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24 Jan 2006 : Column 1994W—continued

Road Traffic Accidents

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department collects information on the number of fatalities in road traffic accidents partially or wholly caused by (a) domestic animals, (b) farm animals and (c) pheasants reared for shooting. [44202]

Dr. Ladyman: The Department does not collect information on personal injury road accidents caused by animals. However we do collect information on animals identified as carriageway hazards in accidents, specifically categories of dog on road" and other animal on road".

The following table shows the number of fatalities in personal injury road accidents where a dog or other animal has been identified as a carriageway hazard for 2004.
 
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Fatalities

	Number
Dog on road	1
Other animal on road	52

Transport Projects (Coventry)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what funding his Department has provided for transport projects in Coventry South since 1997. [44553]

Ms Buck: Since the introduction of Local Transport Plans in 2000, the local authorities in the West Midlands Local Transport Plan Area have received around £402.5 million in funding for local transport projects and maintenance schemes. In addition, the authorities received approximately £92.5 million in funding for major local transport schemes including £28 million of funding allocated in December 2004 for the Coventry Quality Bus Network.

Between 1997 and 2000 the local authorities in the former West Midlands county received approximately £175.5 million in funding for local transport capital investment. The Department for Transport does not have the data to identify a figure separately for local transport investment in Coventry south.

The Coventry South constituency has also benefited from the £7 billion investment in the west coast railway line. An additional £4.2 million has also been spent on railway related park and ride schemes.

MINISTER FOR WOMEN

Women's Pensions

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what plans the Government are considering to tackle women's pension inequality. [44724]

Meg Munn [holding answer 23 January 2006]: Women's pension provision is steadily improving over time. Through various measures introduced since 1997, we have already lifted 1.9 million pensioners out of absolute low income—1.3 million of whom are women. The introduction of Home Responsibilities Protection in 1978 together with women's increased labour market participation mean that women are building up better basic state pension records. Future women pensioners will also benefit from the introduction of State Second Pension with six million more building up additional state pension than did under SERPS.

Government recognises that there is still more to be done to address this problem, and that's why the Department for Work and Pensions published a report entitled 'Women and pensions: The evidence' in November 2005, which will inform the next phase of the National Pensions Debate.

We are currently analysing the findings of the Pensions Commission's final report published on 30 November 2005, and we will consider the recommendations and options made by the Commission with a view to
 
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publishing a White Paper in the spring. Our proposals for reform will be guided by the principle that the pension system should deliver fair outcomes for women.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Administrative Costs

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which functions of his core Department are carried out in (a) England and (b) London; and what administrative costs were associated with these functions for each area in the last year. [39815]

Alan Johnson: Functions carried out on official premises on behalf of the DTI in (a) England by the core Department include the following work undertaken by: Finance and Resource Management; Finance processing services", Corporate Law and Governance Directorate; Companies Investigation Branch", Legal D Enforcement Unit, Industry Economics and Statistics Directorate and the work of the Regional Policy, Partnership, Transport and Planning Directorate.

Functions carried out on official premises on behalf of the DTI in (b) London by the core Department include the work undertaken by; Business and Innovation Groups, British National Space Centre, Business Relations and Support, Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate, Corporate Law and Governance, Energy; Industries and Technologies, Markets, Strategy, Resources and Development Units", Employee Relations Directorate, Europe and World Trade Directorate, Finance and Resource Management, Human Resources and Change Management, Internal Audit, Industry Economics and Statistics Directorate, Innovation; Economics Statistics and Evaluation, Technological Innovation", Information and Workplace Services Directorate, The Legal Group; Business and Consumers, Employment Discrimination Equality Intellectual Property, Energy, Companies and Insolvency and Enforcement", The Ministerial and Parliamentary Support Team, Office for Civil Nuclear Security, Operations Directorate, Office of Science and Technology; Science and Engineering Base and Transdepartmental Science", The Regions Directorate, Strategy Communications Unit, Strategic Policy Analysis, Women and Equality Group, Womens National Commission and Export Control and Non-Proliferation Directorate.

Additionally functions are carried out by UK Trade and Investment, an organisation which brings together the work of the DTI and the FCO in support of British trade and investment overseas, and in encouraging Inward Investment.

Further detail pertaining to more in depth specification of the actual type of work carried out by the Units indicated above and associated Information on the administration costs of work undertaken is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which functions of his core Department are carried out in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) Wales; and what administration costs were associated with these functions for each area in the last year. [39943]

 
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Alan Johnson: There are no functions carried out on official premises on behalf of the DTI in (a) Northern Ireland by the core Department.

Functions carried out on official premises on behalf of the DTI in (b) Wales by the core Department include some but not all of the functions undertaken by: Human Resources and Change Management Directorate and Legal D Enforcement Unit.

Further detail pertaining to more in depth specification of the actual type of work carried out by the units indicated above and associated information on the administration costs of work undertaken is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what functions in his Department are carried out in Scotland; and what the administrative costs of these functions were in the last year for which figures are available. [40011]

Alan Johnson: Functions carried out on official premises on behalf of the DTI in Scotland include some but not all of those functions undertaken by the Energy Resources and Development Unit.

Functions carried out by Executive Agencies and Arms Length Bodies in Scotland include some but not all of those functions undertaken by: Employment Tribunals Service, Insolvency Service and Companies House.

Further detail pertaining to more in depth specification of the actual type of work carried out by the units, Executive Agencies and Arms Length Bodies indicated above and associated information on the administration costs of work undertaken is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Career Development (Women)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps his Department is taking to encourage companies to develop the careers of their female staff. [43389]

Meg Munn [holding answer 23 January 2006]: DTI has been actively promoting best practice for many years, through case studies, reports and industry events. For example, I will be speaking at Women in IT Forum" meeting on 8 February, which will examine both the benefits to managers and to their businesses in having a better gender-balanced workforce.

Additionally DTI has various publications such as Advancing Women in the Workplace—Good Practice Guide" and Building Better Boards"—designed to support managers in implementing effective strategies for reducing barriers to women's advancement and to combat stereotyping in the workplace.

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with business organisations on encouraging schoolgirls to consider careers in sectors which have been seen as traditionally male. [43390]

 
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Meg Munn [holding answer 23 January 2006]: The concentration of women in particular job sectors is one of the main causes of the gender pay gap, and we recognise the importance of working with business organisations to address this issue.

Government are working with key partners on various initiatives to encourage schoolgirls to consider careers in sectors that are traditionally seen as male. The Manufacturing Forum is just one of the initiatives the Government are involved in. This is a partnership between Government, industry and stakeholders. The Forum highlighted the Image of Manufacturing as a priority area for action and set up a Image Subgroup which brought together key organisations already active in promoting science, engineering and technology to girls and women, in order to focus on how they can work together to improve the perception of manufacturing among girls and women to improve gender equality in occupations where women are currently under-represented.

Computer Club for Girls (CC4G) is another successful initiative aimed at getting more young girls involved in IT. DTI, DfES and South East England Development Agency supported e-Skills UK with the original pilot projects. The DfES funded national roll-out of this programme was launched in June 2005. Initial research on the benefits of CC4G has indicated that 66 per cent. of the participants are now considering future IT careers.

We acknowledge that there is still more work to do, and I look forward to the Women and Work Commission's findings and recommendations in their final report in the coming weeks, as they have looked at the occupational segregation as part of the gender pay gap.

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