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10 May 2006 : Column 366W—continued
Departmental Energy Costs
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much was spent by her Department on (a) gas and (b) electricity in 2004-05. [51782]
Bridget Prentice: The amount spent in 2004-05 by my Department was £2,027,000.00 for natural gas and £3,978,485.00 for electricity.
Electoral Register (Christchurch/East Dorset)
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (1) for what reasons the (a) Christchurch and (b) East Dorset constituency was omitted from the answer given on30 November 2005, Official Report, column 642W; [64464]
(2) whether part of the marked electoral register for (a) Christchurch and (b) East Dorset constituency is missing. [64458]
Bridget Prentice: The contractors for the 2005 General Election electoral documents storage, and administration of the marked registers viewing and copying service, have informed officials from my Department that they have no record of receiving any reports suggesting that Christchurch constituency had pages missing from its marked register.
There is no constituency of East Dorset. The Dorset constituencies are as follows:
Mid Dorset and Poole North
North Dorset
South Dorset
West Dorset
Of these constituencies, North Dorset has been identified as having pages missing from its 2005 marked electoral register, and this was included in the answer given on 30 November.
Legal Advice
Mr. Love: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what work is being undertaken within Government to co-ordinate the provision of legal advice services; and if she will make a statement. [68413]
Vera Baird: On 23 March 2006 the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) published “Getting earlier, better advice to vulnerable people” (www.dca.gov.uk/laid/betteradvice.pdf). This report notes that different areas of Government must work together more effectively to commission advice that fits people's needs and recommends that the DCA and Legal Services Commission (LSC) work with other Government Departments to ensure that people can easily access appropriate advice across the full range of problems that they face. In particular, the report recommends improving co-ordination between the LSC's CLS Direct service and other Government funded helplines. The report also links to the LSC's Community Legal Service Strategy which sets out how the LSC will work in partnership with local authorities to deliver legal advice services.
Legal Aid
Julie Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment she has made of whether people who are financially eligible for legal aid prefer receiving specialist advice via (a) a telephone helpline and (b) a local provider. [68376]
Vera Baird: Information is not held centrally on the preferred method of access to specialist advice for members of the public who are financially eligible for Legal Aid.
Responses made in March 2006 to a Community Legal Service Direct client satisfaction questionnaire indicated that 93 per cent. of telephone advice clients were either very satisfied or quite satisfied with the service they received.
Parliamentary Boundaries
Mr. Laws: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs when the proposals of the latest review of parliamentary boundaries will be implemented; when the next review will (a) commence and (b) conclude; and if she will make a statement. [68494]
Bridget Prentice: The Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England is an independent body which
is required, by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, to keep English parliamentary boundaries under constant review and conduct a general review every 8-12 years. It is expected that its present report will be submitted to the government by the end of this year. It will then be laid before Parliament by the Government
“as soon as may be”.
The next report will then be submitted, under the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, no less than eight years and no more than 12 years from the date the current report is received by the Government.
Specialist Support Service
Julie Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many calls to the Specialist Support Service telephone advice line have been made by Welsh residents since its inception, broken down by unitary authority. [68380]
Vera Baird: The Specialist Support Service is a telephone advice line available to lawyers and advice providers working on complex legal cases. It is not available to the public in England or Wales.
Wales
Julie Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what discussions she had with the Welsh Assembly Government before the announcement of (a) the withdrawal of funding for the Wales Specialist Support Service and (b) the announcement that the Legal Services Commission's Wales office would be reduced over the next five years. [68374]
Vera Baird: The provision of funding for legal advice services in Wales is the responsibility of the Legal Services Commission (LSC). Senior officials in the LSC regularly meet with representatives from the Welsh Assembly Government to discuss key issues, including the future of the Specialist Support Service and the organisational review of the Commission.
Julie Morgan: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what discussions she has had with the Welsh Assembly Government on the transfer of responsibility for planning future legal advice services in Wales. [68375]
Vera Baird: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is responsible for provision of publicly funded legal advice services in England and Wales. The LSC is working closely with the Welsh Assembly Government to develop the future accountability and structure of legal services within Wales.
Communities and Local Government
Brownfield Development
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he plans to restate the guidance regarding brownfield land contained in the current planning policy guidance note 3 when it is re-issued as planning policy statement 3; and if he will make a statement. [68146]
Yvette Cooper: We will be considering responses received on brownfield land arising from the consultation exercise which closed in February, in finalising planning policy statement 3—Housing—later this year.
Building Regulations
Colin Challen: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many local authorities employ inspectors who are qualified to certify installations under Part P of the building regulations. [68589]
Angela E. Smith: The Department does not keep statistics on local authority building control staff who work on Part P or more generally.
Business Rates
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many non-domestic properties classed as (a) hotels, (b) hostels and (c) bed and breakfast were on the Ratings List and liable for business rates in England in the most recent period for which figures are available. [66490]
Mr. Woolas: The number of properties classed as (a) hotels, (b) hostels and (c) bed and breakfast in the 2005 Rating List for England, at 31 January 2006, is shown in the following table. The number for properties in (c) are those described in the Rating List as guest and boarding houses. Liability is a matter for the billing authorities.
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Community Infrastructure
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much of the community infrastructure fund has been allocated; and how much remains to be allocated. [68775]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 8 May 2006]: In total £193 million of the £200 million community infrastructure fund has been allocated by Government to support transport infrastructure schemes in the four growth areas. The remaining £7 million is to be used as a contingency reserve to address any emerging issues that may arise over this two-year programme.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will announce further allocations from the community infrastructure fund. [68776]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 8 May 2006]: An announcement was made on 11 April 2006 of the final tranche of schemes approved under the community infrastructure fund. A copy of the press notice that accompanied this final announcement can be found on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister website at http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1002882&Press NoticeID=2142
In addition the Government provide infrastructure funding in growth areas through the growth area fund.
Departmental Expenditure
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2006 to the hon. Member for Angus, Official Report, column 914W, on departmental expenditure, if he will list each external consultancy employed by his Department in each year from 2002-03 to 2005-06; and what the purpose of the consultancy contract was in each case. [60184]
Angela E. Smith: A list of the top external consultancies by value employed the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in each year since 2002-03 is provided in the following table.
In addition the Office has engaged a further 100 consultancy firms to provide support to the working of the office. The full list could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Office in response to the need to develop sustainable homes and communities consultants has been engaged to support the development of system processes. The skills required for these programmes were not available from civil servants. In addition consultants have been engaged by ODPM to support the delivery of projects to enhance the ability of the Fire and Rescue Service to respond to major incidents. The work undertaken by consultants includes radio engineering expertise for the new radio systems for the Fire and Rescue Service; also, logistical support and design for responding to a chemical, biological, radioactive or nuclear incident and search and rescue incidents. Some 60 per cent. of expenditure has been in support of these projects.
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