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27 Feb 2006 : Column 207W—continued
Departmental Staffing
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people were employed by (a) the Royal Parks Agency and (b) the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in each of the last 12
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months for which data is available; and how many and what percentage of posts were vacant in each month. [51164]
Mr. Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to table A of the annual publication Civil Service Statistics" which provides staff numbers in my Department and its agency. Civil service statistics are available in the House Library and at the following address on the Cabinet Office statistics website: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/index.asp.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Royal Parks Agency hold no data on vacant posts; each business unit has freedom at any time to create or cut individual jobs to meet its needs provided it does not exceed its headcount or budget allocation.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether any (a) employee of her Department, (b) person engaged by her Department as a consultant and (c) paid adviser to her Department is a member of the House of Lords; and if she will make a statement. [52904]
James Purnell: No Member of the House of Lords is currently employed, engaged as a consultant or paid as an advisor by this Department.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many full-time staff are employed (a) by her Department and (b) by each of its executive agencies. [52371]
Mr. Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to table A of the annual publication Civil Service Statistics" which provides staff numbers in my department and its agency. Civil service statistics are available in the House Library and at the following address on the Cabinet Office Statistics website:
Departmental Website
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what was the cost of (a) creating the Department's website and (b) maintaining it in each of the last five years. [52450]
Mr. Lammy: The information requested is as follows:
(a) The main DCMS website, www.culture.gov.uk, was redeveloped in 2000 at a cost of £81,134.
(b) Maintenance costs for the last five years are as follows:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 5,000 |
| 2002 | 5,000 |
| 2003 | (66)20,000 |
| 2004 | 20,000 |
| 2005 | (67)47,000 |
(66) includes hosting for 5 websites
(67) includes hosting for 17 websites
The rise in maintenance costs from 2003 and 2005 are due to the increase in the number of websites my department manages. In 2005 my department spent a
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further £22,000 developing the accessibility of the main website for people with disabilities and creating online forms.
Efficiency Gains
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the efficiency gains intended to be achieved through working with (a) her Department's sponsored bodies, (b) local authorities, (c) the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and (d) the Improvement and Development Agency; what baseline figures she is using for assessing progress on achieving these gains; what progress has been made towards these gains to date; and what the total efficiency savings achieved from these gains are to date. [52919]
Mr. Caborn: The following table lists the Department's efficiency gains that are intended to be achieved through its sponsored bodies and local authorities, and gains made to date. The sponsored bodies report on progress towards efficiency gains against a baseline of £1.49 billion. Local authorities are expected to calculate their baselines in accordance with Annex 2 of the Local Government Efficiency Technical Note produced by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. It is for local authorities to decide how they make their efficiency savings and what proportion of savings is made in the culture and leisure sectors.
| Targets | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sector | Actual gains (at 30 September 2005)(68) | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 |
| NDPBs | 34.2 | 36 | 76 | 113 |
| Local authorities | 28.5 | 49 | 98 | 146 |
(68) Data on actual gains is interim until the Department receives the 2005–06 end-of-year data reports from NDPBs and the Backward Look Annual Efficiency Statements from local authorities.
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what baseline figures she is using for assessing progress on her Department's targets to (a) cut her Department's administration costs, (b) rationalise back office functions, (c) rationalise accommodation of sponsored bodies, (d) share specialist services and (e) facilitate annual efficiency gains within local government expenditure on culture and leisure services; what progress has been made towards these targets to date; and what the total efficiency savings achieved to date are for these targets. [52926]
Mr. Caborn: The Department's target for 2005–06 is to retain administrative spending at the level of 2004–05, with spending being reduced in subsequent years by £1 million in 2006–07, and £2 million in 2007–08. The Department is on track to meet its target for the year. The Department has not been set separate targets for back office savings, and baseline data is therefore not available.
NDPBs and local authorities have been given discretion as to how they meet their efficiency targets. Information is therefore not collected in accordance with the categories outlined in the question. NDPBs have all submitted efficiency delivery plans to the Department, which have been scrutinised to ensure that only genuine efficiencies have been included. Local authorities submit Annual Efficiency Statements that set out how they propose to make their efficiency gains.
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Interim data returns suggest that as at 30 September 2005, NDPBs and local authorities had achieved efficiency gains of £62.7 million, against a target for 2005–06 of £87 million.
Freeview
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what areas of Northern Ireland are unable to receive Freeview. [52513]
James Purnell [holding answer 16 February 2006]: Digital Terrestrial Television is currently available to households in Northern Ireland receiving their TV signals from the main transmitters Divis, Limavady and Brougher Mountain. Digital Switchover will enable digital terrestrial coverage to match the current analogue level.
Gershon Targets
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress her Department has made in meeting its efficiency targets set out in the Gershon Review. [52379]
Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is on track to meet its efficiency targets. Latest interim data returns indicate that the Department had delivered £62.7 million of efficiency gains by 30 September 2005. The Department has reduced its headcount by 10 posts in relation to the work it undertook at April 2004 but this has been offset by increased posts needed to cope with additional work associated with the 2012 Olympic Games. A change in the headcount target to reflect the increased workload has yet to be finalised.
Historical Wrecks
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the names are of those on her working groups for the Designation of Historical Wrecks and the Salvage of Wrecks; and which organisation each Member represents. [53027]
Mr. Lammy: The information requested is as follows:
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Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list those who have made representations about the project to retrieve gold and silver from the wreck of HMS Sussex. [53455]
Mr. Lammy: Representations have been made about the project to retrieve gold and silver from the wreck of HMS Sussex from the following organisations and individuals:
Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport under which Council of Europe convention it is forbidden to undertake investigations to recover cultural property for commercial sale. [53456]
James Purnell: There is no Council of Europe convention which states that it is forbidden to undertake investigations to recover cultural property for commercial sale.
Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the bilateral agreements she (a) has signed and (b) is negotiating to protect historic wrecks. [53459]
Mr. Lammy: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not signed and is not negotiating at present any bilateral agreements to protect historic wrecks. Other departments, that lead on the Titanic and the Sussex for example, have signed bilateral and multilateral agreements.
Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what factors the Government took into account in making the decision that (a) protection of the wreck of the Rooswijk on the Goodwin Sands and (b) archaeological vetting of the recovery procedures of silver ingots now in the possession of the Dutch Finance Ministry were unnecessary. [53722]
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Mr. Lammy: The information is as follows:
(a) The Government have not made a decision that the protection of the wreck of the Rooswijk is unnecessary. English Heritage is currently assessing the evidence and will then pass their analysis on to the Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites for their consideration.
(b) The Government did not take a decision that archaeological vetting of the recovery procedures of silver ingots was unneccessary. The silver ingots from the Rooswijk remain in the UK. The ingots are the property of the Dutch Government as the heirs of the Dutch East India Company. The ingots would require an export licence to leave the UK. No such application has been received. Procedures to recover the silver ingots have been undertaken under the terms of a private commercial contract and have been declared in accordance with UK legislation.
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