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Education Expenditure (Wales)
Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much of his Budget allocation to Wales was calculated to match the money to be paid directly to schools in England. [156533]
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Mr. Andrew Smith: The Government announced an additional £100 million over the next three years for the National Assembly for Wales representing the share for Wales of the overall additional public spending announced in the Budget. It is for the Assembly to decide how it allocates this additional provision reflecting its priorities.
Public Expenditure
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the forecasts his Department has made of the impact on the economy of reducing national public spending by specified increments over the next three years. [156580]
Mr. Andrew Smith: Forecasts for the UK economy were set out in Budget 2000, based on all relevant information including the Government's spending plans.
Spending Review 2000 provided £43 billion extra resources for public services and infrastructure. Cuts to these affordable plans would harm key services as well as threatening the necessary renewal and modernisation of the country's capital stock.
Departmental Advertising
Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what major advertising campaigns his Department is carrying out; and what the cost and duration of each is. [154267]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 19 March 2001]: At the present time HM Treasury is not conducting any major advertising campaigns.
Promotional Campaigns
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the television, newspaper and radio advertising and other promotional campaigns conducted
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by (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its departmental public bodies, in each of the past five years, showing for each the expenditure incurred by his Department; and if he will make a statement. [153422]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 12 March 2001]: With regards to the advertising campaigns by HM Treasury, I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) on 15 December 2000, Official Report, column 297W, and the reply given to the hon. Member for Guildford (Mr. St. Aubyn) on 18 May 2000, Official Report, column 257W, by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary. Information on advertising costs for the agencies and departmental public bodies of the Treasury could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental IT Projects
Mr. Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the IT projects currently undertaken in his Department; and if he will state the (a) expected completion date and (b) cost of each project. [151513]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 26 February 2001]: The information is in the table.
The costs shown for each of the IT projects cover externally provided hardware, software and implementation costs and may, in addition, cover other costs such as training where this has been purchased as part of the initial contract placed with the external contractor. The costs of in-house project development are not included. Support and on-going maintenance costs are excluded.
Probity and value for money in contracting for IT projects is ensured through compliance with EC public procurement rules, UK Government domestic procurement policy and best practice guidance, Government accounting rules and National Audit requirements.
Only IT projects with estimated costs of over £250,000, on the basis described above, are included in the table.
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| IT project | Expected date of completion | Cost (£000) |
|---|---|---|
| Upgrading the Treasury's desktop to incorporate Windows and Office 2000 products | March 2001 | 2,500 |
| Redevelopment of the Treasury's public website (www.hm-treasury.gov.uk) | June 2001 | (13)250-300 |
| Replacement for FAMIS, the Treasury's domestic accounting system | October 2001 | (13)700-900 |
| Procurement of a Treasury search engine to provide a single access point to information in the electronic document management system, the intranet, the GSI and sites of particular Treasury interest on the internet | November 2001 | 500 |
| Replacement of the Treasury Accounting System (TACSYS) which manages the Consolidated Fund, the National Loans Fund and related activities | October 2002 | 1,100 |
(13) Cost range given as cost is dependent on chosen functionality.
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Mr. Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the IT projects his Department plans to undertake in the next year; and if he will state in each case the (a) expected date of commencement and completion and (b) cost. [151466]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 26 February 2001]: The information is in the table.
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The costs shown for each of the IT projects cover externally provided hardware, software and implementation costs and may, in addition, cover other costs such as training where this will be part of the initial contract to be placed with the external contractor. The costs of in-house project development are not included. Support and ongoing maintenance costs are excluded.
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Probity and value for money in contracting for IT projects is ensured through compliance with EC public procurement rules, UK Government domestic procurement policy and best practice guidance, Government accounting rules and National Audit requirement.
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Only IT projects with estimated costs of over £250,000, on the basis described above, are included in the table.
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| IT project | Expected date of commencement | Expected date of completion | Cost (£000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adding electronic records management capabilities to the Treasury's electronic document management system | April 2001 | November 2001 | (14)250-300 |
| The installation of a Treasury management information system to collect and process data in order to produce a set of consolidated financial accounts eventually encompassing the whole of government | (15)Summer 2001 | (16)-- | (17)-- |
(14) Cost range given as cost is dependent on chosen functionality
(15) The intention to procure was advertised via OJEC in August 2000 with planned contract signing to take place in early summer 2001
(16) The roll out/implementation of the solution will be dependent on the solution adopted. Therefore no completion date is provided.
(17) As the evaluation of tenders received is being undertaken at the moment any publication of likely costs will prejudice future negotiations. Therefore no costings are provided.
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Securities Market
Mr. Denzil Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which proposals by the European Commission relating to the regulation of the securities market will require legislation in the UK to be implemented. [156144]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Proposals that are formulated as directives, if adopted, would be implemented by UK legislation.
Office for National Statistics
Mr. Nicholls: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the amount of time businesses are required to take providing data for the Office for National Statistics; and if he will examine ways of reducing it. [155750]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Patrick Nicholls, dated 2 April 2001:
- As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the amount of time businesses are required to take providing data for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and if this can be reduced (155750).
- The ONS is extremely conscious of its responsibility to reduce the costs to business of complying with its surveys. Minimising the burden on suppliers of data is one of the ONS's key aims. The ONS produces an Annual Compliance Plan which charts the compliance costs by inquiry. This contains details of compliance-reducing initiatives that are either being undertaken, or are in the pipeline, the compliance target for the current year and the profile of compliance costs over a four year timescale. A copy of the Compliance Plan for 1999-2000 is available in the House of Commons Library.
- Regular reviews of surveys are carried out to examine wither there is a continuing need for them. Long term plans for bringing down compliance costs include greater use of administrative data, collecting data over the internet, developing commercial accounting software to include a statistics module and sharing the burden more equally among medium size firms.
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Mr. Nicholls: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of compliance is with the annual business inquiry financial questionnaire circulated by the Office for National Statistics; and what penalties exist for non-compliance. [155749]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Patrick Nicholls, dated 29 March 2001:
- As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the rate of compliance with the Annual Business Inquiry Financial Questionnaire and what penalties exist for non- compliance (155749).
- In 1999, 86 per cent of the businesses included in the Annual Business Inquiry completed the Financial Questionnaire. The Annual Business Inquiry is conducted on a statutory basis using powers provided by the Statistics of Trade Act 1947. Businesses that do not respond are liable to prosecution under section 4(1) of the Act. The maximum penalty is a fine of £2,500. However, enforcement action is only used as a last resort when all other efforts, such as postal and telephone reminder action, have failed to secure the return.
- The Office for National Statistics uses statutory powers because voluntary surveys would have very low response rates. This would lead to unrepresentative samples and biased results, larger sample sizes with many more businesses receiving questionnaires, and to those businesses which chose to reply being unfairly burdened.
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