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22 May 2006 : Column 1339W—continued
Review of Public Administration
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether local councils in Northern Ireland will be prevented from utilising cash reserves in the run-up to the implementation of the findings of the Review of Public Administration. [72624]
David Cairns: Councils may earmark reserves for specific statutory or policy purposes or for contingencies and it is for them to decide how they utilise these funds. Nevertheless, the Local Government Taskforce Finance Sub-Group is currently considering all aspects of local government finance and any recommendations made by this group will ultimately be a matter for Ministers.
Road Safety
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the Department of Environment will set out the new measures to be taken to reduce fatalities on the roads. [71886]
David Cairns: Several new measures are currently being progressed to reduce fatalities on the roads.
New primary road traffic legislation, on which the Department of the Environment (DOE) consulted from October 2005 to January 2006, will be introduced in due course.
The Department will be making an announcement later in the year on the compulsory wearing of seat belts/restraints on buses, coaches, cars and goods vehicles. A new TV publicity campaign to highlight the dangers of not wearing seat belts is planned for September.
The Department is currently preparing a new Highway Code which will be published in March 2007.
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will establish a Road Safety Authority in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement. [71887]
David Cairns: The Northern Ireland Road Safety Strategy 2002-2012 provides an integrated approach to the planning, co-ordination and delivery of Government's road safety activities and it requires the three main statutory bodies with responsibility for road safety in Northern Ireland (the Department of the Environment, the Department for Regional Development's Roads Service and the Police Service of Northern Ireland) to work together closely in partnership.
A Road Safety Steering Group, comprising senior management from each of the three partners, is responsible for coordinating delivery of the strategy and ensuring cohesive and complementary education, enforcement and engineering road safety activities.
These partnership arrangements are working well and are making a significant contribution to casualty reductions and there are no plans at this time to change this approach.
Small Change Big Difference
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps his Department and its agencies have taken following the launch of the Government's Small Change Big Difference campaign. [72011]
Paul Goggins: Discussions have been held between officials in the Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland and officials within the Department of Health in England, in relation to the extent to which social marketing campaigns being developed by the Department of Health, including the Small Change Big Difference campaign, could be applied to Northern Ireland.
A number of public information campaigns have been developed by the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland to promote healthier lifestyles, as part of Northern Ireland's public health strategy, Investing for Health. In March 2006, the Health Promotion Agency launched, “Every Step is a Forward Step”, to promote the health benefits of physical activity and to encourage members of the public to undertake regular, moderate physical activity.
Traffic Wardens
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many traffic wardens in Northern Ireland were assaulted in the course of their duties in each year between 2000 and 2005. [65313]
Mr. Woodward: To obtain this information would require a manual trawl of assault cases at disproportionate cost.
Waste Transfers
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his estimate is of the amount of waste from the Irish Republic being transferred to Northern Ireland in each of the last three years. [70440]
David Cairns: Waste can be transferred into Northern Ireland under the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations (1994).
Between March 2005 and February 2006, the total tonnage for waste movements from ROI to NI moved under the regulations and notified to the Department was 14,610 tonnes. However, a significant proportion did not remain in NI, but continued on to GB.
The total quantities of green listed waste (for example, for paper only) transported under these regulations are unknown, as the movement of such waste does not have to be notified.
The Department’s Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) has detected some examples of sham recovery, where companies claim to be recycling the waste they input, when in fact they send it to landfill. EHS is investigating these cases and its Environmental Crime Team will be increasingly focusing on this area.
Estimates suggest that up to 250,000 tonnes of household waste from the Republic of Ireland (ROI) were illegally deposited on land within Northern Ireland (NI) between October 2002 and the end of 2004.
To date, 57 illegal landfill sites have been discovered in NI containing ROI waste. It is not possible to determine how much waste was deposited in a given year as in many cases the waste is decayed to the point of being untraceable.
Electoral Commission Committee
Local Election Reports
Mr. Pickles: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission what the Electoral Commission's timetable is for publishing its reports on the local elections held on 4 May 2006. [70645]
Peter Viggers: There is no statutory requirement for the Electoral Commission to report on the administration of the recent local government elections other than in respect of its evaluations of the 15 different electoral pilot schemes that took place in 21 English local authority area elections on 4 May 2006. The Commission has informed me that those reports will be available by the statutory deadline of 4 August 2006.
The Commission informs me that it has also scheduled a series of review activities in relation to the conduct of the local government elections held in England on 4 May 2006, in exercise of its power under section 6 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 to keep matters relating to local government elections under review. It intends to publish its conclusions in the summer.
Press Releases
Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission (1) what steps the Speaker's Committee has taken to satisfy itself that the Electoral Commission's press release of 16 May 2006 on mock elections represents an efficient and effective use of its resources; [72429]
(2) what guidance the Commission has given to its press office on ensuring impartiality in its press releases; [72430]
(3) what discussions the Commission had with political parties prior to issuing its press release of 16 May 2006 on mock elections; [72431]
(4) what discussions the Commission had with political parties on the supporting materials and manifesto guides to the political parties produced for its mock election 2006 campaign prior to the distribution of these materials to schools. [72432]
Peter Viggers: The statutory duties of the Speaker’s Committee do not require it to satisfy itself that any specific action of the Electoral Commission represents an efficient and effective use of its resources. It is not therefore its practice to do so.
I have asked the Electoral Commission to write to my hon. Friend, and to place a copy of its letter in the Library of the House.
Voter Registration Campaigns
Mr. Pickles: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission how much the Electoral Commission spent in (a) 2005 and (b) 2006 on campaigns to increase voter registration, including grants to local authorities. [70644]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that it spent approximately £2.05 million in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2005 on campaigns to increase voter registration and, to date, in 2006 has spent approximately £1.88 million on campaigns in Great Britain. The Commission makes its campaign materials available to local authorities at no cost.
Written Answers to Questions
Monday 22 May 2006
Cabinet Office
Freedom of Information
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps her Department is taking to improve its response rate to Freedom of Information requests. [70004]
Hilary Armstrong: Valuable experience has been gained over the first year of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and overall the Cabinet Office is performing well and in line with other departments. It is, however, often necessary to extend the time for responding to a request where a qualified exemption applies to the information being sought and the public interest is engaged. The Cabinet Office is seeking to improve its performance wherever possible and this is reflected in the quarterly statistics published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs that show the ‘in time’ figure for the Cabinet Office rising from 80 per cent. in Q1 (January-March 2005) to 94 per cent. in Q4 (October-December 2005).
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many Freedom of Information requests her Department has received since 1 January 2006. [70005]
Hilary Armstrong: The number of Freedom of Information requests received by Cabinet Office between 1 January and 31 March 2006 will be published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs in its quarterly monitoring bulletin. For 2005, the Cabinet Office received a total of 1,337 requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many Freedom of Information requests her Department has not answered within the 20-day deadline since 1 January 2006. [70006]
Hilary Armstrong: The number of Freedom of Information requests answered within the 20-day deadline by the Cabinet Office between 1 January and 31 March 2006 will be published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs in its quarterly monitoring bulletin. Departments are allowed to extend the deadline to consider the public interest and it is appropriate that they take the time necessary to reach the correct decision: that is, to protect information that is legitimately exempt and to release information where the balance of public interest lies in its disclosure.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many representations she has received about her Department’s handling of Freedom of Information requests. [70007]
Hilary Armstrong: Complaints about the Cabinet Office’s handling of requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are dealt with under the Department’s internal review procedures. Details of internal reviews in 2005, where the requested information was initially withheld, will be published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs in its annual report, copies of which will be available in the Library.
Planning Applications
Mrs. Dean: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many planning applications have been submitted by the Duchy in each of the last fiveyears; how many planning applications are under consideration; and when each current application was submitted. [70666]
Hilary Armstrong: The Duchy of Lancaster currently has 10 planning applications awaiting decisions—three submitted in January, one in February, four in March, one in April and one in May 2006.
To provide full analysis of the applications submitted over the last five years would not be possible without incurring disproportionate cost.
Small Change Big Difference
Anne Milton: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps her Department has taken following the launch of the Government’s Small Change Big Difference Campaign. [71952]
Hilary Armstrong: The Cabinet Office have a number of initiatives that encourage their employees to make changes advocated by the Small Change Big Difference Campaign examples of which include:
Wellbeing Fitness Centre—available for all Cabinet Office employees to use to increase their levels of physical activity. The centre offers a number of additional services such as lifestyle consultation and nutritional advice.
The staff canteen offers a variety of menu choices, healthy options are clearly indicated and are cooked with no added oils with all vegetables steamed. Additionally a new light and healthy option is now available each day.
The option of working flexibly so that employees can effectively manage their work with outside commitments and remote access service that allows employees to work from home.
Cabinet Office have recently launched two Well-Being pilots. These have taken a holistic approach focusing on improving organisational effectiveness and employee well-being.
Education and Skills
Adult Education
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many (a) men and (b) women are attending an adult community education course in each parliamentary constituency in Derbyshire; [61499]
(2) what assessment she has made of the likely impact of Derbyshire Learning and Skills Council's proposed funding allocation for the Adult Community Education Service in 2006-07 on the provision of services; and if she will make a statement; [61545]
(3) how many adult community education learning (a) courses and (b) venues have been in operation in Derbyshire in each year since 1997; and how many she estimates will be in operation in (i) 2006-07 and(ii) 2007-08 in each case; [61581]
(4) how much funding Derbyshire's Adult Community Education service has received in each year since 1997; and what the allocation is for (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08. [61582]
Bill Rammell: On 21 October 2005, I made an announcement, setting out the Government's strategic direction for the learning and skills sector for 2006/07 and 2007/08. The main purpose for doing so was to ensure the 2006/07 funding allocations process began with a clear and concise message on the principles that will underpin funding over the next two years. In addition, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) published ‘Priorities for Success’—a document that sets out the funding strategy for the next two years in more detail. This document is available on the LSC's website. These clear messages develop priorities further outlined in my Department's Grant letters to the LSC for 2004-05 and 2005-06 and in the White Paper ‘Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances’ published on 27 March 2006.
Although more public funding will be going into the sector, we will focus funding even more strongly on key priorities of raising participation and achievement 14 to 19 and driving down the skills deficit in the adult workforce.
I reaffirmed our commitment to safeguard the funding for Personal and Community Development Learning in mainstream Further Education and Local Authority funding adult education (Adult and Community Learning) with a budget of £210 million in 2006/07, including family learning, family literacy, language and numeracy and neighbourhood learning in deprived communities.
In addition in the White Paper ‘Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances’ we set out our intention to reinvigorate this type of learning to improve its planning, its quality and to gear it more to the needs of local communities.
The Department allocates funds for the post-16 education and training sector to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) working through 47 local offices. As this is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council, Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, has written to the hon. Member with this information and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 19 April 2006:
Derbyshire Adult Learning Service's Funding Allocation 2006/07
I am writing in response to the four Parliamentary Questions which you raised recently regarding the funding allocation made to Derbyshire County Council's Adult Learning Service (ALS) for 2006/07.
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