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14 Jun 2004 : Column 758W—continued
Official Vehicles
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of official vehicles used by his Department are run on (a) petrol, (b) diesel, (c) liquid petroleum gas and (d) compressed natural gas. [172765]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Government as a whole have signed up to various targets for improving the performance of their own vehicle fleets, details of which are available at: www.sustainable-development.gov.uk
The following table provides a breakdown of the cars currently in the directly managed Home Office fleet by vehicle category, fuel type and emission performance. This does not include information for vehicles provided for use by Ministers and senior officials by the Government Car Service (GCS). Detailed information
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on the breakdown of the GCS fleet is being provided by its Chief Executive, Mr. Nick Matheson. Copies of his letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
| Cars | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol | 101 | 7 |
| Diesel | 1,260 | 92 |
| Liquid Petroleum Gas | 8 | 1 |
| Total | 1,369 | 100 |
Older People
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what (a) initiatives, (b) campaigns and (c) advisory bodies relating to older people his Department (i) is responsible and (ii) has provided funding since 2001; and what the cost in each year was for each one. [166240]
Fiona Mactaggart: The Home Office is involved in a number of campaigns and initiatives relating to older people.
Older people are the most likely targets of 'distraction burglary' i.e. burglary committed by bogus callers. In October 2001, the "Good Practice Guide on Tackling Distraction Burglary" was published alongside two videos and supporting literature, which continue to be used today. The cost of this was in the region of £127,000. To support this:
practitioner seminars have been run across the regions and a newsletter providing updates and advice is circulated at a cost of £5,000 per year;
a new mini website dedicated to distraction burglary has been developed to sit within the Department's crime reduction website; and
this comes at the same time as a new media campaign to raise awareness of distraction burglary at a cost of £77,000.
The Department supports the charity Help the Aged:
it has contributed over £60,000 to Help the Aged for Rural Development since 2001;
departmental representatives have attended, spoken at and hosted seminars in the Help the Aged Senior Safety conference programme since 2002 (travel and subsistence costs only); and
the Department is about to launch, through Help the Aged, a three-month pilot of 'reassurance cards' to advise older people about home security at a cost of £2,000.
It was recently announced that World War II veterans and civilians over the age of 75 would be eligible for a free 10-year passport. By 19 May, almost 500 free passports had been issued, the majority to veterans of the Normandy landings. The standard passport currently costs £42.
Over this period, the Active Community Unit has strategically funded three organisations specifically to involve older people in volunteering:
The Experience Corps was established in 2001 and received £5.5 million, £7 million, and £7 million over the three years of the initiative, this funding ended March 2004;
(RSVP, retired and senior volunteer programme), received £130,000 per year over the past three years, 2003–04 and will receive £133,250 this year; and
REACH received £85,000 per year over the past three years, 2001–04 and will receive £87,125 this year.
Project funding of £55,000 per year for three years beginning March 2001 was given to Help and Care, an organisation that supports and encourages older people's role as active citizens within their communities. This came to an end in March 2004.
The Active Community Unit has also contributed funding of £50,000 to the Better Government for Older People Network. This consisted of £20,000 revenue funding in February 2002 and £30,000 capital funding in January 2003.
In April 2004, the Home Office announced that they were going to invest £600,000 over two years to develop a national co-ordinating body for older volunteers.
And finally, during the four years 1999–2003, the Home Office Older Volunteers Initiative provided funding of £1.476 million to 26 projects aimed at improving the number and quality of the opportunities for people aged 50 or over to volunteer and involve themselves in the community.
Overseas Students
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of students admitted to the UK since 1979 have (a) completed their studies, (b) returned to their home country and (c) had their visa extended, broken down by nationality. [177093]
Mr. Browne [holding answer 8 June 2004]: I regret that the information requested is not available.
We are currently considering a number of ways in which we could address this information gap for future years.
Data on passengers given leave to enter or further leave to remain in the United Kingdom as students by nationality are published in the Command Paper 'Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom' 1 . These data however, relate to the number of journeys/decisions; a person making more than one journey/application for an extension of leave to remain may be counted on each occasion.
1 Obtainable from the Library of the House, and from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/commandpubsl.html. The latest edition is that for 2002 (Cm6053).
Paper Recycling
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of copying paper used by his Department in 2002–03 was from recycled sources; and how much post-consumer waste this paper contained. [172306]
Fiona Mactaggart: The percentage of copying paper used by the Department in 2002–03 from recycled sources was 41.54 per cent.
The post-consumer waste content of the paper was unknown by the supplier as they were unable to provide detail of the wood fibre in the product. The recycled content of the paper is described as unspecified.
Mr. Oaten:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when his Department expects to implement in full the quick win targets set by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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to ensure that (a) all copying paper bought by the Department is 100 per cent. recycled with a minimum of 75 per cent. post-consumer waste content and (b) all paper for printed publications bought by the Department is 60 per cent. recycled, of which a minimum is 75 per cent. post-consumer waste. [172307]
Fiona Mactaggart: The quick wins targets were introduced on 1 November 2003 by the inter-departmental Sustainable Procurement Group. From this date all Government Department's contracts were expected to apply the minimum environmental standards when purchasing certain types of product and services including paper.
It has been recommended that the purchase of recycled paper products is phased in over a period of time and targets will be developed as part of the "Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate". The Home Office will work with its current suppliers in order to meet these targets once they are published.
The Department's current three-year stationery contract to supply paper and paper products as well as other stationery products was awarded prior to 1 November, in September 2003. This followed a competitive tender exercise in line with Home Office policy that the procurement of goods and services is based on value for money principles. The provision of recycled paper is part of the agreed contract with Guilbert UK.
In June 2002 the Home Office mandated all offices within the Department to use A4 recycled paper which has an 80 per cent. unspecified recycled paper content in photocopiers, fax machines and printers, unless technical reasons precluded them from using this paper. The Prison Service mandated the use of the same A4
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recycled paper from September 2003 and expect the use of A3 recycled paper to become mandatory from September 2004 if current trials prove successful.
The Home Office makes use of various stocks of paper/board in our publications. Most of our internal facing material is printed on recycled paper and all of these are at least 60 per cent. recycled with a content of 75 per cent. post-consumer waste.
The majority of our external facing work is printed on totally chlorine free paper/board. Although this is not made from recycled pulp, this is 'environmentally friendly' because the pulp is bleached without the use of chlorine chemicals.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the Department's main suppliers of (a) copier paper, (b) stationery, (c) envelopes and (d) paper for reports, in each case stating (i) the name of each paper used and (ii) the recycled and post-consumer recycled content of each paper. [172308]
Fiona Mactaggart: The contract to supply paper and paper products to the Home Department is held by the company Guilbert UK. In addition to the aforementioned contract the Prison Service also hold a contract with James MacNaughton Paper Group Limited to supply paper and paper products to Prison Service Enterprise and Supply Services Internal Industries.
Guilbert provide a wide range of stationery products to the Home Office and to provide details of every paper and paper product supplied would incur disproportionate costs.
I am however able to provide details of the top ten paper and paper products purchased from Guilbert UK by brand name and where available the recycled and post consumer recycled content of each paper in the categories requested as follows:
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Details of the top ten paper and paper products purchased from James MacNaughton Paper Group Limited by brand name and where available the recycled and post consumer recycled content for copier paper is as follows:
| Name of paper used | Recycled content (unspecified) | Recycled content (post-consumer waste) | Recycled content (pre-consumer waste) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Challenger T/Pulp | No | No | No |
| HMP Offset | No | No | No |
| HM Manila | Yes | No | 80% |
| Reacto | No | No | No |
| Prosp/Kingstn | No | No | No |
| Challenger Velvet | No | No | No |
| Reflex | No | No | No |
| Challenger W/Pulp | No | No | No |
| Supercol | No | No | No |
| Greybd | Yes | 100% | No |
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