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Pension Schemes
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on delays in making the annual payment to the pension schemes of those who have opted out of SERPS. [33069]
Dawn Primarolo: There are currently no delays in making the annual payments to the pension schemes of those who have opted out of SERPS.
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However, an IT server owned by the Inland Revenue which receives information from pension providers was decommissioned in error when an office move took place in April 2000 resulting in a delay in processing data on new personal pensions applications and terminations from existing personal pensions. This error is very much regretted.
The Inland Revenue is currently checking the cases affected and expect to process all of them and make the delayed payments and recoveries of age-related rebates during February.
New personal pension application and termination information is now being processed normally.
Gus O'Donnell
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer who produced, and at what cost to his Department, the four cartoons released by his Department on 17 January 2002, in the selection of slides presented by Mr. Gus O'Donnell on 30 November 2001; and if he will make a statement. [31659]
Ruth Kelly: The whole of Gus O'Donnell's presentation was produced within the Treasury, at no additional cost to the Department.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons UK productivity growth was described as lacklustre in the slides presented by Mr. Gus O'Donnell at a seminar with students on 30 November 2001; and if he will make a statement. [31661]
Ruth Kelly: The slide to which the hon. Gentleman refers shows a quadrant of possible risks to the Treasury's central forecast for the UK economy in 2002, and the reference to productivity growth appeared only in the worst case scenario.
Departmental Secondments
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 15 November 2001, Official Report, column 845W, on departmental secondments, if he will list the company employing each secondee in his Department; and if he will make a statement. [32603]
Ruth Kelly: Further to my answer of 15 November 2001, Official Report, column 845W, the number of people seconded into HM Treasury is listed in the table:
| Company | Number of employees |
|---|---|
| National Audit Commission (NAO) | 6 |
| Deloitte Touche | 1 |
| Tidy Britain Group (Charity) | 1 |
| Institute of Fiscal Studies | 1 |
| Kent County Council | 1 |
| Oxfam | 1 |
| Pannell Kerr Foster Services | 1 |
| Financial Services Authority (FSA) | 3 |
| University of Bristol | 1 |
| UBS Warburg | 1 |
| Bank of England | 2 |
| DaLASER (District Auditor) | 1 |
More comprehensive details of people seconded into HM Treasury are available on our website.
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Arthur Andersen
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what contracts his Department has had since 1997 with (a) Arthur Andersen and (b) Accenture for (i) accountancy, (ii) audit and (iii) consultancy work; and what staff have been seconded (A) to his Department from and (B) from his Department to these firms. [32426]
Ruth Kelly: Since 1997 the Treasury has had two contracts with Arthur Andersen for consultancy work and none with Accenture. In line with Government policy these contracts were awarded following a competition. In the same period we have had three people seconded from Arthur Andersen to the Treasury, but none from Accenture. No Treasury staff have been seconded to the companies in question.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Parliament Square
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the President of the Council what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues and others over proposals to pedestrianise part of Parliament Square; what steps he intends to take to ensure that right hon. and hon. Members are properly consulted about such proposals before work proceeds; and what assessment he has made of whether the proposals will cause disruption to right hon. and hon. Members when attending the House. [33110]
Mr. Robin Cook: In 1997, a steering group led by the Government Office for London and Westminster city council commissioned a master plan entitled "World Squares for All" prepared by Sir Norman Foster and a supporting team of professional firms. The aims of the master plan were to improve the setting of historic sites; reduce traffic congestion and make pedestrian movement safer and more pleasant; to improve bus services; and to improve street design.
The study area covered Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Parliament Square and Old Palace Yard. A public exhibition displaying the master plan options was launched by the Deputy Prime Minister in December 1997, and the exhibition material was subsequently displayed for Members of both Houses of Parliament in the Royal Gallery. The Accommodation and Works Committee was consulted at that time.
From the results of the public consultation a preferred strategy was identified and the Government Office for London with Westminster city council began a feasibility study for just phase 1: Trafalgar Square.
In February 2000, a Minister from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Minister for London launched an exhibition and public consultation exercise on the Trafalgar Square proposals. 16,000 leaflets and questionnaires were distributed. The Greater London Authority took over the lead role later that year and they have recently let a contract to implement the Trafalgar Square works.
Beyond the master plan of 1997, no planning has yet been done on future phases for Whitehall and Parliament Square. However, the Mayor has indicated interest in seeing future phases progress. The Director of
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Parliamentary Estates represents parliamentary interests in the World Squares for All Steering Group and will ensure that there is proper consultation if plans for Parliament Square do progress.
Parliamentary Television Service
Ian Lucas: To ask the Chairman of the Information Select Committee if he plans to facilitate the broadcast of proceedings of the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament on the parliamentary television service. [32129]
Michael Fabricant: The proceedings of the Welsh Assembly are already available on channel 22 of the television annunciators.
The previous Information Committee took the view that consideration should be given to broadcasting the proceeding of the Scottish Parliament on the annunciators once there was an economic method of conveying the signal to Westminster. At present, unlike the proceedings of the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament is not broadcast by satellite and there are no plans to do so. House officials have been in regular discussion with their counterparts in the Scottish Parliament on this matter and will continue to keep it under review. In the meantime, there is a webcam service which can be seen at www.scottishparliamentlive.com.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Credit Card Fraud
Mr. Hurst: To ask the Solicitor-General how many prosecutions were instituted by the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales in respect of fraudulent credit card transactions by use of the Internet in 2001. [33560]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service does not collect statistics on prosecutions for particular offences.
DEFENCE
Low Flying
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints he has received regarding low flying military aircraft by constituency in the past year. [30628]
Dr. Moonie: Low flying complaints are not recorded by constituency. The hon. Member may, however, wish to be aware that in 2001 the number of individual complaints recorded by the Ministry of Defence Low Flying Complaints and Inquiries unit by unitary authority or county title was as shown in the table.
| Wales | Number |
|---|---|
| Carmarthenshire | 82 |
| Ceredigion | 33 |
| Clwyd | 8 |
| Denbighshire | 3 |
| Dyfed | 132 |
| Glamorgan | 17 |
| Gwent | 13 |
| Gwynedd | 26 |
| Monmouthshire | 13 |
| Pembrokeshire | 61 |
| Powys | 88 |
| Total | 476 |
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| Scotland | Number |
|---|---|
| Aberdeenshire | 42 |
| Angus | 14 |
| Argyll and Bute | 12 |
| Ayrshire | 15 |
| Berwickshire | 23 |
| Borders | 77 |
| Central Scotland | 19 |
| Clyde | 23 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 171 |
| Fife | 32 |
| Grampian | 14 |
| Highlands | 122 |
| Lanarkshire | 12 |
| Lothian | 51 |
| Moray | 11 |
| Orkney | 11 |
| Perthshire | 32 |
| Rosshire | 18 |
| Strathclyde | 1 |
| Tayside | 47 |
| Western Isles | 3 |
| Total | 750 |
5 Feb 2002 : Column 852W
Although a number of the county, or unitary authority, boundaries have changed, complaints have been recorded by the address given by the correspondent. An additional 12 correspondents did not reveal an address when registering their complaint.Details of the pattern of military low flying activity by low flying area are included on the Ministry of Defence website under the address www.lowflying.mod.uk.
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