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IT Projects
Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps she has taken to ensure that the findings of the review by her Department of major Government IT projects will be taken into account in negotiations to which they may be relevant. [103627]
Mr. Ian McCartney: One of the main strands of the work currently under-way is to examine pending and on-going IT projects to ensure that lessons are learned from our past problems and our successes. The review team is working closely with Departments to ensure that this happens.
Particular attention is being paid to areas of weakness in past projects, to make sure that the pillars that support successful IT projects are in place before new contracts are signed. The team's early work has shown that these include:
Mr. Dobbin:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if her Department has set targets for reducing access to drugs by (a) young people and (b) school children. [103383]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
The Government's anti-drugs Strategy "Tackling Drugs To Build A Better Britain" has set, as one of its four Key Performance Targets, the target
Mr. Crausby:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what actions she is taking to increase the productivity and reduce the running costs of her Department. [103844]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
Delivering efficient and modern public services is a key part of the Government's agenda for improving productivity. Greater efficiency is being sought therefore within the public sector to ensure that the most effective results are obtained from available
21 Dec 1999 : Column: 576W
resources. The Department's Public Service Agreement (PSA) is published within "The Public Service Agreements 1999-2002" [CM 4181] and includes a range of measures for taking this forward, both within the Department itself and in other public sector bodies.
Those measures will help raise the Department's own productivity as follows:
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was repaid to the Bank of England by the European Monetary Institute when it went into liquidation upon the establishment of the European Central Bank. [103300]
Miss Melanie Johnson
[holding answer 20 December 1999]: I refer the right hon. gentleman to page 75 of the Bank of England's 1999 Annual Report.
Mr. Robertson:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what factors underlay his decision to award free television licences to people aged 75 years and over; and if he will make a statement. [103602]
Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 20 December 1999]: The Government recognise that the television licence fee can be a source of concern for many elderly people. Older pensioner households are more likely to be on low incomes, which is why additional resources will be directed at the 75-plus group. Free television licences to people aged 75 years and over, nearly 50 per cent. of whom are in the lowest three income deciles, is a significant measure for poorer pensioners and will benefit over three million pensioner households.
This measure builds on a number of significant improvements we have made in respect of provision for pensioners. Pensioners aged 75 and over now have a Minimum Income Guarantee of at least £77.30 plus housing costs for single pensioners and £119.85 plus housing costs for couples. The Government have committed to uprate the Minimum Income Guarantee by earnings growth during this Parliament. Pensioners also
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benefit from £100 winter fuel payments, tax allowances which have been increased above the rate of inflation, free eye tests, greater support for concessionary fares and improved home insulation schemes.
Mr. Burns:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the date in each month on which the unemployment figures will be announced in 2000. [103365]
Miss Melanie Johnson:
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Making full assessment of the risks involved in a project, and having clear plans for managing them.
Having strong contingency plans.
Keeping the scale of the project manageable.
Making sure that both the supplier and the purchaser clearly understand the aims of the project, and their respective responsibilities.
"to reduce access to all drugs amongst young people (under 25) significantly, and to reduce access to the drugs which cause the greatest harm, particularly heroin and cocaine, by 50 per cent. by 2008 and 25 per cent. by 2005".
School children are, of course, included in this target, although no target relating specifically to school-age children has been set.
Creation of the Better Quality Services Review programme. The programme allows the Department to achieve its PSA target of reviewing 60 per cent. of its activities by March 2003.
Managing and maintaining low sickness absence within the Department. A target reduction of 5 per cent. overall between 1998-2003 is planned.
The Department's active involvement in promoting action on procurement across the service. It has prepared an action plan following the report on "Efficiency in Civil Government Procurement" and is working closely with the Treasury to ensure delivery across the service and with its own domestic procurement agencies to ensure their contribution. The Department is on track to meet its PSA target for increasing the proportion of electronic procurement transactions within 1999-2000.
The Department's gross running costs provision for 1999-2000 to 2001-02 is set out in its PSA. The productivity measures listed above will enable the Department to increase the quantity and quality of outputs delivered by its running costs expenditure over this period.
| Month | National first release dates |
|---|---|
| January | (1)19 January |
| February | 16 February |
| March | 15 March |
| April | (1)19 April |
| May | 17 May |
| June | 14 June |
| July | 12 July |
| August | 16 August |
| September | 13 September |
| October | 18 October |
| November | 15 November |
| December | 13 December |
(1) Release date delayed by one week to take account of the millennium.
(1) Release date delayed by one week to take account of Easter.
Employee Sickness
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the number of working days lost through sickness per 1,000 employees in (a) the public sector and (b) the private sector in the last year for which data are available. [103539]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Philip Hammond, dated 21 December 1999:
21 Dec 1999 : Column: 578W
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question about working days lost due to sickness in the public and private sector.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the major source of labour market data on individuals. It can provide information on the number of days employees were unable to work in the week that they were surveyed. However, as this number of days can also include some when the respondent would not normally work, no accurate estimate of the total number of working days lost in a year can be calculated. No other official source can provide the information requested.
The available information is shown in the table. The table is based on the average of the latest four quarters and shows the rate per 1000 employees.
| (1)Rate per 1000 employees | |
|---|---|
| All employees(1) | 46.5 |
| Private sector | 44.1 |
| Public sector | 53.4 |
(1) Rates are based on totals that exclude people who did not state if they took a day off in the reference week due to sickness
(1) Includes some people who did not state if they worked in the public or private sector.
(1) Sector of employment is based on respondent's self-assessment.
Source:
Labour Force Survey
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