| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 Jan 2007 : Column 1204W—continued
Trade Union Funding
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding his Department has given to individual trade unions in the last three years. [113988]
Mr. Byrne: The Home Department has not provided any direct funding to individual trade unions during the past three years. The Department does, however, provide facilities to a number of recognised trade unions which represent staff within the Department.
Turkey: EU Accession
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the implications for net migration to the UK of the possible accession by Turkey to the EU. [114525]
Mr. Byrne: The Commission assessed the effects of Turkish membership on the EU including migration before the EU opened negotiations with Turkey. The UK Government have drawn on this in formulating their approach to Turkish membership.
Any assessment of the implications for net migration to the UK would be affected by the functioning of the countries’ economies at the time of accession, the level of access granted to the UK labour market, and the decisions of other member states on labour market access. The issue of migration will be analysed in more detail during the accession negotiations and as the positions of the above factors become clearer, nearer the point of accession.
Deputy Prime Minister
Autumn Performance Report
Mr. Heald: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he intends to publish an Autumn Performance Report for his Department. [114100]
The Deputy Prime Minister: Under guidance, “Publication of 2006 Autumn Performance Reports” (PES 2006/09), published by HM Treasury on 8 August 2006, my Office is not required to publish an Autumn Performance Report. A copy of the guidance is available on the Treasury website at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gsi.gov.uk/psd/pes_papers/pespaper/pespaper_2006/pes0609.htm
A copy has also been placed in the Library for the reference of Members.
Duchy of Lancaster
Cabinet Office: Foreign Travel
Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the Cabinet Office’s expenditure on foreign travel was, including accommodation, in (a) 1996-97 and (b) 2005-06. [114115]
Hilary Armstrong: For expenditure on ministerial travel, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Robathan) on 19 December 2006, Official Report, column. 1808W.
For civil servants, the Cabinet Office financial system does not differentiate between domestic and overseas travel. To establish these costs manually would incur disproportionate costs.
All official travel in my Department is undertaken strictly in accordance with the rules contained in the Cabinet Office Management Code.
Community Channel
Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether her Department has commissioned research on the number of people who watch the community channel. [114447]
Edward Miliband: The Cabinet Office has not commissioned research on the number of people who watch the community channel as they are provided by BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board). Figures from BARB for 2006 show that between 1.4 and 2.3 million viewers watched the community channel per month.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what her estimate is of the number of people who watched the community channel in each of the last 12 months. [114448]
Edward Miliband: The community channel broadcasts 24 hours a day, every day on Sky 539, ntl: Telewest 233 and from 6-9 am on Freeview 87. The number of viewers for the last 12 months are as follows:
| 2006 | Number of viewers |
These figures are from BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board). The channel’s best programmes are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week via its online video player at video.communitychannel.org
Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much public funding has been provided for the community channel in each of the last five years. [114453]
Edward Miliband: The community channel is a national digital television station dedicated to highlighting issues from the voluntary and community sector and from local and international communities. The channel not only raises awareness, but also provides a means for charitable giving, where viewers can use the interactive services to pledge money. The Government funding for the channel is shown in the following table:
| Government (Home Office ACU/ Cabinet Office) | |
Further to this the lottery community fund gave £350,000 in 2002-03 and £250,000 in 2003-04.
Correspondence
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many letters to her Department sent from hon. Members during Session 2005-06 remain unanswered, broken down by those which are (a) one, (b) two, (c) three, (d) four and (e) over six months old. [114619]
Edward Miliband: At 17 January 2007, there are no unanswered letters over a month old from hon. Members received during Session 2005-06.
Departmental Travel
Mr. Francois: To ask the Minister without Portfolio how much (a) she and (b) her staff claimed in taxi receipts from the public purse in the last 12 months. [115398]
The Minister without Portfolio: Since my appointment in May 2006, I have not claimed any money from the public purse for taxi fares. During the course of their official duties my staff have incurred taxi expenses of £189.00.
Social Enterprise Start-ups
Margaret Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many contracts were granted to social enterprises by (a) Government Departments and (b) local authorities in each of the last five years; and what the value was of each. [108035]
Edward Miliband: Central and local government do not maintain statistical records of contracts and their value granted to social enterprise.
Government are committed to removing barriers to social enterprise and other third sectors providers playing an increased role in the delivery of public services, and Partnership in Public Services—An action plan for the third sector, published on 6 December 2006 will support measures to improve evidence about the sector’s access to contracts.
Special Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many staff paid for by the public purse work full-time to support special advisers for the Minister without Portfolio. [115122]
Hilary Armstrong: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 4 December 2006, Official Report, column 190W.
Statistics
Mrs. May: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the process is for deciding the date of publication of statistics prepared by or relating to her Department; and who is involved in that process. [113072]
Hilary Armstrong: The National Statistics code of practice (2002)—which serves as a model for all public sector statistical work—established the principle that ‘final responsibility for the content, format and timing of release of National Statistics’ rests with the head of profession for statistics in each department. In reaching their decisions, heads of profession take into consideration the detailed procedural guidance given in the “National Statistics Protocol on Release Practices”.
Copies of the code and its 12 supporting protocols are available in the Library for the reference of Members and can also be accessed from the following address:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/national_statistics/cop/default.asp
V Charity
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much in public funds has been spent on the charity v. [115235]
Edward Miliband: The Government announced in Budget 2005 that up to £100 million of public funds would be available for funding the Russell Commission framework through v over the period of 2006-09. The Cabinet Office has £50 million to implement the 16 Russell Commission recommendations, most of which will go to v. A small amount is being retained by the Cabinet Office to support the implementation of recommendations which the Government are responsible for. The Treasury will match fund money v raises from the private sector on a pound for pound basis up to a maximum of £50 million.
The charity v has received funding from the Cabinet Office, through the Office of the Third Sector, to cover three specific project grants in addition to the strategic funding which covers management and administration costs. Additionally, through the match funding scheme, v has received public funds from the Treasury Reserve to match funding provided by the private sector.
v has received, up to 5 January 2006, grants covering the following:
| £ | |
v has also raised pledges from the private sector of over £17 million.
The volunteering opportunities project grant has to date resulted in the creation of over 42,000 volunteering opportunities. This funding enabled v to undertake a range of volunteering opportunities v project funding round for short-term, part-time, and long-term projects, as well as the development of volunteer development teams. These programmes provide opportunities for young people to engage with their community, develop skills, increase confidence, meet other young people, reduce feelings of social exclusion and extend their opportunities for training and/or employment. Over 19,000 volunteering opportunities are expected to be provided through the match funding projects.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
ASEAN
Mr. Clifton-Brown:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations she has made in support of the ASEAN proposed convention on counter-terrorism;
and what steps she is taking to call for (a) improved co-operation among ASEAN members, (b) sharing of intelligence and counter-terrorism training and (c) improved efforts to stop terrorism financing. [114213]
Dr. Howells: We welcome the efforts the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its member states are making to counter international terrorism. We work closely with the ASEAN nations to counter terrorism through the provision of operational training and assistance to enhance the counter terrorism capabilities of individual South East Asian nations. We work on a bilateral basis rather than through the ASEAN forum.
Asia Task Force
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the budget of the Asia Task Force was for the last 12 months; what activities it has undertaken; and if she will make a statement. [115299]
Mr. McCartney: The Asia Task Force itself has no allocated budget. Its recommendations are taken forward through UK Trade and Industry (UKTI) directing resources within its diplomatic network in Asia and offices in the UK, and its programme budgets in support of business in the UK, to priority areas the taskforce has asked it to address.
The taskforce is an important forum for consulting business on how best to boost UK business engagement in Asian markets. Since its inception in October 2005, the taskforce has discussed and made recommendations on the challenges faced by UK companies operating in Asian markets and how to raise awareness among UK companies of the potential opportunities in these emerging markets.
The taskforce has commissioned three research reports to explore differing aspects of UK-Asian Trade. This research, along with the experience of taskforce members, has informed the development of UKTI’s new five year strategy: directing the focus onto large and medium sized companies in addition to its existing work with small businesses to ensure UKTI helps a wider range of companies, and instigating a shift in resources towards emerging markets. It has also led to the development of a programme which will target and support 950 mid-corporate companies which are not sufficiently engaged with Asia and which are not currently served by UKTI.
Current Asia Task Force projects include:
research to map the UK’s sectoral strengths against demand in emerging Asian economies;
intellectual property rights business to business forums to demonstrate the benefits of strong intellectual property protection to indigenous companies in emerging Asian markets;
outreach events within the UK to raise awareness of the business opportunities presented by emerging Asian markets; and
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |