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Sewage

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much sewage was discharged into the (a) Severn, (b) Yorkshire Ouse, (c) Humber, (d) Mersey, (e) Aire, (f) Avon, (g) Tyne, (h) Trent, (i) Dee, (j) Great Ouse, (k) Wye, (l) Spey, (m) Nene, (n) Eden, (o) Ribble and (p) Tees in each month of the last four years. [208223]

Mr. Morley: The information requested is not held centrally and could not be provided without disproportionate cost.

Thames Barrier

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the occasions on which the Thames Barrier has been closed in each of the last 10 years; and what estimate she has made of the number of occasions when it will be closed in (a) 2010, (b) 2020, (c) 2050 and (d) 2100. [208191]

Mr. Morley: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 19 April 2004, Official Report, columns 154–55W. The Environment Agency's estimates for future years remain as given in that answer.
 
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EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Careers Service

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the Government plan to release the Connexions End to End Review of Careers Education and Guidance; and if she will make a statement. [208815]

Margaret Hodge: The findings of the End to End Review of Careers Education and Guidance (CEG) are being used to inform the development of the Youth Green Paper, and I expect the findings to be published alongside the Green Paper.

College/School Funding Gap

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures she plans to take to reduce the funding gap between the college sector and the schools sector. [208184]

Dr. Howells: Government recognises that there are differences in the funding allocated to further education colleges and school sixth forms and has taken action to address this. For the academic year 2003/04, base funding rates per qualification increased by 3 per cent. for school sixth forms and by 4.5 per cent. for further education colleges on a broadly comparable basis. In 2004/05, funding rates for colleges meeting their targets increased by 5 per cent. while those for school sixth forms rose by 4 per cent. We expect to see this trend continue in the 2005/06 academic year.

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will revise the further education college sector's area uplift funding so that colleges in areas of lower funding in close proximity to areas of higher funding will be less disadvantaged in comparison to nearby colleges. [208186]

Dr. Howells: The area costs uplift is a feature of the Learning and Skills Council's funding methodology. As matters concerning the level and structure of the uplift relate to the LSC's operational responsibilities Mark Haysom, the LSC's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Member providing the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 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 (e) subsistence. [206475]

Derek Twigg: All travel and subsistence is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers and the Civil Service Management Code.

The detailed information requested for the Department is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the Department spent on first-class travel in each year since 1997. [206560]

 
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Derek Twigg: All travel is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers and the Civil Service Management Code.

The detailed information requested for the Department is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many overseas trips, and at what total cost, have been made by her Department in each year since 1997; and what the costs of (a) flights, (b) internal travel, (c) hotel accommodation and (d) subsistence were of each trip. [206650]

Derek Twigg: All travel and subsistence is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, Travel by Ministers and the Civil Service Management Code.

Information relating to overseas travel by Ministers is published on an annual basis. Information for the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 2004 is available in the Library of the House. Information for the financial year 2004–05 will be published as soon as possible at the end of the current financial year.

The detailed information requested for the Department is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Telephones

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his policy is on the use of telephones in his Department by members of staff for their own personal use for (a) domestic and (b) international calls; and if he will make a statement. [204730]

Derek Twigg: The policy on the use of telephones in the Department for Education and Skills by members of staff for their own personal use in respect of domestic calls is that only essential and genuinely urgent personal telephone calls are permitted (free of charge) providing that they are kept short. No other personal telephone calls are permitted from office telephones, other than through the use of a personal chargecard. The international dialling facility is barred and only enabled where there is a clear and justified business need.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures he has taken to ensure the telephones in his Department are not used by staff for making unauthorised personal calls to international numbers. [204731]

Derek Twigg: In order to ensure telephones in the Department for Education and Skills are not used by staff for making unauthorised personal calls to international numbers, international dialling is barred on the telephone system and enabled on an individual basis only where there is a clear and justified business requirement to use this facility.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the estimated cost to his Department is of unauthorised personal calls made by members of staff to (a) domestic and (b) international numbers. [204732]

 
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Derek Twigg: In common with a number of Government Departments, The Department for Education and Skills takes a managed telephone service from OGC that is charged on the basis of each live extension that includes call charges. The Department has no visibility of call charges and therefore no costs are incurred in respect of unauthorised personal calls to domestic and international numbers.

Documents

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her Department's policy is in relation to the storage of documents and the use of shredders; and whether this policy has been reviewed in the past 12 months. [206745]

Derek Twigg: The DfES regularly destroy records as part of proper records management policies. Overall, less than 5 per cent. of Government records contain historically significant information worth preserving—the rest are destroyed, and always have been. Paying to store outdated records which are no longer of any use, and which are not historically valuable, wastes taxpayers' money.

The DfES has an agreed contract for the collection and destruction of confidential waste in a secure manner, using staff and procedures accredited to British Security Industry Association standards, British Standards and/or European Standards as appropriate.

The Department 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.

The Department has seen no reason to review its policy on shredding material during the last 12 months.

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