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|1991-92 |1992-93 |1993-94
|£ |£ |£
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Cabinet Office |376,019 |398,743 |374,485
OPSS agencies |306,450 |347,831 |334,728
Central Office of Information |109,844 |116,504 |113,420
HMSO |1,102,000|1,158,000|1,120,000
Tinnitus
Mr. Benton: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the current work of the Institute of Hearing Research on tinnitus.
Mr. Robert G. Hughes: Although work on tinnitus does not currently form a major theme of activity at the Medical Research Council's Institute of Hearing Research, the institute does undertake some tinnitus research in several areas. These include an epidemiological study of risk factors associated with tinnitus and its effects on lifestyle; three studies on the extent of referral by GPs for specialist advice; and methodological research aimed at establishing an improved scale of tinnitus severity. Links with the Nottingham tinnitus clinic are actively maintained. The MRC is always willing to consider soundly-based research proposals in competition with other applications.
CERN
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's
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Government's policy on investment in new developments at CERN.Mr. Robert G. Hughes: The Government have consistently expressed their support in principle for the next major development planned at CERN, the large hadron collider project. It is widely acknowledged to be the right next step for the organisation and more generally for particle physics at the high-energy frontier. However, the LHC, like many other major international scientific initiatives, will be very expensive. Before giving final approval, therefore, it is essential that the project is based on a fair and sustainable financial framework. This will ensure that the investment made in the project gives the best possible value for money, both scientifically and economically. It is only by ensuring that major international collaborative facilities such as CERN are tightly managed that we will be able to afford the domestic science programmes which will exploit those facilities fully.
Market Testing
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list those services that have been market-tested by his Department and won by the private sector, indicating the organisation that won the tender and its value.
Mr. Robert G. Hughes: Those services market tested under the "Competing for Quality" initiative by the Cabinet Office, Office of Public Service and Science, including its agencies, HMSO and COI, and won by the private sector, are as follows:
Activity Tested (and |Successful Tenderer area) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Telephonist Service for Downing Street-Cabinet Office |Manpower plc Office Services-Cabinet Office |Serco Ltd. Recruitment Monitoring-OPSS |PE International Ltd. Facilities Management-CCTA |Tarmac Construction Ltd. Reprographics-Chessington |Dytecna Ltd. Typing Services-HMSO |Manpower plc Passport Supply and Production-HMSO |Thomas De La Rue Classified Printing-HMSO |Greenaways Office Services: Custody Cleaning-COI |Royal British Legion Cleancare Ltd. Catering-COI |Gardner Merchant Ltd.
The total value of these services is just over £3.9 million per annum. Individual contract values are not given as this would prejudice the legitimate commercial interests of those companies involved. Information on the restrictions of publication of commercial data within Government can be found in the code of practice on access to Government information, guidance on interpretation. Information on all market testing activities within central Government is published monthly in the "Market Testing Bulletin", a copy of which is available in the House of Commons Library.
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EDUCATION
Schools, Islington
Mr. David Shaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will arrange for ballots to be conducted in each secondary school in Islington on the issue of whether the school should apply for grant- maintained status.
Mr. Robin Squire: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no powers to arrange for any school to conduct a ballot on whether to apply for grant-maintained status. A ballot, in Islington as elsewhere, may only be triggered by a resolution of the governing body of the school, or by the presentation to the governing body of a parental petition.
Energy Expenditure
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what was the total expenditure on energy for offices and buildings by (a) her Department and (b) her agencies in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Mr. Forth: The total expenditure incurred by this Department on energy in respect of the offices and buildings occupied in each of the last three financial years is as follows:
|£
------------------------
1991-92 |577,600
1992-93 |530,600
1993-94 |550,600
The Teachers Pensions Agency shares a supply of electricity with the Department on its Darlington site. It is therefore not possible accurately to disaggregate the agency's energy costs which are included in the figures given.
Market Testing
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will list those services that have been market-tested by her Department and won by the private sector, indicating the organisation that won the tender and its value.
Mr. Boswell: The information requested is as follows:
Service |Successful
|contractor
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department's publications despatch service |Westex Ltd.
Catering at the Department's headquarters |Gardner Merchant
Banking services provided to the Teachers Pensions Agency |Midland Bank plc
The Department's data preparation service |Compower Ltd.
The value of the individual contracts is commercially confidential information.
Political activity is excluded if there might be a conflict of interest between political activity and the holding of a public appointment. The rules on political affiliation and conflict of interest are laid
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down in the Office of Public Service and Science "Guide on Public Appointments Procedures".DEFENCE
Indonesia
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel have been provided by the Ministry of Defence to (a) support sales of planes and other military equipment to Indonesia during the last two years and (b) have been stationed in Indonesia during the last two years; and for what purpose they were there.
Mr. Soames: Other than a colonel attached to the British embassy in Jakarta as defence attache and a warrant officer to support him, no military personnel have been stationed in Indonesia for any purpose during the last two years.
Market Testing
Mr. Fatchett: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 5 December, Official Report, column 108, what was the basis on which he calculated annual savings arising from the market testing of health provision for British forces.
Mr. Soames: The level of savings arising from exposing an activity to competition will depend upon the outcome of the exercise to test the efficiency of in-house services and functions against tenders from outside contractors. In the case of health provision for the armed forces, many of the support activities which make up the service are still the subject of feasibility studies to determine objectives, priorities and optimum savings routes. Experience has shown that for departmental purposes, a savings target of at least 15 per cent. of the annual operating cost should be assumed to flow from the exposure of an activity to competitive pressures, but the final savings achieved will depend on the outcome of the market- testing exercise itself, and in many cases will be considerably higher.
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list those services that have been market-tested by his Department and won by the private sector, indicating the organisation that won the tender and its value.
Mr. Freeman: In the 30-month period up to September 1994, the Ministry of Defence examined 82 support activities with annual operating costs in the order of £600 million under the Department's "Competing for Quality" programme, which included market-testing activities. This resulted in contracts being placed with the private sector for 46 of these activities covering over two thirds of the total annual operating costs. Full details of individual contracts remain commercial-in-confidence, although some information on contracts awarded as a result of market tests is published monthly in the "Market Testing Bulletin" available from the House of Commons Library.
EH101 Helicopters
Sir Patrick McNair-Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the Royal Air Force to place an order for the EH101 helicopter.
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Mr. Freeman: We hope to be able to make an announcement shortly on our decision on support helicopters for the Royal Air Force.
Ministerial Travel (Israel)
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) in what capacity Mr. David Hart took part in his recent visit to Israel; and who paid for his costs;
(2) who was in the official party during his recent visit to Israel; and who paid for the visit.
Mr. Freeman: My right hon. and learned Friend was accompanied by Mrs. Rifkind, Mr. David Hart in his capacity as an independent adviser, Mr. Crispin Blunt--special adviser--the MOD press secretary, two members of his private office staff and an MOD official. The costs of the visit were met from public funds with the exception of Mr. Hart, who paid his own costs.
Front Line First"
Mr. Milburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consultancy contracts have been let by his Department as part of the "Front Line First" review; which companies have won contracts; and what sums of money are involved.
Mr. Freeman: BAe Sema, Price Waterhouse, Monk Dunstone Associates, McKenna and Co. and P-E International provided advice to the defence costs study. A number of individuals from outside Government, as listed in the answer given to the hon. Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen) on 29 April, Official Report, column 399, were engaged to provide advice to the defence costs study teams.
Not all those listed charged for their services, although the companies for which some worked did. Those companies were: Capita Managed Services Ltd.
Jones Lang Wootton
Trias Management Consultants
Ian McNeil Associates
Central Research Laboratories Ltd.
The total cost in fees to the Ministry of Defence of the work done in the study phase of "Front Line First" inclusive of VAT is £396, 597. This total includes an estimate of the elements of the costs of contracts held with BAe Sema and Price Waterhouse prior to the DCS, the terms of which were changed to reflect, inter alia, work done on the DCS.
RAF Chivenor
Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the projected cost of new sewerage works at RAF Chivenor.
Mr. Soames: There are no plans for any new sewerage works at RAF Chivenor other than routine maintenance. If it is not possible to find an alternative defence use for the main site at RAF Chivenor following the departure of the RAF, some work would be necessary to link the SAR flight to the local council's main drainage system. The estimated cost of this work is approximately £100,000.
Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consideration he has given to moving the Sea King search-and-rescue flight currently stationed at RAF Chivenor to St. Mawgan.
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Mr. Soames: As part of my Department's review of its requirement for military SAR, a number of possible basing options were considered. For the south Wales and west country area, it was concluded that optimum SAR cover could be provided from RAF Chivenor, and the Brawdy flight was subsequently transferred there on 1 July 1994.
Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent and how much it plans to spend on building works to enable the Sea King flight to operate at RAF Chivenor.
Mr. Soames: Some £47,100 has so far been spent and a further £51, 100 is planned to be spent on building works at RAF Chivenor to enable the Sea King flight to operate there.
Mr. Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his estimate of the costs of supporting and RAF Sea King flight at RAF Chivenor in (a) 1994 95 (b) 1995 96 and (c) 1996 97.
Mr. Soames The information requested is as follows:
|£
------------------------------
1994-95 |nil
1995-96 |573,000
1996-97 |1,030,000
These figures represent the station infrastructure and operating costs. They do not include the costs of operating the SAR flight.
Fox Hunting
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on fox hunting for members of the armed forces in each of the last five years.
Mr. Soames: Fox hunting is undertaken by some members of mounted units as part of normal training, and costs are not separately identified. No additional costs are incurred by my Department as a result of participation in this activity since these are met by the individuals concerned.
Expenditure
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the percentage fall in defence expenditure from 1984 85 to 1997 98.
Mr. Soames: Based on current plans, defence spending is expected to decline by around 28 per cent. in real terms between 1984 85 and 1997 98, as measured by the GDP deflators published in the "Financial Statement and Budget Report", 1995 96--House of Commons No. 12. Outturn in 1984 85 included some expenditure for the security and intelligence services which now falls outside the defence budget.
Airwork Ltd.
Dr. David Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how much his Department is attempting to recover from Airwork Ltd. following work undertaken by that company at RAF St. Athan;
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(2) what is his estimate of the total cost of the damage caused by Airwork Ltd. on the Tornados based at RAF St. Athan.Mr. Freeman: Preparation of my Department's claim, for costs consequent upon the damage to Tornado F3 aircraft caused by Airwork, is not yet complete.
Aircraft Movements
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many aircraft movements by (a) Southampton University Air Squadron and (b) others took place on Saturdays and Sundays in (i) September 1994, (ii) October 1994 and (iii) November 1994 at Aircrafts and Armaments Experimental Establishment Boscombe Down.
Mr. Soames: The information requested is as follows:
|Southampton
|University
----------------------------------------------------
September |10 |106
October |132 |79
November |225 |106
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
International Civil Aviation Organisation
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how often his senior staff meet their colleague in the Department of Transport to discuss British representation at the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Mr. Douglas Hogg: United Kingdom representation on the council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the office and staff is fully funded by the Department of Transport. The posts of United Kingdom representative and alternate United Kingdom representative are filled by the Department of Transport. There are no detailed discussions between FCO and DOT officials on representation. However, FCO and DOT officials have regular and close contact on the international aspects of British aviation policy and the DOT attends meetings held by the FCO to discuss the United Kingdom's policy interests in the whole range of UN specialised agencies.
Public Appointments
Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what criteria govern his decision in respect of the public appointments to which political activity is relevant.
Mr. Goodlad: The criteria which govern the composition of the governing bodies of non-departmental public bodies for which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is responsible and to which political activity are relevant are as follows:
Political activity is relevant where the board needs to cover a range of political experience to support the work of the NDPB in question. This will depend on the political affiliation and experience of the MPs, MEPs and
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Members of the House of Lords from whom the candidates are drawn.Mr. Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the public appointments in respect of which political party membership is relevant.
Mr. Goodlad: The appointments to the boards of non-departmental public bodies for which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is responsible in respect of which political party membership is relevant are:
Westminster Foundation for Democracy :
The following are appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State:
Conservative 3, including the chairman--MPs
Labour 3--2 MPs and 1 MEP
Scottish National Party 1, representing the smaller parties-- currently an MP
Wilton Park Academic Council :
The following are appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State:
Conservative 1--MP
Labour 1--MP
Liberal Democrat 1--MP
British Council :
The following are appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State:
Conservative 1--MP
Labour 1--MP
Commonwealth Institute :
The following are appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State:
Conservative 1--MP
Labour 1--MP
Britain-Russia Centre :
The chairman is appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to reflect the composition of the executive committee which consists of a politician from each of the major political parties. Conservative 1--MP
Labour 1--MP
Liberal Democrat--1 MP
Britain-China Centre :
The chairman is appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to reflect the composition of the executive committee which is made up of two conservative and two labour MPs and one Liberal Democrat MP.
Conservative 2--MPs
Labour 2--MPs
Liberal Democrat 1--MP
British Association for Central and Eastern Europe :
The chairman is appointed by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to reflect the composition of the executive committee which is made up of two conservative and two labour politicians and one Liberal Democrat politician.
Conservative 2--MPs
Labour 2--1 MP, 1 Peer
Liberal Democrat 1--MP.
Jean Pierre Derisbourg
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the European Commission
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about the investigation by the EU's external relations inspection unit into the expenses of Jean Pierre Derisbourg.
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