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28 Oct 2002 : Column 596W—continued
Census Website
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many people have visited the 1901 Census website since its relaunch; and if he will make a statement. [77281]
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Ms Rosie Winterton: The 1901 Census website went back online as a test site on 27 August 2002. up to 21 October over 1.4 million people have visited the site. They have conducted 14 million searches and downloaded 600,000 images of the census pages.
Consultancies
David Davis: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will list external (a) public relations/communications companies, (b) advertising and
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marketing companies, (c) management consultancies, (d) accountancy companies, (e) banking firms, (f) individual consultants and (g) other specialist consultancies used by her Department since June 2001; what actions those consultancies/companies have performed within her Department; and what costs have been incurred through use of these consultancies/companies. [74687]
Yvette Cooper: The Department's use of external companies/consultancies, in the categories requested and between 1 June 2001 to 31 August 2002, was as follows:
(12) Management and specialist consultancies are listed together as many consultancies provide both types of service.
(13) #0.34 million of the #7.36 million was with individual consultants.
(14) In addition to the management and specialist consultancy companies listed, 33 individual consultants were used.
(15) See (c).
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Correspondence
Ian Lucas: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Wrexham of 8 August, in respect of Mr. and Mrs. Jones. [77310]
Yvette Cooper: The letter of 8 August on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Jones was passed to the Chief Executive of the Court Service for reply as he had already been dealing with the issues involved. He replied to the letter on 24 October.
Further to this matter I have written to my hon. Friend today.
Ian Lucas: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will instruct the chief Executive of the Court Service to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Wrexham of 8 August. [77311]
Yvette Cooper: The Chief Executive of the Court Service replied to the letter of my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham of 8 August on 24 October.
Departmental Job Vacancies
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many job vacancies there were at (a) administrative assistant or equivalent, (b) administrative officer or equivalent, (c) administrative executive officer, (d) higher executive officer, (e) senior executive officer, (f) grade 7 principal and (g) all positions above grade 7 level in her Department for jobs located in (i) London and (ii) the south east between 1 April 2001 and 31 March; and what is the total employment for each civil service grade. [76552]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The following table provides the information requested.
| Grade | SIP London | SIPSE | Vacancies London | Vacancies SE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA | 720 | 339 | 131 | 132 |
| AO | 1,389 | 632 | 327 | 61 |
| EO | 1,376 | 268 | 272 | 38 |
| HEO | 643 | 88 | 173 | 14 |
| SEO | 339 | 23 | 88 | 3 |
| Grade 7 | 306 | 3 | 64 | 0 |
| Grade 6 and above | 173 | 6 | 29 | 0 |
| Total | 4,946 | 1,359 | 1,084 | 248 |
Election Dates
Mr. Watson: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if the Lord Chancellor
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will estimate the saving to public funds of holding the next European elections and local elections on the same day; and if she will make a statement. [76248]
Yvette Cooper: We have made some broad estimates of the likely costs of holding the European parliamentary and local elections on the same weekday in 2004. These suggest that savings may be in the region of #20 million which would represent a saving approaching 25 per cent. compared with the cost of holding these elections on separate days.
Appeals Tribunals
Mr. Drew: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will make a statement on her Department's policy on regional appeals tribunals. [77069]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Pensions Appeals Tribunals currently have four permanent regional hearing centres and access to an additional four. Hearings are listed according to the hearing centre identified as most local to an appellant. Appellants are given the opportunity to request for hearings to be held at an alternative centre.
PRIME MINISTER
Energy Policy
Gregory Barker: To ask the Prime Minister when he intends to respond to the recommendation in the PIU Energy Review that departmental responsibility for energy efficiency and CHP policy be located with other aspects of energy policy. [77434]
The Prime Minister: The PIU recommended that the Government should consider whether responsibility for energy efficiency and CHP policy be located with other aspects of energy policy by the end of 2003. The Government will consider the options in the context of its current review of energy policy, which will lead to a White Paper in the new year.
Foot and Mouth
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Prime Minister what his role is in relation to authorisation of the use of the armed forces in the event of outbreaks of foot and mouth disease. [76296]
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The Prime Minister: Decisions in relation to the deployment of the armed forces would be taken in the normal way. Lead responsibility for dealing with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease remains with DEFRA, and the procedures for involving the armed forces are clearly stated in the Interim Foot and Mouth Disease Contingency Plan.
Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat also have a key role in securing a Government-wide co-ordinated response should a disease emergency occur. This is also outlined in the Interim FMD Contingency Plan.
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