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27 Mar 2003 : Column 326W—continued

E-Mail Addresses

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland by what e-mail address members of the public may contact (a) her and (b) each of the Ministers in her Department; and for each e-mail address if she will state (i) the date it became active and (ii) the number of e-mails received in each month since activation. [97454]

27 Mar 2003 : Column 327W

Mrs. Liddell: The information requested is as follows:

(a) and (b)—[e-mail]


(i) June 1999 ¹


(ii) The number of e-mails are shown in the table

	2000	2001	2002	2003
January	—	30	50	137
February	—	42	56	159
March	—	45	66	—
April	—	37	55	—
May	19	28	52	—
June	13	39	60	—
July	17	39	77	—
August	19	35	59	—
September	20	39	54	—
October	25	42	48	—
November	18	67	95	—
December	16	53	101	—




⁽⁴⁾ Reliable/accurate records have only been kept since May 2000

Gross Domestic Product

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions since Quarter 2 of 1997 the percentage growth of GDP in Scotland has exceeded that of the UK as a whole. [101972]

Mrs. Liddell: On eight occasions since Quarter 2 of 1997 quarterly figures for GDP at constant basic prices have shown quarterly rates of growth for Scotland exceeding those for the UK as a whole.

Minimum Wage

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will estimate the impact of increasing the minimum wage (a) in line with average earnings, (b) to £4.17 per hour, (c) to £4.87 per hour, (d) to £5.00 per hour and (e) to £5.30 per hour, on the cost of salaries of departmental employees (i) in total and (ii) for each nation of the United Kingdom in the next financial year. [90606]

Mrs. Liddell: In the current financial year, the lowest salary level in my department is £10,300, which equates to an hourly rate of £4.71. The effect of a minimum wage of £4.17 would therefore be nil.

If the minimum wage was raised to higher levels there would be an effect on the cost of salaries but, given the very small numbers of staff involved, this would not be significant.

Overseas Trips

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will list each of the overseas trips made by herself and other members of her ministerial team in 2002; and what the (a) purpose and (b) cost of each trip was. [101845]

Mrs. Liddell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on 22 January 2003, Official Report, column 334W.

27 Mar 2003 : Column 328W

TRANSPORT

Aggregates Levy

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funds his Department has received from the aggregates levy sustainability fund; and on which dates funds were received in each case. [105341]

Mr. Jamieson: None. My Department did not consider it could properly allocate funds within the criteria laid down by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Rail Franchises

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimates he has made of the price of the bond for each rail franchise which would be returned to the Strategic Rail Authority should a franchisee default on its franchise agreement. [105343]

Mr. Jamieson: None. The amounts of performance bonds are included in franchise agreements between the Strategic Rail Authority and train operating companies. These agreements are available for inspection on the Authority's public register.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Hospitality

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what hospitality has been offered at public expense in the last 12 months by each Minister in his Department to outside interest groups, broken down by (a) restaurant, (b) recipient and (c) cost in each case. [99575]

Mr. Paul Murphy: On 23 February, as part of a continuing programme of briefing backbench MPs on NI issues, the Secretary of State provided dinner at the Hilton Hotel for a party of backbench Labour MPs at a total cost of £639.35.

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how often Ministers in his Department have received hospitality in restaurants from outside groups in the last 12 months. [99498]

Mr. Paul Murphy: Since 1 April 2002, Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office have received hospitality in restaurants from outside groups on 27 occasions.

Libraries Investment

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to his answer of 5 March, Official Report, column 194W, when a decision will be made on which library facilities will benefit from the recently announced investment. [104729]

Angela Smith: A decision should be taken before the end of 2003 on which library projects are suitable for inclusion in the Strategic Investment Programme. The facilities that actually benefit will then depend on a number of factors including the outcome of the public private partnership procurement methodology that can take a year to 18 months to complete.

27 Mar 2003 : Column 329W

The Department of Culture Arts and Leisure has commissioned PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) to carry out a feasibility study to evaluate the potential for various forms of Public Private Partnership (PPP) to deliver improved value for money in library facilities when compared with more conventional procurement and to identify the forms of PPP that offer the greatest potential for improved value for money. The report is expected within a month and will help me to identify the high priority library projects that are most likely to attract private sector interest and therefore benefit from the Strategic Investment Programme. Within this programme £20 million has been identified for potential library and other information resources projects.

Organic Management

David Burnside: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what area of land is under organic management in Northern Ireland. [104557]

Mr. Pearson: The following is the response from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development:

The total area of land in Northern Ireland under organic management is 5,200 hectares.

27 Mar 2003 : Column 330W

Police Band

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) whether outside funding has been used to finance the police band; [105078]

(2) how much the police band has cost in each of the last five years; [105133]

(3) how many band members there were of the RUC/PSNI band in each of the last five years. [105135]

Jane Kennedy: Despite attempts to source private sector funding and a National Lottery grant, no outside funding has ever been secured to finance the police band.

The established strength of the PSNI band is a complement of 40 members. The actual strength has varied slightly from time to time as members left and others joined the band. When the decision was taken to stand down the band there were 32 members.

Cost figures for the band for the last three years are shown in the table. The PSNI advise that figures for years 1998–99 and 1999–2000 are not readily available in the timescale requested as they are in archive, however I shall write to the hon. Member when the information is provided and place a copy in the Library of the House.

	Band members	Pay costs(5)(£)	Transport costs (6)(£)	Band uniform costs (£)	Miscellaneous costs (£)	Total (£)
2000–01	34	1,213,061	80,000	5,772	13,709	1,312,542
2001–02	32	1,214,444	85,000	0	12,951	1,312,395
2002–03	32	1,252,990	90,000	0	3,634	1,346,624

⁽⁵⁾ Pay costs based on average cost per rank.

⁽⁶⁾ Estimated transport costs

Programme for International Student Assessment

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the results of the (a) 2003 and (b) previous programme for international student assessment will be considered by the review into the future of post primary education in Northern Ireland. [104514]

Jane Kennedy: The review of post-primary education will consider the results of PISA 2000, PISA 2003 when available, and other relevant statistical data, along with the views expressed in meetings with political parties, the education sector and parents and the responses to all strands of the consultation.

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