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Sure Start

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what relationship extended schools will have with Sure Start children's centres. [6591]

Beverley Hughes: We want to see strong links between extended schools and children's centres. Children's centres provide holistic services, including access to integrated early learning and care, health and family support for children under five and their families. They are being established across the country in every community by 2010. We also expect all schools to be offering extended services by that date.

It is up to local authorities to determine where children's centres should be located in order to best serve their communities' needs. However, where possible we expect children's centres to be developed from existing services which will include nursery, primary and secondary schools. Children's centres may wish to consider co-locating with schools, especially primary schools and offering joint services, to provide a more streamlined service to parents and families, providing services for all those with children aged 0–11 in one place. This would particularly benefit those parents with pre-school children and children of primary school age.

Young Runaways

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how she plans to evaluate the pilot scheme for flexible community-based accommodation for young runaways. [7250]

Maria Eagle: The community based flexible refuges were funded on the basis that they would be responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of their services within their communities. At the end of the pilot period, the DfES will consider how best to collate the lessons from these individual evaluations, in order to inform future policy and delivery of services for young runaways.
 
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CABINET OFFICE

Child Care Vouchers

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list the Government Departments which (a) have adopted, (b) are in the process of adopting and (c) have rejected the scheme for foregoing employee salary in favour of child care vouchers. [6607]

Mr. Hutton: The information requested is not held centrally. Individual Government departments are responsible for their own arrangements for child care support for their staff.

Government Car Despatch Agency

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the (a) upper and (b) lower age limits are for drivers employed by the Government Car Despatch Agency. [5728]

Mr. Hutton: The responsibility for the provision of ministerial cars and drivers has been delegated under the terms of the Framework Document to the Government Car Despatch Agency. I have asked its Chief Executive Mr. Roy Burke to write to the hon. Member. Copies of his letter will be placed in the Library.

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether Mrs. Barbara Smith is a permanent employee of the Government Despatch Agency; to which Department she is assigned; for how long she has worked for the agency; when her contract started; for how long she has been a driver for Mr. David Blunkett; whether she is his official driver; and how many Government vehicles she is permitted to drive. [5729]

Mr. Hutton: The responsibility for the provision of ministerial cars and drivers has been delegated under the terms of the Framework Document to the Government Car Despatch Agency. I have asked its Chief Executive Mr. Roy Burke to write to the hon. Member. Copies of his letter will be placed in the Library.
 
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Lord Birt

Norman Baker: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what caused the ceiling in Lord Birt's office to collapse; and how much it is estimated the repair will cost. [7303]

Mr. Hutton: The cost of repairing the ceiling collapse, which was caused by a leak, and associated cleaning was £2,773.

Showground (Garstang)

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans the Duchy has for a showground near Garstang in Lancashire. [6580]

Mr. Hutton: The Duchy of Lancaster office has been investigating the possibility of the former Myerscough Quarry becoming a strategic rural Gateway" for Lancashire, acting as an interface between rural and urban interests and to diversify the local rural economy. Integral to this is the provision of a regional showground and events facility.

This is still in the early stages of consultation with local stakeholders.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

British Nuclear Fuels

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make it his policy to seek to realise capital receipts from the disposal of BNFL assets in (a) Westinghouse and (b) Urenco. [5889]

Barry Gardiner [holding answer 20 June 2005]: The Government's and BNFL's position on Westinghouse (and other BNFL businesses) has not changed since the 2003 BNFL Joint Strategy Review. The businesses are being managed to deliver value and in a way that limits and controls risk to the UK taxpayer. As agreed in 2003, the Westinghouse business has been operating with greater financial independence from its parent, so that possibilities for private sector participation can be opened up.

Under the strategy of delivering shareholder value the BNFL board continues to discuss strategic options with its long-term adviser, N M Rothschild.

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with British Nuclear Fuels about the court action being taken against Kernkraftwerk Brokdorf GmbH. [1685]

Malcolm Wicks: None.

Clean Coal Technology

Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to support the development of clean coal technology in the UK. [6102]

Malcolm Wicks: The UK's Carbon Abatement Technologies strategy was launched on the 14 June. This sets out the work programme needed to support the development of sustainable fossil fuel technologies mainly using coal and natural gas. It recognises that fossil fuels will continue to be a major source of energy
 
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for decades to come and that technologies need to be developed and deployed which will radically reduce CO ₂ emissions from the use of these fuels. Improved combustion efficiency and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) are seen as the key technologies for achieving this aim.

The Government have announced funding of some £25 million towards demonstration of carbon abatement technologies as part of a £40 million package of support for clean energy technologies. Also, in his Budget statement this year the Chancellor undertook to assess support for the development of CCS in the Climate Change Programme Review (CCPR), including the potential for economic incentives.

In addition to this we will continue to fund research and development in this area under the DTI's Technology Programme. Under the Cleaner Coal Technology R and D Programme from 1999 up to 2008, the Government will have committed some £13.5 million in supporting UK industry to develop cleaner coal technologies. In addition to this we are also committing some £3.5 million for UK industry and academia to collaborate with the USA to develop these technologies.

Computer Crime

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many cases of computer (a) hacking, (b) fraud and (c) theft his Department recorded in each year since 2001–02; and for each year on how many occasions computer systems have been illegally accessed by computer hackers (i) within and (ii) outside his Department. [6949]

Alun Michael: Records of IT security incidents reported within the Department for the period in question show:

Theft

The number of reported thefts of computers is as follows:

	Number of thefts
2002–03	34
2003–04	35
2004–05	24
2005–06 (to date)	10

There have been no recorded incidents of computer fraud or of the Department's computer systems being illegally accessed by computer hackers within or outside the Department in the period in question.

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