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Departmental Payroll

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list each of the functions relating to the payroll for which his Department is responsible, indicating the management systems purchased, all sub-contractors involved in the work, co-operative arrangements with other Departments and the costs of the systems and processes in the last year for which figures are available.[10735]

Mr. Dewar: My Department retains control of the majority of the functions relating to payroll for staff in the Scottish Office and related agencies. The departmental pay section is responsible for arrangements for collating and inputting of all data for staff salaries by means of the SPIRE--standard payroll input and retrieval--management system. The departmental pay section also directly manages the distribution of payslips and control prints, payover of moneys to third parties in respect of tax, national insurance and voluntary deductions and all accounting and reconciliation work. Processing, calculation and payment of salaries via the banks automatic clearing system is undertaken for the Department by Chessington Computer Services Ltd.

In 1996-97 the costs for these arrangements were £553,473 in respect of services provided by Chessington Computer Services Ltd. and £583,206 in respect of costs for staff employed in the departmental pay section.

Internet

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will ensure the Scottish Office's web site on the Internet has adequate links to and from the web site of the Central Office of Information; and if he will make a statement. [11004]

Mr. Dewar: My Department's web site on the Internet and that of the Central Office of Information are available on the CCTA Government information service site, which gives access to all Government Departments' web sites. My Department's site will remain accessible through this service. It is planned to update the web site shortly, and links will be set up to the web sites of all other Government Departments, including the Central Office of Information. Other Departments will be invited to create reciprocal links.

EU Languages Charter

Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what representations he has made to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office concerning the ratification by the United Kingdom of the Council of Europe's charter for regional and minority languages; [10376]

(2) what assessment he has made of the impact of the ratification by the United Kingdom of the Council of Europe's charter for regional and minority languages on the (a) Gaelic and (b) Scots languages in Scotland. [10377]

Mr. Wilson [holding answer 28 July 1997]: The Government are examining what the implications of signing and ratifying the charter would be.

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 300

Civil Servants

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time civil servants, on each payband, his Department currently employs. [11068]

Mr. Dewar: Pay and grading reviews are currently under way in the Scottish Office and its executive agencies other than the Scottish Prison Service, but have not been completed. Staffing figures, expressed as headcounts, are therefore shown on the basis of standard civil service grades in the table.

The Scottish Office and its Executive Agencies (excluding SPS) at 1 April 1997

Grade equivalent	Full-time	Part-time
Senior Civil Service	145	10
Grade 6	150	2
Grade 7	383	21
Senior Executive Officer	342	13
Higher Executive Officer	707	42
Executive Officer	852	42
Administrative Officer	924	124
Administrative Assistant	938	108
Industrial	305	--
Total	4,746	362

As a pay and grading review has taken place in the Scottish Prison Service, it is possible to provide a breakdown by pay band. The headcount information is set out in the table.

The Scottish Prison Service at 1 April 1997

Senior Civil Service

Band	Pay range	Full-time	Part-time
6	--
I	£33,700-£52,100	6	--
H	£28,100-£43,400	30	--
G	£23,500-£35,750	58	--
F	£17,900-£30,650	182	114
E	£14,300-£25,550	563	--
D	£11,450-£21,450	2,257	4
C	£9,300-£16,350	1,182	12
B	£7,350-£11,450	190	10
A	£6,150-£9,600	38	2
Total		4,512	142

Forestry

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many forest shops and catering outlets there were, and what their net income was, in 1996-97 in each of the current Forest Enterprise regions; [10722]

(2) what targets have been set for the number of plans for the management of scheduled ancient monuments agreed with heritage agencies in each of the current Forest Enterprise regions in relation to the objective of conserving the cultural heritage in Forestry Commission forests specified in paragraph 11.9 of the Forest Enterprise corporate plan 1997 to 2000; [10724]

(3) how many countryside agencies and user groups will be consulted in each current Forest Enterprise region in connection with the review of recreation strategies and resource allocation mentioned in paragraph 9.24 of the

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 301

Forest Enterprise corporate plan 1997 to 2000; and what is the current resource allocation in each of those regions;[10721]

(4) how many plans for sites of special scientific interest will have to be (a) prepared, (b) maintained and (c) monitored for compliance in each of the current Forest Enterprise regions in order to achieve comprehensive implementation of the management plans referred to in paragraph 10.8 of the Forest Enterprise corporate plan 1997 to 2000; [10723]

(5) how many visits to Forestry Commission forests and woods were made during 1996-97 by educational institutions in each of the current Forest Enterprise regions; [10711]

(6) how many "What's On" events, as described in paragraph 12.20 of the Forest Enterprise corporate plan 1997 to 2000, were staged in 1996-97; and how many people attended those events, in each of the current Forest Enterprise regions; [10712]

(7) with which (a) local authorities, (b) statutory bodies and (c) non-governmental organisations is contact maintained for the purpose of liaison over forest design plans and other management plans, as described in chapter 12 of the Forest Enterprise corporate plan 1997 to 2000, in each of the current Forest Enterprise regions; [10713]

(8) what is the total combined mileage by the shortest practical road route from each Forest Enterprise forest district to that district's Forest Enterprise regional office under (a) the current five-region structure and (b) the proposed four-region structure; [10714]

(9) how many full-time equivalent jobs will be lost in Forest Enterprise regional offices in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) England under the Forest Enterprise proposal for reducing the number of regional offices; [10715]

(10) what assessment he has made of the effect on the Forest Enterprise standards of service of its proposal to reduce the number of its regional offices; how compliance to these standards has been measured in the past; and how it is planned to be measured in future; [10716]

(11) how many timber customers, as defined in paragraph 7.9 of the Forest Enterprise corporate plan 1997 to 2000, there were during 1996-97 in each of the current Forest Enterprise regions; [10717]

(12) in each of the current Forest Enterprise regions, how many (a) woods are leased to the Forestry Commission, (b) landlords own land leased to the commission and (c) landlords reserve powers over sporting rights on land leased to the commission. [10718]

(13) with how many sports representative bodies of the kinds referred to in paragraph 9.15 of the Forest Enterprise corporate plan 1997 to 2000 contacts are maintained; and how many permits or licences were issued for specialist sports and activities during 1996-97, in each of the current Forest Enterprise regions; [10719]

(14) how Forest Enterprise estimates the number of visits made by members of the public to Forestry Commission woods and forests for the purpose of measuring its performance in the terms described in paragraph 9.23 of the Forest Enterprise corporate plan

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 302

1997 to 2000; and how many such visits were made to Forestry Commission woods and forests in 1996-97 in each current Forest Enterprise region. [10720]

Mr. Chisholm [holding answer 29 July 1997]: The subjects of the questions relate to matters undertaken by Forest Enterprise. I have asked its chief executive, Dr. Bob McIntosh, to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Bob McIntosh to Mr. Hugh Bayley, dated 30 July 1997:

The Secretary of State for Scotland has asked me to reply to the various Questions you raised about the Forestry Commission.

I will answer each one by referring to the 5 digit reference which appears against each Question on the Order paper.

PQ No. 10711

Data on visits by educational institutions for 1996/97 is not held centrally or regionally. In accordance with the 1997-2000 Corporate Plan, para 12.20, educational visits will be a measure of Forest Enterprise performance in Promoting Public Understanding and Participation. The data will therefore be collated during 1997/98.

PQ No. 10712

Data on What's On Events for 1996/97 is not held centrally or regionally. In accordance with the 1997-2000 Corporate Plan, para 12.20, attendance at What's On Forest Events will be a measure of Forest Enterprise performance in Promoting Public Understanding and Participation. Data will therefore be collected during 1997/98.

PQ No. 10713

Forest Enterprise produces a wide variety of plans covering a range of topics at forest, regional and national levels. It would not be practicable to assemble a comprehensive list of all the organisations and individuals with whom we liaise in planning the management of Forestry Commission forests.

However I can give you a list of key contacts as follows:-

Home Grown Timber Advisory Committee to the Forestry Commissioners including the sub-committees on timber supply and the environment;

Wildlife and Countryside Link forum of the national conservation and recreation NGOs;

Biodiversity Challenge Groups of NGOs (RSPB, WWF, Friends of the Earth, Butterfly Conservation and Plant Life);

Representative groups of the home grown timber processing industry;

All local planning authorities;

Countryside Agencies--SNH, EN, CCW, CC;

Heritage Agencies--HS, EH, CADW;

Enterprise Companies;

Tourist Boards.

Local community groups are involved through local Forest District Environmental Panels. Ways of upgrading local community involvement are currently being developed in line with our Action Plan to improve performance in para 12.22 of the 1997-2000 Corporate Plan.

PQ No. 10714

I set out the combined mileage for Regional offices to Forest District offices on the basis of the 31 Forest Districts planned to be in operation after amalgamation from 1.4.98.

Current 5 Region Structure

	Combined mileage	Average mileage
North Scotland (Inverness)	652	72
South Scotland (Dumfries)	363	61
Wales (Aberystwyth)	242	48
North & East England (York)	641	107
South & West England (Bristol)	423	85

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 303

(b) 4 Region Structure with Bristol as the sole office for England No change in Scotland and Wales

	Combined mileage	Average mileage
England (Bristol)	1,762	160

PQ No. 10715

The number of full time equivalent jobs that will be lost in Forest Enterprise Regional offices as a result of the reduction in Regional offices, will be:

	Proposed reduction
Scotland (no reduction in offices)	Nil
Wales (no reduction in offices)	Nil
England	(11)40.0

(11) The reduction of 40 posts in England will be partly as a result of closure but mostly as a result of delegation of work to Forest Districts and centralisation of work to Head Office.

PQ No. 10716

The proposal to reduce the number of Regional offices from 5 to 4 will have no effect upon Forest Enterprise's ability to deliver the Standards of Service set out in the 1997-2000 Corporate Plan. Our services are delivered primarily through front-line staff in Forest Districts dealing directly with visitors, customers and suppliers.

Compliance with the Forest Enterprise standards of service is assessed through the Agency performance measure "Percentage Compliance with the Citizen's Charter Standards Statement". In 1996/97 systems were introduced and staff trained in order to operate this measure from 1997/98.

The measure comprises three parts:

Percentage of day visitors using forest recreation facilities who consider the service to be good or very good.

Percentage of customers using Forest Holidays cabins who consider the service to be good or very good.

Percentage of payments to suppliers paid in accordance with the relevant terms of trading.

The 1997/98 Agency target is 90% comprising:

87.5% satisfaction for forest recreation day visitors

87.5% satisfaction for Forest Holiday users.

95% payments to suppliers on time in accordance with the relevant terms of trading

PQ No. 10717

The number of timber customers for each of our Regions, as defined in paragraph 7.9 of the Forest Enterprise Corporate Plan 1997-2000, during 1996/97 was as indicated below:

	1996/97
North Scotland	36
South Scotland	44
Wales	80
North & East England	75
South & West England	99
Total GB	275

1. The UK figure is 59 less than the total for the Regions. This reflects the fact that many merchants trade in more than one Region.

2. The figures do not include individuals who purchased small amounts of firewood.

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 304

PQ No. 10718

In answer to parts a. and b. of your question, I set out below the total area of land in each Forest Enterprise Region which is held on lease:

	Hectares
North Scotland	4,471.5
South Scotland	1,103.5
Wales	24,022.8
North & East England	40,770.0
South & West England	31,172.8
Total Great Britain	101,540.6

We do not hold the information centrally by individual wood.

In respect of part c. there are general sporting reservations in our titles over the following areas of Forestry Commission land, by Region, to a third party as follows:

	Hectares
North Scotland	nil
South Scotland	nil
Wales	48,100
North & East England	23,600
South & West England	22,100
Total GB	93,800

PQ No. 10719

We maintain links with a wide range of sports representative bodies at national, regional and forest district level. There are no unique contacts at regional level.

The main national fora and contacts are:

Wildlife and Countryside Link forum of countryside and recreation NGOs

Countryside Recreation Network of statutory agencies

Outdoor Pursuits Committee of the CCPR (Countryside Council For Physical Recreation)

Sports Council

RAC on motor car rallying

Auto-Cycle Union on motorcycle enduro races

British Orienteering Federation

British Horse Society

Ramblers Association

Mountaineering Council for Scotland

British Cycle Federation

British Cyclecross Federation

Scottish Cyclists Union

Welsh Cyclists Union

There are also many contacts with local sports clubs at the Forest District level.

I regret we do not hold central records of permits issued for specialised sports.

PQ No. 10720

The performance measure referred to in para 9.23 of the 1997-2000 Corporate Plan is one of our Agency performance measures set out on Page 52. This records annual changes to the number of visitors to sample Forestry Commission forests.

For this measure, counters have been installed at visitor centres, car parks and forest drives in 86 forest locations covering a statistically representative sample of the most heavily visited areas across all Forest Districts. The objective is to measure trends in visitor numbers. 1997-98 will be the first year for measuring these trends.

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 305

In view of the size of the Forestry Commission estate, the number of accessible woods and public access points it is not practicable to physically count all visitors. No definitive records are therefore available for each Forest Enterprise region.

The Forestry Commission does however participate in the biennial household day visits survey carried out by Social and Planning Research (S & PR) for a consortium of Departments and Agencies. The most recent survey was conducted in 1996. As part of the survey several thousand adults were interviewed at home and asked about the destinations of leisure day trips. They were also asked if a wood or forest formed part of a trip and if so who was the perceived forest owner or manager. The responses were weighted to provide estimates of visits to Forestry Commission forests and woods. On this basis the 1996 S & PR survey estimated that 42 million day visits were made to Forestry Commission forests made up as follows:

England: 33 million

Scotland: 6 million

Wales: 3 million.

There is no S & PR data for individual Forest Enterprise Regions.

The 42 million figure is lower than the 50 million visits quoted for the whole Forestry Commission estate in para 9.4 of the 1997-2000 Corporate Plan since the latter also includes holiday visits not undertaken from the family home. PQ No. 10721

Forest Enterprise has no specific list of stakeholders to be consulted on any review we may undertake over the next 3 years. The Corporate Plan sets out current policies, strategies and resouce allocations. This is circulated to over 1,000 people amongst public agencies, local authorities, NGOs, local communities and user groups. We are actively seeking comment from recipients on the broad thrust of strategies in the Corporate Plan. Focus groups will also be contacted to look at particular topics.

The planned net expenditure on Forest Recreation in 1997-98, by Region, is as follows:

	£ million
North Scotland	0.8
South Scotland	0.8
Wales	0.6
North & East England	1.0
South & West England	1.8

Actual net expenditure will depend upon visitor usage, trading conditions in income generating activities and the settling down of the new register of accounts in its first year of operation.

PQ No. 10722

Forest shops and catering facilities are provided at most Forest Enterprise Visitor Centres. These are operated in two ways; either by direct district management or by concessions. The 1996-97 data and results relate solely to FE managed forest shops and catering facilities which are usually run on an integrated set of accounts for each centre with shared buildings, services and management costs. The diversity in unit net income reflects the variety of visitor numbers to different forests and the range of facilities provided by Forest Enterprise

	Number of forest shops/catering	Net income
Region	Complexes	(£000)
North Scotland	2	22
South Scotland	5	25
Wales	1	3
North & East England	6	64
South & West England	5	53

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 306

PQ No.10723

The percentage of SSSIs managed in accordance with plans endorsed by statutory conservation agencies is a Forest Enterprise Agency performance measure. A target of 100 per cent. has been set by the Forestry Commissioners as the proportion of SSSIs with endorsed plans by 31.3.98. This includes preparation, maintenance and monitoring.

The 1997-98 Agency target allocated by Region is as follows:

	Numbers
North Scotland	80
South Scotland	54
Wales	61
North & East England	90
South & West England	90

PQ No. 10724

The percentage of Scheduled Ancient Monuments managed in accordance with plans endorsed by statutory heritage agencies is a Forest Enterprise Agency Performance measure.

A target of 40 per cent., of 400 has been set by Forestry Commissioners as the number of Scheduled Ancient Monuments to have endorsed plans by 31.3.98. The aim is to ensure that all Scheduled Ancient Monuments on Forestry Commission land have endorsed plans by 31.3.2000. This 1997-98 Agency target has been allocated to Regions as follows:

	Percentage	Number
North Scotland	40	70
South Scotland	43	52
Wales	90	122
North & East England	30	58
South & West England	30	104

The varying rates in planned progress between Regions reflects the range of monuments, the variety of plan requirements and the need to pace work in harmony with heritage agency partners.

I should mention that all monuments with or without beneficial management plans will continue to be safeguarded from potentially damaging operations through check systems in Forest Districts before work commences in any forest area.

I hope this letter provides the answers you require.

I am sorry I cannot provide full answers for questions numbers 10711, 10712 and 10719 but you will understand we are putting in place mechanisms to collate this information during 1997/98 which will be available at the time of the annual report for that year.

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