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Administrative Costs

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the administrative costs were of each agency for which he has responsibility in the last year for which figures are available; what the total of such costs was in that year; and whether the costs are regarded for the purposes of public expenditure statistical analyses as (a) identifiable and (b) non-identifiable. [39854]

Alan Johnson: Administrative costs (net) for the Department's Agencies for 2004–05 are:

	£000s
Small Business Service (SBS)	18,036
Employment Tribunals Service (ETS)	27,593
Insolvency Service (INSS)	71
National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML)	(108)

The figures for SBS and ETS are taken from their annual reports and resource accounts (HC 371 and HC 180 respectively). The figures for INSS and NWML are taken from the provisional departmental administration costs outturns disclosed in the most recent Public Expenditure" White Paper (CMD 6639) as their net administration costs are not readily identifiable from their resource accounts.

For the purposes of the country and regional analysis exercise, from which data is disclosed in chapter 8 of the annual public expenditure statistical analyses, the costs
 
2 Feb 2006 : Column 646W
 
of the Employment Tribunals Service are regarded as identifiable, those of the Insolvency Service and National Weights and Measures Laboratory as non-identifiable.

Christmas Cards

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will estimate the cost to his Department of sending Christmas cards in 2005. [45919]

Alan Johnson: In 2005, my Department ran an internal competition for children of DTI employees to design the official corporate Christmas card. This resulted in only minimal costs for artwork to clean up and scan the winning design.

Total costs for printing 4,500 cards was therefore £1,575.

Specific costs for postage are not accessible (these cards are posted along with regular DTI mail). However, based on second class postage and the amount of cards printed:

21p per letter x 4,500 cards printed: £945

Overall costs are therefore estimated at £2,520.

All expenditure incurred was made in accordance with departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, as set out in Government Accounting.

Consultants/Specialists

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the Department spent on (a) marketing consultants and (b) employment and recruitment specialists in each year since 1997. [41909]

Alan Johnson: The information on these categories of expenditure for 2003–04 (actual), 2004–05 (actual) and 2005–06 (spend to date), is as follows.

	£
Marketing consultants
2003–04	14,742,791
2004–05	12,311,497
2005–06	7,792,880
Employment/recruitment consultants
2003–04	1,087,321
2004–05	1,239,444
2005–06	432,935

Information for years pre 2003–04 is not readily available on a centralised basis and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Correspondence

Clare Short: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood, of 26 October 2005 on behalf of Lesley Clarke. [38119]

Alan Johnson: I apologise to my right hon. Friend for the delay in responding. The issues raised cover the responsibilities of two other departments and officials are collating a response with contributions from those departments. I hope to respond in the near future.
 
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Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State will respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire of 9 November 2005. [41976]

Alan Johnson [holding answer 16 January 2006]: The letter from the hon. Member has been delayed by an administrative error, for which I apologise. A response will be sent shortly.

Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will answer the letter to him dated 13 December 2005 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mrs J. Lyth. [45407]

Alan Johnson: I apologise for the delay in responding to this letter. I intend to reply in the next few days.

Departmental Conferences

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) guidelines and (b) criteria are used in his Department for the production and purchase of branded materials for distribution at conferences held in the Department. [45663]

Alan Johnson: My Department produces publicity materials in accordance with its branding rules. These set out how DTI's communications should appear visually.

The production and purchase of branded materials are usually considered on a case-by-case basis—depending on the purpose and objectives of a conference. It should be noted that DTI complies with conventions on government communications, which include ensuring that they are conducted in an economic and appropriate way and that the costs are justifiable as expenditure of public funds.

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make it his policy to collect figures for the cost of branded goods commissioned for use by his Department; and if he will record these costs in his Department's annual accounts. [45664]

Alan Johnson: Within the DTI, financial expenditure is the devolved responsibility of individual directorates. Our policies surrounding the recording of expenditure and publishing in our annual reports conforms to Government accounting requirements.

I have not made it policy to collect figures on items as specific as branded goods as these are generally an ad-hoc expense that is incurred for activities such as large exhibitions/conferences, not for standard DTI business. It should be noted that the DTI complies with conventions on Government communications which include ensuring that they are conducted in an economic and appropriate way and that the costs are justifiable as expenditure of public funds.
 
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Departmental Staff

Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps are taken by his Department to support staff with mental ill-health. [36268]

Alan Johnson: The DTI provides medical and other advice, through their Occupational Health Service and through disability management advisers and specialist assessors where appropriate, to identify the appropriate support for employees with medical conditions, including mental ill-health.

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many disciplinary actions against civil servants employed in his Department (a) were commenced and (b) resulted in a sanction being applied in each of the last five years. [43487]

Alan Johnson: The information is as follows:

	Disciplinary actions commenced	Formal sanctions applied
2001	20	20
2002	19	16
2003	61	53
2004	81	70
2005	93	76

The Department has procedures in place to deal with misconduct and poor behaviour. These are developed in consultation with the trade unions and are available to all staff, either on the Department's intranet or in hard copy.

Energy Supplies

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions he has met officials of the National Union of Mineworkers and British local producers to discuss the future of energy supplies in the UK in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [47008]

Malcolm Wicks: Since becoming Minister for Energy I have once met officials of the National Union of Mineworkers. I have had three other meetings with UK coal producers and other mining union representatives.

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