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10 Nov 2005 : Column 661W—continued
Departmental Working Groups
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 26 October 2005, Official Report, column 448W, on departmental working groups, which (a) staff member and (b) Minister within his Department approves the creation of new departmental working groups. [24718]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 14 October 2005, Official Report, columns 608–09W. A variety of cross-divisional groupings exist within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. There is no formal definition of these as departmental working groups and no centrally held record of the creation of them. There is no designated staff member with the role of centrally approving the creation of new departmental working groups.
Fire Precautions Regulations
John McDonnell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what requests for exemptions to the Fire Precautions (Sub-Surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989 have been made under regulation 12 of the regulations since 1989. [26555]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not keep such records centrally, nor do we require fire and rescue authorities to supply any to us.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Pope: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the percentage change in central government funding to Hyndburn borough council has been in each of the last five years. [25623]
Mr. Woolas:
The percentage change in central government funding to Hyndburn council in each of the last five years for which data are available is shown in the table as follows.
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| Change in funding on previous year (%) | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 2.9 |
| 2000–01 | 4.7 |
| 2001–02 | 8.2 |
| 2002–03 | 12.7 |
| 2003–04 | 13.7 |
Notes:
1.Central government funding is defined here as the sum of Specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) and Formula grant (Revenue Support Grant, Redistributed business rates and Police Grant). Specific grants inside AEF are those revenue grants paid for councils' core services (such as waste collection), excluding funding for local authorities' housing management.
2.Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities.
3.The information provided excludes capital funding and funding for local authorities' housing management responsibilities.
4.The information excludes those grant programmes, such as European funding, where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
Source:
ODPM Revenue Outturn (RO) returns—RS data
Lyons Review
Dr. Cable: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many people in his Department were relocated in 2004–05 as a result of the Lyons review of public sector relocation, broken down by locations to which they have been relocated; how many are expected to be relocated in 2005–06; and if he will make a statement. [23690]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 1 November 2005]: 103 posts were relocated from September 2003 to April 2005, of which 91 were to locations outside of London and the south-east, excluding Hastings. Relocation of up to 138 posts is taking place during 2005–06.
Pathfinder Areas
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 17 October 2005, Official Report, column 814W, on pathfinder areas, if he will break down the estimated number of homes to be demolished by pathfinder area. [22471]
Yvette Cooper:
Pathfinders have drawn up their own plans on the level and tenure of demolition required. Not all of the pathfinders have included information on tenure in their submissions to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. For those who have, the information is recorded in the following table for 2005–06.
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n/a=Not available.
Planning
Steve Webb: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister in what circumstances a local councillor living in the ward that he represents may make representations to his local authority about a planning application relating to that ward; and by what means such a councillor may represent his community's interests where he himself is directly affected also by the application. [25536]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 7 November 2005]: Irefer the hon. Member to the Adjournment debate: Roll of Local Councillors in the Planning System thattook place on 8 November 2005, Official Report, columns 65–72WH.
Standards Board for England
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to abolish the Standards Board for England; and if he will make a statement. [23763]
Mr. Woolas: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no plans to abolish the Standards Board for England.
Terrorism
Mrs. Lait:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Multi Agency Initial Assessment team pilot following its
10 Nov 2005 : Column 664W
response to the bombing on 7 July; and what plans he has to allocate funding for its (a) continuation and (b) development. [26025]
Hazel Blears: Ministers are currently considering the results of the Multi Agency Initial Assessment team trial and I will write to you shortly.
HEALTH
Avian Influenza
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of (a) the impact of an influenza pandemic on bed occupancy rates and (b) the adequacy of the current supply of intensive care beds in the event of an influenza pandemic. [19686]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We recognise that a major influenza pandemic, or indeed any major biological or infectious illness whether caused by nature or terrorist activity, would place a serious burden on critical care facilities.
All trusts have escalation plans for increasing short-term capacity to meet incidents, whether natural or terrorist, and we are constantly reviewing these plans. We are working closely with the Intensive Care Society and other professional organisations on ensuring that these plans are robust and appropriate for possible contingencies including an influenza pandemic.
Bed Numbers
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the likely effects of the change in bed numbers planned in West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust Investing in Your Health Plan on the standard of healthcare for the people of Hemel Hempstead; and if she will make a statement. [24721]
Ms Rosie Winterton: No assessment has been made of any likely effects of the change in bed numbers planned in West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust's Investing in Your Health" plan. The Department's capacity planning focuses on activity rather than bed numbers. It is for the national health service locally to ensure there is suitable provision of beds in order to deliver this.
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