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Equal Opportunities
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his Answer of 13 November 1977, Official Report, column 654, if he will provide a further breakdown, by grade, of the ethnic origin and gender of employees in the Immigration and Nationalities Department. [18627]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Details of the ethnic origin of Immigration and Nationality Directorate staff by gender and grade are set out in the following table. In some cases, grades have been amalgamated in order to avoid disclosure of individual ethnic origin.
The breakdown refers to staff figures as at 28 November 1997. These differ slightly from the figure provided in my answer to my hon. Friend's question on 13 November 1997, Official Report, column 654, due to staff changes in the intervening period.
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| Gender | White | Black | Asian | Other | Not provided | Total male and female | Total ethnic minority male and female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- |
| M | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | |
| Support Grades | F | 62 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | -- |
| M | 68 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 14 | 171 | 22 | |
| Secretarial Grades | F | 90 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 5 | -- | -- |
| M | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 114 | 19 | |
| Administrative Assistant | F | 277 | 57 | 91 | 10 | 67 | -- | -- |
| M | 126 | 22 | 43 | 3 | 30 | 726 | 226 | |
| Administrative Officer and Assistant immigration Officer | F | 387 | 57 | 164 | 6 | 43 | -- | -- |
| M | 163 | 27 | 50 | 4 | 29 | 930 | 308 | |
| Executive Officer and Immigration Officer | F | 922 | 36 | 77 | 13 | 161 | -- | -- |
| M | 1,168 | 21 | 44 | 24 | 282 | 2,748 | 215 | |
| Higher Executive Officer and Chief Immigration Officer | F | 227 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 29 | -- | -- |
| M | 369 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 69 | 718 | 24 | |
| Senior Executive Officer and Inspector | F | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- |
| M | 107 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 146 | 1 | |
| Grade 7 and above | F | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- |
| M | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 1 | |
| Overall totals | ||||||||
| 5,621 | 816 |
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PRIME MINISTER
Humphrey the Cat
Mr. Alan Clark:
To ask the Prime Minister what steps were taken by Cabinet Office staff to establish the state
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of health of Humphrey the cat, prior to his departure from Downing Street; on what dates; and if he will make a statement. [18675]
The Prime Minister:
The Cabinet Office staff have always taken excellent care of Humphrey the cat. He was taken to a Veterinary Clinic at least every six months for
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the last five years where his kidney complaint was treated and his inoculations were kept up to date. His last visit was on 6 August 1997.
In the weeks prior to his retirement from the Cabinet Office, the staff who looked after him were concerned about his loss of appetite and the general deterioration in his condition.
Since retiring to a home environment it is reported that he has responded very well and put on weight.
Mr. Keetch:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the locations of the successful outline bids for round 4 SRBs, indicating the names and political control of those local authorities concerned; and if he will make a statement. [17311]
Mr. Caborn:
Bids for round 4 of the SRB Challenge Fund are not defined at the outline stage as successful or unsuccessful. I have placed a table which contains details of all 371 outline bids received by Government Offices for the Regions in the House Libraries.
Government Offices for the Regions currently are considering outline bids, to determine the extent to which these meet the objectives and criteria for the Challenge Fund and merit working up into final bids.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many local authorities submitted bids for each round of (a) the Single Regeneration Budget and (b) Capital Challenge; and how many were successful in each round. [18740]
Angela Eagle:
The information is as follows:
THE REGIONS
Single Regeneration Budget
The numbers of bids for support from the four rounds of the Single Regeneration Budget Challenge Fund submitted by local authorities, either individually or as partners, are as follows:
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4(4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of final bids received | 469 | 329 | 310 | 371 |
| Number of final bids received from local authorities(5) | 235 | 171 | 186 | 167 |
| Number of successful bids from local authorities(5) | 108 | 93 | 109 | -- |
(4) All bids are currently at the outline stage only.
(5) Where the local authority is the lead partner.
Capital Challenge
There has been only one round of Capital Challenge. There were 330 local authorities, acting jointly or separately, which submitted a total of 326 bids. Of these, 189 bids, involving 217 authorities, were successful either in full or in part.
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Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimates he has made of the costs incurred by local authorities in preparing and submitting bids in each round of (a) the Single Regeneration Budget and (b) Capital Challenge. [18739]
Angela Eagle: For the Single Regeneration Budget Challenge Fund, my Department commissioned the Department of Land Economy at the University of Cambridge to evaluate rounds 1 and 2. An interim report explored the level of resources committed by ten local partnerships, including those with local authority partners, which submitted unsuccessful bids. The average time committed by each partnership to the bidding process was 16 weeks, at a cost of £10,000.
None of the unsuccessful bidders regarded the bidding process as a waste of resources, nor did they regard it as more costly than preparing proposals under other funding regimes. The benefits of the bidding process were recognised, particularly in improving inter-agency partnership working.
For Capital Challenge, the Local Government Research Programme Report "Evaluation of the Experience of Authorities during the Capital Challenge Pilot Scheme Bidding Round" estimated that the average value of resources used in the preparation of bids was £14,000.
Mr. Stephen Twigg:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions which organisations he has met in the last six months to discuss the future of (a) London Underground and (b) the Piccadilly Line; and if he will make a statement. [17527]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
My colleagues and I have discussed the future of the Underground with a number of organisations, including London Transport, representatives of Transport Unions, and organisations representing business and other interests in London. No meetings have been held specifically on the future of the Piccadilly Line.
We are urgently considering a range of options for public--private partnerships to improve the Underground.
Mr. Harvey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will place in the Library responses to his consultation paper on RDAs. [17890]
Mr. Caborn:
In accordance with guidelines on deposited papers issued to Government Departments by the House of Commons Library, I placed in the Library on 18 November a list of the responses to the Department's Issues Paper on Regional Development Agencies. The guidelines say that, for reasons of space, consultation paper responses should not be deposited in the Library. Consistent with the guidelines, copies of the responses to the RDAs consultation paper are deposited in the Department's library, and can be made available to Members there.
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Mr. Loughton:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will seek to amend section 77(3)(b) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 so as to make it a criminal offence for travellers having been evicted to return to any land in the same district within three months; [18214]
Mr. Raynsford:
We have no plans to amend the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 in the way that the hon. Gentleman suggests.
The 1994 Act already makes it a criminal offence for unauthorised campers who have been directed to leave land, to return to the same land with a vehicle within three months of the date of the direction. We do not think it would be reasonable to make the whole of a local authority's area out of bounds to campers, because they have been evicted from one site in that area. The stronger the powers, the more difficult it would be for a local authority to persuade the courts that it was acting reasonably in seeking an eviction order.
(2) if he will seek to amend the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to enable agents acting for local authorities to confiscate property belonging to travellers subject to eviction orders as compensation for damage done to public land and legal costs incurred in securing evictions. [18215]
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