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13 Dec 2004 : Column 945W—continued
Engagements
Norman Lamb: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list his official engagements over the last six months; who was present at each meeting; what the (a) date and (b) location was of each meeting; what issues were discussed; and what plans he has to establish a public register of such information. [202404]
Mr. Milburn: Ministers meet many individuals and organisations and attend many functions relating to Government business, and as part of the process of policy development. To provide the detailed information requested would incur disproportionate cost. The daily on the record briefing by the Prime Ministers official spokesman regularly provides details of Minister's public engagements.
Equal Pay
John McDonnell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether the most recent equal pay review included comparisons of (a) ethnic groups, (b) disabled and able-bodied and (c) part-time and full-time employees; and what differences of pay at each grade, band or salary range, broken down by (i) London and (ii) national rates were found. [200587]
Ruth Kelly: The Cabinet Office, Central Office of Information and Government Car and Despatch Agency all operate their own delegated pay systems and therefore completed individual equal pay audits in 2003. Copies of the action plans and supporting analysis will be placed today in the Library.
The approach and level of detail varied reflecting the size of the organisation and the issues they needed to address. Where comparisons were made no significant differences or trends were identified on ethnicity, staff with disabilities and working pattern.
Gender Pay Gap
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment she has made of the gender pay gap amongst staff in the Office. [202322]
Ruth Kelly: The Cabinet Office, Central Office of Information and Government Car and Despatch Agency all operate their own delegated pay systems and therefore completed individual equal pay audits in 2003. Copies of the audits are available in the Library. None of them identified significant differences in salary levels between men and women.
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the gender pay gap amongst staff in the Duchy. [202482]
Mr. Milburn:
The Duchy of Lancaster has a policy of awarding pay to staff on the basis of ability regardless of gender.
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IT Contracts
Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) projected cost at the time of tender and (b) actual cost at the time of completion was for each IT contract commissioned by the Office in the last five years. [201617]
Ruth Kelly: Information relating to tender and completion costs for IT contracts is not held centrally and is not separately identifiable on the Department's accounting system. It cannot therefore be readily retrieved without incurring disproportionate cost.
Public Engagements
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for which of the five public engagements listed in his Answer of 2 December 2004, Official Report, column 252W, on public engagements, texts or transcripts of his presentations are publicly available. [204098]
Mr. Milburn: A Transcript of the speech I gave on 9 November 2004 to the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) is available on the IPPR website www.ippr.org.uk
Transcripts of the speeches I gave on the 23 November 2004, at the Guardian Public Services Awards, and on the 30 November 2004 at the Association of Chief Executive of Voluntary Organisations, are available on the Cabinet office website www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk"
Copies of these speeches have today been placed in the Library.
Security Vetting
Llew Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether (a) spouses and (b) other partners of Cabinet Ministers are subject to security vetting. [202812]
Ruth Kelly: It has been a policy of successive Governments that Ministers of the Crown, and by extension their spouses or partners, are not subject to security vetting.
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many complaints were made by her office's civil servants regarding the conduct of special advisers between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004. [203481]
Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 8 December 2004, Official Report, column 578W.
Sustainable Timber
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list the refurbishment projects in her Department that (a) are in progress and (b) will start in the next six months; what action is being taken to ensure that timber for these projects will be procured from legal and sustainable sources; and whether guidance will be issued to contractors on each of these projects to ensure that the timber used on site during refurbishment comes from legal and sustainable sources. [201072]
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Ruth Kelly: There are no refurbishment projects currently in progress and none are planned to start in the next six months. The model Contract Specification Clause for timber procurement is used in all appropriate Cabinet Office contracts.
HEALTH
Alcohol-related Illness
Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS of treating medical conditions deemed to be linked to the use of alcohol was in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [199614]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The cost of national health service treating medical conditions deemed to be linked to the use of alcohol is not routinely collected.
In September 2003, the Prime Minister's strategy unit published the interim analytical report. This report calculated the cost to the NHS of alcohol misuse to be up to £1.7 billion per annum but this estimate was not restricted to the cost of treatment of medical conditions linked to the use of alcohol.
Ambulance Services (Gloucestershire)
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what improvements in ambulance services in Gloucestershire have taken place since 1997. [203245]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Since 1997, there have been many improvements to ambulance services within Gloucestershire. Some of the key achievements include:
Improving category "A" eight-minute response standard from 49.7 per cent. in 1997 to 73.5 per cent. in 2003–04 (the standard is 75 per cent. within eight minutes). This has been achieved despite a 100 per cent. rise in activity.
Replacing a third of the accident and emergency vehicles in 2003–04. As a result, the trust now has a fleet of vehicles less than six-years-old.
Atypical Anti-psychotic Drugs
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the increase in prescribing of atypical anti-psychotic drugs as a proportion of anti-psychotics since the publication of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidance recommending atypicals is in line with his forecasts and targets. [203197]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has not made any forecasts or set targets relating to atypical anti-psychotics.
Responsibility for implementing guidance published by National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is devolved within the national health service to local trusts, supported and performance managed by
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strategic health authorities. Since January 2002, the NHS has had three months from the date of publication of each technology appraisal guidance to provide funding so that clinical decisions made by doctors involving NICE recommended treatments or drugs can be funded.
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