| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
12 Jan 2005 : Column 555W—continued
Ambient Gambling
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what definition the Department uses of ambient gambling. [207293]
Mr. Caborn: The Gambling Bill does not utilise the concept of ambient gambling as such, which was defined in paragraph 3.21 of the Budd report as the provision of gambling facilities on premises whose main purpose is not gambling.
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment the Department has made of the risk of gambling addiction from (a) ambient gambling and (b) gambling from the home. [207297]
Mr. Caborn: We do not have the necessary evidence to make such a general assessment, bearing in mind that both forms of gambling cover a wide range of gambling activities.
Free TV Licences (Dagenham)
Jon Cruddas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households in each ward of the Dagenham constituency are entitled to free television licences. [207262]
Estelle Morris: TV Licensing, who administer free television licences for people aged 75 or over as agents for the BBC, are not able to provide geographical breakdowns of the number of free licences issued. The number of households with at least one person aged 75 or over claiming the winter fuel payment in the Dagenham constituency in 2003–04 was 5,155, according to Department for Work and Pensions records. Winter fuel payment data at ward level relate to Census wards rather than electoral wards and consequently do not correspond precisely to constituency boundaries.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Spam E-mails
Mr. Flight: To ask the Chairman of the Information Committee what steps have been taken since 16 June to protect hon. Members, peers and their staff against spam e-mails; and if he will make a statement. [206967]
Mr. Key:
Since June 2004 a new e-mail filtering service has been in operation. This third party service scans all inbound e-mails and blocks those that are found to contain viruses or content known to be Spam. During the first six months of operation 11,439,431 e-mails were scanned. Of these, 4,982,447 (43.55 per cent.) were found to be Spam and 991,491 (8.66 per cent.) to contain viruses. Intended recipients are notified when e-mails have been blocked and can check those judged to be Spam if they wish to do so. Based on customer feedback received to date, the service is working very well.
12 Jan 2005 : Column 556W
WORK AND PENSIONS
Departmental Equipment
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many items of electrical equipment were used by his Department in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by (a) cost and (b) number of each type of item. [205726]
Maria Eagle: The information requested is not recorded centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. All expenditure on electrical items is made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent by his Department on lighting in each year since 1997. [205865]
Maria Eagle: It is not possible to separate the amount we have spent on lighting from other electricity costs. All electricity expenditure is made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.
Pay Television Subscriptions
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pay television subscriptions the Department had in each year since 1997; and what the cost was in each year. [207670]
Maria Eagle: Information to answer this question is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the contracts signed by his special advisers differ from the Model Contract for Special Advisers. [207235]
Maria Eagle: All DWP Special Adviser contracts which set out their terms and conditions of service are based on the Model Contract for Special Advisers.
HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION
Education Unit
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many pupils and students took part in visits to the House of Commons arranged by the House's Education Unit during the 2003–04 parliamentary Session, broken down by (i) region and nation of the UK and (ii) primary, secondary, and tertiary sector. [206423]
Sir Archy Kirkwood:
In the 2003–04 Session the Parliamentary Education Unit (the unit is a shared service representing both the House of Commons and the House of Lords) welcomed groups as follows:
12 Jan 2005 : Column 557W
In the same period the Central Tours Office arranged visits for 48,000 pupils and students. All of the visits programmes offered by the Education Unit were fully booked for the academic year 2004–05 by mid October 2004.
Postal Services
Kate Hoey: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, for what reason the House authorities have decided to put out to tender the postal services of the House. [206753]
Sir Archy Kirkwood: Postal services on the parliamentary estate have never been subject to a formal competitive tender and it was recognised that this was in breach of EU directives, and could attract legal challenge from other suppliers and from the EU Commission itself.
Royal Mail advised the House in October 2003 that, following their own internal review of mail services supplied to Parliament, they were seeking to increase costs by over 200 per cent. just to maintain the status quo. Parliament has a duty to protect the public purse and justifying such a significant price increase while seeking an exemption from the competitive process was not sustainable.
Given these facts it was decided that a tendering exercise was essential to ensure value for money for the taxpayer and to comply with EU regulations. It was necessary to advertise the mail service in OJEU and this was done in February 2004. Four firms (including Royal Mail) have been shortlisted to receive invitations to tender early in 2005.
CABINET OFFICE
Asylum Seekers (Targets)
Alistair Burt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what involvement the No. 10 Delivery Unit had in the (a) setting and (b) monitoring of targets relating to the removal of refused asylum seekers from the UK from 1999 to 2002. [206177]
Mr. Miliband:
The Prime Minister's Delivery Unit was established in June 2001. It played no part in the setting of Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets prior to that date.
12 Jan 2005 : Column 558W
Overall responsibility for setting PSA targets lies with Her Majesty's Treasury (HMT) and relevant departments. The Delivery Unit contributes to the process by providing advice on the design, measurement and monitoring of PSAs. This was the role the Unit played as part of the Spending Review 2002.
The asylum PSA targets are among those for which the Delivery Unit has a continuing role in monitoring performance.
Progress against the delivery of PSA targets is available on HMT's website at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/performance/
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |