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Ministerial Visits

Mr. McCabe: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list (a) Government expenditure on ministerial overseas visits for the financial years 1996–97 to 2001–02 and (b) all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet ministers costing in

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excess of £500 between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2002 including the cost, destination and purpose of each visit. [73406]

The Prime Minister: Expenditure on Ministerial overseas visits for the period requested is estimated as follows:

Year	£ million
1996–97	7.9
2 May 1997 to 31 March 1998	6.4
1998–99	4.9
1999–2000	4.6
2000–01	4.7
2001–02	5.6

The figure for 2001–02 reflects payments made so far for travel undertaken in this period; a few bills have yet to be submitted to departments for payment.

A list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 has been placed in the Libraries of the House. The list provides details of the date, destination and purpose of all such visits and the cost of Ministers' travel and accommodation where appropriate.

Departmental Jobs

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Prime Minister how many jobs under the remit of his offices excluding those under the departmental remit of his Cabinet Ministers, are located in (a) Scotland, (b) England, excluding Greater London, (c) Greater London, (d) Wales, (e) Northern Ireland and (f) overseas, broken down by (i) whole-time equivalent jobs and (ii) the percentage per each individual body or organisation. [72726]

The Prime Minister: All jobs in my Office are located in London.

International Students

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has for the future of the Prime Minister's Initiative to attract more international students to the UK. [73195]

The Prime Minister: Through the British Council, we will continue to invest in marketing the benefits of UK education and training. Our aim is to meet the target of recruiting an extra 75,000 international students from outside the European Union by 2005, and we are currently on track to achieve this. We hope these students will gain advantage from the high quality and wide international recognition of their UK qualifications and remain friends of the UK, helping our trade and diplomacy. This initiative is a partnership with all education and training institutions across the UK and we welcome their continuing support.

Throckmorton

Mr. Luff: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make an official visit to Throckmorton to study the effects of his Government's policies. [72922]

The Prime Minister: I have no immediate plans to do so.

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Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England

Mr. Plaskitt: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement about the offices of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England. [73404]

The Prime Minister: The current Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England, Sir Michael Buckley, plans to retire later this year.

Her Majesty has been pleased to approve the appointment of Ann Abraham as Sir Michael's successor as Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England. Ann Abraham, who is currently the Legal Services Ombudsman, will take up appointment later this year.

I am grateful to Sir Michael for the dedication and commitment he has shown over the past five and a half years, and for the valuable contribution he has made to public life.

Information Commissioner

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Prime Minister who the new Information Commissioner will be. [73405]

The Prime Minister: I am pleased to announce that the Queen has approved the appointment of Mr. Richard Thomas as the new Information Commissioner, to succeed Mrs. Elizabeth France CBE later this year. Mr. Thomas is currently Director of Public Policy at the law firm Clifford Chance. He is expected to take up his duties as Commissioner on 30 November.

Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe

Ms Munn: To ask the Prime Minister what changes there are to the leadership of the United Kingdom Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. [73407]

The Prime Minister: The right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Davis) replaces the right hon. Member for Walsall, South (Mr. George), who has been elected President of the Assembly, as leader of the Delegation. The right hon. Member for Walsall, South (Mr. George) remains a Member of the Delegation.

WALES

Comprehensive Spending Review

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff have contributed to his Department's input to the Spending Review. [68689]

Mr. Murphy: The Spending Review involves a comprehensive assessment of the department's performance, priorities and resource requirements and a range of staff make a contribution.

Temporary Staff

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many employees under contract from temping

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agencies worked in his Department; and how much was spent on temporary staff (a) in total and (b) as a percentage of the total staffing budget in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [72634]

Mr. Murphy: My Department came into existence in July 1999.

Information is not readily available for the whole period. However my Department currently has 4 agency staff out of a total of 48. Expenditure on agency staff amounted to £86,000 in 2000–01; £35,000 in 2001–02; and £17,000 in the first quarter of 2002–03.

The figure for 2000–01 equates to 4.8 per cent. of the paybill for that year; the spend in 2001–02 equates to 1.4 per cent. of the paybill.

Special Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the (a) dates, (b) location and (c) sources were of attributable (i) articles, interviews or contributions for the media, books or other journals and (ii) speeches or presentations made in the public domain, by departmental special advisers since March 2001; who in his Department authorised the activity; and on what date this activity was recorded with the departmental Head of Information. [72259]

Mr. Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him today by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.

Public Consultations

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the public consultations undertaken by his Department since 8 June 2001, indicating the (a) length and (b) number of responses received in each case. [68701]

Mr. Murphy: Since 8 June 2001, my department has undertaken consultations on the following:
jointly with Department of Health, Draft mental health Bill;
jointly with Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Tenancies Regulatory Reform Order from March to June 2002;
draft NHS (Wales) Bill from May to July 200, available on line, with an e-mail address for respondents, and in print.

Both the Welsh Affairs Committee and the National Assembly for Wales considered and reported on the draft NHS (Wales) Bill, with a further 31 responses from other organisations

Departmental Reports

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how much the (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002 departmental reports cost to produce; [63105]

(2) what the total production cost to the Wales Office was of the Departmental report in (a) 1999, (b) 2000 and (c) 2001; [66681]

(3) what the total cost was of producing the Wales Office departmental report in 2002. [67652]

Mr. Murphy: The cost to the Wales Office of producing departmental reports for those years was:

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1999	The Wales Office did not produce a departmental report in 1999;
2000	£2,576.25;
2001	£23,932.63; and
2002	£20,264.45.

The Wales Office 2000 report cost less than the other reports because it was shorter and very basic, compared with the later reports. It was done in black and white and the pages were simply folded and stapled whereas the Wales Office 2001 and 2002 reports were bigger, spine-bound, in colour and were altogether less simple in style.

Another factor affecting the cost is the subsidy paid by the Department to determine the cover price. Because Wales Office reports are bilingual they have twice as many pages as a comparable single language report. The subsidy the Department pays, therefore, enables it to keep down the cover price to something comparable with a single language report. There are other factors which affect the amount paid but these are a commercial matter for the Stationery Office.

Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what the cost was of publishing his Department and its predecessor's annual report for each of the past five years. [70487]

Mr. Murphy: The cost to the Departments of producing Welsh Office and Wales Office departmental reports for those years was:

1998	£7,388.82;
1999	£9,828.91;
2000	£2,576.25;
2001	£23,932.63; and
2002	£20,264.45.

The Wales Office 2000 report cost less than the other reports to produce because it was shorter and very basic, compared with the later reports. It was done in black and white and the pages were simply folded and stapled whereas the Wales Office 2001 and 2002 and the Welsh Office 1998 and 1999 reports were bigger, spine-bound, in colour and were altogether less simple in style.

Another factor affecting the cost is the subsidy paid by the Department to determine the cover price. Because Wales Office and old Welsh Office reports are bilingual they have twice as many pages as a comparable single language report. The subsidy paid by the Department, therefore, enables the cover price to be kept to something comparable with a single language report. The Welsh Office cover prices were much higher than the Wales Office's (£11.50 and £14.00 compared with £4.70, £7.00 and £8.00) so a lower subsidy would have been paid. There are other factors affecting the amount paid but these are a commercial matter for The Stationery Office.

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