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10 Jan 2005 : Column 133W—continued

Business Support Initiatives

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been allocated to support (a) business start-ups and (b) SME growth in each enterprise area by region in the 2004–05 financial year. [200527]

Nigel Griffiths: Business start-ups and SME growth is not measured by Enterprise Area. This information can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Conferences

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many conferences were (a) attended by officials from her Department, (b) cancelled by and (c) facilitated by her Department in each year since 1997; and what the (i) cost to the Department and (ii) location was in each case. [205767]

Ms Hewitt: The Department does not maintain a central register of conferences organised by its various business units nor a register of conferences attended by individual officials and is therefore unable to provide the information requested.

Creche Facilities

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what crèche facilities are provided by her Department; and at what cost. [202380]

Jacqui Smith: My Department is fully committed to providing an employment package which supports working parents and carers. DTI's provision is set within the wider context of an ambitious programme to support flexible working at all grades. DTI consults its staff and unions regularly on these issues. In a specific childcare survey DTI parents indicated that flexible working is the provision they value most highly. DTI's clear support for working parents has enabled us, over the last decade, to retain many talented parents who might otherwise have left the workplace.
 
10 Jan 2005 : Column 134W
 

DTI staff in Central London have access to a thirty-two place holiday play-scheme in our 1 Victoria Street building which is highly rated by both parents and children for its quality. DTI HQ staff in Cardiff have access to a local holiday play-scheme.

London-based DTI staff also have access to six full-time subsidized nursery places for under 5s, currently occupied by five children. DTI is actively working with the Interdepartmental Group on Childcare to establish a more strategic and joined up approach to childcare for all civil servants, especially in London. DTI's annual budget for childcare is £65,000.

Departmental Credit Cards

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many credit cards for official expenditure are held by her Department. [206446]

Ms Hewitt: According to centrally held figures we have approximately 400 Government procurement cards in circulation. This figure fluctuates considerably due to changes in personnel and working procedures within Departments

Departmental Electrical Equipment

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many items of electrical equipment were used by her Department in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) cost and (b) number of each type of item. [205724]

Ms Hewitt: The Department uses a wide variety of electrical equipment from major items of electrical plant in our buildings such as lifts, air conditioning systems, sewerage systems all of which will comprise many separate items of electrical equipment right down to small items of equipment on individual desks such as a desk lamp. The most common item of electrical equipment used is the standard desktop computer of which there are approximately 5,200 on the Departmental estate. The numbers and cost of individual items cannot be separately identified as they are an integral part of the main departmental physical and ICT infrastructure and managed accordingly.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent by her Department in each year since 1997 on taskforces and similar bodies. [204711]

Jacqui Smith: Only the costs of the Small Business Investment Taskforce for 2000–01, 2001–02 and 2003–04 are separately identifiable. These were:

	£000
2000–01	17
2001–02	39
2003–04	60

The Small Business Investment Taskforce's costs for 2002–03 and those of DTI's other Taskforces and similar bodies are not identified separately within DTI's Accounts and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
 
10 Jan 2005 : Column 135W
 

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the Department spent on lawyers in each year since 1997; how many (a) actions, (b) settlements and (c) court cases there were in each year and what the costs of each settlement were. [206463]

Ms Hewitt: This information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost of travel within the UK for the Department was in each year since 1997; and how much of this was spent on (a) hire cars, (b) helicopter hire, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence. [206479]

Ms Hewitt: The cost of DTI travel within the UK in each year since 1998 was:
£

	Cost of travel
1998–99	6,026,861
1999–2000	6,735,828
2000–01	7,032,027
2001–02	7,602,641
2002–03	6,883,983
2003–04	10,996,512

DTI UK travel costs for 1997–98 are not stored electronically and it would entail disproportionate cost to gather that data.

The cost of DTI UK hotel accommodation within the UK in each year since 1997 was:
£

	Cost of hotel accommodation
1997–98	760,867
1998–99	801,623
1999–2000	745,315
2000–01	928,188
2001–02	1,009,618
2002–03	1,188,627
2003–04	1,090,040

To provide information about how much of this was spent on (a) hire cars, (b) helicopter hire, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence would entail disproportionate cost.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the Department spent on first-class travel in each year since 1997. [206564]

Ms Hewitt: Since the year 2000 the DTI spend on first class travel has been:

	£
2000	1,976,186
2001	2,068,054
2002	2,325,339
2003	2,128,531
2004	1,525,584

Figures prior to 2000 are not available.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many overseas trips, and at what total cost, have been made by her Department in
 
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each year since 1997; and what the costs of (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence were for each trip. [206647]

Ms Hewitt: Since 1 January 2000, the number of overseas trips made by DTI was:

	Number
2000	13,139
2001	13,301
2002	12,855
2003	12,560
2004	9,307

Since 1998, the total costs of overseas trips made by DTI was:

	£
1998–99	5,019,971
1999–2000	5,291,063
2000–01	5,470,024
2001–02	4,912,785
2002–03	5,583,825
2003–04	4,260,257

DTI UK travel costs for 1997–98 are not stored electronically and it would entail disproportionate cost to provide that data.

To provide information about how much was spent on (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence for each trip would entail disproportionate cost.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent by her Department on (a) new furniture and (b) hired furniture in each year since 1997. [205604]

Jacqui Smith: My Department has been undertaking a major space management programme since 2001. This has required the following investment in new furniture to introduce flexible workspace and significant space dividends across the London HQ estate, which will result in releasing a number of its buildings. Information prior to 2001 is not available. DTI has not hired any furniture since 1987.

Financial year	£ million (ex. VAT)
2001–02	1.845
2002–03	3.629
2003–04	1.664
2004–05	0.714

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