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Departmental Contracts
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the value was of (a) public opinion research and (b) public relations contracts awarded by his Department in 2004-05 in (i) each (A) nation and (B) region of the UK and (ii) London; [35945]
(2) what the (a) subject matter and (b) dates were of opinion survey research undertaken by the Department and its agencies in the last 12 months; if he will place copies of the results of each survey in the Library; which companies were used in conducting the research; and how much each was paid. [14815]
Mr. McNulty: The Home Office undertakes a wide range of research activities that support the development of information-led policy, including surveys of public opinion that consider Home Office issues and its related areas of responsibility. The Department commissions such work only when it is justified by the specific needs of a particular policy or programme and when this is the most economic, efficient and effective way to achieve the purpose. Consulting and informing the public helps inform both policy formulation and the delivery of better quality public services. A table showing the available information on the subject matter of market and opinion research undertaken in 2004-05 has been placed in the Library. Where this is for a specific region this has been indicated in the table, otherwise the coverage is for England and Wales (except for immigration topics). Information on the costs of individual market and opinion research projects is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The Home Office has used external public relations companies to help deliver messages and advice to the public in press and magazines as part of integrated communication campaigns, often with a local focus. Campaigns include Year of the Volunteer, Holocaust Memorial Day, Sexual Offences Act, Crime and Anti Social Behaviour. A table showing spend on a monthly basis between September 2004 and October 2005 has also been placed in the Library.
Table to be placed in the House of Commons Library
Table—market and opinion research commissioned by the Home Office in 2004-05.
A number of market and opinion research projects were ongoing in 2004-05 and were included in the table that was placed in the House of Commons Library in answer to the PQ from the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable), Official Report, 28 January 2004, column 441W.
In addition, market and opinion research has been undertaken on the following subject matter in 2004-05
1. The Experiences of victims and witnesses;
2. Criminal Justice System Stakeholder Opinions;
3. Quarterly monitoring of volunteering;
4. Barriers and Motivations—Citizen Governance;
5. Organisational discrimination;
6. Expectations and experiences of victims and offenders;
7. Policing Reassurance;
8. Opinions of the use of Community Support Officers;
9. People's perception of the Licensing Act;
10. Prisoners employment issues;
11. Perceptions and Experiences of the North West Offender management Pathways (North West only);
12. Forensic science issues.
In addition the Home Office's communications directorate conduct market research to help develop and evaluate public information campaigns. The research is not peer reviewed and therefore has not been considered appropriate for ‘official’ publication.
Market research quantitative studies for campaign evaluations commissioned by the Home Office communication directorate are as follows:
Surveys of opinions of Holocaust Memorial Day/Year of Volunteer/Rights and Responsibilities;
Crime Reduction issues;
Vehicle Crime/Police tracking;
Drugs FRANK campaigns and Cannabis;
Police reform and internal issues;
Single Emergency Number;
Identity Cards;
Community cohesion;
Immigration
Research, Development and Statistics Directorate Projects
All published RDS research is available on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pubsintro1.html.
All Youth Justice Board surveys are available on the YJB website at www.youth-justice-board. gov.uk/publications.
| Table: Amount spent by the Home Office on external media relations during the period from September 2004 to October 2005 | |
| £ | |
Departmental Costs
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) salary bill was and (b) administrative costs were for his Department in (i) each (A) nation and (B) region of the UK and (ii) London in 2004-05. [35872]
Mr. Byrne: The total 2004-05 administration salary bill for the Department was £401 million, while total net 2004-05 administration costs came to £567 million. The Department does not monitor administrative costs by individual nation, or region or identify that incurred in London separately. The Department does however, monitor total identifiable expenditure on services, by function, country and region and this is set out in the 2006 Departmental Report (Cm 6818).
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost was of (a) ministerial salaries and private offices and (b) the three top tiers of officials and their offices in his Department in 2005-06. [67455]
Mr. Byrne: The total cost of ministerial salaries and private offices and the top three tiers and their offices in the Home Office in 2005-06 form part of the departmental resource accounts. When finalised, I will write to the right hon. Member with the information he requests.
Departmental Credit Card
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what facility is available for senior civil servants in his Department to use credit cards supplied by the Department. [72880]
Mr. Byrne: There are no special purchasing card arrangements specifically for senior civil servants. However, the Department has adopted OGCbuying.solutions pre-tendered national frameworks for the Government Procurement Card (GPC) and Government Fuel Card facilities in line with best practice.
Departmental Databases (Security)
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) suspected and (b) confirmed security breaches of databases controlled by his Department occurred in each of the last five years. [88496]
John Reid: All incidents listed are confirmed security breaches. No areas have reported suspected security breaches.
| Incidents | |
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been spent in each year since 1997 by his Department on salaries paid to civil servants. [41588]
Mr. Byrne: I am advised that since 2002-03 the Department has published Resource Accounts, detailing gross salaries for the Home Department, which cover the core Department, Immigration and Nationality Directorate, HM Prison Service, UK Passport Service and Criminal Records Bureau. Non-departmental public bodies and other public bodies are not included. The gross salary costs from resource accounts, for the last three available financial years, are in the following table. The costs comprise wages and salaries, social security costs and pension costs. These figures are taken from the Home Office resource accounts 2004-05, published on 31 January 2006.
| £000 | |
| Note: Figures
for previous financial years are not available on the same
basis. | |
Departmental Finance
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the annual expenditure on training and development by (a) his Department and (b) each (i) non-departmental public body, (ii) Executive agency and (iii) other public body for which he is responsible in (A) Scotland, (B) Wales, (C) each of the English regions and (D) Northern Ireland was in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 2005-06. [39977]
Mr. Byrne: The information in the following table has been extracted from the accounting systems of the Home Office and its sponsored bodies. Actual data is shown for the years 2002-03 to 2004-05 with a forecast of out-turn shown for 2005-06. These costs do not cover activities such as mentoring and desk-side training, or the cost of IT training which is bought as part of a PFI arrangement.
It is not possible to produce an analysis of spend by region as the information is not held in this way in the accounting systems of all the bodies covered by this reply.
| £000 | ||||
| Out-turn | Forecast | |||
| Department, Agency, NPPB Etc. | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| (1)
This includes £54,827,000 that was spent on training the police
in the use of DNA. (2) £47,531,000 was spent
on the police training reform. (3) From this year
expenditure by the Assets Recovery Agency is included.
(4) The main reason of the increase is that Centrex’s
recruitment was slow for 2002-03 and there was a substantial increase
in their 2003-04 budget. (5) The expenditure is from
1 April to 4 December 2005 when the Forensic Science Service ceased to
be a trading fund and became a private limited company wholly owned by
the Government. (6) There were increased numbers of
trainee probation officers and from 2003-04 their university fees could
be accounted for separately. (7) The year-by-year
changes in expenditure reflect changes in the number of trainee
probation
officers. | ||||
Departmental Grants
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations received grants or other income from his Department in the last 12 months, broken down by amount. [88931]
Mr. McNulty: The Home Office is currently preparing its 2005-06 accounts for audit. Information on grant payments will be contained within the published Home Office Resource Accounts.
Departmental IT
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) originally estimated, (b) most recently estimated and (c) outturn cost was in each of the five largest information technology contracts agreed with outside suppliers over the last five years. [71763]
Mr.
Byrne: Details of the five largest information technology
contracts agreed by the Department inclusive of its executive agencies
over the last five
years are as shown. The outturn costs show sums actually paid under the
contract during its lifetime, or so far paid for ongoing
contracts.
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