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9 Mar 2005 : Column 1843W—continued
NHS Estate Transfers
Mr. Cousins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the (a) sites and (b) assets transferred to (i) his Department and (ii) English Partnerships by NHS estates as land surplus to the NHS in each of the last five years. [220381]
Keith Hill: No sites have yet been transferred from the NHS estates to either the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister or English Partnerships. My right hon. Friends the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health announced in April 2004 that a portfolio of around 100 surplus NHS sites would be transferred to help deliver the objectives of the sustainable communities plan. It is expected that the first of these will be transferred to English Partnerships shortly. A list of those sites transferring will be made available at that time.
Rural Services
Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received regarding the costs of providing services in rural areas; and if he will make a statement. [220675]
Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister received 233 representations on the 2005–06 financial settlement. Of these, five representations were made in support of a review of either the sparsity indicator currently used in funding formulae; or of the needs of sparsely populated areas.
Staff Surveys
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much was paid to consultants carrying out staff surveys in the Department and its predecessors in each year since 1997. [213661]
Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created in May 2002. One staff survey has been conducted since that date, in January 2003. The amount paid to consultants to undertake this survey was £51,820 excluding VAT.
The staff survey collects data about staff demographics and attitudes which informs the development of corporate strategies. Through regular staff surveys, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is also able to measure progress against the delivery of corporate objectives and benchmark itself against similar organisations.
Travellers
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total cost to public funds of providing legal advice, assistance and support in relation to planning applications and appeals in respect of Traveller encampments in North Essex has been in each year since 1997. [216261]
Mr. Lammy:
I have been asked to reply.
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The Legal Services Commission (LSC) provides funding for a national helpline for Gypsies and Travellers at a cost of around £50,000 a year. It is not possible to say how much of this money was spent in relation to North Essex.
In addition, legal help, which provides for basic advice and assistance, is available subject to satisfying the statutory tests of the applicant's means and the merits of the case. The LSC does not hold data on how much legal help is awarded to Gypsies and Travellers.
Legal representation at planning applications and appeals is generally outside the scope of legal aid. However, since April 2000, funding can be made available in exceptional cases under section 6(8)(b) of the Access to Justice Act 1999, when the relevant criteria are satisfied, for example, where the case concerns the applicant's home. This protects the applicant's fundamental rights and ensures a fair hearing. It is not possible to give a precise figure for total costs, but since April 2000, a maximum of £45,000 plus VAT (excluding legal help costs) has been spent on planning applications in relation to Gypsy and Traveller encampments. None of these applications related to planning applications or appeals in North Essex.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Cancer
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what policies her Department has in place for supporting employees with cancer. [218588]
Ms Hewitt: My Department's external counselling service is available to all DTI HQ staff (and their family members) through EAR Accor Services. Their Employee Assistance Programme offers both a Counselling and an Information service.
If Accor is contacted by an employee with cancer, they will undertake an initial assessment and if appropriate, arrange face to face counselling session. They can also provide information and literature on cancer through specialist organisations such as Cancer Bacup as well as information on benefits, home support, and hospital discharge plans among others which is tailored to the individual employee.
My Department's Equal Opportunities Policy seeks to ensure there is no discrimination against people who have declared progressive conditions such as cancer which could reduce physical capacity. Staff may also receive help and advice on adjustments from the Departmental Disabled Persons Officer as well as the Department's Medical Adviser, to provide appropriate support for that employee in the workplace.
Child Poverty
Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to achieve the Government's targets of (a) ending child poverty by 2020 and (b) halving it by 2010; and if she will make a statement. [219347]
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Ms Hewitt [holding answer 2 March 2005]: Making work pay and supporting parents in balancing their work and family responsibilities helps enable parents to participate in the labour market, which in turn is critical to tackling child poverty.
Since October 2004, the minimum wage (adult rate), in conjunction with the working families tax credit and other benefits have provided a guaranteed minimum income of at least £252 a week for families with one child and one earner in full-time work (35 hours per week). On 25 February we announced that the minimum wage will be increased to £5.05 from October 2005.
In 2003 we introduced a new right for parents to request a flexible working pattern. In the first year 800,000 requests were either wholly or partly accepted. In addition to this new entitlement, we extended maternity leave so most mothers can choose to take up to one year. We also introduced new rights to two weeks' paid paternity leave and introduced paid adoption leave.
On 28 February my Department published a consultation document, Work and Families: Choice and Flexibility". Through the consultation we are seeking views on the details of commitments and proposals set out in the 2004 pre-Budget report which build on the our successful package of family friendly working rights. These include extending Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance and Statutory Adoption Pay to nine months from April 2007 towards a goal of a year's paid leave by the end of the next Parliament, introducing a right for mothers to transfer a proportion of their maternity leave and pay to fathers, and looking at options for extending the right to request flexible working to carers of adults and to parents of older children. These measures would give families more choice about how to balance their work and caring responsibilities, supporting parents who may otherwise have been forced to drop out of the labour market to stay in work.
Copies of the consultation document have been placed in the Libraries of the House and are available on the DTI website at www.dti.gov.uk/workandfamilies.
Congestion Charge
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent on congestion (a) charges and (b) penalty charge notices by the Department since the commencement of the congestion charging scheme. [213814]
Departmental Advertising
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in which Muslim newspapers the Department advertises; and what kinds of advertising the Department places in Muslim newspapers. [201692]
Ms Hewitt: My Department has conducted campaign advertising on the national minimum wage in the following newspapers with a substantial Muslim readership:
My Department also advertised in several ethnic language publications that have a smaller Muslim readership. These are:
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