---

21 Feb 2005 : Column 428W—continued

Publicity

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total expenditure by his Department on (a) advertising and (b) advertising and publicity was in (i) 1996–97, (ii) 1997–98 and (iii) 2003–04; and what the estimated cost of each will be in (A) 2004–05, (B) 2005–06, (C) 2006–07 and (D) 2007–08. [211563]

Jane Kennedy: The Department for Work and Pensions was formed in June 2001 from the former Department of Social Security, parts of the former Department for Education and Employment and the Employment Service. Information on costs for 1996–98 is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Details on spending on advertising and publicity in 2003 to 2004 are in the table:
£

2003–04 campaign	Advertising expenditure	Total publicity expenditure
Future pensioners/Informed Choice	—	2,450,000
Second State Pension	215,590	304,090
Pensioners Guide	—	952,890
Pension Credit	10,378,380	15,580,000
The Pension Service	74,000	522,000
Direct Payment	11,044,000	12,474,000
Direct Payment roadshow	—	480,000
Fraud	8,383,000	9,339,000
New Deal	5,800,000	7,500,000
Jobcentre Plus Awareness	—	557,170
Jobcentre Direct	1,593,200	1,700,330
Age Positive	66,000	882,000
DDA Awareness and Disability Rights	775,220	2,450,000
Council Tax Benefit	556,230	673,000
Winter Fuel Payments	627,000	938,000
Total	39,512,620	56,802,480

 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 429W
 

For 2004 to 2005 estimated total expenditure is in the table:
£

2004–05 campaign	Advertising expenditure	Total publicity expenditure
Future pensioners/Informed Choice	—	854,400
State Pension Deferral	200,000	300,000
Pensioners Guide	—	1,000,000
Pension Credit	4,023,810	6,500,000
The Pension Service	—	559,000
Direct Payment Information Campaign	8,808,000	9,500,000
Direct Payment roadshow	—	3,000,000
Fraud	6,450,000	7,150,000
New Deal	—	1,650,000
Jobcentre Plus employer marketing	443,000	1,300,000
Jobcentre Plus Awareness	—	275,740
Age Positive	—	600,000
DDA Awareness	1,122,000	2,000,000
Council Tax Benefit	661,640	850,000
Winter Fuel Payments	514,910	815,000
Total	22,223,360	36,354,140

Notes:
1. All costs exclude VAT.
2. All figures have been rounded.
3. Advertising costs are total media costs excluding all production costs.
4. Information campaigns costing under £250,000 and details of highly localised publicity activity by the Department's customer-facing businesses have generally not been included as a disproportionate cost would be incurred in compiling these figures.

Decisions have not yet been made on future expenditure for 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08.

Queen's Flight

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions departmental Ministers have used the Queen's flight in each of the past five years. [213449]

Maria Eagle: Travel by Ministers makes clear that special flights may be authorised when a scheduled service is not available, or when it is essential to travel by air, but the requirements of official or parliamentary business or security considerations or urgency preclude the journey being made by a scheduled service.

In respect of overseas travel by Ministers, since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 of more during each financial year. The list published in 1999 covers the period 2 May 1997 to 31 March 1999. Where RAF/private charter aircraft are used this is shown in the list. The Government have also published on an annual basis the cost of all Ministers' visits overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2004–05 will be published in due course.

There is no record of any Ministers from DWP or its predecessor departments using the Queen's flight in the last five years.

Social Fund

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidance given to Social Fund staff covering crisis loan applications from those in receipt of tax credits. [216804]

Mr. Pond: A copy of the Social Fund Guide is available in the Library. Additional guidance for Social Fund staff contained in Social Fund Bulletin 11/04 released on 12 July 2004 has been placed in the Library.
 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 430W
 

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average processing time for Social Fund (a) community care grants, (b) crisis loans and (c) budgeting loans has been in each year since 2002, broken down by region. [216922]

Mr. Pond: The information is in the table.
Actual average clearance times for Social Fund community care grants (CCGs), crisis loans (CLs) and budgeting loans (BLs) for the period April to December 2004

Government office region	CCGs	CLs	BLs
East of England	9.1	1.4	2.6
East Midlands	9.3	1.3	3.5
London	10.8	1.3	3.7
North East	6.1	1.2	3.2
North West	7.3	1.3	2.5
Scotland	8.4	1.3	3.2
South East	8.3	1.3	3.7
South West	9.2	1.3	3.0
Wales	6.8	1.4	2.2
West Midlands	8.8	1.2	3.1
Yorkshire and the Humber	8.6	1.3	2.9

Notes:
1. Data by GOR are not available for 2002–03 or 2003–04 due to boundary changes that occurred during this period.
2. A small area of the East Midlands GOR is currently administered for Social Fund purposes from a district within the North West GOR. Regional data are built up from district data, therefore the data for these two GORs may be slightly inaccurate.
3. The actual average clearance times for individual applications are measured in whole working days from the date the application is received until the date the decision is made.
4. When a loan offer is made, the number of whole working days from receiving the applicant's reply to the recording of that reply is added to the clearance time.
5. The minimum clearance time that can be recorded is one day.
Source:
Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System (PBMIS).

Staff Identity Passes

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the cost of producing a staff identity pass was in the Department on the latest date
 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 431W
 
for which figures are available; and how many staff identity passes have been reported lost or stolen in each year since 1997. [215083]

Maria Eagle: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information that is available is detailed as follows.

The Department for Work and Pensions was formed in June 2001 from the former Department of Social Security (DSS) and parts of the former Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) including the former Employment Service. The ex DSS part of the DWP Estate has been occupied under the terms of the PRIME PFI contract since April 1998. The PRIME contract was expanded in December 2003 to include former Employment Service properties.

The Department pays a Facilities Unit Price (FUP) to Land Securities Trillium for such accommodation which includes costs of providing staff identity passes for the majority of DWP staff. Information on the costs of producing such passes is not separately identifiable. No central records are kept of passes that have been lost or stolen. Where records are kept they do not differentiate between cards that require replacement because they have been lost or stolen, because a name needs changing or because they have been broken.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) joined DWP in July 2002. The cost of producing identity passes for HSE staff averages out at £4.15 per pass. The number of passes lost since 1997 is 284; an annual breakdown is not available.

The Rent Service joined DWP in April 2004. The cost of producing identity passes for Rent Service staff is £4.80 per pass, 18 passes have been reported lost or stolen since April 2004.

Staff Surveys

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid to consultants carrying out staff surveys in the Department in each year since 1997. [213663]

Maria Eagle: The information requested is available only since 2002.

The costs paid to consultants for the departmental staff survey was £244,000 in 2002 and £196,000 in 2003. The survey cycle for 2004 is not yet complete. These costs include the printing of survey related materials.

The use of consultants provides an economy in terms of speed of analysis and also reassurance to staff as to the confidentiality of their responses. The consultants used by DWP manage an extensive benchmarking database, allowing results to be compared to other public and private sector organisations.

---