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Summer Recesses
Mr. Bone: To ask the Leader of the House howmany days there were in the summer recess in eachyear since 1990. [85011]
Mr. Straw: The total number of days (including weekends and bank holidays) between the rise of the House in July and the return in October in each year since 1990, excluding sitting days, was as follows:
| Number of days | |
| (1
)Excludes sittings on 6 and 7 September. (2
)Excludes sittings on 24 and 25 September. (3)
Excludes sittings on 2 and 3 September. (4 )Excludes
sittings on 14 September and 4 and 8 October. (5)
Excludes sitting on 24 September. (6 )Excludes
September sitting 8 to 18. (7 )Excludes September
sitting 7 to16. (8
)Planned. | |
House of Commons Commission
Accommodation
Mr. Dismore: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what average square metreage of office space is allocated per person to (a) all hon. Members, (b) hon. Members who are Ministers, (c) hon. Members who are not Ministers, (d) hon. Members' staff based on the estate and (e) senior House officials; and if he will make a statement. [84429]
Nick
Harvey: Evidence on office space allocation and occupancy
was submitted to the Administration Committee's inquiry into House of
Commons Accommodation earlier this year. This evidence is published
with that Committee's Third Report of the
Session, HC 1279. The answer that follows is based on that information,
which represents a sample at a given moment in
time.
(a) The Accommodation Whips have approximately 14,800 sq m of office space available to allocate to Members, an average of 22.9 sq m per Member. In practice, however, some of this accommodation is unoccupied or occupied by Members' staff. Of the office space currently used by Members, the average area available for each Member is 14.3 sq m.
(b) and (c) Of the total office space available to the Accommodation Whips, 1,300 sq m is designated ministerial accommodation, an average of 16.9 sq m per Minister. This leaves 13,500 sq m of office space not designated ministerial accommodation which the Accommodation Whips have available to allocate to other hon. Members. However, Ministers also occupy some Members' accommodation not designated for Ministers, while some ministerial rooms are occupied by Members' staff.
(d) The average space available to individual Members' staff is estimated at 9.2 sq m per person, based on 1,230 desk spaces in areas allocated by the Serjeant at Arms and in Members' accommodation.
(e) 1,735 staff of the House, 1,257 of whom are desk-based, occupy 13,140 sq m of office space, giving an average density of 7.6 or 10.5 sq m per person depending on the method of calculation used. Disaggregated information is not held on space occupied by senior staff of the House.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what consideration has been given to turning accommodation at 2 and 3 Parliament Street and 4 Canon Row into further office space for hon. Members and their staff. [84440]
Nick Harvey: The houses are structurally unsuitable for use as offices.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2006, Official Report, column 823W, on Officers of the House (Accommodation), what the estimated annual rental value is of the properties concerned. [84441]
Nick Harvey: No estimate of the annual rental value of these properties has been made. Because they are physically part of the secure Parliamentary Estate, it would not be feasible to offer the properties for rent.
Senior Staff Appointments
Mr. Dismore: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what the procedure is for the appointment of (a) the Clerk of the House and (b) other senior House staff; and if he will make a statement. [85353]
Nick
Harvey: The Clerk of the House is appointed by the Crown
under letters patent on the recommendation of the Speaker and the Prime
Minister. The posts of Clerk Assistant and Serjeant at Arms are also
Crown appointments. Under section 2(1)
of the House of Commons (Administration) Act 1978, all other
appointments (other than Mr. Speaker's personal staff) are made on the
authority of the House of Commons Commission. The Commission has
delegated these powers of appointment to Mr. Speaker in relation to
posts of head of Department (and, in some cases, their deputies) and to
heads of Department for the remainder. These appointments are
madeon the basis of internal or external competition, as
appropriate.
Northern Ireland
Building Regulations
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will assess the merits of including the inspection of the cavity wall insulation required under the building regulations as part of the statutory inspections carried out on properties by a building control officer. [84604]
Mr. Hanson: The building regulations require statutory notice of certain works to facilitate inspection of such works. However, they do not require the statutory inspection of those works. Building control officers have the powers to inspect the construction of a building at any reasonable time to ensure compliance with the building regulations.
Dangerous Driving
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many drivers in Northern Ireland were found guilty of dangerous driving in 2005; and how many of that total were restricted drivers. [84605]
Mr. Hanson: Statistics on the number of persons convicted of dangerous driving in 2005 are not yet available.
In 2004, 349 persons were convicted of ‘dangerous driving’; an additional 18 were convicted of grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving and a further six of death by dangerous driving. It is not possible to determine how many of these related to restricted drivers.
Dentistry
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the gross cost was of (a) dental fees for items of service and (b) dental treatments in each of the last five years; and how much of the cost was borne by patients (i) in total and (ii) as a percentage of the overall cost in (A) Northern Ireland and (B) in each board area. [83949]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is provided in the following tables. Information broken down by Health and Social Services Board can only be given for 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05.
Dessie O'Hare
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the Police Service of Northern Ireland has any outstanding warrants for the arrest of Dessie O’Hare. [71690]
Paul Goggins: PSN1 confirms that there are no formal investigations ongoing in relation to this individual although he remains the subject of attention by the PSNI Historical Enquiries Team (HET) and their ongoing process.
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