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CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Bishops' Residences

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, what the cost was of maintaining the bishops' residences for the most recent year for which figures are available. [68879]

Mr. Bell: The overall spending by the Commissioners on bishops' housing and office premises in 2001 was £3.3 million, broken down as follows:

	£ million
Building maintenance and repairs	1.1
External property management costs	0.2
Staff	0.9
Council tax, insurance and other running costs	0.6
Lambeth Palace Library running costs	0.4
Support services	0.1
Depreciation	0.2
Rent paid	0.1
Rental income	(0.3)

Suffragan bishops' houses are owned by the dioceses.

17 Jul 2002 : Column 294W

WORK AND PENSIONS

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 11 June from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Miss G. Persse. [70346]

Mr. Andrew Smith: I replied to my right hon. Friend on 15 July.

Software

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is towards using open source software; and what percentage is used in his Department. [69305]

Mr. McCartney: The Department for Work and Pensions will follow the Government policy when published in summer 2002.

Currently open source software (OSS) is not deployed in any of the Department's national or mainstream IT systems. Figures for any use by individuals within the Department are not available, but any such use is minimal and isolated from the Department's major business systems. The Department actively reviews its position on OSS with our IT providers, on a continuous basis, ensuring we are aware of the latest IT industry thinking.

Disclosure of Interests

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what rules apply to the disclosure of interests on the part of those serving on public bodies which are responsible to his Department. [56463]

Mr. McCartney: All advisory, executive and tribunal non-departmental public bodies are required to adopt a board members' code of practice, based on guidance produced by the Cabinet Office. Copies are being placed in the Libraries with the exception of:

Disability Employment Advisory Committee (DEAC)—This group was established on 1 April 2002. Members have yet to be appointed.


National Employment Panel (NEP)—This group was established in October 2001. The Code of Practice will be placed as soon as it becomes operational.


The pensions ombudsman is an individual appointment and conduct is covered in the appointment letter.

Retirement Pensions

David Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if pensioners who have entitlement to two Category B retirement pensions will continue to be able to claim and receive the higher one. [71446]

Mr. McCartney: It has always been the intention to pay the higher Category B pension but because of the way the legislation was consolidated in 1992, the choice to take the higher amount was removed. This was unintentional. We will continue to pay the more beneficial rate as an extra statutory payment. We shall note the annual departmental resource account and will legislate to correct the position at the earliest opportunity.

17 Jul 2002 : Column 295W

Means-tested Benefits

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer to the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field), of 27 June 2002, Official Report, column 1066W, if he will break down the total sum for spending on means-tested benefits for pensioners into figures for each of the main means-tested benefits. [69947]

Mr. McCartney: The information is not available in the format requested. The cost of the main income related benefits to people aged 60 and over for 2002–03 are shown in the table:

£ million

Income related benefits
Minimum income guarantee	4,275
Housing benefit	4,620
Council tax benefit	1,520
Total	10,415

Source:

Departmental Report 2002

Child Benefit

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his letter of 5 July 2002 to members of the Committee that considered the Social Security (Electronic Communication) (Child Benefit) Order 2002, what proportion of downloads of child benefit claim forms from the existing website are made by women; and what proportion of existing child benefit claimants are women. [69259]

Malcolm Wicks: It is not possible to differentiate between men and women downloading existing electronic claim forms. 95.5 per cent. of child benefit customers are women.

NIRS2

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what basis the figures on page 38 of the latest departmental report, Command Paper 5424 on NIRS2 availability was calculated with particular reference to the other 1 per cent.; and if he will make a statement on those for whom NIRS2 is not available. [68479]

Mr. McCartney: The availability of the NIRS system is a contractional matter between the Inland Revenue and the supplier, Accenture. The figures used in the latest departmental report were supplied under these arrangements.

Pension Funds

Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his reply of 1 July 2002, to the right hon. Member for North-East Hampshire (Mr. Arbuthnot), Official Report, column 8, how much tax has been paid by pension funds in each year since the withdrawal of advance corporation tax relief; and if he will make a statement on the level of extra business investment there has been in each year since 1997. [70068]

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply

Pension funds are not normally liable to tax and the abolition of advance corporation tax, which was widely welcomed, did not impose a tax liability. Total business

17 Jul 2002 : Column 296W

investment, measured at constant prices, has increased markedly from £93.1 billion in 1997 and stood at £113.1 billion in 2001.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Veterinary Medicines Directorate

Roger Casale: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what targets she has set the Veterinary Medicines Directorate for 2002–03. [71400]

Mr. Morley: I have set the Veterinary Medicines Directorate the following performance targets for 2002–03.

Safety and quality

1. Provide high quality scientific assessment work.

2. Provide high quality policy advice to Ministers.

3. Comply with the timetables for entering SAR reports set out in the plan and to report to the VPC each quarter reviewing trends in SAR reports and identifying areas requiring evaluation.

4. Meet, in full, the requirements of the Residues Surveillance Plans.

Standards of service

5. Comply with the timetables for handling applications under the centralised, decentralised and UK procedure set out in the plan.

Efficiency

6. Continue to collect data for 2002–03 with a view to establishing a three-year rolling average cost efficiency index. Establish a numerical baseline for timeliness of delivery from the results of customer satisfaction surveys.

Financial control

7. Recover from industry and Government the full economic cost taken as a whole of its main business activities of:

Licensing and surveillance,

Policy work, and

Residues monitoring,

without any cross subsidy between these businesses.

PLAN

Suspected Adverse Reaction Surveillance Scheme Reports.

Enter human reports onto the database within two working days.

Enter serious animal reports onto the database within two working days.

Enter non-serious animal reports onto the database within 10 working days.

Centralised procedures

All assessments (including MRLs) to be submitted within timetables agreed with the EMEA.

Decentralised procedures

All authorisations to be determined within the established regulatory timetables.

UK procedures

New Marketing Authorisations to be determined or referred to VPC in an average of 120 clock days; all to be determined within 210 clock days.

Type I variations

Average time to complete first assessment to be less than 25 clock days.

Average time to sign off assessment to be less than 50 clock days.

99 per cent. of applications to be signed off by 60 clock days.

17 Jul 2002 : Column 297W

Type II variations

Average time to complete first assessment to be less than 55 clock days.

Average time to sign off assessment to be less than 110 clock days.

99 per cent. of applications to be signed off by 120 clock days.

Renewals

Average time to complete first assessment to be less than 80 clock days.

Average time to sign off assessment to be less than 165 clock days.

99 per cent. of applications to be signed off by 180 clock days.

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