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Civil Service

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) of 1 April 2003, Official Report, column 794, on the Civil Service, what the recruitment figures are for his Department. [108921]

Mr. Alexander: From 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 there were 79 new recruits to the Cabinet Office, which breaks down as follows:

51 were female (64 per cent.)


19 were from ethnic minorities (24 per cent. )


one disabled person was recruited

Code of Practice

Mr. Allen: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultation came into force; whether it applies to all legislation; if he will amend the Code of Practice to

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ensure a 12-week period of pre-legislative scrutiny is included in all bills; and what plans he has to place the Code of Practice on a statutory footing. [109370]

Mr. Alexander: The Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultation came into force on 1 January 2001 and applies to all public consultations. It does not apply to parliamentary pre-legislative scrutiny, the arrangements for which are a matter for the two Houses. My Department has no plans to place the Code of Practice on a statutory footing.

Part-time Workers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the impact of the Part-time Workers Directive on staff in the Office. [109276]

Mr. Alexander: The Cabinet Office is committed to monitoring its policies and procedures to ensure there is no adverse impact on part-time staff.

For example, the Department has undertaken an equality audit of its new pay procedure, which included a review of pay awards and working patterns. The results are to be published shortly.

The Department promotes job opportunities for part-time staff by ensuring all departmental vacancies are open to part-time and job-sharing staff, unless there are justifiable business reasons why this is not possible.

Additionally, support is also provided via a departmental network for staff with part-time and alternative working patterns. The Network also works as a consultative body and helps to shape new Human Resources policies.

Regions White Paper

Joyce Quin: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what progress his Department has made towards the aim in the White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice", of assessing the balance of staff between the centre and the regions in terms of effective policy design and implementation; and what examples there have been since the publication of the White Paper of the Cabinet Office deciding between locating new streams of work (a) in and (b) outside London and the South East. [108575]

Mr. Alexander: The Cabinet Office has a network of offices outside London and the South-East, and considers the geographical location of its offices as part of its normal business planning activity. Recent reviews have, however, concluded that the majority of the Cabinet Office and new streams of work need to continue to be based in London to enable the Department to carry out its central coordinating role effectively.

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

Stalking and Harassment

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister for Women how many female victims of (a) stalking and (b) harassment there were in 2001–02. [97715]

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Ms Hewitt: The 2001 British crime survey included a self-completion component on domestic violence, sexual victimisation and stalking. Analysis of data from this module is underway, and the Home Office hopes to publish the results this summer.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Arms Exports (Syria)

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list UK arms sales to Syria from 1998 to 2002. [110249]

Nigel Griffiths: The Department of Trade and Industry's Export Control Organisation records details of all export licence applications issued and refused, which are published by destination in the Government's Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls. Copies of the 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 Annual Reports are available in the Libraries of the House. The 2002 Annual Report will be published in due course.

The granting of a licence does not necessarily translate into actual arms sales.

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list UK military licences granted to Syria in 2003. [110250]

Nigel Griffiths: Between 1 January 2003 and 7 April 2003, no Standard Individual Export Licences or Open Individual Export Licences were issued, where the end users were in Syria.

National Minimum Wage

Mr. Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the additional costs that will be imposed on the care homes sector as a result of the increase in the national minimum wage. [109656]

Alan Johnson: The independent Low Pay Commission looked at this issue in their recent report to the Government. They estimated that their recommended increases in the minimum wage rates for 1 October 2003 would increase the wage bill in the social care sector by up to 0.5 per cent.

Broadband

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many SMEs in (a) Suffolk, (b) Norfolk, (c) Essex, (d) Cambridgeshire and (e) the Bury St Edmunds constituency were connected to broadband in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001 and (iii) 2002. [109344]

Nigel Griffiths: These data are not available.

Departmental Offices

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the locations are of her Department's offices, including those of the Manufacturing Advisory Service, in the East of England. [109334]

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Alan Johnson: The Manufacturing Advisory Service in the East of England has an administrative head office at the Centre for the Advancement of Manufacturing and Technology in Chelmsford. Its Chief Executive is based at Cranfield University.

The offices of the Small Business Service, Trade Partners UK and the East of England Development Agency are located in Histon, near Cambridge.

The Government Office for the East of England and Invest East of England are in Cambridge.

The Business Link offices are in Huntingdon, St. Albans, Luton, Ipswich, Swaffham and Chelmsford.

The Insolvency Service has Official Receiver offices in Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich, St Albans and Southend on Sea.

Oil and Gas Industry Development have an office in Great Yarmouth.

Departmental Pay

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made with the pay review in her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible, with particular reference to the gender pay gap; and if she will make a statement. [106751]

Ms Hewitt: My Department, including the Small Business Service Executive Agency has completed a review of its pay system in line with the commitment given by this Government in response to the EOC Task Force's "Just Pay" report. An Action Plan setting out how the Department plans to address the issues identified will shortly be in place.

Many of the NDPBs for which my Department is responsible have also completed reviews of their pay systems.

Agency Chief Executives will be replying on behalf of their organisations.

Letter from Dr. Roger Heathcote to Mr. John Bercow, dated 28 April 2003:

You tabled a question on 1 April to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry asking what progress had been made with the pay review in her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible, with particular reference to the gender pay gap. I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Employment Tribunals Service (ETS), which is an agency of the DTI.

In response to the Equal Opportunities Commission's Task Force "Just Pay" report, the Government has agreed that all departments and agencies will review their pay systems by April 2003 and prepare action plans to close any equal pay gaps.

The ETS is in the process of finalising its review and action plan and will forward this to the Cabinet Office by 30 April 2003. ETS will share the review and action plan with the DTI and the PCS Trade Union.

Letter from Dr. J. W. Llewellyn to Mr. John Bercow, dated 28 April 2003:

The Secretary for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) to your question on what progress has been made with the pay review in her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible, with particular reference to the gender pay gap; and if she will make a statement.

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As a small specialist Agency of only 57 staff, NWML conducted an equal pay review in 2001, which did not identify any problems. We are currently in the process of completing a further review, which will be complete before the end of April.

Letter from Mr. Desmond Flynn to Mr. John Bercow, dated 28 April 2003:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question on pay reviews and "the gender pay gap" (2002/1997) insofar as it touches on the Insolvency Service Executive Agency.

Following the commitment by the Government to ask all Departments and Agencies to respond to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) Task Force 'Just Pay' report, I can inform you that The Insolvency Service has completed a review of its pay system. An Equal Pay Action Plan designed to bridge any equal pay gaps, has been prepared and was provided to the Cabinet Office on the 31 March this year.

The results of our review played a major role in designing the pay remit for the Insolvency Service for the years 2002/3 and 2003/4.

Letter from Caren Fullerton to Mr. John Bercow, dated 28 April 2003:

I am replying to this parliamentary question, tabled on 1 April 2003, about progress made on pay reviews.

The Patent Office is in the middle of a three-year pay deal which was informed by the first of two Equal Pay Reviews that have been completed. The second was completed towards the end of 2002 in anticipation of the Equal Opportunities Commission Task Force "Just Pay" requirement to prepare an action plan by April 2003 and to test the effectiveness of the measures put in place by the pay settlement. A third Equal Pay Review will be completed before the submission of the pay remit for the Patent Office's next pay deal in Spring 2004.

Letter from Claire Clancy to Mr. John Bercow dated 28 April 2003:

I am responding to your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on progress with pay reviews on behalf of Companies House, an Executive Agency of the DTI.

Companies House is aware of the commitment made by the Government in response to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) Task Force 'Just Pay' report. We will meet the Government commitment to undertake an Equal Pay Review by the end of April 2003 and to prepare an action plan to address any gender gaps. Work is underway on this and on schedule.

You may be interested to know that, over the last few years we have taken a number of steps to audit our pay and reward systems, for example the payment of special review awards. We have also been transforming our pay and reward systems to enable us to move to a system based on 'market rates'. In November 2002 the Trade Union accepted a 3-year pay deal which incorporated:

the merger of job 'Ranges' to a broader based 'Band' structure;

the removal of pay band overlaps;

removal of pay allowances, supplements and enhancements for 'specialists';

movement to the market rate within a defined period; and

innovative reward systems based on targets, savings and individual contribution.

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Letter from Ms R. J. R. Anderson to Mr. John Bercow, dated 28 April 2003:

You asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, on 1 April 2003, what progress had been made with the pay review in her Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible, with particular reference to the gender pay gap. I am replying on behalf of the Radiocommunications Agency.

The final analysis, together with an action plan will be submitted to the Cabinet Office by the end of April in line with the Government's commitment given in response to the Equal Pay Commission's Task Force "Just Pay" report.

The action plan takes us to end 2003. By then, and subject to the passage of the Communication Bill, the Agency is expected to be merged into the new communication regulator, Ofcom. Pay of staff who transfer will then be a matter for Ofcom.

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