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14 Oct 2003 : Column 180W—continued

Housing Renewal Pathfinder Project

Mr. Pike: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the progress of each Housing Renewal Pathfinder Project; and if he will make a statement. [131415]

Keith Hill: On 6 October 2003 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced the allocation of £125 million to the Manchester Salford pathfinder over

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the next two and a half years for the implementation of its scheme (Official Report, column 16W). The Newcastle Gateshead pathfinder has submitted its scheme and it is being assessed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and by the Audit Commission who are independently scrutinising each of the pathfinder schemes. We will announce the outcome of the negotiations on the scheme once they are complete.

On present plans we expect to have agreed the remaining schemes by the end of March 2004, with the exception of the Hull and East Riding pathfinder which received its pathfinder status on 9 September 2003 and which expects to submit its scheme to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister by October 2004.

IT Projects

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what major IT projects with a value in excess of £10,000 he authorised expenditure on in each of the last three financial years. [125722]

Yvette Cooper: Since its creation, the Office has approved a number of major IT projects jointly with the Department for Transport in the 2002–03 financial year, consequently there may be some overlaps between the two departments. These projects have been identified separately in the following list.

2002–03: ODPM Centre—joint projects with DfT

Next Generation Website


DfT/ODPM Intranet Strategic IT Enhancement


Windows XP Migration


Personnel Improving Services and Modernisation


BS7799


Data Communications Service


Corporate Information Infrastructure


Corporate Intranet


ETHOS End-to-End Performance Monitoring


GSI Upgrade


PC Replacement


Remote Access Upgrade


Single Sign On Implementation

2002–03: ODPM Centre—ODPM-only projects

GOSAP financial systems for Government Offices


BVPI website upgrade and e-survey

Market Testing

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the estimated level of saving to the Department is from the use of market testing in 2002–03. [107766]

Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

Research and Development

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the Government is doing to encourage research and development in the North East. [130733]

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Yvette Cooper: The Government are committed to encouraging investment in research and development throughout the United Kingdom. Last year, the Government allocated the largest sustained increase in the Science Budget for more than a decade; total science spending by 2005–06 will be £1¼ billion higher than in 2002–03.

To encourage commercial investment in Research and Development, the Government have a range of policies including the new Grant for Research and Development, Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) and Research and Development tax credits to encourage companies in the North East to invest in new technologies.

Research funding for the region's five universities was £19.7 million in 2000–01 which represents 0.7 per cent. of the region's GDP.

The Government also fund ONE North East, the regional development agency. They have put in place a "Strategy for Success" which, with the support of the regional Science and Industry Council will be investing very significant amounts of Government and European funding in to the Research and Development of key emerging technologies via newly established centres of excellence. ONE North East is investing £60 million in supporting regional science, engineering and technology, some £23 per head of population, above the national average of around £5 per head.

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much the Government has spent on research and development in (a) the North East, (b) each of the other regions and (c) the UK in each year since 1997. [130734]

Jacqui Smith: I have been asked to reply.

Government research and development spending—both within higher education institutes and outside of higher education institutes—is tracked regionally through the ONS regional trend series. The most recent figures available—for 2001—are provided in Tables 1 and 2 as follows, together with figures for the years 1997–2000 inclusive.

Table 1:

Estimated GOR breakdown of expenditure on Intramural R&D performed within Government Establishments (GOVERD), 1997–2001£ million

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
United Kingdom	2,018	2,079	2,072	2,134	1,829
North East	3	3	2	2	4
North West and Merseyside	56	59	56	57	66
Yorkshire and the Humber	30	31	46	48	50
East Midlands	53	51	56	56	68
West Midlands	195	182	190	196	65
Eastern	276	257	246	259	277
London	184	202	229	258	238
South East	753	700	644	635	515
South West	259	330	299	307	254
England	1,810	1,815	1,767	1,816	1,537
Wales	20	51	60	65	49
Scotland	175	201	231	238	226
Northern Ireland	12	12	14	15.	16

Table 2:

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Estimated GOR breakdown of expenditure on Intramural R&D performed within Higher Education Institutions (HERD), 1997–2001£ million

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
United Kingdom	2,891	3,040	3,341	3,633	4,035
North East	101	105	113	122	142
North West and Merseyside	228	238	260	287	322
Yorkshire and the Humber	229	241	270	284	317
East Midlands	151	159	182	204	224
West Midlands	156	167	180	192	207
Eastern	214	211	255	324	366
London	729	775	837	895	980
South East	434	460	493	515	562
South West	129	138	148	160	178
England	2,372	2,494	2,737	2,984	3,297
Wales	111	113	129	139	155
Scotland	357	375	411	440	510
Northern Ireland	52	57	64	70	73

Sponsorship

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which of his Department's projects have received sponsorship in the last financial year; who the sponsor was in each case; what the nature of each project was; what time period was covered by each project; what the total cost of each project was; how much money was involved in each sponsorship deal; and if he will make a statement. [112405]

Yvette Cooper: The Urban Summit was held on 31 October and 1 November 2002 at a net cost of £450,000 ¹ . English Heritage paid £4,000 to sponsor the drinks reception. English Partnerships sponsored the Urban Summit newspaper that was produced at the end of the first day at a cost of £5,250. Advantage West Midlands and the Birmingham and Solihull Connexions Services sponsored the Cyber Cafe at a total cost of £5,000. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not have any information on 'sponsorship' of the delegate dinners on the first night of the Summit as these were organised and paid for direct by the dinner hosts themselves: Advantage West Midlands, Birmingham and Solihull Learning and Skills Council, Birmingham Chamber with Business Link, Birmingham City Council, English Partnerships and West Midlands Local Government Association.

The Fire Safety Campaign is designed to raise awareness of fire safety issues. In 2002–03, two campaigns were launched—The Fire Action Plan in September 2002 and Kitchen Safety in February 2003. In each case, around £750,000 in the form of in-kind support was provided by the sponsors/ Woolworths, Homebase, Argos, Currys, El Electronics, B&Q, Comet, Robert Dyas, Wickes, Energizer, Duracell, Fire Angel and Kidde Safety sponsored both campaigns and in addition the National Union of Students, Wilkinson's, Tefal and Morphy Richards sponsored the Kitchen Safety Campaign.

¹ Estimated net cost, after taking account of income from ticket sales, sponsorship and exhibition sales. This figure includes the cost of contractors, consultants and agency staff recruited to work on Summit organisation.

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Travellers

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, if he will make it his policy to give local authorities the power to seize the assets of travellers who camp illegally in order to recoup the cost of clearing sites on their departure; what guidance he gives to local authorities; what plans he has (a) to alter this advice and (b) to propose amendments to the law; and if he will make a statement. [125984]

Yvette Cooper: There are no plans to give local authorities additional powers to seize the assets of illegally camped Gypsies and Travellers in order to recoup the cost of clearing sites. Local authorities if they choose to do so, are able to use their powers under Section 77 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, to remove unauthorised campers from land.

The police are also able to use their powers under Section 62 of the same Act to seize and remove any vehicles parked on illegal sites if a Section 61 Direction has already been served, and the owners have failed to remove them.

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