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Market Research

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what expenditure has been incurred by her (a) Department, (b) agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each of the last four years on (i) opinion polling, (ii) focus groups and (iii) other forms of market research; and if she will list the surveys commissioned and the purpose of each. [27944]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

My Department has not incurred any expenditure on opinion polling, focus groups or other forms of market research.

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Lost/Stolen Property

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will list those items valued at more than £50 which have been stolen or lost from her Department in each of the last four years. [28007]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

Since that date one laptop computer has been stolen. No items have been reported as lost.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will list those items valued at less than £50 each which have been stolen or lost from her Department in each of the last four years. [34225]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

No items valued at less than £50 have been reported lost or stolen in my Department.

Refurbishment

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what her estimate is of the cost of buildings refurbishment carried out by her Department in each of the last four years. [27965]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

The Department spent £150,354 on building refurbishment work in 1999–2000. No refurbishment work was carried out in 2000–01.

Empty Properties

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what her estimate is of the (a) annual cost and (b) total value of the empty properties owned by (i) her Department, (ii) her agencies and (iii) other public bodies for which she has had responsibility in each of the last four years. [30074]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

The Department has had no empty properties.

Private Finance Initiative

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the total external spend by her Department was on Private Finance Initiative consultants in each of the last four years; how many full-time equivalent consultants were employed over this period; how many billed consultancy days there were per year; what the implied average cost of each PFI consultant was; how many consultancy firms were used by her Department over this period; and if she will make a statement. [31039]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

My Department has had no expenditure on Private Finance Initiative consultants.

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Contracts (KPMG)

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what contracts her Department has with KPMG; and what the value is of each one. [31322]

Mrs. Liddell: My Department has no contacts with KPMG.

Departmental Leave Entitlements

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been the average annual leave entitlement of staff in her Department in each of the last four years. [31741]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999.

The average annual leave entitlement of staff in my Department outside the senior civil service was 27.5 days for 1999–2000, 26.7 days for 2000–01 and 26.5 days for 2001–02 to date.

The annual leave entitlement for members of the senior civil service is currently set by the Cabinet Office at 30 days and has been so for the last four years.

Secondments

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff were seconded between (a) BP, (b) Shell, (c) Enron, (d) Exxon-Mobil, (e) Conoco, (f) Texaco and (g) TotalFinaElf and her Department in (i) 1999–2000, (ii) 2000–01 and (iii) April 2001 to the latest date for which figures are available. [33207]

Mrs. Liddell: No staff have been seconded to my Department by any of the companies listed.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff were seconded between (a) PWC Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Ernst and Young, (c) Deloitte & Touche, (d) KPMG and (e) Andersen and her Department in (i) 1999–2000, (ii) 2000–01 and (iii) April 2001 to the latest date for which figures are available. [33861]

Mrs. Liddell: No staff have been seconded to my Department by any of the companies listed.

Consultancy Contracts

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many contracts were let by her Department and agencies for which she is responsible to (a) PWC Consulting or PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Ernst and Young, (c) Deloitte Touche, (d) KPMG and (e) Andersen for consultancy services for the financial years (i) 1997–98, (ii) 1998–99, (iii) 1999–2000, (iv) 2000–01 and (v) 2001 to the latest date for which figures are available, indicating the remuneration in each case. [33855]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999. No contracts have been let by my Department to any of the companies mentioned.

Accountancy Contracts

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will publish the (a) number and (b) value of contracts awarded by her Department to (i) Arthur

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Andersen, (ii) Deloitte & Touche, (ii) Ernst and Young, (iv) KPMG and (v) PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants in each year since 1997. [34992]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established in its present form on 1 July 1999. No contracts have been awarded by my Department to any of the companies listed.

Scottish Parliament

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what discussions she has recently had on the Scottish Parliament's powers to confer devolved functions on UK bodies; who was present; and if she will make a statement on the conclusions of such meetings; [34801]

(2) if she will publish the agenda for and list the location of recent meetings she has been involved in to discuss the Scottish Parliament's powers to confer devolved functions on UK bodies; and from which Department supporting officials were provided. [34980]

Mrs. Liddell: Information relating to internal discussion and advice is not disclosed under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Unclaimed Benefits

Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the Government's policy is on unclaimed benefits among the elderly in Scotland. [35529]

Mr. Foulkes: The Government are committed to ensuring that elderly people eligible for benefits achieve their legal entitlement and that the poorest among our pensioners have a guaranteed minimum income. The minimum income guarantee (MIG) is paid to around 181,000 claimants aged 60 or over in Scotland.

In May 2000 we launched a national take-up campaign writing to 2 million pensioners across the UK, informing them about MIG. Since October last year, callers to the Retirement Pension Telecentre, who are not in receipt of MIG but identified as possible claimants, have been encouraged to claim. Pensioners claiming retirement pension by post are sent a MIG leaflet.

We are looking at options to prompt automatically the issue of a claim for MIG following certain key life events, for example when a pensioner reaches age 75 or 80 or when another benefit is awarded. We are also working in partnership with organisations for older people to improve access to benefits and take-up of the MIG. This includes projects on a national good practice guide and a survey of local take-up initiatives.

Friends of Scotland

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many Friends of Scotland have been recruited to date; what has been the cost of that project to date; and what its budget is for 2002. [35734]

Mrs. Liddell [holding answer 12 February 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 15 January 2002, Official Report, column 169W.

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The costs of this programme are being met from within the existing resources of the Scotland Office, together with private sponsorship for the Scottish banquet on 28 November 2001. It is not possible to quantify the cost of staff time spent on this programme this year.

My officials and I are in discussion with interested parties, including the Scottish Executive, about the further development of the initiative. These discussions will inform decisions about the allocation of resources.

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