| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
14 Apr 2003 : Column 501W—continued
Housing
Matthew Green: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the Departmental Expenditure Limit for housing was in the financial year 1999–2000. [102633]
Mr. Raynsford: The 1999–2000 Main Programmes Departmental Expenditure Limit for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions included an element for housing on which outturn was £2,838 million.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if his Department will continue to produce monthly data on housing starts and completions. [105603]
Mr. McNulty: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister for what reason his Department proposes to replace monthly monitoring of housing starts and completions with a quarterly series. [105604]
Mr. McNulty: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.
Isle of Wight
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received since 1997
14 Apr 2003 : Column 502W
from organisations and individuals other than hon. Members on (a) the financial implications of the costs incurred by the Isle of Wight Council due to physical separation from the mainland, (b) the case for the Isle of Wight to be recognised separately from Hampshire in the compilation of regional statistics and (c) the implications for the Isle of Wight of being included with Hampshire in the compilation of regional statistics. [108838]
Mr. Raynsford: The information is as follows:
(a) The Isle of White Council have made representations in successive local government finance settlements, and in response to last summer's formula grant consultation, stating that they incur costs from separation from the mainland which should be recognised.
(b) and (c) Since 1997 the Office for National Statistics has been approached directly by the Isle of Wight Council several times, most recently in 2002, and has been asked to contribute to a reply to a request that the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce made of the Department of Trade and Industry in 2002.
Mobile Phones
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many mobile phones have been used and at what cost by (a) himself and Ministers in his Department, (b) special advisers in his Department and (c) his departmental officials in each year since 1997. [98575]
Mr. Leslie: Since the creation of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 29 May 2002, the number of mobile phones used by Ministers, special advisers and departmental officials and their costs are set out in the following table.
| Number of mobile phones | Cost (£) | |
|---|---|---|
| Ministers | 3 | 1,454 |
| Special advisers | 1 | 617 |
| Departmental officials | (8)Records not heldcentrally | (8)Records not heldcentrally |
(8) Records on mobile phones are not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost—the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently in the process of compiling a comprehensive list following the Machinery of Government changes.
Online Sales/Purchases
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what (a) products, (b) goods and (c) services were (i) bought and (ii) sold online by his Department in each of the last five years. [97471]
Mr. Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was established on 29 May 2002. Since that date the following products and goods have been bought online:
- Products and goods
- IT equipment
- IT consumables
- Stationery
- Books
- Periodicals
14 Apr 2003 : Column 503W
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not buy services online, and neither does it sell products, goods or services online.
Parental Leave
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff in his Department have used their leave entitlement under the Parental Leave Directive since it came into force. [108421]
Mr. Leslie: Since the establishment of the Office in May 2002, 12 staff have benefited from entitlement to parental leave in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, its Agencies and the Government Offices.
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the expected saving to public funds from the private finance initiative schemes due to become operational in 2003. [105722]
Mr. Raynsford: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Brent, South on 10 April 2003, Official Report, column 400W.
Public Sector Land
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when English Partnerships was given its new strategic role for surplus public sector land; when its register of surplus public sector land will be published; what land has been transferred to English Partnerships from other public sector bodies; and if he will make a statement. [108427]
Mr. McNulty: The Deputy Prime Minister gave English Partnerships a new strategic role for surplus public sector land on 24 July 2002 as part of his announcement about the outcome of the Review of the organisation.
This new role will help ensure that we make better use of surplus public sector land. It will make an important contribution to the targets set out in "Sustainable communities: building for the future" which we published in February. Working with the Regional Development Agencies, English Partnerships will help ensure that wider Government objectives, such as housing and regional economic strategies, are factored into future site disposals.
English Partnerships hope to complete an initial version of the register of surplus of public sector land in late May. They will then develop this into an interactive register, which will be available to all Government Departments, their agencies and non-departmental public bodies. The register will enable them to identify suitable sites to help meet their operational objectives and information from it may be made available publicly.
No sites have yet been acquired by English Partnerships from other public bodies under their new strategic role. It is likely that any sites acquired by English Partnerships will be purchased at open market value.
14 Apr 2003 : Column 504W
Regional Assemblies
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many responses from Cambridgeshire the Minister received to the public consultation on regional assemblies. [109183]
Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has to date received 48 responses from Cambridgeshire to the soundings exercise on the level of interest in holding a referendum about establishing an elected regional assembly.
Regional Development Agencies/Government Offices for the Regions
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the administrative costs of each (a) Regional Development Agency and (b) Government Office for the Region was in financial year 1999–2000; and what estimate he has made of their administrative costs in 2003–04. [104655]
Mr. Leslie: The administrative costs for the Government Offices for the Regions for 1999–2000 and the estimate for 2003–04 are in the table.
| Government Offices | 1999–2000 | 2003–04 |
|---|---|---|
| North East | 8,312.04 | 8,272.25 |
| North West | 13,048.59 | 13,484.94 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 8,888.69 | 9,314.12 |
| West Midlands | 9,330.15 | 9,076.90 |
| East Midlands | 6,951.29 | 7,245.19 |
| East | 7,005.46 | 7,763.10 |
| South East | 8,658.60 | 9,260.98 |
| South West | 7,796.85 | 9,712.91 |
| London | 13,715.79 | 11,674.43 |
| Total | 83,707.46 | 85,804.82 |
The administrative costs for the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) for 1999–2000 are in the Table 2. The London Development Agency did not begin operations until July 2000.
Figures are taken from the RDAs annual accounts for the year ended 31 March 2000 (Income and Expenditure Account—salaries and wages, plus other administrative expenditure). The administrative costs of the Regional Development Agencies for the year 2003–04 are currently being considered, and will be agreed shortly.
Responsibility for RDAs now lies with the Department of Trade and Industry.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| North East | 16.6 |
| North West | 15.2 |
| Yorkshire | 14.9 |
| East Midlands | 8.3 |
| West Midlands | 9.2 |
| East | 4.4 |
| South East | 6.8 |
| South West | 11.0 |
| London | n/a |
14 Apr 2003 : Column 505W
Fire Service
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many retained firefighters there were at each fire station in Suffolk in each year since 1997. [108782]
Mr. Raynsford: Information on the retained firefighter establishment figures for each fire station in Suffolk is in the following table, from the most recent available year which is 1999.
Retained firefighter establishment, year ending 31 March (as required by Section 19(1) of the Fire Services Act)
14 Apr 2003 : Column 506W
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |