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Charter Marks
15. Mr. Levitt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on the charter mark awards scheme. [68658]
16. Mr. Dismore: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on the 1998 charter mark awards. [68659]
Mr. Kilfoyle: This has been another very successful year for the charter mark awards scheme with 508 awards being made--the highest number ever. There were a record number of applications from virtually all types of public service in the UK, and there were 128 second time winners and 18 third time winners. It was particularly pleasing to note that there were 74 winners of the award who had been unsuccessful in the previous year.
Charter mark is making a real contribution to improving public services and we will continue to develop the scheme to make it even more effective.
Better Government (Older People)
17. Helen Jackson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on the better government for older people programme. [68660]
Dr. Jack Cunningham: The Better Government for Older People initiative, an important part of our commitment to modernising government, has valuable lessons to teach about developing improved services that are more responsive to the needs of their users. Next month we are putting in place a Learning Network so that many more local authorities across the UK can share in this learning and experience. Well over two hundred authorities have already expressed an interest in joining the Network.
21. Ms Moran: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what measures he intends to take to encourage local authorities to become involved in the better government initiative. [68665]
Dr. Jack Cunningham:
Local Government is a key partner in the drive to improve public service effectiveness and responsiveness and is involved at all levels in the production of the Modernising Government White Paper. For example, Sir Jeremy Beecham, Chairman of the Local Government Association attends meetings of the Ministerial Group on Better Government. I welcome a wide debate on these matters and I recently launched the Modernising Government discussion forum on the Downing Street website, to encourage people to participate in the consultation process.
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18. Fiona Mactaggart:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on his Department's agenda for (a) modernising Government and (b) improving the efficiency of public services. [68661]
22. Mr. Geraint Davies:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on the progress of the modernising government strategy. [68666]
Mr. Kilfoyle:
As my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office explained to the House on 21 October last year, the Government will publish a White Paper in the Spring, setting out their programme for modernising government and joining-up public services to respond better to the people that need them. Discussion on the 10 Downing Street website describes the work in hand and invites people to join in.
20. Mr. Skinner:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will announce further measures to abolish quangos; and if he will make a statement. [68664]
Mr. Kilfoyle:
The Government remain committed to keeping the number of NDPBs to an absolute minimum. Many NDPBs have already been abolished and many more have been targeted for abolition in the near future. All NDPBs which remain are subject to a rolling programme of quinquennial reviews to ensure that the downward pressure on numbers continues.
23. Mr. Miller:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on his Department's agenda for improving the efficiency of public services. [68667]
Mr. Kilfoyle:
The White Paper on Modernising Government will describe the Government's agenda for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services, and is to be published in the spring. It will build on our current initiatives which focus on promoting partnerships between the public and private sector, investing in new collaborative initiatives, benchmarking, setting and measuring performance standards, and special organisation reviews.
Mrs. Gilroy:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his answer of 19 January 1999, Official Report, column 405, on civil servants' hearing impairments, if he will list the other circumstances which resulted in large numbers of civil servants not qualifying for a pension. [70245]
Mr. Kilfoyle:
The circumstances under which civil servants leave without qualifying for a civil service pension are as follows:
10 Feb 1999 : Column: 232
Prior to 1972
all those who left unestablished service
all those who left established service under age 50 or over age 50 with less than 10 years' service
those women who resigned on marriage and received a gratuity
Since 1 June 1972
those who left before 6 April 1988 with less than 5 years' service or since that date with less than 2 years' service
those who are excluded from the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme by virtue of Rule 1.4 (mainly casual staff, and certain part-time staff before 1995) or who have chosen to opt-out of the pension scheme.
Civil Service (Fast Stream)
Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement about future arrangements for recruitment to the Civil Service fast stream development programme. [70942]
Dr. Jack Cunningham: Management of the Fast Stream recruitment process was contracted out to the Capita Group plc as part of the decision to privatise the former Recruitment and Assessment Services Agency in October 1996.
A review of the operation of the recruitment process took place during 1998. As a result I have decided in principle that, on the expiry of the current contracts, the selection stages of the process will return to direct Civil Service management. I expect specialist services including advertising, publicity, response handling and psychology support to continue to be supplied by the private sector following competitive tender.
Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration
Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when the jurisdiction of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration will be extended to cover all executive non-departmental public bodies and those advisory non-departmental public bodies which have significant dealings with members of the public. [70943]
Mr. Kilfoyle: Her Majesty in Council has today approved an Order extending the jurisdiction of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration to an additional one hundred and eleven executive non- departmental public bodies and to forty-seven advisory non-departmental public bodies which have direct dealings with members of the public. This fulfils the commitment that the Government gave in "Quangos: Opening the Doors"--published on 29 June 1988--and will substantially increase the avenues of redress available to members of the public who wish to complain about their treatment by a non-departmental public body. It is another example of this Government's determination to ensure that all non-departmental public bodies are properly and fully accountable to both Parliament and the public for their actions.
The Order will be laid before Parliament on Monday 22 February. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Order will come into force on Monday 15 March.
Public Bodies
Dr. Tony Wright:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which of the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department (a) admit members of the public to all board or committee meetings, (b) hold public meetings and (c) have lay or consumer representatives on their boards; and if in each case this is under a statutory requirement. [69967]
10 Feb 1999 : Column: 233
Dr. Jack Cunningham:
The information requested is as follows:
In addition, the Advisory Committee on Advertising is comprised of senior advertising and media professionals who are independent of government and advertising agency suppliers; members are appointed to the Committee on Standards in Public Life to bring a mix of experience and expertise from different areas of public life; and membership of the Security Commission and the Security Vetting Appeals Panel is drawn from a range of people from different professions and backgrounds.
There is no statutory requirement for the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department to admit the public to meetings or to hold public meetings. However, all advisory non-departmental public bodes are encouraged to do so where practicable and appropriate. Nor is there any statutory requirement for advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department to have lay or consumer representatives. However, all members of advisory non-departmental public bodies are appointed on merit and membership will, where appropriate, include individuals from a balance of backgrounds.
Dr. Tony Wright:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which of the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by his Department publish (a) the minutes of meetings, (b) the agendas of meetings and documents for those meetings and (c) a register of members' interests; and whether in each case this is under a statutory requirement. [69839]
Dr. Jack Cunningham:
There is no statutory requirement for the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department to publish the minutes of meetings, the agendas of meetings and documents for those meetings, or a register of members' interests. However, all advisory non-departmental public bodies are encouraged to do so where practicable and appropriate. Currently, minutes of meetings, agendas of meetings and documents for those meetings are published by the Women's National Commission. A record of the hearing of Security Vetting Appeals Panel is given to the appellant and the relevant organisation. Reports of Civil Service Appeal Board hearings go only to the relevant interested parties.
Registers of Interests are either in place, or are in the process of being prepared, in all advisory non- departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department. These Registers are either published or are made available for public inspection on request.
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(a) none of the advisory non-departmental public bodies sponsored by my Department admit members of the public to all board and committee meetings.
(b) public meetings are held by:
The Better Regulation Task Force
The Civil Service Appeal Board
The Committee on Standards in Public Life
The Women's National Commission
(c) the following bodies have lay or consumer representatives:
The Better Regulation Task Force
The Civil Service Appeal Board
The Women's National Commission.
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