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16 May 2007 : Column 794W—continued
Olympics: Lottery Funding
6. Mr. Evennett: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment she has made of the likely effect on third sector organisations of the reallocation of lottery funding to pay for the 2012 Olympics. [137267]
Edward Miliband: As announced earlier this year, the extra resources from the Big Lottery Fund will come from the money that would have gone to statutory agencies and the resources going to the third sector will be protected. The other distributors contributing to the Olympics have said they do not expect existing commitments to be affected and will make specific announcements about future programmes in due course.
Social Exclusion
8. Lyn Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment she has made of the balance of costs and benefits of intervening in the early years of a child’s life to prevent social exclusion. [137269]
Hilary Armstrong: Early intervention is a guiding principle of the Social Exclusion Action Plan. This report highlighted the relative costs and benefits of a rigorously tested programme, the Nurse Family Partnership from the US that provides intensive home visiting services by health visitors to disadvantaged mothers from pregnancy until the child is two-years-old. The evaluation showed that for every $1 invested in the US programme, $5 is saved down the line. The Government are currently considering what can be learnt from this early intervention approach, with pilots of the programme being launched in 10 sites across England.
Local Government: Third Sector
9. Sarah McCarthy-Fry: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the relationship between local authorities and the third sector. [137270]
Edward Miliband: The relationship varies across the country and we want to do more to improve the quality of the partnerships between local authorities and the voluntary sector. That is why the Local Government White Paper contains important commitments to help the voluntary sector: for example, making the Compact part of local government inspection, encouraging asset transfer to the voluntary sector and setting a new expectation that three year funding is passed on by local government to the voluntary sector.
Delivery Unit
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) pursuant to the answer of 17 April 2007, Official Report, column 537W, on the Delivery Unit, by what means the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit provides performance management in key delivery areas; [136308]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 17 April 2007, Official Report, column 537W, on the Delivery Unit, for which key delivery areas the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (a) is providing performance management and (b) has provided performance management in the last 12 months; [136311]
(3) pursuant to the answer of 17 April 2007, Official Report, column 538W, on the Delivery Unit, which (a) education, (b) health, (c) home affairs and (d) social exclusion targets the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit is focusing on; [136312]
(4) pursuant to the answer of 17 April 2007, Official Report, column 538W, on the Delivery Unit, in which areas the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (a) is facilitating cross-Government working and (b) has facilitated cross-Government working within the last 12 months; [136313]
(5) on what projects the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit has started work in the last two months; [136328]
(6) what projects the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit is planning to work on over the next 12 months; [136329]
(7) on what projects the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit's (a) justice team, (b) asylum and migration team, (c) local area agreement team, (d) health team and (e) education team are working. [136330]
Hilary Armstrong: The Prime Minister's Delivery Unit provides performance management by:
Monitoring and reporting on delivery of the PM's top delivery and reform priorities.
Identifying the key barriers to improvement and the action needed to strengthen delivery
Strengthening departments' capacity to deliver, through capability reviews and sharing knowledge about best practice in delivery.
Supporting the development of high quality PSA targets.
Supporting stocktakes with the Prime Minister and Ministers.
Areas of focus, presently and over the last year include work in the following areas:
Health
Education
Home Affairs
Communities and Local Government
The Unit seeks to facilitate cross-Government working in all these delivery areas. Over the last 12 months projects with a particular emphasis on cross-government working have been work on Local area agreements, respect, migration, social exclusion, delivery models and sustainable procurement.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit (a) is conducting and (b) has conducted in the last 12 months reviews of (i) the identity cards scheme, (ii) the building schools for the future programme, (iii) the connecting for health programme, (iv) the city academies programme, (v) the foundation hospitals programme, (vi) the use of private prisons, (vii) Home Office restructuring or competence to meet its core objectives, (viii) Sure Start and (ix) the New Deal. [136317]
Hilary Armstrong: Over the past 12 months the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit has carried out a number of joint reviews with Government Departments, with a particular focus on health, education, home affairs and communities and local government. Other reviews have covered sustainable procurement and delivery models.
Mr. Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the objectives are of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit for 2007-08. [136326]
Hilary Armstrong: The Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit’s objective for 2007-08 is to help Government deliver better and more efficient public services. It works predominantly in the areas of health, education, asylum and migration, justice and communities and local government.
Policy Review
Mr. Hoban:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer of 24 April 2007, Official Report, column 1017W, on the Policy Review,
which part of the answer given to the hon. Member for Pendle on 8 March 2007, Official Report, column 2198W, or the related document placed in the Library, refers to the payment to external organisations or companies as part of the Policy Review. [137174]
Hilary Armstrong: The answer given to the hon. Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice) on 8 March 2007, Official Report, column 2198W referred to a previous answer given to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 26 January 2007, Official Report, column 2127W. The last paragraph of this included a figure for the costs of the deliberative exercise which were payments to an external organisation.
Public Appointments
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what public appointments she has made since her appointment as Chancellor. [136665]
Hilary Armstrong: Since my appointment, I have made the following public appointments to the boards of public bodies sponsored by the Cabinet Office:
| Body | Appointee | Position | Term of appointment |
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Crime
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fixed penalty notices were issued for (a) consumption of alcohol and (b) selling alcohol to under-age people in (i) Suffolk, (ii) Bedfordshire, (iii) Cambridgeshire, (iv) Essex, (v) Hertfordshire and (vi) Norfolk in each year since the penalty scheme came into use. [134681]
Mr. Coaker: Information from the Penalty Notice for Disorder Database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform covering the offences requested for the years 2004, 2005 as well as provisional data for 2006, is provided in the following table.
Antisocial Behaviour: Bus Services
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has reviewed whether there should be an additional offence for throwing (a) stones and (b) other missiles at buses which could potentially cause harm to (i) property and (ii) persons. [137291]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
Offences of assault, criminal damage or attempted criminal damage already apply in this situation. Assault can apply whether or not there was any injury. The criminal law applies whether the missiles are aimed at buses or elsewhere.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his Department will consider whether throwing missiles at buses should be an aggravating factor in sentencing for criminal damage. [137405]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
The Sentencing Guidelines Council is responsible for issuing sentencing guidelines which criminal courts must take into account. In December 2006, after consultation, the Council issued a guideline on seriousness, which included a comprehensive list of aggravating and mitigating factors of offences. These factors include the use of weapons in the commission of an offence, and attacks made on those providing a service to the public.
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average penalty handed down was for offences relating to throwing stones or other missiles at buses in each of the last five years. [137407]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
Statistics collected centrally do not allow the offence of throwing stones or other missiles at buses to be separately identified from other criminal offences.
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