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28 Nov 2006 : Column 599W—continued
Office of Government Commerce
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which 20 Key Programmes he has agreed with the Office of Government Commerce. [102787]
John Healey: There are currently 15 Key Programmes, which are:
Bichard Inquiry Programme
Child Support Agency Redesign / Operational Improvement Plan
Criminal Justice System IT
Crossrail
Defence Change Programme
e-Borders
Emergency Services Radiocommunications
Fire Resilience Programme
ID Cards
Information Sharing Index
National Offender Management Service
NHS National Programme for IT
2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Rural Payments Agency
Thames Gateway.
A programme's inclusion on, or removal from, the list is approved by the Prime Minister on the recommendation of the chief executive of OGC.
Olympic Games
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the role of his Department was in drawing up the Olympic bid budget; and what process was followed in approving the final document. [104521]
Mr. Timms: The Olympic bid folder was agreed collectively by Government in November 2004, prior to the publication of the bid that month.
Secondments
Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which staff in his Department are seconded from organisations with charitable status; and which have (a) costs and (b) salaries met (i) in part and (ii) in whole (A) from public funds and (B) by the charity from which they are seconded. [102420]
John Healey: HM Treasury has one member of staff seconded in from an organisation with charitable status. Their salary and associated costs are met in line with the normal arrangements of paying secondees to HMT, ie the parent organisation pays the employee’s salary and HMT reimburses the full cost.
Solvency II Directive
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when he expects the Solvency II directive to come into effect; [102775]
(2) when he expects agreement to be reached on the Solvency II directive; [102790]
(3) what effect the proposed Solvency II directive will have on the limits and restrictions on the type of assets which may be held to cover capital requirements by insurance companies; and if he will make a statement; [102792]
(4) what representations he has received from the Financial Services Authority on the implications of the Solvency II directive; [102793]
(5) what representations he has received from insurance companies about the impact of the Solvency II directive; [102794]
(6) what assessment he has made of the (a) costs and (b) benefits of the implementation of the Solvency II directive to the (i) insurance industry and (ii) consumers; [102795]
(7) when he last discussed the Solvency II directive with (a) other EU counterparts and (b) the European Commission. [102791]
Ed Balls: The European Commission has announced that it will publish the Solvency II directive in July 2007. The legislative proposal will then need to be adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. The date of implementation of the directive will be subject to their agreement. It is not expected that implementation will be earlier than 2010 or 2011.
The amount of time required to reach agreement on the directive is uncertain and will depend on a range of factors. The UK Government is supportive of the Solvency II project and will therefore work with other EU member states to achieve agreement to the directive without undue delay. HM Treasury participates in regular meetings of the European Commission's Working Group on Insurance Solvency and meetings of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Committee (EIOPC).
The Solvency II directive has not yet been adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament and therefore its effects on the limits and restrictions on the type of assets which may be held to cover capital requirements by insurance companies
remain uncertain. The Government's views on this issue have been outlined in a joint discussion paper by HM Treasury and the Financial Services Authority: "Solvency II: a new framework for prudential regulation of insurance in the EU".
HM Treasury and the Financial Services Authority are working together closely on the Solvency II project. HM Treasury and the FSA have jointly produced two discussion papers on Solvency II: "Solvency II: a new framework for prudential regulation of insurance in the EU" and "Supervising insurance groups under Solvency II":
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./media/B13/CO/solvencyII_discussionpaper.pdf
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./media/BD8/46/solvencyii061006.pdf
HM Treasury has received representations from insurance companies, the Association of British Insurers and the Association of Mutual Insurers in respect of the discussion papers. HM Treasury is in regular dialogue with stakeholders on Solvency II issues.
The Solvency II directive has not yet been adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. At this stage it is not possible to determine accurately the costs and benefits of the directive. The Government's view is that the directive can generate significant economic benefits by deepening the EU Single Market in insurance services. The directive has support in principle from industry stakeholders including the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
The European Commission is required to publish an impact assessment of the Solvency II directive. HM Treasury will publish a partial Regulatory Impact Assessment in summer 2007 in order to assess the costs and benefits to the UK insurance industry and UK consumers.
Terrorism
Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Government of Saudi Arabia on the financing of terrorist activity; and if he will make a statement. [103181]
Ed Balls: The Government maintain an intensive and on-going dialogue with its international partners, including Saudi Arabia, as part of global efforts to deter, detect and disrupt the financing of terrorism.
Constitutional Affairs
Departmental Staff
Dr. Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether people employed (a) through employment agencies and (b) on a consultancy basis are included in the calculations for the full-time equivalent staff mentioned in her Department's annual report. [102995]
Vera Baird: The calculations for full-time equivalent staff mentioned in my Department's annual report do not include people employed through employment agencies or those employed on a consultancy basis.
Departmental Statistics
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs which statistics have been put forward by her Department for consideration to become new national statistics in each of the last five years; and how many statistics sets her Department has produced in total in each of the last five years. [101655]
Vera Baird: During the past five years, Ministers in the Department for Constitutional Affairs (and its predecessor the Lord Chancellor's Department) have not put forward any additional titles for designation as national statistics.
However, in February 2006, the Department substantially expanded the scope of its quarterly national statistics release on court proceedings for housing repossession. This release, which had previously contained statistics on mortgage possession proceedings, was broadened also to include statistics on social and private landlords' possession proceedings for the first time.
During the past five years, the department has published a total of six national statistics titles, as follows:
Average time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders (monthly).
Company winding-up and bankruptcy petition statistics (quarterly).
Mortgage and landlord possession statistics (quarterly).
Time intervals for criminal proceedings in the magistrates' courts (quarterly).
Magistrates' courts waiting time on the day and user reaction surveys (six-monthly, discontinued from September 2006).
Judicial statistics (annual, withdrawn from national statistics from 2006).
In addition to these national statistics, the Department for Constitutional Affairs publishes a wide range of other numerical information in a variety of forms including other data produced from the management and administration of the Department and in research reports. There is no consistent definition of the term "statistics sets" and no centrally held information on the total published in each year on this basis.
Electoral Registration
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what estimate she has made of the number of Hendon residents entitled to vote who do not appear on the electoral register; if she will take steps to improve registration in Hendon; and if she will make a statement. [103764]
Bridget Prentice:
The total number of people on the electoral register in the London borough of Barnet (which includes Hendon) at 1 December 2005 is 50,200 fewer than the estimated number of adults usually resident in the borough in mid-2005. However, there
are a number of limitations to this comparison. These include the differing reference dates, the unknown number of residents who may not be eligible to vote (e.g. on nationality grounds), the unknown number of electors who are not usually resident (e.g. expatriates) and the margin of confidence of the population estimate. For these reasons, the figure should be used with caution.
Comparable data solely for the Hendon constituency are not available.
The Government have already taken steps to improve registration rates including the following:
We led the 1824 Collective campaign, which was aimed at encouraging young people to register before the London borough elections in May 2006.
The Electoral Administration Act 2006 includes a new duty on electoral registration officers (EROs) to take all necessary steps to ensure comprehensive registers.
The deadline for registration has been moved to just eleven days before an election.
The independent Electoral Commission will be setting performance standards for registration services.
Electronic Voting
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will require personal identifiers to be provided for remote electronic voting, in addition to the Electoral Administration Act's legal requirement for them to be used for postal voting. [104094]
Bridget Prentice: We will require identifiers to be used in the processes for remote e-voting pilots and potentially this could include dates of birth or other appropriate credentials for use in verification.
The credentials used will depend on the content of the individual pilots proposed by local authorities and may include some identifiers such as personal identification numbers generated by electors themselves.
The May 2007 pilots will be an opportunity further to develop and test methods of enhancing the security of remote e-voting.
Election Pilot Schemes
Mr. Heald: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether election pilot schemes will be used in any of the Welsh Assembly elections in 2007. [102855]
Mr. Hain: I have been asked to reply.
No current legislation allows the use of pilots only at local authority elections. The Government believe that new methods of voting need to be tested thoroughly before they can be rolled out more widely.
Information Commissioner
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans she has for the renewal of the contract of the Information Commissioner in 2007; and if she will make a statement. [102614]
Vera Baird: The Information Commissioner is appointed by Her Majesty by Letters Patent for a term not exceeding five years. The Department's plans for when the Commissioner's term of office expires in 2007 will be based on the procedures in the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments which sets out the terms and criteria for appointments and re-appointments to public bodies within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Legal Aid
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs from whom guidance is issued on the practice of magistrates courts refusing to issue application forms for criminal legal aid. [103127]
Vera Baird: The magistrates courts carry out means testing in accordance with guidance issued by the Legal Services Commission, who have statutory responsibility for the grant of legal aid. The guidance states that magistrates courts should provide forms in an emergency, for example if a lawyer has no forms with him.
Stocks of forms are widely and easily available to solicitors online or by order from the Legal Services Commission at no cost to solicitors.
MMR/MR (Litigation Costs)
Mr. Baron: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the cost was of payments to each of the three lead barristers who provided advice on the merits of the MMR/MR litigation; and which barristers received those payments. [104516]
Vera Baird: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the previous answer I gave to him on the funding of the MMR/MR vaccine litigation on 2 November 2006, Official Report, column 552W.
Wales
Departmental Staff
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff were employed through employment agencies in (a) his Department and (b) each of its agencies in each of the last five years for which information is available; and what the (i) average and (ii) longest time was for which these temporary workers were employed in each year. [102952]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office employs temporary staff to undertake specific projects, to cover vacant posts during recruitment campaigns and to fill posts where suitable permanent staff cannot be found. Figures are not available for years prior to 2003-04, and this information could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.
In 2003-04 21 staff were employed through employment agencies, with average employment of nine weeks and longest of 43 weeks.
In 2004-05 the number of temporary staff employed reduced to 16, with average employment of 15 weeks and longest of 43 weeks.
In 2005-2006 there was a further reduction to nine staff over the year, with average employment of 18 weeks and longest of 45 weeks.
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