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Older People
14. Shona McIsaac:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will make a statement on the Better Government for Older People initiative. [106601]
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Mr. Ian McCartney:
The Better Government for Older People programme is continuing to make good progress towards delivering the improved public services that older people deserve.
Those involved in its 28 pilot projects, which involve nearly 300 partner organisations, are making an invaluable contribution to this work. We have decided to extend the programme until December 2000 to make sure its lessons are widely learned across the public sector.
15. Dr. Tonge:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment she has made of the progress in implementing the zero tolerance policy towards drugs. [106602]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
The Government are making good progress towards the tough targets set out in its strategy document, "Tackling Drugs to build a better Britain".
Clearly there is much to do, but a great deal of work is already under way. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary recently announced details of how £20 million has been allocated for the expansion of Arrest Referral Schemes designed to get drug misusers into treatment. This is in addition to the £217 million allocated to anti-drugs work as part of the last spending review.
16. Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list the Bills for which a regulatory impact assessment has been made. [106604]
Mr. Stringer:
I refer my hon. Friend to the twice-yearly Command Papers, titled "Regulatory Impact Assessments", which are placed in the Libraries of the House. A regulatory impact assessment must be carried out whenever proposed regulations will have significant costs for business, charities or voluntary organisations.
17. Mr. Robathan:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to her oral statement of 18 January 2000, Official Report, column 759, on oral statements to the House, if she will make a statement on Government policy on giving information to the press before making statements to the House. [106605]
Mr. Stringer:
As the Ministerial Code makes clear, when Parliament is in session, Ministers will want to bear in mind the desire of Parliament that the most important announcements of Government policy should be made, in the first instance, to Parliament.
19. Mr. Luff:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent representations she has received from interested parties on the co-ordination of Government policies on genetic modification of agricultural crops; and if she will make a statement. [106607]
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Marjorie Mowlam:
A number of outside organisations have written to me seeking meetings, and I am in the process of meeting a number of them. These include environmental groups, consumer bodies and industry representatives.
20. Mr. Forth:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many regulations have been introduced and how many abolished since 1 May 1997. [106608]
Mr. Stringer:
It is the Government's policy to introduce regulation only when really necessary and to ensure that it imposes the minimum burden to achieve its objective. The Government also insists that a regulatory impact assessment is carried out whenever regulations are likely to have an impact on business, charities or voluntary organisations. The number of regulatory impact assessments is recorded in twice-yearly Command Papers which are placed in the Libraries of the House. Listing the absolute number of regulations made is meaningless. If one assumes that the term regulations means Statutory Instruments, the total would include all those with no impact on business, every deregulatory order, every routine air traffic and road closure order, as well as those that have lapsed and those laid in order to revoke existing Statutory Instruments.
21. Mr. Paterson:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will make a statement on the increase in the cost of special advisers since May 1997. [106609]
Mr. Stringer:
The estimated cost of Special Advisers in 1999-2000 is £4.0 million. The increase in cost is the result of strengthening the centre to ensure a firm political focus and greater co-ordination in the work of this Administration.
22. Mr. Wyatt:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will publish the performance tables for each Department for the electronic delivery of Government services. [106610]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
I refer my hon. Friend to my earlier reply of 17 January 2000, Official Report, column 276W. The Autumn 1999 monitoring report is available at the Central Information Technology Unit website at www.citu.gov.uk.
23. Mr. Healey:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will make a statement on the fast stream development programme for civil servants. [106611]
Mr. Stringer:
The fast stream development programme is an annual scheme to recruit high calibre graduates into the Civil Service. In line with the Modernising Government agenda, it aims to recruit candidates who are the most able and who reflect the full diversity of our society. The fast stream selection process will come under direct Civil Service management from December 2001.
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Candidates are selected by a combination of tests, assessment centre and interview. The programme offers a training and development package leading to early promotion.
The scheme will play an important role in helping to fulfil parts of the "Modernising Government" agenda which lays down key steps for the development of a Civil Service for the 21st Century. Work is continuing to ensure that fast stream entrants reflect the full diversity of society and the scheme is reviewing and developing its recruitment criteria to reflect current and future needs. This will ensure that the most able people meet the Civil Service's need for leadership, management and service delivery as well as traditional policy skills.
The Civil Service fast stream development programme is going through further changes. The former Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office, my right hon. Friend the
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Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham), in response to a parliamentary question from my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Mr. Brown) about the future arrangements for recruitment to the Civil Service fast stream development programme, announced on 10 February 1999, Official Report, column 232:
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.
Direct Civil Service management will begin from December 2001. The aims of this change are to develop the scheme's ability to recruit the best people for the job, improve candidate care and improve the image of the Civil Service as an employer.