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29 Nov 2006 : Column 748Wcontinued
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many and what percentage of staff employed in her Department were registered disabled in each year since 2001. [104463]
Mr. Lammy: The Department collects information on those staff who declare a disability, whether or not they are registered as disabled. The number and percentage of all staff, who have declared a disability is as follows.
As at April each year | Number | Percentage of all staff |
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department paid to DHL in each financial year between 1997-98 and 2005-06. [104179]
Mr. Lammy: DCMS has made no payments to DHL in the specified years.
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of (a) the ability of EnglandNet to take account of constantly updated information on room availability and (b) the utility of the system to small hotels and bed and breakfast establishments which do not have computerised room booking systems. [103053]
Mr. Woodward: EnglandNet is not a booking service. It is a means by which accommodation providers of all sizes can gain access to the many millions of potential customers across the world who use the visitbritain.com and enjoyengland.com websites.
Accommodation businesses and consolidators (that is, entities which provide a booking service for the accommodation provider) which join EnglandNet retain full control over the room availability details and other information provided on the platform.
In some cases, the EnglandNet platform will provide full details of room availability before customers are taken to providers or their consolidators own websites to make and confirm bookings. In other instances, the customer seeking availability details must transfer to providers or consolidators own sites to see this information. In the latter circumstances, all accommodation contact details provided to VisitBritain are displayed via its EnglandNet database. This enables consumers to contact the relevant accommodation businesses in the EnglandNet database directly. The presentation of actual availability information, and of other details of services, is a matter for providers themselves.
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of accommodation businesses operated by one or two persons who will use the EnglandNet service. [103054]
Mr. Woodward: VisitBritain, which owns EnglandNet and administers it in full partnership with the Regional Development Agencies, does not keep a record of the number of operators per accommodation businesses. Records of accommodation businesses are kept according to the number of rooms or, in the case of self-catering businesses, accommodation units provided. Currently the EnglandNet database contains records of around 27,000 accommodation businesses which have been quality assessed by either VisitBritain or the Automobile Association. Of these, around 21,500 are small and medium-sized enterprises with 15 rooms/units or less.
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the effect of EnglandNet on the operation of (a) Visit Norfolk and (b) other regional tourist websites and agencies. [103055]
Mr. Woodward: Initiatives such as EnglandNet provide regional tourism agencies with ready access to national and international audiences. Working in partnership with regional development agencies, regional tourist boards, and other agencies, the EnglandNet database presents information through visitbritain.com and enjoyengland.com. EnglandNet's aim is to provide a better distribution of regional data on, for example, attractions and accommodation. This includes internet links to regional agency websites such as visitnorfolk.co.uk. as well as content provided voluntarily to EnglandNet by regional bodies.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) projects or organisations applied for a third consecutive lottery funding grant from the National Lottery Fund and (b) applications for third consecutive grants were granted in each of the last five years, in each local authority; and if she will make a statement. [106045]
Mr. Lammy: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
148,000 lottery awards have been made in the last five years and the cost of identifying which of these have been to the same projects or recipients would be disproportionate.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received on the position of organisations which are refused renewals of funding grants for core activity from the national lottery fund; and if she will make a statement. [106046]
Mr. Caborn: I receive many representations on a wide range of issues relating to the national lottery. Lottery distributors are responsible for decisions on individual grant applications and have policy directions which require them to take into account the need to distribute money to projects only where they are for a specific, time-limited purpose. This reflects the important principle that lottery projects are specific interventions, over a defined period of time, intended to produce a definite result and lasting benefits. Lottery funding is not intended to be long term or indefinite.
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households in each constituency in Northern Ireland are in receipt of the free television licence for over 75s. [104019]
Mr. Woodward: TV Licensing, who administer free television licences for people aged 75 or over as agents for the BBC, are not able to provide geographical breakdowns of the number of free licences issued. However, the estimated number of households in each constituency in Northern Ireland with at least one person aged 75 or over claiming the winter fuel payment in 2005-06, based on records held by the Northern Ireland Department for Social Development, was:
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether stand-alone automated teller machines are liable for business rates. [104213]
Mr. Woolas: Stand-alone automated teller machines form a rateable hereditament in that the site including any hole-in-the-wall through which it projects, is rateable, together with any associated structure. This structure may compose of the shelter, settings and or foundations of the automated teller machine. The automated teller machine itself, however, is not rateable as it is not a named item in the Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) Regulations 2000 (S.I 2000/540).
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the presentations and handouts provided at the meeting on data sharing held at her Department on 31 October. [103927]
Mr. Woolas: Officials meetings are regularly held on policy issues including data sharing. It is not our practice to circulate internal papers which relate to preparing advice to Ministers on policy matters.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent by her Department on television advertisements in the last year for which figures are available. [104443]
Angela E. Smith: The Department spent £1.5 million on advertising in the financial year 2005-06. The money was used to raise awareness of the devastating effects of a dwelling fire and to advertise a fire safety book which would enable the public to perform a home fire safety check.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff were employed on a consultancy basis in (a) her 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 period was for which a consultant was employed in each year. [102980]
Angela E. Smith: This information is not held centrally and could be collected only at disproportionate cost.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 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. [102999]
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of the divisional manager level posts within her Department (a) have been filled and (b) are vacant. [104418]
Angela E. Smith: The Department has filled 84 per cent. of its divisional manager level posts. 16 per cent. are currently vacant.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what percentage of staff employed in her Department were registered disabled in each year since 2001. [104464]
Angela E. Smith: The Department for Communities and Local Government came into being on 5 May 2006.
The Department's predecessor, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, was formed on 29 May 2002 and the requested information may be found in Civil Service Statistics published by the Cabinet Office. Reports for 2003, 2004 and 2005 are available in the House of Commons Library and on the Cabinet Office website at:
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/publications
At March 2006 there were 81 staff3.5 per cent.who declared themselves as disabled.
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she expects to publish the revised Draft Code of Conduct for Councillors; and if she will make a statement. [105926]
Mr. Woolas: We intend to consult on a draft revised code of conduct for local authority members shortly with the aim, subject to the outcome of this consultation, of implementing an amended code well in advance of next year's local elections.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) primary and (b) secondary fires there have been in each fire authority area since 1986, broken down by region. [105901]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested has been placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research her Department has carried out into the resource implications of climate change for fire and rescue services. [105904]
Angela E. Smith: The Department has carried out a study of the potential effect of climate change in the UK on the fire and rescue services based on scenarios from the most recent UK Climate Impacts programme (UKCIP) technical report.
The report on this work suggests that the impact of climate change on the workload of the fire and rescue services will be gradual, rather than requiring any immediate change to their resources. This is because the UKCIP scenarios forecast, over the next few decades, a gradual increase in the frequency of extreme weather conditions.
The report is currently going through the Departments approval procedure and will be issued on the Departments website before the end of the year.
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