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Literacy and Numeracy

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many employees in her Department requested training to improve their (a) literacy and (b) numeracy skills in each year since 2002. [23376]

Mr. Lammy: The number of employees requesting such training is not recorded centrally in the form that has been requested.

Where staff have requested such training, this has usually been training on refining writing style or perfecting knowledge of grammar, and this has been provided through person-to-person coaching or externally provided training.

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to promote uptake of the national tests in adult literacy and numeracy among employees of her Department. [23404]

Mr. Lammy: The Department's learning and development policy details literacy and numeracy skills training opportunities for DCMS employees. The document is available for all DCMS staff via the DCMS intranet.

The policy states that if a DCMS employee or their line manager identifies that they may have a literacy or numeracy skills gap, the DCMS Learning and Development team can provide advice and support. If appropriate, the Department can arrange for the employee to be screened to identify the nature and extent of their learning needs. If a literacy or numeracy need is identified, the Department will then arrange and fund appropriate training and sitting of national tests.

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department spent on in-house training on (a) literacy and (b) numeracy (i) in total and (ii) per head in each year since 2002. [23425]

 
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Mr. Lammy: The amount spent per head on such training is not recorded centrally in the form that has been requested.

Priority Groups

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made in the take-up of cultural activities by new users from priority groups; and if she will make a statement. [21475]

Mr. Lammy: The Department have already met and exceeded its public service agreement targets to increase the number of new users from priority groups to national and regional museums and the historic environment by March 2006.

The Arts attendance and participation targets each have three sub-targets. Based on the latest survey information, only one of the six targets is currently on target to be met.

I have asked Arts Council England to put in place a plan of remedial action, which will be monitored by the Department.

Television Licences

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the Government plans to cap the amount the BBC can charge for a television licence. [22985]

James Purnell: We have begun an assessment of the BBC's future funding needs, in line with our commitment in the Green Paper published in March of this year: this process will continue over the coming months and we will announce the outcome in due course.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Audit Commission

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much has been paid in fees to the Audit Commission by each local authority in England in each of the last two years. [22830]

Mr. Woolas: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission. I will ask the chief executive to write to the hon. Member and to ensure the answer is made available in the Library of the House.

Building Regulations

David Howarth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the oral answer to the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Sir Robert Smith) of 19 October 2005, Official Report, column 826, on building regulations, if he will publish the papers containing the grounds for the claim that the changes proposed to Part L of the Building Regulations will improve existing minimum standards for energy efficiency in new homes by 40 per cent. [23073]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 28 October 2005]: Changes proposed to Building Regulations are supported by a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA)
 
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identifying the costs and benefits. The 2002 Part L RIA and a draft of the 2006 one can be found on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister website. The final 2006 RIA will be published before the revised regulations come into effect in April. Changes to Part L of the Building Regulations in 2005–06 when combined with changes introduced in 2002 will improve the energy efficiency of new buildings by 40 per cent.

Casinos

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 17 October 2005, Official Report, column 805W, on casinos, if he will place in the Library copies of the planning appeals relating to casinos that have been considered by (a) the Planning Inspectorate and (b) the First Secretary of State in the last two years. [22291]

Yvette Cooper: The Planning Inspectorate has decided six appeals with a casino element over the last two years. Copies of these decisions have been made available in the Libraries of the House.

Council Tax

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 19 October 2005, Official Report, columns 1012–13W, on council tax, if he will list the preparatory work that the Valuation Office Agency carried out on the English council tax revaluation. [22275]

 
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Mr. Woolas: The preparatory work carried out by the Valuation Office Agency for the English council tax revaluation involved the development of the automated valuation model (AVM) and the assessing, updating and digitising of property data for all dwellings. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 26 October 2005, Official Report, column 447W. The instructions and advice documents, placed in the Library of the House following that answer, and the press releases of 5 September 2003 and 10 September 2004, relating to the AVM, detail the preparatory work. The press releases can be accessed, on line, via the Valuation Office Agency's website, www.voa.gov.uk.

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the costs of council tax rebanding exercises have been to date. [23673]

Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 25 October 2005, Official Report, column 327W.

Departmental Consultation

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list formal consultations being sponsored by his Department and its agencies; and what the (a) commencement date and (b) deadline for responses is in each case. [22565]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The following consultations are currently sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and its agencies, and are available on our website.

Department/ Agency	Title of consultation	Commencement date	Deadline for responses
ODPM	Amending the Definition of a Caravan	10 August 2005	2 November 2005
ODPM	Proposals for amending Part B (Fire safety) of the Building Regulations	19 July 2005	18 November 2005
ODPM	Annexes to Minerals Policy Statement 1	21 July 2005	31 October 2005
ODPM	Building Regulations and Fire Safety: Procedural guidance	22 August 2005	14 November 2005
ODPM	Emergencies for Fire and Rescue Authorities	16 September 2005	13 December 2005
ODPM	Recruitment and Progression of Fire and Rescue Service staff	9 September 2005	2 December 2005
ODPM	Applying the Planning Acts to the Crown	23 September 2005	16 December 2005

Disabled Facilities Grant

Gregory Barker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Clwyd, South (Mr. Jones) of 19 July 2005, Official Report, column 1542W, on the disabled facilities grant, (1) what progress has been made with the review; and if he will make a statement; [20447]

(2) what representations he has received as part of the review of the disabled facilities grant; and if he will make a statement. [20486]

Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made on 27 October 2005, Official Report, column 14WS, about the review of disabled facilities grant.

Gregory Barker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received regarding the review of the disabled facilities grant; and when he plans to make the findings of the review public. [21072]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 24 October 2005]: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made on 27 October 2005, Official Report, column 14WS, about the review of disabled facilities grant.

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