23 Jul 1997 : Column: 579
Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 23 July 1997
PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
Drugs Co-ordinator
Mr. Beith: To ask the President of the Council what is to be the official title of the person described as the "Drugs Tsar". [10107]
Mrs. Ann Taylor [holding answer 23 July 1997]: The official title for this post, which is to be advertised shortly, will be "UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator".
Ethnic Minorities
Mr. Vaz: To ask the President of the Council how many civil servants there are in total on each pay band in her Department. [9588]
Mrs. Ann Taylor: The information for members of the senior civil service is as follows:
- Pay Band 4: 1
- Pay Band 2: 1
- Pay Band 1: 2.
Remaining staff, save for support grades, are in grades rather than pay bands. The numbers of staff in each grade are as follows:
Mr. Vaz:
To ask the President of the Council how many and what percentage of employees, in each pay band, in the quangos for which her Department is responsible, are of (a) Asian origin and (b) Afro-Caribbean origin. [9587]
Mrs. Taylor:
I am responsible for no such organisations.
Mr. Vaz:
To ask the President of the Council how many and what percentage of employees in her private office are (a) of Asian origin and (b) of Afro-Caribbean origin. [9586]
Mrs. Taylor:
None.
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 580
Mr. Peter Atkinson:
To ask the President of the Council, pursuant to her answer of 15 July, Official Report, column 152, concerning pensions of hon. Members' staff, if she will increase the 10 per cent. contributed by the Finance Office to compensate for falls in the final value of pensions due to withdrawal of advance corporation tax. [10082]
Mrs. Ann Taylor:
As I said in my previous answer, the final value of the pension in respect of any individual on an hon. Member's staff will depend on a wide range of factors. I have no plans to change the present arrangements.
Grade 7: 4
Senior Executive Officer: 1
Higher Executive Officer: 3
Senior Personal Secretary: 4
Executive Officer: 8
Personal Secretary: 3
Administration Officer: 5
Administrative Assistant: 2
Support Grade Band 1: 1
Support Grade Band 2: 3.
Departmental Documents
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for what reason documents relating to a meeting of the Cabinet's Defence Committee on 29 October 1952 in the classmark CAB 131/12 at the Public Record Office are currently retained by his Department; and if he will consider releasing these papers. [9471]
Dr. David Clark: The documents relating to this meeting had been retained by my Department on grounds of national security. They have recently been re-reviewed to see whether they could be released. As a result, one item recording the committee's discussion about the deployment in the United Kingdom of a United States army intercept station and the paper relating to this part of the discussion are being prepared for transfer to the Public Record Office. The review has confirmed that another item, and the papers related to it, need to continue to be withheld on grounds of national security. These documents will be re-reviewed at regular intervals and when no longer sensitive will be released.
Property Advisers to the Civil Estate
Mrs. Golding: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he has set performance targets for Property Advisers to the Civil Estate. [10512]
Mr. Kilfoyle: The performance targets are as follows:
- (i) to identify savings from proposals to be agreed with departments for the co-ordination of property activities on the civil estate which in net present value terms should be at least 10 times the agency's related running costs;
- (ii) to deliver on time at least 85 per cent. of the central advice unit's annual work plan;
- (iii) to recover 100 per cent. of the costs of providing intelligent client services and to increase the percentage of all PACE's running costs recovered;
- (iv) to dispose of 110 freeholds and leaseholds within a annual net provision of £95 million;
- (v) to achieve 75 per cent. overall customer satisfaction for the agency's services.
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 581
Regulations
Mrs. Golding: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on how he proposes to help businesses understand and comply with regulations. [10513]
Mr. Kilfoyle: As part of this Government's better regulation programme, we are determined to make central and local government's regulatory advice and service more transparent, accessible and helpful. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has therefore asked me to lead a new initiative called access business, which will co-ordinate and modernise a wide range of regulatory advice, forms and guidance for business into a simpler, more unified service. We have set up an access business group, whose first meeting I am chairing today, which consists of the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Angela Eagle); the Minister for SMall Firms, Trade and Industry; Teresa Graham from the Institute of Chartered Accountants; and Councillor John Ryan, chair of the Local Government Association's public protection committee. I look forward to the access business group announcing the first fruits of its work in the autumn.
Mrs. Golding: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement about his Department's policy in relation to the previous Government's consultation on proposals to apply to enforcement provisions in section 5 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 to trading standards, environment health and care services legislation. [10514]
Mr. Kilfoyle: A number of those who responded to the earlier consultation expressed significant concerns about the inflexibility and potential bureaucracy that would arise from the strict application of section 5 in these areas. There was, none the less, broad support from business, local authorities and enforcement bodies for the principles of good enforcement. This Government are committed to the fair, open and consistent enforcement of regulations. One of the first tasks, therefore, of the access business group, referred to in my previous answer, will be to build on the consensus about the principles of good enforcement while avoiding the inflexibility and expense in the last Government's proposals to legislate in these areas. I hope that we shall be able to agree a new joint approach later this year.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Ethnic Minorities
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many and what percentage of employees in his private office are (a) of Asian origin and (b) of Afro-Caribbean origin. [8946]
Mr. Hoon:
Information relating to ethnicity in the Lord Chancellor's Department is not usually given where numbers are small enough to enable identification of individuals. This practice complies with an agreement between the trade unions and the Department, and assurances given to staff when they are asked to provide the information. However, all staff in my private office,
23 Jul 1997 : Column: 582
irrespective of ethnic origin, have consented to provision of this information, and the trade unions have consented to publication.
| Number | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Asian Origin | 2 | 40 |
| African origin | 1 | 20 |
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many and what percentage of employees, in each payband, in the quangos for which his Department is responsible, are of (a) Asian origin and (b) Afro-Caribbean origin. [8947]
Mr. Hoon: My Department is responsible for only one active executive non-departmental public body: the Legal Aid Board.
| Afro-Caribbean | Asian | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salary ranges for more than one grade | Number | Per cent. | Number | Per cent. |
| £5,000-£14,000 | 52 | 3.82 | 26 | 1.91 |
| £9,800-£28,000 | 11 | 0.80 | 5 | 0.36 |
| £22,000-£45,000 | 0 | n/a | 2 | 0.14 |
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