,000 National Waterways Museum 15,000 Roman Bath Museum 10,000
In the 2009-10 financial year, two further grants have been announced by the MLA for non-designated museums in the South West and shown in the table.
Designated collection holder Grant (£) Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum 100,000 Tank Museum 50,000
Theatre: Young People
The Department provided Arts Council England with £2.5 million to deliver the A Night Less Ordinary scheme. This included a budget for the promotion of the scheme, including the creation of the website:
www.anightlessordinary.org.uk
Individual theatres were also assessed on their plans to market the scheme in their local area during the application process.
The National Theatre Entry Pass scheme is administered solely by the theatre. The Department does not centrally promote either scheme.
To date, 14,814 young people have registered for the National Theatre Entry Pass.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Subsidies
As of 25 February 2010 over 98,000 farmers from the estimated total claimant population of 107,500 have received a full Single Payment Scheme (SPS) payment from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). 90 per cent. of the estimated total fund of £1.86 billion has now been paid for SPS 2009.
Some 2,000 of the remaining claims have been processed and resulted in no payment being due. This situation arises where, for example, farmers hold entitlements for the wrong area type, have submitted duplicate claim forms or will receive payment from the devolved Administrations.
Processing now continues on approximately 7,500 claims where no payment has been made to date and RPA is working to finalise these as quickly as possible. Some of these are complex cases involving probate, business partnership changes and domestic issues. It is likely that work on these claims will reveal that some will not be eligible for payment. Claims which are confirmed will be paid as soon as possible.
The agency met its first 2009 SPS target of making 75 per cent. of full payments by value, six weeks ahead of its formal target date of the end of January 2010. It has now met the second of its formal targets of making 90 per cent. of full payments, by value, five weeks ahead of its formal date of the end of March 2010.
RPA is on track to meet its EU target of making 95.238 per cent. of payments by value by the close of the payment window on 30 June 2010.
The following table shows the agency continues to improve in making SPS payments.
Scheme year 75 per cent. of payments made by value 90 per cent. of payments made by value 2007 22 February 21 May 2008 22 January 16 March 2009 17 December 24 February
Processing continues on claims from all previous scheme years where no payment has been made to date and RPA is working to finalise these as quickly as practicable. The following table shows a summary of these claims.
Single Payment Scheme year Number of claims outstanding as at 10 March 2010 Number of claims not received full payment as at 10 March 2010 2005 3 574 2006 6 629 2007 33 55 2008 84 100 Total 1126 1,358 1 Included within the 126 outstanding claims are three (2005), five (2006), 29 (2007) and 64 (2008) claims that are complex cases involving probate, business partnership changes and domestic issues. It is likely that work on these claims will reveal that some will not be eligible for payment.
Claims which have not received a full payment may be due a top-up payment once their entitlements have been reviewed. Further such claims may arise from data correction work within the Rural Payments Agency.
Animal Feed
Under EU rules, up to 5 per cent. of the diet of organic livestock other than herbivores may currently consist of non-organic feed. After 1 January 2012 all organic livestock must be fed entirely on organically produced feed and there are concerns about providing a 100 per cent. organic diet with a balanced protein content for pigs and poultry because of the difficulties with sourcing the correct protein ingredients for feed for these animals. We are currently investigating with our Advisory Committee on Organic Standards how the use of fishmeal might contribute to a solution for the problem, including the effects on the price of animal feed and the sustainability of fish stocks from which the fishmeal is sourced.
Animal Welfare
DEFRA and its agency, Animal Health, received several items of correspondence from Mr. Hall between May and September 2009, both directly and through my hon. Friend. I replied to my hon. Friend on 19 October, 2009 and regret the intervening delay.
In the last six months we have received three letters from members of the public and 15 from Members of Parliament on behalf of constituents regarding the use of bolt guns to end the lives of domestic animals. We have received no such letters on the use of bolt guns on livestock.
Biomass: Air Pollution
The aim of the air quality strategy for the UK is to protect public health by providing mechanisms for compliance with a number of air pollution concentration objectives.
The impact of emissions of biomass boilers on air concentrations of pollutants will depend on the dispersion characteristics of the installations and the number of installations affecting any particular location. Guidance has been provided to local authorities, through the British Standards Institution and the Institute of Gas Engineers and Managers on how to apply good design and placement of chimney location and exit height to prevent significant impacts of units on air quality.
Local authorities, in order to protect public health, have a number of existing powers to guide the outcome of developments incorporating biomass boilers through both the planning system and powers under the Clean Air Act 1993. Taken together with the Renewable Heat Incentive, which encourages the uptake of cleaner appliances, the impact of biomass boilers on air quality should be managed to avoid concentrations in excess of air quality objectives.
Bovine Tuberculosis
The latest bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) figures available for the first 11 months of 2009, compared with the equivalent period in 2008, show the following:
England Gloucestershire Reactors slaughtered 2008 23,631 2,169 2009 23,068 2,031 New herd breakdowns 2008 3,766 273 2009 3,125 198 Confirmed new incidents per 100 test in unrestricted herds 2008 5.46 13.69 2009 4.69 10.93 Notes: 1. Data from VetNet are produced three months in arrears and the latest report available is for November 2009. Comparative 2008 data are shown up to November 2008. Therefore data cannot be provided for the last three months. 2. Data from VetNet are provisional and subject to change as more data become available. Source: VetNet—Animal Health Database
Although the apparent year-on-year reduction in bTB incidence headline indicators (despite the increase in numbers of herds and animals tested for bTB in 2009) is welcome, the Government remain cautious and does not want to read too much into the short-term disease trends, given the cyclical and multifactorial nature of bTB incidence in the endemic areas. The incidence of bTB in parts of England is still far too high for EU standards and we continue to take the fight against the disease very seriously, not least because of the serious impact it has on farmers.
We have a range of measures in place to help control spread of the disease including routine cattle testing, use of the gamma interferon blood test in prescribed circumstances, pre-movement testing, zero tolerance on movement of cattle with overdue tests and encouraging use of husbandry measures. In addition, vaccination of cattle and/or badgers is potentially a valuable tool as part of a range of measures to control bTB. A Badger Vaccine Deployment Project will take place in six high incidence areas each of 100 sq km (25,000 acres) in England, starting in summer 2010.
Breeding of Dogs Act 1991
(2) what funding his Department provides to local authorities to inspect outbuildings for breeding establishments under the Breeding of Dogs Act 1991;
(3) what recent assessment he has made of the incidence of illegal dog breeding taking place in residential properties and outbuildings;
(4) what recent representations he has received from animal welfare charities on backstreet breeding of dogs; and if he will make a statement;
(5) what estimate he has made of the number of dog breeding farms in England.
We have not made any recent assessment as to the effectiveness of the Breeding of Dogs Acts1991. Any future assessment we make of current dog breeding legislation will be conducted in parallel with our consideration on the two recent reports into dog breeding by Professor Sir Patrick Bateson and the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare. We have regular discussions with animal welfare groups on a range of welfare topics, including the breeding of dogs.
We have provided no such funding to local authorities to inspect outbuildings for breeding establishments, we have made no assessment of the incidence of illegal dog breeding taking place on residential properties and outbuildings, and we have made no estimate of the number of dog breeding farms in England.
Cattle: Animal Welfare
DEFRA is currently funding a three- year project by the Scottish Agricultural College which is investigating the management and welfare of continuously housed cows. It will compare the health of cows in continuously housed systems with those in summer grazing systems, by using culling and fertility data. Work on this research is at an early stage, and is due to be completed at the end of June 2011.
In relation to herd sizes, in reviewing its risk model for welfare inspections, Animal Health, the body responsible for enforcing animal welfare legislation in England, did not include the size of the herd as a predictive factor to the model as no correlation was found between the size of the herd and compliance with welfare legislation and welfare advisory codes.
All dairy cattle, in whatever system they are kept, are protected by comprehensive animal welfare legislation. In England, the welfare of cattle is protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to any animal. The Act also contains a duty of care to animals—this means that anyone responsible for an animal must take reasonable steps to make sure the animal’s needs are met. These general requirements are supplemented by detailed requirements in the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 for calves and cattle such as accommodation, tethering, inspection, feed and water.
Poor welfare can exist in both intensive and extensive systems. The most significant influence on the welfare of livestock is the stock-keeper, not the system in which is it reared.
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005
(2) what assessment he has made of the impact of the dog control provisions in the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 on animal rescue centres.
DEFRA has made no such assessment.
Dairy Farming
While we recognise the trend is towards fewer, larger dairy herds, we have no plans to introduce proposals on a maximum size for dairy herds.
Dogs
In the past year DEFRA has corresponded with the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes, The Dogs Trust and the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home about stray dog control services.
DEFRA has made no such estimate.
Dogs: Crime
(2) how many prosecutions there have been for dog control offences under the Town and Police Clauses Act 1847 in each year since 1997;
(3) how many prosecutions there have been for dog control offences under the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 in each year since 1997.
The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences under, (i) Breeding Dogs Act 1991, (ii) Town and Police Clauses Act 1847, in England and Wales 1997 to 2008 (latest available) can be viewed in the table.
The Ministry of Justice Court Proceeding database cannot separately identify offences relating to dogs under the Metropolitan Police Act 1839.
The Ministry of Justice advise that court proceedings data for 2009 are planned for publication in the autumn of 2010.
Offence description Offences in relation to dogs Intentionally obstructing or delaying any person in the exercise of his powers of entry or inspection Statute Town Police Clauses Act 1847, Sec 28(2) to (4) Breeding of Dogs Act 1991 1997 10 1 1998 9 1 1999 14 — 2000 8 1 2001 8 — 2002 7 — 2003 8 — 2004 1 — 2005 4 — 2006 4 — 2007 3 — 2008 1 — 1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings 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 it 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. 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. 3 Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July, and August 2008. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services in the Ministry of Justice
Floods: Maps
DEFRA does not produce Ordnance Survey flood maps. The Environment Agency publishes its maps showing the most up-to-date information available on areas at risk of flooding on a quarterly basis. The next date for publication is the end of March 2010. The map and publication is funded by grant in aid from DEFRA.
DEFRA is aware of a project initiated by Norwich Union working with Ordnance Survey to map flood risk, but this project has not been funded by DEFRA.
Government Car and Despatch Agency
The Department’s cumulative spend with the Government Car and Dispatch Agency in each of the last five years and for the current year to January 2010 is shown in the following table.
Total (£) 2004-5 758,687.35 2005-6 1,198,282.79 2006-7 906,287.79 2007-8 709,682.06 2008-9 694,574.07 2009-101 543,727.83 Grand Total 4,811,241.89 1 Part year to February 2010
Costs to the Department for ministerial cars are reported annually to Parliament by my right. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport through written ministerial statements and are available in the Libraries of the House.
Milk: Imports
[holding answer 15 March 2010]: Imports of liquid milk are shown in the tables.
Liquid milk is imported into the UK in two forms, as raw milk for processing by dairies (table 1), or as liquid drinking milk (e.g. pasteurised or UHT milk) (table 2).
Raw milk is only traded across the Irish border; imports come from the Republic of Ireland for processing by dairies in Northern Ireland.
Imported per year (1,000 litres) Average imported per day (1,000 litres)1 2005 45,589 125 2006 33,278 91 2007 57,109 156 2008 48,516 133 2009 82,774 227 1 Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000 litres. Source: DARDNI
Imported per year (1,000 litres) Average imported per day (1,000 litres)2 2005 47,066 129 2006 84,406 231 2007 87,668 240 2008 134,068 366 20091 89,420 245 1 2009 data is subject to amendments. 2 Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000 litres. Source: H M Revenue and Customs
Poultry: Animal Welfare
[holding answer 4 March 2010]: The information requested cannot be provided because records are not held centrally.
Rural Payments Agency
[holding answer 16 March 2010]: In their report ‘A Second Progress Update on the Administration of the Single Payment Scheme by the Rural Payments Agency', the National Audit Office calculated the average cost for administering a single payment scheme claim as £1,743. We are seeking ways of reducing this figure.
Rural Payments Agency: Legal Costs
The legal expenditure for 2004-09 financial years including costs incurred by all RPA departments as published in the annual audited accounts is shown in the following table. It is not possible to distinguish between legal advice and other legal expenditure.
Financial year Total spent on legal fees (£) 2004-05 450,849 2005-06 437,927 2006-07 185,347 2007-08 289,014 2008-09 559,812 Total 1,922,949
The increase in fees for 2008-09 is due to historic long running cases which only culminated in that financial year.
The costs incurred on the disposal of grain stores are not included in table above because they are accounted for separately. These costs are shown in the following table:
Financial year Total spent on legal fees (£) 2004-05 65,877.02 2005-06 72,665.80 2006-07 28,730.37 2007-08 18,730.31 2008-09 15,097.98 Total 201,101.48
The figures include costs of external advice, litigation services and costs.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
1 Carlton Gardens
We remain in negotiations with the Crown Estate over lease renewal. £4,295.56 has been paid in council tax from October 2007 to March 2010.
Burma: Forced Labour
We continue to be gravely concerned that forced labour, including forced porterage and underage military recruitment remain widespread practices, in marked and continued non-compliance with the Convention on Forced Labour. We note the co-operation, albeit limited, of the Burmese authorities with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) under the ILO’s Supplementary Understanding with the Government of Burma, which includes a complaints mechanism for victims of forced labour. We received a report from the ILO last November on progress in the implementation of the Supplementary Understanding and expect a further progress report in advance of the ILO Governing Body session on Burma next week. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in London and Rangoon are in regular contact with the ILO liaison officer in Rangoon, and met him most recently on 15 March. The EU presidency will make a statement on behalf of member states at the ILO Governing Body next week.
Burma: Gems
There have been no recent discussions on this issue among EU member states. Sanctions were agreed after the crackdown on peaceful protests in late 2008, and the EU imposed a ban on the import of gems from Burma, as well as prohibiting the provision of financial or technical assistance to entities engaged in the mining and processing of precious and semi-precious stones. These measures target the economic interests of the military regime and their cronies. Discussions will begin shortly in Brussels on the annual renewal of all EU measures against Burma, due at the end of April.
Sanctions prohibiting the export of gems from Burma to the EU were introduced after the crackdown on peaceful protests in late 2007, on the basis that the sector played a particular role in sustaining the military and their grip on power. No formal assessment of the effectiveness of the export ban has been made by the Government, but we continue to believe that targeted sanctions are an important means of maintaining pressure for political reform and respect for human rights in Burma.
Departmental Lost Property
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 16 March 2009, Official Report, column 844W, by my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Gillian Merron); namely, the information required is held separately in various Foreign and Commonwealth Office departments, all of which hold records relating to various losses and thefts of both personal property and official furnishings, including IT equipment losses.
As this information is not held centrally, providing an accurate answer would incur disproportionate cost.
Departmental Meetings
The information requested is not held centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Surveys
The 2009 People Survey results are now available in the Library.
These results are also available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website at:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/publications-and-documents/publications1/annual-reports/staff-survey-2009
EU Countries: Overseas Workers
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens working under contract in other EU member states in each of the last five years.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold data on the number of British nationals working in other EU member states. The latest figures available for British nationals resident overseas were collected in March 2007. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on 23 February 2010 to the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr. Davey) which shows the estimated number of British nationals resident in each EU member state during 2006-07.
Greece: Death
We have not received a copy of the coroner's, police or toxicology reports relating to Stephen Oliver's death. In Greece, autopsy reports are not automatically made available to the family of the deceased. If a report has not been released by the Greek coroner's office only a specifically authorised person can make an application for it. As the Greek authorities consider us to be third party in this case, we are unable to request it. The family have been advised to consider appointing the services of a local Greek lawyer who could request it on their behalf. This case has not been raised with the Greek Government by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, nor have we been asked to do so.
Intelligence Services
[holding answer 11 March 2010]: I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's response of 15 March 2010, Official Report, column 579W.
Morocco: Christianity
Our ambassador in Rabat was informed on the evening of 8 March that 12 British citizens were about to be, or had been, expelled from Morocco.
Ten of these British citizens were accused of trying to convert Moroccan children living at the Village of Hope, a Christian run home for abandoned children, to Christianity. Two other individuals were also expelled, separately to those from the Village of Hope.
In the last six months five other UK citizens have been deported from Morocco. These cases were linked to immigration matters not proselytising. We are not aware of any UK citizens that have been threatened with deportation.
Nigeria: Politics and Government
(2) what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the Christian community from Jos.
We condemn the appalling recent violence in the vicinity of the city of Jos, and call for the Government of Nigeria to ensure those responsible for crimes are prosecuted, and to address the underlying issues behind the violence.
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not recently discussed violence in Jos with the Government of Nigeria, nor representatives of the Christian community there. I raised our concerns with Chief Ojo Maduekwe, the Nigerian Foreign Minister on 15 March. Our High Commissioner in Abuja and senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials have discussed the issue at Ministerial level, including with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on 8 March as well as with representatives of the Christian community, including Catholic Archbishop Kaigama of Jos and Archbishop Onaiyekan of Abuja. Our High Commission also remains in touch with Anglican Archbishop Kwashi of Jos.
Overseas Residence: Death
We do not keep records for the specific number of British citizens who have died while working, but the number of deaths requiring consular action in Corfu were:
Number 2006-07 30 2007-08 23
The total number of deaths reported to the vice-consulate was:
2008-09: 15.
Sudan: Elections
Our assistance towards elections in Sudan remains in line with that set out to my hon. Friend by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr. Thomas) on 27 January 2010, Official Report, column 895W.
We have continued to urge all parties to ensure that credible elections take place in an atmosphere of political freedom. My noble Friend, the Minister for Africa, Glenys Kinnock, met with EU Chief Observer, Veroniqe De Keyser this week to discuss plans for the EU Election Observation Mission in Sudan.
UN Commission on the Status of Women
The 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women met at the UN from 1-12 March. The UK, along with other member states and representatives of non-governmental organisations and UN bodies, participated actively in the meeting, including at ministerial level.
The Commission reviewed progress in implementing the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the internationally agreed agenda for women's empowerment and gender equality, and identified the remaining obstacles and challenges to the full realisation of all human rights by women. The Commission adopted a political declaration in which member states pledged to work harder to ensure the full implementation of the Beijing Declaration. In addition, the Commission also adopted a number of resolutions on issues including HIV/AIDS; female genital mutilation; women's economic empowerment; and maternal mortality and morbidity. It also agreed a text supporting the establishment of a new UN body devoted to gender equality and women's rights through the consolidation of four existing UN offices which work on gender issues.
The UK remains committed to working with all other UN member states including through the Commission on the Status of Women to achieve gender equality and equal rights for women.
Children, Schools and Families
Building Schools for the Future Programme: Lancashire
Lancashire county council's ‘Readiness to Deliver’, submitted in September 2009, did not sufficiently address how its proposals for BSF would manage the issue of surplus capacity in some of its schools. Whitworth Community High School in particular has a projected high level of surplus capacity.
The authority was invited to revise its ‘Readiness to Deliver’. Rather than delay entry into the programme, the authority chose to resubmit a revised scope of schools which did not include Whitworth Community High School, with the intention of addressing the pupil place planning issues in a later phase.
Children in Care: Missing Persons
The information has been placed in the House Libraries.
Children: Carers
These data are not held centrally.
Supporting young carers and their families is a priority for this Government. Young carers, like all children and young people, are entitled to enjoy their childhood and should not have to take on levels of caring that may be harmful to their education or health. Where young carers and their families need additional support this should be provided.
Children: Databases
A unique identity number is used to identify each child record on ContactPoint. This number is generated by ContactPoint and is only used for the purposes of identifying a record on ContactPoint.
Unique pupil numbers and unique learner numbers are not held as part of every ContactPoint record. It is possible however, for either of these numbers to be sent to ContactPoint with new information supplied by a data source as their chosen reference number. This can be any number used by the data source to identify a record on their system and is used to help match new information to an existing record on ContactPoint. For example all information supplied to ContactPoint by the National Pupil Database has the unique pupil number included as the source system’s reference number.
Children: Human Trafficking
The issue of guardianship for unaccompanied minors, some of whom may be victims of trafficking, was given careful consideration in the last session of Parliament during the debates on the Children and Young Persons Act 2008.
Unaccompanied, potentially trafficked children will usually enter local authority care and their needs and interests are best protected by the professionals involved in their care working well together and fulfilling their statutory responsibilities to the high standards required. These professionals will include the child’s social worker and carers, as well as staff responsible for supporting them to make their claim for asylum in the UK. Each child must also be allocated an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) who is responsible for chairing regular reviews of their care plans. IROs must make sure that the child understands the plan for their care and is able to take an active part in making this plan. The IRO will need to make a relationship with each child to help them understand the full range of their rights and entitlements, including their right to access independent advocacy support.
The addition of a “guardian” to this framework risks adding further complexity and possible duplication to existing arrangements which involve a significant number of professional and concerned individuals. This could be confusing for children themselves and we need to ensure plans for their care and for processing their claims for asylum are effectively co-ordinated.
Free School Meals
According to estimates from the DCSF matched administrative dataset around 9 per cent. of young people (or 7,000 out of 77,000) who had been in receipt of free school meals age 15 in 2006/07 were in full-time education in sixth form colleges in England in 2007/08. In addition another 37 per cent. were studying in FE colleges and 22 per cent. in schools sixth forms making a total of 68 per cent. in full-time education. This compares with a rate of 60 per cent. in full-time education in 2004/05 for the cohort who had been in receipt of free school meals age 15 in 2003/04.
Further Education
Funding for students in colleges and school sixth forms has increased 72 per cent. in seven years. We have delivered our commitment to close the funding gap for like for like learning between schools and colleges by 8 percentage points by the end of the 2008/09 academic year, and we are committed to closing it further as funding allows. Our policy priority is to fund the September Guarantee to ensure every 16 and 17-year-old who wants one has a suitable place in education and training.
Funding for students in colleges and school sixth forms has increased 72 per cent. in seven years. We have delivered our commitment to close the funding gap for like for like learning between schools and colleges by 8 percentage points by the end of the 2008/09 academic year, and we are committed to closing it further as funding allows. Our priority is to fund the September Guarantee to ensure every 16 and 17-year-old who wants one has a suitable place in education and training.
Funding allocations for 2010/11 are currently being finalised and have been made on the same funding rate basis as the 2009/10 allocations. This was in order to fully fund the September Guarantee in increasing 16 to 18 participation to a record 1.6 million learner places, and to meet the Department's 2010-11 efficiency savings commitment.
GCSE
It is for Ofqual as the independent regulator of qualifications to set criteria for the development by awarding bodies of GCSE assessments to a common standard. Working to those criteria awarding bodies can seek to adapt their exam specifications to meet the needs of different learners to whom they offer exams. It is for Ofqual to regulate the resulting qualifications.
Section 129 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 sets out the general duties of Ofqual. It requires Ofqual to have regard to the reasonable requirements of those who are seeking to obtain or who might reasonably be expected to seek to obtain regulated qualifications, including those with learning difficulties But it also makes it clear that speaking a different language to that from the language of the teaching or assessment does not itself constitute a learning difficulty.
GCSE: Leeds
(2) what percentage of year 11 pupils at state schools in Leeds West constituency achieved five or more grade A* to C GCSEs in each year since 1992.
The requested figures are provided in the following table for all maintained schools including academies and City Technology Colleges. Figures before 1997 can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Year2 Leeds West constituency (school location based) Leeds local authority 1997 24.2 37.4 1998 20.3 37.9 1999 22.5 39.4 2000 25.2 40.4 2001 20.9 39.6 2002 22.7 42.4 2003 25.7 44.4 2004 26.1 45.4 2005 32.4 49.7 2006 38.7 52.2 2007 40.5 55.9 2008 49.3 62.5 20093 53.0 67.4 1 From 1997/98 includes GNVQ equivalences and from 2003/04 includes other equivalents approved for use pre-16. 2 Percentages are based on pupils aged 15 from 1997 to 2004. From 2005 onwards, percentages are based on pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. 3 Figures for 2009 are based on revised data while earlier years are final figures.
Hotels
Hotel bookings for stays at five star or above hotels made by the Department for Children, Schools and Families using Expotel for the period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009 is:
One booking at cost of £100.75.
Data have been provided by Expotel.
Mass Media: GCSE
In 2009, 60,047 pupils at the end of key stage 4 were entered for GCSE examinations in media, film and television studies. Of these 7,314 pupils were known to be eligible for free school meals, 52,715 were not eligible for free school meals and there were 18 pupils for whom free school meal eligibility could not be determined.
These figures relate to pupils in maintained schools only, including CTCs and academies. Information collected on free school meals forms part of the School Census which is only carried out in maintained schools. This free school meal information is then linked to attainment data. It relates to those pupils known to be eligible to receive free meals rather than those in receipt of free meals.
National Curriculum Tests
The requested information is given in the following tables for 2004 and 2009. Figures for all years can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Most deprived 10 per cent. Least deprived 10 per cent. Key Stage 1 Reading 2004 Number 57,187 48,131 Percentage 74.9 93.4 2009 Number 55,540 43,583 Percentage 75.9 93.0 Key Stage 1 Writing 2004 Number 53,885 47,165 Percentage 70.7 91.6 2009 Number 51,967 42,636 Percentage 71.0 91.0 Key Stage 1 Mathematics 2004 Number 64,002 49,537 Percentage 83.9 96.1 2009 Number 60,663 44,760 Percentage 82.9 95.6 Key Stage 1 Science 2004 Number 62,159 49,663 Percentage 81.2 96.3 2009 Number 58,977 44,864 Percentage 80.6 95.8 1 Includes pupils attending all maintained schools (including Academies and City Technology Colleges). 2 Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index. 3 IDACI bands for 2008 and 2009 are based on 2007 IDACI scores. Care should be taken when comparing to IDACI tables for 2007 and earlier which are based on 2004 IDACI scores. 4 Only includes pupils who are resident in England. Excludes pupils with missing or invalid postcode information. 5 Data are final. 6 In 2004, new assessment arrangements where only teacher assessments (informed by task/test results) were reported were trialled in some LAs. 2004 figures for reading, writing and maths are based on a combination of test/task and teacher assessment, 2005 and later are based on teacher assessment. 2004 Science figures are based on teacher assessment only.
Pupils in maintained schools1 achieving Level 2B2 or above at Key Stage 1 by IDACI decile3, 4 of pupil residence5 in 20046, 7 and 20096Most deprived 10 per cent.Least deprived 10 per cent.Key Stage 1 Reading2004Number43,29843,273Percentage56.784.02009Number43,92239,648Percentage60.084.6Key Stage 1 Writing2004Number35,96139,251Percentage47.276.22009Number33,84134,952Percentage46.274.6Key Stage 1 Mathematics2004Number48,21144,916Percentage63.287.22009Number45,39240,104Percentage62.085.6 1 Includes pupils attending all maintained schools (including Academies and City Technology Colleges).2 Level 2B can only be achieved in Reading, Writing and Maths.3 Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index.4 IDACI bands for 2008 and 2009 are based on 2007 IDACI scores. Care should be taken when comparing to IDACI tables for 2007 and earlier which are based on 2004 IDACI scores.5 Only includes pupils who are resident in England. Excludes pupils with missing or invalid postcode information.6 Data are final.7 In 2004, new assessment arrangements where only teacher assessments (informed by task/test results) were reported were trialled in some LAs. 2004 figures for reading, writing and maths are based on a combination of test/task and teacher assessment, 2005 and later are based on teacher assessment. 2004 Science figures are based on teacher assessment only.
Most deprived 10 per cent. Least deprived 10 per cent. Key Stage 1 Reading 2004 Number 11,965 21,994 Percentage 15.7 42.7 2009 Number 10,031 18,555 Percentage 13.7 39.6 Key Stage 1 Writing 2004 Number 6,348 12,708 Percentage 8.3 24.7 2009 Number 4,122 9,546 Percentage 5.6 20.4 Key Stage 1 Mathematics 2004 Number 12,705 21,294 Percentage 16.7 41.3 2009 Number 8,184 15,576 Percentage 11.2 33.3 Key Stage 1 Science 2004 Number 10,767 20,335 Percentage 14.1 39.4 2009 Number 7,876 16,501 Percentage 10.8 35.2 1 Includes pupils attending all maintained schools (including Academies and City Technology Colleges). 2 Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index. 3 IDACI bands for 2008 and 2009 are based on 2007 IDACI scores. Care should be taken when comparing to IDACI tables for 2007 and earlier which are based on 2004 IDACI scores. 4 Only includes pupils who are resident in England. Excludes pupils with missing or invalid postcode information. 5 Data are final. 6 In 2004, new assessment arrangements where only teacher assessments (informed by task/test results) were reported were trialled in some LAs. 2004 figures for reading, writing and maths are based on a combination of test/task and teacher assessment, 2005 and later are based on teacher assessment. 2004 Science figures are based on teacher assessment only. Source: National Pupil Database
The requested information is given in the following table.
Percentage of pupils achieving Number of eligible pupils Absent/Unable Disapplied Working towards level 1 1 2C 2B 2A 3 4 2+ Reading 2002 106,152 — — — — — — — — — 69 2003 102,793 — — — — — — — — — 69 2004 106,726 — — — — — — — — — 70 2005 101.276 0 0 8 22 18 24 17 11 0 70 2006 95,430 0 0 8 23 18 24 17 10 0 69 2007 94,221 0 0 8 24 17 23 18 11 0 69 2008 90,838 0 0 7 24 17 23 18 10 0 69 2009 92,439 0 0 6 23 17 24 18 11 0 71 Writing 2002 (Writing) 106,153 — — — — — — — — — 72 2002 (Spelling) 106,151 — — — — — — — — — 61 2003 102,794 — — — — — — — — — 64 2004 108,728 — — — — — — — — — 66 2005 101,285 0 0 11 22 26 23 12 5 0 66 2006 95.430 0 0 11 24 26 22 12 5 1— 65 2007 94,221 0 0 11 26 26 22 11 4 0 83 2008 90,637 0 0 10 26 26 22 11 4 1— 64 2009 92,437 0 0 8 26 26 24 12 4 0 86 Mathematics 2002 106.152 — — — — — — — — — 81 2003 102,794 — — — — — — — — — 80 2004 108,728 — — — — — — — — — 80 2005 101,301 0 0 5 13 25 26 21 10 0 81 2006 95,430 0 0 5 14 25 26 20 8 1— 80 2007 94,221 0 0 5 15 23 26 21 9 0 80 2008 90,638 0 0 5 16 23 26 21 9 1— 79 2009 92,455 0 0 4 16 23 28 20 9 0 80 Science 2005 101,306 0 — 3 18 — 68 — 11 0 78 2006 95.423 0 — 3 19 — 68 — 10 0 78 2007 94,218 0 — 3 19 — 68 — 9 0 77 2008 90,638 0 — 3 19 — 68 — 9 0 77 2009 92,425 0 — 3 19 — 69 — 9 0 78 1 Indicates figure suppressed due to small cohort size. Notes: 1. Pupil level collection of FSM eligibility began with the 2002 School Census, therefore no data is available prior to 2002. 2. Figures prior to 2004 are based on tests, 2004 are based on a combination of test and teacher assessment, 2005 and later based on teacher assessment. 3. Science figures are unavailable prior to 2005 as science test results were not collected centrally. 4. In 2003 significant changes were introduced to the assessment of writing. A separate level for spelling was not reported separately, instead marks for spelling contributed to the pupils' writing level and there was a new mark scheme for the two writing tasks. 5. Level distributions prior to 2005 are not available. 6. Percentages rounded to nearest percentage point. 7. Data covers maintained schools only.
The Department only collects teacher assessment results at the end of key stage 1 and so no such analysis is available for that key stage
An analysis of the level of agreement between the 2009 key stage 2 (KS2) teacher assessment and national curriculum test results is provided in the following tables.
Analysis of these data indicates that there is a good match between test performance and teacher assessment data. When interpreting these data, it should be borne in mind that national curriculum test and teacher assessment data will not always correlate. This is because tests provide a snapshot of attainment at the end of the key stage whereas teacher assessment takes into account evidence of attainment in a variety of contexts (such as discussion and observation), throughout the year. Both are vital to ensure rounded, and validated, assessments can be made about each child's performance.
Teacher assessment level—English Below 3 3 4 5 Below 3 82 17 1 0 3 6 63 30 0 4 0 7 79 14 5 0 0 26 74
Teacher assessment level–Maths Below 3 3 4 5 Below 3 84 16 1 0 3 7 72 20 0 4 0 8 80 12 5 0 0 13 87
Teacher assessment level–Science Below 3 3 4 5 Below 3 76 19 4 0 3 4 52 42 2 4 0 5 74 21 5 0 0 14 86 Note: The figures work across the table, so for a given teacher assessment level it shows the distribution of test levels achieved. Taking English as an example, of those pupils who were teacher assessed at level 4, 79 per cent. achieved a level 4 in the test; 7 per cent. achieved one level below and 14 per cent. achieved one level higher.
The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency's (QCDA) estimate of the costs of delivering the national curriculum tests for key stage 1 and key stage 2 for the 2008-09 financial year was £21,755,000.00. These costs are net of the £19,500,000.00 cash settlement received by QCDA, following termination of the test operations contract with ETS Global BV (ETS) in 2008.
National Safeguarding Delivery Unit
The National Safeguarding Delivery Unit will publish its further progress report later this month.
Pupil Exclusions
The available information on reasons for a permanent exclusion is published as follows:
2003/04: Table 11
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000582/index.shtml
2004/05: Table 11
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000662/index.shtml
2005/06: Table 8
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000733/index.shtml
2006/07: Table 9
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000793/index.shtml
2007/08: Table 9
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000860/index.shtml
The latest data available are for 2007/08; information on exclusions for 2008/09 is expected to be published in the summer 2010.
Data on reasons for exclusion include information on physical assault against an adult, but not specifically against teachers or school staff.
In 2005/06, data on reasons for a permanent exclusion were collected from secondary schools only.
The Department does not hold the requested information for Wales. Information relating to Wales is available from the Welsh Assembly Government.
The available information on reasons for a permanent exclusion is published as follows:
2003/04: Table 11
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000582/index.shtml
2004/05: Table 11
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000662/index.shtml
2005/06: Table 8
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000733/index.shtml
2006/07: Table 9
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000793/index.shtml
2007/08: Table 9
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000860/index.shtml
Data on pupils permanently excluded for carrying a knife or other weapon onto school premises are not separately identified. There are categories for verbal abuse/threatening behaviour and physical assault.
The latest data available are for 2007/08; information on exclusions for 2008/09 is expected to be published in the summer 2010.
In 2005/06, data on reasons for a permanent exclusion were collected from secondary schools only.
The Department does not hold the requested information for Wales. Information relating to Wales is available from the Welsh Assembly Government.
Pupils: Learning Disability
[holding answer 15 March 2010]: The number of learners aged 16 to 18 learning in mainstream provision with a self-declared learning difficulty and/or disability has been around 120,000 each year from 2006/07 to 2008/09 academic year. These were funded through the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The figure includes 4,000 in specialist provision, and it is estimated there are around 4,000 in the age group 19 to 25 with high level needs. Estimates for future numbers are based on this evidence.
For the 2010/11 academic year responsibility for funding learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities aged 16 to 18 and between 19 and 25 with high-level needs will pass to the Young People's Learning Agency and local authorities.
Schools: Swimming
As part of the primary school national curriculum all school children receive lessons in swimming during school hours The Department’s PE and Sport Strategy for Young People (PESSYP) also funds the top up school swimming programme through a grant that enables School Sports Partnership to deliver additional swimming, during the curriculum, to pupils in Key Stage 2 who are not yet able to swim unaided over a distance of 25 metres.
September Guarantee
[holding answer 11 March 2010]: The Department for Children Schools and Families publishes annual estimates of the number of 16 and 17 year olds participating in education and work based learning in each local authority.
Figures for (a) England and (b) Coventry are shown in the following table.
2007 20081 England 1,113,400 1,333,400 Coventry 7,100 n/a 1 Provisional.
England figures for 2009 and local authority figures for 2008 are due to be published in June 2010.
The September Guarantee aims to ensure that all 16 and 17 year olds are offered a suitable place in learning. Statistics show that record numbers of young people are now participating in learning. This is enabling them to build the skills they need to make a successful transition to sustainable employment.
Teachers
The following table provides the number of teachers with qualified teacher status aged below 60, the normal retirement age for those teachers who first entered service before 1 January 2007, who were not recorded in service in state maintained schools in England in March 1997, 2005 and 2008, the latest information available.
Teachers 1997 509,360 2005 503,410 20084 483,760 1 Teachers age at March of each year. 2 Figures include teachers who never entered service, have left service both permanently and temporarily and those in service in other sectors or outside England. They exclude teachers who are receiving a pension or those recorded in occasional service in the state maintained sector. 3 State maintained schools include local authority maintained schools, City Technology Colleges and academies. 4 Provisional. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Database of Teacher Records.
Teachers: City of York
(2) what the average pupil to teacher ratio was in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in York in each year since 1996.
York became a new local authority on 1 April 1997 and therefore the information requested is not available for 1996.
The information requested for full-time equivalent teachers, teaching assistants and support staff in 1997, 2001 to 2009 is published in tables 19, 25 and 26 of the Statistical First Release (SFR) 'School Workforce in England (including local authority level figures) January 2009 (Revised)' published on 29 September 2009. The SFR is available at the following web link:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000874/Tables19to27v2.xls
The equivalent information requested for 1998 to 2000 is published in tables 18, 23 and 24 of the Statistical First Release (SFR) 'School Workforce in England (including pupil: teacher ratios and pupil: adult ratios) January 2007 (Revised)' published on 27 September 2007. The SFR is available at the following web link:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000743/SFR29_2007_FinalTables18-25.xls
The following table provides the pupil teacher ratios in local authority maintained primary and secondary schools in York local authority, in each January, 1997 to 2009.
Primary Secondary January 1997 24.3 16.3 1998 24 6 16.2 1999 23.5 16.7 2000 24.6 18.4 2001 22.9 16.6 2002 22.0 16.0 2003 22.0 16.0 2004 22.7 16.0 2005 23.0 15.6 2006 21.7 15.9 2007 21.7 16.3 2008 21.4 15.7 2009 21.6 15.7 1 The PTR is calculated by dividing the total FTE number of pupils on roll in schools by the total FTE number of qualified teachers regularly employed in schools. Source: School Census
Teachers: Early Retirement
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Ruffley) on 9 February 2010, Official Report, column 903W.
Teachers: Wolverhampton
The information requested is published in table 19 of the Statistical First Release (SFR) ‘School Workforce in England (including Local Authority level figures) January 2009 (Revised)’, published on 29 September 2009. The SFR is available at the following web link:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000874/Tables19to27v2.xls
Truancy
[holding answer 5 February 2010]: Information on persistent absentees is not available for 1997. The latest available information for 2007-08 is shown in the table.
Number of schools Percentage of school enrolments who are persistent absentees5,6: Primary schools1 Secondary schools1,2 More than 10% 65 299 More than 20% 8 11 More than 30% 3 0 More than 40% 1 0 1 Includes middle schools as deemed. 2 Includes maintained secondary schools, city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies). 3 Includes schools with at least one enrolment aged between five and 15. 4 Persistent absentees are defined as having 64 or more sessions of absence (authorised and unauthorised) during the year, typically over 20 per cent. overall absence rate. 5 The number of persistent absentees expressed 86 a percentage of the total number of enrolments. 6 Those schools counted in the ‘more than 40 per cent.’ category are also included in all the lower categories. Similarly, for the ‘more than 30 per cent.’ and ‘more than 20 per cent.’ categories. Source: School Census
Health
Cancer: Health Services
Information on the finished consultant episode bed days in which an elective and emergency admission took place and where the primary diagnosis was lung cancer, bowel cancer, upper gastrointestinal cancer and haematological cancer has been placed in the Library.
The information has been provided for primary care trusts in England for the years 1997-98 to 2008-09. This information is not available for cancer networks.
Information on costs associated with the bed days is not available.
Information on the count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) and emergency admissions where the method of admission was emergency, and where the primary diagnosis was lung cancer, bowel cancer, upper gastrointestinal cancer and haematological cancer, has been placed in the Library.
The information has been provided for England and for primary care trusts in England for the years 2004-05 to 2008-09. Information is not available by cancer networks.
Tables showing estimated expenditure on cancer care, lung cancer care, lower gastro-intestinal cancer care, haematological cancer care and upper gastrointestinal cancer care in England, by each cancer network area and by each primary care trust (PCT), have been placed in the Library.
Information on cancer care has been provided for England and PCTs for the last five years. Information on cancer care has been provided for cancer networks from 2004-05, as this is the first year that the information became available. Information for cancer care by tumour site has been provided from 2006-07 as this is the first year that data was collected at sub-category level for a number of tumour types. Bowel cancer care is included in the lower gastro-intestinal cancer care data.
The information requested from questions A-G is not routinely available. The estimated total national health service spend on cancer care represented in the graph on page 119 of the “Cancer Reform Strategy” was an analysis commissioned specifically for inclusion in the Strategy. It was based on a wide range of data from 2005-06, and the sources of this data are quoted in the Strategy. An estimated NHS spend on cancer care under the same categories of that graph is not available for any other years, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Cancer: Medical Treatments
The Department does not hold figures for the number of national health service patients who choose to purchase additional private care.
However, this will be looked at as part of a national audit of the demand for unfunded drugs. The audit, which was recommended by Professor Sir Mike Richards's review, ‘Improving access to medicines for NHS patients’, is currently being developed and is expected to report in the spring of 2011.
Departmental Legal Costs
Since 2006, there have been no legal challenges reaching an employment tribunal on matters concerning remuneration. Records were not held centrally prior to 2006 and to collect this information would incur disproportionate costs.
Departmental Legislation
There are no current plans to lay any further statutory instruments under the affirmative procedure in the current session. A number of statutory instruments to be laid under the negative procedure are under consideration at any time.
Departmental Surveys
The 2009 Civil Service People Survey results for the Department have been placed in the Library. The results are also available on the Department's website at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_112846
The 2009 Civil Service People Survey results for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have been placed in the Library. These results are also available on the MHRA website at:
www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/CON071332
Departmental Theft
The Department deters thefts by:
reporting thefts to the police;
guidance and training to staff on how to protect departmental property;
marking departmental property with forensic dye and high visibility labels; and
recording lost or stolen items on a police property register.
Doctors and Nurses: Manpower
The information is not available in the format requested. However, the number of consultants, doctors in training and national health service hospital and community health services (HCHS) qualified nursing staff, at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust as at 30 September, for 1997 and the latest date available, is shown in the following table:
Number of consultants Number of doctors in training HCHS qualified nursing staff 1997 94 131 978 2008 182 219 1,547 Sources: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care—Non-Medical Workforce Census The NHS Information Centre for health and social care—Medical and Dental Workforce Census
The number of NHS general practitioners (GPs), practice nurses and HCHS qualified nursing staff employed by Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust (PCT) as at 30 September, for 2002 and the latest date available, is shown in the following table:
Number of GPs Number of practice nurses Number of HCHS qualified nursing staff 2002 142 98 1,461 2008 175 96 1,547 Note: It is not possible to map accurate workforce figures for this organisation prior to the formation of the PCTs in 2002. Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care—General and Personal Medical Services Statistics
Doctors: Vacancies
Junior doctor posts are not included in the NHS Information Centre Medical and Dental vacancy publication.
Ealing
The Government have put in place a programme of national health service investment and reform since 1997 to improve service delivery in all parts of the United Kingdom. 93 per cent. of people nationally now rate the NHS as good or excellent. The NHS Constitution contains 25 rights and 14 pledges for patients and the public including new rights to be treated within 18 weeks, or be seen by a cancer specialist within two weeks and an NHS health check every five years for those aged 40-74 years.
There is significant evidence that these policies have yielded considerable benefits for the Ealing Southall constituency.
For example:
Figures for December 2009 show that in Ealing Primary Care Trust (PCT):
96 per cent. of patients whose treatment involved admission to hospital started their treatment within 18 weeks.
98 per cent. of patients whose treatment did not involve admission to hospital started their treatment within 18 weeks.
Between September 2001 and September 2008 the number of general practitioners (GPs) per 100,000 people within Ealing PCT has increased from 61.2 to 66.8.
In December 2009, at Ealing Hospital NHS Trust, 97.7 per cent. of patients spent less than four hours in accident and emergency from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge.
Between September 1997 and September 2008 the number of consultants at Ealing Hospital NHS Trust increased from 49 to 67. Between September 1997 and September 2008 the estimated number of nurses increased from 550 to 726.
96.9 per cent. of urgent GP referrals to Ealing Hospital NHS Trust with suspected cancer are seen by a specialist within two weeks of the referral.
Although statistical information is not available at a local level, Ealing Southall will have also benefited from national policies in other areas. For example:
Since 1997, gross current expenditure on personal social services has increased by around 70 per cent. in real terms with around 105,000 households now receiving intensive home care and 3,076 new extra care housing units—exceeding the original target of 1,500 new extra care units.
Other strategies currently being implemented are:
Subject to parliamentary approval, the Personal Care at Home Bill will guarantee free personal care for 280,000 people with the highest needs and help around 130,000 people who need home care for the first time to regain their independence;
Shaping the Future of Care Together Green Paper, published in July 2009, sets out a vision for a National Care Service for all adults in England which is fair, simple and affordable. The Department has consulted widely on this reform and is currently analysing the responses, which will feed into a White Paper later this year;
The National Carer's Strategy—(Carers at the heart of 21st century families and communities)—launched in 2008;
The first National Dementia Strategy was published in February 2009;
Valuing People Now—a three year strategy for people with learning disabilities published in January 2009; and
New Horizons: A Shared Vision for Mental Health—launched in December 2009—to maintain improvements in mental health services combined with a new cross-Government approach to promoting public mental health.
Since 1998, there are now 2.4 million fewer smokers in England as a result of the Government's comprehensive tobacco control strategy which has had a measurable impact on reducing smoking prevalence.
Child obesity levels are reducing due to the efforts of families across England, supported by the Government's obesity strategy. In 2008, 13.9 per cent. of children (aged 2 to 10) in England were classified as obese, compared with 17.3 per cent. in 2005.
Overall, life expectancy at birth for men has increased from 74.5 years (1995-1997 data) to 77.7 years (2006-08 data) while for women, life expectancy at birth has increased from 79.6 years (1995-97 data) to 81.9 years (2006-08 data).
General Practitioners and Dental Services: Pendle
The information is not available in the format requested. However, the data are available set out in the following table.
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale PCT 129 133 134 132 — — — East Lancashire Teaching PCT — — — — 221 218 221 Notes: 1. East Lancashire PCT was created on 1 October 2006 from a complete merger of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale PCT, Hyndbum and Ribble Valley PCT and a part merger of Preston PCT (various wards and parishes). Due to this part merger it is not possible to provide figures which are consistent over a time series prior to 2006. The area of Pendle was serviced by Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale PCT in 2002-05 and by East Lancashire PCT in 2006-08. 2. The Information Centre for health and social care seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: The Information Centre for health and social care—general and personal medical services statistics.
The numbers of national health service dentists, in Pendle, as at 31 March, 1997 to 2006 are available in Annex E and Annex G of the “NHS Dental Activity and Workforce Report England: 31 March 2006”. Annex E provides information by strategic health authority (SHA) and by PCT. Annex G provides information by constituency.
This information is based on the old contractual arrangements, which were in place up to and including 31 March 2006. This report, published on 23 August 2006, has already been placed in the Library and is available on the website of the Information Centre for health and social care at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dwfactivity
The numbers of dentists with NHS activity during the years ending 31 March, 2007, 2008 and 2009 are available in Table G1 of Annex 3 of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England: 2008-09” report. Information is provided for England and by SHA and PCT but is not available by constituency. This information is based on the new dental contractual arrangements, introduced on 1 April 2006. This report, published on 19 August 2009, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the website of the Information Centre for health and social care at:
www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalstats0809
Following a recent consultation exercise, this measure is based on a revised methodology and therefore supersedes any previously published workforce figures relating to the new dental contractual arrangements. It is not comparable to the information collected under the old contractual arrangements. This revised methodology counted the number of dental performers with NHS activity recorded via FP17 claim forms in each year ending 31 March.
These published figures relate to a headcount and do not differentiate between full-time and part-time dentists, nor do they account for the fact that some dentists may do more NHS work than others.
Health Services: Disadvantaged
There are currently 62 PCTs that cover Spearhead areas and 90 that do not. It is worth noting that the Spearhead does not refer to PCTs, but to local authority areas, which do not correspond exactly to each other
The information is in the following table.
£000 Spearhead PCTs Non-Spearhead PCTs Total 2008-09 30,114,227 46,646,607 76,760,834 2007-08 28,486,147 43,892,433 72,378,580 2006-07 26,018,647 40,369,031 66,387,678 2005-06 21,770,843 41,492,084 63,262,927 Notes: 1. Figures represent total net operating costs. 2. Figures for 2006-07 to 2008-09 are based on PCT boundaries following the October 2006 NHS reorganisation. 2005-06 figures are based on old PCT boundaries. 3. The Spearhead group is identified in terms of local authority areas—Spearhead PCTs are those that overlap geographically, either wholly or partly, with the Spearhead local authorities. Spearhead PCTs on old and new boundaries cover slightly different populations. Source: PCT audited summarisation schedules
Home Care Services
Members of the Care and Support Alliance and a limited number of additional organisations which have a cross-cutting leadership role in the care and support sector, were invited to the Care and Support Conference on 19 February to give their views to politicians and help build a consensus on the reform of the system.
A full list of attendees is included in the Conference Report, a copy of which has been placed in the Library and which can also be viewed online at:
http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/news/2010/03/care-and-support-conference-report-published/
Motor Neurone Disease: Health Services
There are no current plans to publish a national strategy on motor neurone disease.
NHS: Medical Treatments
Under the contract between the Department and the Technology Assessment Review (TAR) teams which support the work of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), Evidence Review Group reports for single technology appraisals are produced within eight weeks from the date of the industry submission and assessment reports for multiple technology appraisals are produced within 28 weeks from the TAR team's receipt: of the final scope from NICE. This assumes that preceding stages have been completed according to the stipulated guidance.
Publication of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's (NICE) final response to Sir Ian Kennedy's report on Appraising the Value of Innovation is a matter for NICE as an independent body. We understand that a draft response to Sir Ian's report was discussed at NICE'S board meeting on 17 March 2010 and NICE will confirm its plans for publication in due course.
Trade Unions
Information about the number of days that staff in the Department and its agencies spent on trade union activity is not held centrally. To collect this information would incur disproportionate cost. It is not possible therefore to make an estimate of the cost of these activities.
Through our facilities agreement, the Department makes available certain facilities to the three recognised trades unions in order to conduct their business effectively.
The Department and trades unions place high value on fostering and maintaining good industrial relations. We work in partnership to achieve shared aims, objectives and outcomes. The granting of reasonable facilities and facility time by the Department make an important contribution to the success of the organisation.
Business, Innovation and Skills
Departmental Consultants
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan An Iar (Mr. MacNeil) on 16 March 2010, Official Report, column reference 838W.
Departmental Lost Property
During the period 1 February 2009 to 31 January 2010, 116 items were reported as missing on this Department's and its predecessors’ central London estate with an estimated replacement value of £32,044. Of these, 22 items were subsequently found with an estimated replacement value of £3,257.
The Department records items as missing as it is not always possible to prove theft as the reason for the loss of items and some items reported are subsequently found.
The figure includes small, low value personal items as well as items of electrical equipment, such as ICT equipment, mobile phones and accessories (some of which may have been personal items) and multi media equipment.
Departmental Theft
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills takes thefts seriously, and has long standing policies in place designed to reduce the number of thefts.
To raise awareness of the need for ongoing vigilance we undertake the following:
Poster campaigns in areas such as in the tea points and lift lobbies reminding staff of the threat of opportunist thefts.
Advice on the Department’s intranet site alerting staff that they could be a victim, and advising them what to do in the unlikely event they become a victim.
Frequent foot patrols by our security guards, both in and out of office hours.
There have also been notices to staff published on the Department’s electronic bulletin board reminding staff of the need to protect departmental assets when travelling on public transport and when in public places.
We record thefts in the Department and monitor the trends. If trends deteriorate in a given area, we would put in place further measures to tackle the problem. These could include seminars to staff in affected areas, one to one advice and specific intervention by line managers.
We review our policies frequently making improvements to security when necessary.
Diamond Jubilee 2012
A Diamond Jubilee Unit has been established in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. This is staffed by 1.5 (full-time equivalent) staff. The Unit is working closely with officials from 15 Government Departments (including the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) and the Devolved Administrations.
I refer the hon. Member to the statement given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Regulatory Reform (Ian Lucas) to the House on this matter on 5 January 2010, Official Report, columns 56-57. A medal will be issued to mark the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Further details will be released in due course.
My Noble Friend the Secretary of State has received approximately 52 letters on the subject of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
Planning for the Diamond Jubilee is still at an early stage. Consideration will be given nearer the time as to whether there are opportunities to link the Jubilee celebrations with other events going on around the country in the run up to the games.
Although planning for the Diamond Jubilee is still at an early stage, discussions are ongoing between Government and the Royal Household about the arrangements for the Diamond Jubilee.
Insolvency: Gloucestershire
Official statistics covering corporate insolvencies are not currently available at a sub-national level within England and Wales.
Additionally, the number of employees is not recorded on the source datasets.
Self-employed traders may be declared bankrupt (or enter into an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA)). While official regional figures down to constituency level for self-employed bankrupts are maintained from calendar year 2000, the number of employees (if any) is not available.
Learning Disability
This Department routes funding through the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) for the provision of further education (FE) and skills training for adult learners aged 19 and over. This includes funding for learners with difficulties and/or disabilities (LLDD).
Funding for these learners remains a priority and we remain committed to maintaining future opportunities for them.
Additional learning support (ALS) funding is provided to FE colleges and training organisations to support the additional costs associated with learners with LDD to help them to undertake mainstream provision.
There is a broad range of provision available to support learners with LDD, for example the Foundation Learning Curriculum supports improved achievement and progression towards employment and independent living below level 2. However it is for FE colleges and training organisations to determine their offer to these learners in line with their level of need.
Currently, learners aged 19 to 25 entitled to a learning difficulty assessment (LDD) (S139A) are covered by a statutory duty placed on the Learning Skills Council. From 1 April 2010 responsibility will transfer to local authorities (LAs) following changes announced in the Learning Skills Act 2008 and the Apprenticeship, Schools, Children and Learning Act 2009. Such learners will continue to be funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) through the arrangements with the Young Persons Learning Agency and LAs. This will support the policy that there should be a single body with responsibility for all young adults with learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LLDD) up to the age of 25 who require significant levels of support.
It is not possible to separately identify learners in receipt of S139A assessments. However we are able to estimate that there have been around 200,000 learners aged 19 and over in mainstream provision with a self declared disability each year from 2006/07 to 2008/09 academic year (the latest whole year for which data are available).
Redundancy: Public Sector
Estimates of the total number of redundancies are available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). However there is no available disaggregation between voluntary and involuntary redundancies or a constituency-level or regional breakdown.
Individuals recently made redundant are not asked in the LFS whether they were in the public or private sectors and are instead classified according to the industrial group of their previous job. The industrial group ‘public administration, education and health’ may act as a very broad approximation of a large part of the public sector. Although a large fraction of employees in and redundancies from this industrial group are likely to be in the public sector, private sector firms also operate within this industry whilst there are also public sector employees in other sectors.
BIS estimates of redundancies from public administration, education and health and all other industries are provided in the third and fourth columns of Table 1 for the first quarter of each year since 1999, the earliest date available. These figures should only be treated as indicative as the LFS is a self classification survey completed by individuals. Some individuals are unlikely to identify exactly the industry in which they work.
The second column of Table 1 reports Office for National Statistics published figures for total economy-wide redundancy rates. These do not exactly match the other columns due to missing values in the industrial classification of redundancies.
Industrial breakdown ONS total first quarter redundancy rates Public administration, education and health All other industries 1997 7.0 — — 1998 7.4 — — 1999 8.8 1.50 11.40 2000 7.8 0.97 10.32 2001 6.5 1.39 8.48 2002 8.4 1.24 11.11 2003 7.3 1.35 9.65 2004 5.9 0.89 7.97 2005 5.6 0.99 7.61 2006 5.9 1.20 8.06 2007 6.1 1.44 8.15 2008 4.7 1.37 6.21 2009 11.8 1.36 16.50 Source: ONS Economic and Labour Market Statistics (column 2) and BIS analysis of Labour Force Survey (columns 3 and 4). The data are not seasonally adjusted although there are seasonal variations in the number of redundancies.
Stroud
I refer my hon. Friend to the answers given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Regional Development and Co-ordination on 27 January, Official Report, column 974W, and 10 February, Official Report, column 111W, regarding specific examples of support to Stroud district.
The Government have put in place a broad programme of reform since 1997. Over the decade to 2007, the economic performance of all parts of the UK improved considerably. More recently we have provided significant support to businesses through ‘Real Help for Business’, and the strategy ‘New Industry, New Jobs’.
There are a number of websites that provides a wide range of statistical information at parliamentary constituency level. Examples are the National Statistics website at:
http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/
and NOMIS at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/
Students: Radicalism
Guidance was issued to vice-chancellors and college principals from the former Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills on managing the risk of violent extremism.
These two guidance documents can be found at:
http://www.dius.gov.uk/higher_education/shape_and_structure/~/media/publications/L/extremismhe
and
http://www.dius.gov.uk/further_education/guidance_and_good_practice/~/media/publications/L/learning-together-to-be-safe-online-
My noble Friend the Secretary of State wrote to all vice-chancellors in England in February 2010 following the failed Detroit bombing on Christmas day. A copy of this letter will be sent to the hon. Member.
Work to reduce extremism in educational establishments forms part of the Government's overall counter-terrorism strategy. The revised strategy which was published by the Home Office in 2009 contains a statement on Human Rights. Separate assessments are not undertaken by other Departments.
The statement can be found in sections 7.04 to 7.06 of the counter terrorism strategy document which can be found at:
http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-publications/publication-search/contest/contest-strategy
Energy and Climate Change
Biomass
The renewable energy directive, published in June 2009, includes sustainability criteria that transport biofuels, and bioliquids used for heat and electricity generation must meet in order to receive financial support and to count towards the directive's renewable energy targets. On 25 February 2010, the European Commission published its recommendations on the sustainability requirements member states should include if they decide to introduce sustainability criteria for the use of solid and gaseous biomass sources for heat and electricity generation. In the light of this, DECC will make an announcement later this month, setting out what actions the Government can now take to introduce sustainability standards for biomass in the UK.
Carbon Emissions
DECC published estimates of UK greenhouse gas emissions for the period 1990 to 2008 as National Statistics on 2 February 2010. These can be found on the DECC website at the link as follows. This publication includes data tables which show emissions both including and excluding emissions trading.
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/climate_change/gg_emissions/uk_emissions/2008_final/2008_fmal.aspx
The following table shows both UK carbon dioxide emissions and UK greenhouse gas emissions on a Kyoto Protocol basis for each of the last five years for which data are currently available.
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Greenhouse gas emissions Excluding emissions trading 659.3 655.2 650.0 640.5 628.3 Including emissions trading 659.3 630.1 618.7 614.9 608.4 Carbon dioxide emissions Excluding emissions trading 556.3 553.9 551.4 543.6 532.8 Including emissions trading 556.3 528.8 520.2 518.1 512.9
The most recent estimates of UK carbon dioxide emissions were for the 2008 calendar year. These were published by DECC as National Statistics on 2nd February 2010. This publication includes a breakdown by sector, based on the source of emissions. Based on this breakdown, we estimate that 80.7 Mt carbon dioxide came from the residential sector. This primarily represents emissions relating to fossil fuel combustion within residential homes, which will primarily be in relation to domestic heating and cooking.
DECC also publishes estimates of carbon dioxide emissions on an end-user basis which can be found at:
http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/climate_change_gg_emissions/uk_emissions/2008_final/2008_final.aspx
on this page a summary report of UK emissions by National Communication sector (which includes the residential sector) on an end-user basis and the accompanying excel tables can be found.
The end-user breakdown reallocates the emissions by source in accordance with where the end-use occurred. The main effect of this is to re-allocate emissions from the power supply sector to businesses and homes, where electricity is used.
The most recent estimates available of UK carbon dioxide emissions on an end-user basis are for the 2007 calendar year; this is the most recent year for which we have estimates of emissions by both source and end-user. These were published by DECC as national statistics on 26 March 2009. This publication included a breakdown by end-user sector, which estimated that 142.2 Mt carbon-dioxide came from the residential sector.
On an end-user basis, we would therefore estimate that approximately 45 per cent. of residential carbon dioxide emissions arise from electricity use.
We do not hold financial records for spend for all media on a month-by-month basis.
The cost information we have is outlined as follows.
DECC was; created in October 2008, however the Save Money, Save Energy campaign was launched in September 2008, therefore figures reported are from the start of that campaign.
From September 2008 to March 2009, invoiced expenditure on DECC's Act On CO2 advertising campaign was £10.19 million inclusive of fees, exclusive of VAT and covers all costs associated with the campaign.
From April 2009 to 16 March 2010, the estimated expenditure was £9.98 million inclusive of fees, exclusive of VAT and covers all costs associated with the campaign.
The underlying data for charts 19, 20 and 22 from the Analytical Annex to the Low Carbon Transition Plan are in the tables. The Annex can be viewed online at:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/publications/lc_trans_plan/lc_trans_plan.aspx
Chart 19 shows that the projected increases in household energy bills in 2020 (compared to bills in 2020 where there are no climate change policies) are likely to represent a smaller proportion of income for those in higher income households than for lower income households.
Chart 20 shows that households who take up insulation and renewable energy measures are likely to face much lower increases in their bills in 2020 compared to those who do not. It also shows that for those who do take up measures, the expected increase in energy bills as a share of income is more similar across the income distribution.
Chart 22 shows actual and projected UK fossil fuel demand and production, indicating the level of the UK’s energy import dependency. The Department updates its projections of both UK demand and production from time to time so these estimates of future import dependency are subject to revision.
Decile Percentage share of income spent on energy bills without policies Increase in share of income spent on energy bills with policies (ppts) (percentage) Bottom 12.73 1.50 2nd 8.53 0.96 3rd 6.63 0.80 4th 5.42 0.69 5th 4.55 0.55 6th 3.96 0.50 7th 3.42 0.41 8th 2.95 0.38 9th 2.53 0.34 Top 1.87 0.25 Source: DECC
Percentage Income Decile Household receives measures Household receives no measures Average of all households (ppts) Bottom 0.67 2.78 1.50 2nd 0.46 1.89 0.96 3rd 0.44 1.52 0.80 4th 0.39 1.28 0.69 5th 0.30 1.09 0.55 6th 0.29 0.96 0.50 7th 0.24 0.82 0.41 8th 0.24 0.73 0.38 9th 0.22 0.62 0.34 Top 0.18 0.44 0.25 Source: DECC
UK Production UK Demand (pre-TP baseline) UK Demand (post-TP) mtoe Coal Oil (incl. bunkers) Gas (net) Coal Oil (incl. bunkers) Gas (net) Coal Oil (incl. bunkers) Gas (net) 1998 25.8 145.3 84.5 40.6 91.0 82.3 40.6 91.0 82.3 1999 23.2 150.2 93.5 36.1 89.6 88.0 36.1 89.6 88.0 2000 19.6 138.3 102.7 38.7 89.2 91.2 38.7 89.2 91.2 2001 20.0 127.8 99.1 41.0 87.6 89.6 41.0 87.6 89.6 2002 18.8 127.0 96.8 37.6 86.6 88.3 37.6 86.6 88.3 2003 17.6 116.2 96.3 40.1 86.8 88.8 40.1 86.8 88.8 2004 15.6 104.5 89.7 38.5 89.1 90.8 38.5 89.1 90.8 2005 12.7 92.9 81.8 39.4 91.3 88.4 39.4 91.3 88.4 2006 11.4 84.0 74.0 43.0 90.6 84.2 43.0 90.6 84.2 2007 10.7 84.2 66.5 40.3 86.9 85.4 40.3 86.9 85.4 2008 11.6 78.2 64.3 38.2 85.8 86.3 38.1 85.8 86.3 2009 11,0 74.1 59.1 36.3 84.3 84.4 35.7 82.6 83.9 2010 11.0 70.8 55.5 34.4 84.2 82.1 33.1 83.1 80.7 2011 11.0 67.8 52.3 38.0 85.0 80.9 33.0 83.6 80.5 2012 11.0 65.3 49.4 36.9 85.8 82.2 31.7 84.0 80.3 2013 11.0 62.7 47.2 35.3 86.1 84.0 31.8 84.0 78.8 2014 11.0 59.9 45.0 34.0 86.5 85.0 28.8 83.6 78.8 2015 11.0 57.2 43.0 35.3 86.9 84.2 30.6 83.2 74.9 2016 11.0 54.6 41.1 31.5 87.4 86.8 29.0 82.8 72.8 2017 11.0 52.2 39.2 31.0 88.0 88.5 26.9 82.4 73.0 2018 11.0 49.8 37.5 30.5 88.5 88.5 28.5 82.0 68.1 2019 11.0 47.6 35.8 30.7 89.1 88.8 26.1 81.5 67.0 2020 11.0 45.4 34.2 31.5 89.7 87.8 24.7 81.1 62.6 2021 11.0 43.4 32.6 30.5 90.4 88.5 23.9 81.6 61.6 2022 11.0 41.4 31.2 30.5 91.2 89.5 23.3 82.1 61.8 2023 11.0 39.6 29.7 29.4 91.9 91.4 18.5 82.6 66.2 2024 11.0 37.8 28.4 27.2 92.7 96.1 18.0 83.1 68.9 2025 11.0 36.1 27.1 27.2 93.5 97.2 18.0 83.7 68.9 Source: DECC
Carbon Emissions: Housing
The Government are taking a number of steps to ensure consumers are assisted in understanding the support available to them. The Government supports a one-stop shop through the Energy Saving Trust which provides free advice to consumers on energy saving as well as providing easy access to the full range of Carbon Emission Reduction Target offers. This is supported by the Government’s overarching Act On CO2 marketing campaign which demonstrates the benefits of the energy saving measures offered under the Carbon Emission Reduction Target as part of coverage in national television, press, radio and online. Longer term, we have set out our intention as part of the ‘Warm Homes, Greener Homes’ strategy to continue to improve and simplify consumer access to, and use of, energy saving information. This will combine with effective branding and marketing to build awareness and trust in the available products and services.
Climate Change: Publicity
DECC was created in October 2008, however the Save Money, Save Energy campaign was launched in September 2008, therefore figures reported are from the start of that campaign.
From September 2008 to March 2009, invoiced cost on DECC's Act on CO2 advertising campaign was £10.19 million inclusive of fees, exclusive of VAT and covers all costs associated with the campaign.
From April 2009 to 16 March 2010, the estimated cost was £9.98 million inclusive of fees, exclusive of VAT and covers all costs associated with the campaign.
Climate Change: Research
I have been asked to reply.
(a) The funding allocated into research into the effects of climate change on agriculture in the past five years is as follows:
Mitigation Adaptation 2003-04 324,193 280,559 2004-05 324,193 280,559 2005-06 239,748 143,199 2006-07 987,775 292,554 2007-08 1,583,875 575,388 2008-09 1,717,622 269,354
(b) The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP), funded by DEFRA, has incorporated a business element that works with individual business or representative organisations to help develop risk management and adaptation strategies. UKCIP have developed free for user on-line tools specially designed for business, in addition to the climate change projections.
We are unable to provide a breakdown of the funding provided to UKCIP for research into mitigating the effects of climate change in agriculture and business, as the work done by UKCIP is of benefit to all. However the total funding provided to UKCIP for the last five years is as follows:
£ 2005-06 712,743 2006-07 799,000 2007-08 898,337 2008-09 1,322,900 2009-10 1,078,000 Total funding 4,810,980
In addition, as part of Government’s cross-Department Adaptation to Climate Change programme established in 2008, a small business engagement team has been set up. In FY 2009-10 this team managed research projects on business opportunities from adaptation to climate change, business messaging and business advice totalling up to £160,000.
Departmental Lost Property
The following items have been recorded as lost or stolen from the Department in the last 12 months:
Item Lost Stolen Laptops 1 1 RSA token 9 0 Entrust token 3 0 Blackberry 1 0 3G dongle 1 0 Coat 0 1 Bag 0 1
Estimated cost for replacement is £4,000.
Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers
The Department has not paid any reimbursable expenses to special advisers.
Domestic Appliances: Carbon Emissions
(2) if he will bring forward proposals to require all Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) measures to be branded to inform consumers of their indirect contribution through bill payments to the cost of CERT measures; and if he will make a statement.
Government do not require suppliers to report or present this information on bills at present, but the Government's ‘Warm Homes, Greener Homes’ strategy, published in early March, set out the importance of greater transparency in any post 2013 energy company obligation, including around cost information. We continue to develop the detail of this arrangement, and will pursue new powers as necessary.
Energy: Billing
[holding answer 15 March 2010]: Details of billing review and assessment periods, and the customer’s right to a credit refund for balances above a certain level are subject to the terms and conditions of individual business supply contracts. Where smaller business customers are concerned about such an issue they should in the first instance take it up with their supplier. If the supplier fails to resolve the matter satisfactorily, they should pursue their complaint through the Energy Ombudsman under the statutory redress scheme.
Ofgem looked at concerns about unfairness in contract terms in small business supply as part of its probe into the energy supply market in 2008. As a result, Ofgem recently placed an obligation on suppliers to provide clear and transparent contract terms and conditions. The changes came into effect from 18 January 2010. I would expect to see Ofgem evaluate the impact of the changes in due course and consider whether any further changes are needed to protect small business consumers.
National Grid
We are not aware recent work has been done on the risk of a deliberately generated electromagnetic pulse adversely impacting the National Grid.
In 2009 National Grid used modelling techniques to study the impact of solar storms on the UK transmission system. The modelling has identified the reasonable worst scenario for the transmission network could lead to short term, localised disturbances at the extremities of the network. National Grid does not anticipate any significant disruption to supplies to electricity customers.
Oils: Waste Disposal
I have been asked to reply.
DEFRA’s policy on waste oils is set out in the revised Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC). In accordance with the directive, the recovery of energy from waste oil is fourth in the priority order known as the waste hierarchy. The regeneration of waste oil into base oil by re-refining is classed as recycling and is third in the hierarchy. Waste disposal, which includes incineration without energy recovery, is at the bottom as the least preferred option.
We are currently considering the responses to the stage one consultation on the transposition of the revised Waste Framework Directive, including the provisions in article 4 on the waste hierarchy and article 21 on waste oils. The stage two consultation will comprise a draft of the transposing regulations and an impact assessment.
Radioactive Waste: Transport
I have been asked to reply.
Irradiated nuclear fuel (often referred to as nuclear waste) is transported by rail from nuclear power stations to Sellafield in Cumbria. Because of the nature of the UK rail network these shipments regularly use railway routes in and around London. However, the Department for Transport does not hold data on the precise routes taken.
The transport of radioactive material, including irradiated nuclear fuel, is governed by stringent internationally-agreed standards recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an agency appointed by the United Nations to oversee all aspects of the peaceful uses of atomic energy worldwide. The safety of the transport of radioactive material is secured by the design and build quality of the packages used. In particular, packages used to transport irradiated nuclear fuel are designed to withstand a severe impact and fire without releasing their radioactive contents.
Organisations consigning radioactive materials are free to choose the most appropriate route and mode of transport for their purposes and rail transport represents the best option for very heavy items such as irradiated nuclear fuel flasks.
Home Department
Asylum
The countries of nationality that are categorised within other Europe, other former USSR, other Americas, other Africa, other Middle East and other Asia and Oceania are listed as follows. The list includes nationalities for which there were no grants or refusals of asylum in the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
(a) Other Europe
Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus (Northern part of), Denmark, Faroe Islands, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Spain, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Sweden, Switzerland, Vatican City State (Holy See), Yugoslavia.
(b) Other former USSR
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
(c) Other Americas
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda (GBR), Bolivia, Bouvet Island, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, French Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Pierre and Miquelon, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands (GBR), United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (US).
(d) Other Africa
Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Burkina Faso, Reunion, Sao Tome Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, St. Helena (GBR), Swaziland, Togo, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Zambia.
(e) Other Middle East
Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
(f) Other Asia and Oceania
American Samoa, Antarctica, Australia, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia (Kampuchea),Christmas Islands, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cook Island, Korea (North), East Timor, Fiji, Heard & McDonald Islands, Hong Kong SAR of China (Holder of Certificate of Identity or Document of Identity), Hong Kong SAR of China (Holder of Special Administrative Region Passport), Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mayotte, Micronesia, Mongolia, Burma (Myanmar), Nauru, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Korea (South), Thailand, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis Futuna Islands.
Anyone who had made their asylum claim before 5 March 2007 and is being dealt with by the Case Resolution Directorate, who feels that they are physically unable to travel to Liverpool to make their further submissions in person, due to a disability or severe illness, may submit their further submissions either directly, or from their MP or representative via fax to the Further Submissions Team in Liverpool. This must be accompanied by documentary evidence to show how they meet the exceptional criteria. Those who fail to meet the exceptional criteria will be advised to book an appointment to submit their further submissions in person. Those who made their claims after 5 March 2007, whose case is being dealt with by one of the regional asylum teams, should contact either their case-owner or the relevant regional contact number.
Asylum: Repatriation
[holding answer 5 March 2010]: The Dublin Regulation came into force in September 2003.
The following figures show numbers removed since the beginning of 2004. They are based on local management information and are not subject to the detailed checks that apply to National Statistics publications.
Adults Dependent children Unaccompanied children1 Total removals 2004 823 5 79 907 2005 1,444 52 103 1,599 2006 1,415 41 51 1,507 2007 1,066 8 40 1,114 2008 1,191 3 25 1,219 2009 956 2 36 994 1 This figure relates to the child’s age at the point of removal. Some cases begin the Dublin Regulation process as a child but due to the length of time it takes to progress their cases at the point of removal they have become an adult.
Crime: North Yorkshire
The available information is given in the tables.
Police recorded crime statistics are affected by changes in reporting and recording practice and can be influenced by police priorities and activity. All of these factors need to be considered when looking at the trends in recorded crime.
The tables note the changes in recording practice introduced in 1998 and 2002. The Audit Commission undertook substantial audit work on crime recording in the years following the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002 (up until 2006-07) This indicated a generally increasing level of NCRS compliance across forces in this period.
Number of offences Offence North Yorkshire York CSP Offences against vehicles 11,721 n/a Burglary in a dwelling 4,876 n/a Other burglary 6,484 n/a Criminal damage 8,537 n/a Other theft 14,301 n/a Violence against the person 2,425 n/a Other offences 469 n/a n/a = not available
Number of offences Offence 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 North Yorkshire York CSP North Yorkshire York CSP North Yorkshire York CSP North Yorkshire York CSP Offences against vehicles 10,986 n/a 9,807 n/a 8,725 3,685 9,216 4,139 Burglary in a dwelling 4,822 n/a 4,343 2,201 3,888 1,791 4,754 2,299 Other burglary 6,415 n/a 6,059 n/a 5,940 2,175 6,902 2,512 Criminal damage 8,372 n/a 8,617 n/a 9,166 2,717 11,436 3,694 Other theft 14,622 n/a 14,519 n/a 4,066 5,813 15,960 6,761 Violence against the person 4,827 n/a 5,101 1,650 4,895 1,504 5,624 1,656 Other offences 675 n/a 643 n/a 554 144 558 152 n/a = not available 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 of offences Offence 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 North Yorkshire York CSP North Yorkshire York CSP North Yorkshire York CSP North Yorkshire York CSP Offences against vehicles 10,697 4,761 10,614 4,868 7,463 3,224 7,938 3,841 Burglary in a dwelling 4,766 2,162 4,936 2,346 2,921 1,117 2,619 1,081 Other burglary 6,745 2,275 6,126 2,183 4,838 1,596 4,705 1.702 Criminal damage 13,168 4,558 14,732 5,394 13,573 4,602 12,723 4,358 Other theft 17,663 7,269 18,792 8,527 14,721 6,176 14,068 6,028 Violence against the person 8,108 2,575 9,610 3,459 12,045 4,000 11,473 3,810 Other offences 663 223 718 246 689 214 670 217
Offence 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 North Yorkshire York CSP North Yorkshire York CSP North Yorkshire York CSP Offences against vehicles 7,057 3,556 5,578 2,498 5,581 2,392 Burglary in a dwelling 2,465 1,065 2,372 975 2,474 1,113 Other burglary 4,371 1,577 3,892 1,343 4,122 1,272 Criminal damage 12,509 4,157 11,023 3,655 10,764 3,640 Other theft 13,242 5,552 12,647 5,384 12,867 5,244 Violence against the person 10,087 3,285 9,472 3,188 8,136 2,711 Other offences 622 200 588 165 656 207 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.
Crime: Salford
Information for Salford is not available centrally prior to 1999-2000. In 2008-09, there were a total of 26,549 crimes recorded by the police in the Salford Community Safety Partnership area. Within this total, there were 2,182 offences of domestic burglary and 4,657 offences of violence against the person.
Crimes of Violence: Statistics
It is not possible to provide an adequate estimate the number of violent offences the police would have recorded in 1997-98 or 1998-99 based upon the current counting rules as the effect of changes made to these rules cannot be fully quantified over time.
Additionally, there was a major change to the counting rules in April 1998, where the way in which crime was counted changed and the coverage of offences increased. For example, the assault without injury was included for the first time—then termed common assault. Given that the change in 1998 was related to an extended offences coverage and a move to counting crimes on a per victim rather than per offence basis it was reasonable in these circumstances to assume that the change had a one off impact on trends
In April 2002, the National Crime Recording Standard was introduced. This brought in a more victim-focused reporting system, where victim accounts had to be accepted unless there was credible evidence to the contrary. This was proposed by ACPO to ensure better consistency in recording throughout England and Wales.
The Home Office published an online report entitled ‘National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS): an analysis of the impact on recorded crime’ in July 2003 which evaluated the impact of NCRS on recorded crime figures. The full report can be found here:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/rdsolr3103.pdf
The report estimates that the introduction of NCRS led to a 23 per cent. increase in recording of overall violence against the person offences in 2002-03.
However, the estimate of 23 per cent. relates to an estimated effect in the first year of operation of the NCRS. No similar estimate was made for subsequent years as changes continued to be bedded in. However, the Audit Commission undertook substantial audit work on crime recording in the years following NCRS introduction up until 2006-07, this indicating a generally increasing level of NCRS compliance across forces. Furthermore, it is known that some forces had taken steps to make their recording of crime more victim-oriented prior to the formal introduction of NCRS.
It was not possible to estimate the impact of the NCRS directly beyond the first year of its operation given the inherent difficulties that would arise in asking the police to consider how they would have previously recorded crime under the less well defined rules.
The British Crime Survey is the best guide to long term trends in crime as it has employed a consistent approach to the counting of crimes experienced by the population resident in households over time. Its count of crime is unaffected by changes in level of reporting of crime to the police, in police recording practice or police activity. The survey is one of the largest of its kind and incorporates the experiences of more than 46,000 households in England and Wales. It has one of the highest response rates of voluntary household surveys and is viewed of high quality by independent experts. The BCS records a 41 per cent. decline in violent crime between 1997 and 2008-09.
More information on the current counting rules can be found here:
http://www.countingrules.homeoffice.gov.uk/output/Page1.asp
Departmental Buildings
Information on expenditure on office refurbishments over the last 10 years is not held centrally and could be researched only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Central Government Departments and their Executive agencies report carbon dioxide emission data from their offices annually as part of the Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) reporting process. The latest assessment of government's performance against these targets was published by the Sustainable Development Commission on 18 December 2009
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/soge2009/
The following table provides a breakdown for carbon dioxide emissions from offices in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2007-08 and (d) 2008-09 by the Department, as previously reported:
Carbon dioxide emissions (tonnes of CO2) 2005-06 28,981 2006-07 38,889 2007-08 40,353 2008-09 31,276
Departmental Consultants
Information on the Home Department’s, inclusive of the Criminal Records Bureau, United Kingdom Border Agency and Identity and Passport Service agencies, total consultancy expenditure for the latest financial year available, FY 2008-09, is as follows:
Financial year Expenditure on consultancy services (£ million) 2008-09 139
Information on non-departmental public bodies’ consultancy expenditure for the latest financial year available, FY2008-09, is as follows:
NDPB FY 2008-09 (£) Independent Police Complaints Commission 578,000 Independent Safeguarding Authority 405,000 National Policing Improvement Agency 22,000,000 Security Industry Agency 387,000 Serious Organised Crime Agency 1,800,000
Consultancy and advisory services cover the provision to the Home Office of objective advice and assistance relating to strategy, structure, management or operations of an organisation in pursuit of its purposes and objectives. The use of external consultants provides the Department with specialist knowledge, skill, capacity and technical expertise that would not otherwise be available.
The Department’s overall expenditure on consultancy services represents a small part of the Home Office’s overall spend, and at the end of the first half of the current financial year, it stood at some 5.8 per cent. of total overall expenditure, down from 8 per cent. in the previous year.
The Department has in place a series of workstreams designed to bear down on departmental reliance and expenditure on consultancy and other external resources, including being the first Government Department to have introduced (in 2009) prescribed daily fee rates for contractors.
Departmental Paper
During the current financial year the Home Department's (a) supplier of (i) paper is Office Depot and its suppliers of (ii) paper products are Office Depot and Lyreco.
The brands of paper used by the Department are: Office Depot, Xerox, Mondi IQ, Evolve, Conquerer, Niceday, Epson and Hewlett Packard.
Paper supplied by brand is as follows:
Supplier Brand Paper Office Depot Office Depot recycled paper 80GSM, A3 and A4 80GSM business paper, everyday A5 80GSM, white duplicator paper, A3 and A4 green paper 80GSM, A4 minute sheets, various colours duplicator paper A4 80GSM, A3 and A4 colour printing paper 80GSM and 100 GSM, cream A4 160GSM Niceday photocard high gloss 240GMS P, various colours A4 80 and 160 GSM, various colours duplicator paper A4 80GSM, ijet hi gloss A4 145GSM, blotting paper, colour printing paper Mondi IQ everyday A3 80GSM, FSC MC IQ various colours paper A3 and A4 80 and160 GSM, FSC MC A4160 GSM card, FSC MC IQ A4 GSM, FSC M50percent colorcopy white A4 200 GSM Evolve office copier A3 and A4 80 and 100GSM Conquerer FSC MC wove A4 vellum and cream, MC ultra smooth diamond white, FSC MC laid brilliant white A4 100GSM Epson Glossy photo paper, A4 167GSM matt photo paper Hewlett Packard premier photo, HP C6035A 1/J bright white Xerox A3 and A4 premier paper 90 and 100GSM
The brands of paper products used by the Department are: Office Depot, Niceday, Sealed Air, Post-It, Pukka, Tyvek, Lyreco, Impega, Sasco, Elba, Tucson, Collins and Black N Red. The paper products supplied by supplier and brand are as follows:
Supplier Brand Paper products Lyreco Post-It sticky notes, indexes, flags Tyvek Envelopes Impega bag C4 manilla rib, ruled manuscript books, tab divider, diaries, envelopes, gussett envelopes Lyreco repo notes, paper index, diaries, wire spiral pads, notebooks, envelopes, film index, dividers, clipboards, sticky notes, shorthand books, manuscript books, window envelopes Sasco year planner Elba dividers, extra wide dividers Tucson Diary Collins Diaries Black N Red wirebound perforated books, pads, notebooks Office Depot Office Depot gussettt envelopes, window envelopes, diaries, manilla envelopes, sticky notes, flipchart pads Niceday calendars, desk calendars, diaries, wall calendars, year planners, laser labels, pads Sealed Air bubble lined envelopes Post-It indexes, sticky notes Pukka jotta pads
As part of its commitment to the Government's sustainable procurement agenda, the Department's policy is to comply, where possible, with the appropriate ‘Quick Win’ options.
‘Buy Sustainable—Quick Wins’ is a set of sustainable specifications for a range of commonly-purchased products which include paper. The products assessed were chosen for their environmental/financial impact, scope for environmental improvement and political or example-setting function.
‘Buy Sustainable—Quick Wins’ are comprised of both a set of mandatory minimum standards at the market average level and best practice specifications. These best practice specifications are more stretching than the mandatory minimum.
The Department has tailored its catalogue to allow purchasers the option to buy all ranges of paper that comply with the quick wins agenda.
Deportation: Overseas Students
No foreign nationals with leave to be in the United Kingdom as students have been deported on national security grounds since 1997.
Detention Centres
The information is not held centrally and could only be provided by checking individual records over the period requested at a disproportionate cost.
Published National Statistics on the number of adults and children held in detention solely under Immigration Act powers on a snapshot basis are published quarterly and are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html.
The capacities at each of the named centres are:
(a) Dungavel House
197 single males, 14 single females, six family beds in two rooms
(b) Tinsley House
116 single males, five single females, 25 family beds in four rooms
(c) Yarl’s Wood.
284 single females, 121 family beds in 60 rooms
Dungavel House, Tinsley House and Yarl's Wood are managed as part of the UK Border Agency detention estate and not in isolation. The estate is managed to ensure maximum utilisation of beds. In 2008-09, an average of 95 per cent. of male and female beds were occupied at any one time. This is based on management information only which has not been subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics publications. This information is provisional and subject to change.
Due to the configuration of the family accommodation, it is highly unlikely that overall capacity has ever been reached in any of these centres.
Detainee custody and escorting officers are checked by the Criminal Records Bureau before they are employed to work in Immigration Removal Centres.
In very exceptional cases where an individual is required to fill a critical post, they may be employed pending clearance.
It is not possible to provide a full response to this question without examining individual records at disproportionate cost. The current process is that all staff at immigration removal centres and those performing escorting functions (detention escorting officers) who have detainee contact are checked by the Criminal Record Bureau before they are employed. It is possible that in the past we may have employed essential staff in very exceptional circumstances, without CRB clearance, however these individuals are accompanied by a fully cleared member of staff whilst undertaking their duties and do not have free access to the removal centre or lone access to individuals detained.
The following number of families, including children aged under 18, children aged under 16 and children aged under 10 were transferred from Dungavel House to Yarls Wood:
Number of family transfers Children under 18 Children under 16 Children under 10 Not Known 2010 (Jan-Feb) 5 2 3 0 5 2009 36 1 10 35 31 2008 (Nov-Dec): 9 1 4 5 5
It is not possible to obtain any escorting statistics prior to November 2008 as the information requested could be obtained only by the detailed examination of individual records at disproportionate costs.
The figures above are normally used for management information only. They have not been subject to the detailed checks that apply for national statistics publications. These figures are provisional and are subject to change.
The information is not held centrally and could only be provided by checking individual records.
Published National Statistics on the number of adults and children held in detention solely under Immigration Act powers on a snapshot basis are published quarterly and are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html
Local management information indicates that the following number of families and children have been detained at the removal centres between 1 January 2010 and 6 March 2010:
Dungavel House Tinsley House Yarl's Wood Families 6 18 107 Children aged under 18 11 18 140 Children aged under 16 9 16 130 Children aged under 10 3 12 94 Notes: 1. Families may include families with or without children 2. Figures for children are cumulative 3. Some families and children may be recorded more than once if, for example, they have been detained at more than one removal centre during 2010.
The figures provided do not constitute part of national statistics as they are based on management information. This information has not been quality assured under national statistics protocols and should be treated as provisional national statistics on children detained solely under Immigration Act powers on a snapshot basis are published quarterly. The information is published in the Control of Immigration:
Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom bulletins which are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html
The information is not held centrally and could only be provided by checking individual records.
National Statistics on children detained solely under Immigration Act powers on a snapshot basis are published quarterly. The information is published in the Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom bulletins which are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html
We do not hold annual staff: detainee ratios. However, we are able to establish what those ratios were at commencement of the contracts for each immigration removal centres and the current position.
The following table sets out ratios for detainee custody officers and does not include managers, supervisors or support staff.
Contract commencement Current Brook House 4:30 4:30 Campsfield House 2:65 2:65 Colnbrook 2:27 3:44 Dungavel 4:04 4:09 Harmondsworth 2:19 2:16 Oakington n/a 2:53 Tinsley House 2:12 2:12 Yarl’s Wood 4:05 4:05 n/a = Not available
Staff ratios are affected by a range of different factors such as the type of regime operated and the number of anticipated receptions and discharges per day.
The data do not include the three centres operated by the Prison Service.
The figures above are normally used for management information only. They have not been subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics publications. These figures are provisional and are subject to change.
I visited Yarl's Wood in November 2008 and more recently, Dungavel House, in December 2009.
Whilst Tinsley House has operated as an immigration removal centre since 1996, Dungavel House did not open until September 2001 and Yarl's Wood originally opened in November 2001, but was closed between February 2002 and September 2003.
I can confirm the following visits by Home Office Ministers to:-
(a) Dungavel House:
The hon. Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill in 2008.
The Member for Harrow East in 2005.
The Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun and the hon. Member for Sheffield Brightside in 2004.
The Member for Stretford and Urmston in 2003 and Lord Foulkes of Cumnock in 2002.
(b) Tinsley House:
The Member for Harrow East in 2005
(c) Yarl's Wood:
My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary in February 2010.
My hon. Friend the Parliamentary under Secretary of State for the Home Office, the Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch , in March 2010.
The information above is taken from local management information and is therefore provisional and subject to change.
I am unable to disclose information about planned ministerial visits for reasons of security.
Detention Centres: Glasgow
In order to join the pilot, families must:
have at least one minor dependant and no more than can be safely accommodated in one of the pilot flats;
have exhausted their appeal rights (in respect of the lead applicant and any other extant claims);
have no history of violent behaviour, or inclination towards violence;
have no medical problems requiring significant medical intervention;
have no child deemed to be at risk under child protection arrangements;
have no child who is sitting examinations at Standard and Higher Grades within the next three months. (There may be cases where the circumstances are such that the three month period can be shortened—this will be an assessment based on the individual facts of the case.);
be removable;
be able to claim Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR);
be accommodated in Glasgow under the target contract; and on section 95 support.
Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
During the course of the review of Tier 4, the student tier of the points based system, the evidence submitted by representative bodies of the education sector, as well as by individual providers, of the impact on the economy arising from any changes was considered alongside all other evidence gathered. A formal impact assessment will be published shortly.
A range of evidence was used to determine the level of education most susceptible to fraudulent applications, including evidence provided by UK Border Agency staff based in the UK and overseas, internal management information, reports made by education providers to the UK Border Agency of non-enrolment and drop-outs, and other information from the education sector.
Entry Clearances: Palestinians
I have received eight representations from Members of Parliament.
The decision to refuse entry clearance to the three Palestinian olive oil producers has been overturned after consideration by the ECO of the information provided, and the Visa Section in Amman is in the process of contacting the applicants.
European Court of Human Rights
In January 2010 the European Court of Human Rights ruled on a case of immigration detention in Belgium involving a mother and her children. The court ruling was not concerned with the policy on detention as such but the conditions in which the children were detained. In particular, the fact that they were held in a closed transit centre, which was not designed to house children and was not appropriate for housing children. As a consequence of this the court ruled that their detention was unlawful. The mother's detention was deemed lawful.
The UK Border Agency has 11 immigration removal centres, three of which are designed to meet the needs of families with children. We do not therefore consider that the ruling impacts on the UK's policy of detaining families with their children as a last resort to enforce their departure from the UK where they have no basis of stay and have failed to leave the country voluntarily.
Fraud: Credit Cards
The information requested is not available from the police recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office. It is not possible to separately identify credit card and mortgage fraud from other offences within the fraud and forgery offence group.
The measurement of fraud is challenging as it is known to be very substantially under-reported to the police. Financial institutions will encourage customers (both personal and business) to report cheque, plastic card or online bank account fraud directly to them and not the police in the first instance. Fraud reported to financial institutions will then only be reported to the police if they are satisfied that there is a reasonable chance of a suspect being brought to justice through police investigation.
In addition to the fraud and forgery offences which are recorded by the police, the Home Office publishes information on plastic card offences identified by the UK Card Association along with findings from the British Crime Survey (BCS). The BCS provides a measure of plastic card fraud among adult residents in households which is important because it captures data on incidents which are not reported to the police. However, neither of these sources have data at borough level.
Further information is contained in chapter 4 of ‘Crime in England and Wales 2008/09’, a copy of which is available in the Library.
Identity Cards
Identity cards are issued on a voluntary basis and the Identity and Passport Service has not commissioned any research or other work on the possible future introduction of compulsory identity cards.
Immigrants: Detainees
[holding answer 15 March 2010]: The following table shows the number of detainees who left Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre in the years 2007-10.
Year of transfer Number of transfers 2007 2,635 2008 2,160 2009 2,389 2010 (January and February) 381
The Detainee Escorting and Population Management Unit (DEPMU) is responsible for bed space management within the UK Border Agency’s detention estate. The unit seeks to minimise movements within the estate in the interests of providing a settled regime and the efficient use of escorting resources.
Movement of detainees around the estate is required for operational reasons, most often to:
Position detainees close to airports prior to removal
Position detainees for court appearances
Position detainees for hospital appointments
Position detainees for embassy/documentation interviews
Facilitate the movement of detainees to more secure locations for security/behavioural reasons
Ensure bed space is fully utilised.
The data provided includes movements for the reasons outlined above in addition to those for removal. The information is taken from data normally used for management information only. It has not been subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics publications and is provisional and subject to change.
[holding answer 12 March 2010]: The number of children who entered detention solely under Immigration Act powers for the last six months of 2009 is published in table 9 of the Control of Immigration Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom Third Quarter and Table 9.1 of the Control of Immigration Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom Fourth Quarter which are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html.
Information on the average period of detention is not available, however Table 12 of the above publications show the length of time children were in detention as at the last day of each quarter.
[holding answer 15 March 2010]: Local management information indicates that the following referrals for ministerial authorisation of the continued detention of a child beyond 28 days under Immigration Act powers have been made in each of the last six months. The information is shown in the following table:
Month of initial referral Number of families referred to the Minister for authorisation of detention of children beyond 28 days Number of children referred to the Minister for authorisation of detention beyond 28 days September 2009 12 18 October 2009 6 8 November 2009 5 9 December 2009 2 2 January 2010 0 0 February 2010 6 10 Notes: 1. The figures only included those cases where detention continued beyond 28 days and only the first referral for each child. 2. The figures provided do not constitute part of National Statistics as they are based on management information. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols and should be treated as provisional.
National Statistics on children detained solely under Immigration Act powers on a snapshot basis are published quarterly. The information is published in the Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom bulletins which are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office’s Research, Development and Statistics website at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html
Immigration
Home Office do not maintain data on persons in each local authority area who have been granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK.
Information on the local authority that the individual was recorded to be residing in at the time of the grant of discretionary leave is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs by examination of individual case records.
Internet: Safety
We take the safety of children and adults on the internet very seriously, and we created CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection) to develop a law enforcement capability to fight the sexual abuse of children in the online environment, and to provide a body to act as the national centre for this crime. CEOP have developed the “ClickCEOP” button for use on social networking and other sites, to allow users who feel threatened to report direct to CEOP.
We expect the providers of these sites to take the safety of their users seriously, and we would urge them to put the “ClickCEOP” button on their website.
The Home Secretary and I will be meeting Facebook shortly, to discuss online safety with them.
Offenders: Deportation
[holding answer 1 March 2010]: I shall let the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell have a reply as soon as possible.
Police: Birmingham
The information available can be found in the following tables. There is no available breakdown on figures just for Birmingham, as it is included in West Midlands figures.
Total Government grants1(£ million) 1997-98 324.3 1998-992 341.0 1999-2000 348.8 2000-01 363.3 2001-02 384.6 2001-023 375.8 2002-03 397.4 2003-04 437.7 2004-05 442.8 2005-06 468.9 2005-064 468.0 2006-07 491.8 2007-08 519.3 2008-09 541.4 2009-10 (planned) 601.3 1 This figure comprises the Home Office Police Grant and certain Specific Grants and Capital Provision, and also the Revenue Support Grant and National Non-Domestic Rates (both provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government). 2 For the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) in 1998-99. 3 For the National Crime Squad (NCS) in 2001-02. 4 For pensions and security funding in 2005-06. Note: Figures are not directly comparable across all years because of adjustments to the base line for funding transfers from general grant.
Office of Criminal Justice Reform funding for victim support (£ million) 2001-02 1.383 2002-03 1.437 2003-04 1.465 2004-05 1.579 2005-06 1.612 2006-07 1.622 2007-08 1.622 2008-09 1.886 2009-10 (planned) 1.901 Note: Figures provided by the Office of Criminal Justice Reform.
The table above illustrates funding given to West Midlands victim support in the past nine years. There is no available breakdown on figures for West Midlands before 2001.
Police: Manpower
There were 7,113 police officers in West Midlands police force as at 31 March 1997 and 8,613 police officers as at 30 September 2009.
This and other related data are published annually as part of the annual Police Service Strength Home Office Statistical Bulletin. The latest bulletin can be found at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/policeorg1.html
and bulletins for this and previous years are deposited in the Library of the House.
There were 121,956 police officers in the 43 police forces of England and Wales as at 31 March 2000 and 142,209 police officers as at 30 September 2009.
This and other related data are published annually as part of the annual Police Service Strength Home Office Statistical Bulletin. The latest bulletin can be found at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/policeorg1.html
and bulletins for this and previous years are deposited in the Library of the House.
Police: Milton Keynes
The available data are provided in the table. This information has been collected at Basic Command Unit level since March 2002 for police officers and since June 2005 for police community support officers.
This and other related data are published annually as a supplementary part of the annual Police Service Strength Home Office Statistical Bulletin. The latest bulletin can be found at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/policeorg1.html
and bulletins for this and previous years are deposited in the Library of the House.
Officer1 PCSO2 2002 342 n/a 2003 346 n/a 2004 371 n/a 20052 378 11 20062 383 14 2007 396 19 2008 389 66 2009 419 73 1 Data for police officers by Basic Command Unit were collected centrally for the first time for the period beginning April 2002. Data for 31 March 2002 were published by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary. No data broken down by Basic Command Unit are available centrally prior to 2002. 2 Data for police community support officers by Basic Command Unit are only available from 2005. Data are at 30 June for 2005 and 2006, from a special collection made until data were included in the main statistical run. Data for 2007 onwards are at 31 March. 3 These figures are based on full-time equivalents that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Figures include those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.
Police: Salford
Information on the number of police officers has only been collected at basic command unit level since March 2002.
There were 541 police officers in Salford basic command unit as at 31 March 2002 and 585 police officers as at 31 March 2009.
This and other related data are published annually as a supplementary part of the annual Police Service Strength Home Office Statistical Bulletin. The latest bulletin can be found at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/policeorg1.html
and bulletins for this and previous years are deposited in the Library of the House.
Police: Standards
Following the 2008 Policing Green Paper, the Home Office no longer assesses the performance of police forces in England and Wales.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) launched their assessment of individual police forces (their ‘Police Report Card’) on 11 March for the period 2008-09. Future assessments of police performance will be published by HMIC.
The ‘Police Report Card’ draws information from the Home Office’s Analysis of Policing and Community Safety (APACS) performance indicators.
The technical guidance for the APACS indicators for 2009-10 can be found at:
http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/performance-and-measurement/Guidance_On_SPIs_for_APACS_1.html
[holding answer 12 March 2010]: Following the publication of the 2008 Policing Green paper, the Home Office no longer assesses the performance of police forces in England and Wales.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) launched their assessment of individual police forces (their ‘Police Report Card’) on 11 March and copies have been provided to the House Library.
Future assessments of police performance will be published by HMIC and can be found on their dedicated website at:
www.mypolice.org.uk
Policing: West Yorkshire
The available information can be found in the following tables.
£ million4 1997-98 243.6 1998-991 252.9 1999-2000 258.8 2000-01 273.7 2001-02 289.3 2001-022 282.6 2002-03 302.9 2003-04 318.1 2004-05 328.8 2005-06 343.4 2005-063 343.0 2006-07 356.8 2007-08 373.3 2008-09 387.7 2008-09 396.1 2009-10 437.6 1 For the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NC1S) in 1997-98. 2 For the National Crime Squad (NCS) in 2001-02. 3 For pensions and security funding in 2006-07. 4 This figure comprises the Home Office Police Grant and certain Specific Grants and Capital Provision, and also the Revenue Support Grant and National Non-Domestic Rates (both provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government). Note: Figures are not directly comparable across all years because of adjustments to the base line for funding transfers from general grant.
£ million Office of Criminal Justice Reform funding for Victim Support 2001-02 1.0 2002-03 1.0 2003-04 1.1 2004-05 1.2 2005-06 1.2 2006-07 1.2 2007-08 1.2 2008-09 1.4 2009-10 1.1 Source: Figures provided by the Office of Criminal Justice Reform.
The table above illustrates funding given to West Yorkshire Victim support. There is no available breakdown on figures for West Yorkshire before 2001.
West Yorkshire will have received additional funding from local fundraising.
Powers of Entry
The list of statutory powers of entry including those exercised by local authorities can be found on the Home Office website at:
http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/powers-pace-codes/powers-of-entry-review/index67d9.html?version=2
SERCO
The chief executive of the UK Border Agency, Lin Homer will provide the Home Affairs Select Committee, in the next update, further information on the performance of SERCO within the Case Resolution Directorate.
UK Border Agency
We do not disclose our methods as to do so would invite abuse.
It is our policy not to publicise details of anti-terrorist policies in this respect.
UK Border Agency: Complaints
Robust data can only be provided from February 2008. The Case Resolution Directorate received 1916 complaints in 2008 and 1160 complaints in 2009, relating to applications submitted prior to March 2007.
The UK Border Agency does not hold central information to the level of detail asked for in this question. However, data is available relating to all types of complaints about the service that the Agency provides. In 2008 there were 10,835 such complaints received by the Agency and in 2009 there were 12,038.
UK Border Agency: Pay
The cost to the United Kingdom Border Agency of overtime payments in the last 12 months (February 2009 to January 2010) was £10.5 million out of a total wage bill to the UKBA of £882.4 million.
The above figure(s) do not include, for the first two months, overtime, or wages incurred within the Border Force Detection function moved to the United Kingdom Border Agency from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the machinery of Government transfers taking place on 1 April 2009. Because rates of overtime can differ in respect of the days on which work falls, and individual pay rates of the recipients concerned it is not possible to convert the above figures into hours of overtime claimed for, except at disproportionate cost.
Work Permits
[holding answer 11 March 2010]: The work permit scheme closed on 26 November 2008. Figures for the number of work permits approved in the period 2004-08 are as follows:
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 In country 78,380 63,795 62,665 54,940 54,575 Out of country 77,895 73,265 82,305 76,130 69,155 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to nearest five. The figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. 2. The figures include both new permits and those approved to extend or amend an existing permit or where the individual has moved to another job with a different employer. Not all those granted a permit took up the job and some may have been refused entry clearance or further leave to remain.