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Service Accommodation

Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many of his Department's service accommodation properties were (a) grade 1 standard, (b) grade 2 standard, (c) grade 3 standard and (d) grade 4 standard in (i) Cyprus and (ii) Gibraltar (A) on the last date for which figures are available and (B) in 1997. [48778]

Mr. Touhig: The number and standards for condition of service families accommodation (SFA) and single living accommodation (SLA) in Cyprus and Gibraltar as at April 2005 are given in the following table. We do not hold comparative data for 1997.

Grade	SLA	SFA
Cyprus
1	60	246
2	1,093	343
3	1,659	709
4	434	914
Total	3,246	2,212
Gibraltar
1	6	349
2	6	121
3	0	35
4	546	7
Total	558	512

Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many homes are provided by his Department to (a) former and (b) current members of the armed forces and their families; and if he will make a statement; [49143]

(2) what percentage of the total stock of housing provided by his Department is allocated to (a) former and (b) current members of the armed forces and their families; and if he will make a statement. [49144]

Mr. Touhig: This information is not held centrally in the form requested. I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Sudan

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with NATO counterparts on the possibility of supplying armed forces for peacekeeping in Sudan. [49454]

Mr. Ingram: There has been no discussion on the provision of NATO forces for peacekeeping in Sudan. NATO continues to support the African Union's Mission in Sudan through the provision of airlift, training and capacity building.
 
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SCOTLAND

Citizens Juries

Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions his Department consulted citizens' juries on departmental policies in the last five years; in how many of those consultations the recommendations of the citizens' jury differed from existing departmental policy; and on how many occasions departmental policy was changed to reflect the recommendations of the citizens' jury. [46229]

David Cairns: The Scotland Office has not consulted citizens' juries in the last five years.

Press Coverage

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland on how many occasions since 1 April 2003 he has complained to the Press Complaints Commission about the coverage in the press of (a) Ministers or officials and (b) his Department; and how many of these complaints were upheld. [47088]

David Cairns: No complaints have been made to the Press Complaints Commission.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Burdens Doctrine

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether his Department's New Burdens Doctrine applies to new obligations imposed on local authorities by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and if he will make a statement. [49778]

Mr. Woolas: The New Burdens Doctrine applies to all Government Departments. It requires them to fund the net additional costs of any policy or initiative which increases the cost of providing local authority services.

Casino Operators

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many meetings he has had with casino operators since May 1997; and (a) where and (b) when each such meeting took place. [49688]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) was created following Machinery of Government changes on 29 May 2002 and no records are held from before this time.

On 28 November 2004, while my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister was in Sydney on official business, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister visited Sydney's Star City Casino, to get a feel for what an establishment of that size was like. My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister was shown around by a government relations officer at the casino.
 
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Community Contact Centres

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what criteria are used in assessing the eligibility for funding of community contact centres through the investing in communities programme in the eastern region; and if he will make a statement. [49274]

Alun Michael: I have been asked to reply.

Investing in communities is an innovative 10 year programme introduced by the East of England Development Agency which seeks to ensure that the region's most deprived communities can achieve their full potential. The aim is to identify the needs of local communities and, identify long term strategic solutions to address them. It will be for local partnerships to identify whether community contact centres have a role to play in developing long term strategic solutions to tackling the barriers which face disadvantaged communities in terms of accessing employment, skills, training and starting businesses.

Correspondence

Mr. Mullin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Minister for Communities and local government will reply to the letter of 9 December 2005 from the right hon. Member for Sunderland, South regarding single status. [48148]

Mr. Woolas: I replied to my hon. Friend on 6 February.

Departmental Groups

Pete Wishart: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the administration costs associated with his Department's (a) Ministerial Group, (b) Legal Directorate and (c) Tackling Disadvantage Group in the last year for which figures are available. [48853]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The following table sets out the net administration costs of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Ministerial Group, Legal Directorate and the Tackling Disadvantage Group in 2004–05. These figures exclude the relevant group's or directorate's share of corporate overheads (such as IT and accommodation costs) which are managed centrally.

	£ million
	2004–05
Ministerial Group	4.74
Legal Directorate	5.97
Tackling Disadvantage Group	14.12

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff work in his Department's Sustainable Communities Group; how many are based in (a) London and (b) each region; and what the total salary costs were of the group in each area in the last year for which figures are available. [48888]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has 498.95 staff on full-time equivalent (FTE) basis working in the Sustainable Communities Group,
 
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of these 477.65 (FTE) staff are based in London. The total salary costs for the 2005–06 financial year currently stands at £17.938 million.

The above figures are as at 2 February 2006.

The ODPM does not hold data regarding the regions; such a breakdown could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Weir: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the administration costs of his Department's Regional Development Group in the last year for which figures are available. [48893]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The net administration costs of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Regional Development Group (excluding the Government offices) in 2004–05 were £5.1 million. These figures exclude the group's share of corporate overheads (such as IT and accommodation costs) which are managed centrally.

Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the administration costs associated with his Department's Sustainable Communities Group in the last year for which figures are available. [48897]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The net administration costs of the Sustainable Communities Group in 2004–05 were £27.13 million. These figures exclude the group's share of corporate overheads (such as IT and accommodation costs) which are managed centrally.

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