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12 Jun 2003 : Column 1031W—continued

Skills Councils

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much additional private sector employer investment he estimates will be put into sector skills councils in addition to his Department's own resources; and if he will make a statement. [118136]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) will receive a substantial contribution of up to £3 million over three years from Government towards their core costs. The strength and vitality of SSCs will be measured in part by the extent to which they are able to generate financial support from all sector stakeholders, including employers. We expect SSCs to lever in substantial

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private sector employer investment but have not set a target on how much that investment should be. However, Government would expect private sector employer investment to rise over time, particularly as SSCs demonstrate their benefits to employers.

Training Costs

Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will publish the level of contributions that employers have made towards publicly funded skills and training costs in each region for the last three years. [117972]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The total cost of training to employers in England was estimated at approximately £23 billion for 2000. This breaks down by region as follows:

Region	£ billion
North East	1.8
North West	3.9
Yorkshire and the Humber	1.9
East Midlands	1.1
West Midlands	2.1
Eastern	2.0
London	5.3
South East	3.6
South West	1.7

The estimates are from the Learning and Training at Work 2000 survey of employers and covers all training—both that which is publicly funded and otherwise. The figures include indirect costs—the largest component is the wage costs of the trainees while in training. Comparable figures for 2001 and 2002, and a breakdown into training funded publicly or otherwise are not available.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Accountancy Services

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General what the total cost to her Department was for accountancy services in 2002. [101862]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 12 March 2003]:

The total cost to the Crown Prosecution Service for accountancy services provided in 2002–03 by external firms of accountants was £57,000.

The total cost to the Serious Fraud Office for accountancy services provided in 2002–03 by external firms of accountants was £2,542,511. The Serious Fraud Office has only incurred costs on the use of specific accountancy expertise to support case investigations during the financial year 2002–03. There has been no administrative accountancy service other than external and internal audits by the National Audit Office and the Inland Revenue respectively.

The Treasury Solicitor's Department, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers have not expended any costs on external firms of accountants in the period 2002–03.

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Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General what the total cost to her Department was for accountancy services in 2002–03. [109484]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 28 April 2003]:

The total cost to the Crown Prosecution Service for accountancy services provided in 2002–03 by external firms of accountants was £57,000.

The total cost to the Serious Fraud Office for accountancy services provided in 2002–03 by external firms of accountants was £2,542,511. The Serious Fraud Office has only incurred costs on the use of specific accountancy expertise to support case investigations during the financial year 2002–03. There has been no administrative accountancy service other than external and internal audits by the National Audit Office and the Inland Revenue respectively.

The Treasury Solicitor's Department, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers have not expended any costs on external firms of accountants in the period 2002–03

Agency Workers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General how many agency workers have been employed by the Department in each of the last two years; and at what cost to public funds. [115211]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 10 April 2003]:

Crown Prosecution Service

The Crown Prosecution Service does not keep centralised records of the number of agency workers employed. It would incur disproportionate cost to collect this information. The cost to public funds of agency workers employed by the Crown Prosecution Service was £2.48 million in financial year 2001–02 and £2.42 million in 2002–03.

Serious Fraud Office

The Serious Fraud Office employed 116 agency workers in 2001–02, at a cost of £473,421. 120 agency workers were employed in 2002–03 at a cost of £394,754.

These figures include general administrative staff as well as accountants and lawyers.

HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate

HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate expenditure for agency staff in financial year 2001–02 and 2002–03 was £51,125.25 and £17,114.97 respectively. The number of agency staff employed in 2001–02 and 2002–03 was 8 and 12, respectively.

Neither the Treasury Solicitor's Department or the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers hold this information centrally.

Departmental Underspend

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General what plans she has to reduce the Department's underspend in 2003–04 from that of 2002–03. [112782]

12 Jun 2003 : Column 1034W

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 14 May 2003]:

The Crown Prosecution Service

The Crown Prosecution Service is currently finalising its resource accounts for 2002–03. The final outturn position will be known with certainty when the accounts have been completed and certified by the National Audit Office. Against the main control total, the departmental expenditure limit, the Crown Prosecution Service anticipates an underspend of £2.5 million, which is half of one per cent. of the gross provision of £484 million and provides evidence of the effective financial budgetary, planning and control systems in place in the Department. Spending plans for CPS Areas and CPS HQ are regularly reviewed during the year and remedial action taken where appropriate to ensure spending targets are met. Such reviews will continue in 2003–04. On expenditure that is outside the departmental expenditure limit, there will be an underspend of around £13 million in respect of the costs of depreciation of IT assets, which were transferred to the Department's public finance initiative partner, LogicaCMG plc, on 1 April 2002. Future estimates of depreciation costs reflect the transfer and such an underspend cannot recur in the future.

Serious Fraud Office

The Serious Fraud Office plans to fully utilise its resources available in 2003–04. The Serious Fraud Office does not plan to underspend in any financial year but it is subject to short-term volatility in its resource consumption plans. The ability to make use of the End Year Flexibility scheme and carry resources forward to future years ensures that consumption can be managed efficiently and effectively to achieve value for money.

HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate

HM Crown Prosecution Service's underspend for 2002–03 is estimated to be £87k, attributable to managed vacancies while revising inspection methodology. Recruitment is currently under way. The underspend will be reduced in the Financial Year 2003–04 by recruiting additional staff, although it is still possible that there may be an underspend on the salaries budget because of the time taken to recruit.

Treasury Solicitor's Department

The Treasury Solicitor's Department had two main areas of underspend in 2002–03, namely staff costs and capital expenditure. In the later months of 2002–03, the Department was successful in recruiting staff as a result of a programme of continuous recruitment coupled with the overall position in the market for lawyers. This means that the Department is well placed to achieve the budgeted complement for 2003–04. The Department's major capital projects are on course for completion in accordance with their individual project targets and significant increases in expenditure over the previous year's levels will be achieved in 2003–04 as several major projects come on stream.

Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers

The total budget for the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers for the financial year 2002–03 was £3.1 million. Although figures have not yet been finalised, it is not expected that there will be any significant underspend for that period.

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EU Committees

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Solicitor-General how many officials in the Department serve on EU committees or working parties. [116076]

The Solicitor-General [holding answer 2 June 2003]:

None of the Departments for which the Attorney-General holds Ministerial responsibility has staff that serve on EU committees or working parties.

The Treasury Solicitor's Department does not have responsibility for any EU committees or working groups. However, from time to time the Department's lawyers are requested to, and do, assist officials from the lead Departments on working groups.

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