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8 May 2007 : Column 52W—continued
Education and Skills
Further Education: Construction
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and further education colleges are expected to take as a result of the LSC document “From Here to Sustainability: The Learning and Skills Council's strategy for Sustainable Development”;
whether progress on these actions is being monitored; and what progress has been made to date. [134438]
Bill Rammell: The document “From Here to Sustainability: The Learning and Skills Council’s Strategy for Sustainable Development”, requires the LSC, FE colleges and other providers to take action in four key areas: positioning the sector (leadership and management); buildings and estates; curriculum (teaching and learning); and community and business. Progress is monitored by the Sustainable Development Implementation and Delivery Group, which involves college principals, sustainable development specialists, higher education representatives and national and regional bodies including Ofsted, a regional development agency and a sector skills council.
Examples of progress to date include: capital proposals from colleges now have to address sustainable development and ensure that they meet the criteria for excellent Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) ratings. An online set of resources designed to support providers on each of the four themes of the strategy will be launched by the LSC in autumn 2007. Research evidence shows that over half the providers responding to an independent study had a policy for sustainable development and many more are carrying out audits of resource use. The same study showed that 70 per cent. of respondents have embedded sustainable development into their teaching and learning programmes. The LSC is working with partners such as sector skills councils to ensure that sustainable development is embedded in the processes that determine the content of the curriculum, and the training and development of college staff. Approximately three-quarters of providers in the independent study had programmes for learner volunteering in place. Respondents had also developed networks to promote sustainable development and were sharing facilities with local groups. The LSC sponsored Green Gown Awards celebrate and share the best examples of leadership and progress in environmental sustainability.
Wales
Departments: Computers
Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what (a) instructions are issued to staff in his Department and (b) technical procedures are in place to shut down computers at night. [136106]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office operates a switch off policy on all our main network computers. This is supported by a weekly check undertaken by the accommodation manager. All staff are aware of the need to shut down PCs at the end of the working day.
There are currently no technical procedures in place. However, we have asked our managing agents to install switches on all our electrical equipment, which will automatically switch off equipment accidentally left on or at stand by during the working day.
Departments: Internet
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales for which Government websites he is responsible; how many visitors each received in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the cost (a) was of establishing and (b) has been of maintaining each site. [135736]
Mr. Hain: I am responsible for the Wales Office website.
The website does not record number of visitors.
(a) Establishing the website was £5,698.75
(b) Maintaining website £1,600 per year since 2001
Departments: Sick Leave
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people took sick leave for stress in his Office in the last 12 months; and what percentage of the total staff number this represents. [135462]
Mr. Hain: No Wales Office staff have cited stress as a reason for sick absence in the last 12 months.
In line with the Department of Constitutional Affairs/Ministry of Justice policy we shall be renewing guidance to staff on identifying and tackling possible causes of stress in the workplace.
Solicitor-General
Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office: Finance
Mr. Francois: To ask the Solicitor-General what the budget of HM Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office was in each of the last five years. [136306]
The Solicitor-General: Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO) was created by statute on 18 April 2005. In its first financial year, 2005-06, the net total resource voted by Parliament to RCPO was £37.885 million.
In 2006-07 the net total resource that was voted in RCPO’s main estimate was £37.186 million. However, during the year RCPO transferred £0.82 million to HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitors.
Deputy Prime Minister
Departments: Intimidation
David Simpson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many complaints of bullying have been investigated in his Department in the last 12 months; and how many complaints have been upheld. [134831]
The Deputy Prime Minister: No complaints of bullying have been made to my Department.
Defence
Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people (a) were awarded a lump sum in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07 and (b) are in receipt of guaranteed income payments under each tariff level of the armed forces compensation scheme. [134529]
Derek Twigg: The number of people awarded a lump sum under the armed forces compensation scheme is shown the following table.
| People awarded lump sums under the armed forces compensation scheme, by tariff( 1) | |||
| Lump sums awarded( 2,3) | |||
| Tariff level | Tariff a mount (£) | (i) Between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 | (ii) Between 1 April 2006 and 23 November 2006( 4) |
| (1) Injury benefits are assessed against a tariff of injuries, covering different injury types such as burns, mental disorders, amputations and neurological disorders. For individual injuries and conditions there is a tariff of awards between 1-15 levels. Higher levels of the tariff reflect more severe conditions. For example, for deep second or third degree burns, those affecting 15 to 49 per cent. of whole body surface area are assessed at level six, while those affecting less than 4.5 per cent. of whole body surface area are assessed at level 12. Full details of the tariff can be found at http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/47BC60F6-F433-4DEA-9C14-4B9838FAEAl/0/AFCSTariff.pdf (2) Claimants can make multiple claims, with multiple conditions. The table shows the highest tariff level and corresponding amount that a claimant has been awarded for a single condition. (3) Data have been rounded to the nearest 5. Numbers may not add to totals because of rounding (4) Data are not yet fully available for 2006-07. (5) Refers to a value of zero. (6 )Refers to a negligible value (greater than zero, but less than five). | |||
The number of guaranteed income payments awarded as at 23 November 2006 is shown in the following table.
Armed Forces: Education
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his estimate is of the number of (a) officers and (b) other ranks in the (i) Army, (ii) Royal Navy and (iii) Royal Air Force who have a university degree. [135413]
Derek Twigg: The information held on the numbers who have a university degree is shown in the following table:
| Officer | Other ranks | |
The figures do not reflect the total numbers of service personnel holding degrees. The data which populates the Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system was transferred from the single service legacy data systems which had differing degrees of reliability.
In particular the RAF airmen figures are not complete as the majority of airmen achieve their degrees post entry and this information would not routinely have been entered onto the RAF legacy system. The ‘0’ for Army Other Ranks reflects the fact that Army legacy data systems only recorded this specific data for Army officers. JPA has only just been rolled out to the Army and this data field is not yet populated on the JPA system.
Updating this specific type of data on the JPA system is a now the personal responsibility of the individual serviceperson.
Armed Forces: Health Services
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the agreed whole time equivalent number of his Department’s staff is in each (a) Ministry of Defence hospital unit and (b) NHS trust; which of these are not provided at 100 per cent.; and if he will make a statement. [132627]
Derek Twigg: The term ‘whole-time equivalent’ (WTE) refers to the number of full-time staff equating to the amount of ‘trust protected time’ that the Defence Medical Education and Training Agency (DMETA) contracts to provide to an NHS trust. ‘Trust protected time’, for which the trust is charged, is expressed as a percentage of the annual activity of the individual service personnel who are posted to the trust. The rest of the individual’s time is designated as ‘military protected time’ (for which the trust does not pay) and may be used on operational deployments or training.
The WTE numbers given as follows are therefore much lower than the numbers of military medical personnel actually employed by the trusts concerned. The numbers reflect the current contractual position (which in some cases is subject to further consideration and negotiation). For example, over 120 military medical personnel are employed, in a wide range of roles, by the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust which hosts the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine. But the total number of WTE provided under contract to that trust is 20, including only one nursing WTE provided for the military managed ward at Selly Oak (although 26 military medical personnel are currently assigned there and the number is being increased).
The contracted WTE numbers of DMETA clinical staff employed at present under current contracts at each Ministry of Defence hospital unit (MDHU), rounded to the nearest whole number, is as follows:
| Number | ||
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