Written Answers to Questions
Monday 24 July 2006
Duchy of Lancaster
Advertising Campaigns
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what advertising campaigns her Department ran between 2000 and June 2004; and what the (a) date and (b) cost was of each. [87070]
Mr. McFadden: Significant advertising campaigns in support of specific policies are managed centrally through Cabinet Office Communication Group and placed through the Central Office of Information (COI).
Details of advertising costs are shown in the table which reflects expenditure for financial years 2000-01 to 2003-04.
Cabinet Office systems are not sufficiently structured to provide accurate Cabinet Office recruitment advertising information prior to 1 April 2004.
Cabinet Office is also responsible for the advertising and filling of Fast Stream vacancies across the civil service, the advertising data for this is only available from 2001.
| Dates | Budget/spend | |
Cabinet Office Spending
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much the Cabinet Office spent on supporting the Prime Minister in each year since 1996-97, including the estimated figures for 2005-06. [86853]
Hilary Armstrong: Supporting the Prime Minster is one of the Cabinet Office’s objectives. The costs associated with this function are identified and reported separately in the Annual Report and Resource Accounts.
Details of these costs for 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05 can be found in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Resource Accounts, Schedule 5, Objective 1—Supporting the Prime Minister (HC185—Page 26, HC1190—Page 32, and HC372—Page 28 respectively).
Copies of these reports and resource accounts for 2003-04 and 2004-05 are available on the Cabinet Office website at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/reports/annualreport/index.asp and are available in the Library for the reference of Members.
The Cabinet Office Annual Report and Resource Accounts for 2005-06 were laid before Parliament on 20 July 2006 and will be published shortly on the Cabinet Office website.
Expenditure incurred on supporting the Prime Minister, prior to 2002-03, is not held centrally.
Computing Equipment
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) how many (a) laptop and (b) desk top computers were purchased for use in 10 Downing Street in each month since March 2005; [86886]
(2) how many (a) USB (i) flash drives and (ii) memory sticks, (b) compact discs, (c) DVD-ROM discs and (d) external computer hard drives were purchased for use in 10 Downing Street in each month since March 2005; [86855]
(3) how many (a) USB (i) flash drives and (ii) memory sticks, (b) compact discs, (c) DVD-ROM discs, (d) laptop computers, (e) external computer hard drives and (f) desktop computers were purchased for use in the Cabinet Office in each month since March 2005. [86856]
Mr. McFadden: The Prime Minister’s office forms an integral part of the Cabinet Office
The numbers of items of the specified computer equipment purchased for use in the Cabinet Office in each month since March 2005 are shown in the table. It has been compiled from records held by those business units who have, according to our resource accounting system, purchased relevant equipment during the period.
| USB flash drive | USB memory stick | Compact disc drive | DVD-ROM disc drive | Laptop computer | External computer hard drive | Desktop computer | |
A significant proportion of the information technology equipment used by the Department, for example on the corporate IT network, is not purchased but provided as part of a managed service through our prime IT contractor.
Government Ministers (Financial Benefit Declarations)
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what guidance the Cabinet Office issues to Government Ministers on declaring to HM Revenue and Customs financial benefits (a) Ministers and (b) their spouses have received from foreign persons or foreign corporations directly or indirectly as a result of their Ministerial position. [87594]
Hilary Armstrong: Guidance for Ministers on the acceptance of gifts and hospitality is set out in Section 5 of the “Ministerial Code”.
Ministerial Offices
Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many times her ministerial office has been decorated in each of the last five years. [87656]
Hilary Armstrong: According to available records, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster’s Ministerial Office, Private Offices and waiting area has been decorated once in the last five years.
Non-departmental Public Bodies
Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many non-departmental public bodies have been abolished since December 2005; and what estimate she has made of the consequent effect on public funds. [87110]
Mr. McFadden: Information on public bodies sponsored by central Government is provided annually in the Cabinet Office publication “Public Bodies” which records information as at 31 March each year. This includes details of closed bodies and also government funding and expenditure.
Information for the position at 31 March 2006 is currently being collated and will be published shortly. Information for the position at 31 March 2005 was published on 21 November 2005.
Copies of previous publications are available in the Library for the reference of Members.
Regulatory Impact Assessments
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) what guidance she has issued to departments on the publication of work preliminary to the conduct of regulatory impact assessments; [87950]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 11 July 2006, Official Report, column 1826W, on regulatory impact assessments, whether any work preparatory to the conduct of such an assessment may be (a) placed in the Library and (b) published by Departments. [87958]
Mr. McFadden: The Cabinet Office’s guidance makes clear that final regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) should be made available to the House and published by Departments on their websites. Partial RIAs should also be published by departments as part of formal consultation exercises. The publication of initial RIAs and other work preparatory to the production of partial and final RIAs is for individual Departments to consider on a case by case basis.
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