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21 Mar 2007 : Column 918Wcontinued
Michael Gove: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance the Office of Government Commerce has produced on making the award of public contracts conditional on the bidding private sector firms meeting equality or diversity criteria or targets. [128639]
John Healey: Social issuessuch as equality and diversity considerationscan be taken into account in the procurement process where they are relevant to the subject of the particular contract. OGC published a guidance note, Social Issues in Purchasing, in January 2006 on the scope to include social considerations in the procurement process.
The Social Issues in Purchasing note can be found at:
http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/Social_Issues_ in_Purchasing.pdf
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress his Department has made towards establishing an Institute of British Studies. [125775]
John Healey: A range of organisations is advancing proposals for such an institute.
Mr. Newmark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has met Lakshmi Mittal since 1997. [111351]
John Healey: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Governments practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions Ministers in his Department have had with counterparts in the Home Office regarding recent changes to the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme. [119134]
John Healey: Treasury Ministers and officials are in regular contact with colleagues in other Departments.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 29 November 2006, Official Report, column 727W, on ministerial travel, which publication lists the overseas visits of (a) the Paymaster General, (b) the Financial Secretary and (c) the Economic Secretary; and if he will make a statement. [109204]
John Healey: As with all inquiries relating to the cost of ministerial travel, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the information the Government have published on an annual basis since 1999, listing overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500 and the total cost of all ministerial travel. Information for 2006-07 will be published as soon as possible after the end of the financial year. All ministerial visits are conducted in accordance with the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to improve the user-friendliness of the Office for National Statistics website. [127826]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Dennis Roberts, dated 21 March 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking, what steps are being taken to improve the user-friendliness of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website, I am replying in her absence. (127826)
The existing ONS website is over five years old and at the time it was created it was rated as one of the best Government websites. However, internet technology changes extremely quickly and we recognise that the website is now in need of updating, ONS is part-way through a project to develop a new website to meet the needs of users. The new website is being designed to be effective and easy to use, and will also need to take on board organisational changes to ONS resulting from the Statistics and Registration Service Bill. Rollout of the new site is due to start in 2008.
Although our main efforts are devoted to developing the new website we are not neglecting the existing site. We have an ongoing programme of refinement to make modest improvements for users. We continue to monitor performance and to keep content topical: in particular the homepage is updated almost daily to provide easy access to the latest data and commentary.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many visits to India (a) HM Treasury civil servants and (b) special advisers took in preparation for his recent visit to India; and what estimate he has made of the cost of each visit. [111924]
John Healey: While Treasury officials have visited India, there were no preparatory visits specific to the Chancellors visit.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2007, Official Report, column 2269W, on Official Visits: USA, whether he stayed at the British embassy on the visit in April 2006. [128898]
John Healey: We do not provide details of Ministers accommodation arrangements.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of Partnerships UKs assessment of the potential for private investment in the construction of the infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics; and if he will make a statement; [128408]
(2) what assessment his Department has undertaken of the potential for private investment in the construction of (a) venues and (b) the Olympic Village for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics; what the outcomes were of such assessments; and if he will make a statement. [128409]
John Healey: The potential level of private investment in the construction of different elements of the Olympic Park is subject to commercial negotiations with private developers.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date he had first sight of the original budget for the 2012 Olympics prior to its approval by Cabinet for submission to the International Olympic Committee. [128418]
John Healey: The original budget for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games was developed from 2002 onwards.
Mr. Francois:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many events his Department held in conjunction with the Smith Institute as part of the (a)
Gowers, (b) Leitch, (c) Cox, (d) Cave and (e) Stern reviews; [123341]
(2) whether responses to consultations as part of the (a) Gowers Review, (b) Leitch Review, (c) Cox Review, (d) Cave Review and (e) Stern Review were received from the Smith Institute. [123342]
John Healey: The Department held no events and received no responses.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 8 February 2007, Official Report, column 1134W, on the Smith Institute, which charities applied to hold events at No. 11 Downing street in each year since 1996 but had their request turned down. [123617]
John Healey: A list of all the organisations which have applied to use No. 11 Downing street is not available. However, the Treasury tries to accommodate all charities which have applied to do so.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many economically inactive people of working age there were in Peterborough constituency in age groups (a) 18 to 24 years, (b) 25 to 50 years and (c) 50 years or more in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [128200]
John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 21 March 2007:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many economically inactive people of working age there were in Peterborough constituency in age groups (a) 18 to 24 years, (b) 25 to 50 years and (c) 50 years or more in each year since 1997. I am replying in her absence. (128200)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics of inactivity from the annual local area Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation definitions.
The attached table shows the number of economically inactive persons aged 16 to 24, 25 to 49, 50 to retirement age and for all persons of working age resident in the Peterborough constituency from the annual local area LFS for the 12-month periods ending in February from 1997 to 2004 and from the APS for the 12-month periods ending in March from 2005 to 2006. These numbers are also expressed as a percentage of the relevant population.
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