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14 Apr 2003 : Column 509W—continued

Sunset Clauses

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the sunset clauses included in legislation from his Department since 1997. [106948]

Mr. Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created on 29 May 2002, and none of its Bills since then have included sunset clauses.

Helplines

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many telephone helplines are sponsored by his Department; and which of these helplines are charged at (a) national rate, (b) premium rate and (c) local rate. [95718]

Mr. Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has 43 helplines, switchboards and contact points, of which none are charged at the national rate, none at the premium rate and four at the local rate. The details are in the following table.

Helpline nameNumberRate
Public Fire Information Line0845 0800 723Local
Emergency Information Cell (Fire)0845 0800 716Local
Local Government Ombudsman—England0845 602 1983Local
The Standards Board for England0845 0788 181Local

Of the remaining 39 helplines within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, two are free and the other 37 are charged at the normal geographic rate which is dependent on where the caller is ringing from.

Telephones

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what procedures were used by his Department in awarding contracts for the supply of mobile and car telephones to his Department and its executive agencies; which companies were involved in tendering for these contracts; what agreements his Department and its executive agencies have with companies for the provision of mobile and car phones; if he will list the companies having these contracts, the duration of the contracts, the number of telephones covered by each agreement and the cost to public funds of each agreement; what costs his Department and executive agencies have incurred as a result of withdrawing from contracts under which mobile telephones are provided in the last three years; and if he will list the companies concerned. [104183]

Mr. Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's current policy is to use a Central Government contract for the provision of mobile phone services. This is an EC

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tendered contract let by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), who alone dealt with the contract award process. Use of the OGC contract is available to those public bodies who sign up to the OGC Framework agreement. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's central offices, Rent Service Agency, Fire Service College and Planning Inspectorate all use this contract, and as such, procure mobile services from it via a simple ordering procedure. The contract can supply services from Orange, O2 and Vodafone; the latter are the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's predominate supplier.

The further information requested is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much was spent on telephone costs by (a) his Department, (b) his Department's agencies and (c) his Department's non-departmental public bodies staff in each year since 1997; and if internal telephone directories are available to staff in all areas of (a) to (c). [104184]

Mr. Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created on 29 May 2002. Since then, £912,000 has been spent on telephone costs for the central Office of the Deputy Prime Minister during financial year 2002–03. Figures for Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's agencies and non-departmental public bodies are not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's internal directory is stored electronically and all its staff and one of the Executive Agencies (The Planning Inspectorate) have on-line access to it. The remaining three agencies and the non-departmental public bodies have no on-line access, but are provided with data extracts on request.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many mobile telephones are supplied for his personal use; what the cost of each phone is on a monthly basis; and how much he has paid for personal usage since June 2001. [104220]

Mr. Leslie: The Deputy Prime Minister has been supplied with one mobile phone, not for his personal use but for Departmental business use by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; the cost of the phone varies from month to month depending on the number of calls made, but the line rental/service charges are £10.58 a month; and the Deputy Prime Minister has paid £40.04 for personal usage since June 2002.

Tunbridge Wells and Kent Councils

Mr. Norman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what (a) type and (b) value of (i) specific and (ii) special

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grants have been provided by central government to (A) Tunbridge Wells borough council and (B) Kent county council in each year since 1997. [104694]

Mr. Raynsford [pursuant to his answer, 25 March 2003, Official Report, c. 184W]: The following two tables give all the special and specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) provided to Tunbridge Wells and Kent. The information is taken from the Reporting Officer forms returned on an annual basis by authorities to ODPM. The entries for

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1997–2002 are actual figures. These are not yet available for 2002–03 and therefore budgeted figures have been given. The definition of ring-fencing was updated last year to reflect the types of grant which now exist. Some grants previously classified as ring-fenced are not now classified in this way. The key distinction made remains that ring-fenced grants are those which restrict local authority spending. For completeness the following list includes all special grants inside Aggregate External Finance. Further details of classifications are in an annex to the freedoms and flexibilities announcement of 26 November.

£000

Tunbridge Wells1997–981998–991999–20002000–012001–0022002–03 Budget only
Emergency planning1
Total ring-fenced specific grants000100
Housing benefit administration158165164162150249
Council tax benefit administration7374749387
Total unring-fenced specific grants231239238255237249
Revenue support grant3,2422,9722,8722,7493,1032,787
National non-domestic rates3,2793,2923,5033,9133,8714,352
Gross AEF6,7526,5036,6136,9187,2117,388
Percentage ring-fenced of gross AEF0.000.000.000.010.000.00

£000

Kent1997–981998–991999–20002000–012001–022002–03 Budget only
AIDS support30814050127115105
Asylum seekers2674,95522,97449,17646,52234,003
Building care capacity4,447
Carers' grant2,169
Child care and early years1,4053,23716,041
Children's services (Quality Protects)1,4622,3025,97410,442
Civil Defence323273
Class size reductions777
Community care special transitional grant9,7379,045
Deferred payments977
Education budget support grant100
Education of travellers and displaced persons275310
Emergency planning273252375260
Ethnic minorities achievement grant837748
Former GM schools transitional grant37542
Guardians ad litem205
Magistrates courts5,8056,0556,0866,0936,3135,884
Mental health1,4671,3172,3062,5943,1363,235
Nursery education grant for 4-year-olds5,8615,964
Nursery education grant for 3-year-olds11,203
Other grants within AEF191,1599,2523,094591
Performance fund1,254
Preserved rights30,044
Probation (ordinary 80 per cent. grant)8,2828,2218,8729,781
Promoting independence7,3837,4519,4403,958
Provision for 3-year-olds4755,242
Residential allowances2,269
Rural bus services1,2521,2301,2921,6441,885
School budget support grant1,463
Section 11 (ethnic minorities) grant935
Social services training support program776643514689791673
Standards fund5,3426,26413,62026,20731,16235,137
Supported employment1231002496103
Supporting people implementation grant700
Teachers' pay reform2,89617,63712,000
Teenage pregnancy local implementation grant240
Under-5s specific grant5,709
Young people's substance misuse grant91
Total ring-fenced specific grants33,84545,14073,339127,890134,927177,608
The private finance initiative331842885850
Total unring-fenced grants03318428858500
School standards grant17,51417,975
Revenue support grant451,972386,147389,996382,868427,589385,874
National non-domestic rates301,690268,337292,938332,884327,578359,413
Gross AEF787,507699,955757,115844,527908,458940,870
Percentage of gross AEF ring-fenced %4610151519

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