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SCOTLAND

Administrative Costs

Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the administrative costs were of the Scotland Office as a percentage of total spending since 1999. [103809]

Mrs. McGuire: The information is provided in the following table:

	Net admin costs (£000)	Total SO net resource (£000)	Column 1 as a percentage of column 2
1999–2000(7)	3,743	13,409,565	0.03
2000–01	6,563	14,103,787	0.05
2001–02	6,598	14,996,479	0.04
2002–03 (estimated)	6,807	17,992,739	0.04

⁽⁷⁾ 1 July 1999 to 31 March 2000: the Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999.

Advertising

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the total expenditure on advertising by the Department was in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; and what the level of planned expenditure is for (i) 2003–04 and (ii) 2004–05. [114433]

Mrs. McGuire: The total expenditure by the Scotland Office on advertising in 2001–02 was £186,564, most of which related to electoral registration information. Expenditure for 2002–03 is estimated at £10,390 and for 2003–04 and 2004–05 expenditure is expected to be minimal.

Agency Workers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many agency workers have been employed by the Department in each of the last two years; and at what cost to public funds. [115201]

Mrs. McGuire: Details of the number and cost of agency workers employed by the Scotland Office are given in the table.

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£

	Number of temporary/agency staff	Total spend on temporary/agency staff
2001–02	19	75,392
2002–03	15	78,539

Asbestos

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what actions her Department is taking to comply with the requirements of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002; whether she has made an estimate of the cost of compliance; and if she will make a statement. [118852]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office, together with the Scottish Executive, has been complying with the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 for buildings occupied jointly. In other buildings work will be undertaken to identify whether asbestos is present, to assess any risk and to take appropriate action. The cost of compliance has not yet been assessed.

Departmental Website

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will list the actions she (a) has taken and (b) is taking to ensure that the websites of her Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies are accessible to partially sighted and blind people; and if she will make a statement. [118838]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office seeks to comply with the e-Envoy's "Guidelines for UK Government websites" and other UK wide guidelines and technical standards to ensure that its website is accessible to as wide an audience as possible. This includes compliance with the World Wide Web Accessibility Initiative's guidelines.

Dunblane Tragedy

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the cost was of the Cullen inquiry into the Dunblane tragedy; how long it lasted; and how many days it sat in public. [124331]

Mrs. McGuire: The direct cost of the Cullen inquiry, including staffing, accommodation and legal representation, was £1.05 million. The inquiry opened on 29 May 1996 and its report was published on 16 October 1996. It sat in public for 26 days.

EU Committees

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many officials in the Department serve on EU committees or working parties. [116087]

Mrs. McGuire: No Scotland Office officials serve on EU committees or working parties.

Information Technology

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his Department's (a) total managed expenditure (b) total spending on information technology and

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(c) spending on information technology as a proportion of its total managed expenditure was in each financial year since 1978–98. [107185]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. The figures for total departmental expenditure and spending on information technology are as follows:

	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02
Total expenditure(8)(£000)	3,836	6,271	6,469
IT expenditure (£000)	89	58	50
IT expenditure (as percentage)	2.32	0.92	0.77

⁽⁸⁾ Excluding the grants paid to the Scottish Executive and the Boundary Commission for Scotland.

Market Testing

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the estimated level of saving to the Department is from the use of market testing in 2002–03. [107763]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office did not undertake any market testing programmes during 2002–03. Departments are no longer required to undertake a programme of market testing. They are, however, required to ensure that high quality public services are delivered on the basis of value for money in line with the better quality services ethos.

Media Training

Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the cost was to his Department of media and voice training for Ministers and officials in each year since 1997. [123124]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999.

Since that date the Department has incurred no expenditure on media or voice training for Ministers or officials.

National Minimum Wage

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the estimated cost is in 2003–04 to his Department, agencies and the non-departmental public bodies for which he is responsible of the increase in the national minimum wage from £4.20 per hour to £4.50 per hour. [110440]

Mrs. McGuire: In the current financial year, the lowest salary level in the Scotland Office is £10,300, which equates to an hourly rate of £4.71. The effect of a minimum wage of £4.50 would therefore be nil.

Official Spelling

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will make it her policy that official (a) correspondence, (b) reports and (c) documentation from her office use the English spelling of words where this differs from the US version. [118859]

Mrs. McGuire: I can confirm it is the Department's policy to use the English spelling of words in preference to the US version and to write all correspondence in

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plain English. Departmental publications are prepared in line with Guidance on the Work of the Government Information and Communication Service.

Property Portfolio

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the estimated value is of the property portfolio held by his Department. [108372]

Mrs. McGuire: The estimated value of the Scotland Office's property portfolio is £2.1 million.

Race Relations

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress has been made in her Department and non-departmental public bodies on implementing the requirements of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000; and if she will publish the results of the monitoring required by the Act. [117471]

Mrs. McGuire: On 30 November 2002, the Scotland Office came together with the Scottish Executive, its agencies and other Government organisations in Scotland to publish a Statement of Intent on how they would comply with the employment duties of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act (2000). It set out how they will fulfil their duty to monitor by ethnicity, including a Collective Employment Monitoring Scheme. The Scheme will publish the initial results of race equality employment monitoring in November 2003.

Scotland Office

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the estimated (a) administrative costs and (b) budget for the Scotland Office are for 2003–04; and how these have changed following the changes set out in the Prime Minister's statement of 18 June. [121480]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Departmental Expenditure Limit for 2003–04 is £20.344 billion, within which the administration costs of the Scotland Office amount to £6.977 million.

These figures have not changed since the Prime Minister's statement on 18 June 2003.

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