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Public Bodies

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many appointments to public bodies have been made through his Department (a) from April 2000 to March 2001 and (b) since 31 March 2001; and how many of these were (i) men and (ii) women. [42150]

Ms Keeble: Ministers in this Department have appointed or reappointed (a) 116 people in the year April 2000 to March 2001 (i) 82 of whom are men and (ii) 34 women and (b) 100 people since 31 March 2001 (i) 58 of whom are men and (ii) 42 women.

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Transport and Telecommunications Council

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions whether a Scottish Executive Minister will be a member of the UK delegation to the forthcoming Transport and Telecommunications European Union Council of Ministers meeting on 25–26 March; and what information is being provided by his Department to guarantee effective pre-council scrutiny by the European Committee of the Scottish Parliament. [42690]

Mr. Jamieson: There are no plans for a Minister from the Scottish Executive to be a member of the UK delegation to the Transport and Telecommunications Council on 25–26 March.

In developing the UK position, there is regular contact between Ministers and officials of the Department and the Scottish Executive on those issues in which there is a Scottish interest, as required by the memorandum of understanding between the UK Government and the three devolved Administrations. The then Transport Minister in the Scottish Executive attended the Transport Council on 28 June 2001 as part of the UK delegation.

Councils

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what proportion of (a) district, (b) county and (c) Metropolitan councils he estimates will be judged as coasting. [42628]

Mr. Byers: No such estimate exists. The categorisation will be for the Audit Commission.

Continuous Registration

Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to move to a system of continuous registration of all motor vehicles; and if he will make a statement. [42558]

Mr. Jamieson: A proposal to introduce continuous registration—under which the keeper of a vehicle would retain a statutory responsibility to license it until DVLA was notified of a change of keeper—was one of a number of proposals set out by the Government in its consultation document on abandoned vehicles in October 2001. My right hon. Friend intends to make an announcement on the outcome of the consultation shortly.

National Celebrations

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what arrangements his Department has made to celebrate (a) St. Patrick's Day, (b) St. George's Day, (c) St. Andrew's Day and (d) Her Majesty the Queen's Golden Jubilee; and how his Department celebrated St. David's Day. [42301]

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Dr Whitehead [Holding answer: Monday 11 March 2002]: The Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions has fully supported the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in making suitable arrangements for Her Majesty the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations. Details of those events may be found on the Golden Jubilee website at www.goldenjubilee.gov.uk.

My Department has no specific arrangements to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, St. George's Day or St. Andrew's Day. My Department did not specifically celebrate St. David's Day.

Shoreham Harbour

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will publish the dates and minutes of meetings of the Maritime Vision for Shoreham Harbour Steering Group since its inception. [42357]

Mr. Jamieson: The Shoreham Maritime Regeneration Strategy was set up in May 1998 to foster the regeneration of Shoreham Harbour. The Shoreham Maritime Steering Group is seeking to implement this strategy and has since been holding regular meetings. Although the Government Office for the South East is a partner of the Steering Group, it is not within the remit of the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions to publish the dates and minutes of these meetings.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) what feasibility study he has carried out into the provision of a road link between the A259 at Shoreham Harbour with the A27; and when he plans to publish the findings; [42390]

(2) what discussions he has had with Shoreham Port Authority about the provision of a link road between the A259 at Shoreham Harbour and the A27. [42356]

Ms Keeble: No discussions have been held with Shoreham Port Authority regarding the provision of a link road between the A259 and the A27. There is no Government-led study into such a link road but there is a wider local authority study currently taking place. This work includes a variety of separate work streams looking at the regeneration potential for the port area, and the feasibility of facilitating much of the future potential for local and port development.

Fire Stations

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many functioning fire stations there were, broken down by fire brigade area, in each year since 1997. [42235]

Mr. Byers: The number of fire stations in each fire authority area in England and Wales as at 1 January from 1997 to 2002 is in the table:

Number of fire stations in England and Wales at 1 January 1997–2002

Fire authority	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Avon	23	23	23	23	23	23
Bedfordshire and Luton	14	14	14	14	14	14
Buckinghamshire	20	20	20	20	20	20
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough	28	28	28	28	28	28
Cheshire	24	24	24	24	24	24
Cleveland	15	15	15	15	15	15
Cornwall	31	31	31	31	31	31
County Durham and Darlington	16	15	15	15	15	15
Cumbria	38	38	38	38	38	38
Derbyshire	31	31	31	31	31	31
Devon	58	58	58	58	58	58
Dorset	29	29	29	29	29	30
East Sussex	24	24	24	24	24	24
Essex	51	51	51	51	51	51
Gloucestershire	20	20	20	20	20	20
Greater Manchester	43	43	43	43	43	43
Hampshire	54	54	54	54	52	52
Hereford and Worcester	26	26	26	26	26	27
Hertfordshire	32	32	32	32	32	32
Humberside	31	31	31	31	31	32
Isle of Wight	10	10	10	10	10	10
Isles of Scilly	7	7	7	7	7	7
Kent and Medway Towns	66	66	66	66	66	66
Lancashire	40	40	40	40	40	40
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland	20	20	20	20	20	20
Lincolnshire	37	37	37	37	38	38
London	113	113	113	113	112	112
Merseyside	27	27	27	26	26	26
Mid and West Wales	57	57	57	57	57	57
Norfolk	40	40	40	40	40	40
North Wales	44	44	44	44	44	44
North Yorkshire	37	37	37	37	37	37
Northamptonshire	22	22	22	22	22	22
Northumberland	19	19	19	19	19	19
Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham	25	25	25	25	25	25
Oxfordshire	24	24	24	24	24	24
Royal Berkshire	20	20	20	20	20	20
Shropshire	23	23	23	23	23	23
Somerset	24	24	24	24	24	24
South Wales	50	50	50	50	50	50
South Yorkshire	24	24	24	24	24	24
Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire	30	30	30	30	30	30
Suffolk	36	36	36	36	36	36
Surrey	24	24	24	24	24	24
Tyne and Wear	18	19	19	19	19	19
Warwickshire	20	20	20	19	19	19
West Midlands	41	41	41	41	41	41
West Sussex	28	28	28	28	28	28
West Yorkshire	50	50	50	50	50	50
Wiltshire and Swindon	25	25	25	25	25	25

Source:

DTLR calendar year returns.

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WORK AND PENSIONS

Departmental Reorganisation

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to reorganise his Department. [44722]

Mr. Darling: The Department for Work and Pensions was set up last year to bring together the Government's Welfare to Work programme and to ensure a far better focus on the people we serve. As part of this programme of reform, I am setting up two new executive agencies in April: Jobcentre Plus, which will deliver an integrated, work-focused service to benefit claimants of working age and to employers; and The Pension Service, which will deliver a service dedicated to today's and tomorrow's pensioners.

In consequence of these changes, the Benefits Agency and the Employment Service will close on 31 March. The Department's other executive agencies (the Child

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Support Agency and The Appeals Service) will continue. Disability and carer benefits will be delivered by a distinct business—the Disability and Carers Service—which will work closely with both Jobcentre Plus and The Pension Service. The Child Benefit Centre will form a separate business until its transfer to the Inland Revenue in April 2003.

The targets I have set Jobcentre Plus and The Pension Service for 2002–03 are given below.

Further information on Jobcentre Plus and The Pension Service plans for 2002–03 is contained in their business plans, copies of which have been placed in the Library.

I am also publishing today a departmental framework which sets out the main roles and accountabilities of each part of the Department, including its executive agencies, and the shared values and ways of working which ensure that the Department delivers a common agenda of reform. The framework incorporates the roles of each of the Department's executive agencies and replaces traditional free-standing agency framework documents.

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Targets

Jobcentre Plus

Jobcentre Plus performance will be measured against the following targets ¹ :

Job outcomes: To achieve a total points score of 6,656,000, based on job entry outcomes Jobcentre Plus achieves.

Business delivery: To ensure that specified key Jobcentre Plus business processes are delivered efficiently, accurately and to specified standards in 93.4 per cent. of cases checked (with a Jobcentre Plus management objective that no district will fall below 85 per cent. by the end of the year).

Fraud and error: By March 2003 to reduce losses from fraud and error in working age income support and jobseeker's allowance to no more than 7 per cent. of the monetary value of these benefits paid during the year.

Employer outcomes: At least 85 per cent. of employers placing their vacancies with Jobcentre Plus will have a positive outcome.

Customer service: To achieve a 79 per cent. customer service level in the delivery of the standards set out in the customers and employers charters (with a Jobcentre Plus management objective that individual regions will achieve specified levels by the end of the year).

The Pension Service

The Pension Service's performance will be measured against the following targets:

Customer service: To improve customer service in line with the standards set out in The Pension Service customer charter ² .

Accuracy: To achieve an accuracy rate of 94 per cent. on awards of MIG and of 98 per cent. on awards of retirement pension.

MIG claims processing:

To complete processing of MIG claims on average within 10 working days from the date the necessary evidence is received.

Fraud and error: To make progress in reducing the value of MIG fraud and customer error towards an overall reduction of 20 per cent. by 2004.

Winter fuel payments: To issue winter fuel payments for 2002–03 (all automatic payments and successful claims received before 20 September 2002) by Christmas 2002.

Retirement pension forecasts: To provide 95 per cent. of retirement pension forecasts within 40 days of receipt of the request.

Performance levels: To establish a baseline of performance across The Pension Service, to enable the setting of performance variation targets in 2003–04.

Sickness absence: To reduce the average sickness absence rate to 9.4 days by December 2002.

¹ A full explanation of the Jobcentre Plus targets is contained in the performance agreement, copies of which have been placed in the Library.

² The Pension Service customer charter will be published in April, to coincide with the launch of The Pension Service.

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