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8 Jun 2006 : Column 786W—continued
Prosecutors/Crime Victims (Dialogue)
Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Solicitor-General what mechanisms are in place to encourage and facilitate dialogue between prosecutors and victims of crime. [73975]
The Solicitor-General: There are two key mechanisms in place to encourage and facilitate dialogue between prosecutors and victims of crime. The prosecutors pledge sets out the level of service that victims of crime can expect to receive from prosecutors. This includes; promoting and encouraging two-way communication between victims and prosecutors at court, and keeping victims informed of the progress of any appeal and explaining the effects of the court’s judgment.
In addition, the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime sets out the minimum level of service that victims of crime can expect to receive. The code, which was launched in April this year, places obligations on prosecutors to inform victims about charging decisions and communicating with victims at court.
Wales
Biological Diversity
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which Minister in his Department is responsible for monitoring his Department’s compliance with its duty under section 74 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to have regard to the purpose of conserving biological diversity in carrying out its functions; and if he will make a statement. [73935]
Mr. Hain: Under section 74 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, Ministers and Government Departments have a duty to have regard to the purpose of conserving biological diversity. This has been replaced by a similar provision in section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 which comes into effect on the 1 October 2006.
In June 2003, the Wales Office became a separate entity within the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) and we have adopted the DCA corporate policy for sustainable development. The department remains committed to ensuring that biodiversity is considered as part of any new build or major refurbishment. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Nick Ainger) has lead responsibility for sustainability issues in the Wales Office.
Culture, Media and Sport
Arts Council
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on progress with reform of the Arts Council. [74998]
Tessa Jowell: Arts Council England underwent a peer review in 2005. The final report of the review team was published in December, alongside an action plan to take forward their recommendations. The Arts Council is making progress in acting on the review recommendations, as exemplified by plans for a restructure at the organisation’s national office, which were announced on 30 March this year.
Big Lottery Fund
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Big Lottery Fund regarding the future classification of lottery good causes after 2009. [74514]
Mr. Caborn: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have discussions from time to time with the chair and chief executive of the Big Lottery Fund. We cover a range of issues but have not focused on the future classification of lottery good causes after 2009.
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on plans to establish the Big Lottery Fund. [74515]
Mr. Caborn: Plans to establish the Big Lottery Fund were agreed within Government. However, neither my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State nor I have had any specific discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on this matter.
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what impact she expects the creation of the Big Lottery Fund to have on the National Heritage Memorial Fund. [73805]
Mr. Caborn: None. The Big Lottery Fund will distribute Lottery money to projects connected with charitable expenditure, health, education and the environment and the National Heritage Memorial Fund will continue to enable emergency acquisitions of heritage treasures.
Commonwealth Institute Building
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with English Heritage on the future of the Commonwealth Institute Building. [75822]
Mr. Lammy: I met the Chairman and Chief Executive of English Heritage on 6 June 2006 to discuss the Commonwealth Institute Building.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the possible implications for other listed buildings of delisting the Commonwealth Institute Building. [75823]
Mr. Lammy: The Commonwealth Institute's role as an international and inter-governmental organisation is unique. Its future is not just a domestic issue, but an international issue of concern to 52 other countries and for these reasons no parallels may be drawn for other listed buildings.
Departmental Pensions
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will estimate the pension liability of her Department over the next 30 years. [75235]
Mr. Lammy: I refer the hon. Member to the technical Note by HM Treasury which was placed in the Library of the House following an oral statement in Parliament by the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 2 March 2006, Official Report, columns 388-390. Pension liabilities are not estimated for individual Departments, they are estimated for individual pension schemes. Table 1 of the Note gives a breakdown of liabilities per pension scheme.
Departmental Performance
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will place in the Library her Department’s balanced scorecard for each quarter in the past year; and if she will make a statement. [74569]
Mr. Lammy: The quarterly balanced scorecard is an internal performance monitoring tool. It provides periodic management information to the DCMS Board on the status of our key programmes and initiatives. It is designed to facilitate the free and frank exchange of views within the board and is not made available more widely. The DCMS Autumn Performance Report and Annual Report provide extensive information on our performance. These documents are published and are available in the Libraries of both Houses.
Illegal Immigrants
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many illegal immigrants have been discovered to be employed by her Department in each year since 2001; in what capacities they were employed; how many were discovered as part of a criminal investigation; and what the nature was of the charges brought against them. [73969]
Mr. Lammy: No illegal immigrants have been discovered to be employed directly by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport since 2001. This includes staff on fixed-term appointments and casual contracts, but excludes agency workers, contractors and consultants.
Lottery
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which 10 parliamentary constituencies received least in awards from Lottery sources in 2005; and which 10 constituencies have received least in 2006. [75542]
Mr. Caborn: The following lists show which constituencies have received the least monetary value in Lottery awards in 2005 and 2006 so far reported to the Department:
Birmingham, Yardley
East Surrey
Stoke-on-Trent South
Elmet
Chingford and Woodford Green
Portsmouth North
Birmingham, Hodge Hill
Nottingham North
Bolton West
New Forest East
Kingston and Surbiton
Enfield, Southgate
Feltham and Heston
Wallasey
Bexleyheath and Crayford
Castle Point
Ilford North
Plymouth, Devonport
Upminster
Bedford
The lists are derived from the Department's Lottery award database, searchable at: www.lottery.culture.gov.uk which uses information supplied by the Lottery distributors.
School Sports
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the value was of the contract awarded for the UK School Games to be staged in Glasgow in 2006; whether the contract was awarded in accordance with normal open tendering procurement practice; whether the British Olympic Foundation was involved in the tendering processes; and whether the award was funded from the National Lottery. [75372]
Mr. Caborn: The selection of an operator to organise the UK School Games this September and the subsequent grant of National Lottery money was a matter for the Millennium Commission. In my capacity as Chair of the Commission, I will write to the hon. Member on this matter and arrange for copies of my reply to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
The Public (West Bromwich)
Mr. Spellar:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 22 May 2006, Official Report, column 1412W, to the hon. Member for Stourbridge (Lynda Waltho), on The
Public (West Bromwich), on what basis the decision was made that the payments by Arts Council England to Robin and Gorringe are commercial in confidence. [75334]
Mr. Lammy: The decision that payments made by the Arts Council to the firm Robin and Gorringe should be treated as commercially sensitive was based on our consideration of the ongoing and complex discussions that are under way between the administrators and contractors at The Public. These are aimed at achieving completion of the building project. It was our judgement that publishing this information could be detrimental to the conduct of these discussions and consequently disrupt the process of completing the building project and removing The Public from administration. The information was therefore judged too commercially sensitive to be published at this time.
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding her Department has (a) allocated and (b) spent from Lottery receipts in supporting charitable organisations in preparation for the implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. [73777]
Mr. Caborn: Lottery distributors make awards independently of Government. Information on all Lottery awards is available from the Department’s Lottery awards database, at www.lottery.culture.gov.uk, which uses information supplied by the Lottery distributors.
The database, however, does not identify as a distinct category those awards that have prepared organisations for the implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.
Minister for Women
Pay Equality
23. Barbara Keeley: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what steps she is taking to address the gap between men's and women's pay. [75714]
Meg Munn: The Government have set up a team of officials who are working across Government to take forward the Women and Work Commission recommendations on ways to tackle the gender pay gap and an action plan will be issued later this year. I will also chair a project board of senior officials.
Election Candidates
24. Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what her assessment is of the progress being made towards more women being selected to contest seats in general elections. [75715]
Meg Munn: We introduced in 2002 the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act which allows positive measures designed to ensure greater equality in the selection of prospective parliamentary candidates.
The Labour party was able to increase the percentage of women MPs in the last general election by using all-women shortlists to select candidates in its retirement seats.
By contrast the Liberal Democrat party and the Conservative party respectively only selected 32 per cent. and 12 per cent. of women candidates for their 50 most winnable seats.
Financial Planning
25. Miss Begg: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what steps the Government are taking to encourage women to plan their financial lives and save for their retirement. [75716]
Meg Munn: Proposed reforms set out in the Government's recent White Paper: “Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system” will enable women to make more informed choices about planning and saving for retirement, by providing simpler, fairer and more widely available state pensions as the foundation on which to save.
Pensions
26. Rosie Cooper: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what discussions she has had with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions on recognition for women's caring role in pension arrangements. [75717]
Meg Munn: I have had regular meetings with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions throughout the development of the pension reforms. I am pleased that the reforms in the White Paper: “Security in Retirement: Towards a new Pension System” will deliver fairer pension outcomes for women and carers.
Sexual Orientation (Discrimination)
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what representations she has received on the consultation by the Department of Trade and Industry on the proposal to outlaw sexual orientation discrimination in the provision of goods and services. [76050]
Meg Munn: We have received a very high number of responses to the consultation that closed on 5 June about the proposed sexual orientation discrimination regulations and are now beginning the process of analysing these responses. I and my officials have also had a number of meetings with organisations and individuals who are interested in the proposed regulations during the consultation period.
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