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9 Dec 2004 : Column 663W—continued
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost was of (a) an in-house canteen and (b) other catering services provided by his Department in each of the last two years. [202437]
Maria Eagle: Subsidies of various sizes for canteen facilities are provided in around 160 of our 1,800 offices. The cost to the Department for the year 2002–03 was £3.5 million and for the year 2003–04 was £3.7 million.
Pension Protection
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will place in the Library a copy of the estimates that he has made of the cost of providing full compensation for lost occupational pension rights among those workers whose schemes wound up before the introduction of the Pension Protection Fund. [203569]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government has not made estimates of the costs of providing full compensation for lost occupational pension rights among those workers whose schemes wound up before the introduction of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for how many workers who lost occupational pension rights owing to scheme wind-up the insolvency event was (a) between January and March 1997, (b) between April 1997 and March 2004 and (c) between April 2004 and March 2005. [203576]
Malcolm Wicks:
The dates for eligibility for the Financial Assistance Scheme—as mentioned in my written ministerial statement issued on 2 December 2004, Official Report, columns 64–66WS—relate to the dates that schemes start to wind up. Issues concerning
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definitions of "employer insolvency", including the dates of any insolvency events and their timing in relation to the scheme wind up date, remain under consideration. The interactions of wind up dates and employer insolvency events are complex: for example, an employer may have more than one insolvency event, and the scheme may start to wind up sometime before or after the employer's initial insolvency event. Furthermore, there is no central source of data which identifies both scheme wind up dates and any insolvency events the employer connected to the scheme might have. Therefore it is not possible to answer the question in the form requested.
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether it is his policy that the administrative costs to his Department of developing and operating the Financial Assistance Scheme will be met outwith the £400 million which has been allocated to meet the costs of the scheme. [203577]
Malcolm Wicks: The costs of operating the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) are still being assessed. The current policy and project development costs of FAS are being funded from departmental resources.
Pensions
Sir Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of the relevant populations of (a) men and (b) women in (i) the Scottish Borders, (ii) Scotland and (ii) Great Britain are entitled to the full basic state pension. [202535]
Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is in the following table:
Notes:
1. Figures are taken from a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a high degree of sampling variation.
2. Data is rounded to the nearest 100. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
3. Local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics postcode directory.
4. The relevant population refers to all males aged 65 and above and females aged 60 and above living in the specified areas.
5. A full basic State Pension (£77.45 in 2003–04) is paid to those who fully satisfy the contribution conditions either in their own right or where applicable, on the basis of their late or former spouse's contributions.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent, sample as at 31 March 2004
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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Accountancy Services
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total cost to her Department was for accountancy services in each of the last two years. [202329]
Mr. Caborn: The cost of external accountancy services to the Department was £659,624.01 in 2002–03 and £495,193.40 in 2003–04.
Boxing
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the trend in the number of people participating in boxing over the last five years. [202295]
Mr. Caborn: According to the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAofE) records, the total number of registered boxers in England over the past five years was as follows:
There is no firm statistical data currently available on the number of people who are either active "social' members of boxing clubs (but not boxing competitively) or who box as part of their fitness training activities—nor do we have an indication of the trend over the past five tears. At present, the ABAofE estimates this to be in the region of 30,000 upwards.
British Board of Film Classification
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to change the (a) membership and (b) constitution of the British Board of Film Classification; and if she will make a statement. [202297]
Estelle Morris: The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is independent of government and is responsible for its own membership and constitution. The Government recognise the importance of preserving the independence of the BBFC and has no plans to intervene on these matters.
Departmental Events
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the (a) conferences, (b) seminars, (c) workshops, (d) exhibitions and (e) press conferences which have been sponsored by her Department and which took place on non-departmental premises in each of the last two years giving the (i) title, (ii) purpose, (iii) date and (iv) cost of each. [202347]
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Mr. Caborn: Only press conferences and exhibitions are organised centrally and they are held internally, with no cost attached. Conferences, seminars, and workshops are organised and paid for (sometimes jointly and sometimes exclusively) by policy divisions across the Department. They are held both in-house and on non-departmental premises. The information relating to the title, purpose, date and cost of each could be answered only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total external spending by her Department was on private finance initiative (PFI) consultants in each of the last two years; how many full-time equivalent consultants were employed over this period; how many billed consultancy days there were per year; what the implied average cost of each PFI consultant was; how many consultancy firms were used by her Department over this period; and if she will make a statement. [202338]
Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not itself incurred any costs on PFI consultants over the last two years.
The Royal Parks Agency, which is an Executive Agency, has employed consultants to advise on PFI schemes. Their total external spend on PFI consultants in 2003–04 was £95,035, and from 1 April 2004 to date they have incurred costs of £89,329. The Royal Parks Agency used six consultancy firms. The information relating to the number of full-time equivalent consultants, billed consultancy days and the implied average cost of each consultant could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the European Union directives and regulations relating to her Department that have been implemented in each of the last two years, specifying (a) the title and purpose of each, (b) the cost to public funds of each and (c) the cost to businesses of each. [202344]
Mr. Caborn: The information requested is as follows for my Department:
(a) Commission Regulation (EC) No 656/2004 of 7 April 2004 amending Regulation (EEC) No 752/93 laying down the provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92 on the export of cultural goods.
Purpose: to amend the application form (under EU law) for an export licence for cultural goods.
(b) We do not have information on the cost to public funds of this regulation, and such information could be assembled only at disproportionate cost.
In addition, I should mention the following:
(a) Directive 2002/19/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on access to, and interconnection of, electronic communications networks and associated facilities (Access Directive); Directive 2002/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March
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2002 on the authorisation of electronic communications networks and services (Authorisation Directive); Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services (Framework Directive); and Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive).
The purpose of these directives was to set a new community-wide framework for regulation in respect of electronic communications networks and services, including the removal of the requirement for licensing of telecommunications systems.
(b) We do not have information on the cost to public funds of these directives, and such information could be assembled only at disproportionate cost.
(c) These Directives were implemented by way of the Communications Act 2003, for which DTI and DCMS were jointly responsible and for which a regulatory impact assessment was undertaken.
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