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24 Feb 2003 : Column 231W—continued

Free Television Licences

Ann Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many pensioners have claimed free television licences in Dewsbury in each year since 1997. [98220]

Mr. Caborn: Free television licences for the over-75s were introduced in November 2000; no free licences were available prior to that date. TV Licensing, who administer the concession as agents for the BBC, are not able to provide geographical breakdowns of the number of free licences issued. However, estimates based on the 1991 Census indicate that there were approximately 5,100 people aged 75 or over living in the Dewsbury constituency.

Gulf War Rally

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what mechanisms she will use to ensure that the numbers attending the anti-Gulf War rally in Hyde Park on 15 February will be accurately counted. [97957]

Mr. Caborn: I understand that the Metropolitan Police will make their own estimate of the numbers attending, as they usually do at these events. Our main concern, and that of the Royal Parks, is to ensure as far as possible that the rally takes place safely for all those taking part.

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National Lottery

Ann Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what Lottery money has been allocated to projects in the Dewsbury area in each of the last five years. [98362]

Mr. Caborn: The following table sets out the awards that have been made in the Dewsbury constituency since 1998 to date and is broken down by calendar year.

£

Year	Value of awards made to projects within the constituency of Dewsbury
1998	538,261
1999	33,915
2000	69,448
2001	743,757
2002	303,499

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

E-mail

Mr. Tyler: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for North Cornwall on 27 January 2003, Official Report, column 584W, on e-mail, what steps have been taken to meet hon. Members' concerns that legitimate communications are not being blocked; what filters are in place to block unsolicited spam messages; and if he will make a statement. [98208]

Sir Archy Kirkwood : As I indicated in my answer to the hon. Member on 27 January 2003, Official Report, column 584W, the sender of any e-mail that is blocked will be notified and invited to contact the intended recipient, who, by contacting the Parliamentary Communications Directorate (PCD) Helpdesk, can arrange for the e-mail to be swiftly unblocked. This prevents legitimate e-mails being lost.

PCD are monitoring the system, which can be easily modified in response to feedback from hon. Members and staff. For example, seven legitimate e-mails about the Sexual Offences Bill were inadvertently blocked: the filter has now been adjusted so that this does not happen. I am aware of concerns that legitimate e-mails might be blocked because they are written in Welsh; this is certainly not the case either for Welsh or for any other language.

During the first three weeks that the filter was in place, it blocked 3,465 of the 555,000 e-mails received, or about one in every 160 e-mails. The PCD Helpdesk received only 29 unblocking requests, which is less than one per cent. of the e-mails blocked. These figures suggest that the proportion of e-mails which have been incorrectly delayed as a result of the e-mail filter is around one in every 20,000 received.

Only inappropriate incoming e-mails are filtered. No filters are currently in place to block other spam. After further consultation with the relevant domestic committees to determine the views and needs of

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Members, PCD plan to introduce a new service to help users of the Parliamentary Network identify and manage this additional nuisance.

CABINET OFFICE

Capital Projects

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will place the evaluations for Capital Modernisation Fund projects undertaken by the Cabinet Office since 1998 in the Library; and if he will make a statement. [97019]

Mr. Alexander: The Cabinet Office has secured funds for two projects from the Capital Modernisation Fund: the development of an e-infrastructure to support the delivery of public services online and e-government (including the Knowledge Network); and a secure Business Change Programme for the intelligence community enabled through modern technology. These projects are ongoing and evaluations have not yet been undertaken.

Civil Defence

Gregory Barker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he is taking in terms of civil defence planning in (a) London, (b) the South East, (c) England and (d) the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement. [96251]

Mr. Alexander: The Civil Contingencies Secretariat, Cabinet Office, is responsible for emergency planning in England and Wales. It co-ordinates the development of civil protection arrangements involving Government Ministers, Government Departments, emergency services, local authorities, voluntary organisations and others. It works closely with the Devolved Administrations, which have responsibility for these matters, to ensure coherence of arrangements across the UK.

Much of the response to emergencies is based on multi-agency local emergency arrangements, developed within the clear guidelines set out by the Home Office. However, further measures have been taken to improve the regional planning capability:

The London Resilience Team was set up following the tragic events of 11 September 2001 to ensure that London has the best contingency plans possible. It works in support of the Minister of State for Local Government and the Regions and the Mayor of London to co-ordinate the emergency planning work of the London Boroughs, transport operators, emergency services, London health authorities and other civil authorities in London.

Regional Resilience Teams are being established, including for the South East of England, to improve the capability for regional emergency planning. These teams will assist in co-ordinating emergency planning within and across regions through the creation of Regional Resilience Forums.

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E-Envoy

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the measures of success are for the performance of the Government's e-envoy; and whether these have been achieved. [97592]

Mr. Alexander: The Office of the E-Envoy has three core Objectives: to develop the UK as a World Leader for electronic Business; to make all government services available electronically by 2005 with key services achieving high level of use; to ensure that everyone who wants it has access to the internet by 2005. Each month the E-Minister my hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the E-envoy (Andrew Pinder) provide a joint report to the PM. These reports set out the progress on the UK Online Strategy. These are available through the e-envoy web site on www.e-envoy.gov.uk

In November 2002 the Office of the E-Envoy published the results of independent research measuring performance against the Government's target to make the UK the best environment in the world for e-commerce by 2002. The UK was found to rank second only to the USA in the benchmarked group of leading nations. The most recent survey of online government services showed that last summer 54 per cent. of services were enabled.

UK Online Centres are an integral part of the Government's aim to ensure that everyone who wants it has access to the internet by 2005. The initial target for the introduction of UK Online Centres has been met and exceeded with the delivery of over 6,000 UK online centres at the end of 2002.

Senior Civil Service

Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of vacancies in the Senior Civil Service were filled through after completion; and if he will make a statement. [99097]

Mr. Alexander: The 2001/2 Annual Report of the Civil Service Commissioners states that 200 candidates were approved for appointment to the Senior Civil Service (SCS) that year following Open Competition. This represents 56% of all SCS entrants in 2001/2.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many Senior Civil Servants have spent time working in (a) local government, (b) the health service, (c) the voluntary sector and (d) the private sector (i) before they joined the Senior Civil Service and (ii) through exchange programmes; and if he will make a statement. [99098]

Mr. Alexander: From information held centrally on the experience of senior civil servants as at 1st April 2002:

(i) Prior to the Civil Service:

Experienced in Private Sector: 673 known out of 3507

Experienced in Voluntary Sector: 67 known out of 3507

Experienced in Public Sector: 392 known out of 3507

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(information on local government experience and experience in the Health Service is not collected separately)

(ii) No experience prior to the Civil Service, but through exchange programmes:

Experienced in Private Sector: 67 known out of 3507

Experienced in Voluntary Sector: 7 known out of 3507

Experienced in Public Sector: 63 known out of 3507.

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