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27 Jan 2005 : Column 535W—continued

Special Advisers

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many special advisers there are in the Department, broken down by Civil Service pay grade. [206505]

Mrs. McGuire: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on 21 December 2004, Official Report, column 1640W.
 
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Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the contracts signed by his special advisers differ from the Model Contract for Special Advisers. [207233]

Mrs. McGuire: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 17 January 2005, Official Report, column 753W.

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

Equal Pay

19. Miss McIntosh : To ask the Minister for Women what assessment she has made of progress towards equal pay for equal work for women. [211132]

Ms Hewitt: The pay gap is at its lowest ever, 14.4 per cent. Its causes are complex; so we asked the Women and Work Commission to investigate.

We promote voluntary pay reviews to progress equal pay for equal work. 45 per cent. of organisations have undertaken or are to undertake reviews, including all Government Departments; the largest employer—the NHS; and companies like Lloyds-TSB.

Women in Politics

20. Mr. Allen: To ask the Minister for Women what steps she is taking to encourage women's representation in politics. [211133]

Ms Hewitt: In 2002 we introduced the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act allowing positive measures towards women's increased participation. I am proud to say that the Labour Party is taking every opportunity to increase the number of women standing for election for our party.

We now have 119 women MPs (94 of which are Labour). 29 per cent. of the Cabinet, 50 per cent. of AMs, and 40 per cent. of MSPs are women.

Maternity Allowance

21. Mr. Rendel: To ask the Minister for Women what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions regarding maternity allowance. [211134]

Jacqui Smith: I work closely with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

The Government's 10 year strategy for child care set out our intention to extend maternity allowance as well as statutory maternity pay and statutory adoption pay to 39 weeks from April 2007 and our goal of 12 months' paid maternity leave by the end of the next Parliament. We will be publishing a further paper on these and other proposals set out in the child care strategy shortly.

We will continue to work closely on this.
 
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Equal Pay (Wirral, South)

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Minister for Women if she will make a statement on relative rates of pay for women and men in Wirral, South. [211127]

Jacqui Smith: The median hourly wage for female workers residing in my hon. Friend's constituency is £8.80, 11 per cent. above the national female hourly wage.

The median hourly wage for male workers is £10.82, 2 per cent. above the national male hourly wage.

The gender pay gap for Wirral, South is 18.1 per cent. which is above the national 14.4 per cent.

Pension Equality

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Minister for Women what steps she is taking to promote pension equality for women. [211128]

Ms Hewitt: Two thirds of those benefiting from pension credit are women. For future pensioners, the state second pension extends second-tier pension rights for the first time to people with caring responsibilities and those on low earnings—the majority of whom are women.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Iraq

Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Foreign Secretary about the protection of Iraqi heritage in (a) Babylon and (b) Baghdad. [210112]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 24 January 2005]: I have had a number of discussions with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, concerning the protection of Babylon and of Iraq's archaeological heritage in general.

Mr. Fisher: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what reports she has received on damage done to historic sites in Iraq. [210870]

Tessa Jowell: I have studied the report written by John Curtis of the British Museum and have been in regular contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office concerning the protection of Iraq's archaeological heritage.

Millennium Dome

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much financial support was provided to the Millennium Dome by the National Lottery in each year from 1997–98. [211138]

Estelle Morris: Grants were made by the Millennium Commission to the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC) as follows.
 
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	£ million
1997–98	449
1998–99	0
1999–2000	60
2000–01	119
2001–02	0
2002–03	0
2003–04	0
2004–05	(42)—

⁽⁴²⁾-£24 million (unrequired funds decommitted from NMEC by Millennium Commission for use on other projects)

National Lottery

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the National Lottery board about their reasons for refusing grants to organisations engaged in (a) public safety and (b) search and rescue; and if she will make a statement. [211534]

Estelle Morris: I have had no such discussions. The distributing bodies for Lottery grants make their funding decisions independently of Government and consider each application on its own merits and against their published criteria. Rescue organisations are not precluded from receiving Lottery funding. 37 such organisations have received grants of nearly £1.8 million.

CABINET OFFICE

Special Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the occasions between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004 when special advisers attended meetings with external representatives at which Ministers were not present. [210532]

Mr. Miliband: As my predecessors' answer of Wednesday 15 December 2004, Official Report, column 1148W, made clear, special advisers hold meetings with a wide range of external representatives in their official capacity. All such meetings are conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers. The detailed information required is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the speeches his special advisers made in an official capacity between 31 March 2003 and 31 March 2004, broken down by date. [210554]

Mr. Miliband: I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided by my predecessor on Wednesday 15 December 2004, Official Report, column 1148W. Special advisers are aware of the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers". For the period 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2004, no special advisers working in the Cabinet Office made speeches in their official capacity.
 
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DEFENCE

BAE Systems

Mr. John Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what contracts were entered into with BAE Systems at RAF Marham in (a) 2003 and (b) 2004. [209516]

Mr. Ingram: No contracts were awarded to BAE Systems during 2003 and 2004 specifically for the support of the Tornado fleet at RAF Marham.

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