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Older People (Rural Areas)

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps his Department is taking to identify and spread good practice by local government in providing services for older people, with particular reference to those living in rural areas. [206613]

Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and other departments, such as the Department for Health, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, are currently working with local government, the Local Government Association (LGA), the Improvement and Development Agency, Better Government for Older People and other organisations to ensure best practice in local authorities is identified and spread.

For example, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and other departments are supporting the LGA's 'Action Learning Sets' programme which is designed to help local authorities, including many rural authorities, to work with each other to share good practice and improve services.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister also organises the beacon council scheme which recognises authorities that demonstrate excellence around specific themes and helps them disseminate their good practice. Last year, Stroud district council jointly with Cotswolds
 
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district council were awarded beacon status for their services for older people, in recognition of their work to support independent living. Over 100 authorities attended learning events to learn from the best practice of the five beacon authorities under the theme of services for older people.

Part P Schemes

Mr. Burns: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will introduce third party certification for Part P schemes; and if he will make a statement. [206935]

Phil Hope: Installers registered with authorised competent person schemes for Part P of the Building Regulations are allowed to self-certify that the work they have carried out complies with all relevant requirements of the regulations. There are no plans to introduce third party certification of work into such schemes.

Mr. Burns: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the inspectorate is in place to carry out inspections under the Part P schemes (electrical safety in dwellings); and if he will make a statement. [206936]

Phil Hope: Each competent person self-certification scheme operator is required to have an adequate inspectorate to assess the competence of applicants to the scheme and then to monitor a random selection of completed work to ensure it complies with the relevant requirements of the Building Regulations.

Mr. Burns: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the progress being made in the implementation of Part P schemes of the building regulations; and how the system will be introduced. [206937]

Phil Hope: Five competent person self-certification schemes for Part P of the Building Regulations were formally authorised in July 2004 and a further six in December 2004. All are now accepting and processing applications for membership of the schemes.

Press Officers

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many press officers are employed in his Department. [206530]

Yvette Cooper: As at 1 April 2004 there were 23 press officers employed in the Directorate of Communication for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Regional Government

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to hold another referendum on establishing a regional assembly for the north east. [207142]

Mr. Raynsford: None. Section 6 of the Regional Assemblies (Preparations) Act 2003 states that no further referendum can be ordered in "the region until the end of the period of seven years starting with the day on which the referendum was held".

Regional Government (Publications)

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the annualised total cost to the Government office
 
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for the south east of producing the publication Go South East was in the latest year for which figures are available; and what the annualised total cost to public funds is of all equivalent publications by Government offices of the regions. [206642]

Phil Hope: The total cost to the Government office for the south east for producing Go South East is £26,983 for 2004. The total cost of all equivalent publications produced by the Government offices for the English regions is £86,869 for 2004.

Regional Housing/Regional Observatories (Funding)

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much central Government funding is being given to (a) Regional Housing Boards and (b) regional observatories in the current financial year. [205257]

Keith Hill: Regional Housing Boards do not have separate budgets; they are funded from existing Government Regional Office budgets and contributions from other Board members.

Regional observatories are voluntary partnerships formed in the regions. Funding for their activities is provided by a variety of partners in each region. Central Government does not oversee their expenditure.

Document Shredding

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what factors underlie the increase in the rate of files shredded by his Department since January 2003; and if he will make a statement. [202099]

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister continues to implement well established policies and procedures for the review and disposal of files in accordance with its administrative needs and the Public Records Act.

Records are destroyed, in accordance with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's disposal policy, when they come to the end of their retention period and they are not required for permanent preservation. The number of files due for destruction in any given year varies. Files destroyed in the last year included a backlog that had developed in the previous two years due to machinery of government changes and the closure of the Hayes Records Repository.

Social Services Budget

Brian Cotter: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the impact of changes in the way central government grants for local social service budgets are calculated on local authorities with a higher than average elderly population. [207252]

Mr. Raynsford: There has been no change in the way we calculate the personal social services formulae spending shares (PSS FSS) in 2005–06. FSS is used to distribute formula grant to councils. The older peoples PSS FSS formulae directs extra resources to authorities with higher than average elderly populations in two ways. Firstly, the formulae allocates a basic amount per person aged 65 or over in each local council area.
 
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Secondly, through its age top up, the formulae allocates extra resources to areas with higher proportions of very old people.

There have been changes in the amounts distributed through two Department of Health specific grants, namely those for Preserved Rights and for Residential Allowances. We have listened to local authority concerns about the effect of transferring the majority of the Preserved Rights grant into FSS, originally announced as part of the SR2002 settlement. In co-operation with local authorities, we have agreed an alternative funding mechanism that minimises any adverse distributional impact, and which is based on the premise that a lower proportion of the Preserved Rights Grant will be transferred into the FSS.

In 2005–06 the Preserved Rights Grant will be funded at £348 million instead of the £133 million announced in SR2002. The Residential Allowance grant will transfer into FSS more quickly. The method of allocating the Preserved Rights and Residential Allowance Grants to local authorities in 2005–06 is unchanged. This will mean less turbulence for local authority funding. We have made corresponding adjustments to the base for allocations to councils of formula grant in 2005–06.

Special Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many complaints were made by departmental civil servants regarding the conduct of special advisers between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004. [203463]

Phil Hope: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, West on 13 December 2004, Official Report, column 946W.

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on how many occasions between 31 March 2002 and 31 March 2003 his special advisers travelled abroad in an official capacity; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost. [207185]

Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 10 November 2003, Official Report, column 163W.

All travel by special advisers is undertaken fully in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code

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