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India (Public Services)

Mr. Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which consultants have been retained by his Department and agencies for which he is responsible to provide the Government of India with advice on the delivery of public services for each of the last five financial years; what the value of each contract was; and what the nature of the contractors' briefs was. [189208]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The number and value of contracts let respectively are:

Between April 1999 and March 2004 DFID's procurement group in East Kilbride issued 191 contracts with a total value of £97,593,493. Between January 2000 and August 2004, DFID India's contracts and procurement advice section issued 1,009 contracts with a total value of £17,823,348. This section was set up in 1999 and no details are available before January 2000. Total spending on bilateral assistance to India in the five years from 1999 to 2003 amounted to £762,875,778.

It is not practical to provide briefs for this number of contracts, as this would incur a disproportionate cost. I have arranged for the documents entitled Procurement Group Programme Contracts April 1999-March 2004 and Summary of Contracts issued by DFID India to be placed in the Library.

Information and Communication Specialists

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many information and communication technology specialists are in full-time employment in the Department. [189588]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has 125 information and communications technology specialists in its employment across all UK and overseas offices. The numbers are broken down as follows:

	Number
United Kingdom
Information Systems Department	85
Business Transformation Unit	6
Information and Communication for Development	1
Total	92
Overseas
Regional IT Managers	6
Local IT administrators	27
Total	33

UK based staff are engaged in the design, development, deployment and support of ICT applications to support DFID's business processes. There is also ICT support in
 
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the Information and Communication for Development team to provide technical advice on the use of ICT in DFID supported programmes.

Regional IT Managers oversee the deployment and support of internal ICT systems for DFID offices in Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa, India, South East Asia and the Caribbean. Full-time IT administrators are locally employed in DFID's larger overseas offices to provide administration and support for staff using the ICT systems. Strong ICT systems are central to DFID's ability to deliver effectively on its Public Service Agreement. The number of ICT staff employed by DFID is determined through strategic planning processes which define the business benefits and service levels and demand demonstrable efficiency.

CABINET OFFICE

Civil Service Pensions

Mr. Betts: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how many widows and widowers of civil servants who are beneficiaries of the Classic Civil Service pension scheme have remarried or decided to cohabit with a new partner and consequently lost their pension rights in the last 10 years; [190070]

(2) how much it is estimated it would cost to restore pensions rights to the widows or widowers of civil servants who have remarried or decided to cohabit with a new partner in the last 10 years. [190071]

Ruth Kelly: Details of the number of widows or widowers whose pensions were suspended on remarriage or cohabitation in the last 10 years are not readily available. Between 1 October 2002 and 31 August 2004, 325 widows' or widowers' pensions were suspended due to remarriage or cohabitation.

Based on data in respect of the period between 1 October 2002 and 31 August 2004, the estimated cost of restoring pensions rights to the widows or widowers of civil servants who have remarried or decided to cohabit with a new partner in the last 10 years is in the order of £50 million.

Mr. Betts: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many widows or widowers of civil servants who have remarried or decided to cohabit with a new partner and consequently lost their civil service pensions have subsequently had their pensions restored on compassionate grounds in the last year. [190072]

Ruth Kelly: In the period 1 September 2003 to 31 August 2004, 16 widows or widowers of civil servants have had their previously ceased civil service spouses' pension restored to them.

Departmental Estate

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what revenues were generated by her Department's disposal of (a) the bunker at Carmarthen and (b) the Civil Service Sports Council, Chadwick street, referred to in paragraph 1.10 of the Cabinet Office Departmental Report 2004. [189990]

 
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Ruth Kelly: Hill House, Carmarthen was sold via an administrative transfer to the National Assembly for Wales, for £100,000.

The building in Chadwick street occupied by the Civil Service Sports Council was sold for just over £4 million, to the Civil Service Sports Council Ltd.

Both sites were disposed of at existing current market valuation.

Departmental Responsibilities

Mr. Forth: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what proportion of (a) his time and (b) the time of his officials is spent on fulfilling his ministerial responsibilities. [189389]

Mr. Milburn: I spend the time that is necessary to fulfil my ministerial responsibilities. My officials support me in carrying out these ministerial responsibilities.

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) if she will list the additional functions (a) taken on and (b) anticipated to be taken on by her Department in 2004–05 in comparison with 2003–04; [189702]

(2) what recent assessment her Department has made of the extent to which it has (a) succeeded and (b) failed in its first objective of supporting the Prime Minister in leading the Government; [189715]

(3) in which areas of (a) policy and (b) operations her Department has (i) achieved and (ii) failed to achieve its second objective of achieving co-ordination across Government in each year since 2001. [189716]

Ruth Kelly: The Cabinet Office's role is outlined in our Public Service Agreement. Work in support of Cabinet Office objectives and targets is accounted for in the "Departmental Report, Autumn Performance Report and the Annual Report and Resource Accounts", all of which are published annually. Copies of these publications are available in the Library.

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much overall her Department has budgeted to meet the additional overall cost of appointing a separate Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; into what principal categories this budget is broken down; and what the anticipated extra cost is of each such category. [189714]

Ruth Kelly: The cost of appointing a separate Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster will be met from within the existing Cabinet Office budget.

Departmental Websites

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent assessment she has made of the extent to which each Department's (a) informational and (b) interactive websites are used by members of the public, in comparison with other methods of communication. [189986]

Ruth Kelly: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) omnibus survey measures the use of government websites as a percentage of the population on a quarterly basis. Currently 28 per cent. of the adult population visit government websites. The most
 
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frequent use of government websites is informational—24 per cent. of the population visit for informational purposes, while 8 per cent. download forms and 6 per cent. transact.

"Preparing for Emergencies"

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what arrangements have been made for delivery of the booklet Preparing for Emergencies (a) to houses in multiple occupation and (b) to houses converted into flats; [189722]

(2) how many copies of the booklet Preparing for Emergencies have been (a) printed and (b) delivered to addresses in the United Kingdom. [189723]

Ruth Kelly: 26.7 million copies of "Preparing for Emergencies" have been printed in English and Welsh. Copies were also produced in each of the alternative languages and formats to meet initial demand. Extra copies of these are now being printed as further requests are received.

25.8 million copies were delivered to addresses in the United Kingdom through a national door-drop delivery. A television, radio and newspaper advertising campaign followed this to alert people to the fact that they should have received a copy of the booklet. It offered a number of alternative ways to get a copy of the booklet for people who had not yet received one.

Requests can be made, free of charge, by filling in and posting a newspaper coupon, or via the telephone orderline 0800 88 77 77 or via the website at www. preparingforemergencies.gov.uk.

This two stage strategy has allowed us to reach the greatest number of households in the UK, including those residents in properties divided into flats or multiple occupancy, who we were aware might be potentially difficult to reach.

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