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22 Nov 2005 : Column 1837W—continued
Departmental Finance
Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the latest estimate is of underspend by her Department (a) in cash terms and (b) as a percentage of departmental budget for financial year 2004–05. [18307]
Jim Knight: For details of the Department's underspend in the 2004–05 fiscal year, I refer the hon. Member to the information contained in the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper (PEOWP) 2004–05 (Cm 6639). Table 1 of PEOWP 2004–05 gives provisional outturn against Final Resource DEL and Table 1A gives Provisional outturn against Final Capital DEL. A percentage figure can be calculated from the tables.
Departmental Staff
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the 10 highest-paid employees in her Department, broken down by (a) job title and (b) salary including bonuses; and whether the individual concerned is (i) a civil servant and (ii) a contractor in each case. [27434]
Jim Knight: The posts held by the 10 highest paid employees in Defra as at 1 November 2005 were (in alphabetical order):
One is an inward secondment to Defra and the remainder are direct employees. Their salaries are in the range £113,000 to £152,000 including bonus awards.
The salaries of Chief Executives of Defra's executive agencies are in their individual annual reports, placed before Parliament.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff in her Department were (a) civil servants, (b) contractors and (c) other staff each year since 1997. [27454]
Jim Knight: Defra was created in June 2001 and this answer relates to the period since then.
(a) Information on the number of civil servants in Defra is contained in Civil Service Statistics 2004 which is available in the Library and on the Cabinet Office Statistics website at: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management_of_the_civil_service/statistics/civil_service_statistics/index.asp.
Table C of Civil Service Statistics 2004 shows permanent staff numbers between 1998 and 2004. Table A in each year's publication shows the number of both permanent and casual staff for that year.
(b) and (c) Records of the number of contractors and other non-civil servants employed in the Department are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
22 Nov 2005 : Column 1839W
Departmental Transport
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what percentage of journeys have been made using public transport in her Department in each year since 2001. [27562]
Jim Knight: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 7 November 2005, Official Report, column 23W.
Departmental Vehicles
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 7 November 2005, Official Report, column 22W, on departmental vehicles, how many vehicles used by her Department use hybrid environmentally friendly technologies. [27561]
Jim Knight: The Defra and Executive Agencies fleet has eight vehicles powered by hybrid environmentally friendly technologies. In addition, the London-based taxi contract, Green Cars, uses only cars that are powered by LPG, or hybrid technologies.
It is not possible to provide information on the number of private cars used for official business that use hybrid environmentally friendly technologies. The Government Car Despatch Agency provides five cars that use hybrid environmentally friendly technologies for ministerial use. These are not part of the Defra fleet.
Direct Mail
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many contracts for direct mail were signed by her Department in (a) 2005–06 to date and (b) 2004–05; and what the value was in each case. [27896]
Jim Knight: In the financial year 2004–05, two contracts for direct mail were let, and the financial values of each contract were £111,000 and £163,000 respectively. No contracts for direct mail have been let in 2005–06 to date.
Energy Efficiency
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what data her Department has collected since 2003 on the percentage of recipients of Warm Front who are fuel poor. [29013]
Mr. Morley: We do not collect specific data on the fuel poverty status of Warm Front recipients. The eligibility criteria for Warm Front are specifically designed to use receipt of one of a number of qualifying benefits as an indication that a particular householder may be vulnerable and so at risk of fuel poverty.
Households not in receipt of a qualifying benefit at the time of application are offered a benefit entitlement check, which is designed to provide both the potential of increasing household income and to establish eligibility of households to benefit from measures under Warm Front.
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Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the future funding requirements of (a) Warm Front and (b) other programmes to combat fuel poverty; and if she will make a statement. [29014]
Mr. Morley: In the last Spending Review we announced an additional £140 million to tackle fuel poverty, taking our total fuel poverty funding to £251 million by 2007–08.
We are currently working with colleagues across Government to review the level of resources and associated activity required to meet our 2010 target of eradicating fuel poverty, as far as reasonably practicable, in vulnerable households in England. This work is being carried out taking into account current projections on fuel prices and household incomes to 2010.
The Decent Homes Standard and the Energy Efficiency Commitment will continue to make a contribution toward the achievement of our target.
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many central heating systems have been fitted for people aged over 65 years under the Warm Front Scheme in each year since the scheme started; and what percentage this represents of the total systems fitted. [29016]
Mr. Morley: Between the launch of the Warm Front Scheme in June 2000 and the end of March 2005, central heating systems were only available to those aged 60 or over. During this period the following number of new gas central heating systems were installed:
| Number installed | |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 5,118 |
| 2001–02 | 26,915 |
| 2002–03 | 14,492 |
| 2003–04 | 9,546 |
| 2004–05 | 8,643 |
Of these systems, the following number were installed for applicants over the age of 65:
| Number installed | Percentage of total installed | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 4,148 | 81 |
| 2001–02 | 18,369 | 68 |
| 2002–03 | 11,445 | 78 |
| 2003–04 | 7,828 | 82 |
| 2004–05 | 7,393 | 86 |
Environmental Health Officers
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to encourage local authorities to recruit more environmental health officers. [28236]
Mr. Woolas:
I have been asked to reply.
22 Nov 2005 : Column 1841W
It is the responsibility of individual authorities to address recruitment and retention issues within the workforce.
The Local Government Association and the Employers Organisation for Local Government have identified shortage of environmental health officers within the sector. They are working with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (OPDM) to raise the profile of the profession.
The ODPM Capacity Building Funding provided £780,000 in the year 2004–05 to promote the provision of practical training placements of Environmental Health Officers and Trading Standards Officers within local authorities in England.
A further £760,000 of ODPM Capacity Building Funding has been allocated for 2005–06 to promote further practical training placements and work experience opportunities within local authorities in England.
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