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Volunteers

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many members of her staff in each of the past two years have been granted a day's paid leave to work as a volunteer; and if she will make a statement. [39740]

Mrs. Liddell: No staff in my Department have requested paid leave to work as a volunteer during the last two years.

Civil Servants

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the (a) percentage and number of rail journeys undertaken on first class tickets, (b) average cost of a first class journey by rail and (c) total cost of rail travel in each of the past four years broken down by grade of civil servant. [37499]

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Mrs. Liddell: The information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Rail Journeys

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will make it her policy that rail journeys undertaken by staff in her Department should ordinarily be on standard class tickets. [40435]

Mrs. Liddell: The Civil Service Management Code requires all Government Departments and agencies to ensure that employees use the most efficient and economic means of travel in the circumstances, taking into account any management benefit and the needs of staff with disabilities.

Job Sharing

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many people are employed in her Department on a job share contract; and what percentage of vacant positions was advertised on this basis in the last 12 months. [35367]

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will make a statement on the extent of job sharing in her Department. [41050]

Mrs. Liddell: My Department currently has four members of staff employed in a total of two job-share positions.

Apart from a very small number of posts, where there are particular business requirements, all vacant positions are advertised as being available on a part-time, job share/split as well as on a full-time basis.

Press Office

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff in her Department's press office have received (a) termination and (b) redundancy payments in each of the last four years. [41088]

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

Since that date, no staff in the Department's press office have received termination or redundancy payments.

Legal Costs

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what legal costs have been incurred by her Department in each of the last four years. [34350]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since that time it has incurred the following legal costs in relation to my areas of responsibility:

£

	Legal costs
July 1999 to March 2000	1,769
April 2000 to March 2001	5,487
April 2001 to March 2002	18,892

These do not include the cost of in-house legal services but include payments made to other Departments for legal

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services. The figures are gross, do not include costs recovered or recoverable and do not include costs paid to third parties by way of damages or compensation.

Official Visits

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if she will list the official visits to (a) Paris and (b) Brussels made by each Minister in her Department in 2001 and the mode of travel used; and what guidance is provided to Ministers in her Department on the choice of mode of travel for such visits; [38146]

(2) if she will list the official visits within the UK outside London made by each Minister in her Department in 2001, giving for each (a) the origin and destination and (b) the mode of travel used; and what guidance is provided to Ministers in her Department on choice of mode of travel for official visits. [38182]

Mrs. Liddell: Since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. The Government have also published on an annual basis of all Ministers' visits overseas. Details of travel undertaken during the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 will be published in a similar form to previous years as soon as possible. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House.

All travel is undertaken fully in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.

The additional information requested in respect of UK travel is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans she has to visit the Baltic states. [45842]

Mrs. Liddell: It is my intention to visit the Baltic states in due course.

Union Duties

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Advocate-General how many staff in her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies receive paid leave to undertake union duties; how many days they are allocated; and what has been the cost to public funds in each of the last four years. [36214]

The Advocate-General: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff in her Department, agencies and non- departmental public bodies receive paid leave to undertake union duties; how many days they are allocated; and what has been the cost to public funds in each of the last four years. [36213]

Mrs. Liddell: No official in my Department receives paid facility time on a full time basis to undertake trade union activities.

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WALES

Complaints

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many complaints were registered against his Department and its predecessor Departments in (a) 1990 to 1996 and (b) 1997 to 2002; how many are current; and what proportion were (i) taken up and (ii) upheld by the Parliamentary Ombudsman in those periods. [51583]

Mr. Paul Murphy: There is no central register of complaints.

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Since its establishment on 1 July 1999, the Parliamentary Ombudsman has investigated no complaints against the Wales Office. The Ombudsman's annual reports contain the following details of complaints against the former Welsh Office.

Year	New cases received	Rejected or discontinued(5)	Cases concluded	Upheld in whole or in part
1990–91	9	7	0	0
1991–92	9	6	2	2
1992–93	12	8	4	4
1993–94	12	11	0	0
1994–95	25	14	2	0
1995–96	15	12	9	8
1996–97	16	12	0	0
1997–98	12	13	3	2
1998–99	17	10	5	4
1999–2000	8	19	0	0
2000–01	1	1	0	0

⁽⁵⁾ From 1999–2000, includes "Concluded without investigation"

Note:

Annual workload includes cases carried forward from previous years

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EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Staff Numbers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many staff have been employed by her Department in each of the last 10 years. [42454]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office on 19 March 2002, Official Report, column 295W.

User Consultation

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what new steps her Department took in 2001–02 to consult the users of its services about their wishes and expectations; and if she will publish the findings. [47310]

Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The Department continuously commissions tightly focused market research to help develop and evaluate advertising and publicity campaigns. This research will often focus on views of customers about its services.

For example in 2001–02, campaigns where strategic communications research or creative development research have been commissioned include the drive to widen participation in Higher Education; the promotion of the relevance of science to teenagers, as part of Science Year, the child care recruitment campaign; the campaign to help those adults with basic skills gaps; and the promotion of foundation degrees and modern apprenticeships.

It is seldom possible to publish the findings of this type of research as these projects test creative work commissioned from advertising agencies as part of the development of the publicity campaigns and are regarded as commercial-in-confidence. This research is subject to the usual strict rules that spending must represent good value for the taxpayer and must not be used for party political purposes.

The Department also conducts research to help us understand the education, skills and communication needs of our customers. It has sampled and consulted on the views of teachers, parents and other groups affected by the Department's policies on specific issues. For example the project "Causes of truancy by pupils of compulsory school age" gathers the views of pupils, parents, school and LEA staff on the causes of truancy and what measures could be taken to address the issue. One of the aims is to examine the issue of absence that is condoned by parents. "A longitudinal study of factors contributing to variations in teacher effectiveness" will investigate the factors which contribute to the effectiveness of teachers at different stages of their career, working in a range of schools in different contexts, and how this changes over time. Part of this study is to track 300 teachers over three years measuring their effectiveness by pupil outcome measures and other qualitative techniques. Again it would not be possible to give details of every project without disproportionate costs.

The Department is committed in particular to consulting its youngest customers and enthusiastically supports the Government's core principles on involving

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children and young people. We arranged a consultation day with pupils on 5 November 2001 on the Education White Paper and our consultation on the 14–19 Green Paper which started in February includes a young persons' document and events with young people. Most Connexions Partnerships are successfully involving young people in the design, delivery and evaluation of the service. The views of young people are also gathered through the millennium volunteers national and regional fora. We will build on these examples to promote consultation with children and young people across the Department's activities.

The Department's website has details of its research programme from 1997 on http://www/dfes.gov.uk/ research. Information about opinion polls, focus groups and other forms of research commissioned by the Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally.

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