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9 Feb 2004 : Column 1133W

Written Answers to Questions

Monday 9 February 2004

CABINET OFFICE

Chief Information Officer

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when the Chief Information Officer will be appointed; what the responsibilities of the post will be; and what its reporting relationship will be to (a) other civil servants and (b) Ministers. [151475]

Mr. Alexander: The new Head of e-Government (analogous to a private-sector Chief Information Officer) will be based in the Cabinet Office and will report to the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Andrew Turnbull and Minister for the Cabinet Office.

The responsibilities of the post were set out in a press notice of 15 December 2003 which can be found at www. cabinet-office.gov.uk/news/2003/031215 headofegovt.asp. I will also place a copy of the notice in the Libraries of the House for the interest of Members.

The detailed timetable for the recruitment exercise has still to be finalised, but the aim is to complete the selection process by April 2004.

Civil Contingencies

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will take steps to give one co-ordinating body full responsibility for civil contingencies covering all multi-agency aspects. [153043]

Mr. Alexander: The Home Secretary has overall charge for UK resilience and chairs the Ministerial Committee responsible for providing co-ordination and oversight covering all multi-agency aspects. Sir David Omand, the Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator, is responsible for the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, and supports the Home Secretary in this work.

Civil Servants

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what research has been carried out since 1997 into the reasons civil servants leave the Civil Service; and if he will make a statement. [153704]

Mr. Alexander: My Department publishes aggregate data on causes for leaving the Civil Service in the annual publication "Civil Service Statistics". Copies are placed in the Library of the House and can be accessed at www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the cost of recruitment of civil servants was for each financial year from 1996 to the present, broken down by Department. [153705]

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Mr. Alexander: Departments have delegated responsibility for almost all recruitment to the Civil Service. The Cabinet Office does not collect centrally the information requested and could only do so at disproportionate cost.

Consultations

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list those individuals and organisations (a) to whom (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) the non-departmental public bodies for which his Department is responsible sent a copy of the consultations (A) Private action, public benefit: A review of charities and the wider not for profit sector, (B) The future of emergency planning in England and Wales: a discussion document and (C) Towards equality and diversity: implementing the employment and race directives and (b) from whom each received a response in each case. [151655]

Mr. Alexander: The Government are committed to ensuring that all relevant stakeholders are identified and involved in consultation exercises.

The Strategy Unit report "Private Action, Public Benefit" was published on 25 September 2002. More than 1,000 copies were sent to interested parties. A further 300 people were sent e-mail links to the document. The pdf version of the SU report has been downloaded more than 45,000 times from the SU website: www.strategy.gov.uk.

Following publication of the report, members of the SU project team and the Home Office's Active Community Unit took part in more than 50 consultation events around the country. Copies of the report were also distributed at these events.

Responses were received from around 1,100 individuals and organisations. A summary of their comments—and the Government's response to the report—are contained in the Home Office document "Charities and Not-for-Profits: A Modern Legal Framework", published in July 2003.

The following organisations were sent copies of "The future of emergency planning in England and Wales: a discussion document".


















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Responses were received from interested stakeholder groups, including:












I have placed a full list of responses in the Libraries of the House.

"Towards equality and diversity: implementing the employment and race directives" is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Statutory Sick Pay

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people employed in his Department have claimed statutory sick pay for (a) less than one week, (b) one to three weeks, (c) four to six weeks, (d) seven to 12 weeks, (e) 13 to 20 weeks and (f) 21 to 28 weeks in each year since 1997. [148638]

Mr. Alexander: It is not possible to obtain this information without incurring disproportionate costs.

Cabinet Office is committed to managing sick absence effectively. It has in place robust procedures that reflect the recommendations of the 1998 report "Working Well Together—Managing Attendance in the Public Sector". These are supported by comprehensive in-house guidance and training for managers and individuals. The department is making good progress towards its target for reduced sickness absence of 30 per cent. in 2010 compared with 1998 levels.

Strategy Unit Fisheries Report

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the cost of the Strategy Unit's report on the UK fishing industry was; how many copies of the report will be produced; how many people have worked on the project; and when the report will be made public. [153992]

Mr. Alexander: The project is still ongoing. The Strategy Unit's budget for this financial year is £4.7 million, which funds a range of projects and other work.

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The normal print run for Strategy Unit reports is 2,000, though the report and supporting documents will also be on the Strategy Unit website.

A total of 12 people worked on the project, and six of these were engaged on a full-time basis.

The report will be published shortly.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Communications Regulation

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what arrangements she has put in place for (a) monitoring and (b) reducing the administrative costs of communications regulation through (i) the running costs of Ofcom and (ii) the compliance costs of business. [153035]

Estelle Morris: Parliament has given Ofcom a large degree of financial autonomy appropriate to its independent status. That is normal with sectoral regulators and especially important in media regulation. Nevertheless it is also subject to a number of measures to ensure proper scrutiny of its expenditure, and that its own costs, and the compliance costs of regulated businesses, are no more than necessary to fulfil its statutory duties under the Communications Act 2003.

Ofcom is required to set its charges in a transparent way and justify them to industry. In exercising all its statutory functions, Ofcom is also required to have due regard, among other things, to the desirability of encouraging investment and innovation, and to the principles of good regulation such as consultation, proportionality and selectivity—all of which are very relevant to compliance costs and overall expenditure. In addition, where it plans to introduce significant new regulation, Ofcom is required to carry out and publish an assessment of the likely impact of the measure, allowing a period for consultation, and to take account of responses to it.

Furthermore, Ofcom must produce an annual report and accounts (the latter subject to certification and report by the Comptroller and Auditor General) to be laid before Parliament; its activities can be scrutinised by the Public Accounts Committee and the relevant departmental Parliamentary Select Committees, and by the National Audit Office; its use of public funds is governed by, among other things, a financial memorandum agreed with the Secretaries of State for Trade and Industry and for Culture, Media and Sport; and its expenditure is subject to resource 'caps' agreed with HM Treasury.

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