House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 21 Feb 2005 (pt 92)

21 Feb 2005 : Column 349W—continued

Special Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Deputy min Minister (1) 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; [210538]

(2) 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. [210567]

Yvette Cooper: Special advisers attend meetings with a wide range of external representatives in their official capacity. Information relating to these meetings could be provided only at disproportionate cost. One special adviser has made various speeches on the role of the special adviser at civil service training events.

All meetings held by special advisers and all speeches given by special advisers are conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers."

Staff Surveys

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Deputy min Minister what the cost of staff surveys in the Department and its predecessors was in each year since 1997. [213684]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy min Minister was created in May 2002. One staff survey has been conducted since that date, in January 2003. The total cost of the survey, was £57,980 excluding VAT.

The purpose of the survey was particularly to obtain baseline information to direct the corporate change programme.

Supporting People Grant

Nick Harvey: To ask the Deputy min Minister what factors underlay the decision to reduce the Supporting People grant; what assessment he has made of the effects of reduction of grant; and what plans he has to consult on the proposed draft distribution formula for this grant. [215503]

Yvette Cooper: The Government commissioned an Independent Review into the Supporting People programme following significant late growth in estimated costs from £1.4 billion in December 2002 to £1.8 billion by March 2003. The review reported in January 2004 that there are wide variations in unit costs between authorities and that £1.8 billion was too much to pay for the services provided.

Reductions in Supporting People programme grant reflect the findings of the Independent Review and subsequent work carried out on value for money including work commissioned into the efficient use of legacy funding and the results of Audit Commission inspections. These studies demonstrate that there is significant potential for making savings in the current pattern of service provision whilst safeguarding valuable services.

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Administering authorities should be using the service review process for identifying and delivering efficiency savings. The Supporting People standards and monitoring team monitor the progress being made by authorities in their service reviews. They also monitor the feedback from the Supporting People Audit Commission Inspections and milestones information from administering authorities.

We will consult widely on a revised version on the distribution formula later this year.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Deputy min Minister for what reasons funding for the Supporting People programme in North Yorkshire is to be reduced by 40 per cent. from the 2003–04 level; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that quality of care received by people in North Yorkshire is not adversely affected. [215515]

The Office of the Deputy min Minister has taken no decisions about the longer term distribution. A formula for the distribution of Supporting People funding in the longer term is being developed. We are working with local authority representative bodies and will consult widely on a revised version later this year. The extent of the increases or reductions and the rate of which they are introduced are open to further consideration. We will include this issue in the consultation.

The Office of the Deputy min Minister will monitor the impact on administering authorities of introducing any new needs based distribution formula.

Terrorist Suspects

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy min Minister whether terrorist suspects subject to house arrest in council housing under the Home Secretary's proposals for detaining suspects without trial will be eligible (a) for the Right-to-Buy scheme, (b) for housing benefit and (c) to vote in ballots on large scale voluntary transfers. [213461]

Keith Hill: Full details of how Control Orders will operate will be brought forward in due course. Their precise effect in such cases will need to be assessed once these details are available.

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Timber

Sue Doughty: To ask the Deputy min Minister what steps he will take to ensure that environmentally sustainable building materials, with particular reference to sustainable timber, are used in the construction of proposed new homes in London and the South East as outlined in the report, Sustainable Communities: Homes for All. [216600]

Phil Hope: The Government are committed to raising the environmental standards to which publicly funded housing is built. All new homes funded by the Housing Corporation will be required to achieve a BRE EcoHomes Good" rating from April 2005. Those delivered by English Partnerships must reach a Very Good" standard.

We are also committed to delivering new homes in London and the South East, as set out in Homes For All to high environmental and sustainability standards. We will achieve this both through raising building standards and also through the Code for Sustainable Buildings, which will be piloted in the Thames Gateway. In particular, the Code will specify a minimum percentage of timber to be acquired from sources that are independently verified as either legal and sustainable or reclaimed.

In addition, in pursuance of its objective to establish a Central Point of Expertise on Timber Procurement, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs aims to establish in 2005 an inquiry point that will help local authorities and other stakeholders to procure legal and sustainable timber.

Tri-service Centres

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy min Minister what the evidential basis was for the statements made at the meeting with Ministers on 13 January (a) that local geographical knowledge of staff in a fire control room was less important than access to computerised gazetteers and (b) that the different business needs of the three services in a Tri-Service Centre are a key implementation barrier. [215058]

Mr. Raynsford: The 12 fire and rescue services in England which have installed advanced technology and geographical information systems to locate callers and mobilise appliances have demonstrated that local knowledge of individual members of staff is unreliable and of diminishing use. This was stated at the presentation on 13 January by a control room officer who has 25 years of experience of working in four different fire and rescue service control rooms in both urban and rural areas. The requirement to have local knowledge does not form part of the selection criteria for staff so its depth, accuracy and currency are not measurable. It would be unacceptable for the quality of control services to be dependent upon which staff are on duty.

A joint report in 2001 by the presidents of the professional associations representing the three emergency services, entitled 'Three Distinct Services—Shared Ambitions for a Healthier and Safer Community' states that the operational requirements of the three services are very different and should not be compromised. The report cited different cultures,

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financial regimes, organisational structures and statutory responsibilities as barriers to joint working and that the emphasis should be on collaboration, not integration. None of the three ISB tri-service projects has yet been able to implement common mobilisation systems. Control room staff in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire have been co-located but continue to work separately.

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