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9 Oct 2006 : Column 93W—continued
Departmental Publications
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the (a) circulation, (b) cost and (c) title is of each publication his Department has issued since 1 July 2005. [89590]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office issued the following publication between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006:
The Scotland Office and Office of the Advocate General for Scotland: Annual Report 2005
Number of copies: 150
Cost: £3,239
Dover House
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he operates a private office in Dover house. [89402]
Engagements
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last met the Scottish First Minister; and what subjects were discussed. [89389]
David Cairns: Ministers have regular dialogues with ministerial colleagues in the Scottish Executive, discussing a wide range of issues of mutual interest. It is not the practice to disclose details of such meetings.
Hampton Review
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what input (a) his Department and (b) its (i) agencies and (ii) non-departmental public bodies had into the Hampton review and its report, “Reducing Administrative Burdens: Effective Inspection and Enforcement.” [89588]
David Cairns: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my right hon. Friend, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Timms).
Local Government Finance
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether (a) council tax (i) revaluation and (ii) rebanding, (b) the introduction of a local income tax, (c) the introduction of new council tax discounts and (d) land value taxation in Scotland would require primary legislation in the UK Parliament. [89799]
David Cairns: It is not possible to determine whether something might or might not be within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament without sight of the detailed provisions of a proposed bill. However, schedule 5 to the Scotland Act identifies local taxes to fund local authority expenditure as being exempt from the reservation applying to fiscal policy.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what submissions Government (a) Ministers, (b) Departments and (c) Agencies in Westminster have made to the Scottish local government review committee. [89798]
David Cairns: This matter is devolved—schedule 5 to the Scotland Act identifies local taxes to fund local authority expenditure as being exempt from the reservation applying to fiscal policy. Furthermore, the Scottish local government finance review committee is, in turn, wholly independent of Scottish Ministers although information about respondents to the committee's consultation exercises can be found on its website at www.localgovernmentfinancereview.org.
Sewel Convention
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will give his response to the Scottish Affairs Committee’s report on “The Sewel Convention: the Westminster Perspective (HC 983).” [92084]
David Cairns: The Government submitted their response to the Scottish Affairs Committee report on “The Sewel Convention: the Westminster Perspective” on 20 July 2006.
Sustainability
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of electricity used by buildings in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies came from renewable sources in each year from 1997. [89989]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999 and its energy usage has since 2003 been included in DCA's annual returns on total energy usage across the DCA estate. Prior to 2003 the information was not collected as there was no requirement to report. The Scotland Office does not have any agencies.
Video Conferencing
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many video conferencing units are installed in (a) his Department and (b) each agency of the Department; what percentage of offices have these facilities in each case; and what plans there are to increase this proportion. [89995]
David Cairns: The Scotland Office has video conferencing facilities in its Edinburgh and London offices and has no plans to expand this provision.
Watermark Project
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether his Department has joined the Watermark project. [89991]
David Cairns: As funding for the Watermark project has now finished, Departments are responsible for collecting and monitoring water data. Water usage at all sites across the DCA, including the Scotland Office, is monitored and reported upon annually within the Department’s response to the sustainable development in government annual report.
Solicitor-General
Crown Prosecution Service
Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General who in the Crown Prosecution Service is responsible for progress on each of the targets set out on pages 9 to 17 of the Crown Prosecution Service annual report 2005-06; to whom each person reports; what discussions he has had with stakeholders about implementation of each target; and if he will make a statement. [89689]
The Solicitor-General: The public service agreement (PSA) targets for SR2004 and SR2002 are set out on pages 9 to 16 of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) annual report & resource accounts 2005-06. Page 17 details the progress against CPS targets.
The director of business development has responsibility for increasing the number of offences brought to justice, and the director of finance has responsibility for improving public confidence, delivering efficiencies and value for money. Both report to the chief executive. CPS performance is the responsibility of all headquarters directors.
Regular consultation on the PSA and criminal justice system (CJS) targets is conducted with CJS colleagues and other stakeholders through the work of the National Criminal Justice Board. The Attorney-General, myself, the director of public prosecutions and the chief executive are all members of the National
Criminal Justice Board, and play a full and positive part in its work. CPS targets are discussed by the CPS board and compliment the PSA and CJS targets.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General how many copies of the Crown Prosecution Service annual report 2005-06 were produced; at what cost; to whom copies were sent; at what cost; who was consulted prior to publication; and if he will make a statement. [89690]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) annual report and resource accounts 2005-06 were published on 18 July 2006.
The report cost a total of £22,405.95 which included the receipt of 3,000 reports. Copies of the report were distributed throughout the service's 42 geographical areas in England and Wales and copies were sent to other Government Departments and the CPS's criminal justice system (CJS) partners. Chief Crown prosecutors will have distributed copies to key local partners in their own criminal justice area; to members of their local communities; to visitors of CPS offices; and as part of local publicity or careers activity.
The report is also available on the CPS website www.cps.gov.uk and hard copy through the Stationary Office at a cover price of £19.50.
The Attorney-General's Office and other CJS departments are consulted prior to publication.
Mr. Leech: To ask the Solicitor-General how many staff work for the Manchester city crown prosecution service (CPS); and how many staff were employed by the Manchester city CPS on the same date in 2005. [92358]
The Solicitor-General: On 30 September 2006, there were 124 staff in post in the city of Manchester branch and on the same date in 2005 there were 128.4.
Duchy of Lancaster
Charities Bill
Colin Challen: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether eligibility criteria in the Charities Bill will ensure that organisations advancing humanism may seek registration as a charity. [92417]
Edward Miliband: Yes. Under the current law organisations advancing humanism can be charities. The British Humanist Association has been registered as a charity since 1983. The Charities Bill will preserve the charitable status of existing humanist charities and will allow new humanist organisations to seek registration as charities.
Civil Service Pensions
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the cost has been since 1997 of index-linking civil servants’ pensions. [91358]
Mr. McFadden: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Staff
David Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2006, Official Report, column 820W, on departmental staff, how staff with an unsatisfactory performance were monitored prior to 1 June 2005. [89191]
Mr. McFadden: The change that took place to my Department's performance management procedures on Wednesday 1 June 2005 only related to the record- keeping process. From that date, detailed central records of all unsatisfactory performance cases were introduced. The policies and procedures for managing poor performance remain the same. Previously central records were only maintained in cases where staff who received an unsatisfactory report failed to improve and were subsequently dismissed. Where unsatisfactory performers achieved the required improvement, managers handled the case locally. For this reason, information on the total number of staff who received unsatisfactory reports is only available from Wednesday 1 June 2005.
Labour Party Employees (Whitehall Departments)
Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many (a) paid and (b) unpaid employees of the Labour party are (i) located in and (ii) seconded to Whitehall Departments. [90488]
Hilary Armstrong: With the exception of the political office in No. 10, where the position reflects long-standing practice under successive administrations, there are no Labour party employees, paid or unpaid, located in or seconded to this Department. Information about the employment status of individuals employed or seconded into Government Departments is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Public Bodies
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) if she will list the non-departmental public bodies in the eastern region; and what the total budget is of each in 2006-07; [91555]
(2) how many people are on the board of more than one non-departmental public body in the eastern region; and what their total remuneration and expenses are for each board. [91556]
Mr. McFadden: Information on public bodies sponsored by central Government, as at 31 March each year, is provided annually in the Cabinet Office publication “Public Bodies”. Information for the period as at 31 March 2006 was published on 11 September 2006, Official Report, column 109WS. The 2006 edition provides details of Government funding and expenditure in 2005-06. The detailed information required in respect of non-departmental public bodies in the eastern region is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Public Sector Information
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, at what times of day public information programmes have been scheduled in each of the past three years. [76757]
Mr. McFadden [pursuant to the reply, 14 June 2006, Official Report, c. 1247-48W]: I regret that the figure given for the number of night time transmissions in the table showing the broadcast television ratios of public information films for the period April 2003 to March 2004 was incorrect. The figure given was 4,261.
The correct information is shown in the following table.
| April 2003 to March 2004 | ||
| Time | Percentage of films shown | Number of transmissions |
Mr. Todd: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what action may be taken against public sector information holders who breach the information fair trade scheme guidelines. [90691]
Edward Miliband [holding answer 11 September 2006]: Most major public sector information holders within Government operate under a delegation of authority from the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationary Office to license the re-use of the information they hold. Their compliance with the delegation is regulated by the information fair trader scheme. Where non-compliance is found an action plan will be agreed to implement the recommendations in the information fair trade scheme (IFTS) report. The Office of Public Sector Information will work closely with the IFTS member to action the recommendations and monitor implementation. If the plan is not implemented within agreed timescales then ultimately it is open to the controller to withdraw the delegation of authority.
Mr. Todd: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if she will commission a study of the terms and conditions (a) offered by public sector information holders to external licensees and (b) by public sector information holders applied to products and services and subsequently sold in equivalent markets. [90048]
Edward Miliband: The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is responsible for licensing the re-use of Crown copyright information and certain categories of Public Sector Information. We do this via our online Click-Use Licence system—http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index.htm.
Anyone wishing to re-use the material covered by any of the Click-Use Licences has to register for a user account and then apply for the licence(s) they require. Since its launch in 2001, the Click-Use Licence has
proved very successful with over 10,000 licences taken out by re-users of public sector information.
OPSI recently extended the Click-Use Licence beyond central Government to the wider public sector, including Government and the health service. This new PSI Click-Use Licence is a no-charge online licence and will enable re-users to re-use a wide range of public sector information under the one licence.
OPSI conduct reviews on the licence terms and conditions used by public sector information holders as a key part of the verification process under the Information Fair Trade Scheme. The reviews are conducted either annually or every two years depending on the level of information trading carried out by the organisation in question. Given these initiatives the Government do not believe it is necessary to commission any further studies into the subject at this stage.
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